Watch purchasing advice?

[miyamotomusashi]

What do you know of watches!
You’re just a 16th century swordsman who wrote a fantastic book that would later be bastardised by westerners for business insights.

“If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything (including watches).”

― Miyamoto Musashi

[Daveho]

What do you know of watches!
You’re just a 16th century swordsman who wrote a fantastic book that would later be bastardised by westerners for business insights.

“If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything (including watches).”

― Miyamoto Musashi

Darn.
He’s right.

[remnar]

Thanks again to everyone that participated in this thread. I purchased a watch yesterday that I think will fit my needs perfectly. Some of the fancier suggestions were great and I can see myself purchasing one in the future, but for a daily all conditions knock around watch I decided on a Casio G-Shock. I still need to get use to how thick it is but after a day of wearing it I am very pleased.

[standy99]

Nice watch, can't beat a g-shock for a knock about watch.

( should have read the last post as I gave another choice in a reply to your post on page 2 :D so edit needed )

[ross8425]

I have multiple Swiss watches, and from what I can tell, the more it cost , the better the accuracy. For example, a $500 watch with a 2824 that has not been sent to a watch maker to fine tune, is not as accurate as a $1500 eta 2824 movement watch. Even farther, in house cosc and metas certified watches are even more accurate and cost even more.

You get what you pay for it seems.

I personally figure out what watch I want to get and then save for months, sometimes years, and then purchase.

[standy99]

I have multiple Swiss watches, and from what I can tell, the more it cost , the better the accuracy. For example, a $500 watch with a 2824 that has not been sent to a watch maker to fine tune, is not as accurate as a $1500 eta 2824 movement watch. Even farther, in house cosc and metas certified watches are even more accurate and cost even more.

You get what you pay for it seems.

I personally figure out what watch I want to get and then save for months, sometimes years, and then purchase.

Yet a $20 Quartz is more accurate than a 10k Rolex

Collect watches myself, Omega speedmasters and vintage watches and a $200 Luminox Quartz is used to set the time on all of them when they get picked out of the watch box.

[miyamotomusashi]

It's not difficult to regulate automatic movements yourself. Trial and error if you don't have a fancy machine. You just nudge the little tab over, +/- .

[michaelm466]

I cheat and use an atomic/solar watch. I wish their were more companies that did both. Citizen has lots of solar powered choices, but you have to get into the $300+ range for atomic- I currently have a Rangeman from Casio and its been unwittingly hit on metal machinery/rock walls, been snorkeling, surfing and whitewater rafting several times and the glass still looks new.

[Bodog]

I cheat and use an atomic/solar watch.

Me too. Citizen eco-drive with radio receiver from NIST. $400 more or less. Don't remember. Don't regret it. Daily wear. Sees abuse. Still looks good. Not a formal watch but it looks professional and does what i need it to.

[ross8425]

I have multiple Swiss watches, and from what I can tell, the more it cost , the better the accuracy. For example, a $500 watch with a 2824 that has not been sent to a watch maker to fine tune, is not as accurate as a $1500 eta 2824 movement watch. Even farther, in house cosc and metas certified watches are even more accurate and cost even more.

You get what you pay for it seems.

I personally figure out what watch I want to get and then save for months, sometimes years, and then purchase.

Yet a $20 Quartz is more accurate than a 10k Rolex

Collect watches myself, Omega speedmasters and vintage watches and a $200 Luminox Quartz is used to set the time on all of them when they get picked out of the watch box.

Probably 70% of the price of a Rolex is the name.

Yes, quartz is way more accurate. But that whole battery thing just annoys me lol.

The clock I have with a battery in it is my phone. Sure, watches need to be serviced, but all in all I'd rather have a mechanical watch vs quartz.

[Evil D]

My Hamilton loses time, I've never really paid attention to how much because I obsessively synchronize it with my work time so it's always being adjusted.

What I've noticed the most about this watch vs other less expensive watches is the quality of the sapphire. I've had Seikos that supposedly had sapphire crystals, but they always got scratched up. I have put this Hamilton through **** and the titanium body shows it but the crystal is still flawless.

[Daveho]

It comes down to your philosophy of use for your watch, If you want it accurate for telling time then yes a quartz is your best bet the same is true if you want to be able to bash the crap out of it however if you are into jewellery and status symbols then higher end mechanicals like your Rolex or omega are where you look- not to say the latter arnt accurate, many are however from a strictly functional stand point they are a dumb choice.
A battery in a quartz watch is $1-3 and about the same in minutes of your time, the cost for servicing a mechanical range from $100 to over 1k depending, nevermind the time without your watch- don’t get me wrong I love my mechanicals but really when it comes to functionality as a set and forget time piece quartz (or quartz regulated) wins.
I’m working on regulating my SKX009- making progress

[max808]

Thanks again to everyone that participated in this thread. I purchased a watch yesterday that I think will fit my needs perfectly. Some of the fancier suggestions were great and I can see myself purchasing one in the future, but for a daily all conditions knock around watch I decided on a Casio G-Shock. I still need to get use to how thick it is but after a day of wearing it I am very pleased.

Congratulations on your first G-Shock, looks nice. Has your collection grown since then? Having been down a Casio rabbithole myself allow me to point out a few things. The first G-Shock was born in 1983 and among fanboys referred to as the square, originally in resin, later refined into a full metal jacket version which became the GMW-B5000 series.
G stands for G-Shock line
M stands for metal
W stands for WaveCeptor or MultiBand 6
B stands for Bluetooth
5000 refers to the original G from 1983
D stands for metal bracelet
L stands for leather bracelet

For example this is a GMW-B5000GD-9ER

G likely stands for negative display or solar here
1 stands for black
2 stands for blue
3 stands for green
4 stands for red
7 stands for white
9 stands for yellow/gold
ER stands for European release
JF stands for Japan domestic market

In my honest opinion though the GST line is where it's at if you're looking to spend a couple hundred bucks. Many options out there to choose from and some serious deals to be had if you don't mind discontinued models.

[aicolainen]

It's not like I don't have enough watches, but another G-shock eventually found its way to my mailbox.
I actually gave it some consideration when it was first released, but deemed it too big for my rather skimpy wrists.
The Casio G-shock GBD-200 is an interesting piece. It fixes some of the shortcomings of my 5000-series G-shocks and for what you get, the price is ridiculously low.
The MIPS display is so, so good and would make going back to regular negative displays almost impossible.
Bluetooth is a two-edged sword. Tilting mostly towards good for a couple of reasons. It's a lot faster and more predictable for time adjust than "atomic", especially here up north. It's also arguably more future proof, with less and less critical infrastructure being dependent on the atomic radio towers - their continued existence is continuously under evaluation.

Beyond seeing some other people with comparable wrists wearing it without looking ridicules, I also see this purchase as a possible stepping stone to simplify and consolidate a bit of my watch collection.
With it's feature set it kind of bridges the gap between full fledged battery draining smart watches and the rather utilitarian square G-shocks. I have a Garmin Fenix that I've almost never used. It's great, but it consumes too much power and requires too much attention for regular use. Selling it. I also have two squares, a GW-M5610 and a DW-5600BB. At least one is heading for the chopping block. These are still the ultimate in beater watches, and they probably don't return much on the secondary, so it's probably wise to keep one for when I'm doing really stupid stuff.

Picture to come in the knife and watch thread as soon as I remember to take advantage of the ever shorter periods of photo light.

[max808]

It's not like I don't have enough watches, but another G-shock eventually found its way to my mailbox.
I actually gave it some consideration when it was first released, but deemed it too big for my rather skimpy wrists.
The Casio G-shock GBD-200 is an interesting piece. It fixes some of the shortcomings of my 5000-series G-shocks and for what you get, the price is ridiculously low.
The MIPS display is so, so good and would make going back to regular negative displays almost impossible.
Bluetooth is a two-edged sword. Tilting mostly towards good for a couple of reasons. It's a lot faster and more predictable for time adjust than "atomic", especially here up north. It's also arguably more future proof, with less and less critical infrastructure being dependent on the atomic radio towers - their continued existence is continuously under evaluation.

Beyond seeing some other people with comparable wrists wearing it without looking ridicules, I also see this purchase as a possible stepping stone to simplify and consolidate a bit of my watch collection.
With it's feature set it kind of bridges the gap between full fledged battery draining smart watches and the rather utilitarian square G-shocks. I have a Garmin Fenix that I've almost never used. It's great, but it consumes too much power and requires too much attention for regular use. Selling it. I also have two squares, a GW-M5610 and a DW-5600BB. At least one is heading for the chopping block. These are still the ultimate in beater watches, and they probably don't return much on the secondary, so it's probably wise to keep one for when I'm doing really stupid stuff.

Picture to come in the knife and watch thread as soon as I remember to take advantage of the ever shorter periods of photo light.

Thanks for sharing aicolainen, looking forward to see the picture. It's a nice and chunky one with a lot of features and like you say offers great value. That's the thing I like most about the Kashio family is that they're generous and listen to their customers, so you can get a 50 dollar resin G or a 5000 dollar titanium one depending on your budget and preference.

Though that MRG one is quite divisive among fans, some saying it's overly complicated and overpriced because at the end of the day it's basically the same internals. I'm particularly interested in the proprietary Cobarion alloy they developed for it. My own preference is stainless steel though for the weight and durability and MultiBand 6 for the great coverage we get over here, which puts you in GST/MTG/MRG territory.

For what it's worth my cased in China GST-B200B has better fit & finish than my handmade in Yamagata Japan MTG-S1000BD. It's probably the only B-series I'll keep, mostly for sentimental reasons. It's the perfect watch to sleep in it's so slim and comfortable. My buddy was very happy with my B100D that wasn't getting enough love on account of no MB6. Maybe MB7 soon so our Ozzie brethren can join in on the fun that is synchronizing a watch to the millionth of a second...

[aicolainen]

Thanks for sharing aicolainen, looking forward to see the picture.
8<————-

No problemo. Been a bit busy lately, but this weekend it’s just me and my son having some quality time at our mountain hut. Mostly fishing, but also bringing back another trailer of logs from our outfield to process for firewood. With the current energy situation in Europe you can never have too much firewood at the ready. And it’s fun work too. I’m sure there will be time to take some pictures, if I only remember :)

[Kenneth1977]

Honestly at that price point just pick you and see what you think of it. Not being rude but there are just so many choices now. Go take a look at Long Island watch mark is a good guy and has some really nice in house watches that are just a little over that price point.

[aicolainen]

[max808]

Old skool look + new tech = awesome!
Love the stepcounter too, sorely lacking on their GST line since most of those have had at least one digital screen for years.