Who Likes Watches?

[TimeZero]

About a two years ago, I started getting into mechanical (hand-wound) and automatic (self-winding mechanical) watches, and my collection has blossomed to the point where I have a couple of vintage mechanicals a couple of modern "limited edition" mechanical watches and about a dozen automatic watches from manufacturers in the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, etc.

One of my favorites is by a relative non-player in the watch industry - an American designer by the name of Robert Lighton. This model is called the San Remo, which blends modern high-quality Swiss movements with vintage art-deco design and I think the result is simply beautiful.

.

I also have another of his watches, the Empire. It's a wonderful dress watch, but I don't wear it as often as I grab the San Remo.

Another of my very favorites is a new watch I picked up recently from a German company called Sinn. It's a military-style watch with an easy-to-read dial and an extra hand pointing to "UTC" time, or which can be set to another time zone. I find it really useful when I travel to other time zones, which I do a lot lately. It's a great "beater" watch due to it's hardened steel case and it's become my "grab-and-go" watch, especially on weekends.

Anyone else find this things as interesting as I do? And why do I feel the need to collect things???

James

 

[Thebigspendur]

I don't know if you picked up your Sinn new or used but at almost 2K most here would never consider that a beater watch. The tegmented process makes it highly scratch resistant however its a surface treatment only and very thin. Rough useage can crack that treatment to the soft stainless underneath.

Nice watches you have there.

 

[TimeZero]

I don't know if you picked up your Sinn new or used but at almost 2K most here would never consider that a beater watch. The tegmented process makes it highly scratch resistant however its a surface treatment only and very thin. Rough useage can crack that treatment to the soft stainless underneath.

Nice watches you have there.

Thanks. Perhaps "Beater" was not the correct word choice; it is a casual watch that I'm not adverse to wearing in situations I might not otherwise take a less delicate watch. Despite it's relative cost, I still consider it to be a "tool" type watch, as opposed to a dress watch. Still, I wouldn't want to wear it when I paint the house, so I get your point.

Your comments about the tegimentation are interesting - According to the Sinn's US AD, tegimentation is not a coating:

_______

Standard steel used by most watch companies has a hardness of between 200 and 240 HV (Hardness Vickers is a common scale used to measure material hardness). The Tegiment layer has a hardness of 1,200 Vickers which is five times harder than standard steel (and on some Sinn models even higher - up to nine times harder than standard steel).

The Tegiment layer is not a coating consisting of a foreign material, instead the steel itself that has been hardened using a special engineering process that creates a hardened barrier. The base material is a type of stainless steel also used for surgical implants, and the stainless steel resistance to corrosion is even further improved by the Tegiment hardening process.

Was I misled?

James

 

[Rughi]

...
Your comments about the tegimentation are interesting - According to the Sinn's US AD, tegimentation is not a coating:

Quote:
Standard steel used by most watch companies has a hardness of between 200 and 240 HV (Hardness Vickers is a common scale used to measure material hardness). The Tegiment layer has a hardness of 1,200 Vickers which is five times harder than standard steel (and on some Sinn models even higher - up to nine times harder than standard steel).

The Tegiment layer is not a coating consisting of a foreign material, instead the steel itself that has been hardened using a special engineering process that creates a hardened barrier. The base material is a type of stainless steel also used for surgical implants, and the stainless steel resistance to corrosion is even further improved by the Tegiment hardening process​

Was I misled?

James

You're both right.

The way I read it, the surface of the stainless steel is treated to make the surface harder and act as a "barrier." It's not a foreign material "coating," but rather a modification of the surface of the steel.

Roger

 

[VR6ofpain]

One of my favorites is by a relative non-player in the watch industry - an American designer by the name of Robert Lighton. This model is called the San Remo, which blends modern high-quality Swiss movements with vintage art-deco design and I think the result is simply beautiful.

Neat watch.
http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=278696

 

[Thebigspendur]

The tegmented process is not a coating. The outer few microns are treated with some process which hardens it. I'm not sure if its more similar to case hardening or some of the treatments some performance cookware have these days. Either way its just the very outer parts that have it and it is brittle.

 

[English]

I like watches.

I also have a Sinn. Fantastic watches. It's a quartz waterproof watch. It is waterproof to greater than 500 bar. I think that's about 5000 meters. The watch is literally filled with oil.
Anyway it works in the shower and keeps pretty good time but it does go a little (relative term) slow for a quartz. which I put down to the drag on the fingers as they plough through the oil.

I like the mechanical ones best as well. I have a modern Jaeger le Coultre and it is fantastic.

Yes I know, I can get the time of the television, the car, the mobile phone and even my boss used to tell me when I was late. But that isn't my time. My time comes of my watch on my wrist.

 

[ChaosSix]

I like watches ... unfortunately I only have a Q&Q/(p)leather strap/ for everyday use and a Pierre Cardin/metal/ for days when I want to feel classier... at school I also have a golden watch with a brown leather strap but I can't get it to run and quite frankly... I don't like it and it just sits in a box

 

[pal]

About a two years ago, I started getting into mechanical (hand-wound) and automatic (self-winding mechanical) watches, and my collection has blossomed to the point where I have a couple of vintage mechanicals a couple of modern "limited edition" mechanical watches and about a dozen automatic watches from manufacturers in the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, etc.

One of my favorites is by a relative non-player in the watch industry - an American designer by the name of Robert Lighton. This model is called the San Remo, which blends modern high-quality Swiss movements with vintage art-deco design and I think the result is simply beautiful.

.

I also have another of his watches, the Empire. It's a wonderful dress watch, but I don't wear it as often as I grab the San Remo.

Anyone else find this things as interesting as I do? And why do I feel the need to collect things???

James

James, I have about 25 vintages watches and totally understand you AD. I really dig those Robert Lighton watches! I will definitely check them out.

 

[jakespoppy]

I only have a few watches, none vintage (yet), but am very interested in them and have been looking for the best places to learn more about both, what vintage watches to look for and where to find them, and what companies that make watches today are good and which ones to avoid.

For example, with shaving stuff, I know B&B is the best place to learn and to acquire, and I've learned through B&B where to buy new and what to look for. I'd like to find the same help for watches.

I'll keep looking.

 

[brianw]

I have about 8 vintage watches... my favorites Omega Seamasters from the 40's 50's and 60's. Both manual and auto

 

[TimeZero]

I'd love to see some of your vintage watches! I have two (three, if you count an early 1970s Mickey Mouse mechanical as a vintage watch!) - one is a 1967 or so Swiss-made Cornavin that used to belong to my grandfather, and the other is an as-of-yet-undated Bulova my wife gave me. Both have recently been cleaned and are running perfectly. I wrote about the Cornavin on Watchuseek http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=271016&highlight=cornavin. Fascinating things, these mechanical watches!

 

[djh]

I only have a few watches, none vintage (yet), but am very interested in them and have been looking for the best places to learn more about both, what vintage watches to look for and where to find them, and what companies that make watches today are good and which ones to avoid.

For example, with shaving stuff, I know B&B is the best place to learn and to acquire, and I've learned through B&B where to buy new and what to look for. I'd like to find the same help for watches.

I'll keep looking.

I am a WIS (Watch Idiot Savant) or Certified Watch Nut depending on how you want to put it and was directed to B&B by a post on Time Zone which is a fantastic watch resource. It is a massive international community of watch lovers and the information available there is incredible. HTH

 

[LavaRock]

I am a WIS (Watch Idiot Savant) or Certified Watch Nut depending on how you want to put it and was directed to B&B by a post on Time Zone which is a fantastic watch resource. It is a massive international community of watch lovers and the information available there is incredible. HTH

Kind of sad this thread hasn't taken off with fellow WIS :-(

 

[LavaRock]

About a two years ago, I started getting into mechanical (hand-wound) and automatic (self-winding mechanical) watches, and my collection has blossomed to the point where I have a couple of vintage mechanicals a couple of modern "limited edition" mechanical watches and about a dozen automatic watches from manufacturers in the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, etc.

One of my favorites is by a relative non-player in the watch industry - an American designer by the name of Robert Lighton. This model is called the San Remo, which blends modern high-quality Swiss movements with vintage art-deco design and I think the result is simply beautiful.

.

I also have another of his watches, the Empire. It's a wonderful dress watch, but I don't wear it as often as I grab the San Remo.

Another of my very favorites is a new watch I picked up recently from a German company called Sinn. It's a military-style watch with an easy-to-read dial and an extra hand pointing to "UTC" time, or which can be set to another time zone. I find it really useful when I travel to other time zones, which I do a lot lately. It's a great "beater" watch due to it's hardened steel case and it's become my "grab-and-go" watch, especially on weekends.

Anyone else find this things as interesting as I do? And why do I feel the need to collect things???

James

Sinn makes a quality product. The journey of adding to the collection of any sort is the fun and entertaining aspect that drives and motives us

 

[ajkel64]

I like watches but I have too many of them. Far too many.

 

[LavaRock]

I like watches but I have too many of them. Far too many.

#firstworldissues having too many Please share in effort to bring this thread back to life

 

[ajkel64]

I just collect what I like. No really expensive ones. I like Seiko Bell-Matics, Seiko watches in general. I prefer mechanical/automatic overs quartz, although I have purchased quartz watches that took my fancy. I was buying them to try and teach myself how to repair them but I found that although I had a good idea of how they function, I could not put that into my hands. I also have a condition called Reynaud's Syndrome where I have lost a certain amount of blood supply to my hands so I am prone to dropping things as I cannot feel them. Changing a battery in a watch has become very interesting.

 

[LavaRock]

I just collect what I like. No really expensive ones. I like Seiko Bell-Matics, Seiko watches in general. I prefer mechanical/automatic overs quartz, although I have purchased quartz watches that took my fancy. I was buying them to try and teach myself how to repair them but I found that although I had a good idea of how they function, I could not put that into my hands. I also have a condition called Reynaud's Syndrome where I have lost a certain amount of blood supply to my hands so I am prone to dropping things as I cannot feel them. Changing a battery in a watch has become very interesting.

I’m sorry to read about your health condition. As watch enthusiasts, price or brand really has no bearing for our interest. It’s our fascination of the watch itself. All that really matters is the watch on our wrist makes us smile and we enjoy the wrist time. Be well my friend

 

[ajkel64]

And you.