Happy Father’s day! Which watch reminds you of your father? And what does it tell you about him?

The only watch my dad owns is an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Dual Time. I have never seen him wear it, and the first time he told me about it, he called it a Girard Perregaux. It tells me a lot about him. It’s 18k gold, overly complicated, he bought it at the recommendation of the dealer, and he can’t remember the brand‘s name. My dad himself is flashy, emotionally complex, and likes things at a superficial level because he came from a poor childhood and, in my opinion, buys expensive goods to escape that. He is very different from me and this watch celebrates that.

My father always wears a watch and has all my life. Actually, both my parents have worn watches regularly all my life, and have always had several watches, basically everyday, dress, and beater. Watches have been regular gifts among family members, although no one collects to the extent I do, all do have small collections. The watches in my collection that really bring my father to mind are some of my digital watches. My father was instantly fascinated with digital watches and his small collection became digital over time as analog dials were either supplemented or replaced with digital displays.

My father had one of the early Armitron red LED watches, and is the reason I selected the gold version with the red display.

While this is not his, my father did have this model Seiko as well. I don't know if he still has it.

My father was a big fan of Armitron and also had this model in the late '70s and early '80s.

The watch he wears most now is a G Shock GWM500A I gave him several years ago.

I have my father’s watch. He passed in 1995 at only 53.  He wasn’t concerned about fashion at all and he would be as likely to pour concrete with his watch on as wear it to church.  Most of the time, he didn’t wear a watch at all.

It wasn’t in great condition when I got it but I had it serviced and cleaned up fantastically.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there. 

As far back as I could remember my father's edc was pretty basic. Wallet, keys, a black ACE comb, handkerchief and on his wrist he would wear his Bulova Two Tone Super Seville Calendar pictured below (not his... he still has it but it's "somewhere in the house"). I'd remember him wearing this everyday and when he took it off when he got home, I'd put it on and it would just dangle on my wrist. 

When he retired, he started his second career which took him to China during the early 2010's where he would purchase 1-3 homages every year and to this day, he wears either a Patek or Rolex homage. I told him all of the money he pumped into his collection of high end homages, he could have landed a solid, previously owned Rolex. He said it was too much responsibility and he'd lose his mind if he lost or damaged it. 🙄Fathers. 

The watch that I associate most closely with my Dad is his Vacheron Constantin Overseas.

This is the watch that he bought which kicked off my obsession.  He’d been in the market for his first good automatic watch, and was actually looking at a Zenith El Primero, but wound up with the previous version of this watch instead (shown below - borrowed the photo).

That one ultimately turned out to be a lemon (even deemed as much by VC themselves), having been sent off to NYC and Switzerland several times, with neither location able to figure out the issue with the movement or explain why it would suddenly seize, even though they were able to replicate the problem.  VC, as an apology, sent him this model as a replacement, which had recently been introduced at the time.  He wore it as a daily for the remainder of his career, until he recently retired.  He still wears it, just not as much, especially as his own collection has burgeoned to include pieces from Omega, TAG, Cartier, Breitling and Patek.

A day late but

My father is a pretty stoic person. I guess even for him, the two tone DJ was the "made-it" watch that he got a few decades ago when his business took off. Yet he never wore it except for the most special occassions, he said it was too cumbersome. In fact, he rarely wore a watch. So I don't have much memories of this watch.

He did offer it to me when I got my first job, to which I kindly declined (I thought I was not worthy of it), and in the end my brother took it. 

One autumn afternoon, I met my parents again and low and behold, the above IWC was on my father's wrist. He just fell in love with it on first sight apparently. It was at that moment that it just kind of clicked that my father had, like everyone, wants. I think as a father myself now, I understand a little bit more about how much my father sacrificed his wants over our wants and needs. I'm glad that he finally felt that he could spend money on himself. One day I'll snap a photo of him wearing it.

Less glamorous, perhaps, but the above was my father-in-law's watch. I can only imagine the sacrifices he went through to provide for his family.

My dad got me a Victorinox field watch when I was in high school.  Probably cost $100 at the time, which was an absolutely inconceivable amount of money back then.

Dude worked sh*t jobs in restaurant kitchens all his life to provide.  I wish he could have met his granddaughters.  He would have been so happy.  My favorite photo of him is of him holding my little sister, bouncing her on his knees, both of them looking at the camera, with the world's biggest grins on their faces.

this two tone 36mm datejust and two tone longiness flagship roman dial. i guess like many typical asian boomer two tone (gold and silver colour) is a must😂. he's still wearing them since to this day depends on the occasion