What was your worst watch purchase?
This is the most regret I have buying a watch. Not because of the quality, price, fit and finish, on wrist, etc. but because of the dial color. I bought this watch online and I got to say that the color represented online for this watch in this color (green) is not a representative of what it looks like in real life. In the real world it looks more black than green and that’s a bummer. However, I am not looking to sell it anytime soon. When I first got it it became my most worn watch because of how easy it is on the wrist and how unique the case is from my other watches. So despite the disappointment in the beginning, it’s still worth keeping around for its uniqueness, especially at this price point. What are your watch regrets? And why? Share with us below.
My amateur review of this watch if you’re interested: Did I Pick The Wrong Color? Tissot PRX Review
https://youtu.be/rwjicUl8EWg
Just a casual watch collector who reviews his own watch collection on YouTube for fun.
It's funny how things like colour can turn you off. My regrets are usually around vintage pieces where the movement isn't what it should be or everything looks great but once you get it under the magnifier you start to see the problems.
My most recent regret is a mecha quartz chrono I bought that a friend designed and built. Solid specs on the watch and a great caseback and the dial's red colour, matches my car. Which makes it a fun piece to wear to the track. It's a VK68 movement, so no small seconds hand. Instead it's got a 24 hr indicator (one of the more useless subdials and the hands are blacked out and they tend to get lost on the face of the watch. I kind of wish they were high polish steel, which I think would just work better.
In bright sunlight, the watch works fine but if the light falls, it kind of drives me nuts.
Mine was also a Tissot. Impulse buy at an AD. I knew as soon as I got it home it was not the watch for me, but they had already resized the bracelet. I tried to sell it a few times but didn't even get a single inquiry. It just sits in the box now. I suppose I'll gift it to somebody one of these days.
Here's the upside though: In the general terms of watch buying mistakes, this one wasn't all that much money and it taught me a great lesson. No more impulse buys and more buying without sleeping on it, preferable for a few days.
Mine was a Chinese dress watch, but I knew the risk, and it was very inexpensive. I liked it at first, but I didn't fully realize that a large case on a dress watch means a really big dial, and that for some reason it looks disproportionate on my wrist, where a dive watch of the same case size does not. (There were also some imperfections in the sunburst dial that triggered my OCD.)
I disassembled the watch, used the movement for a mod, and kept case, dial and hands. Taught me a lesson about the sizing of dress watches. One of the reasons I'm not getting a watch like a SARX029, as beautiful as it is.
I thought that the copper dial and indices looked smart. It is a 1980's Zim, so acrylic crystal before the use of any AR coatings. Outside in natural light it was so reflective that I found it unreadable, especially the subseconds. If I was ever trapped alone in the wilderness I could have used it to signal rescuers. I realized that I was never going to put into regular rotation so I gave it away.
It's funny how things like colour can turn you off. My regrets are usually around vintage pieces where the movement isn't what it should be or everything looks great but once you get it under the magnifier you start to see the problems.
My most recent regret is a mecha quartz chrono I bought that a friend designed and built. Solid specs on the watch and a great caseback and the dial's red colour, matches my car. Which makes it a fun piece to wear to the track. It's a VK68 movement, so no small seconds hand. Instead it's got a 24 hr indicator (one of the more useless subdials and the hands are blacked out and they tend to get lost on the face of the watch. I kind of wish they were high polish steel, which I think would just work better.
In bright sunlight, the watch works fine but if the light falls, it kind of drives me nuts.
I get it in regards to direct lin light. It’s the same for me on this watch. I just feel cheated by the press photos. Lesson learnt though. Don’t buy online until you have seen one in person. Post the photo of the watch your friend designed!
Mine was also a Tissot. Impulse buy at an AD. I knew as soon as I got it home it was not the watch for me, but they had already resized the bracelet. I tried to sell it a few times but didn't even get a single inquiry. It just sits in the box now. I suppose I'll gift it to somebody one of these days.
Here's the upside though: In the general terms of watch buying mistakes, this one wasn't all that much money and it taught me a great lesson. No more impulse buys and more buying without sleeping on it, preferable for a few days.
Oh yea! I agree completely on the sleeping on it thing. I slept on the decision to buy the Longines HC, MM300 and Tuna for months! Btw, could you show us which is the watch in question here?
Mine was a Chinese dress watch, but I knew the risk, and it was very inexpensive. I liked it at first, but I didn't fully realize that a large case on a dress watch means a really big dial, and that for some reason it looks disproportionate on my wrist, where a dive watch of the same case size does not. (There were also some imperfections in the sunburst dial that triggered my OCD.)
I disassembled the watch, used the movement for a mod, and kept case, dial and hands. Taught me a lesson about the sizing of dress watches. One of the reasons I'm not getting a watch like a SARX029, as beautiful as it is.
A nice dress watch ruined by an oversized dial. Sorry to hear that my friend. Glad to know you put you put it to good use nonetheless.
When I started out as a collector,
I bought myself a Nomos Tangente sport. I love this watch except that the lug to lug is in my opinion too big for my wrist of 17.5 cm.
Nevertheless it is a watch that I will probably never sell because I engraved it on the back with a very important sentence which represents someone very important to me.
A shocker, but the SARB033. I bought it on eBay right after it got discontinued and I was still in college. I paid for it with my summer job money. For a college kid, it was quite a chunk of change and I wasn't entirely comfortable spending that much but I was too hyped about it. When I finally got it, I got annoyed because the rotor was quite loud, even in a noisy environment. I also thought it looked a bit too dressy and out of place for my style, so I ended up selling it after wearing it for literally half of a day.
I was drunk.
Enough said.
A shocker, but the SARB033. I bought it on eBay right after it got discontinued and I was still in college. I paid for it with my summer job money. For a college kid, it was quite a chunk of change and I wasn't entirely comfortable spending that much but I was too hyped about it. When I finally got it, I got annoyed because the rotor was quite loud, even in a noisy environment. I also thought it looked a bit too dressy and out of place for my style, so I ended up selling it after wearing it for literally half of a day.
Thanks for sharing! I had a similar experience with my Orient Kamasu and Bambino. I couldn’t connect with them. The red Kamasu was too dark and the Bambino was too dressy. Both didn’t fit my lifestyle.
When I started out as a collector,
I bought myself a Nomos Tangente sport. I love this watch except that the lug to lug is in my opinion too big for my wrist of 17.5 cm.
Nevertheless it is a watch that I will probably never sell because I engraved it on the back with a very important sentence which represents someone very important to me.
If it means something to you, hold on to it.
I was drunk.
Enough said.
they say we do our true heart desires when we are drunk 😂
Lusted after this for years , hated it because of the poor position of the crown, made it an ordeal to wind it.
I appreciate what you’ve been through because I almost made the same mistake. Fortunately, I was lucky to decide to buy it from AD instead of online.
Lusted after this for years , hated it because of the poor position of the crown, made it an ordeal to wind it.
Oh man… sorry to hear that.