Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Rolex Watch ?

I'm infatuated with automatic watches. As a diver the automatic dive watches have been in my wrist for 30 plus years now.

Rolex is the king of the watch world for those who only know status. Not for those who actually know performance and function. There are plenty of watch makers that produce equal or better quality with better user functions and to my eye far better looking then a Rolex. For a Diver the submariner is a classic that is hard to find any fault with other then the cost.

In my 30's I bought an Omega Seamaster chronograph for about 60% less than a Rolex Submariner. The Chronograph function and pushers work under water too, unlike anything else made by anybody at the time. Nobody then, and likely few today make a watch with pushers that can be used under water.

That watch is +3 seconds a month accurate and is Chronometer certified. Nothing mechanical will beat that at any price. I don't wear that watch much. It's so expensive that I worry that it will get banged into something or lost! I have other dive watches that work about as well as I need and cost far less. These are from very small makers that might only make 30-40 watches a year or as many as 300-500 at one production run over a couple years. They are very nice and made with such hand made care and perfection that nothing really comes close to them. Guess what, about 1/5th to 1/10th the cost of a Rolex too!

Of course, nobody has ever heard of these companies because they are so small. Ennebi from Italy comes to mind as does Helberg from Germany. I would take a beautiful Ennebi Over any watch made by anyone at any price!

Pugs, Starman's been around since 2007. The new guy in this instance isn't the problem.

Apologies - Confusing him with another new user. All other advice remains the same.

I've got an Oris dive watch on my wrist right now that is built like a tank and pressure rated for 300 meters. It is an exceptional watch from for the price.

I'm thinking Starman might be a jeweler or have a jeweler in the family who Rolex pulled AD status from. He's not just pushing buttons for kicks. His bias is too seething. I pray our witness to his vitriol is cathartic.

For you guys in the know, how close is Omega to Rolex in terms of quality and reliability?

Pretty comparable. Fanboys may disagree.

I would say Omega is 98 to 99 percent of Rolex for $3 to $6k less in a comparable watch. Plus, only Omega has been to the moon and only Omega literally saved the lives of the astronauts on Apollo 13.

For functional dive watches there is no comparison Omega wins that, for jewelry watches and those that hold resale value better Rolex wins that hands down.

A funny side note, James bond wears an Omega in every movie. As stated above NASA tested the top watches made in the world and chose Omega for every single space mission. They could not use quartz movements in space due to some magnetic issues they figured out. The watches had to me automatics with a case made that was unable to become magnetized or screw up the movement. The article goes into pretty deep detail on the testing.

The Speedmaster watch they used is engraved on the back case saying the first and only watch to go to the moon.

In the first four James Bond films, he wore a Rolex Submariner 6538.

Yeah, but he also wore Capri pants apparently.

Finally some damned pictures!

Didn't everybody?




I'll have to ask Kaywoodie.

Tudor sells more or less that exact same watch. It is the Black Bay.

I've owned both and IMO the Omega is better.

As far as a dive watch is concerned, (it's all I have so I'm not an information source on anything else) I would not own any dive watch for serious use that has spring bars unless one of these two conditions is met. It must have a bracelet with solid end links ( pretty good improvement), or a nato strap ( double good improvement). Solid end links are a massively better design to secure the bracelet to the case. The NATO strap requires a double pin failure instead of a single.

If you really want to be serious about an actual Dive watch it needs threaded lug bars, not that 12 cent thin metal tube with a spring to hold the watch on over a wet suit sleeve.

I have had those spring bars break on me too many times to count. One recent event was while fishing. Making a long cast to the base of the mangroves my watch flew off my wrist. About two weeks prior to this the spring bar broke and I replaced it. Literally, brand new spring bar broke! Study that connection point and think about a 3000-5000 plus watch and consider that entire expensive piece of kit is secured with a thin metal tube that cost pennies.

It would be like tying your boat to the dock with kite string!

I'll bet you said, "oops"!

Rare Rolexes up for auction:

http://www.watchtime.com/wristwatch...sties-all-rolex-watch-auction-on-may-15/

That Milgauss is pretty cool!

Vast majority of Rolex diver owners are not divers..they have no real use or purpose for a properly engineered
and constructed dive watch.

Its simply laughable that some call Rolex 'superb'...that means they must really like the crappy 'tuna can' bracelets.

Only in more recent yrs have Rolex given customers of gold Subs and actual solid gold winding crown,
prior it was only gold capped....LOL.....and the gold centrelinks were hollow!...talk about cheap ass.

Hell hath no fury.....