My Story...My Future and the Grail

That’s one of the best things I’ve seen written here, thanks for sharing. It sounds like you’ve got things as sorted out as a young guy can, and that speaks well of you.

This isn’t exactly related to what you wrote, but I have a small piece of advice if you’ll allow. As you move through your watch journey, don’t throw away watches you’ve outgrown. By all means sell them if you need the money, but if you don’t, keep them. If you’re anything like me and many others, you’ll look at those watches years later and they’ll be full of memories. Even if you find them slightly embarrassing, they’ll also remind you of your past in a way few things will.

Cheers.

Thank you for taking the time to write this. You picked a great watch to aspire to and I wholeheartedly approve. They are an amazing brand and I love that you are eyeing D&S vs a hype brand. I hope it all works out.

I 100 % agree with @thekris ! I'm 61 and those memories are irreplaceable! I have watches back to my grandparents, parents, and gifts that were given to me for high school and college graduations etc.

Cherish them if you can.

Cheers!

Great choice, I've got one of these some if you'd like more info or pics hits me up.

Thanks for taking the time to write this. I enjoyed reading your story and it’s clear you are an intelligent and motivated guy who knows what he wants. I hadn’t heard of the brand but it’s one I will read up on now.

One of my first watches:

It needed a new movement several years ago and I sold it to a watchmaker for next to nothing, rather than fixing it. Really miss that one now and wish I’d played it differently

So hold on to your core pieces and be frugal with big purchases until you feel absolutely no need to be frugal!

I am so happy for that girl in your story. I can see you are devoted to this relationship and I wish you guys can have a happy journey together in your life. You taste is very similar to my boyfriend’s tastes, maybe he is going to like the watch you recommended. Right now I know what to get him :)

As I am cheap, I get baffled about people feeling the need to spend thousands on a watch. That applies especially to mass-produced status symbols from the likes of Rolex and Omega. You make a pretty good case why you want a special watch that lasts a lifetime, and why you do want it to be specially made for you, rather than mass-produced. In that respect, Dornblüth is really a good call.

You also want something memorable for your possibly upcoming marriage.

I would urge some caution though, for several reasons.

1. At your age, most people have not much disposable income. If you plan to get married and start a family an expensive watch is usually a frivolous expense. If you are from a wealthy family, that is a different matter, but if you are not there are more important priorities in your life.

2. There are much cheaper options to have a decent watch with customized dials to commemorate, say, a wedding. You don't want a disposable watch - well, if that watch commemorates the wedding to your life partner it ain't disposable.

3. When starting a relationship at a young age, even when you get married, there is still a serious risk that things won't work out. Imagine they do not, after just a year you break up, and you have that personalized Dornblüth. You would not want to wear it because of the heartache associated with it, you cannot sell it without a huge loss because it is personalized. With a cheaper personalized watch that's a hit on the chin you can take more easily.

So, if you want a Dornblüth to commemorate your marriage, do it as a (say) tenth anniversary celebration of your marriage, not right off the bat at your age. By then you can be certain your relationship will last, and you are likely to be more financially secure to afford the watch in the first place.

Thank you so much for those kind words and for the advice :)

I totally agree with you! It breaks my heart every time I see a person selling their grandparents watches or even past watches that they bought but didn’t wear it enough to develop the “relationship” with that piece.

I believe that taking time and actually enjoying wearing a watch for a long time is what makes them have a deeper connection with the user… so even if I stop wearing my current watches I will always save them so that in the future I will be reminded of the stories we had together!

Thank you for sharing your story! You seem to have your head and heart at the right place. And all that whilst being 18!

Love the watch (the right pronunciation is 'dornbloot and sone') and I hope you have that on your wrist for your marriage!

That is a stunning watch!! 👌🏼

Man, this is a great writing indeed. I feel you and you reminded me what i was all about at my 18th birthday, standing in my local watch store) I got the wrong watch. It's still with me, but it's not working and never will be. 3 watchmakers refused to do something about this watch except changing the batteries. And it's nowhere near as good as your Seikos.

But this idea of a watch being a companion on your journey is something that i was subconsciously thinking since i got my first digital Casio. 8 y.o. me didn't wanted to separate from his watch for more than 1 minute really. And i also got into Apple Watch trap, thinking that this piece of consumer electronics is the only watch i ever needed. And i sold almost every single working watch i've had because i thought that Apple Watch rendered them useless. And here i am now, spending bit too much time on a watch forum)

Maybe i am i bit romantic.

Great watch choice. But i'm with the ones who saying "dont rush it". This watch is more than a wedding watch. You don't know how will you or your partner change over time. You are young and i remember myself being young, my taste changed couple of times, my priorities in life changed a couple of times, i got my scratches and scars along the way and it changed me as a person. My values 12 years ago and my values today are different. And it's perfectly okay, it would be much more concerning if i'm still be thinking like a 18 y.o. in my 30's)

Take a look around the watch world. If you want to customise a watch, i believe that there is no better way to do this than just wear it and scratch it. If it's too vague for you, you can always engrave any watch you like really. If the watch is special for you it's special

When I was 25 years old, I also treated myself with a Dornblüth. Like you, I was impressed by the Watchfinder video and immediately convinced. I put together a watch on their website and was lucky that the one I wanted was one of the cheapest. The smaller models have an in house movement and are therefore "slightly" more expensive than the 42mm version with the modified ETA calibre. However, I would never do without the engraved dial. If you live nearby (or are willing to drive 7 hours like I am), I can only recommend picking up the watch yourself. The watchmaker is a very nice guy and will also show you how the watch is made.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for your grail watch and can only recommend a Dornblüth.

P.S.: The watch is beautifully made, but you can tell that it is handmade.

I would love to say to take your time and see how your interests change over time… but I can’t. Dornbluth is everything that I like about watches and I don’t think you can do better than their charming, special pieces. I’m happy to hear that you’ve found such a special girl. Enjoy each day, my friend!

Not in the same league, but your Dornbluth musings reminded me of the Stowa Marine I had a few years ago. The 7001 may be my favorite ETA movement. Cheers

man, this is why i joined watchcrunch. i really enjoy reading this story. well its nice to dream about buying a grail watch in your wedding, but please do not rush as there are more far more important things and need in this life believe me. but i hope you re doing well and achieve your goal. cheers🍺

Hi there, thank you so much for the comment!

Unfortunately I think I forgot to make clear that I don’t intend to buy this watch in the near future… neither get married in the near future ah ah

It’s a plan for the “distant future”…like 10 years!

At that time I hope I will be financially stable as well as in a more stablished relationship .

I agree that buying a watch today would be totally crazy… even if were to get married today I don’t think I could afford something like this!

But since it’s a future plan… I like establishing a possible outcome.

Maybe my tastes will change over the years so… there are no guaranties that this is the “one watch”… I hope it is because it truly is a work of art but there is nothing that can assure me for certain that this will be it.

Ok… so I think now I can pronounce it correctly! Thank you so much! ;)

The fact that the 7001 lacks hacking blows my mind. It's a fairly straightforward feature to implement.

Wow I really noticed that we think a lot alike!

Since I was younger I always loved things my way… having something special in an object that would make mine stand out from the other similar models (I actually even scratched my name in my bedroom’s table when I was younger to be sure that it would never be sold and would be different from every single other)

Now with watches I have a similar taste… the natural patina! Obviously I won’t be scratching my own watch on purpose but I love the concept of having small “mistakes” and scratches (unless it’s in the glass… 🔪😅 ah ah) that remind me of certain occasions or just simply show me how this watch is along with me at my side pretty much everyday and being worn.

That is also one of the reasons I bought a leather strap! Maybe I can post about that latter once it arrives… but surprise surprise… I actually engraved the back of the strap 😅

Anyway leather is famous for developing that typical patina that only looks better with time! I feel a bit guilty for buying a leather object (I wanted to try vegan leather but I was scared the quality of the patina wouldn’t be the same) but it’s a one time purchase and maybe next I will try playing around with nato straps!

So actually I live in Portugal but since the trip to Germany is not all that expensive, specially if bought with some anticipation,I would love to visit the place once I buy it.

I was just a bit confused about one part of your comment, the “I would never do without the engraved dial.”.

Did you actually engrave your dial? If so I would love to know how you contacted them as well as the level of personalization you might have actually made.

I know that they can do some levels of customization but I am still not sure how far they can go… not that I want to make my watch look like a freak… but just out of curiosity ah ah

Thank you so much for the comment and I hope you can appreciate that watch for a long time ;)

if you want that patina, the strap should be really high quality. Even if its genuine leather, non-vegan, it still can break in a spot where your hole is.) Just be aware of it, my strap on my seiko is dead after a year, but not too much wear on the front side. So it's broken by half and no patina(

But i freaking love patina, may i add. For some strange reason i'm gravitated to all thing analog, all things old, all things from a time where i wasnt here) Like 70s, and 80s)

At a first glance I actually thought you posted pictures of a Dornbluth! Really interesting watch and the combination with the nato strap looked awesome! Thank you so much for the pics ;)

Thank you so much for the kind words! I won’t rush anything I promise ah ah but it’s always good to reflect on our path and think about the future!

Love Dornbluth watches! They're definitely on my radar of something I might pick up one day. Once you start working full-time, as long as you budget well you should be able to pick one up! I don't think it will take you 10 years haha

That Dornbluth is amazing and gorgeous! Very nice post, and great story. It's great to see younger folks who actually appreciate a wristwatch as it is, even though, as so many people say, your iPhone will always have more accurate time. (Not necessarily true, by the way, as I've seen my phone drift from atomic time by several seconds. I'm not sure how often it syncs up its time with the tower. But I have an Omega that only gains +0.3 seconds per day, so...) Anyway, it's nice to see that you appreciate watches even though they're not "high tech" so to speak. To me, it's all about the craftsmanship, the engineering, and the brand history. The history of the various models through the years. The classic designs, and the people who wore them. And definitely being able to pass down something to the next generation, that will last for many years if taken care of.

Hey Andre

I can only recommend the trip to Kalbe i./S.A. to you. It's really worth it to get to know the watchmaker and the staff there.

Yes, you can have the dial engraved. The exciting thing is that they don't use a CNC machine, but an old pantograph. In my opinion, that's something really fascinating. The price is worth it because it makes the watch special.

When you put a watch together online in the configurator, you can customise a few things. However, if you contact them, you can further configure the watch. A friend of mine wanted a dial made of stone, which is found in his home country. Without hesitation they agreed to check if this is technically possible. In my opinion, Dornblüth und Sohn is really very open when it comes to special orders.

The easiest thing to do is to send them an email and ask for a catalogue, which they can certainly send you in English as a PDF.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me.

My strap is from Straptelier… I made sure to buy a good quality one so that it can last longer and feel/look better than a cheaper one!

As I said in the post I prefer buying something more expensive but better rather than something cheaper that won’t last as long or be as high quality!

To be honest I totally agree with you… vintage cameras and sound systems are just 💯! When I go to my grand parents house I love putting a disc from Pink Floyd playing in their Vinyl 👀

These are some photos of the strap

It never occurred to me that the iPhone time could be wrong! I believed it was always synced to the atomic time since my Wi-Fi is always turned on.

But nevertheless an Omega with +0.3 seconds per day? That is impressive! I thought in average mechanical watches tend to lose up to +2 seconds per day so losing only +0.3, the watch is a mechanical beast ah ah

Anyway thank you for the comment I really appreciate it :)

Cheers

Yeah I already knew about the old pantograph and it’s so cool that the engraving is actually “hand made” (they use this machine but it needs to be controlled by someone).

But the second part about being able to choose the dial material and actually giving the customer the possibility to customize such a specific part of the watch is incredible… and with a material like stone… incredible!

I will for sure send them an email… despite the fact that I don’t intend to buy the watch right now I still want to see their catalog and be aware of the possibilities for the future!

Again thank you so much for the comment and I will make sure to visit them once l, in the future, buy a watch from them :)

Really nice.

The Live version of a Dark Side Of The Moon was an album that got me into music really. My dad used to have a huge music collection on tape and cd, but I didn’t bothered to join him until I heard the Pink Floyd.)

And the box with an LEDs got 8-9 y.o. me immediately.

I’ve had a couple of 90s Japanese amps in my 20s, not a super hi-fi, just some Sony, but when paired with my beloved Infinity Overtures, maaan.

I’m not into CDs much, I’m a 100% vinyl guy. Have an Audio-Technica turntable (an homage to a legendary DJ Technics) and a small home speaker to go along. Sadly I needed to give my infinity overtures and a new Denon amp to my dad, since my new apartment can’t physically contain it, neither suited for those speakers to be played at adequate volume.

+1 on quality over quantity. I know myself too well to settle for a compromise. It’s always ending up the same - buying the “substitute”, getting a dopamine kick and selling a substitute a couple months later with a noticeable and getting a real deal.

Great strap, love the color. Experimenting with a straps is really worth it. Too much cool straps in the wild to just ingnore them