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

[DLJr]

Odd. When I look down at mine, the first thing I see is the gorgeous, classic simplicity of that dial and the stunning cerachrome bezel. Those catch my eye before anything else. YMMV clearly. Either way, all good

I'm certainly not trying to say it's not an attractive watch, I just preferred the previous generation's proportions. I think when you have an image that you come to expect, changing it can bug some people like me who just won't get past it. I have a few wrist shot pics I've taken during tire kicking missions that I go back to and back to and it just still creates a shape and line I do not care for on my wrist. But as Dino said, more Subs and GMTs for you guys.

Congrats on the pick up by the way. I'm sure you'll love it for years to come. My idiosyncrasies should be ignored most of the time anyway.

 

[no frills]

FWIW, one of my young internet marketing kingpin buddies recently bought a Montblanc Timewalker chrono specifically because they are well made and modern but are far more "incogneto" than his gold sub.

Although, in truth, nearly ANYTHING would have been more incogneto than his gold sub.

This 116618LB with the blue sunburst dial though...



(No, not the one on the left - that's the one with the matte blue dial. The one on the right)

I call this my "when I retire in Miami and wear ill fitting shorts, a golf shirt, a cap, and socks all the way up to my knees" watch. Kidding aside, this one keeps drawing me back for a look/see, although given what I know of myself - if I really wanted it badly I wouldn't hesitate this much before I kopped.

So, I must not really want it badly. Right. Right???

 

[dopey]

Sunburst dial is [insert emoji for giant thumbs up - like this one, , but bigger]

 

[TheWraith]

No worries, @DLJr. All is good

 

[Dino944]

Didn't think my suggestion of some recent pieces as being interesting for a certain price point and for people to check out a brand would be met with such a.... negative response, therefore I didn't spend enough time making a more 'defensible' post and finding the 3-hander with no date.

But here's a world timer under 6k.


While far from championing the brand - just found it interesting. Some of there 2 and 3k stuff isn't all in-house either for the record.

Overall, not a bad looking world timer. Also world timers have so much going on around the dial that it almost matters very little what the size of the movement is, its not a matter of everything being shifted to the center of the dial.

Montblanc's watch offerings have been discussed several times in the last year or so. Some think its a good value, some of us think its an ok watch, but nothing more impressive than countless other brands available. Also as BostonH said, for those of us who value heritage or innovation...its a brand that has neither. If a friend bought one and was happy with it, I'd say congrats and enjoy. If a friend asked me for a recommendation...MB wouldn't make the list.

Horses for courses I guess. The whole 'movement too small for the case' thing is often used as a blanket reason to denigrate a watch. I like to evaluate pieces on a one-off basis, and I frankly believe the MB perp still looks quite smart.

Never quite understood the TWAT focus on resale value. It has never figured into my thinking as I don't trade watches like baseball cards. I buy selectively and keep what I buy, but perhaps that's unusual in this hobby.

I think very few companies have managed to put a smaller movement into a larger watch case and been successful with it not looking either silly, not looking like the proportions are off, or like they merely wanted to cash in on big watch style but they pinched pennies when it came to the movement.

I rarely trade or sell watches, I tend to acquire. My oldest watch is 20 years old and was purchased new. Many of my watches I wouldn't trade/sell as many mark significant events in my life. I like to think that as much meaning as my watches may have to me, or my wife after I'm gone, that if there are pieces she doesn't want, or that she would rather sell/trade to get herself something else, that she wouldn't have something that is quite difficult to sell or has the value of a lump of coal.

From another perspective consider if someone knowing little about watches asked for my recommendation, I would be sure to discuss resale value, or lack thereof with certain brands. It would be a disservice to a real friend to avoid that topic and then have him/her unknowingly get screwed if they wish to sell or trade.

Same here, but I think that you're definitely correct in saying that there are quite a lot of "watch people" out there who do buy with an eye on re-sale value so that when they feel like adding a new watch to their collection, they can sell one of their existing watches to help fund it, or sell it simply because they don't wear it as much anymore.

A year or two back, I posed a question in this thread (or in its predecessor) about why the Classic Menswear side of SF prefers "non brand name" clothes but vastly prefers brand name watches, as it jarred with me a bit. Guys who highly prized small, little known clothing ateliers in distant places when it came to clothing were taking the opposite approach when it came to watches, and were exclusively focussed on watches from big, well-known watch companies - Rolex, JLC, AP and so on. I was curious as to why that was the case as it seemed very contradictory to me - why obsess over brand-name watches when you spurn and are openly disdainful of big brands when it comes to clothing?

Greg (gld203) and a couple of others chimed in and said that it was largely due to two factors - resale and servicing/parts. If you buy from a smaller, less-well-known brand that isn't well-known, then you'll probably take a big hit if you want to sell it down the track. Also, you can't be sure whether your new/small brand is going to be around in a decades' time and that would then affect the availability of servicing and parts and, if the brand goes under, that would also clearly affect resale value.

When it was explained to me that way, it made sense to me. It's not something that I focus on, but I can understand why others would.

As for clothing, it hold little to no resale value so, buy what you like as long as its well made, be it from well known brands or smaller more exclusive brands.

With watches, there can definitely be parts availability issues (my friend experienced that with an Eterna he purchased years ago). In addition, as you noted service can also be an issue with less established brands.

Beyond that, and I purchase brands that I like some with stronger resale than others. While my wife doesn't care, I think it would be somewhat selfish to spend significant sums on watches that will essentially have little to no value in the future (should something happen to me and she wishes to sell or trade a few watches that are not her taste or are too large), especially considering its a rather expensive hobby. Just my 2 cents.

This 116618LB with the blue sunburst dial though...



(No, not the one on the left - that's the one with the matte blue dial. The one on the right)
So, I must not really want it badly. Right. Right???

Of those 2 I prefer the starburst dial over the matte blue. Cheers!

 

[aleksandr]

For what its worth, I'm probably with the dissenting majority here. Not sure if I'll ever kop a MB myself - my current to-kop list is far too long already - but I do appreciate what they've been doing the past couple of years. And personally if I like the look of the watch and dial, I couldn't care less how much of the space in the case was empty air.

Out of curiosity Dino - what would you recommend at the low end / entry level price point?

 

[Meurice]

I dont understand the craze about MB watches. They make excellent pens.

 

[Meurice]

OK, this is a terrible shot, but you get the drift.

 

[Meurice]

Sorry for the delay gentlemen. I expected to post the final pictures this morning but was called away on other pressing matters. Without further wait:

 

[mimo]

This 116618LB with the blue sunburst dial though...I call this my "when I retire in Miami and wear ill fitting shorts, a golf shirt, a cap, and socks all the way up to my knees" watch.

I call it the "inevitable Frillyvolous purchase because you wear purple shoes and massive dive watches and don't give a ****...watch"

Down the rabbit hole you go, my friend...

 

[NonServiam]

Another day, another blossoming tree on my way from kindergarten to work, another rose gold chrono

 

[mimo]

Do they always make you hairy kids work after kindergarten? Tough where you are.

Great pic. Great watch.

 

[jbarwick]

I have a question (design of everything else aside), how is the spacing on the NonServiam JLC above, any different than Mont Blanc below? I assume people will praise the JLC and hate this Mont Blanc but given the same dial, I couldn't tell the difference. Just for conversation, I am not a fan of either as I can't stand the ~4:30 date window.

Now this may be the one Mont Blanc that gets its spacing right but a lot of the time it is all wrong.

 

[no frills]



Quote:
I call it the "inevitable Frillyvolous purchase because you wear purple shoes and massive dive watches and don't give a ****...watch"

Down the rabbit hole you go, my friend...

Hahahahahahahaha what an awesome image. And description!!!

 

[NonServiam]



I have a question (design of everything else aside), how is the spacing on the NonServiam JLC above, any different than Mont Blanc below?  I assume people will praise the JLC and hate this Mont Blanc but given the same dial, I couldn't tell the difference.  Just for conversation, I am not a fan of either as I can't stand the ~4:30 date window.

Now this may be the one Mont Blanc that gets its spacing right but a lot of the time it is all wrong.  

Yeah, could do without that date window Would have preferred a manual wind movement, too. It's not the perfect chrono. It is however an affordable column wheel chrono from a prestigious maker, with a robust and well tested movement (but not particularly finely decorated, therefore a solid caseback) in a superb rosé gold case that fits my wrist perfectly. That will have to do I sometimes ponder selling a lot of watches and getting a fine chrono from Vacheron or Patek, but I like this JLC (and my other watches) way too much.

In my eyes, both Mont Blanc and JLC handle the spacing well on both these chronos. This perpetual calendar however, feels a little narrow eyed: