CHAT Time Wounds All Heels (My Last Watch)

[Dozdoats]

When I went to work at JFK at Fort Bragg, I needed a watch. The guys at work all wore blackface Seiko dive watches, with the occasional Rolex thrown in. So I got a friend to get me a Seiko at the PX. Good watch, lasted for years with no issues. Just over a hundred bucks for a self winding mechanical watch in the mid-1980s.

Another friend got out of the Army and decided to make some real money, so he went to work as a contractor in A'stan. He thought it might not be a bad idea to wear a ticket home on his wrist, so he bought himself a Rolex Submariner. He wore it for a couple of years and on a trip home, decided to get it cleaned. There was so much moon dust in it they almost couldn't clean it.

He had to go back to work and his watch wasn't ready, so I gave him my old Seiko. He wore it for several more tours and somehow never gave it back

I had a spare Pepsi Seiko, so no worries. Then my oldest friend in Special Forces decided to go to medical school. He sold everything he had to pay bills except his 1962 chevy Biscayne 2-door, including his Rolex. So there went the spare Seiko, as well as a spare 1911 to replace his solden Sig, and a spare shotgun just on general principles.

After I retired I didn't need a wartch - until I started the CNA class. Pulse counting needs a second hand.... . So I got a Pepsi Seiko 5 for the class. One of my baby cousins reeeeeallly liked it, so after class was over I gave it to him. I replaced it with a twenty buck plastic Casio analog - second hand and a bezel, all I really needed in a basic watch.

Now we are looking at TEOTWAWKI. That means no mas watch batteries among other things. Hmmmm. I still want a working second hand on a watch and a functional bezel. The old black Seiko (Pepsis too) ain't what they used to be. Word is Citizen builds solar powered bricks (Eco-drive). Not awful expensive either.

So I got a friend in Fayettenam to check for me. At Heritage Jewelers, an old SF hangout (RIP, COL Bertie). Friend reported . Seems the good ol' FRN$ isn't lookin' too good in Japan these days. Prices on Citizens going up, it seems.

So I decided I best yank the trigger if I was gonna. DW had gone by a local jeweler last week with me tagging along. They had Citizen watches. They had a basic Eco-drive dive watch with a second hand, a functional (one way) bezel and an oyster style steel bracelet with a double locking clasp. Shinier than I liked but beggars can't be choosers. 318 out the door. But ammo that was $200/1000 a year ago is now $600/1000 if you can find it.

Inflation. It's the real thing.

 

[dvo]

I’ve had good and bad Seikos. My black monster dive loses a minute a week. Kinda aggravating, but otherwise bulletproof. My solar dive is dead on for time. I broke one, I think by dropping it. I’d go Citizen Ecodrive for my next, given prices. Have a Maratac Pilots watch. Clean, but needs a battery every couple years. Like you say....if we are approaching the end, that’s a problem.

 

[bw]

I'm sensing a modicum of adult chemical in the OP, but I'm ok with it.

 

[Faroe]

Had both a black face Rolex that I like, and a flat out gorgeous Cartier. Needed cash to get a plane ticket out of Hawaii, and get back on my feet again. Loved that Cartier, but in 2009, economic TEOTWAKI loomed menacingly (esp. on that damn island, Oahu - no work! Scary.). So, I thought one is tough and mechanical (love self winding), and the other is delicate and needs batteries. I still miss the Cartier, but I am still wearing the Rolex.

 

[night driver]

WAY happy with my Casio Band 5 solar. has some bells n whistles and checks in with WWV or Colorado nightly but when it DOESN'T acurize itself it's still better than 5 secs on.

15 years ago it was 3 bills but it's down to 165 ish now. I wore it to Paki, and have worn it since, excluding the 2 years I wore a FITBIT.

I NORMALLY toast a watch in a couple years. Must be the mineral glass crystal. BOMB FROOF I guess.

Given what's enroute I'm looking for a pocket weather station, but i'[m looking for one which has the GPS function as well (double checks the altimeter and densitometer with the GPS altimeter....for the weather functions)

 

[Squid]

I like your styles but my beer budget says Casio Duro and a secondary strap. Or for dress maybe an Orient. I can’t fish in your ponds.

 

[KFhunter]

I can't wear wind up watches, they magnetize and stop working in weeks.

Also, I'm a helluva water witcher evidently.

Coincidence?

 

[Cyclonemom]

DH has Casio G Shock that has worked well for years. One day in the sun and it keeps a charge for ages.

 

[Faroe]

I can't wear wind up watches, they magnetize and stop working in weeks.

Also, I'm a helluva water witcher evidently.

Coincidence?

I have heard of similar. Had a witcher show me rods, and they signaled in my hands, but that place has plenty of underground water, anyway. Practiced with a pendulum...apparently no go. At least, my watch works.

 

[Ractivist]

The wife got me a compass with a sun dial last week............close enough for gov work....

 

[Tex88]

We operate in style!

 

[BadMedicine]

I plan on picking up a watch on the battlefield. would never pay for a barbarian relic.

 

[ComCamGuy]

The eco-drives need new capacitors about every ten years or so. I have a couple I recently sent off for this.
marathon GSAR was the wife’s present to me for my military retirement. I have bashed it around for the last 13 years and it just keeps going. I could drop it in a tube sock and club my way out of any bar fight, put it back on and keep right on going.

I have far too many watches anymore.

 

[Ogre]

What's a watch?

 

[LoupGarou]

I'm Scottish, so I like the cheaper well engineered route. I bought a Casio TS-1200 after an engineer friend told me about the tech in this watch. Evidently Casio pulled all the stops and went all CMOS and FET on this model, so it's power efficiency is insane (as long as you don't use the backlight, which was incandescent). I have had the watch since 1984, and have changed the battery three times since then and has always been working (never dead battery). It would get 14-18 years on small lithium coin cell (I believe either one of the 12 or 16mm ones, not the more common 20mm ones). I killed the band on it back in the 90s, replaced it with a velcro one, which shredded around 2005, and now it is a lanyard based watch. So far the watch has taken all of the abuse and smiled back.

Loup

 

[Meemur]

You are all cooler than I am.
I've worn Timex watches of one type or another most of my life.
Right now, I've got a woman's Easy Reader.
One huge advantage: no one is interested in stealing it.

 

[Milkweed Host]

I bought a Seiko (digital) in 1982 when I did a lot of timed shooting courses. The Seiko was the only
one that didn't crash, go blank, when I fired. I used that watch for some twenty years and loved it.

Now the only watch I use is the La Crosse Technology digital, radio controlled.
They sell for about $35.00 or so. I have lots of them along with parts.
I don't plan on ever buying another watch.

 

[vestige]

I am impressed by the miraculous watches.
Over

 

[bw]

You are all cooler than I am.
I've worn Timex watches of one type or another most of my life.

Same here. Hadn't worn a watch in 30 years, but got a cheap Casio to wear on cruises.

 

[Macgyver]

I've never worn a watch my whole life.
Wife bought me a bulgari something or other as a wedding gift. Still only warn it about 4 times in the 5 years we've been married.
Probably coinsides with actually having to put on a suit for something.

 

[Doc1]

If a watch is critical to your preps, you might consider buying two or three cheap(er) watches and a couple of packs of watch batteries. That might be enough to last you ten or twenty years (or more).

Best
Doc

 

[Meemur]

I own a wind up watch. It's in my preps. I always forget to wind it, so I usually wear something else.

 

[TerryK]

I wore a watch, usually a Seiko during my career in the military, and also during my career as an IT Director.
I'm retired now and think wearing a watch is kind of redundant since most everyone carries a phone.
Interesting how phones have spawned their own watches now days.
I can't see paying hundreds of dollars for a status symbol when any cheap Timex or Casio keeps just as good time, but to each his own I guess and if you want a watch then get one without worrying about what others think.
Hell somedays I forget what day of the week it is. That is how it is supposed to be when you're retired.

 

[TerryK]

If a watch is critical to your preps, you might consider buying two or three cheap(er) watches and a couple of packs of watch batteries. That might be enough to last you ten or twenty years (or more).

Best
Doc

Excellent! One is none and all that
It would be a shame to be shot in the back because someone wanted your fancy watch.

 

[Echo 5]

Time wounds all heels? I can only hope.

 

[SurvivalRing]

DW got me a Citizen Aviator back in 95 or so, right in the middle of my postal years in Birmingham. I loved it, but the humidity, the rain, and the sweat literally wore the chrome off the back, around the ears of the band attach points, and into the base metal...and eventually it caused enough west that that moisture seeped past the o-ring, just like on the Challenger, and this damn $300 watch fizzled out and died.

I’ve still got the watch, and I found the repair center for citizen watches, and printed the form to mail in with the watch...but I’m afraid the repair will cost more than the original cost of the watch.

For now I’ve got two nifty yet astoundingly cheap Walmart clearance watches ($2 for one, $3 for the other), my Fitbit Alta HR (which I’ve misplaced in the last couple of days), a nice manual wind skeleton style watch, and a very nice pocket watch Dearest Annie bought for me when I earned my first college degree. Funny thing is, I use my phone for time checks more than anything.

Being retired now, and overdue for a settlement for that 2018 MVA, I might drop a couple of bills for a new Aviator. The only outdoor excursions will be for some trout fishing in the southwest quadrant of Wyoming, and some fossil hunting in a few dry wash areas, and some panning in some choice locales in some GPAA spots, with a super cheap waterproof watch when I get close enough to do anything.

I do like nice watches, and look forward to replacing that Aviator...

 

[Trouble]

I like mechanical watches, quite fond of Steinharts. Have an ocean 1 vintage military that I adore. Great watch, took the clunky stainless band off for a Nato strap. Wear it all the time.

 

[ComCamGuy]

Eco-drive titanium

 

[Squid]

Eco-drive titanium

View attachment 261044

I can’t tell if its the light reflection but if the glass is scratched on that one might check with citizen to see how much to replace the crystal. I did that to one of my favorites and the new glass makes it almost look new think cost around $50. But they didn’t make anything like it anymore.

 

[ComCamGuy]

Mostly light reflection. There are a bunch of tiny scratches but nothing you normally see while wearing it

 

[ComCamGuy]

Today’s watch

Encar Sherpa 600, Christmas gift from the wife



Enicar Sherpa Guide 600 GMT

In May of 1956, a team of Swiss mountaineers summited Mount Everest after conquering nearby Lhotse. This was only the second time in history that the mountain, once thought unconquerable, was conquered. Moreover, it was a first for the Swiss, mighty alpine explorers who had left no peak in their native land untouched.
Additionally, this marked the first time that climbers of any nationality had summited Lhotse, the fourth-highest mountain in the world.

The Sherpas who accompanied them—leading them to the summit and digging out tents that had been covered in overnight snowfall—carried over over ten tons of supplies and equipment. Since the expedition received media attention, naturally the world was curious about what was included. Upon their return, the Bally reindeer boots that they wore, along with the Ovomaltine they drank, became desirable.

And the Enicar watches that they wore were renamed “Sherpa” after their intrepid guides.

The name conjured images of a desolate wilderness surmounted by snow-capped peaks, but also the redoubtable and courageous men who made that wilderness their home—all perfect qualities for a watch.

Over the next decade, Enicar would release over 100 different varieties of Sherpa watches for all sports, not just the mountaineers who made them famous. The Sherpa dive watches, in particular, became some of the most attractive to consumers. So Enicar adapted the sturdy steel cases—capped with rotating bezels—for less aquatic pursuits.

Like SCUBA diving, jet travel was on the rise, and watch brands raced against each other to create pilot’s watches that marked time in more than one time zone. The Sherpa GMT at first had only one crown and a rotating bezel, which was, like the Rolex GMT Master, painted in two different colors to delineate AM and PM. However, it’s the later dual-crown models known as the Sherpa Guide GMT that would become the most popular.

The Sherpa Guide 600 GMT was released in the early 1960s, and went through three different variations throughout the 1960s.

The watch here is an example of the third variation, Mark III, dating from the late 1960s, which is notable for its thin triangular-shaped seconds hand (here a vibrant red).

A beefy tool watch, the Sherpa Guide 600 incorporates date, GMT and 24-hour timing functions that, when used in conjunction with the world-time bezel, enabled the wearer to calculate the time in major cities across the world.

Though complex in looks, the Enicar Sherpa Guide is fairly simple to use.

Suppose you're in London and it's 2PM and you would like to know the time in San Francisco. First, convert the local time to 24-hour time, making it 1400. Next, rotate the outer world-time bezel so that London (denoted on this bezel as GMT) lines up with the 14 on the inner bezel. Now, locate Los Angeles on the bezel and read the 24-hour time that lines up with it on the inner bezel, and voilà!

In addition to the world-time functionality, the Sherpa Guide has a standard GMT complication which, when used with the two tone inner rotating bezel operated by the upper crown, allows the wearer to easily keep track of two time zones simultaneously.

Colorful and a touch crazy, this Sherpa Guide is exactly what we love about vintage watches. Functionality and playful looks are rolled up into a package that was designed for rugged every-day wear. A sort of time capsule, where the contemporary cities of Yangon and Mumbai appear as their defunct names—Rangoon and Bombay respectively—make it a charming, wearable reminder of the past.

 

[naegling62]

I'm brutal on watches and I fidget with them too much. As one would expect, I use to use Poljot. I've used a few Orient 5 ft Rolex's (they look like a Rolex from 5 ft away). I finally just gave up on watches.

 

[Skyraider]

I don’t change much through the years. I wear a timex expedition indiglo watch. It’s waterproof, lights up with the push of the side button to see what time it is in the dark. Get them on sale for less than $50. I replace my own batteries, you can get nice little kits for cheap. I only wear Levi 501’s. Life’s been good to me so far.

Skyraider

 

[greysage]

Worn watches on and off my whole life. Stopped wearing them for several years when I got a cell phone. Recently, or for Christmas 2018 I bought myself a Seiko SRP 775. Got it delivered for less than $300.

Bought a wazoo solar Casio maybe 15 years ago. Still have it. Didn't wear it long. Too much going on for me and didn't like buttons. Sits in a drawer.
Had a Timex given to me by my Nana in 1985. It's like a replica copy of a Rolex. Still works great. Needs a battery. Must work on that.

Anyway, love the new Seiko! Only loses a minute and half per month and has been consistent with that since I bought it. Internet folks said that's pretty good for a self-winder. Thing is heavy with metal bracelet, been procrastinating on buying a blushark band for it.

On a Seiko page people have talked about getting watches tuned and apparently there's someone I can send it to to reduce the time lost. I figure if the crap hits the fan I'll just set it ahead 2 minutes every time the 1 shows up on the date window. Exact time probably won't be as big a deal in that situation as it is now.

 

[wab54]

Years ago, I was looking for a windup manual watch. I found the SEIKO 5 selfwinding watch. They called it an automatic watch. I bought 2 for $50 each at OVERSTOCK.com. I sent the first one I wore to seiko for repair, after wearing it for years. It was about 5 min slow a week and needed a band and crystal. It cost $165 to repair. I am wearing the 2nd "new" watch and it is 5 min. slow in a week. They are good watches. Wish I could find the same watch in a windup.

WAB

 

[Tex88]

For those people with mechanic watches losing or gaining time, read your Rolex manual. TLDR, depending on which way around you place it on your night stand you can adjust the watch:

Is Your Rolex Running Fast or Slow?

Every mechanical watch will, at some point, slow down or even speed up. Mechanical watches, like those made by Rolex, are regulated by a hair spring. Rolex uses a precision engineered Parachrom hairspring. Their watch movements are also COSC certified which means that the timepiece will deviate...

www.bobswatches.com

 

[155 arty]

I can't wear wind up watches, they magnetize and stop working in weeks.

Also, I'm a helluva water witcher evidently.

Coincidence?

Same with my Grandfather ,also could dowse a water well ! Weird

 

[Freeholder]

I'm with the person above who suggested that expensive watches are going to make you guys into targets, so watch your six!

The most expensive watch I've ever worn is my current one which cost around fifty bucks. Usually don't spend more than thirty-five, but prices have been going up. Actually, I wouldn't spend that much, but the cheaper metal ones have too much nickel in them (I'm allergic, and still have a small scar on my wrist from wearing one of those for too long), and I hate wearing plastic bands. But even the cheap ones are very accurate nowadays, and that's all I care about. I generally wear the bands out long before the watch. But I'm not wearing a watch very often anymore -- at home I can look at the computer, and if we are out I can check my phone (even flip-phones will give you the time). If the world goes so sideways that we can't get watch batteries at all, I doubt I'm going to need to worry too much about what time it is.

Kathleen

 

[ComCamGuy]

"Exact time probably won't be as big a deal in that situation as it is now. " The biggest thing would be for your group to be able to synchronize times for actions. It doesn't matter what they are set to, as long as everyone is set to the same. This also would lend itself to opsec. If you say over the radio to meet at 1430 at location X, and all of your group has set your watches the same, but that indicated time equals 0522 on a standard clock, then you guys will know when and no one else. you all could arbitrarily change it mission to mission as well.

 

[ComCamGuy]

I'm with the person above who suggested that expensive watches are going to make you guys into targets, so watch your six!

Kathleen

With so many fakes out there, and a major portion of the world doing cells for time, I would say half the 'expensive' looking watches aren't and you have people with ridiculously expensive watches walking around not attracting any notice except tby other watch aficionados.

I have Suunto Core watches I paid 30-60 dollars at junk shops that run 200+ new attract more attention than one of my $3k manual/autos.