Got to agree with that. Trust me OP, from the outside looking in, this is hardly an end of the world situation, or even a particularly bad outcome all told. You can do a lot worse in the world of watches.

Yes! This is something people comment on about my own podcast (not a watch podcast, BTW), when they leave reviews. They basically say they like my show because I'm not afraid to have an opinion. Even if they disagree with me, they love that I put it out there, rather than trying to have a 50-50 each way and not offending anyone, or not putting myself in a position of being wrong. 

Of course, I know from listening to other podcasts in my genre that plenty of people DO the bland thing, and there are people who eat that up. They just want to hear people "saying words" about a topic and not taking things too deep, or dying on any given hill when it comes to an opinion. Horses for courses. But all of this is my long way of saying, yes, I totally get what you mean!

I've bought the quartz version of a watch before and it was for the simple reason that I wouldn't be wearing the watch all that often. When I did want to wear it, I wanted a grab and go scenario (it was a no date watch), and so it was a no-brainer to save some cash on something I wouldn't be wearing often, and have the perfect grab and go watch in the process. To me, that was the most logical scenario.

I think one of the things people like about patina on a watch is that it gives a unique appearance. If you go and compare the same bronze watch, bought on the same day, with someone else's, it will look different. That's the appeal. It's quite different to your car analogy or letting most things get old and cruddy.

I'd say a 42mm on a 7.5" wrist would be absolutely fine.

Is it terrible that I had to look up what Bamford even was? LOL.

Great story, Ray!