A thread for watch love - The Bear and Badger

cockbeard

Lord_Griff wrote:

The whole conspicuous consumption element to brandishing a swanky time piece sits funny with me. Especially in this day and age where you can't fucking move for things telling you how many more hours you have lost.

Unless all this is more like jewellery, and then the aesthetic of all watches does nothing for me.

I guess I view it as jewellery, but the line about conspicuous consumption reminded me a couple of years back having a pint somewhere near Whitehall or The Mall and couldn't help but notice the barman (young guy) was wearing a Breguet, and thought wow, he must be getting good tips

Minkymu

Very good tips. Jesus

ShabbyMcCrabby

This is my small group of watches. Nothing fancy but I like them. Will probably get a proper nice mechanical at some point in the future.

Also, remember when you were essentially a child and when your dad asks you what you want for your 21st and you say a watch and he says pocket watch or wrist-watch and you think "pocket watches are cool" even though nobody wears a pocket watch anymore and so now you have a very nice watch that you'll never actually use instead of having a very nice watch that you could use everyday? Well that's me and this is the very nice pocket watch I have but never use.

Minkymu

Shabby that pocket watch is beautiful. What a cool thing to own. I have always wanted one.

Is that Swatch a sistem 51?

Armitage_Shankburn

Hope shabs dad did the Christopher Walken thing when he gave him that watch

Roujin

Since a legit pocket watch got posted, here is a £10 impulse buy I got from somewhere twatty like Camden market years and years ago.

Also pictured however, is a fake Rolex that my parents got from Singapore from the high quality fake market, apparently. Not the shit fake market, who knew it was possible to organise markets by the quality of fake goods on offer? It was £70, brought knowingly that it was fake I should add, the fucking guy running the shop was like "Yeah these are the best fakes I have" and I have no way of comparing it to an actual rolex, and I broke one of the pins on the strap and it needs a battery or something but I can't deal with taking my fake rolex to a watch place to get it done hahaha. The second hand doesn't sweep when it's running, but it's really not far off.

Edit: Hmmm maybe I should try finding out if it actually is mechanical since it's a knock off of the perpetual. I gave it a shake and I could hear something moving around in there, might go and look up the winding instructions....

Dinostar77

I took a watch from dubai (again parents holiday gift for me) and took it into timpsons watch repairs in debenhams for a battery change. It was a brand called Blade. Never heard of it but it had a lovely white dial. Anyway they said something along the lines of this is a fake watch, and i was like well i like it. That was it, they swapped the battery out and i went on my merry way. Who cares what people think.

Minkymu

Yup exactly

cockbeard

If the brand was "Blade" it certainly wasn't a counterfeit product. As for whether it's fake or not, if it tells the time it's clearly an actual watch. That said if yours is branded as Rolex then the repair place may have a responsibility to report it as counterfeit. Just don't want you losing it if you do go to a big chain place. There's plenty of mom and pop stores all over the place that willdo stuff no questions asked. In fact as it's Rouj, then just down the road from you, one or two doors down from McDonalds in Camberwell is a big grocery store with a dodgy perfume/watch counter in it. They'll change any batteries or more in depth repairs no problem

hylian_elf

I wore a fake something or other for years. It was absolutely fine.

I only wore Casios (slags I referred to earlier) before getting this fake in a car park at 18. Next watch was a really nice Seiko from a gf which I then had to get rid of when I met next gf (now wife) who got me the Boss I pictured earlier. And you know the rest.

Can’t even remember the name of the watch but it was German I think, and the guy made it sound like it’s a really upmarket posh and swanky watch. I mean, it looked alright. But didn’t last that long!

cockbeard

Not a watch, but kinda, and moving away from mechanical ticktockery, but into design loveliness, I really want a Braun alarm clock. We had loads in the house as a kid, and they do make a watch with the same face, but if I was buying watches for dial design, then the german railway clock one would be higher up the list. Anyway yeah these, just so pretty, remember changing the position of that alarm hand every Friday and Sunday night to have a weekend lie in

A1rbuJi8BmL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

but obviously as a kid you hanker for more buttons, more extras, more complexity, so wanted this one, what a fool

But yeah Braun made some proper timeless stuff, well done their designers

Minkymu

Oooooh nice. Mondaine make nice watches and clocks too.

Check out the Braun digital watch. Its lovely

g.man

That first Braun you posted Cocko, was my first ever alarm clock, but mine had a white case.

cockbeard

Mine too, just weirdly from some random cupboard, my old man would pull a new one, for whatever room had an occupant whenever it changed

edit: Mondaine, that's the guys (railway clock), always reminded me a bit of the clock you'd have in the swimming baths

cockbeard

This thread reminded me, if any of you are anywhere near London when things are open then the clockmakers museum inside the Science Museum is an amazing thing to visit, when things open back up. I picked up a fantastic book when I visited, super interesting, will add some pictures of highlights, or search for a pdf, back in a bit

edit: Sorry for poor quality and some reflections of pages but I just did this on my phone, especially to moot who if he sees this will think me a complete rank amateur. Anyway, wasn't sure how best not to cane the bandwidth here so created a shared folder instead, I think it's lovely, and worth visiting if it's still there after reopen
https://photos.app.goo.gl/gWHdfPnD32MjUPCR6

Minkymu

Lovely stuff cocko

Minkymu

The mondaine stop to go watch is lovely the second hand delays its movement by one second when it hits 12 then jumps on to the 2 seconds marker. It never hits the 1 second marker. Its odd to see it in action, but this mimics the trainstation clocks which were set up Like that so trains would always leave bang on the hour.

Minkymu

Talk about legible

Brooks

Ffs? Settle down, watch.

b0r1s

Noice!

cockbeard

Minkymu wrote:

The mondaine stop to go watch is lovely the second hand delays its movement by one second when it hits 12 then jumps on to the 2 seconds marker. It never hits the 1 second marker. Its odd to see it in action, but this mimics the trainstation clocks which were set up Like that so trains would always leave bang on the hour.

hahahaha, it's always about trains, that's why (possibly apocryphal, no references sorry) GMT was eventually created. Bristol happening to be eight minutes behind London made train schedules look like mad shit. I always thought it amusing that it was the same amount of time it takes for the light from the sun to actually hit the earth, I notice and appreciate coincidences

Minkymu

Here is the Braun digital watch, in silver, it also comes in black.

I think that’s magnificent.

b0r1s

I like it all except the logo. That would be much better engraved in the strap.

g.man

I don't recall exactly what, but there was some issue with these on the watch forum I used to frequent. People got super excited about the pictures of it, but when people ordered it and the actual watch arrived, for some reason it was a bit pony and no-one was happy with it.

SpaceGazelle

Aye Minky, Steinhart make really good quality watches at really good prices. A lot of them are Rolex clones, but that in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I watched a thing that actual Rolex clones were getting so good they were more or less the same, but they aren't cheap.

g.man

Yup. If you know where to look, there are many absolutely stunning replicas out there.

SpaceGazelle

I'm really warming to the Chinese copy philosophy. It used to be cheap knock-offs but now it's all about making existing ideas better without fear of litigation - either by improving an existing product or making it cheaper without much quality compromise. I've posted this before but it's a way of thinking we just don't have in the West, to our detriment.

cockbeard

Gotta be honest, I wore those dodgy vapormax more han I expected and they are still super comfy
Let's be honest the only thing we're passing to our kids are houses if we're lucky enough to buy one (and lighers ofc ourse) so fuck it, ut what it really tells me is why can you make a perfect rolex 1:1 for £500 and not make a good looking watch for the same price?? Morons

ShabbyMcCrabby

Minkymu wrote:

Shabby that pocket watch is beautiful. What a cool thing to own. I have always wanted one.

Is that Swatch a sistem 51?

Yeah it is. I thought the engineering of it was great. Although I don't think this one keeps the best time unfortunately.

And I also kinda always wanted a pocket watch too which is why, I think, I asked for one. Older me wishes he had a nice wristwatch now though. This piece is very nice to look at. I'll take a photo of the back-side too which is also very pretty

davyK

That Braun digi watch looks splendid.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories