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I have an affection for watches, growing up in a jewelry store. Changing batteries, replacing, and sizing bands was one of the first jobs I had as a young jeweler's monkey. Over the years I have collected quite a few watches, including Timex Marlins, Invicta, Seiko, Citizens, etc... My father had given me a Timex, just like this before I headed off to college. He had even matched it with a band just like this. But, my Freshman year of college, someone had broken into my dorm room and stolen it. It was the only thing in the room worth taking.
So, I am shopping online for more Marlins on Ebay (there's something ritualistic about a mechanical wind up watch that appeals to me) and I run across a watch just like the one that was stolen 34 years ago, same band, same face, etc... So, I purchased it. The Ebay vendor had even said that the watch and band were an unusual combination. It was due to arrive on November the 29th. It didn't arrive. I wasn't freaked, because, well, mail... But, after three days, I started trying to contact the vendor, but ebay kept sending me to a page asking if I wanted a refund. I kept checking, "NO." I just wanted to know if the vendor could tell me something about why it might be late. But, the vendor responded to my request to ebay (not me). Maybe some new Ebay thing, because usually I could contact the vendor directly, or maybe the vendor had set something on his account, so that I could not contact him. So, I finally received it a week late, yesterday. I marked the vendor 100% on the stars, but not on the delivery time, nor communications. I added a quick sentence about the delivery may be out of the control of the vendor.
Well, with true Ebay vendor fashion, he sent me a jibber-English response about how I had to change my review because he was a professional. I am happy to have, what I think is my old watch back. It is way beyond me thinking that this guy 1000's of miles away had anything to do with my watch getting stolen, and even if, so much time has passed. Anyways, the guy is just going to have to deal with it. He still has 100% positive feedback, so F' him.
Wearing a watch is just so much freedom. I can leave my cellphone at my desk, and I can set my eyes upon it, without getting distracted by emails, Facebook, Instagram, etc... And, I feel more in control of my time.

How do you guys feel about watches?
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cortezattic

Lifer
Nov 19, 2009
15,147
7,637
Chicago, IL
I'm all for killing time. I'm not even convinced that time exists as some fundamental thing, unlike space and energy. So no, I don't really like watches.

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,340
Haven't worn one since the 90's. A nice pocket watch may be in my future, but no more wrist watches.

 
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mcitinner1

Lifer
Apr 5, 2014
4,043
24
Missouri
I always carried a watch when I was working... up until we all started carrying cell phones. In my construction job, (sheet metal worker) a wrist watch would get destroyed pretty quickly, so I carried different pocket watches in the top pocket of my bibs.

 

jvnshr

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 4, 2015
4,616
3,868
Baku, Azerbaijan
I am wearing this one today, just took the picture. My father-in-law bought it for me right after I got married. It is kind of a tradition here in Azerbaijan, you marry a lady and his father has to buy a watch for you. I guess the tradition has several meanings.
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huntertrw

Lifer
Jul 23, 2014
5,219
5,338
The Lower Forty of Hill Country
"...there's something ritualistic about a mechanical wind up watch that appeals to me..."
Did I miss something here? The reason for my question is that the Timex watch shown in the image has (according to its face) a quartz movement.
I love watches, and have both wrist and pocket models. My most treasured is an Elgin pocket model that belonged to my maternal grandfather who passed before I was born. It, like his KBB Yello Bole Imperial pipe which I also inherited, are tangible links to a man whom I know I would have liked, and I am proud to use and keep them.

 
Nice Guess watch, Javan. Back in the day, I would never have "guessed" that Guess watches would have retained their value, but they are quite collectible. That's a handsome timepiece. And, nice SIZE. I have also been surprised at how large the faces have gotten.

I didn't get a watch at any of my marriages. Maybe that is why they ran out of time. :puffy:

 
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They were sold as one of the first sports watches from just after WW2 till the 80's, experimenting with self-winds, but mostly all mechanical. They were where we get the phrase, "Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'" from. They were advertised with Hemingway pulling a swordfish out of the water, beer drinking guys, working men, hunters, explorers, helicopter pilots. Timex got its fame from winning the contract to supply American forces with watches for coordinated attacks and time pieces for all sorts of military uses. Then, after the war, they cranked the watches out to the hard-working American. And, they were noted for being very tough.
They weren't "jewelry store" watches, in that they weren't sold for bling factor. Buliva and Seikos filled that niche, with Invicta and Rolex's being on the higher end. (although Invicta has sold out more to the middle market nowadays).
The Marlin is quite a classic, IMO. American made, at least up until the 90's.

 
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madox07

Lifer
Dec 12, 2016
1,823
1,689
I love my watches ... I only have a more expensive one, a Maurce Lacroix, which was gifted to me by my family when I turned 30. That has a high sentimental value to me, above and beyond the intrinsic value. I understand Cosmic as far as stuff like this goes, as I too was gifted a watch by my father - an Atlantic, when I left for the states - not you best swiss made, but non the less something very dear to me. It had as many as 10 leather bands over the years, but the piece itself is as precise as the first day I bought it. I also own a Komandirsky by Vostok - a nice combination between automatic and mechanical if that makes any sense. It self winds when you wear it, but you can turn the crown as well to manually crank it. The Russians make good watches, although mine needs a tuneup every couple of years. Tissot, Swatch, Casio, are just a few other watch makers' products that I own, mostly inexpensive, but simple and reliable.
I must have been a rail road guy in a previous life, otherwise I cannot explain my fondness for time pieces ... :lol:

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,621
44,832
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
I like watches, especially the intricacy of movements. There's something wonderfully complex and "Rube Goldberg" about a watch movement. And after a decade of selling some of the finest watches available I have..

zero. I have never needed a watch, for better or worse, I've always known, within a few minutes, what time it is, without owning a watch. So I have no need of one, and no desire to own one. But I still like watches.

 
Nice Bradley! I remember you talking about it on the Omega thread.
I think that, like my compulsive chuckle (my wife tells me that I chuckle every time I start talking, as if everything is funny), I also compulsively check my watch whenever someone starts talking to me. My wife says that it makes her feel as if she is wasting my time. Sometimes... ha ha.
I think my chuckle helps me win over groups when I start giving speeches. Public speaking and coaching others to do it is sort of a hobby as well.

Eh, so checking my watch makes people feel uncomfortable... it can be a superpower of sorts. :puffy:

 
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tbradsim1

Lifer
Jan 14, 2012
9,092
11,008
Southwest Louisiana
No Michael, I check my watch all the time, habit from the Plant days, how long to fill, depressurization, makes people I guess think they are boring you, usually it's the other way around I'm boreing them. :puffy:

 
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