If you see someone wearing an interesting watch, do you ask them about it?
Last night I was at work dinner and I noticed someone sitting at my table was wearing a cool watch that I actually own. I know this person but I don’t know them well. I hate to admit it but I chickened out and I didn’t ask him about his watch. Occasionally I will strike up a watch conversation but usually it’s when I’m at a meet-up or some venue where I expect the person to truly be an enthusiast. How about you Crunchers? If you see a cool watch out in the wild do you immediately go up to the person and ask them about their watch? How do you feel if someone comes up to you and asks about your watch?
I’ve been collecting watches since I was a kid, including a couple of Swatches I bought as a teen in Switzerland during the 80s. I currently have more watches than I typically wear in a year but that’...
I mind my business in public settings.
I generally see customers watches at work (vape shop) , so I'm on home ground & confident. I comment regularly, & have struck up friendships with a few other watch fans and even converted a couple .
Obviously it very much depends on the situation, there are places where it is just not cool to chat about watches but over the years I have enjoyed many amusing spontaneous chats with friendly strangers about timepieces. Often you might encounter individuals who wear a cool watch but have zero insights, some are interested to learn but just as many will say that it is a watch from so and so. A few years ago, I was convinced to seek the services of a personal injury lawyer after I suffered a freak broken ankle on a public escalator. Successful young lawyer was wearing an older quartz Tag, after our meeting I asked about his watch while mentioning that the watch that I was wearing at the time of my accident required an expensive service. The guy makes a note to increase my claim for the full service plus his standard 30% fee of course.
I never ask.
I forcefully grab the person by their arm to take a closer look - usually with a loupe.
usually only the panhandlers and bums do cold conversations to get money. Usually this is about as popular as the Watchtower magazine.
I found myself in a similar situation last month at a post-work function where a colleague had on a watch that I was checking out all day from across the room. It was our first time meeting in person, but I didn't hesitate and asked to check out his watch right after the first round of drinks were served. 😀
I was about to deciden on a new pair of glasses when I noticed the advisor/salesman was wearing an interesting chronograph. I askes him if that is a Citizen and the ice immediately broke. He gave me his watch, I game him mine and half of the time we were talking about watches instead of glasses, since he was a collector as well.
I cold praise folks watches if opp avails itself - if they don't care to take a compliment on their Breitling, Omega, Rolex,.Seiko, etc., then 🤷.