What is the watch that started it all for you?

When I bought my Rolex OP, the sales associate said I am welcome to come back if I ever wanted another watch. I laughed saying oh I probably wouldn’t get another and he told me basically that this is unlikely the last watch I get. He was right. 😭

I only wanted a watch that I could wear at the gym as I broke my previous sportswatch. Started researching, found Andrew Morgans video about the GA-2100, got convinced, bought the watch.

Only problem is I kept on watching the videos.

Now Im 500$ lighter and 10 watches happier.😁

There is no such thing as only 1 watch. Well maybe that is true for some, but it is not true for anyone on this website.

It is almost a curse. Once you get bit, you have no control.

Apple Watch 😅

The Alpinist is a timeless design. Orient is nice. The watch I bought after the Alpinist was an Orient Defender.

Gotta start somewhere. I own an Apple Watch too, I wear it when I run outside.

The infamous SKX007

Yup, Apple Watch is for workouts and golf only.

I double wrist watches all day so I always have my Apple Watch on. Just not when I have to charge it 😅

Classic, I joined the game a little too late for the SKX.

A casio edifice from 17 years ago that I no longer have but looked just like this. That is a lovely Alpinist, and some great pictures of Japan, the second one must be at Shirakawa-go.

I was very fortunate to grow up with a father that loved watches. Always wore Rolex’s, Go figure 😂. So I always wanted a Rolex sub, after graduating High school I was given one. I was so proud of that watch. Every sense that day I’ve been collecting watches when I was able to afford them myself. But the first luxury watch I ever bought myself was the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M blue with gray face!!

Most of the watches I’ve had were gifted to me. A Tag Heuer Professional Series was an anniversary gift from my wife. A Movado Museum was a graduation present from my parents. A vintage Jaeger-LeCoultre was a 50th b-day gift from my in-laws and a Swiss Army Captain watch was the gift I gave to the ushers in my wedding party and that was my assemblage of watches over the the last 30 years with the Tag being my daily driver.

In May of 2022, I picked up a Casio Mudmaster. Every time I looked up Casio, the Duro would pop up. So I figured what the heck.

Then, I picked up a Seiko Recraft and after that it has been a steady deluge of watches in the cheap to affordable range.

Did I really need 3 Promasters? Yes.

Did I really need 2 Lunar Pilots? Yes.

Did I really need 3 Duros, 4 MRW-200hs, 2 Casio 5600s, 2 Timex chronos, a King Turtle, a SSK003, a Speedtimer, a DresSKX, a Hamilton Khaki Field watch and a 38mm Orient Bambino? Yes… Yes… for the love of god…. YES!

Oh… and I also need the Timex 40mm green dial automatic Marlin that hasn’t arrived yet. 🙄

It all started with a Tag Heuer. By then, the only watch brands I knew where the well advertised ones, and since I couldn’t afford a Rolex or Omega, my very best option was a USD 500 Tag Heuer. After that, I bought a few cool mechanical Tags (both sold by now), and that is how I got to watches…

I bought this one first.

But being a modded franken-Raketa from Ukraine, it arrived in the states about a month after my first Casio.

About 2 weeks after the franken-Raketa arrived, I bought my Turtle, and that’s the watch that really launched me.

It was the orange SKX011J1 for me

https://www.watchcrunch.com/Z.Always.Late/posts/wruw-2023-10-22-a787bdba-mbopt8pm-233485

I love Seiko but there have been just so many reinterpretations of the MAS 62 that I couldn’t really bond with this one. I also found some details that became per peeves (winding didn’t feel good, accuracy was meh) so I decided to sell it and get a Speedmaster, which is a cooler looking piece by all standards if you’re into solar.

Speedtimer (blame autocorrect here)

My big gripe with Seiko mechanicals is the wide variance in accuracy. Accuracy is a big deal to me. Its probably why my favorite Seiko to wear is a quartz Tuna.

Omega De Ville Prestige. I originally bought this just as an upgrade for my formal watch (previous was a Movado from my early 20s). But since I bought this, I’ve been hooked.

bought this dude a while ago as my first mechanical watch due to its attached smart monitoring clasp (leather strap that can monitor your heart beat 🤔🤔)..

wore it to sleep for a while then move on to normal clasp 😅😅 never switch back to smart strap again. the watch is good though - smooth second hand sweep and a little dome crystal 😁😁

My Seiko 5 field watch got me into the hobby. Small 37mm with day and date, no hand wind, noisy automatic rotor, and always got magnetized I had to demagnetize it weekly 😂 but it is fun and durable

It is pretty amazing, how one's threshold, monetarily can change. I always had Seikos. The SPB 143 I had was $1,200 which I thought was astronomical.

Then when I got in to Tudor, Pelagos 42mm black, it start normalzing spending thousands of dollars! LOL

It really is. I don't sell my watches, so I make sure not to buy too many too quickly. It's tough resisting the temptation of buying every new and shiny release. So, whenever there's something I might be interested in, I wait for a couple of weeks to see where I stand. More often than not, I lose interest in the watch and end up passing on it.

As a side note, I was actually debating between the smaller Alpinist and the SPB143. Both are great watches, but I ultimately chose the Alpinist.

I like/loved the SPB 143, actually owned it twice. My misfortune was buying a Tudor. The accuracy was so good (+,- like 3 seconds a day) well the SPB was so bad +- 25 or more seconds a day. I just had a hard time getting my head around paying over $1k USD for shoddy quality control also. Bezel alignment. I think it is a great watch but once I got my Tudor Pelagos 39mm, I knew I'd never wear it the SPB143. I love the look of the Seiko, skin diver, drilled lugs...

The Pelagos 39 is such a great watch; I don't blame you. I would also wear it more often than not. It's funny you mention the bezel alignment. When it was time to choose between the two, the SPB 143 had such a bezel misalignment, it made my choice pretty easy. But I still think it's a great tool watch nonetheless. I keep hearing about accuracy problems with the 6R, it's unfortunate. I guess I got lucky; mine runs -10 seconds a day.

I guess how arrogant am I, that I require precision timekeeping, I think to me it is the point—my SKX 007J that was $300 is just as accurate. The SPB is a pretty universally loved though.

I also had the SLA 017, the true 62 Mas reissue, limitied quantity, like 2,000 total units in like 2017 or 2018. Well that was $4,300 on preowned market. I just didn't like the smaller bezel (which was true recreation of original).

I think once you get Swiss time piece though? It is hard to pay a lot for other watches. Seiko.

Timex Mercury, late 1960s. I was about 12 years old.

My first serious watch purchase was a Seiko 5KX (SRPD63 - green with rose gold accents). I was interested in automatic watches and the Seiko 5 range is a great value entry point. I swapped out the bracelet for a dark green seatbelt NATO and was a happy customer.

However when I read about the Alpinist I quickly started to pine after one of those. I realised the dive watch aesthetic isn't really my jam whereas a field watch is, and so I sold my 5KX and bought a 'goldpinist' (SPB210) this year after getting a promotion at work. I thought this would be my one watch for at least the next decade, but I find myself now looking upward to things like the Tudor BB36 and Ranger. I just bought an Addiesdive Explorer homage to scratch that itch.