Daveyboyz

When you have one or two watches they are always going to look worn... when you get a few more there are some that you want to stay pristine and others you are willing to wear while you work on the car. Some of mine are always going to be babied.

Journe and Moser are definitely a bit of you. I know you aren't massive on PP but there's got to be a calatrava with your name on it. Now, neither recommending nor discouraging a few brands that might fit your criteria... Maurice Grozmann, Ulysse Nardin, Breguet, Girard Perrigaux, Habring, Parmigianni, piaget, L. Leroy.

I try not to wear my Rolexs for work since people recognize them, suddenly they think I am earning too much money or something and try to squeeze me like an orange till my pips squeek.

I try not to wear my Rolexs for work since people recognize them, suddenly they think I am earning too much money or something and try to squeeze me like an orange till my pips squeek. I try not to wear my Rolexs for work since people recognize them, suddenly they think I am earning too much money or something and try to squeeze me like an orange till my pips squeek.

I don't normally advise TAG and personally don't own one but have you looked at a Monaco? The reason I ask is because they come up much larger that the size sugests, they do suit a bigger wrist, they have some history and associations to Steve McQueen which makes it one of the more iconic models, pre-owned it fits your budget perfectly and it might be something you didn't try yet. For reference no copyright infringement intended... if you check these on Chrono24 or somewhere you will do better than the price of this one.

£60 or £70 fills it... And of course you don't need to service a watch every year.

Service = less than filling the car up once a year. In the grand scheme of things not worth factoring in.

If I remember correctly, and it has been many years since I was unfortunate enough to cross paths with one of these watches they were akin to Kraug Baumen in that they were always advertised at silly prices and then heavily discounted...I think the adverts they used to run in the magazines what the bulk of what you were paying for.

I am a bit of a brand snob for the following reason... I used to work in a pawnbrokers and tell people everyday how much money their watch has lost. Now my brand loyalties and preferences were built in the 90s and early 00s and thus I tend not to like the more recent brands... I prefer omega to Breitling by a long way and I prefer Brietling to Tag by an equally large margin. In my head I have a pretty strong feeling of hierarchy between the brands and in each brand I have a heirachy of models... A Breitling Navitimer jumps well above the level of most Breitlings. As I said on another thread I would go for a blue chip brand as a new collector, something known with a decent history. It's not to say you won't lose money on it but as least if you need to sell it then it's going to be possible... Get something really obscure and you might be waiting forever if you ever want to move it on. I won't bore you will my full list of preferences but I know which watches spoke to me in the past, which were a nightmare, which I made profit on an which were losses. IWC is an exceptionally hard sell yet it is a very well respected brand... Kind of an oxymoron, I could suffer a vintage watch from them but I wouldn't be recommending much of their more current stuff.

I feel your pain. Personally I ticked many of the boxes though I don't have anything in platinum, have you seen the prices for anything decent in platinum? That's pressure.... Remember collecting is a journey, its not about how quickly you reach the goal because when you reach it you may well set yourself another one. Also if a piece is good its not about how often you wear it so don't feel guilty.

The Aquis will suit your wrist, its a bit big for me.

Its a pretty watch and Oris usually offers great value if you could get hold of one. Its a quality brand that flies under the radar and doesn't get the credit it deserves sometimes. That blue dial is pretty vivid, I cant think of anything that looks exactly like it but I think Chopard do a Mille Miglia in a blue dial that might be worth a look. Neither of these are particularly strong in terms of resale if that is of interest at all but I am not thinking that is your priority, and not in my thinking when I mention such things.

Servicing needn't cost anything like that. Unless you are about to sell the watch and want a main dealer to repair it then its just money spent that you will never recoup. Use a decent independent like Russel Tallerman and you will be paying less than half the costs for a service which is just as good. Personally I don't believe in servicing too often unless there is a problem or you are relying on having the waterproof for diving or something. Though I wouldn't stretch it into the decades despite the wonders of modern lubricants that alledgedly dont dry out.

I had a mechanical seamaster chrono once and didn't get on with it due to it being a heavy lump of a thing I didn't find it comfortable. Though with a wrist 3/4 inch smaller than yours maybe you won't find it so. The speedmaster is good but be aware its not waterproof and is a manual winder. I am not a big fan of Breitling, so my preference would be towards Omega but I did quite like the Chronomat that I once owned. Personally I would ignore suggestions of Hanhart or Tutima and stay more with blue-chip brands... Zenith El-Primera might be worth consideration since it's an iconic and inventive chrono (the first automatic kind hence the name) though I don't know how it will wear on a bigger wrist.

This is my one which is also a pie-pan as above. I also have a fondness for the later 1990's bicolour steel version with its integral bracelet. Just because it's a slim dressy watch which is very of its time.