What watch do you wear?

mrk said:
Surely that's because the crystal is one flat piece of glass though hence the lack of structural strength on impacts whereas a case is designed a specific way to increase that structure?
There are also at least 5 or 6 brands who have sapphire cased watches and have done for some years, not heard of any breaking due to lack of strength!

I suspect the material ingredients used o create the sapphire aren't exactly the same as sapphire used in crystal either like how ceramic watch cases are not the same ceramic you get in cookware or bezel inserts and are considerably stronger as a result. Zelos is one brand that I know if they choose to use a material, it's been tested by them to some extreme too.
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Not sure just going off what I've read that Sapphire is great for being scratch resistant but it can crack if dropped due to it being very brittle, assumed it would be the same for a case built entirely from it as well, does anyone have a Sapphire case they wish to put to the test ? :D
 
Minusorange said:
Not sure just going off what I've read that Sapphire is great for being scratch resistant but it can crack if dropped due to it being very brittle, assumed it would be the same for a case built entirely from it as well, does anyone have a Sapphire case they wish to put to the test ? :D
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I had a sapphire case watch and it was superbly scratch resistant. Did not fair well when a freak stone flew up from the road and hit the face of the watch and smashed it.
 
Greebo said:
So what you are saying is that they normally work on tight margins but that case is an extra $900 profit for them ;)
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No that's not what I'm saying at all. I didn't give a value, you just assumed. All I said was its a very healthy mark up for a company that normally operates on tighter margins than most brands.
 
panthro said:
No that's not what I'm saying at all. I didn't give a value, you just assumed. All I said was its a very healthy mark up for a company that normally operates on tighter margins than most brands.
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You were the one who first posted the claim the extra $1000 was for just 15 minutes of his time, not me. I suggested there might be more material costs but you debunked that as well as minimal.

Assuming the founders time is worth $400 per hour my suggestion then that they make an extra $900 profit on that model is backed up by your claims.
 
Greebo said:
You were the one who first posted the claim the extra $1000 was for just 15 minutes of his time, not me. I suggested there might be more material costs but you debunked that as well as minimal.

Assuming the founders time is worth $400 per hour my suggestion then that they make an extra $900 profit on that model is backed up by your claims.
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I said it was minimal I didn't debunk it. Obviously it costs more but for the procurement of the material plus the heat treatment of the finished product it's still a very healthy mark up. I didn't mention anything about his time either. You've just taken everything out of context.
It takes the same amount of time to machine the case so the only 2 factors to take into consideration are the additional cost of the titanium zirconium alloy and the heat treatment and etching of the case. For an extra $1000 that's a good mark up.
 
panthro said:
I said it was minimal I didn't debunk it. Obviously it costs more but for the procurement of the material plus the heat treatment of the finished product it's still a very healthy mark up. I didn't mention anything about his time either. You've just taken everything out of context.
It takes the same amount of time to machine the case so the only 2 factors to take into consideration are the additional cost of the titanium zirconium alloy and the heat treatment and etching of the case. For an extra $1000 that's a good mark up.
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I agree which is what I said. :confused:
 
Fair enough. I mean I don't know what their mark up is but it must be decent for a company that sells fairly well made watches for $500. Especially considering to buy that movement you're looking at ~$1000.
 
panthro said:
I said it was minimal I didn't debunk it. Obviously it costs more but for the procurement of the material plus the heat treatment of the finished product it's still a very healthy mark up. I didn't mention anything about his time either. You've just taken everything out of context.
It takes the same amount of time to machine the case so the only 2 factors to take into consideration are the additional cost of the titanium zirconium alloy and the heat treatment and etching of the case. For an extra $1000 that's a good mark up.
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Making damascus steel is a relatively time consuming process in it's own right, especially if you want specific patterns. It's basically multiple interweaved layers of different metals that are then heated, squashed, cut, folded etc to make a 'single block' with the pattern going through it, now I'm not saying this one is overly complicated pattern wise but it's not likely an 'off the shelf' metal like the pure titanium case so I wouldn't be shocked to find out there isn't as much mark up (out of the extra $1k) as many would think on the damascus version.
 
lsg1r said:
Making damascus steel is a relatively time consuming process in it's own right, especially if you want specific patterns. It's basically multiple interweaved layers of different metals that are then heated, squashed, cut, folded etc to make a 'single block' with the pattern going through it, now I'm not saying this one is overly complicated pattern wise but it's not likely an 'off the shelf' metal like the pure titanium case so I wouldn't be shocked to find out there isn't as much mark up (out of the extra $1k) as many would think on the damascus version.
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This isn't strictly speaking Damascus. The zirconium is powdered and layered during the annealing. It's much cheaper than say Damasteel but absolutely more expensive than SS or Ti.
 
panthro said:
This isn't strictly speaking Damascus. The zirconium is powdered and layered during the annealing. It's much cheaper than say Damasteel but absolutely more expensive than SS or Ti.
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True but to be fair ALL current damascus isn't actually true damascus metal, it's just the term has been 'claimed' for this style of metal. According to Monochrome website it's using the folded metal approach so not sure it is using powered zirconium.
 
Yep fully aware that the Damascus method was lost a long time ago but current techniques are probably accurate. Bremont have made Damascus pattern bezels using Damasteel (have a look at the EJ Churchill edition they did), which uses a powder method. It's a patented technique and I'm not sure if Zelos use it or not, but I do know that it's regularly ripped off by Chinese forges and mills and at a fraction of the cost.
 
I've not posted in here for a while... 8 years going strong as my daily watch

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https://www.omegawatches.com/watch-...00m-co-axial-chronometer-41-mm-21230412001002
 
Guest2 said:
I've not posted in here for a while... 8 years going strong as my daily watch

vFeLICf.jpg.png


https://www.omegawatches.com/watch-...00m-co-axial-chronometer-41-mm-21230412001002
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Thread winner right here. This is my favourite Omega watch of all time. Possibly my 3rd favourite watch in the world, after tha Lange 1 and the Royal Oak. I keep saying I'm going to buy one, but the price keeps creeping up.

The current black Seamaster (and the grey, and the white) are nice, but the 2011 vintage still has the edge for me.
 
Bigpops said:
Thread winner right here. This is my favourite Omega watch of all time. Possibly my 3rd favourite watch in the world, after tha Lange 1 and the Royal Oak. I keep saying I'm going to buy one, but the price keeps creeping up.

The current black Seamaster (and the grey, and the white) are nice, but the 2011 vintage still has the edge for me.
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Thanks :) There are some fantastic watches in this thread and I had my eye on a few. However as soon as I tried it on in the shop I knew I had to have it

Purchased May 2013 (just dug out the box and papers) and think then it was a discontinued model from 2009. Its gone up a few hundred from the price I paid (£2050) which is nice to see

I really liked this too, but it was about £2000-3000 more at the time - https://www.omegawatches.com/en-gb/watches/speedmaster/moonwatch-professional/product
 
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ivandrago said:
Can anyone recommend a 'nice' watch as a gift with a budget from £750, give or take?
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There's loads to be fair, are you after a dress watch, a more casual watch, something for a particular 'job' (say diving). I'm guessing more along the lines of a dress or smart casual watch but it's easier to know the direction you're thinking.

Also do you want a smaller or larger size watch, does the person have a smaller/larger wrist (not expecting measurements but just a rough idea)
 
lsg1r said:
There's loads to be fair, are you after a dress watch, a more casual watch, something for a particular 'job' (say diving). I'm guessing more along the lines of a dress or smart casual watch but it's easier to know the direction you're thinking.

Also do you want a smaller or larger size watch, does the person have a smaller/larger wrist (not expecting measurements but just a rough idea)
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I'd say not too large and a dress or casual watch. Without knowing much about them - just something that looks 'nice' and will last.
 
ivandrago said:
I'd say not too large and a dress or casual watch. Without knowing much about them - just something that looks 'nice' and will last.
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I'd say go look at the below brands and see what takes your fancy within your budget.

Hamilton - I'm thinking khaki, murph (keep going back and forth on this myself), jazzmaster thinline (I have one of these with the red dial and had to replace the strap because it was stupidly short), intra-matic. They should all be in budget if you shop around.
Certina - thinking ds-1
Tissot - thinking gentleman powermatic, prx, visodate.

The three above are all part of the same swatch watch group so will often use the same movements etc

Seiko - there's a LOT to chose from lol
Christopher Ward - maybe, no first hand experience but most seem to say the watches are pretty good value, CS could be the issue if there's an issue though.

Most of the watches I've suggested are 40mm, so not overly big imo. A few on here might say they're larger sized due to them having small wrists, admittedly I do have a larger than average 8inch wrist so can pull off larger but I seem to stick around the 40mm size.
 
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