The Watch Appreciation Thread (Reviews and Photos of Men's Timepieces by Rolex, Patek Philippe, Brei

[mimo]

A V-PMW arrived with Mr Fedex this afternoon: bought for exercising, never to be worn with a suit...except I couldn't wait until I got home. Had to be orange, had to be the old one without the ugly "shark teeth". Very happy day

 

[Newcomer]

NICE Mimo! How do you feel about it?? Must be a monsterful day, since I too am sporting the OM today!

 

[Keith T]

Congrats, mimo! First impressions?

It's heavy, right?! Especially compared to your vintage Omega...a great hunk of steel. Enjoy putting some patina on it my friend.



zippy: nice UTC...classic IWC pilot's watch, with some additional functionality to boot.


frilly: very hip indeed. I like the denim look.

 

[mikeman]

Looking to just get a cheap seiko Skx diver. My question is whether I should get black or a Pepsi dial. I NEVER wear black. And plan on getting a nice brown leather strap. Just wondering what you guys would get. Thanks

 

[no frills]

Congratulations mimo! Looking forward to more wrist shots!

Guess who was in town for a few days? Yep, met up with none other than Dino944 for lunch earlier today. Among other things, we talked watches (surprise!). AP on him and PP on me today.

Happened to pass by the VC boutique where we checked out this lovely 47292 perpetual calendar chronograph in rose gold (here shown on Dino's wrist):

And what about that lovely face on the moon phase?

Sadly I needed to make my exit before 2pm. I have no clue as to whether Dino picked this up, but he can weigh in for himself...

 

[Keith T]

So THAT'S where all the cool people are today!

*jealous*

Beautiful Vacheron.

 

[no frills]

So THAT'S where all the cool people are today!

*jealous*

Beautiful Vacheron.

$127K retail, probably can be had in the $70s in the secondary market. Platinum 47112 (older discontinued version, same/similar specs but with an officer case back) for $80K.

But pricing in the secondary market aside - I especially like the smiley moonphase man. Teehee.

 

[in stitches]

frills. have you kopped that yet?

 

[jbarwick]

While the smiley is lovely the date number is in an odd place. Seems like if you went through the trouble of adding day, date, and month, you would make it pleasing to the eye. Seems in this case they went for function over form and to my eye it did not work out for the best.

 

[in stitches]

i think you are looking at the leap year counter. the date is indicated by the hand mounted on the same sub dial as the moon phase.

 

[in stitches]

getting this ready for sale.

 

[Wes Bourne]



Looking to just get a cheap seiko Skx diver. My question is whether I should get black or a Pepsi dial. I NEVER wear black. And plan on getting a nice brown leather strap. Just wondering what you guys would get. Thanks

Go for the SKX009 Pepsi bezel. Fyi, the dial and chapter ring are actually Midnight/Very Dark Navy, not Black. Looks great on a Brown or Tan NATO strap.

 

[jbarwick]

i think you are looking at the leap year counter. the date is indicated by the hand mounted on the same sub dial as the moon phase.

That I am. Still a long way to go in my watch learning.

 

[cyc wid it]



I have a friend who is an accomplished jewelry and home decor designer from Paris. Last year he opend a retail store in the Rockridge area of Oakland called Le Kube + Studio.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

We stopped in today and he had these beautiful watch bands. These are just a few of the different colored suede, NATO, leather, exotics, etc. If you are ever in the area check him out.

I'll try to stop by the next time I'm in the area to visit my alma mater (and hopefully not watching the football team fall into further disarray).

 

[mimo]

Looking to just get a cheap seiko Skx diver. My question is whether I should get black or a Pepsi dial. I NEVER wear black. And plan on getting a nice brown leather strap. Just wondering what you guys would get. Thanks

Having just bought a Seiko, what decided my choice was very simple: I didn't want anything that looked like it wished it was a Rolex. For me, the "Pepsi" anything just says "this isn't the watch I actually want". I think Seiko do some really interesting and distinctive colourways (like ORANGE!), and I'd rather have something with a personality of its own. It's a Seiko, let it say it's a Seiko and be damned. So, er, yeah, what I mean is "neither". Orange "Monster" was my choice, I also looked at a blue one (with the "compass" ring) long and hard, as the only other 20ATM rated Seiko I thought was distinctive enough.

Or (thanks to other recommendations above), how about a green-on-white Orient Mako? Same "proper" dive watch specs of screw down crown and caseback for 20ATM water resistance, and in those colours it doesn't look like anything else at all.

Congrats, mimo! First impressions?

It's heavy, right?! Especially compared to your vintage Omega...a great hunk of steel. Enjoy putting some patina on it my friend.

Thanks Keith, Nuke, Frilly: when I read the reviews there were a mixture of comments on the weight, and I now understand why: the case has a satisfying heft that I'd hoped for, but the bracelet is rather lightweight. It looks nice and it's very well put together, but it's not substantial. Anyway, I have plans for that to follow. Thanks for the various reinforcements of what I was thinking about which Monster: as I said above, I think the orange is the "real" one with the distinctive personality, and the older one just has a more appealing face. I don't dig the shark's teeth on the new one, and also you were right about the movement - manual winding is as necessary an addition as wing mirrors on a missile. This thing just cranks up at a second's notice, just like you said.

Overall, I'm really grotesquely pleased with it: considering I bought it as an even cheaper substitute for what I thought was going to be my "sports" watch later on this year (now promoted to "casual" I suspect), I have an overwhelming desire to put taste aside and wear it all the time. But I won't. l'll just use it as an extra incentive to take my fat ass to the beach tomorrow, and maybe allow myself the odd appearance at the weekend with a polo shirt until the other one arrives.

One thing that really pleased me is the way the size works: 42mm is hardly "monstrous" by modern standards, but it's deep and heavy and sits up proud on the wrist, and with that prominent crinkly bezel it feels like it means business. But the actual diameter looks perfectly sensible, even after wearing a small dress watch. Best of all worlds I think, for under $200! So far the honeymoon is most pleasing.

$127K retail, probably can be had in the $70s in the secondary market. Platinum 47112 (older discontinued version, same/similar specs but with an officer case back) for $80K.

But pricing in the secondary market aside - I especially like the smiley moonphase man. Teehee.

Platinum, officer caseback, smiley moonphase man....all press important buttons for me on the fantasy list. Had I had another $79800 this would have been a contender. Seriously, I feel there's a special oddness sometimes about VC that I'm really drawn to, and that one's a peach. So much personality in such a classic design. I must investigate them more.

And one day I must also meet you gentlemen for tea in New York. But you have to promise to wear the 3970p. And a hat. Dino's fine with the perfect RO. You can tell him.