Yeah - I have permission to call myself a young'un! The watch band on my very inexpensive watch broke on a two week trip to Italy in 2005. Carried with me as my phone* wouldn't sync to local time and didn't want to do the math in my head every time I wanted to check the vaporetto schedule. Never replaced it when I got back to the States as there always seems to be a clock around - computer, phone, microwave, cable box, etc. I do have my grandmother's watch if I feel like I need a nice dress watch for something but, honestly, don't even know if it works.
* Yes, it was an old phone but it did the important thing - allowed contact with the States in case there was an issue with our Dad while we were gone for 2 weeks.
I bought a Baume & Mercier (Hampton) about 7 years ago and love it. I get a ton of compliments about it. Best of all, it has approximately doubled in price since I bought it.
My father is a huge watch enthusiast and used to collect. He turned me on to a small company called Lum-Tec that has quality watches, made in the US, that are fairly reasonably priced. I ended buying one and their customer support is excellent. I scratched mine and they buffed it out free of charge. They'll also replace the battery for free for the life of the watch. They can be found at http://www.lum-tec.com/. That being said, each year I promise to myself that I will buy a Baume & Mercier Capeland, which I think are beautiful timepieces, but I never do. It's tough to justify spending several thousand dollars on a watch, but you have to look at it like a fine piece of jewelry and not just something that functions to keep time.
Rich
"Failure is Not a Destination"
Coach K on the Dan Patrick Show, December 22, 2016
Rich, as I stated above, I love my Baume & Mercier. I've been told by a few people that follow watch trends that they fully expect the value Baume & Mercier to continue to go up. My only experience is being offered a little more than twice what I paid for it by a jeweler a few years back, when I had him polish the crystal.
As far as modern watches go, I currently have a Citizen. It keeps excellent time and is very reliable. As an every day watch it does the job, although I do wish it weighed less. But what I really like is the old pocket watches. The railroad grade ones are mechanical marvels and are beautiful to look at and can keep excellent time when properly adjusted and maintained. Anyone else into the old pocket watches? AW.
After graduating from art school, I quickly figured out I better get a trade if I wanted to make any money, so I took on a carpentry apprenticeship. Everday, all day, I would get asked by other guys on the job site what the time was.
"What time is?"
"8:30"
"What time is?"
"9:15"
"What time is?"
"1:40"
"What time is?"
"3:45"
Everyday was the longest day imaginable, because I was stuck knowing exactly how much time I had left before I went home. That lasted about 2 months, when one day I left my watch at home. I haven't worn one since, and the days have never been quite so long. (But my internal clock has been incredibly good since then.)
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
My grandfather left my father his pocket watch when he died and had both their names inscribed in it. My father subsequently inscribed my older brother's name and gave it to him a few years ago. I have to say, I always wanted that watch, but my Dad was steadfast that it was going to my brother as his first born and I never put up much of a fight. Material things like that just aren't worth family feuds. It meant a lot to my Dad to give it to my brother, and although I wish I had it, I admit that there's not much anyone can do with an antique pocket watch these days except put them in a drawer. As a consolation he said he'll leave me his Omega, which he now wears, when he passes. I'm willing to wait a LONG time for that watch, but I will happily wear it in his memory, which is something that my brother can't do with a pocket watch.
Rich
"Failure is Not a Destination"
Coach K on the Dan Patrick Show, December 22, 2016
That's a tough conundrum, and I agree with your perspective from a couple different lenses- that of a brother, and that of a father of two boys.
I don't want a feud with my brother when the time comes, nor do I want to create friction with my boys when my time comes.
Wow, pretty deep topic to spawn out of a style/character/affectation dialog on watches :-)
Anyone own a watch with a tourbillon complication?
I think that along with moon phase are some of the more interesting complications.
Skeleton watches can be cool, too, but some are hard to read for sure.
There are some pretty out there watch designs, a lot of them from Japan.
Ziiro makes some interesting designs, as does Urwerk. The Ressence Type 3 looks awesome.
There are even design your own watch websites that look interesting.
At some point late in my first semester at Duke, the leather band broke. I carried my watch (just the face/mechanical part, no band) to my last first semester exam in the Allen Building. I don't think there was a clock in that room, so I needed the watch. I ended up forgetting to grab it off the desk or something at the end of the exam, and lost it. I felt horrible facing my aunt at Christmas. Anyway, if anybody here found it in the Allen Building, I'd like it back.
In the many decades since, I think I've had a total oof two $20 Timex watches, and I can't lose them. I like round watches, with numbers (not Roman numerals, not digital), stainless steel in color for the edge/back. I usually wear nylon straps with the watch (remember somebody giving G.H.W. Bush hell for that preppiness).
The current trend in watches is the huge-oversized face. I hate that trend. I was at the store and just decided to take a look at a Tag. I put it on and it looked like I was wearing a wall clock on my wrist.
I love my Ironman for the gym and jogging or biking with the kids, etc. but my work day watch is a Raymond Weil Tango with the blue face. Simple and clean, but the thing I love is that it's super thin. Watches that stick out too much tend to get banged on things when you are as careless as I am. Plus the crystal is guanteed to never scratch for life. Before my wife got me the RW for our 5th anniversary I had to get new Citizen watches every few years because the face was too scratched up. 11.5 years later it still looks new.
The Gordog
Funny you bring that up- I agree there is such a thing as too big a watch.
At the time, I thought my Seiko dive watch was huge. My Raymond Weil is thin and light- these days it might be mistaken as a ladies' watch. My Fitzroy is pretty big and chunky. I think mens watches that are in the 39-44mm range are reasonable- I guess it all depends on your arm/wrist size to a degree.