My Father's Watch Journey

Story time!

Before anything, I will make the disclaimer that my dad is not a watch collector at all, having owned and worn only 1 watch at a time at different points of his life. I was having coffee with him one day when I decided to try writing out his watch story. He knows how I like to take pictures of watches, so he had the idea to take the picture of his watch on the coffee holders.

The Riviera

When my parents got married, my mom got him a Baume & Mercier Riviera. They bought it during their honeymoon trip in Hong Kong. Funnily enough, the final decision of which watch to get came down to this or a Rolex Datejust. To most people nowadays, I would assume the Rolex to be the blowout winner of this exchange, however things were different back then.

According to him, the Riviera won mostly due to how similar the watch looked like the Rolex, while being just a bit cheaper. This should give you a bit of context to how my dad, and most regular people, views watches and how they value them. To my dad, the watch looked really good, felt good on the wrist, and most importantly, it made him feel good. For him, that is enough.

My mother told me that he wore this watch everywhere. Going to work, cooking or cleaning at home, or even while swimming, he would never take this off. I was too young to know any of this of course, but given the current state of the watch now, I fully believe her. Somehow, water was able to enter the watch and caused the dial to patina in the way you see in the picture. This also affected the movement, causing it to lose almost 2 minutes per day, if it could even manage to last that long.

They tried to bring the watch to the service center, but when they found out about the price it would take to do a complete overhaul, my mom asked if it would be better to just get a new watch entirely. My dad agreed.

The Aquaracer

While I did say earlier that my dad is not a watch collector, that did not mean that he's completely oblivious to brands. In fact, he is a huge fan of Tag Heuer. The design language, the way the company brands itself, and all the people he knows who own Tag Heuer watches, all resonate with him to the point that it creates a personal bias that he cannot fully explain. I am sure many of you can relate to this kind of unexplainable brand bias. He is not aware of the current reputation of Tag nowadays, but honestly I think that even if he did, he wouldn't care. Case in point, he always wanted to own a Tag Heuer himself, and this was his opportunity to finally get one.

At the time, the Tag Heuer Aquaracer cost just a bit more than the cost of servicing the Riviera, and that's what ended up being his new watch. He loves this watch, arguably his favorite watch till now, and I can see why. Pictures cannot fully do Aquaracers justice as the beauty of the watch comes from how well it is able to blend masculine design elements with cool elegance and subtle strength. Not to mention how comfortable it is to wear.

He has owned this watch for around 11 years now, but it does not look like a watch that is 11 years old in my opinion. Similar to the Riviera, my dad would wear this watch everywhere, and that would include sleeping in bed as well. The clasp of this watch is more scratched up than a cat's toy, and the bracelet looks like a hurricane has flown through it. Despite this however, the watch still looks phenomenally pristine. The polished portions of the bezel really do the heavy lifting to generate this watch's timeless design.

Given the length of time he wore this watch, it is only right that eventually, he would need to service this watch. By last year, the bezel had completely refused to move and the watch would be ahead by 3-5 minutes after a week. While initially, he was scared that the price would kill him similarly to the Riviera, the service cost for the Aquaracer was very doable. The problem now was that he would be left without a watch for 3-4 months, as that is the service time for his watch according to the service center.

If you have been following the story, I believe you already know what happens next: my dad decided it was time to buy a new watch. This time, he wanted to opt for something that felt more classy, as he was getting older and felt that he needed to "dress his age".

The Spirit Zulu Time

I went together with my dad last year to every watch store in our area, searching for the perfect new watch that would fit his taste. At Oris, my dad really loved the Aquis, but felt that it was a tad bit too flashy for his taste. At Hamilton, he really enjoyed looking at all the different forms of the Khaki Field, but he felt that they were too small for him or that the dials were too busy. At Tag Heuer, he saw a Formula 1 Calibre 16 Chronograph that he almost bought before he caught himself. He remembered that he was supposed to be buying a more "old guy" looking watch, and that while the Formula 1 was cool, it wasn't what he was looking for.

Finally, we entered the boutique of Longines. We tried on several watches for him, notably the Longines Legend Diver, the Hydroconquest, and the Ultrachron (I would eventually end up buying one of these for myself). When he saw the Longines Zulu Time, he told everyone to stop what they're doing, then requested the person assisting us to place everything else back.

He wanted this Zulu Time.

The dimensions were perfect for his big wrist. The simpleness of the black dial, accented by the blue GMT hand, subtle yet polished inner rings, and the full ceramic bezel was enough for him to think that this would be his next purchase. He told us that he would sleep on it because he didn't want it to be an impulse buy, but he was already back at the boutique first thing in the morning the next day.

The watch is incredible. The GMT complication proved to be very useful for him as well since he recently went on a trip to California for 2 months. The dual time zone feature allowed him to keep track of what time it was back here in the Philippines so that he would know when he could call us.

The Present

The Aquaracer eventually finished it's service period and made its way back to my dad. He still has a special attachment to his Tag Heuer and wears it almost every day as his beater watch.

The Riviera no longer works all that well. The crown is stuck and shaking the watch only powers it for a few minutes, but he keeps this dear to him since it was his honeymoon gift.

As for the Zulu Time, he said he would wear on more special occasions. Maybe for family celebrations, meetings with old friends, or even just coffee with his son.