Watches

Slidetechnik said:
Here's another I dig:

SNZF49K1_MED.jpg
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I think that's a good choice. Good looking, sturdy and affordable. Those Seiko diver watches and the 5-series have a good reputation too.
 
Unless I missed it, I'm surprised that no one has mentioned a Seiko black(skx779) or orange(skx781) monster. A lot of people say they are one of the best sub $500 watches out there. Can get it with either a rubber dive band or a stainless steel band, 200 m water resistance and a great set of lums. If you take your time and search around they can be purchased new in the $150-175 range for the SS band and under $130 for used.

An orange monster will be my next watch, as soon as the ol budget allows.
 
SCme said:
Unless I missed it, I'm surprised that no one has mentioned a Seiko black(skx779) or orange(skx781) monster. A lot of people say they are one of the best sub $500 watches out there. Can get it with either a rubber dive band or a stainless steel band, 200 m water resistance and a great set of lums. If you take your time and search around they can be purchased new in the $150-175 range for the SS band and under $130 for used.

An orange monster will be my next watch, as soon as the ol budget allows.
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I looked these up. I think this may actually be my top choice now. Awesome.
 
I have an orange monster among my collection. It's absolutely everything that everyone says it is. Definitely get the stainless band though, it really makes this watch shine. I love mine.
 
One thing to consider about the Seiko line of automatics (with the 7S26). They cannot be would via the crown. If you are active, this will not be an issue, as you will produce enough movement to sufficiently wind it. If you work at a desk, or in a lab, or at a watch repair bench (like I am), you will have issues keeping it fully wound, and probably have to deal with it stopping over night. Unless you want to get a winder to put it on overnight, you are SOL. I stopped wearing my Seiko divers because my job doesnt allow me to be moving around all day to keep it wound. weekends are no problem though.
 
Slidetechnik said:
The models I looked was looking at were the Citizen Eco-Drive and the Seiko 5 Divers watches. Realistically, 200 is the absolute most I will spend, as I will occasionally be in some less than "nice" areas.

One criteria I realized I must have is hands that illuminate at night. Forgot to mention that before I think.
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I like watches almost as much as I like knives....which is probably too much for my bank account. :o

Over the years I have owned both mechanical and quartz watches.
I like mechanical watches but I could never find one that had the fantastic accuracy that some others brag about.
Constantly re-setting my mechanical watches every couple of weeks got to be rather annoying.
Mechanical watches are fun to play with, but in the end, I just like my watches to be more accurate than the typical mechanical watch.

I really like the solar recharged watches from Casio and Citizen.
The Casio G-Shock watches can't be beat when it comes to a tough and rugged watch with lots of useful features.
I wear this one when I'm doing something like digging in the yard or crawling around under the house (model AWG-100)....

HPIM6323.jpg


It has most of the typical cool G-Shock features, and it adjust itself every night so it always has the correct time.
However, the image it imparts could be considered somewhat overly "youthful" (read as: a kid's watch) by some folks (like my wife for example, who simply just doesn't get what's so cool about G-Shocks).

So when it's time to play all grown up and look the part of a responsible adult, I fall back on my Citizen Eco-Drive BM8420-52A....

HPIM6417.jpg


I've went through alot of different watches over the years, but this one seems to be THE ONE.
Here's why:

A very comfortable bracelet
Neither too big nor too small
Very accurate
Solar recharged
Day and date
Very legible dial
Great water resistance
Looks nice with a suit or with shorts and t-shirt
Masculine without overdoing it
Handy diver's bezel for timing things
The silvery-gray dial looks very nice (my pictures can't do it justice)
And it was only about $180.00



So, I guess I'm recommending a Citizen Eco-Drive.


Good luck,
Allen
 
Slidetechnik said:
One criteria I realized I must have is hands that illuminate at night. Forgot to mention that before I think.
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Most watches have glow in the dark paint on the hands and dial. One problem with this is that it needs to be "charged" with light and quickly loses its light intensity. Some will last all night, but will be very dim after just a few hours and only visible with dark adapted eyes.

A much better (imho) way to illuminate the hands is using H3 (tritium) vials. Watches using this technology will glow with the same intensity all the time (not visible in daylight of course) and don't require any charging. They will keep glowing for many years.

One company using H3 is Traser Watches, and I've heard good things about them. Here's their website: http://www.traserusa.com/

Another company using tritium is Ball, but their timepieces start at around $1000 so I guess that's out of the question. I'm drooling over some of their models though :D
 
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Ikarus said:
One company using H3 is Traser Watches, and I've heard good things about them. Here's their website: http://www.traserusa.com/

Another company using tritium is Ball, but their timepieces start at around $1000 so I guess that's out of the question. I'm drooling over some of their models though :D
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Marathon is also using Tritium vials, the hands on mine sure are bright at night!
 
Ikarus said:
Most watches have glow in the dark paint on the hands and dial. One problem with this is that it needs to be "charged" with light and quickly loses its light intensity. Some will last all night, but will be very dim after just a few hours and only visible with dark adapted eyes.
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Can you believe I had a POCKET WATCH with that kind of luminous dials/hands. Some people just aren't thinking about what they're doing.
 
For $50-$100, you can get a sapphire crystal (see a Seiko forum) and have it installed onto an SKX-### series diver.
 
You may want to check out Baume and Mercier. They just changed their marketing plan, and cut the number of storefronts from over 500 to 200 in the USA. Stores are selling at 50% or less to move stock they're not going to be authorized to sell very soon. THes are very nice watches and rarely on sale.
 
I bought a Rolex GMT Master for half a month's pay as an E4 (~$210) in 72. At the time I was a radio traffic analyst in the PI and was recommended to me by one of my Chinese linguists. It was accurate to about 10s/month, calibrated by our automatic clock at work, and having Hotel time (Zulu +8) was extremely useful. I wore it for 35 years... replaced one bezel, one crystal (plastic), one thimble, one band, overhauled about every 12years. Only problem was the thread depth on the thimble... the winding stem would not lock down with more than 1/3 rotation. This was probably an OEM error as I am told those sold thru the PX systems were of slightly lesser quality. I had it serviced by local Rolex mechanics and not Rolex USA. When the problem with the screw down crown appeared again I retired it and went with a Casio. I taught high school for 30 years and most of the kids were surprised to learn it was a "real" watch... regards Les
 
Watch-u-seek is an awesome forum. It's the Bladeforums of watches.

Get yourself a seiko. They are nice, reasonably priced, and classy.

Do not buy an invicta, they are horrible pieces of trash that break, and keep terrible time.

For $150 you might be looking at quartz however. My recommendation then is to find something that you like the look of, as all quartz keep the same quality of time (pretty much). The most important thing is the comfort of the bracelet.

I think you will find however though, that there are only a few brands of watches that have original designs. All other lower priced watches are imitations.

I personally stick to higher end brands like rolex, omega.

Good luck,

-Freq
 
Get a kenneth cole digital watch. Its a copy of the $1000 Gucci digital.

Its got a touch screen and a rubber strap.
 
I prefer an Invicta or Seiko, they are the best watches for the money. ShopNBC has the best prices on Invictas.
 
To the watch aficionados, I really want an automatic that also has either tritium or some other lighted method other than light absorbing paint(not sure if that even exist in an automatic) for a budget no more than $350 and that's pushing it. I'm probably only fooling my self since it probably doesn't exist in that price range with those options but I thought I would see if anyone knew of such a watch. thanks, Trevor~
 
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