Learn me watches

So I need/ want a new watch and I have seen a lot of deals on watches on Woot. Is there anything to avoid when buying a watch? Also I noticed that the country of origin for a lot of watches seem to be either China, Switzerland or Japan. I am kinda trying to avoid Chinese watches. Is that stupid? Are watches from Japan good, bad, indifferent or depends on the watch?

The last couple of Timex watches I bought were crap. That's all I got.

Something I've noticed about watches is how stupidly thick they've gotten. If they don't easily slip under a shirt sleeve, no thanks.

I've been wearing the same Timex for about a decade now and it's been pretty good. I hope Toyman's experience is an isolated incident. I know they cost a good bit more now than they used to.

I was considering a Swiss made Invicta.

I like Momentum and Skagen (best bands), Victronox, Seiko, and Citizen.

Skagen's in general are very slim.

I like Rolex myself, but for what the maintenance cost me, I could have a nice new Seiko every year.

Don't buy the $5 watches from China sold by the sketchy guy with a couple dozen laid out on a blanket. Even if it says Rolex

I haven't owned a watch in a couple of years. it works great!

I've seen the Woot deals. Particularly on the Invictas they show a huge "MSRP" and then discount it heavily. I suppose that's to make you think you're getting a $600 watch for under $100. I've seen the Invictas heavily "discounted" in most places, so I'd be wary. Hard to say where they are made, either, as they tout a Made in the USA watch and it appears they manufacture all over the world. They are actually headquartered in the US, having brought the brand over from Switzerland some years ago.

Personally, I have a hard time justifying spending a lot of money on a watch. Thing is, the more expensive ones aren't any more useful as a watch as the cheap ones. Virtually all of them keep good time. At some point they become just jewelry and I don't wear jewelry. As it is, the last watch I wore was my Grandfather's Omega Seamaster until it needed more work than I was willing to pay for. Now I just look at my cell phone.

Basil Exposition wrote: I've seen the Woot deals. Particularly on the Invictas they show a huge "MSRP" and then discount it heavily. I suppose that's to make you think you're getting a $600 watch for under $100. I've seen the Invictas heavily "discounted" in most places, so I'd be wary.

I have seen them discounted other places as well but not as much as Woot.

I like wearing watches. I am tried of my Fossil watch that has broken multiple times and I would like something nicer without spending a bunch of money.

For reasonably-priced, I kinda like Fossil. You can get an automatic mechanical for under $300. Mine has been going strong for over 5 years now with no issues.

For more pricey options, I am partial to Bell & Ross. I am not going to drop $10K or more on a watch, ever. I work with people that have $15K watches from a company you never heard of. Why? At least people recognize a Rolex. A nice B&R can be had for $3K - $5K

I have had great luck with Citizen. I have had a Citizen Eco-Drive for the last two years with no issues. I wear it almost everyday doing anything and everything and it has survived like a champ. The model I have is BM8180-E I believe. You can usually pick them up for $80 and under on Ebay/Amazon. Another recommendation I would make is an LL Bean watch. They are basically a rebadged swiss watch without the price tag. Keep an eye on Ebay and you can usually find them pretty reasonable. You can send them back to LL Bean to get worked on no questions asked as well. I have had Timex in the past and never had any issues with them. Seiko makes a nice watch but i'm not crazy about automatic watches so I moved to a Citizen and never looked back.

fritzsch wrote: Don't buy the $5 watches from China sold by the sketchy guy with a couple dozen laid out on a blanket. Even if it says Rolex

I am not talking about knock-off $5 Chinese watches when I say Chinese made watch.

I don't wear watches, but I kind of want a big, gaudy Casio G-Shock.

Depends on what you're looking for. I for one am in love with skeleton watches, the ones where you see all the gears and everything move. They can be had for $100+ depending on how crazy you wanna go. Amazon has some awesome ones for pretty cheap. I'll share my wishlist on here, and hope the link works.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/ref=wish_list

Basil Exposition wrote: I've seen the Woot deals. Particularly on the Invictas they show a huge "MSRP" and then discount it heavily. I suppose that's to make you think you're getting a $600 watch for under $100. I've seen the Invictas heavily "discounted" in most places, so I'd be wary. Hard to say where they are made, either, as they tout a Made in the USA watch and it appears they manufacture all over the world. They are actually headquartered in the US, having brought the brand over from Switzerland some years ago. Personally, I have a hard time justifying spending a lot of money on a watch. Thing is, the more expensive ones aren't any more useful as a watch as the cheap ones. Virtually all of them keep good time. At some point they become just jewelry and I don't wear jewelry. As it is, the last watch I wore was my Grandfather's Omega Seamaster until it needed more work than I was willing to pay for. Now I just look at my cell phone.

My Grandpa has an Omega. I bet that will eventually be fought over, along with his Allen Edmond shoes.

I currently have one my wife got me from Duluth trading. It has a canvas band that I really like because I normally get a rash from watches. The last time this came up someone mentioned Russian watches and I ended up watching them on eBay. I bought a submarine one and an odd looking dress watch that looks like it wa probably the coolest one you could get in 1970s Russia. I am going to get them soon.

Dr. Hess wrote: I like Rolex myself, but for what the maintenance cost me, I could have a nice new Seiko every year.

I've had the same Seiko for 29 years, and I'm not easy on stuff.

With the ubiquity of phones, watches are essentially a fashion accessory. I collect them anyway, but I regulate my spending with that principal in mind. At the other end of the spectrum are the idiot Oligarchs who are willing to spend $1,650,000 on a sapphire-case Richard Mille:

MSRP for mass market watches aren't worth the paper they're written on. Nearly anything in large volume production (typically priced at $2,500 or less) can be found online on gray market merchant web sites for huge discounts. This is particularly true of watches produced in China.

Speaking of which, it's pretty safe to assume that every watch for sale online not explicitly labeled 'Swiss Made' or 'Made in Japan' are made in China, or from Chinese parts. There are a handful of established boutique German and American watchmakers, but the term 'Made in Germany' (or USA, or Italy, etc.) is not enforced there the way the way it is by the Swiss.

I have always bought used CYMA watches. The are very well made Swiss watches, but have no mark up. I have had my quartz one for 15 years and only needed a battery. My automatic one i had tuned up and it has worked great for 3 years. My mother has had one she bought new for 25 years and it still works great.

Invictas are cool, but suffer from poor quality control. I've got three. One is broken (Japanese movement), one is off being repaired (Swiss movement) and one had loose components inside the case when I got it so I had to get an immediate replacement. And check Amazon for them, they're always 90% off.

Zomby Woof wrote:

Dr. Hess wrote: I like Rolex myself, but for what the maintenance cost me, I could have a nice new Seiko every year.

I've had the same Seiko for 29 years, and I'm not easy on stuff.

I've had the same Rolex for 32 years. I'm easier on it now than 30 years ago. I don't wear it pulling motors anymore, for example.

If you're considering spending more than a grand or two grand on a new watch, ignore the stigma and consider a Rolex. Watches depreciate steeply, but Rolexes hold their value better than nearly anything else in the industry.

Omega Speedmasters hold their value well once you get past the initial depreciation, too. And like a lot of Rolexes, it's a classic so it's immune to fashion. It's how I was able to justify mine.

But that's not something someone's going to choose over a Woot! Sale of the Day item.

Keith Tanner wrote: Omega Speedmasters hold their value well once you get past the initial depreciation, too. And like a lot of Rolexes, it's a classic so it's immune to fashion. It's how I was able to justify mine. But that's not something someone's going to choose over a Woot! Sale of the Day item.

Yeah. I would love one but I can't justify it right now. I just would like something that is a bit unique and will be decently reliable for a while. I have not had luck with my Fossil watch.

I think watches are really cool and would go check on the Poorman's Watch Forum in the for sale section to just look for cool stuff but I want to just get something new for now.