Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > General Motorcycles only > Bike storage advice

[Carbon749]

Originally Posted by jeff st4s

Spoke to someone in the big red D once, told me something I already knew Briel are Sh**e and are nothing but trouble.

A bit off topic for the thread, but, what would you go for in the way of watches ?

I know which way I'd go financially, just wondered what would be your recommendation ?

[jeff st4s]

Originally Posted by Carbon749

A bit off topic for the thread, but, what would you go for in the way of watches ?

I know which way I'd go financially, just wondered what would be your recommendation ?

The gosple according to me!
Quartz watches are S**t.
Gold plated anything is like throwing your money away.
In years to come, steel or gold or platinum, even if it is only 9ct gold is best.
Mechanical watches are where it's at. It's not about accuracy to the zillionth of a second, want the best bike, is a Duke it? it about personal choice.
Most decent modern stuff is going to cost £1500-2000.
You can buy the same gear in auction (like most things be careful what you buy here as it can be a graveyard to offload the unfixable) then send it back to manufacturer for refurb, to like new and should save money, prime example is Rolex.
If you still want new and have £4-5000 to burn, look at Lange, German, weeeeesssss all over modern Patek Philippe (swiss).
My personal favourites are pre 60's 70's watches, I think they have more style and character. In general the materials are made to a better standard in as much as the parts do not seem to wear and need replacing as often, problem with modern ones is when the parts run out as they consume more, how do you fix them? Some companies have a very poor attitude to long term supply of materials. Down side to older watches, is may not be waterproof and cannot really beat the cr*p out of them like say a modern Rolex.
Treat like a classic car, treat it with a bit of love and respect and you'll be a happy boy with something that is more stylish and understated.
Of the earlier period Patek were the Dogs Bollo***, but they dropped the ball and Herman the German picked it up.

As long as you do not become a train spotter and consume loads of my precious time I need so much of it at present, so I can destroy my reputation on this site, send me a PM if you need more. I do have contacts in Switzerland that can sometimes get me deals on stuff.

[Carbon749]

Mmmmm interetsing comments.

I agree with your comments on the whole stainless and mechanical way to go. Also agree with the older watch being better.

At the moment, I wear a new ish (18 month old) sea dweller for every day wear, not as many around as the submariner and less obvious as it does not have the cyclops eye. Like em or hate em it's like having money in the bank. I bought it new with a discount and now that list prices have gone up I know I could get all my money back on it if I decided to sell it.

For best, I wear an Omega wind up moon watch, unfortunatley it's only around 4 year old. Will not hold the same value as a Rolex, but, love the history and build quality of the watch.

Now if you could track me down a good quality moon watch from around 1969 ..... that would be interesting.

[Sharpy G]

I wear Nixon !
fashion victim me

[jeff st4s]

Originally Posted by Sharpy G

I wear Nixon !
fashion victim me

Is that like Watergate?
Got me there.

[Sharpy G]

www.nixonnow.com

[Carbon749]

Now if you could find a late 1980's tag divers watch on a rubber strap .... that would be cool.

[jeff st4s]

Originally Posted by Sharpy G

www.nixonnow.com

Ok fashion item, insides cost £5 if your lucky.
Once worked for Cartier 15 years ago, they sold a huge gold lump called The Pasha £5-7000, mechanical, the mechanism was the same style and quality standard that went into a plastic swatch that retailed for £25, I had a swatch and put them back to back. The steel Pasha retailed for £2-2500 had a better mechansim than the gold.
Don't expect any of these companies to give you what you think your getting, they will all rip you off and sell you cr*p.
As long as the hands go around and the timekeeping is somewhere near thats all that matters. All the time and money goes into the look of the outside.
At the time I worked at Cartier they had a movement exchange policy, so when a watch came in it was not serviced, the mechanism was sent back to switzerland and broken down, cleaned by monkeys and re-assembled, if any parts were faulty they were not changed as the monkey did not know what it was looking for.
So your nice new watch then got someones old mechanism inside, sometimes they had several lives before they got into your watch, any authenticity and history was effectively lost there and then! But what did they care as long as the hands went round and you did not know.
They are not so bad today, but it still may go on.