Nice watch buying tips for first timer please?

Angelina-M

wallbash wrote: »

Really happy about your news. I also have a plan. I had a Brietling for my 21st and wore it every day for over thirty years. AND i only had it serviced every 4 years. But age caught up with it, and even after sending it back to Brietling for advice, it now only comes out very occasionally. Starts to lose time after a few hours.
But I looking at 65 in a couple of years, so will award myself a nice replacement> May be another Brietling if I can find one small enough , thin wrists. But its got to be an automatic chromagraph .

Will start saving.

Thank you. The thing is, we are here for such a short period of time that sometimes its better to think what the hell.

There has been days when i've hardly managed to pull myself out of bed so I'm damned now if I'm going to save my money and scrimp.

I thought I would get buyers remorse but I haven't, not for a second!

esuhl

d123 wrote: »

If you bought an automatic, consider an auto winder if you aren't going to wear the watch every day.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=automatic+watch+winder

Oh my goodness! I've never seen those before!

The boffins create environmentally-friendly motion-charging watches to save the world... and people go and stick them in an inefficient electric machine! Ha ha! You've gotta love the irony!

vacheron

esuhl wrote: »

Oh my goodness! I've never seen those before!

The boffins create environmentally-friendly motion-charging watches to save the world... and people go and stick them in an inefficient electric machine! Ha ha! You've gotta love the irony!

The winders are mainly for winding automatic mechanical watches which were originally designed in the 1780's and became popular in the late 1920's. I don't think saving the environment was quite at the top of their list at the time.

After a couple of days of not being worn the mainspring of a mechanical watch will completely wind down and the watch will stop. These winders are mainly used to keep the watch wound and correctly set if it isn't worn every day so it won't have to be done manually.

I was given one for free by an American company called Orbita as a gift for reviewing a watch for them about 10 years ago. But I don't tend to use it. Setting the time isn't that much of a drag to me, but if I regularly wore a perpetual calendar model it might be.

For the serious collectors, you can get ones that hold 50-60 watches at once.....


The newer "boffin" kinetic watches use arm movement to power a tiny dynamo and charge in internal capacitor. These don't really need to use winders them as they can stop the hands and remember the time internally for months or years until the watch is moved upon which they will move the hands to the correct time and resume.

meer53

I wear my Rolex every day. I wouldn't spend that much money on a watch to leave it in the box.

I've never heard of a Rolex requiring servicing every year either. Mine is 7 years old and i'm thinking of sending it this year for a service. It never loses or gains time though so maybe i'll save my money. I got mine from Goldsmiths and i got 10% off.

Angelina-M

meer53 wrote: »

I wear my Rolex every day. I wouldn't spend that much money on a watch to leave it in the box.

I've never heard of a Rolex requiring servicing every year either. Mine is 7 years old and i'm thinking of sending it this year for a service. It never loses or gains time though so maybe i'll save my money. I got mine from Goldsmiths and i got 10% off.

Daft question but do people sleep in it? I'm just thinking that if you have to open the clasp daily then it could wear a bit loose and you don't want it coming off your wrist.

The guy serving me in Goldsmiths said that it needs servicing every five years.

chancesare_2

Angelina-M wrote: »

Daft question but do people sleep in it? I'm just thinking that if you have to open the clasp daily then it could wear a bit loose and you don't want it coming off your wrist.

The guy serving me in Goldsmiths said that it needs servicing every five years.

I don't. My clasp was adjusted (perhaps even changed) a long time ago, so long I can't recall when, but that was also because I caught it on a zip and pulled it rather than teasing the zip free.....

Angelina-M

chancesare wrote: »

I don't. My clasp was adjusted (perhaps even changed) a long time ago, so long I can't recall when, but that was also because I caught it on a zip and pulled it rather than teasing the zip free.....

Thank you.

I think its a mixed bag really, looking online, lots of people sleeping in them but the other half of people horrified at the thought lol.

PS don't we have a lot of Rolex owners on here?

chancesare_2

Angelina-M wrote: »

Thank you.

I think its a mixed bag really, looking online, lots of people sleeping in them but the other half of people horrified at the thought lol.

PS don't we have a lot of Rolex owners on here?

I think a quality watch is a fairly easy purchase in so much as it's a small amount versus an expensive car, big house etc. You get the feel good factor for a relatively small amount. What's more, it's something that is personal to you and isn't ostentatious (hopefully )

Angelina-M

chancesare wrote: »

I think a quality watch is a fairly easy purchase in so much as it's a small amount versus an expensive car, big house etc. You get the feel good factor for a relatively small amount. What's more, it's something that is personal to you and isn't ostentatious (hopefully )

This is true. Some of the really expensive ones are really gaudy! Mind you I did go with one with a few diamonds in... well I won't be getting another!