Wedding Present

fondue

I'm looking for a bit of advice. I am looking to buy my husband-to-be a watch as a gift to give to him on the morning of our wedding. I don't really know where to start looking or what I should be looking out for/brands etc. Budget of about €200 and I'm looking for a brown/tan leather strap.

Zagato

fondue wrote: »

I'm looking for a bit of advice. I am looking to buy my husband-to-be a watch as a gift to give to him on the morning of our wedding. I don't really know where to start looking or what I should be looking out for/brands etc. Budget of about €200 and I'm looking for a brown/tan leather strap.

Brands to look at for this price point are probably Seiko, Citizen, Tissot, and maybe at the upper end of your budget a Hamilton Khaki?
Do you know what he would like? Does he have big/small wrists?

Another option is Orient, not sold in shops in Ireland or UK but available online.

Zaph

The guys in this forum will probably be able to help you.

fondue

Zagato wrote: »

Brands to look at for this price point are probably Seiko, Citizen, Tissot, and maybe at the upper end of your budget a Hamilton Khaki?
Do you know what he would like? Does he have big/small wrists?

Another option is Orient, not sold in shops in Ireland or UK but available online.

He has big wrists. He has a few watches a fossil, diesel and police. Thanks for the advice, I will have a look at those brands.

CarltonBrowne

Don't forget that you can always change the strap if you find something that you like. A friend in Stockholm recently asked me a similar question (his son had asked for a watch for his confirmation) only his budget was €250-300. This is what I sent him.

1. Avoid anything gold-plated. Assuming he manages to keep the watch for a few years this is not going to wear well and trying to get plate re-done or re-finished is a nightmare as I know to my cost.
2. In an ideal world and with enough time I would look to source a Japan Domestic Seiko from Seiya Japan or Higuchi. The Sarb 033 is an excellent watch and relatively unavailable in Europe. Both are well known for their excellent comms but obviously it’s going to have to come from Japan – not a huge problem in itself but it’s likely to sit in Swedish customs and that will be your main challenge. There is a Seiko centre in Amsterdam but their website is spectacularly sh;t. – maybe send them an email but I don’t think they’ll have what you want.
http://www.seiyajapan.com/
http://www.seiyajapan.com/collections/featured/products/s-sarb033
http://www.higuchi-inc.com/Spilitmecha.html
3. Other more commonly available Seikos that I would look at are what is known amongst collectors as the Fifty Fathoms or the Monster. The Monster is well within the budget and is probably the best value of any watch out there but it’s a bit of a beast – probably not what’s required. Here’s a link to the Fifty Fathoms I used to have – I think the blue dial one (mine was black) look quite cool. The size is 42mm which is a little large
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?151740-A-fathomable-Seiko-5-SNZH53K1-incoming
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seiko-Mens-Automatic-Watch-SNZH53K1/dp/B0041LG08U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404306489&sr=8-1&keywords=SNZH53K1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seiko-Mens-Automatic-Watch-SNZH55K1/dp/B0045D6570/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1404306489&sr=8-2&keywords=SNZH53K1
Monster 1st generation
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seiko-Mens-Divers-Watch-SKX779K1/dp/B0006IHHN4/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1404306519&sr=8-10&keywords=seiko+monster
Monster 2nd generation
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seiko-Generation-Black-Monster-SRP307K1/dp/B00AJK9CW8/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1404306519&sr=8-6&keywords=seiko+monster
4. The next thing I’d look at is the Mondaine watches which are styled exactly on the SBB Swiss railway platform clocks. Unfortunately your budget doesn’t run to one with a mechanical movement (an automatic just sold on the forum for £150) –you’re limited to quartz. Lots of options on Amazon and you should be able to pick these up on the High St in Stockholm as well.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=mondaine
5. The guy who runs my watch forum makes some excellent and good value watches. I’d look at the sporty PRS-18 (Quartz £185, mechanical £244) or the PRS5 (£265 for a mechanical).
http://timefactors.com/precista.htm
6. Good old Ernest Jones have a sale on at the moment. There’s a lot of tat there but they have some Hamiltons which might come into budget. Not sure how Sammy feels about wearing the same brand as his old man. Have a browse of the sale watches but if you see something let me give you my view prior to purchase.
http://www.ernestjones.co.uk/webstore/l/search/?Ntk=PRIMARY&Ntt=hamilton#/webstore/l/search/recipient|him/?Ntk=PRIMARY&Ntt=hamilton
http://www.ernestjones.co.uk/webstore/l/watches/price|on+sale/
7. I’ve had a look to see whether anybody is selling anything of interest on the forum (Tz-UK, not Boards.ie - Ed.)and it looks a bit thin at the moment. Somebody (who I trust) is selling a JDM Seiko for £275. Picture liked below http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q111/girons/033_zps7ac3553a.jpg. There’s also an excellent Girard Perregaux but it has an early quartz movement which is too delicate and difficult to service for somebody of Sammy’s age (I have 3 of these watches so I know)
8. Another nice option would be a refurbished Omega dress watch from the 50’s or 60’s. There is somebody on the forum who tarts these up as a hobby – I can ask if he has anything if you want. I was thinking of something in this vein. https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2915/14365648918_67a5628303_c.jpg which just sold on the forum for £235.
9. Other options that are commonly available at the price could be a Tissot and other Swatch brands such as Mido but these largely leave me cold
10. There is also Russian – most of the online sellers are in Russia and I’d be concerned about delivery in time. There’s a German dealer on Poljot24.de and it’s worth a look. I had an idea that a Sturmanskie Okean chronograph would be exceptionally cool but have just checked and it’s way over your budget.
http://www.poljot24.de/en/sturmanskie-chronograph-ozean.html
11. Finally there is the Seagull Chinese 1963 air force chronograph which is becoming very popular amongst collectors and seems to be commonly available.
http://www.watchunique.com/seagull-1963.html

In your position I think I'd focus on Mondaine or the Seagull Chinese one but accept that the latter would probably hold little interest outside of a watch forum.

fondue

CarltonBrowne wrote: »

Don't forget that you can always change the strap if you find something that you like. A friend in Stockholm recently asked me a similar question (his son had asked for a watch for his confirmation) only his budget was €250-300. This is what I sent him.

In your position I think I'd focus on Mondaine or the Seagull Chinese one but accept that the latter would probably hold little interest outside of a watch forum.

Wow, thanks. I think he'd love the idea of option 8.

Brief_Lives

Hi, sorry to hi-jack this thread, but your post is very informative and helpful, thanks...
Especially these 2 options;

CarltonBrowne wrote: »

5. The guy who runs my watch forum makes some excellent and good value watches. I’d look at the sporty PRS-18 (Quartz £185, mechanical £244) or the PRS5 (£265 for a mechanical).


8. Another nice option would be a refurbished Omega dress watch from the 50’s or 60’s. There is somebody on the forum who tarts these up as a hobby – I can ask if he has anything if you want. I was thinking of something in this vein. which just sold on the forum for £235..

Those Precista watches look beautiful, I might go on a search for them, do they appear online second hand much..?
Also, that Omega watch, again, it looks wonderful, will they last many years..? or how reliable are they..

Eoin

Those Precista watches look beautiful, I might go on a search for them, do they appear online second hand much..?

They do come up occasionally on tz-uk (the forum owned by the maker), but you've to be a member for a while and have a certain number of posts before you can look at the sales forum. You'll see them pop-up on eBay occasionally too.

But if you like the looks of the PRS-18, I'm sure there are a ton of similar looking alternatives which would be at least as good value for the money.

Zagato

Brief_Lives wrote: »

Those Precista watches look beautiful, I might go on a search for them, do they appear online second hand much..?
Also, that Omega watch, again, it looks wonderful, will they last many years..? or how reliable are they..

Like Eoin said they come up every so often, but don't expect to make a huge saving buying second hand as they are already usually good value and often in limited runs, PRS-5 for example mentioned above is not available again and so tends to sell for about £200
Also the Omega will likely last as long as it is looked after and serviced occasionally, but as it is a 50+yr old watch it will probably lose or gain a few seconds every day

CarltonBrowne

fondue wrote: »

Wow, thanks. I think he'd love the idea of option 8.

Option 8 is going to be difficult - as has been pointed out being a regular member of TZ-UK gets you access to Sales Corner which is a pretty safe method of buying a secondhand watch (things do go wrong though but very rarely) and it's a place where people guard their reputation fiercely - a lot of people also know each other and meet up from time to time. In the case of my friend I was perfectly prepared to make a purchase on his behalf (he was my best man) but it's not something I'm going to broker for many other people.

It was a while ago (when the Euro was equal to sterling and therefore made watch purchasing in Dublin far too expensive) I recall walking into Breretons in Capel St and they had a tray of vintage Omega at prices that didn't seem too bad and I might have bought one with a better exchange rate - it might be worth giving them a call. There's also plenty of vintage Omega on Ebay but it's far too much of a crapshoot; especially if you don't know what you're doing.

As I said, without access to enthusiasts sales arenas or better advice, you're better off focusing on 4 or 11.

CarltonBrowne

Might be worth a look at the HSamuels sale.

http://www.hsamuel.co.uk/webstore/l/watches/select|sale/?cm_re=SUMMER-SALE-2014-OFFERS-_-Left-buttons-_-sale-watches

This link may (if it works) limit the criteria to proper watch brands rather than fashion watches.
http://www.hsamuel.co.uk/webstore/l/watches/select|sale/?cm_re=SUMMER-SALE-2014-OFFERS-_-Left-buttons-_-sale-watches#/webstore/l/watches/brand|bulova|citizen|rotary|seiko/select|sale/

It came to my attention from this link - not for me and definitely a bit marmite but a good price. I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole but we're all different.
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?303439-Great-deal-on-Bulova-Precisionist

Lex Luthor

i quite like the seiko sarb017 but its just on the small side