Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Reasonable yet cool dress watches ?

Nice choice. Have you ever read Ol' Remus' (Woodpile Report) column about watches? He died, and he did not archive his column so I can't fetch it for you, but it's a classic and Patek Phillipe figures large in it.

Special occasion watch and Mickey Mouse.

Rolex wishes they could make such an elegant watch...

I'm with Special K on the Citizen Eco-Drive Titanium watch. Best one that I've ever owned. Not sure if it is a dress watch or not, but I'm not out to make a fashion statement and if it isn't dressy enough, I'm probably out of place there anyway. The boss wore those knock off Rolex jobs and he was an ostentatious individual as fake as his watch was.

Citizen Eco here. I hate setting the time and they are spot on with regards to time keeping. I also have a Tag AquaRacer automatic and it's the epitome of a piece o' scheit; it doesn't keep good time.

Is it too fast?

Yeah no dead pool watches…

I do like citizen Eco-drives..

Right now I like pilot type watches .. and picked up a Seiko SNN241… pretty nice…

But I need a couple other styles as well…

Any selection from Laco, Omega, Oris, Tag Heuer, Zenith

Laco has some uber-cool watches that are very affordable:

https://www.watchmann.com/lacopilotwatches.php

Hamilton Jazzmasters are 800+ bucks….

Up NOPE…. I’m ok if it’s up to 200+ but incrementally from there not so much.

I’m not trying to compensate, I’m just trying to look good.

Patek Phillipe has long had the reputation as "World's finest watch." The O.P. mentioned "reasonable." I do not think he meant as "reasonable" as a Patek.

L.W.

i wear a Bulova classic. i just like the simple lines and look of it

I was waiting for someone to notice.

That is fine, but it will pretty much limit you to quartz. Nothing wrong with that. You can find some very nice looking dress watches in quartz.

Movado..

Seiko Mickey Mouse.

Educate me - that’s why I started this here..

So what should one expect above / below a dollar level.

I thought Rolex were good until I had one and it didn’t keep time - then I found out that they need to be regulated (calibrated) every so many years to keep good time…

Does that come along with all high end watches ?

Thnx

A Citizen Eco guy also. Seems like every time change I’m on the internet looking for help with resetting the time.

I don't think anyone "got" this...

I posted this in the other thread from Johnw.

Quartz watches are inherently more accurate that mechanical or automatic watches like a Rolex. Plus or minus a couple of seconds a day for a mechanical watch is super accurate as compared to a quartz watch that would be plus or minus a couple of seconds a month in many cases. An amazing feat of engineering is a Grand Seiko spring drive. It is a combination of mechanical and quartz.

Probably the most accurate watches are the quartz atomic watches that read the radio signal each day. They are plus or minus a second every hundred thousand years.

Mechanical or automatic watches like a Rolex, Patek Philipe, Vacheron Constantine, Audemars Piguet (the last three are the holy grail of Swiss Watch makers) are on the constant search for accuracy and complex complications. A complication is basically any feature in a watch beyond the hour and minute hand. Things like a day, date, chronograph, moon phase, etc... are considered complications. A tourbillon is an additional feature in a mechanical movement that is supposed to compensate for gravity in order to keep a mechanical watch more accurate as you move. Those are generally very expensive. The most complicated complication and generally the most expensive watches are minute repeaters. This is a mechanical watch that will tell the time by sound when you push a button/move a button on the watch.

All of that is mechanical ingenuity and artistry that is appreciated by some and others don't find it necessary.

A quartz watch is a very simple watch movement that sends an electric current through a quartz crystal. This causes the quartz crystal to vibrate a 32,768 times per second. This is very consistent and repeatable. I don't know how this was figured out, but it was invented by Seiko with their Astron watch in 1969. It shook the watch industry and created what was called the quartz crisis in the 70's early 80's. The Swiss mechanical watches dropped dramatically in value and the industry cut a lot of jobs during that time.

One of the most fascinating watches is a Grand Seiko spring drive as I mentioned it is a combination of both and a $10,000 Grand Seiko is as well made of a watch as an $80,000 Patek Philipe. They are simply stunning and have some of the most amazing dials I have ever seen. The watch industry is very hot at the moment. You would be lucky to get a Rolex "Panda" (Daytona with a white face and black outlines) for retail of approximately $15,000 because you could immediately sell it for nearly $50,000 in the after market. This is a stainless watch and bracelet mind you. Many of the Patek Philipe watches retail for far more than that.

Some manufacturers will make both a mechanical/automatic watch and a line of quartz watches. You will see the price differences pretty quickly. I think Seiko offers some of the best values in beautiful automatic watches of quality. I mentioned the Seiko Presage series. Considering the movement and the price of these it amazes me how much you get. This watch is about $425. It isn't as accurate as a quartz watch, but it has a soul in my opinion. I enjoy setting my watch periodically as part of the experience. Full disclosure. I set my mechanical watches to my Citizen quartz atomic solar watch or iPhone in a pinch.



This one of the most fascinating watches I have ever seen and it is by F.P. Journe. It is called their "Only Watch." I think it is about $800,000 if you could find one.



This is how the hand will change to tell the time. I would have to tatoo it on my arm to remember.



This is probably way more than you wanted to know and I apologize for getting into the weeds, but I love watches of all kinds. Especially the mechanical watches.

My everyday work watch is also my dress watch, a Casio Forester.

Mmmmm…. Grand Seiko spring drive “Snowflake”