Any Watch fans on ZeroGain??

I'm a watch fan

I regard them as miniature works of art. Here's one of my collection...

 

Good practical choice Julian. I like this one because it's very accurate, like certain speakers.

 

lol, so you know EXACTLY how late you are!!

 

I own a Breitling Wings but have been thinking about changing it recently.

Really fancy a Franck Muller but they are a little on a pricey side. Had my eye on a Conquistador model in a shop in The Arcade in Bristol for a while - it was in there without a price for a few weeks - then they put the price tag on; £10400!!

I'm afraid I'd take a Submariner over a Seamaster any day - it's the history you understand - it's like comparing an NSX with a 355 - the former might have the technical edge but that's about it. The Sub goes back over 50 years remember and was the original Bond watch. A good friend of mine has an extensive collection of vintage Submariners - interestingly he doesn't like the newer saphire glass models, considering them a bit bling and difficult to tell from the better fakes. Give him a 30 year old one with the perspex plexi-glass and he's in heaven, especially if it's a Comex one. At the end of the day there are a number of books dedicated to the Submariner and new ones still go for in excess of their rrp due to the waiting list whereas you can easily find a new Seamaster at well below list.

Personally, if I was going to change I'd go for a Cartier Roadster as, to me, it is just sheer class:



Matt.

 

NSX v 355, give me the NSX anyday so I guess Im right with my far superior Seamaster!

Quite apt really, the only guy I know with a Ferrari at the moment has the 360, he wears sovs on all fingers, a huge amout of gold chains, a nice gold tooth, wears alot of black clothes and has a gold Rolex. Hmmmmmmm.

 

dev,
nice watch there does everything i want too - if my citizen ever breaks i'll probably go for one of those.
cheers


julian.

 

Yep, Muller is grossly over-priced tat (like Rolex then )

Understood re the history and "story" behind the submariner.

I was speaking to a sub owner last night, and he told me the rrp is £2.5k (full steel). I thought it was higher - around £3.5k?

Some cartier watches incorporate Frederic Piguet movements, which are very nice imo. They still use too many ETA 2892's though....

DT

 

I'm not convinced the Seamaster is superior to the Submariner - after all the latter wasn't the choice of professional divers for years without a good reason. In fact Omega's challenger to the Submariner is arguable the Planet Ocean which looks very nice (but even the smaller one is too big for my wrist).

I guess it's a personal thing - I always think of Omega as a step up from Tag but as a step below Breitling. Rolex have a bit of an image problem in the same way as Rolls Royce do i.e. it's the choice of the lottery winner. However, the Submariner is still a fine watch even if it's turned from a genuine working divers watch into a dress watch over the years.

Sounds like Jimmy Saville

Actually, I did mention to my mate about the gold + blue version of the Submariner to which he replied "No Matt - you need to be black to wear one of those"!

And I think he's right. Basically, if you are white then, unless you want to look like someone off Footballers Wives it's best to avoid all gold watches (gold case + leather strap is fine), mixed gold and steel watches/bracelets and any watch with diamonds (or any other jewels) set in on the case!

Anyway, I'll stick with the Breitling Wings Auto for now and maybe go for a Cartier Roadster if and when I decide to change it.

Actually, one other brand I quite like is Zenith - long history, great movements and a discrete (non Lottery winner) choice. I also like the fact that most of them have a window on the back showing the movement doing its stuff.

Matt.

 

I understand it's £2350 but most places (including the online discount shops) are charging a fair few hundred more if you want one now because of the waiting list. You can however find new ones for list price if you know where to look.

The advice I was given though was to go for a decent used one - you can pick up a mint 80's model for a lot less than the new price and you shouldn't lose any money on one of those.

Don't know about the quality of Muller - love the styling of some of them but I would expect top engineering for the kind of prices they go for.

Matt.

 

I had a limited budget though. I was looking at 2nd hand Subs and everyone I saw had saggy links. id didnt consider the Seamaster until my cousin got one. He was an ocean bed surveyor (thus worked at sea) for a large surveying company based in Folkestone. The Seamaster was the weapon of choice for the higher-class naval folk (excluding the russian crew members who did all the dog's jobs). So being faced with a choice of spending upwards of £1.5K on a submariner or £1.2k for a special edition new Seamaster which I prefered anyway, I went for the latter and love it plus everyone thinks your Rolex was bought on holiday from the guy on the beach.

 

I wear a steel Sub, thus confirming many people's opinion of me.

 

question for all you watch fans then...

whats the coolest new/second hand/vintage watch you can buy... say for under £150?

Just interested

 

A Pulsar Spoon LED watch I think you can get them for less than £150, but maybe I'm wrong.

Any kind of "jump hand" watch is cool by me too!

 

Surely a black vinyl Casio, with red light digitial numbers requiring you to press a button to show the time c. 1979?

 

a Timex..?

 

Or the classic mini-calculator watches from '82 ish. Never actually came in useful in exams though.

 

Lol

Zenith make some very nice watches. They were reasonbaly priced too, before Richemont (or was it LVMH?) bought the company. They promptly increased prices 50%!

This is still the prettiest watch Zenith ever made. If I had the money, I would seriously consider buying it: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5028546893&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

Agreed, but its a trap a lot of people fall for. They see them next to Patek, Vacheron, Jaeger & Blancpain and think they must be equivalently finished/engineered. This is certainly not the case! Along with Breitling, Panerai, Rolex and a slew of other brands, represent extremely poor value for money.

DT

 

Any views?
http://www.blitzwatches.co.uk/productdetail.asp?productid=2658

 

Looks nice but obviously for footballers only at that price.

 

I don't agree - there aren't any diamonds on the dial!

UN's high-end watches are very innovative. They have a reputation for creating exotic, interesting, ground-breaking designs. Their in-house design genius, Dr. Ludwig Oeschlin has created many classics over his 244 year career ( )

Amongst other things, they have created a synthetic diamond balance spring - yes, diamond! An excellent material for immunity to temperature-variance.

My favourite UN pieces are the Genghis Kahn Automaton mintue repeater and The Freak, where the entire movement is located in the hands of the watch.

Their "cheaper" watches, like the marine chronos etc. use stock ETA movements, with fairly minimal innovation and finishing. Much less interesting IMO.

DT