Best and worst watch you’ve ever owned?

Best: Longines Conquest

Worst: Armani (something)

BEST: 1960s era Omega Seamaster watch from my dad

Worst: I have never owned a watch that did not at least have some redeeming quality. None

Best and worst ironically is the same watch. The Vostok Komandirskie, a Russian made mechanical $65 freak show with a unidirectional bezel, date window, magnetic and shock resistance, second hand and funky things on the face like tanks, MIGs, Russian Flags, submarines or scuba divers, whatever model you want. Made by Vostok in Russia on order from the Russian Ministry of Defense. A piece of Soviet Cold War history on your wrist. Sapphire? We don’t need no stinking sapphire. Accurate? Sun is up Day, down it’s Night. Included leather band? We don’t need no stinking real leather. How many clicks on the bezel, 60 or 120? We don’t need no stinking bezel clicks. Hacking, date quick set, water resistance? What do you want for $45 the stinking Mona Lisa? But I really enjoy my Vostoks, I have over 50 and when I go in my watch office tomorrow morning and 20 have the correct time and date I got my moneys worth.

I love my Panerai the most, this is well known. The worst was a Citizen Altichron that I bought new and then wore swimming and it leaked. When I sent it back to Citizen, they lost the package but I had the proof of delivery. I asked for and received a full refund but I almost died when I saw the watch full of water.

Best: Lorier Neptune SIII (edges out Imperial Royalguard only due to status as an anniversary gift)

Worst: Orient Defender Mk I. Absolutely the MOST ANNOYING watch to set, period. Half the time I don't even bother setting the day/date, just the time.

I have both of them watches to my best is longines hydroconquest 39mm

Worst is a Chinese Amazon special my little sister got me one year for Christmas manual mechanical watches but I will never get rid of it because it’s still special to me

He he great post and I agree. They're both ugly and great at the same time. Tough as a coffin nail and quirky too.Also bloody addictive to buy and modify if that's your thing etc.

I love my Komandierskie's. Here's my favourite.

Objectively, my worst watch was my Wokai - but that was just supercheap and supernasty.

If we move away from cheap watches with QC fails, and consider watches that actually function and could be worn daily, albeit with emotional pain... My worst is probably this Constantin Weisz:

It was a gift from mom, and that kind of made it worse, because instead of reminding me of mom being loving and generous it reminded me of mom having poor judgement and being a QVC addict. Of my own misguided purchases there is the Evoque from North Edge which I even wore for 1WC in 2022:

I wanted a solar, I was going through a phase where I only bought from AliExpress, and I was not trusting Skmei to put a decent solar together for £10, so I went for this ugly duckling, which turned out as an ugly drake.

Of the watches I particularly like (and I find it difficult to choose), I noticed that I changed the strap of several of them. So, I am picking a watch where I was also happy with the strap it came on (it actually came with a choice of two), my Baltany:

Ye gads. Do you drag your Lorier through gravel or something? The scratches!

Manliness bonus; +3

The sheer cringe I get just looking at the poor thing; -3

Verdict... It's a draw! 😎

Best: My islander Brookville with the linen Dial.

Worst: This Caravelle NY. I was very new into watches and I loved the overall design (still do). But the bezel was fixed, it was pretty large, the movement wasn't great, it felt cheap. Make it a smaller watch, throw a decent central seconds chrono movement in it, and make a functional bezel and you've got a decent watch.

Lol. I practice what I preach for the most part. I don't go OUT of my way to scratch up stuff, and am careful about smacking my wrist about into tight spots. But the watches get worn. The absolute BEAUTY of acrylic tho, is after a few seconds of Polywatch it's good as new!

That pic was taken after a week in lots of blowing sand. It got everywhere and I'm suspecting that's what caused the, IMO, near swirls everywhere.

Best: VC something

Worst: Ben Sherman something (gifted).

Or my $3 AliX watches worn when painting, but I don't really count them as they were specifically bought to take oils / acrylics without causing me pain; true beaters.

This is my kind of review.

Love the question. The best may be my vintage Longines. The dial patina and character just draw me in every time and I have a lot of watches. The worst would probably be a dual time watch by a company called Brooklyn. I ordered it online. I thought the two dials with two time zones looked cool at the time. But it ended up weighing a grand total of about 5 grams since it was made of plastic or fake metal. The color started changing to brown right way and not in a classy "patina" sort of way and the coating started peeling off but not before the watch stopped working all together!! :)))))

I’ve had lots of best watches too many to list Rolex sub and Doxa sub would be up there in the silver and bronze but the gold medal if I had to be pushed I would have to say the best has been my Seiko Speedmaster which I bought brand new in 1984 for £40 which was half a weeks wage then and still looks a million dollars.

However the worst by far, was a Marathon Tsar.

When I say worst, I’ve had many pieces of junk watches which cost a few quid so I’m not including any of them…… the Marathon cost £800 so you would expect a quality watch, particularly after all the hype you read about them…… used by USA military blah blah. I lusted after this watch, in photos it looks like a heavy substantial piece, in the flesh it’s nothing like, particularly the bezel which is like a piece of cheap tin and feels flimsy. To add insult to injury the seconds hand never hit the markers once. I sent it back to Silvermans the U.K. authorised dealer and got a refund.

disappointed t say the least

Its actually a nice watch and classic looks and dimensions. I've debated between this automatic version and the quartz, only because I like the looks of both for different reasons.