Poor man's watch thread

[caspersauer]

I'm quite happy with my daily-wear Seiko 5 SNK805 on a forest green nylon strap -- perfect for my normal "jeans and OCBD" uniform I wear to work at the architecture office or the construction site out here in the culturally informal desert southwest.

I'd like some suggestions for a dressier watch for special occasions. Either an automatic or a hand-wind mechanical watch, not a quartz movement. Probably a white face, but I'm open to other options. Bracelet or leather strap. Matte stainless preferred.

My current criteria:
Design: minimalist / simple, ideally: no logo, no numbers, no text, no day, no date, simple indices...
Hands: 2 or 3, no sub-dials
Price: $100 to $1,000
Complications: none

Below are some watches I like. What other options should I be looking at?

Also, I've considered that I might want to create my own minimalist watch starting with, say, the SARB065... any suggestions for a supplier of a face that would fit these design criteria?

Thanks.

- jim

 

[Isolation]

I am partial to Seikos so I can't comment. In fact I just took pictures of my collection of cheapo seikos. I DON'T CARE I LIKE THEM:

 

[JTA]



I'm quite happy with my daily-wear Seiko 5 SNK805 on a forest green nylon strap -- perfect for my normal "jeans and OCBD" uniform I wear to work at the architecture office or the construction site out here in the culturally informal desert southwest. I'd like some suggestions for a dressier watch for special occasions. Either an automatic or a hand-wind mechanical watch, not a quartz movement. Probably a white face, but I'm open to other options. Bracelet or leather strap. Matte stainless preferred. My current criteria: Design: minimalist / simple, ideally: no logo, no numbers, no text, no day, no date, simple indices... Hands: 2 or 3, no sub-dials Price: $100 to $1,000 Complications: none Below are some watches I like. What other options should I be looking at? Also, I've considered that I might want to create my own minimalist watch starting with, say, the SARB065... any suggestions for a supplier of a face that would fit these design criteria? Thanks. [COLOR=696969] - jim[/COLOR] [COLOR=000080] [/COLOR] [COLOR=000080] [/COLOR]

IMHO for minimalist type of watch, you can't go wrong with the Riki Watanabe (one of the best value watches under $250, again in my personal view) or pilot homage watch (prefer the hand winding one).

 

[PsylentStorm]

I'm quite happy with my daily-wear Seiko 5 SNK805 on a forest green nylon strap -- perfect for my normal "jeans and OCBD" uniform I wear to work at the architecture office or the construction site out here in the culturally informal desert southwest.

I'd like some suggestions for a dressier watch for special occasions. Either an automatic or a hand-wind mechanical watch, not a quartz movement. Probably a white face, but I'm open to other options. Bracelet or leather strap. Matte stainless preferred.

My current criteria:
Design: minimalist / simple, ideally: no logo, no numbers, no text, no day, no date, simple indices...
Hands: 2 or 3, no sub-dials
Price: $100 to $1,000
Complications: none

Below are some watches I like. What other options should I be looking at?

Also, I've considered that I might want to create my own minimalist watch starting with, say, the SARB065... any suggestions for a supplier of a face that would fit these design criteria?

Thanks.

- jim

Of those listed, I like the Sarb (aka Cocktail Time), especially for a cleaner, more simple dress watch. I'm partial to guiloche of the Hamilton Jazzmaster Viewmatic, but it has some things that you're not looking for (date, a few numbers).

 

[DerangedGoose]

I've never owned nice watches, and even now I just have some Seiko Chronograph Premiers, which I really like so whatever, but the repairing of watches never occurred to me. Should I always send them back for official servicing, or might there be cheaper options (watch repairs? jewellers?) and just junk it when it eventually becomes too old. Does that actually happen? I came across a site mentioning that overtime the mechanisms may fail for a number of reason, which seems kind of strange to me. Is that slightly exaggerated, or should I not expect my lowish end Seikos to last a decade or more?

A quartz watch with no water damage or leaking batteries will probably last forever, especially Seikos.

I ordered a custom PVD Seiko Pro Hunter roughly two and a half months ago and it finally arrived a few days ago. Unfortunately photos don't do it justice, it's simply stunning in person. I've also got two PVD NATO straps on their way, as the green one it came with is fairly lousy.

Looks great! As a rule, I avoid PVD watches because without fail, they inevitably get scratched within a couple years and the finish begins to wear off. If you have a huge collection and seldom wear them its not a big deal, but I try to keep my collection focused on pieces that I can pass down to my children with minimal maintenance except for movement servicing.

Have you guys checked out this ebay seller?

http://www.ebay.com/sch/kontrolsports!/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

I think he does really cool mods and the price seems great. I am not affiliated or anything, i just saw the store on bureau of trade...

I bought a modified seiko diver from him that I have gotten many compliments on:

I'm quite happy with my daily-wear Seiko 5 SNK805 on a forest green nylon strap -- perfect for my normal "jeans and OCBD" uniform I wear to work at the architecture office or the construction site out here in the culturally informal desert southwest.

I'd like some suggestions for a dressier watch for special occasions. Either an automatic or a hand-wind mechanical watch, not a quartz movement. Probably a white face, but I'm open to other options. Bracelet or leather strap. Matte stainless preferred.

My current criteria:
Design: minimalist / simple, ideally: no logo, no numbers, no text, no day, no date, simple indices...
Hands: 2 or 3, no sub-dials
Price: $100 to $1,000
Complications: none

Below are some watches I like. What other options should I be looking at?

Also, I've considered that I might want to create my own minimalist watch starting with, say, the SARB065... any suggestions for a supplier of a face that would fit these design criteria?

Thanks.

- jim

By your own critera the SARB065 and most of those watches are ineligible due to the date window. I just encountered this very same problem. Almost all of the "dressy" watches in the affordable range have a date window. I sold my black bambino because while I loved the dial and case, the clash of the white date window and the overall asymmetry of the dial it caused made it unsuitable for dress wear, IMO. You didnt cite a size, but I think your best bet for a truly thin, classy dress watch with this criteria is to go vintage. Keep in mind most vintage watches are smaller than todays mens watches, but thats a good think. Forget what people say, wearing a submariner/dive watch with a suit in a formal setting makes you look like a poser and a newb. Even worse with some of the bigger, thicker watches out there. I have learned that for my 7.25'' wrists, I cant really wear anything smaller than 37mm or so. Keep in mind that dial to bezel ratio as well as color (black looks smaller) and case shape will affect how small or large a given watch "wears".

My personal recommendation for vintage watches is Longines. Their finishing is way above par for this price range, and while prices have slowly crept up, they are still undervalued compared to the absurd prices basic vintage omegas go for. Just look at the quality of finishing on this movement. Gold chatons holding the jewels, breguet style hairspring and balance, all under $500 for steel models:




The lower series movements (2xx, 3xx usually feature these aspects. Higher range movements do away with the gold chatons and sometimes the breguet hairspring. It doesnt really matter either way, all are solid movements). After looking for a dress watch for some time, I eventually settled on a 37mm Longines very similar to this one:




Black dial models are usually more expensive because the black dials attract more light/heat and in those days, aged poorly. To some purists, a refinished dial lowers value but I think a dress watch should always look polished and clean and a patina'd dial is worthless in this application. Here is a flawless black redial:




If I were you, I would reconsider your stance on sub-dials and include sub-seconds in your search. There are a lot of high quality 60s era Longines that featured sub seconds that can be had for under $500 in very good condition:









If you are looking for something even cheaper, thinner, and more unique, you can not do better than the Russian/Soviet 2209 movement. This movement actually comes in three versions produced by 3 different Soviet manufacturers, but all meet the same design requirements (about 3mm thick!). The were produced for export under the Poljot De Luxe and Sekonda brands. My personal preference is for Cyrillic dials, but all of them are fantastic looking watches that feature in every color and finish. The watches are wafer thin, manual wind, and incredibly classy:














Russian watches give you bang for your buck that most other manufacturers cant match. For those of you just getting into mechanical/automatic and vintage watches, you cannot get more variety and value than Russian watches.

If you cant afford a Longines and the Russian 2209 watches arent your thing, Bulova and Elgin are still going for dirt cheap (<$300) for quality vintage pieces.

 

[caspersauer]

Thanks "Isolation", "JTA", "PsylentStorm", and especially "DerangedGoose" -- I really appreciate the time and thought you put into your replies.

Isolation: What is the third watch you showed? It's a black-faced Seiko with a simple date window at the 6... I like it.

JTA: I really like the value of a Riki Watanabe at $250... but haven't seen it at that price anywhere lately. Any leads? I've looked at Rakuten, SeiyaJapan, Amazon, Ebay... and haven't seen it (other than the $2,700 one on Amazon).

Psylent: The Jazzmaster Viewmatic is a handsome watch, just not what I'm looking for at this time. (And, thanks for adding "guiloche" to my vocabulary.)

Mr Goose: Wow, those vintage Longines are beautiful, and I could easily accept such a nice, minimal subdial. My SNK805 is 37mm which looks fine on my 7.5" wrist (to me at least, see below). So yeah, I also lean toward what might be seen as a smaller watch. Thin and classy sounds good... I'll look at the Russian brands you suggest. Maybe Cyrillic text will bother me less than Roman text.

I'd still love to hear suggestions for even more minimal -- just hands and indices (with no text, no logo, no name, no branding...) or a modder who could satisfy with such a request. (KontrolSports actually has a few faces without text, but they have date windows and huge (to my eye) numbered bezels that are counter to what I'm looking for.)



Thanks again... and keep the ideas coming.

- jim

 

[DerangedGoose]

Mr Goose: Wow, those vintage Longines are beautiful, and I could easily accept such a nice, minimal subdial. My SNK805 is 37mm which looks fine on my 7.5" wrist (to me at least, see below). So yeah, I also lean toward what might be seen as a smaller watch. Thin and classy sounds good... I'll look at the Russian brands you suggest. Maybe Cyrillic text will bother me less than Roman text.

I'd still love to hear suggestions for even more minimal -- just hands and indices (with no text, no logo, no name, no branding...) or a modder who could satisfy with such a request. (KontrolSports actually has a few faces without text, but they have date windows and huge (to my eye) numbered bezels that are counter to what I'm looking for.)



Thanks again... and keep the ideas coming.

- jim

For Russian brands, check out Luch, Raketa, Slava, Poljot, Vostok, and Pobeda. There is also Zim, Molnija/Molnya and Chaika

You can also have a dial custom refinished for between $30-$150. It might be worth your time to find one of these vintage watches in rougher shape, and have the dial refinished to your liking.

I would recommend consulting the forum at www.watchuseek.com for more detailed directions. It is the preeminent watch forum.

 

[Isolation]

A quartz watch with no water damage or leaking batteries will probably last forever, especially Seikos.

Thanks, good to know.

Isolation: What is the third watch you showed? It's a black-faced Seiko with a simple date window at the 6... I like it.

I had to check look it up, but it's SKP375P1. I really like the simplicity of it. I think it works well with my more casual monochromatic outfits.

 

[Isolation]

I don't usually like the more ornate/more casual watches but I thought ******* and went for the SRP488K1.



Also getting a SSA021J1 at discount.



I am planning to change the strap to leather because the store only has this one quite a lot cheaper than the leather one. They only have a black leather strap model though. Do you guys think this would be good in brown as well? Not too sure.

Tempted to consider a midnight blue one from Equus too: http://www.equusleather.co.uk/watch...-watch-straps/bridle-leather-watch-strap.html but not too sure if that'd look a bit too casual/out of place.

 

[Isolation]

Got it.

 

[andermt]

Was looking for a more simple watch, mainly to stop me wearing an expensive watch for work everyday.

Spotted this Junkers Bauhaus in Duty Free at Cologne airport this week. Fits in this thread as it was only around £125.

 

[Michigan Planner]



Was looking for a more simple watch, mainly to stop me wearing an expensive watch for work everyday.

Spotted this Junkers Bauhaus in Duty Free at Cologne airport this week. Fits in this thread as it was only around £125.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Very nice. I don't see many Junkers but they always catch my eye when I do.

 

[mco543]

I'm not sure if I've ever posted this either here or in the thrift thread but here is my Invicta 14357 I picked up a few months ago. I know Invicta is about as well received around here as Dior Monsieur sometimes but I love it and for the price I paid for it NWT I've got zero complaints.

 

[Grayland]



Was looking for a more simple watch, mainly to stop me wearing an expensive watch for work everyday.

Spotted this Junkers Bauhaus in Duty Free at Cologne airport this week. Fits in this thread as it was only around £125.

I like the look of Junkers in general and that watch in particular. That is very nice.

 

[DerangedGoose]

The automatic prodivers are a good deal for the money, especially if you mod them (there are a lot of aftermarket parts) and take the time to file off the big INVICTA logo on the side and remove the cyclops.

I used to have a very nice Yachmaster homage they made. I sold it I realized that my money was better spent on companies that take the time to produce unique and interesting designs. There are so many good watches out there, in that same price range, why wear a sub clone?