Teach a Young-Blood Watch Common Sense
Hey All,
I'm graduating into an A1 position and want to have a reliable, sleek, everyday, respectable daily watch that tells the time and looks good doing it. Have a few questions for you watch-heads and would love to hear from your experience so I'm educated in spending hard-earned money.
Where I'm at: I am currently looking to spend $1,500-$4,500 max really and have been scoping out the classic Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra and Omega De Ville Prestige (I know these are more $3,500-$5,00 pieces, but oh my god are they beautiful... and simple!). These seem like great watches that I won't "grow out of" over the next 10 years.
What I want: A watch that is flexible enough visually to wear with a dress shirt during office hours, business formal, and around town (asking too much?). I love the Seamaster I pointed to earlier, but am a little skeptical of whether it could do all three of these as it I would want the sea blue dial. But I don't have much watch expertise, would it go well with an array of outfits? The De Ville seems to be able to with that neutral white and silver.
Other Questions
1) Is it dumb to have this expensive a watch as a daily? I don't have money to drop on a few watches and want BANG for my buck. So maybe it would make more sense to buy a ~$1,000-$3,000 piece? I'm thinking in terms of wear and tear and if I get mugged ever. Would suck throwing away $5,000 like THAT.
2) How does wear and tear look on these sorts of watches? Investment value is in the back of my mind - we all like to retain/appreciate as much value as we can. However, at the same time, I want this to be a watch I can keep for the next decade. Will it be beat to shit over a few years of wear? I would really only wear it to the office, client meetings, and mayyyybe personal shit but that seems a bit extra - would maybe throw on a $500-$1,500 - I DON'T KNOW.
3) From some videos have scoped the Grand Seiko Heritage 60th Anniversary "Superman" SBGP007 as a potential investment piece, crackhead advice? Sounds like fair logic, 60th anniversary with only 2,500 in circulation if you can get your hands on one. But some markets operate a little differently on what is considered a "winner investment" than others - would people give a shit? I am interested mainly because it has that simple dial with pretty blue tone, and again, it would be cool having an investment piece - although would likely make it way less of a "daily wear watch." Also leads to last point...
4) Are Quartz watches shit, I mean this is a Quartz - I AM under the impression that there are more to names than it seems. As of this watch, it is a Grand Seiko, not to be confused with Seiko, these are apparently QUALITY. I have heard Quartz's are not something one should mess with.
In all, thank you for reading this far, have a lot to learn and am trying to pick up stuff as I go. Have a lot of questions and not too many friends that I would trust for sound, expensive watch advice.
Much love,
Dan
I think both options you're looking at would be great for a first watch. The Aqua Terra (assuming it's on a steel bracelet) might be a bit more versatile in terms of variety of situations (sporty enough for casual clothes & sports watches with suits have become acceptable) but there are also people who wear gold Patek Calatravas with t-shirts, so who's to say you can't do the same with the De Ville?
On your other questions:
1) Is it dumb to have this expensive a watch as a daily? No one can really answer this except you. The way to think about it is: assume the value goes to zero tomorrow (i.e. it gets stolen, watch market crashes, that model becomes unpopular, etc.). Will your financial situation still be OK? If so, then ask yourself if wearing a watch is something that really means something to you. If it is, then I would say to get the one you really want right now, rather than some kind of substitute, because otherwise you will quietly be yearning for the other one and it'll ruin your enjoyment of the substitute.
As an aside - also factor in the cost of service for an automatic watch, which can be $100+ every 4-5 years, depending on the watch and the watchmaker doing the service. If you want OMEGA to do it, for example, it's probably $300+ per servicing, which adds to the overall cost. Servicing is more or less mandatory for mechanical (i.e. not quartz) watches, unless you really don't care about it and don't mind it slowly running itself into oblivion
2) How does wear and tear look on these sorts of watches? Again - it depends on how you wear it. My Tudor BB GMT has a lot of scars after 1-2 years of ownership due to hiking and other physical activities, whereas some of my other watches just acquired some minor marks from rubbing against things over the same period of time (which can generally be polished out without issue during service time, if so desired).
I would also caution you against thinking about value retention (or at least using that as a main criteria) when it comes to buying a watch. Although the market is currently in a bubbly hysteria, there's no guarantee that this will go on indefinitely and the market could well crash by the time you want to sell it. The annoying truth is that most watches have historically lost, not gained, value.
3) From some videos have scoped the Grand Seiko Heritage 60th Anniversary "Superman" SBGP007 as a potential investment piece, crackhead advice? GS does a lot of limited editions these days; I wouldn't consider it a selling point if you don't like the watch. I'm not familiar enough with that specific model to comment further on this one
4) Are Quartz watches shit, I mean this is a Quartz - I AM under the impression that there are more to names than it seems. As of this watch, it is a Grand Seiko, not to be confused with Seiko, these are apparently QUALITY. Quartz watches use batteries and tend to be cheaper since it's cheaper to manufacture them. Technically, they are leagues more accurate (and thus fundamentally better at being a watch) than mechanical watches, but watches have since evolved into an art / jewelry niche so accuracy isn't the important factor anymore. Most watch enthusiasts collect mechanical watches as it operates on energy stored from a spring (either wound by hand or by an automatic winding rotor) and there's a lot more interplay of springs and gears to make it work.
I wouldn't write off a watch just because it's quartz, but a few things to keep in mind:
Hope that helps
Thank you for the feedback Bonanza, very helpful.
With all of this in mind, I think my best course of action is spotting a discounted pre-owned Seamaster on a reputable site like Chrono24 and have it checked by a professional for their back of envelope opinion - if unlikely fake I can rely upon website authentic guarantee. If it somehow ends up a frankenwatch, if it works like an Omega then that's what I care about, doesn't need all the papers and stuff, it will be a beater after all.
Your point on whether I even feel comfortable wearing that money on my wrist is a good point, will keep in mind and be safe with it! If I get mugged, I get mugged, life goes on.
Dan
I'm a proud wearer of the aqua terra and can testify it goes with literally everything. Good choice and solid pricing in the pre-owned market. Also check Tourneau's pre-owned inventory as they seem to carry a ton of Omega usually.
With that budget in mind, I'd go for a Speedmaster. Timeless classic, very versatile and does not look out of place if you're wearing a suit
The Aqua Terra is a great first watch. Get it on the bracelet, then get the rubber strap too to dress it down when needed. I ultimately picked the Datejust over it for my first, but that was back when you could get one new under list price. Now that only the AT can be had under list - would definitely recommend the AT.
Also watches are not investments. Get the one you like - the one that speaks to you (preferably under retail price, so definitely look into buying used if you're okay with that). If the market price goes up, good for you. If it goes down - who cares? You've got a great watch that you enjoy everyday, and that's how you derive value from it.
Honestly, If you're questioning then don't. $5k (4k if you do sneaky grey market) is a lot of coin. Nobody's going to judge you. I wear sub $500 watches most days but own a mint 62 seamaster and a 6105. Granted I have 10 letters after my name but a $500 apple watch is fine. Buy a fancy watch if you want to not because you feel required to
Bristling superocean . IMO better looking than planet ocean and submariner
Nomos is great value for money
Get a Speedmaster (the classic Moonwatch). Even if you get more expensive pieces down the road there will always be a spot in a collection for the Speedy.
This is not bad advice, although the guy wearing a Rolex GMT who makes $100k less than me (he has family money) did comment "God D*** that's a nice watch" on my SKX so don't equate money with quality.
Apple Watch ftw
Check out Tudor in that price range
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