Poll: What kind of watch do you own?

[theevildrsin]

I have the Seiko Black Monster on a metal bracelet, a version of the Orange Monster Jacob mentioned. I've owned it for 7-8 years and love the way it looks and functions. Got it at a Seiko outlet.

[Surio]

1. Manual wind-up watches (state-run company called HMT http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustan_Machine_Tools)

a. Father's old watch from late 60s

b. Uncle's old watch from early 70s
2. Automatic wind-up (same as above)

a. Uncle's old watch from the 70s
3. Timberland heavy duty waterproof watch with compass bezel for orienteering while hiking and for sailing (used it a long time ago) -- Brother uses it nowadays.
4. Two new automatic watches (TIMEX and Hilfiger) that we were forced to buy because my brother gets free coupouns from his company as "awards". :-\
I don't wear them very often nowadays. I've learnt to internally track time in my mind (and I am correct to +/- 15 minutes usually). Feels good when I write that.

[Surio]

@Jacob,

Aaaargh.... You stole my line . I thought I was the only fool in the World that considered steam engines as a work of art...
For all my misgivings on the Industrial Society's ills, I have a 1M x 0.75M framed poster of the Mallard thundering into King's Cross St.Pancras station in the house. Hoo Boy!

[Mater]

Nice watches and Ducati Motorcycles are probably the only two mechanical objects I see as art pieces lately. I'm in the military for a paycheck these days and getting by without a watch is impossible. I use a watch pretty much for everything these days, showing up on time for a shift, waking up, take-off time, land-time, onstation time, offstation time, meetings,etc. Bottom line, I couldn't get by without one these days, at least while I'm working for a living (retirement). I must admit, I'm intrigued with the idea of being without one (after FI) considering I've been shackled/dependent on one for so long!
Considering this, back in 2003, I bought a Citizen Navihawk (Blue Angels Version) on sale for 50% off (last year's model) for about 350$. This has been a fantastic watch, it has 22 time zones (and yes I've used many of them flying around the world) 3 alarms (I usually use two of them if I get stuck somewhere overnight and need to wakeup early for a takeoff time, ie., Kabul, Afghanistan where I slept on a bare mattress in my flight suit a couple months ago), Zulu time (Greenwich Mean, which I use everyday for flying schedules) date and time of course (I literally constantly forget what day it is and have to look at my watch to remind me-been in Afghanistan for 6 months) and finally a fancy E-6B "Whiz Wheel" for calculating things like distance/time relationships and fuel calculations which I've never used, not even once, for that I use my 1.50 calculator.

Bottom line: I love a good quality watch. Function should come first, but I like a little form to go with it. I don't mind paying a little more for a quality watch that's gonna last and the Citizen Navihawk has done that well so far. Before I left on this deployment, my battery died and I replaced it myself. Much to my dismay, the watch and all its functions were terribly out of sequence and after searching for two hours on the internet, I finally cracked the code to reset all its functions. While this was painful and probably took me 2.5 hrs to do once it was all said and done, it's satisfying knowing how to keep a quality timepiece operating! I like Jacob's idea of being able to take his watch apart and reassemble if necessary, that is true ownership.

[AnneBentham]

I have a digital watch that I got for $1. I took the bands off so I can carry it in my pocket instead of on my wrist.

[Camlann]

When my mother went into the nursing home, Dad sent me her inexpensive Timex. I think of her when I look at it.

[turboseize]

I have a Junghans chronographm which I do not wear too often (sits on my desks since six months, procrastinated battery change since then).
May daily watch is a soviet-made Raketa, hand-wind, 24h-dial. Mine is a special edition, celebrating the ice-drift station sp-1. I love the north (traveled to and beyond the polar circle in skandinavia several times), and so Natasha (a russian girl I used to date at that time) pointed out THIS was my watch. She was right, as with so many things...
Wanted to have a mechanical watch and settled for a russian/soviet one, for they have a reputation of being no-too-precice, but rather indestructable. And they are dirt cheap. Which was important, as I a) did not have to much money to burn and b) did not know if a mechanical watch and the surrounding hassle suited me.

It did, and the Raketa quickly replaced the Junghans.
Pictures:

http://turboseize.wordpress.com/2011/04 ... a-arktika/

[Rex]

My uncle tends to purchase watches (and chronographs) for me whenever he has no clue what to get me for Christmas, so...
I have a high end Reactor watch that needs a new battery, a couple high-end, discontinued Seiko watches, several high-end Wenger chronographs, a Casio Pathfinder (wonderful watch; I wear it daily), a Victorinox Standard Issue, and a Casio G-Shock D-5600-E that I purchased at half-price from a forum.
I have no bloody clue what I'm going to do with the other watches, to be honest; I've only worn the two Casios and one of the Seikos. All of the others have never been worn. :/

[jennypenny]

Funny, I thought of this thread when I read The Last Psychiatrist today... http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2011/11/ ... e_lea.html

[Luck12]

I have a watch - it's called my cell phone.

[TravelingTrader]

I wear a solid but inexpensive automatic Orient (Seiko) diver watch. Bought it about 5 years ago and it´s very reliable.

It looks very nice and the price was ~100$. I like wearing a watch as man jewelry.

I would never wear an expensive watch because when traveling, I would avoid duty questions about paid tax.

[xsmittytransmittyx]

I've been wearing Timex Triathlon watches since I was 14 (that's when I started running). I'm nearly 42 now & it's the only kind of watch I've owned. Heh. They run about $25-45

[OTCW]

I used to own a nice Cyma. The leather band popped loose from the watch when I was getting in my car about 13 years ago and it fell off my arm. I ended up backing over it and it was destroyed. I can still hear the pop sound it made, and the sudden sickening realization of what it was when I looked down at my empty wrist.
Didn't wear a watch for a while after that. About five years ago, I got a Relic watch as a gift. It has been fine with a couple of $3 battery replacements. Pretty boring as watches go. Probably in the $60 range.
When it gives up, I will probably buy a Hamilton manual wind watch (my dad had the same Hamilton his whole life). I have been lusting after this one for a while:
http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-HML-H694 ... 3M8Q63Y1TO
It has the ETA 2801 Swiss movement.

[dot_com_vet]

I relay on my smartphone for everything these days. The calendar apps make a regular watch obsolete.
The Hamilton's sure are nice though!

[BeyondtheWrap]

I'm not really into accessories, so I don't have a watch. I use my cell phone and my iPod for telling time.

[FI Fighter]

cellphone only. I used to own watches but kept losing them. Finally decided, what's the point?

[anomie]

quote from OP:
"I've gone through a couple Timex watches, which I regret buying, because I thew them away when the battery died."

Hi , the backs of those Timex watches can be removed, and the battery replaced for less than $10.
I have had an old Iron Man Timex for about 10 years now, using this revolutionary method of battery replacement.
And to answer the question, I do not wear a watch day to day, and could not care less. But can see how watch could be useful depending on one's circumstances!

[woodpecker]

I bought a TAG Heuer Automatic (swiss brand for divers watches) about 10 years ago when I was not yet really living frugally Was about 1000 EUR (1300 USD) at that time.

I thought great, this is for life-time, no batteries and stuff.

But now after 10 years it would need an adjustment because it's loosing 3 mins per day, and the adjustment costs 150 EUR.

So life-long fun with one clock is unlikely.

...I switched to my mobile as so many here...

[Bankai]

Mother of all thread resurrections...

Reading through this topic, in 2011-2012 most forumites who answered here advised they don't own/use a watch at all, mainly due to watches becoming redundant since mobile phones came around. A large minority had/were using cheap/disposable watch ($1 - $100 range). Only a handful of people admitted to owning a (mostly entry level) luxury watch.

Since only a few of original posters are still around, it would be interesting to see if/how this trend changed. I suspect it might have only intensified since almost everyone owns a smartphone nowadays, thus making watches/mp3 players/cameras etc. largely redundant.

I don't own a watch (I had a couple of cheap ones when I was in school/college but they all broke at some point). The main reason being I don't like the feeling of metal against my skin. It also feels a bit like being chained. I rarely find myself in a situation where I need a watch - I'm either in the front of the computer, have my smartphone handy, or consciously don't want to know/care about what time is it. Plus, my small wrists make finding a good match difficult.

Having said this, I find myself browsing entry-level luxury watches and even contemplating a purchase every now and then. Which is quite irrational, considering 1) I don't need one 2) it would delay retirement by 1-2 months & 3) I'd likely not even wear it a lot.

Is there ever any good reason to buy an entry-level luxury watch (think $3-$5k)? Can this be treated as inflation proofed part of NW? It's not even a status symbol anymore since nowadays almost anyone can 'finance' a Rolex for a mere $100/month over a decade or so. Would you ever consider buying one, i.e. once you're in a runaway more and struggle to spend all your money?

[unemployable]

Haven't read through the thread so may have already been said, but more places than ever tell us the time, and not just smartphones. We didn't used to spend so much of our lives staring at computer screens, which show the time. Most cars didn't have clocks before the 1980s. I glance to my right and see two digital clocks in my kitchen, one right above the other. And so on.

Is there ever any good reason to buy an entry-level luxury watch (think $3-$5k)? Can this be treated as inflation proofed part of NW? It's not even a status symbol anymore since nowadays almost anyone can 'finance' a Rolex for a mere $100/month over a decade or so. Would you ever consider buying one, i.e. once you're in a runaway more and struggle to spend all your money?

People collect watches just as with coins, stamps, Beanie Babies and thousands of other things. Yeah, I see no reason to have 37 different ways to show the time on your wrist, but maybe someone wants a Thursday watch they think they can buy for $3k and sell in a few years for $6k.