A thread for watch love - The Bear and Badger

GooberTheHat

I've had my eye on this for a little while. Thoughts?

GooberTheHat

Minkymu wrote:

Speaking of Seiko this presage 1000 piece ltd edition is lovely. £1760 from Seiko boutiques only.

Qfpt

g.man

GooberTheHat wrote:

I've had my eye on this for a little while. Thoughts?

As Rolex knock-offs go, that’s very nice. What’s the price?

GooberTheHat

£650

g.man

Seems decent. I’d wear it.

Minkymu

GooberTheHat wrote:

I've had my eye on this for a little while. Thoughts?

Tbf i was mulling over buying the panda dial version. Funds a bit low after xmas though. For the money they are more than decent. Good looking watch, reliable movement with the usual decent build quality. I would pull the trigger.

Ed_Flanders

Looking for a good alternative to Citizen Eco-Drive watches (I'd never buy a non-solar watch after getting an Eco-Drive), I stumbled upon solioswatches.com
They're not much more expensive than the Citizens and look pretty stylish and understated, I'd say. They only thing stopping me from getting one, apart from not wanting to spend money on non-essentials, is that none of the models have lume. Apart from that, the Solar Curve model is close to my ideal watch.

g.man

Never buy a watch from a company you've never heard of unless you are prepared to write off the entire cost of the thing. A quick Google of this mob would seem to back this up.

Elmlea

I'm sceptical of solar watches, given that automatic watches and manual winders have been around for hundreds of years. I don't buy the sustainability argument that we have an issue with broken watches that they talk about there; the likelihood of a battery quartz or mechanical watch failing must be less likely than a failure of one with sensitive light-sensing/charging kit in it.

If you like that design though, look at Nomos Glashuette watches, they have that very pretty, clean design.

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Elmlea

Via Reddit, I've been getting quite interested in high-end replica and 'superclone' watches, it's fascinating. I'm really tempted to try a £600 Rolex GMT-Master II copy or something; made out of the same steel, proper ceramic bezel, and so close to the original you can actually replace parts with genuine Rolex parts and it all fits 1-1. The movement is the cheapest part, but the Chinese imitation Rolex movements are now arguably better than a lot of western 'proper' automatic movements.

You can get some right garbage for £60-200 that would still look passable to a layperson, and there are sweet spots where certain sellers seem to have a good reputation. There's a particular £120-ish Rolex Submariner copy that's well know as punching above its weight. But the £400-600 level seems to get to the stage where you could genuinely fool people who know. There's even a class of 'superclone' where they use the tag 'NWBIG;' not worth buying in gen; for a copy so good it's stupid to buy the real thing!

Things have definitely moved on since I picked up a £40 Carrera clone in a Kuala Lumpur market.

g.man

I collected super-reps for years. Some are amazing, some less so, but again, be prepared to throw it in the bin when it fails, and that could well be on day one.
If you're doing it, then join a forum like RWG and do your homework first, and if still inclined to pull the trigger, then buy from one of their trusted dealers.
I enjoyed collecting for a few years, but they all fail eventually, and then you're pissing in the wind trying to get them fixed.
Word to the wise, stay clear of reps with complex movements. They will fail first. I had a GMT fail virtually out of the box, so you very much have to be prepared to just write the money for any rep purchases off.

davyK

Even with genuine watches you need to realise you are buying into an expensive thing.

My mate was gifted a very expensive watch by a famous person he worked for when he semi-retired.

The effing thing costs a packet to service as well.

Elmlea

Yeah, I'm used to that aspect davy, my IWC's first service was £700 and my 20-year old Breitling Aerospace cost £550 for a batter service and new quartz crystal last year.

@G, there's a great community built around RWG and a couple of the other 'reptime/chinatime' forums, so I've been religiously doing my studying up. Knowing what factory you're getting it from, which trusted dealers are best for what and so on seems to be a minefield, but there's loads of guidance as you well know.

Complex movements like tourbillons, and some of the Richard Mille stuff I'd stay away from. At the end of it, most Rolexes are just simple automatic movements so they seem safe, I doubt I'd even try a chrono like a Daytona.

When did you last get one, or are you out of that now?

g.man

Oh I’m long out of the rep game. Ten years or more. Daytonas we’re famously explosive back in my day, but I’ll concede things may have moved on somewhat.

g.man

Anything chrono equals trouble.

Elmlea

This is from the 'Clean' factory in China; around $600, compared to maybe $18-20k for a second hand real one...!

davyK

Does look smart that.

See you haven't washed that night club stamp off yet.

Elmlea

lol not me; I've just found that on one of the forums!

hylian_elf

I really should get my watches serviced but costs are putting me off.

g.man

I’m off to Aberdeen for the day, but when I get back I’ll have a rummage in the office. Sure I’ve still got a box of reps somewhere.

Elmlea

g.man wrote:

I’m off to Aberdeen for the day, but when I get back I’ll have a rummage in the office. Sure I’ve still got a box of reps somewhere.

Oh awesome, get some photos! If you've got any broken/ancient ones you'd be happy to let go, I'd love to pick one up as a project.

Moot_Geeza

Some pocket watches and a stopwatch I found tucked away on my dad's boat.

None in working order and I assume sourcing replacement parts would be impossible/a nightmare, but I guess there's a chance one or two are fixable with tinkering.

davyK

Liking the stopwatch. Looks like to timed Roger Bannister!

Don't suppose any of them are John Harrison jobs?

Ed_Flanders

Re solar watches, I've had my low-range Eco-Drive since 2009 and I haven't spent a penny on batteries or repairs. Just an anecdote, but still. Anyway, you're right that buying an unknown brand is riskier.
By the way, those Nomos watches are gorgeous! Far too expensive for me, though.

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