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Second Hand Luxury watches

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  1. #11

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    Oriental Watch Company's Exclusive basement showroom.

    http://online.wsj.com/video/hong-kon...DEC997F98.html

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  2. #12

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    You are right, there are some spectacularly ugly pieces..
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  3. #13

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    Save for the gaudy diamond Kalla, all the Vacheron watches in that video could only be appreciated by watch collectors all over the world because of their complicated movements which required hundred of hours to build by highly trained master workmanship. Sadly to say, the Mainlanders are buying all these precious watches for a different purpose.

    Last edited by Renotommy; 26-02-2012 at 07:53 PM.
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  4. #14

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    Wow, there were some seriously fugly watches on that clip. I especially liked the part where the presenter mistook the diamond encrusted monstrosity for a ladies watch . Actually, you have to hand it to the presenter- from her comments, she obviously can't take the whole 'expensive watch' scene very seriously either.

    @Renotommy: I'm not sure about the VCs. I've never been a fan of the tourbillon, seeing them as complexity for the sake of complexity. IMO movements peaked somewhere in the 70s and anything since is mainly flash. Then again, I'm a bit of a Luddite and would be estaitic to have a Harrison H1 replica


  5. #15

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    @Renotommy: I'm not sure about the VCs. I've never been a fan of the tourbillon, seeing them as complexity for the sake of complexity. IMO movements peaked somewhere in the 70s and anything since is mainly flash. Then again, I'm a bit of a Luddite and would be estaitic to have a Harrison H1 replica

    ******************************

    For most ppl a watch is for telling time and a $10 Walmart quartz special will work fine for them. Since I am a watch collector, I look at watches (mechanical ones only) from a different angle. I regard them as a piece of art. I never own a quartz watch because it has no movement in it which to me is like a photograph of a famous painting - everything shows excellent details but it is still just a photograph and can be mass produced with one phone call.

    Last edited by Renotommy; 26-02-2012 at 10:12 PM.

  6. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Renotommy:
    For most ppl a watch is for telling time and a $10 Walmart quartz special will work fine for them. Since I am a watch collector, I look at watches (mechanical ones only) from a different angle. I regard them as a piece of art. I never own a quartz watch because it has no movement in it which to me is like a photograph of a famous painting - everything shows excellent details but it is still just a photograph and can be mass produced with one phone call.
    Oh, I can understand appreciating the mechanical intricacy of a nice movement. I just think that there is a fine line between appreciating fine workmanship and all the social one-upmanship and other types of BS that go into high end watches My example would be Grand Seiko- their mechanical movements tend to be far better made than those of most Western brands, yet most watch enthusiasts refuse to consider them because they happen to say "Seiko" in the name.

  7. #17

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    You watch fanciers should read this book, Longitude, by Dava Sobel. It tells the story of a brilliant man who built a watch to solve the riddle of how to determine lines of longitude. His invention ultimately saved the lives of countless mariners. Many of his innovations are still in use in modern watches.

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  8. #18

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    All these high end watches are for collection and not really for everyday wearing. I do agree with you that if I had to pick a daily watch to wear, I would probably choose an Omega rather than a Patek or even a Rolex. It would be insane to walk around downtown wearing a $770,000 Vacheron.
    What do you guys think about the RR grade pocket watches?


  9. #19

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    Longitude is a great book. I've seen H1-4 at the Royal Observatory and they are stunning (well, except for H4 which looks like a giant pocket watch but the history behind it is still amazing).

    My own criteria for mechanical watches are robustness and ease of reading. The first strikes out overly complex mechanisms, and the second causes me to think that most jewel-encrusted watches or anything with small hour/minute hands are utter vanity pieces.

    Unfortunately, I have found that mechanical watches are not as durable as even cheap quartz watches. I use my watches outdoors, and have seen them tumble down rock faces on more than one occasion. Quartz is fine with this, mechanical ones not so much. So simple practicality has has driven me towards quartz (and in some cases augmented with much more sophisticated electronics).


  10. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by jgl:
    Longitude is a great book. I've seen H1-4 at the Royal Observatory and they are stunning (well, except for H4 which looks like a giant pocket watch but the history behind it is still amazing).


    Unfortunately, I have found that mechanical watches are not as durable as even cheap quartz watches. I use my watches outdoors, and have seen them tumble down rock faces on more than one occasion. Quartz is fine with this, mechanical ones not so much. So simple practicality has has driven me towards quartz (and in some cases augmented with much more sophisticated electronics).
    Very jealous that you've seen the Harrison watches/clocks. Definitely on my "to do" list.

    My daily is a Omega Seamaster Pro and it's a tank. It's 12 years old and after recent servicing, looks and functions great.