[Capt Crunch]

In most areas of my life the way that I budget is I spend a lot on what I like (car, travel...), and almost nothing on what I don't.

I've been looking into watches because I thought I might be into them... but I'm just not. I can't get into the obvious craftsmanship that goes into a movement. I like the look and thats about it. Problem is, as with most things, the best looking things cost money -- a lot of money especially when it comes to watches.

It's either get something relatively cheap or nothing at all. I'll never spend $5K on a watch. I'm open to replicas, and this one caught my eye.


http://www.perfectwatches.cn/breitli...zel-bl351.html

So here's my question: Are there used watches (or new) from quality manufacturers out there that look like this? I'd spend $1K tops, and that if it is something that blows my face off. I'd appreciate any guidance.

[overcoil]

Realize there are Casio G-Shocks that are $1000.
You need to determine if u want Quartz or Mechanical?
Used are a great way to get a nice watch, but buyer beware.
I'd chk out some mechanical Tutima watches, but new, work on a 33% discount.

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by Capt Crunch

In most areas of my life the way that I budget is I spend a lot on what I like (car, travel...), and almost nothing on what I don't.

I've been looking into watches because I thought I might be into them... but I'm just not. I can't get into the obvious craftsmanship that goes into a movement. I like the look and thats about it. Problem is, as with most things, the best looking things cost money -- a lot of money especially when it comes to watches.

It's either get something relatively cheap or nothing at all. I'll never spend $5K on a watch. I'm open to replicas, and this one caught my eye.


http://www.perfectwatches.cn/breitli...zel-bl351.html

So here's my question: Are there used watches (or new) from quality manufacturers out there that look like this? I'd spend $1K tops, and that if it is something that blows my face off. I'd appreciate any guidance.

There's really no reason you need to or should be "into" watches. If you aren't, you just aren't. Heck, most people aren't, so that you aren't either isn't surprising.

Red:
When I first began to buy watches, I certainly wasn't into them for anything other than their "merit" as a fashion accessory. Even now, that's a huge driver to which specific watches I like and/or don't. About all that's changed between some 30+ years ago and now is that I've realized that there are far more watches out there that I think are great looking than I ever will muster the money to buy.

In light of that, I developed some structure to why I buy what I buy, and that structure helps a lot to keep me from just arbitrarily spending a ton on lots of watches just because I think it's cool looking. The structure also helps insofar as by giving me specific targets, I don't feel like I'm missing out on something I don't buy. I always feel compelled to buy watches that help me achieve my goals before I bother with buying watches that don't move me closer to my goals.

Blue:
Well, if the ones about which you fell that way do, I guess they do.

Green:
Yes.

• http://www.hodinkee.com/blog/ten-vin...ey-are-and-why
• http://www.hodinkee.com/blog/ask-us-...age-under-1000

Are there any this very moment? I don't know.

Will they look like the B-ling you pictured? Probably not. It's a modern watch. That's the point of being a "modern" watch.

All the best.

[NEFARIOUS]

Personally, I don't understand diddly squat about them either; I just bought it only because it either looked good or is of a good brand... Let's just say I had a Vacheron Constantin in my heyday only because my friend's wife works there ...

But the only thing I have left is a Gucci I inherited from my dad (but not a chronometer) and a Casio Wave Ceptor I had from when I REALLY didn't know much about watches... I just liked it for the fact that it aligned with the Atomic Tower :

[drkeng]

a few choices.

don't know if you get to NYC or Chicago, but Tourneau sells preowned and you can save a bunch.

even better is a local jeweler who sells preowned watches as Tourneau won't budge on price, while a independent jeweler might.

another option is the lower priced mechanicals, like Oris, Hamilton, Ball.
Ball even has some BMW models. or Tag Heuer, Breitling, Bell & Ross, Sinn (German)

avoid replicas!

check out timezone; they have a "sales corner" where people sell watches. if the seller is a long time TZ member, it's pretty safe that the watch is real. seller may have more of a problem with a new member buyer as you wouldn't believe the scam stories of people receiving payment for a watch, shipping the watch, and finding out a month later the funds weren't "good"/legit.

TZ public forum link. sales corner is under the community tab at the top

http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=threadt&frm_id=4

[Rat3d ///M]

Please don't buy a replica. There is nothing wrong with not wanting to spend thousands of dollars on a watch, especially if you are not into watches as a hobby or don't fully appreciate them. There are several watch manufacturers that make fine watches for the price of a good replica, maybe a little bit more. Not only is a replica a copyright infringement making them illegal to sell, they are an embarrassment and you will look like an ass wearing one.

Think of it this way. Would you drive a 335i with an M3 hood, fenders, mirrors and badges? Better yet, would you drive a Lamborghini kit car on a Fiero chassis? Buying a replica watch is along those lines.

If you dont want to spend more than a few hundred, look into Citizen or Bulova. If you don't mind spending a tad more, look into Tag Heuer or Movado. All are excellent watches for the money. Just don't buy into the hype and get one of those cheap Fossils, and for the love of God, don't get a Diesel.

[chris s]

go buy an iwatch... helluva lot better than a rep breitling. buy a real one or don't buy at all.

[tony20009]

There seem to be several folks who are keen to "rag" on various brands and types of watches. The reality is that it's actually hard to find a low quality watch, even replica watches, which no matter how the compare to the watches they ape, as watches aren't in general poorly made either. Whereas many people write/talk about "quality," the fact is that the overwhelming majority of those people haven't a clue about quality as go watches or much else.

The first step in understanding quality is identifying what the maker of a given item sought to achieve. It is not, as most statements one'll encounter presuppose, knowing what are the limits of what it is possible to build. The next step is to assess how effectively (or not) the maker achieved that which it attempted to build.

There are a number of observable traits that watches can have that years ago were rightly seen as indicators of quality. In this day and age of industrial production, those traits, while they often are accompanied by high overall quality builds of a given watch, they are not guarantees of it, nor are they contributors to it.

For example, now that nearly every watch made is water resistant to some degree, beveled edges and rhodium (or other inert metal) plating doesn't do a thing to boost the quality of most watches. In contrast, those two features do boost the quality of most mechanical minute repeaters. Why? Because most minute repeater watches have movements that are unavoidably exposed to the elements. The beveling and rhodium plating reduces the chances and/or reduces the rapidity with which corrosive substances can find a place to take hold and begin having their corrosive effects. Aside from most minute repeaters and vintage watches that aren't water resistant (and other watches that have a means for the elements to enter the case), those two traits are purely decorative treatments.

It's not surprising that many folks think of quality much as one might think of being a better or worse student. We are all raised in an environment whereby the quality of our work, that is our test performance in school, is measured against the bar of "how much of 'everything' does one demonstrate mastery." Like it or not, however, outside of an academic (or similar) setting, quality becomes much more subjective. It becomes a thing that is measured in terms of what one should have done given the target one set vs. what one did. The reason the determination of quality changes is because as adults, as companies we set our own targets, unlike when we are in academic settings where the targets are defined by others and one strives to achieve them.

One the matter of replica mechanical watches:

• Will a replica, say, Rolex or Cartier perform in all situations as well as the authentic watches?
  In "all" situations, certainly not. For the situation consisting of putting on a watch, going to work, going shopping, washing one's hands, doing dishes, and such, short of chronometer level timekeeping that some non-replicas achieve, there's no meaningful difference.
• Can one buy a comparably priced non-replica mechanical watch and expect it to perform as well or better than a replica mechanical watch that apes a far more expensive watch? And is the reverse also possible?
  Yes roughly, and yes.
• How inexpensive can a "decent enough" uncomplicated replica watch be?
  It depends on from whom one buys it, one's negotiating ability, and where one buys it. "Decent enough" (i.e., it keeps time as well as any inexpensive -- less than $150 -- non-replica mechanical watch will and won't fall apart under usage patterns consistent with it's intended use) replica mechanical watches can be had for as little as $25 new. One probably needs to be in the PRC to buy them at that price, but that doesn't mean they can't be had.
• Is there a credible value proposition for buying a replica mechanical watch rather than the watch it apes?
  There is. For example, at $100, a replica Rolex costs some 60 times or more less than the watch it apes. It's not uncommon for a replica Rolex to perform "decently enough" for five years (longer is more often the case that I've observed among the ~80 people on my staff in the PRC for I've yet to learn that any fake they've bought has died/broken, but for the sake of being conservative, I'll go with five years). Assuming one buys 20 such replicas and at the end of the fifth year (no servicing occurred during the five years) it just up and dies/breaks, one has 100 years of watches having the look one desires and that performs "decently enough" at a total cost of $2000. That's still about 1/3rd the price of even the least expensive Rolex of which the replica is a copy.
  
  Now one can also buy a non-replica watch costing $2K (although even $2K isn't generally enough to buy chronometer level timekeeping in a new watch). If one does, one will still have to have it serviced at multiple times over the course of 100 years. So even then, while it may not me a lot more expensive than 20 identical replicas, it's still more expensive.
• Is there any other compelling reason to buy a replica watch?
  Well, if the styling details that one absolutely feels one must have are such that they can be found only on two watches -- an authentic watch X or a replica of that watch -- one really has only two choices: buy one or the other of those two watches. Neither I nor anyone else is in a position to say what styling details one feels one absolutely must have.
• What are the social effects of wearing a replica watch?
  That has to do with you and with other people. So long as you don't pass off the replica as being authentic, the burden rests with others, and you can't control it. You can take comfort in the fact that if others have "issues" in spite of your honesty about the thing, the issues are theirs, and caused by them and their circumstances, not yours and caused by your wearing the watch.

On buying pricey (> $2K) authentic watches:
I've bought my share of pricey watches, but I'm not "typical" in that regard. My parents are much more typical. Mother bought my dad a Rolex Datejust (DJ) in the early 1970s for ~$500. Daddy wore that watch daily until a few months ago when it literally died after his not ever having serviced it. Daddy replaced the DJ with another pricey watch and sent the DJ off to be repaired. It's since been returned in "like new" condition to the tune of ~$4K in repair costs.

I wouldn't advise never servicing a watch, but one can obviously "get by" without doing so. What are the odds one can go 40 years without doing so? I honestly don't know. I have exactly one data point on that matter and I don't even know how well the watch kept time shortly before just giving out. I know only that Daddy wasn't complaining about it, so it must have been doing so "well enough," but I can't even say if his idea of what that means is even close to what my idea of what it means. I can say that it's all but certain that he didn't in the past 20 years bother to check the watch's timekeeping performance.

Daddy is just shy now of being 100 years old, so the fact is that but for his having outlived his life expectancy, the total cost of his having worn a Rolex DJ would have been ~$500, or ~$2900 in inflation adjusted terms.

So what's the point? The point is that if one is of a mind to buy one really good watch and wear it continually for many years as Daddy did, the value proposition for doing so isn't as bad as it may have seemed from my discussion above. On the other hand, if one feels the need buy multiple pricey watches, the collective value proposition of doing so decreases with each subsequent purchase.

Buying one pricey watch is a very different thing from buying several. Short of having some interest in them that has nothing to do with actual watch performance, there's just no good value-driven case for one's doing so.

Brands and branding:
Brands are little more than the business equivalent of a surname. Prudent consumers and snobs alike use brands as a shortcut for not having to invest any energy in learning about the quality of things.

One can observe that Toyota, say, consistently make high quality cars based on how infrequently Toyotas fail to perform as expected. What exactly it is that Toyota does to make their cares infrequently fail isn't something most folks give a damn about or well understand (or want to) so long as the Toyota car they buy also doesn't fail to perform.

Now sure as some cars fail more often than others, the same isn't generally so with watches. It's rare that any modern watch will fail, especially if one follows the manufacturer's instructions re: maintaining it. What that means is from a tangible use perspective, there's not much reason to eschew any watch brand.

Above, someone advised you not buy a Fossil. Absent knowing one's requirements for a given watch, I can't think of one good reason for one not to buy a Fossil. The same goes for replica watches.
-- http://www.wristwatchreview.com/2014...-watch-review/
-- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/mosl...ake-Rolex.html
I write that as a watch collector of some 30+ years. I'm "into" watches, but I know damn well that being "into" watches and simply wanting to buy a watch as a fashion accessory or time measurement and reporting device aren't remotely the same things. All that's similar is that two such individuals may yet buy exactly the same watch.

All the best.

[BwoodBMW]

Look in to Hamilton watches.... great entry price tag for quality watches. The problem is that for me a Hamilton was a gateway drug. Once I had a decent automatic Hamilton watch (~$500) I caught the bug and started wanting to step up... so beware.

[Murf]

Agree, Hamilton is a nice entry into the world of mechanical watches. Seiko mechanical watches are also really nice, I have a couple of divers on Nato straps and always get compliments. Check out Orient watches, another very inexpensive but well made mechanical, more dress oriented.

This is a cool site, lots of watch reviews and most are under 1k....

http://wornandwound.com/

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by Murf

Agree, Hamilton is a nice entry into the world of mechanical watches. Seiko mechanical watches are also really nice, I have a couple of divers on Nato straps and always get compliments. Check out Orient watches, another very inexpensive but well made mechanical, more dress oriented.

This is a cool site, lots of watch reviews and most are under 1k....

http://wornandwound.com/

They are no "more dress oriented" than are Hamilton's offerings, even if one is looking at their "more dress oriented" models.
-- Orient USA: http://orientwatchusa.com/
-- Hamilton USA: http://www.hamiltonwatch.com/

All the best.

[Rat3d ///M]

Tony, I can tell that you put a lot of time and thought into that post, but it didnt really answer the OPs question. In fact, it was pretty off topic.

A couple points I would like to retort: I never said Fossil made bad watches. I advised the OP not to buy into the hype and get Fossil just because its the best selling watch under $500 at his local mall jewelry store. Fact is, they are overrated and he can probably do much better for his money. If he looks at a Fossil he likes and chooses to get one, good for him. I simply stated not to buy one just because everyone and their brother owns one.

You said replica watches are just as good as a lower end entry level watch? I bought a "Fauxlex" on Canal St in NYC for $40 a few years ago before I knew any better. I never wore it because I felt fake and wrong having it on my wrist. It worked for a week, then died. Think its a fluke? My brother bought his son one as well from the same "vendor". Same thing. Now dont get me wrong. You CAN buy a better quality fake, but you will spend at least $300 on it, and at that price point why not buy a nice Citizen or some other entry level timepiece. Hell, Id rock a Diesel before a fake Rolex and ive already stated how I feel about those ridiculous looking things.

As a watch collector of 30 years, I am very surprised you are advocating the purchase of a replica. It doesnt matter how good they are. Its a fake. A forgery. A sham. The only person you are fooling by wearing one is yourself because no one else is impressed by a fake watch. If you cant afford the real thing, why pretend you can?

Fact remains, OP said he does not want an expensive watch so why are you going off on a tangent about $2000+ watches? You say you are a collector with 30+ years experience. Great. I applaud you, but that means nothing to me in this thread. Use some of that experience to stay on topic and suggest some sub $1000 watches like OP asked for. I dont have 30+ years of experience, and I am likely not as into watches as you, but i at least suggested the OP take a look at some manufacturers in his price range. Please dont degrade my advice like your experience makes me inferior to you.

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by ||||||||||

Tony, I can tell that you put a lot of time and thought into that post, but it didnt really answer the OPs question. In fact, it was pretty off topic.

A couple points I would like to retort: I never said Fossil made bad watches. I advised the OP not to buy into the hype and get Fossil just because its the best selling watch under $500 at his local mall jewelry store. Fact is, they are overrated and he can probably do much better for his money. If he looks at a Fossil he likes and chooses to get one, good for him. I simply stated not to buy one just because everyone and their brother owns one.

You said replica watches are just as good as a lower end entry level watch? I bought a "Fauxlex" on Canal St in NYC for $40 a few years ago before I knew any better. I never wore it because I felt fake and wrong having it on my wrist. It worked for a week, then died. Think its a fluke? My brother bought his son one as well from the same "vendor". Same thing. Now dont get me wrong. You CAN buy a better quality fake, but you will spend at least $300 on it, and at that price point why not buy a nice Citizen or some other entry level timepiece. Hell, Id rock a Diesel before a fake Rolex and ive already stated how I feel about those ridiculous looking things.

As a watch collector of 30 years, I am very surprised you are advocating the purchase of a replica. It doesnt matter how good they are. Its a fake. A forgery. A sham. The only person you are fooling by wearing one is yourself because no one else is impressed by a fake watch. If you cant afford the real thing, why pretend you can?

Fact remains, OP said he does not want an expensive watch so why are you going off on a tangent about $2000+ watches? You say you are a collector with 30+ years experience. Great. I applaud you, but that means nothing to me in this thread. Use some of that experience to stay on topic and suggest some sub $1000 watches like OP asked for. I dont have 30+ years of experience, and I am likely not as into watches as you, but i at least suggested the OP take a look at some manufacturers in his price range. Please dont degrade my advice like your experience makes me inferior to you.

I wasn't responding specifically to the OP's original request, so you're right in that regard.

Red:
By what objective criteria are Fossil watches overrated?

Blue:
One could say that of any watch. Why single out Fossil? In comparison to what Fossil aims for their watches to be and what they actually are, what tangible attributes make Fossil watches any different from any other maker's watches?

Green:
That's got little, if anything, to do with the watch and everything to do with your feelings/beliefs.

Purple:
Yes, I do because over almost the past decade I've observed well over 200 people on my projects in the PRC buy fake watches with no complaints. Also, the Chinese citizens on my projects buy them (they've all stated that they know many other PRC citizens who do/have) and to a person they all say they've experienced good performance from them. Additionally, over the same time span, I've bought about 100 of them (reimbursed by my firm) to provide them as door prizes in firm team building events, as well two that I gave to my secretary as notional gifts. Not one person has complained that they were disappointed with the watch. (I don't expect that "random" employees even know I'm the one who acquired the watches, so I may not hear of their experiences with them, but my secretary would mention in passing that the watches I gave her died/broke.)

Obviously, I can't speak to the one you bought in NYC. I don't doubt that yours "died," but I also don't any reason to view your experience with that watch as the norm. I do have many data points that suggest it's not the norm.

Brown:
The ones I've bought have never cost more than $30/each. When I buy 10 or 20 of them at a time for the firm events I mentioned above, they cost more like $10/each.

Orange:
I'm not advocating the purchase of a replica watch. I'm simply stating the objective reality associated with them based on what my own experience and observations have shown me. In short, I'm not being a "watch snob" about them. I don't think a person should buy a replica, but if that's what they are of a mind to buy, well, I can't and won't deny that the product they'll receive will, in all likelihood, "get the job done" if its an uncomplicated fake watch. Also, I'm not going to hold it against someone of they do buy/wear one because the nature of a watch's authenticity is hardly the "be all, end all" to anything having to do with a person's character.

Pink:
The majority of my post was about fake watches. The $2000 watches I mentioned were merely to discuss the value proposition of buying one rather than the watch a fake apes. As for whether one buys a fake or a different inexpensive watch, I think you overlooked one of my bullet points:

Is there any other compelling reason to buy a replica watch?
Well, if the styling details that one absolutely feels one must have are such that they can be found only on two watches -- an authentic watch X or a replica of that watch -- one really has only two choices: buy one or the other of those two watches. Neither I nor anyone else is in a position to say what styling details one feels one absolutely must have.

Teal:
I have no thoughts in that regard, one way or the other. I merely have shared some of my objective observations re: watches.

Other:
As far as the OP's actual request goes, I had no intention of replying to it. I wouldn't have but for your (someone else's) comments re: Fossil and replica watches that don't jibe with my own observations. I own one 30+ year old Fossil watch and I don't have one negative thing to say about it; it works and looks as good now as it did when it was new.

I'm not a fan of Fossil and their products, but I have no just cause for deriding them or their watches. By the same token, it's unlikely that I'll ever specifically suggest one. I'm not going to suggest someone buy a fake either, but if they do, they do. Assuming they have typical expectations, based on what I've seen, they'll probably be satisfied with how it performs.

Frankly, if someone who doesn't especially care about watches wants one that costs a few hundred dollars, I'd suggest they get a Seiko or Citizen and be done. Since they don't care about watches per se, there's nothing to know or be concerned about. Go to the mall, find one that looks good, buy it and get on with the rest of one's life. The fact is that nobody needs me to suggest they buy a Seiko or Citizen watch of some sort.

Might they be able to save a little money by choosing an Orient, for example? Sure, they will, but if they are just buying one watch they intend to wear for years and years on end, what's the point of me suggesting they scour "hell's half acre" to find an Orient? And that's to say nothing of even less widely distributed makes.

The single most important thing one can do when buying a watch, particularly for folks who don't really care about watches, is try the thing on before spending their money. I know darn well that no matter where in the Western world one lives, one isn't going to have trouble finding a place that sells Seiko and Citizen watches. I can't say the same about a lot of the other brands of which I'm aware and that also make affordable watches.

It's not about discerning "who makes a good watch," for as I wrote in that post, "the reality is that it's actually hard to find a low quality watch." That statement is the second sentence of my post, and quite frankly, if one doesn't care about watches, that's really as far as they needed to read. That statement alone, if the reader is willing to accept that assertion, is all they need to know. It's enough for them to say to themselves, "Okay. Well, I'm no watch "junkie," so fine. I'll just go to the mall and buy something that looks good." And quite frankly, that approach works just fine for the overwhelming majority of people who want to buy a watch.

All the best.

[Bimar]

Originally Posted by tony20009

It's not about discerning "who makes a good watch," for as I wrote in that post, "the reality is that it's actually hard to find a low quality watch." That statement is the second sentence of my post, and quite frankly, if one doesn't care about watches, that's really as far as they needed to read. That statement alone, if the reader is willing to accept that assertion, is all they need to know. It's enough for them to say to themselves, "Okay. Well, I'm no watch "junkie," so fine. I'll just go to the mall and buy something that looks good." And quite frankly, that approach works just fine for the overwhelming majority of people who want to buy a watch.

All the best.

Well that just made my justifying a Panerai watch much harder!!

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by X4guy

Well that just made my justifying a Panerai watch much harder!!

What's to justify? Either you like it, can afford it, are willing to afford it, and want to buy it, or you don't. Such is the nature of luxury purchases. You haven't been runnin' around all this time thinking Panerai make any kind of watches other than luxury watches, have you?

Luxury goods aren't called that because there is something about them that makes them rationally better to own than their non-luxury alternatives. They are luxury goods because there's little to nothing about them is necessary in order to receive the functional benefits they aim to provide. They are things one buys for the sake of indulgence.

For example, sterling flatware isn't considered luxury flatware because it works any better than stainless steel flatware or even some plastic flatware. It's luxury flatware because if one is willing and able to pay the premium for sterling forks and whatnot, well, one can. Now if one thinks that somehow that silver fork is going to do something a stainless steel form won't (other than tarnish) and that's why one wants to buy it...well, that's one's own foolishness or delusion.

You don't really believe, for example, that your BMW provides any of the necessary aspects of transportation any more effectively than, say, a Chevy Cruise (or whatever that thing is called...it's something like that if not exactly that), or even better than a bus for that matter, do you? I'm not suggesting that you might not want more than simply transportation from a car, but I am saying that whatever else beyond transportation it is that you want, and are willing to pay for, from/in a car is a luxury feature (no matter how common that feature's existence be).

The same thing is true with watches. Beyond telling time accurately enough that one can use the watch as a means to know when to perform a given action, and protecting the watch movement adequately enough so that what is considered "routine" use won't harm it so as to stop it from measuring and reporting time, everything else about a watch and what it costs is a luxury aspect of the watch. Moreover, the advent of quartz watches has made all mechanical watches luxury goods: quartz watches are more accurate and their movements, absent exposure to liquids, are more durable. Plus, they can look the same aesthetically (clearly not a functional aspect) the same as a mechanical watch.

All the best.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by BwoodBMW

Look in to Hamilton watches.... great entry price tag for quality watches. The problem is that for me a Hamilton was a gateway drug. Once I had a decent automatic Hamilton watch (~$500) I caught the bug and started wanting to step up... so beware.

Originally Posted by Murf

Agree, Hamilton is a nice entry into the world of mechanical watches. Seiko mechanical watches are also really nice, I have a couple of divers on Nato straps and always get compliments. Check out Orient watches, another very inexpensive but well made mechanical, more dress oriented.

This is a cool site, lots of watch reviews and most are under 1k....

http://wornandwound.com/

My nephew is into watches and has several nice ones. I was talking with him last week about watches and he recommended Hamiltons as an entry level and sent me a link to a few nice ones. There are several available through Amazon for considerably less than retail, but almost all the reviews warn about Amazon not being an authorized dealer, so no warranty coverage. Are warranties that important with watches at this level? I have over $20k in camera gear and have never needed to use a warranty, so I stopped caring about warranties on camera gear. But Canon (my brand) only offers one year anyway. It might be a different story on a watch that may have multiple years of coverage.

[c1pher]

I'm into a few watches but maybe not really a Rolex type guy. I have a Citizen Eco drive watch for more dressy occasions, a Casio Pathfinder for camping or hiking and my daily driver which is a Galaxy Gear S. I really like it since it is also 3G and I can leave my phone at home if I just want to go out to eat, go to the gym without the extra gear or worry about leaving it somewhere. Since it has its own phone number, calls can be forwarded to it, I can send and receive texts, do navigation from it, surf the web (to some degree). I'm not really a jewelry guy, so I really like watches that provide a lot of functionality.

[BwoodBMW]

Originally Posted by M_Six

My nephew is into watches and has several nice ones. I was talking with him last week about watches and he recommended Hamiltons as an entry level and sent me a link to a few nice ones. There are several available through Amazon for considerably less than retail, but almost all the reviews warn about Amazon not being an authorized dealer, so no warranty coverage. Are warranties that important with watches at this level? I have over $20k in camera gear and have never needed to use a warranty, so I stopped caring about warranties on camera gear. But Canon (my brand) only offers one year anyway. It might be a different story on a watch that may have multiple years of coverage.

If you can get comfortable that it is a genuine product and brand new with all documentation I wouldn't worry too much about warranties. I've never made a warranty claim on a watch so the discount may be worth it... as long as you understand and accept the risk

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by M_Six

My nephew is into watches and has several nice ones. I was talking with him last week about watches and he recommended Hamiltons as an entry level and sent me a link to a few nice ones. There are several available through Amazon for considerably less than retail, but almost all the reviews warn about Amazon not being an authorized dealer, so no warranty coverage. Are warranties that important with watches at this level? I have over $20k in camera gear and have never needed to use a warranty, so I stopped caring about warranties on camera gear. But Canon (my brand) only offers one year anyway. It might be a different story on a watch that may have multiple years of coverage.

The greatest use I've found with warranties is the comfort that comes from a maker's actually offering one, not whether or not when I buy a watch I'm entitled to warranty coverage. That said, were I buying a replica watch anywhere but in the PRC or an Invicta, I'd want a warranty. Those may well be the only two types of watch/watch purchase for which I would expressly want a warranty.

Note: I don't require or expect a warranty when buying a replica watch in the PRC for several reasons:
-- I buy them as "door prize" give aways.
-- They are so inexpensive it really doesn't matter if they fail or not.
-- I have no idea who actually makes the watch and nobody's going to tell me.

I can tell you that I've bought many watches -- authentic ones -- at price points ranging from a few hundred dollars to multiple tens of thousands of dollars. I have yet to need warranty coverage because not one of them has failed during the warranty period. I had the crystal fall off a watch -- the only "failure" I've ever experienced -- but that happened two years after the maker's warranty expired.

All the best.

[wheeladdicts]

Some examples in that price range:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...250&_nkw=tudor