When were you awakened to the watch universe?

Goldeneye64…the GOAT

When I realized how much I hated changing Quartz batteries.

Has to be Pulp Fiction!!!

I liked fossil watches from 15 to 40. At the end of the time the Apple Watch came out, and I considered it, but I didn’t want a watch I had to plug in, and I wasn’t certain that it offered me much over my phone.

I started looking at a watch that “just worked” and was looking at eco drives, when I stumbled across self-winding automatic watches. My wife bought me a Seiko Presage for X-Mas (at my urging) and I was set.

About 2 years later I got my first five figure bonus and my work friend told me he was going to add a Hamilton Khaki to his “collection”. Being that I don’t have the space and that my wife had already vetoed the idea of collecting cars, I started looking at watches. Bought another Seiko, then an Alpina, and it was on.

Darn tootin’! First game I got for N64. I remember playing the display at KB Toys for weeks before Christmas finally came around. Gaming has come a long way and it’s great, but I miss the 90s and the N64 era.

Halo and Gears of War were the Golden Age

I had been wearing G-shocks religiously for more than 15 years, when suddenly I had 2 in a row that failed electronically in less than a year of use. I started looking for something else and stumbled on a YouTube video for the Seiko Arnie. I fell down the rabbit hole.

I was already fond of watches, but the G-shock failures turned the tide.

I still can't understand how I got 2 dud G-shocks in a row.

Ok I started wearing G-Shocks around 15 until I got a cell phone. So I’ve always been into watches but the need was never there. I’d tell my wife I wanted one but something else always came first.

Last year this time we in Florence and I walked into the Omega AD and fell in love with the blues SMP. That was it. I thought that was the watch. I didn’t buy it, much to my wife’s chagrin. I didn’t want to spend the money.

A week later we we’re on a cruise ship in Mykonos and my wife gave me a Raymond Weil Freelancer. It was amazing. That was it. I was hooked. My eyes were open. 8 watches later I’m wondering why did I ever stop wearing watches.

Universe?? Really??

Sometimes I hate the internet.

80's with Swatch and Ironman.

I still fail to believe that people do this.

That is how I got introduced to OMEGA

https://youtu.be/pIl5lLXPP1o Omega ad from 007 The World Is Not Enough.

I had a couple when I was a kid but they only lasted a day each. One lost and one broke.

But then I remember in my teens seeing watches in Argos (UK "everything" store) and thinking they looked nice. But I never found it comfy to have anything on my wrist.

I had a crappy one at 15 that I wore for a few months and another at 19 that I never wore.

(Photo by Jonathan Thacker)

And I got a few as gifts in my mid and late 20s which I never wore and just gifted them on.

But one of them - a Chinese smart watch - was so shit that no one I know would take it for free. 😂

So a couple years ago at 32 ish I started wearing it for sleep tracking and found it really useful.

And then I got super into watches.

Now I have a lovely little set that works well for me.

😊

Since I was a kid, I was really into collecting rhings. Rare lego parts, bird feathers, then wooden musical instruments and bb handguns.

And when I found this watch in a cupboard, I felt something...

This^^

I had a small hand wind Timex in grade school. My dad had a Croton automatic.

I remember when his watch crystal broke and the watch needed servicing. He stuck it in drawer and replaced it with a fancy new Seiko quartz watch which turned out to be a complete pile of crap that tarnished my family's opinion of Seiko and quartz watches in general, for years.

Flash forward, and I've moved away from the Seiko hate (having Seiko auto movements in a couple of watches) but have stuck with mechanical watches due to my introduction to them as a kid.

Strangely enough, I was a fragrance collector for awhile (that has since passed) and often watched Teddy Baldassare Fragrance reviews, when that channel was still active, and eventually started watching his normal watch videos.

My dad got me a mechanical watch. Then I watched a Teddy Baldassarre video. That’s all it took.

Teddy Bladassarre go into details on Hamilton watches. After that it’s been a long hard fall into this rabbit hole.

My girlfriend (now my wife) bought me a lovely Adidas watch for my birthday once. I wore it all the time until I put it in a box one day and forgot about it. I've bought watches since then such as a Fossil watch with a huge dial and a Citizen Eco-drive on a plane home from holiday last year. The Citizen suddenly triggered something in my mind that said "you know what, watches are cool ... I wonder what else is out there?"

I bought my first automatic (obviously a Seiko 5) and started going crazy buying every seiko I could find. Then I watch the Mad Watch Collector on YouTube and saw the awesome Casio G-Shock 5610u. Obviously I bought it as it's a fantastic everyday watch.

I got very seriously recently and bought my first grail watch (Tudor BB58) which has finally slowed my buying down a lot as I took the advice of many in the group to utilise the 0% finance to get one. Best thing I did whilst collecting.

Hey, and guess what ... I found the Adidas watch in a box the other day! I couldn't believe it, I STILL HAVE IT! I'm going to clean it up a bit and put a new battery in before posting pictures very soon.

I loved how Ben from Ben 10 can turn into monsters using his “watch”. Then, I was watching Hueguh on YouTube and saw his Rolex Submariner. Rotating bezel…then learned about movements and finishes and styling and the community. What an incredible hobby!

Goldeneye on N64 did it for me.

Adrian Barker and Oisin helped stoke the fire that was already there.

Watch channel that almost put me off it completely: Watchfinder with all their bs and clickbait, almost completely garbage. Nice videography though.

Father's Rolex two tone sub 16613

Haha 😂 I am 61 …. Waaaayyy before social media . It was National Geographic with the Explorer 2 in White dial. Brainwashed at first sight …..

Umm.. none. I have always worn watches as far back as i can remember.. way before the internet, youtube and all that

Funnily enough, I never was into watches. I'd worn some in my childhood given by my parents, and grew apart from them as the rubber straps and my sweaty wrists never got along. Years later I find the need for a watch for when I can't use my phone. I searched for the best long lasting watch one could buy, within a reasonable price. Of course I favored quartz.

To keep things short, good quartz watches that I like were hard to find in the country, then I see a citizen I liked (bm8180) and searched for it, but nothing. It was possibly this watch that sparked my interest. I looked for alternatives for idk how long, and while searching I learned more and more about watches. I soon opened myself to getting an automatic.

A few years later, I now have a handful of watches, amidst initially wanting to have just 1 for daily use that would last several years 😅

Interesting choice. So you've always wanted to put a watch...?😀

Haha No but that’s the story I’m going to tell my son…

1977 - when as a little kid I tried on Dad’s watch, and he explained that it was powered by his arm’s motion, and I was :

Dad’s 1967 watch: