Since some of you seemed to like discussing watches, so let’s discuss watches again:

I think all good watches should have screw down crowns. I mean, why not? Even if it isn’t particularly water resistant, a screw-down seems to make a watch seem just more...I dunno, substantial.

Someone revived an old thread at Watchlords about the Invicta sandstone ruse and all the old memories came flooding back to me: Invicta is and has been a cancer on this hobby for far too long now. From all the blatant misrepresenting of their products to the downright lies to the watches they couldn’t (or simply wouldn’t) fix, the company has been historically and almost impossibly bad when it comes to customer service, yet, here they are. What gets my goat is when people pick on, say, Rolex for the way the advertise – yet, won’t say a word about the misrepresented, shoddy crap that’s flooded the market ever since Lawler LaDingo found out he could simply copy a Sub and boomo, bango. Invicta is just clunky, garish costume watches hawked as collector’s items and other nonsense.

Somebody stop me: The brand fills me with utter revulsion, maybe even more so now that the FH slapped ’em on the wrist. They may not scream “Swiss made!” nearly as much, but they’ve replaced that con with Iron Man watches, plastic dive cases, honking 6000mm day glo Tim Burton wet dreams, and cologne and men’s bracelets and such. How f***ing common do you have to be to fall for all this? And, yeah, I’m sorry, and sure, Glycine seems okay, right-o, but if that company would see even .000000000000001/10th of a penny from me buying one, f*** all.

My favorite watches from the Watches & Wonder Woman … uh, Wonders show: Carl F. Bucherer Heritage BiCompax Annual LE; H. Moser Pioneer Center Seconds Mega Cool (stupid name, downright sexy watch); IWC Big Pilot’s Watch 43 (my overall favorite); Oris AquisPro, Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight 925. I didn’t think the “disappointing” Rolex updates were as bad as the whiners claim, though none of it interests me much. If the fact that there’s now a gold two-tone Explorer is keeping you up at night, maybe someday you can sit at the big table while the grownups enjoy the turkey in a few years. Highlights:

https://www.watchesandwonders.com/en

If Shawn Wilsie married the Pillsbury Dough Boy, he’d be Shawn Wilsie Pillsbury.

So what “major brand” got caught with literal trash in their movement? Check out this classic article from a few years ago here:



https://adjustingvintagewatches.com/rep ... ull-watch/

Those are just "spare" parts sent as a courtesy. Blathering on about watches is perfectly acceptable here. But I am sure we've all seen the eyes roll on some non watch person ten seconds into answering a question they didn't really want an answer to.

temerityb wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 18, 2021 5:01 pm

What gets my goat is when people pick on, say, Rolex for the way the advertise...

Rolex's advertising is every bit as 'superlative' as their watchmaking Skills if not Better.<<<Pardon the tribute for those who remember the blog.

What kills me is the folks who believe that if Rolex didn't advertise so much, the watches would be cheaper.

While Rolex is a genuine luxury product, it is mass produced, perhaps the best mass produced product in the world, but mass produced nonetheless.

As with any mass produced product, the more watches Rolex sells, the lower the end cost to the consumer. An excellent case in point is the current skyrocketing prices and long waits for watches directly related to decreased production because of the pandemic. Imagine the prices if their production was lowered to 25% of current levels due to, say, a major fire in a manufacturing facility.

While almost everyone has heard of Rolex, or, Mercedes, they may not realize they need one until they experience an advertisement that makes it apparent to them that they need one. You can belive these companies don't advertise just for the write-offs

I'm not certain of the exact breaking points with labor, R&D, materials, and whatnot, it wasn't my major, but advertising largely drives demand, and in normal times, demand drives production. In addbynormal times advertising drives demand even higher in the face of decreased production. Given Rolex has customers more than willing to wait and pay inflated prices, their stability is assured.

I'd bet that given the challenges of the pandemic, Rolex has likely stepped up their advertising buys to insure adequate revenues to recover 'normal' production levels to meet demand when the world gets back to normal, which is certainly not to say that the prices will ever get back to normal..

temerityb wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 18, 2021 5:01 pm

So what “major brand” got caught with literal trash in their movement? Check out this classic article from a few years ago here:

GARBAGE? That was their claim to fame: Styrobloc shock protection.

Flushes, all I know is that the hobby since the start of the pandemic has been one long bitch session and I don't get it. This stuff is supposed to be a respite from our worries, not the cause of more.

Or am I too old-fashioned and not "hip" enough? Maybe I should just start buying and flipping like a gibbon on crank so I can have more "fun."

T try screwing down your crowns to keep the Invicta out. Purge it.



I can't decide.

^^^ The guy on the right ain't bad lookin', not at all.

Nothing wrong with blathering. And, thankfully, nothing wrong with staring at innumerable watches for hours per week, even though I am not in the market for any right now.

One of my coworkers said I had “a watch fetish.” In a meeting, no less. I told her, and loudly, “Jesus H Christ, Carla! It’s not like I am strapping watches to my wife’s ankles to get off (not that there’s anything wrong with that)!” She corrected it to “watch obsession, which is very much true.

I have a plan: a nice watch for each of my kids, their SOs and my grandkids. I don’t want to take the dirt nap with a box full of shit that’s going to be sold on eBay as a task. One watch each.

Have paid down like $8K in interest free loans this month. Well on the way to knocking out another $17K in the next 8 months. As of 2023, it will just be the house and my truck (0% interest, thanks Ford Credit). Our disposable income will skyrocket. God willing and we stay healthy. And vacations will happen and watches will be bought.

And on I blather...

Sinn has ruined me. Conjurer can testify. The screw down crowns on them are beyond belief. The build quality is unparalleled.

Every watch I buy or consider buying, I compare to the two Sinns I own. I have owned three Rolexes, two Tudors, two Breitlings and four Omegas. I will take Sinn over them all.

Given time, the brand is likely to dominate my collection. Between GS and Sinn, I believe I could be happy.

biglove wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 19, 2021 4:57 pm

Between GS and Sinn, I believe I could be happy.

nity
Makes sense to me.

My watch collection has been like a buffet - dabbling in a bit of this, a bit of that. Sure, I own Rolex and Omega (always will be my favorites - call me jejune), I've picked up everything from Hamilton to Edox to Oris to Longines. I'm glad I had the opportunity to get a little taste of this and that. A tiny bit of vintage. A couple of micros. Laco, Citizen, Tag and Tissot. Seiko (mostly bad luck there) and Orient.

Fun. Takes the edge off.

temerityb wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 19, 2021 6:39 pm

biglove wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 19, 2021 4:57 pm

Between GS and Sinn, I believe I could be happy.

nity
Makes sense to me.

My watch collection has been like a buffet - dabbling in a bit of this, a bit of that. Sure, I own Rolex and Omega (always will be my favorites - call me jejune), I've picked up everything from Hamilton to Edox to Oris to Longines. I'm glad I had the opportunity to get a little taste of this and that. A tiny bit of vintage. A couple of micros. Laco, Citizen, Tag and Tissot. Seiko (mostly bad luck there) and Orient.

Fun. Takes the edge off.

The hobby has brought and continues to bring me many hours of joy. As long as that is the case, I won’t ever be “done.”

biglove wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 19, 2021 7:35 pm

temerityb wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 19, 2021 6:39 pm

biglove wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 19, 2021 4:57 pm

Between GS and Sinn, I believe I could be happy.

nity
Makes sense to me.

My watch collection has been like a buffet - dabbling in a bit of this, a bit of that. Sure, I own Rolex and Omega (always will be my favorites - call me jejune), I've picked up everything from Hamilton to Edox to Oris to Longines. I'm glad I had the opportunity to get a little taste of this and that. A tiny bit of vintage. A couple of micros. Laco, Citizen, Tag and Tissot. Seiko (mostly bad luck there) and Orient.

Fun. Takes the edge off.

The hobby has brought and continues to bring me many hours of joy. As long as that is the case, I won’t ever be “done.”

^^^That!

My problem is I can't let them go again, I really struggle selling them on, as a result my drawer is piled up with about 80 of the damned things....