Who Watches the Watchmen (Our Chit Chat Thread)

micks_address · 17-01-2022 10:27am

I really like wearing a mechanical/quartz watch but i also would really love a discreet wristband health tracker that would do steps, etc... i had a fitbit flex wristband which pretty much fit the bill in terms of tracking but had a crap 2 day battery life. every other tracker seems to have a watch face which i dont want.. i picked up a oura smart ring before xmas for pretty much nothing secondhand and it dont mind it but my wife thinks it looks daft. tried an apple watch last year.. even tried wearing it on my right wrist with a watch watch on my left and felt daft. the apple watch definitely competes with watches.. i mean when you see TV hosts that would have worn something expensive from Switzerland now sporting a apple watch its pretty obvious. What it won't do is replace watch enthusiasts watches... which most people on this part of boards are here for their enthusiasm for non smart watches.

893bet · 17-01-2022 10:31am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118487896#Comment_118487896

I have no doubt that is the case.

But I doubt they flipped on the 30k Patek because they now have an iwatch.

NIMAN · 17-01-2022 10:33am

Yeah its not competing with the Swiss and high end market, but it is competing with the folk who wear lower end watches and stuff from the likes of Argos and high street jewellers. The typical Timex, Casio, Citizen watch wearer.

And I'd say it is making massive dents in their sales.

Fitz II · 17-01-2022 10:37am

Have to agree that smart watches are not direct competitors for mechanicals different audience really, but they are competing for limited wrist space. I think they get more people into watch wearing so can't be a bad thing as a certain percentage will catch the bug.

I wore one for a bit found them intrusive always reminding me of stuff, and the ones I had were not always on so time telling not ideal.

I see lots and lots of them around, and I have absolutely no problem with them at all. If anything they have taken the advantages the quartz watch has and improved it with almost unlimited functionality

RMDrive · 17-01-2022 11:10am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118487973#Comment_118487973

For some of them maybe, but this is a bunch of 50yo+ people who are mostly carrying some excess baggage (like myself). Activity tracking is going to appeal to them in and of itself.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118488013#Comment_118488013

True, but are they going to buy another one given that they are only wearing their existing Patek 20-40% of what they used to?

NIMAN · 17-01-2022 12:23pm

Going off on a tangent here, but did anyone watch Sunderland Til I Die on Netflix?

In the first series, the chief executive Martin Bain seemed to be a watch fan. I think I counted 4 different ones on his wrists in the show.

Edit: this guy counted 5

https://twitter.com/kcmanc/status/1086948680006017026?lang=en-GB

scwazrh · 17-01-2022 2:16pm

Smart watches are more accurate , easier to repair ,cheaper to run ,have greater functionality ,dont need service history and help to show that you are not someone afraid of modern technology .

Yet we all prefer the more expensive , less accurate , delicate watches that hark back to an older time of craftmanship .Similar to why true enthusiats would buy an older 911 instead of a new Taycan...Maybe theres still a future for mechanical items after all .

unkel · 17-01-2022 2:22pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118489106#Comment_118489106

You lost me in the last paragraph ;-)

Wibbs · 17-01-2022 3:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118489106#Comment_118489106

I dunno if smart watches are easier to repair S. They very much have a shelf life, not least because of advancing tech. If you had a 90's digital with all the trimmings and couldn't find a working one on ebay to canabalise for spares you're likely screwed.

Your two paragraphs kinda illustrate what has very much changed in the world of watches. Up until the Swiss revival of mechanical, watches were more how you describe them in your first paragraph. They were jewellery yes, but had a distinct practical function, innovations like water resistence, auto winding, chronos, alarms, even changing styles plugged into that 'modern'. Later innovations like electronic and quartz really plugged into the we're moving into the future mindset of the buyers. Very few would have wanted to hark back to the old unless it was a treasured watch of a family member, or they were older themselves and bought what they knew. Look how quickly quartz took over and when digitals came out which were as modern tech as you can get people dropped the old en masse.

Now for the vast majority of people in this 'postmodern' world they still buy modern tech, if they wear a watch at all. Quartz is still king and as Apple shows smartwatches outsell everything the Swiss produce and that's just one smartwatch from one brand. Add in smartwatches from other brands, fitbits and the like and wrist furniture is still very much modernist. The Swiss mechanical revival itself got a massive shove in investment from the equally massive sales of cheap, plastic, very modish and modern, quartz Swatches.

Then you have the enthusiasts. While you certainly had strong sales of 'good watches', mechanical and quartz, usually one off lifetime purchases, wedding, birthday pressies and the like(TAG Heuer being king in that bracket for a time), the enthusiasts were a tiny niche of weirdos at the fringes. It's really only grown beyond that niche in the last decade or so. Hodinkee which drove much of it in the mainstream is only going since 2008 and only really started to gain traction in the last ten years. John Mayer's talking watches was a breakout piece for them and that's from 2013.

In the end the vast majority of people outside of investors and actual enthusiasts want to buy the Taycan.

Fitz II · 17-01-2022 3:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118489106#Comment_118489106

Good point..here I am in mondello in my 911. 😜

unkel · 17-01-2022 3:59pm

And do you still have that, or what do you have now, Fitz? 😂

Fitz II · 17-01-2022 4:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118489834#Comment_118489834

Too uncomfortable for a every day car...although was a good jammer, sold i (for more than I paid for it...the rolex of cars).....have driven a good few air cooled porsche and honestly I dont get it. I would have a late 70's 911SC or a targa just for the look but as a driving machine they dont hold up well today in my humble opinion. They look cool I see the appeal there, and you get your "purest" badge. But for driving...not so much.

came from this....V10 M5 (The omega of cars resale value wise) and a V8 6 series (piece of wallowy crap)

But after the Porsche I had the three of these at the same time

E30 I restored myself...(sold it an should not have, its was a beauty and like she rolled off the factory floor in the end). Pic of what I spend every weekend doing for 6 months.....

Straight 6 M4 daily

Here I am with my best friend doing some drag racing

And a e46 straight 6 M3 for a track car (again restored by me, pic of it on my cousins lift doing some jobs, think I replaced the brakes that day and stripped a bolt on the carrier, took me 5 hours retrieve it)

Oh and I ran a detailing forum/website for a while with a couple of other fellows, but the business failed acrimoniously between the lads and I was left holding the baby, still find cleaning a car to be one of the most therapeutic things a man can do. Clears the mind. Few other in the back catalogue...Rx8, few mazdas, about 3 other beemers.

But I still do enjoy learning what a true enthusiast would buy......😜

Krombopulos Michael · 17-01-2022 4:45pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118489106#Comment_118489106

I had a Pebble Steele smart watch. Great watch and enjoyed it....until they sold out to Fitibit who after a short time killed all the servers for Pebble. There are some ad-hoc ways to get the watch to work, but the community died off.

Decided to go back to normal watch, bought a Seiko SNJ025 from a boardies and havent looked back.

Wibbs · 17-01-2022 4:55pm

I had a series 3 Apple watch for a while, but sold it on. I rarely if ever wore it tbh. I'm trying to buy a very early first series example from a guy I know. He's resisting. 😁 Mainly because it's the first of that line, so as a bit of a whim and I'd likely only use it as a watch.

Lorddrakul · 17-01-2022 5:17pm

I'd actually like to have a no display activity tracker to wear on my right wrist while I wear a proper watch on the left.

Ryath · 17-01-2022 5:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118490272#Comment_118490272

Whoop doesn't have a screen, it's pretty pricey though with their subscription model. €30 a month or €18 if you pay for 18 months up front.

https://www.whoop.com/

Considering my own options have a Fitbit Inspire that I wear on my right wrist more than 2 years now and considering replacing it. I hardly ever look at the screen so a band and notifications on phone would be enough for me. Fitbit Lux is a little smaller and I'm already on the fitbit ecosystem. Sort of tempted to switch to a Garmin Vivosmart 4 as I already use a Garmin Edge for cycling and a 910xt for running and swimming so would be good to have all that data in one location as well as my daily activity and sleep tracking.

Ouraring looks interesting, bit pricey though. I'd say in another generation or two a ring based device could a great option.

https://ouraring.com/

njburke · 19-01-2022 10:59pm

My first watch book has arrived, had a little look through and was pleased to see there's a doxa ,accutron and some Casios in it. It's a coffee table type book, short story from an owner of an iconic watch. No Seiko in though, or Nina Rindts Heuer.

Roycropper63 · 20-01-2022 11:38pm

lads am having a senior moment here. if buying a s\h watch from the uk is it vat i have to pay plus admin charges? and is there a way of using ebay to translate descriotions etc>

thanks Roy

scwazrh · 21-01-2022 2:35am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118509227#Comment_118509227

Yeah 23% vat plus admin fee which is small enough . Vat is the killer .

for eBay there’s browser plug ins for translation or copy the text and paste it into Google translate

Roycropper63 · 21-01-2022 9:32am

thqnks S

893bet · 22-01-2022 10:34am

These are among the worst photos of all time. And he tried to make them look professional

https://www.adverts.ie/25890810

scwazrh · 22-01-2022 11:30am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118516202#Comment_118516202

a graduate from the unkle school of photography

Wibbs · 22-01-2022 11:33am

With a doctorate from mine.

unkel · 22-01-2022 12:17pm

At least I don't have any pretensions 😂

banie01 · 22-01-2022 2:27pm

Speaking of Unk! I saw this and thought of you, how lovely it'd look on your wrist and the shivers it'd send down the spine of the strap mafia here 😜🤣🤣

https://www.instagram.com/ziczac.watchstrap/p/CY9HQwKJ3q7/?utm_medium=copy_link

Fitz II · 22-01-2022 2:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118516921#Comment_118516921

unkel · 22-01-2022 3:14pm

That looks like the exact stingray strap I have. Made in Vietnam and all!

Thanks for reminding me. Should put it on a Rolex and take some pics for all you fans of stingray out there 😁

unkel · 22-01-2022 4:08pm

I know it's a millimetre too narrow for the lugs but let's just say it's Bond's style 😂

hitemfrank · 22-01-2022 4:12pm

You know, I don't hate that 😅

mailforkev · 22-01-2022 4:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118517442#Comment_118517442

It’s alright Frank, I hate it enough for us both :D

893bet · 22-01-2022 5:45pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118517424#Comment_118517424

Strap is also an inch short for your wrist given how tight it is!

Fitz II · 22-01-2022 6:54pm

Just when I think the forum is settled down to watch talk, and good taste and positivity is abounding, you lads keep bringing the stingray back out.

unkel · 22-01-2022 9:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118517845#Comment_118517845

I closed it a bit quick to get the pic in before dusk. There was another hole on the strap but damn those Asians have tiny wrists 🤣

Wibbs · 22-01-2022 11:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118517424#Comment_118517424

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45NtEXv7DZs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118518730#Comment_118518730

That explains it! I'm Asian. 🤗 Oh wait, I can't be. I'm far too prone to indolence. 😁

Though we all tended to have smaller wrists in years gone by. Over the years I've collected vintage straps and bracelets in keeping with the era of some of the watches I have(there is no end to this madness) and the stuff of the earlier part of the last century is definitely shorter. If I buy a new strap that's sized average I'm either on the last hole or need to make a new one, with stuff from 80 years plus ago I've got at least three or four adjustment holes to go.

I was reading something years ago where I think it was Harrods who have sizing sales going back over a century and people were much smaller of frame on average, not so much shorter, though we were generally shorter, but just smaller of frame. We've gotten bigger. I don't mean fatter either, just bigger overall. Even our shapes show a trend. There were apparently more women with 'hourglass' figures on average in the past. Diet it seems is the thing. And a lack of childhood illnesses with it. Back in the medieval the rich like the aristocracy and clergy were almost a different species to the poor. They were taller and broader and tended to live longer too. Diet again seem to play a major part.

Cassius99 · 23-01-2022 4:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118519139#Comment_118519139

It's amazing how drastically the human body has changed size wise in such a short period of time (as in 2 generations). As part of another hobby I collect some military and police related items. It never ceases to amaze me that a lot of the uniform items worn by fully grown men 80 to 90 years ago would barely fit a child entering their teens these days. Nowhere is this more obvious than with headgear. The size of the human skull seems to have drastically expanded since my grandparents time.

scwazrh · 23-01-2022 5:01pm

Nice money if you can get it

Fitz II · 23-01-2022 6:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118521560#Comment_118521560

Sorry am I missing something there???? Why such a high price?

NIMAN · 23-01-2022 9:36pm

Received a couple of straps yesterday, only opened them today and looks like 1 is not complete?

The grey/orange stripe, missing a buckle? Compare to black one.

scwazrh · 23-01-2022 10:34pm

I have one exactly the same as the grey / orange one so don’t think anything is missing from it .That said I’ve never been able to get it to fit comfortable so don’t wear it .

Wibbs · 23-01-2022 10:56pm

Hmm that's odd alright Ni. I've had a couple of these, the first I saw them was on the MWR forum. IIRC they were French navy straps originally. Any I've seen were like your black one. TBH I don't know how you could even use your grey/orange one comfortably. 🤔 Well all you could do is hook it into the buckle I suppose, but as S noted not comfortable. Though I stuck mine in a drawer as TBH even the correct ones I found uncomfortable.

Down the years I've had a couple of strap fails, including some high quality ones. EG way back I got a Jurgens of Germany G10 made from the leather from a BUND pilot's jacket(As you do. it was late, wine may have been taken. We've all been there, even the teetotalers 😂). 200 odd quid IIRC. Anyway it showed up beautifully made, minus one of the keeper rings. And was the wrong size. Now he was very quick to sort it, but it can happen.

NIMAN · 24-01-2022 12:54am

So it appears that it does actually work, got it on now.

When I opened the jiffy bag my first thought was, "that doesn't look right, there's something missing", as I had the similar black strap and it has an extra piece of metal.

Anyway, it is actually surprisingly comfortable. And it was only a few quid so no odds.

Lorddrakul · 24-01-2022 11:49am

Due to living a rock and roll lifestyle, I found myself last evening, sitting watching Antiques Roadshow.

It was in Castle Ward, Norrin Iron, or Winterfell, depending on your frame of reference.

Anyways, this chap turns up with a piece he got from a car boot sale for £5, a couple of decades ago. It is fairly worn and completely unrestored.

A 1967 or 68 pre-moon Speedie Pro. Only valued at £5,000. I would have thought it would be a bit more, but it was a head only, with a ropey old leather strap.

Wibbs · 24-01-2022 12:11pm

IMHO the AR experts are remarkably crap at valuing watches and often get the details wrong too. Years ago I was watching it when a pre war German B-Uhr came up and a prototype with it(Weems type with a chrono movement with the chrono bit removed) and they valued it as something like 5K. More like triple that. I'd reckon a pre moon Speedy head only in halfway decent nick would run closer to 8-10K depending on the day, add another 2K for dealer prices.

Maybe AR gets it arseways because the experts are mostly auctioneers and run to the lowball values as par for the course?

Wibbs · 24-01-2022 12:17pm

The above said, values have softened a little with them. They were higher during the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 for example. Plus many areas of the vintage market are stagnant. Fewer being sold and fewer buyers overall.

Lorddrakul · 24-01-2022 12:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118524750#Comment_118524750

In fairness, the guy valuing did seem to know what he was at, drawing attention to the stubby pushers that were a feature of those transitional models in the 66-69 era, but only actually seen for a year or so. He also noted the lume markers going through the outer indices ring etc. So he definitely knew how to differentiate it as one of those slightly oddball models from what can be a bit of a chaotic period and one that sets watchers arguing over original versus service versus franken. :)

That said, I would have thought something in the 7k mark was more appropriate, as early 70s ones fetch that, let alone actual 60s models.

cnocbui · 24-01-2022 2:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118519139#Comment_118519139

Check out any Youtube music video from the 70's where there is perhaps an audience included and it just hits you in the face like a brick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXjH16UfEvg

Mick Jagger wasn't an aberration - except in staying thin - and Mamma Cass was an exception, now she would almost be the norm.

Any youtube video with 'Pan's people' in it is worth a look; strictly for ethnographic and sociological research purposes, of course.

banie01 · 24-01-2022 2:13pm

Just on that AR episode?

Was it not from a few years ago? I'm almost 100% certain it's a 2019 episode.

Wibbs · 24-01-2022 3:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118525378#Comment_118525378

Mick Jagger's generation were war babies and they grew up with rationing until 1954 so that would likely have had an effect. The British bands of the 1960's were pretty much all rail thin. I was watching that Beatles Get Back sessions flic recently and with some exceptions like their road manager who was a bigger built lad pretty much everyone you saw would be seen as 'skinny' today. Then again the US didn't have rationing and on average they were thinner than today too. Irish people of the same vintage were thin as well. People getting fatter seems to come in post the 1970's. Food got cheaper, more sugar got added(fat is expensive, sugar is dirt cheap), more people getting takeaways and eating out and a wider variety of once very novel foods came along.

I read an article from somewhere I can't remember that noted that outside of actually very obese people( of which there are more) those over forty haven't really gotten that much fatter over time, it's in those under forty where it's become more of a thing. Essentially it said we're getting 'middle aged spread' at younger ages. It can depend on culture too. Most of this is in the west, Asians haven't gained bulk to nearly the same degree. Even within Europe there are differences. The French buck the overall trend by being generally thinner and staying thinner throughout their lifetimes. I've read other research that shows things like oestrogens from plastics, foods etc are causing men to get fatter younger and testosterone dropping over generations is very much a thing. A 60 year old in the 1980's had a higher testosterone level than a 60 year old today. Oestrogen mimics in our environment, higher stress, crappy diets seem to be the general causes.

Lorddrakul · 24-01-2022 3:12pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118525381#Comment_118525381

Could have been, but it was broadcast last night.

banie01 · 24-01-2022 3:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118525824#Comment_118525824

Yeah I know it was shown last night but, afaicr it is a repeat of a summer 2019 episode. Fairly sure it was discussed here at the time too as we are wont to do.

The estimate on last night's show bears no relation to current market nearly 3yrs later.

Who Watches the Watchmen (Our Chit Chat Thread)

Comments