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Any watch people here???
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Tripped over a great deal on a Maurice Lacroix Pontos Automatic chronograph and a Jean Richard Aeroscope chronograph today. And on the other end of the spectrum I picked up pretty cool old Seiko 5 Automatic for 18 bucks. Wearing the Seiko now.
Invite for some knowledge share with the semi-pros on this forum -
I am considering diverting some of my gun attention to finding a respectable watch. I am not a brand snob yet but I suspect that will develop with education. I know enough to know i like Omega and also that i probably need to be looking at "pre-owned" for anything in that range. Based on what i read so far, i also favor automatics.
Question to the participants - where to look? I am not expecting to become a watch trader but I do love finding a deal, just in case i need to upgrade later.
I am considering diverting some of my gun attention to finding a respectable watch. I am not a brand snob yet but I suspect that will develop with education. I know enough to know i like Omega and also that i probably need to be looking at "pre-owned" for anything in that range. Based on what i read so far, i also favor automatics.
Question to the participants - where to look? I am not expecting to become a watch trader but I do love finding a deal, just in case i need to upgrade later.
There will probably e a lot of argument over this but I LOVE my local pawn shop. You never know what they are going to have in, they are great for haggling(not that I've had to struggle to get a bargain) and they can take trades and work with lay away for me.
I'm dreaming of an Omega as well. And maybe a Breitling eventually. But right now I'm having fun discovering brands I never heard of. Before today I had never heard of either Maurice Lacroix or Jean Richard. Found them at my local pawn shop and started researching. Liked the Lacroix immediately for look and feel and love the orange luminous pips. The Jean Richard was not love at first sight but it's grown on me. Have fallen hard for Tag Heuer as well. Crisp clean watches.
I'm dreaming of an Omega as well. And maybe a Breitling eventually. But right now I'm having fun discovering brands I never heard of. Before today I had never heard of either Maurice Lacroix or Jean Richard. Found them at my local pawn shop and started researching. Liked the Lacroix immediately for look and feel and love the orange luminous pips. The Jean Richard was not love at first sight but it's grown on me. Have fallen hard for Tag Heuer as well. Crisp clean watches.
Before you go I'd say look at several price ranges of watches and familiarize yourself with how the models fluctuate in value. Most makers have watches from very reasonable to outrageously expensive. I love Tag Heuers for instance but they have models that look very similar but can cost dramatically different prices. A nice used Professional should be able to be had for $250-350(or more of course), but a similar looking Aquaracer will start around $400 and go up to over a grand. Citizen is one of my long time favorites from before I started getting interested in "fine" timepieces. I usually bought Eco Drives for $40-80. But some Citizens have $700-800 MSRPs.
Also, you might think about whether you want a battery powered, mechanical wide up, self winding or solar powered watch. Usually a quartz battery powered watch is cheapest but needs a battery every couple to few years. Solar powered like Citizen Eco-Drives are more expensive quartz models. Likewise, old style wind up watches are usually cheaper than automatics. As long as you wear your watch daily an automatic will never need winding but if you let it sit for a couple of days it will wind down and need to be either wound or worn to wind it and reset. You can buy a winder to store it in that automatically winds the watch while stored.
Lately I've become fascinated with automatics and I'm going to have to invest in a winder...dammit. They ain't cheap.
I do have a Citizen eco titanium, love that thing! it kicked the Seiko out of the drawer.
I am leaning heavy towards automatic but also need to look into a winder option if I do. Let me know what you find there.
Ha! That didn't take long!
BTW I got my Wolf winder for about $80. It's a little bit of money, but better than the $160 they normally run. Yes you can get a cheap plastic one for about $30 but imo they're not nice enough to display and the *holder* for your watch is plastic also. I worried about scratches on the watch over time.
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I'm a bargain shark. Right now the best I've been able to find on winders is in the $40 and up range on eBay.
This is the Citizen Titanium I have,,,well model. The thing has a black sunray face that shines like a vinyl record bouncing sunshine off it. And it's so lightweight you forget it's there...which is when I bump it into something and scratch crystals. LOL.
