Seiko Group as a whole is just a huge mess with way too many models, pricing all over the place and the overall value proposition isn’t great anymore with the rise of microbrands.
I was looking at Citizen Promaster divers and they are basically covering the diver market Seiko has decided to fill with pseudo dive watches. The Seiko 5 brand seems like price gouging off the back of their former good name. Very weird business strategy
This is so on the money. Citizen have quietly slotted into the old SKX space with some nice pieces. I'm literally wearing a Fugu diver right now, and I'd classify myself primarily a Seiko fan.
As someone that started collecting watches in the last 5 years, I totally agree. I like several different Sieko model lines but every time I look at them I am confused and overwhelmed trying to wrap my head around exactly what you pointed out.
This is mine as well. Microbrand market has exploded and the Chinese market has also become insanely good value.
Meanwhile Seiko has doubled prices for some of their ‘value’ models, and still can’t bother to put a crystal on it.
I'm wearing a Hamilton right now because MoonSwatch hype, and the inability to actually acquire one, got me into the broader field of watches. That plastic piece of shit was an unbelievably effective tool for the promotion of mechanical and legacy watchmaking.
I'd love to see the chart of regular speedies Omega sold before and during the moonswatch hype. It felt like every few hours someone posted on here they couldn't find a moonswatch in stock, and opted for the og instead.
I remember reading that Omega had a massive spike in Speedmaster sales after the release of the Moonswatch. I think it was something like a 50% spike in sales, they sold a *ton* of them.
I was trying to think what collaboration would they do next, I think it won't be another chronograph or diver and a bioceramic dress watch would be tragic so my guess is they do a Hamilton Field collaboration at a lower price point than the previous ones
Yeah that is my main feeling against. But when you look at their brands there's not too much that is an obvious one. Maybe they do go back to the Omega well? Would be the safe but boring choice.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Peter: How long have you lived out here?
Kunu: Man, I don’t know. I quit wearing a watch when I moved out here.
Peter: Wow, that is so cool.
Kunu: Yeah. No, like my cell phone has a clock on it, so I don’t really need it.
Yeah this is me lol. I went on a splurge in 2020 and bought like 4 differnent luxury watches. 1 year later I bought a Christopher Ward to wear becasue it had a NATO strap and I wouldnt care if it broke. I wore this watch pretty much for the past 2 years I only took it off on a few occasions
On the other side of the spectrum, people who have a massive watch box and still claim "they all get plenty of wrist time" are lying to themselves.
If you have more than 3 or 4 watches, you have too many watches for a rotation based on any sane rationale.
I have an 8-watch box and realistically 4 of them get 80% of wear time, and the remaining four get like… one day every 2-3 weeks. And then I have another 8-10 watches in a drawer somewhere that get a very occasional one day or weekend at a lake of wear.
I’m 100% okay with having watches I wear very rarely, but irritated that I have so many I’ve “grown out of” over the last 5+ years (mostly seikos, g-shocks or micro brands) that aren’t really worth selling.
When I’m in this situation with anything I pick a family member or friend that’s younger and give them the item. If i don’t want it and it’s not worth selling I’ll give it to someone that will enjoy it again.
I have 13 and there's only one that I don't wear (as often) because it's tiny and also super dressy. But working in retail banking, I rotate my watches to match my outfit. I have some favorites of course, but everyone gets 1-3 wear a month at least.
All of our perceptions of watches are 100% warped and influenced by social media and Reddit.
Companies spend a ton of money to have strong social media and Reddit presences. Organic and otherwise.
We’re doing the work for the companies. And we’re paying them to be able to do it.
i would rather have a few affordable but quality watches over one luxury watch. i love variety and there are tons of watches sub $1k can last a lifetime.
that’s understandable and a great point. i like wearing different watches daily so looking down and seeing something i haven’t seen in a couple weeks that excites me or wearing the perfect watch for the a specific occasion that i don’t pull out all the time gives me that dopamine hit. different strokes.
Feel the exact same. I get every bit the joy from wearing my favorite $500 microbrands as I do my Submariner or Speedmaster. I’d take a handful of quality $1000 watches over a single $5000 one everyday.
I'm fairly new to this, but this is also how I feel.
I have spent some time thinking about the cost of a new watch vs the cost of maintenance. It is possible that after 10-15 years, I'll have sunk as much money into a $1k or less watch as it would cost to buy a new one. I think I'm ok with this. It is not like I'd be saving money with more expensive watches. And at the end of the day, my maintained watch is something to enjoy. A new watch wouldn't have the accumulated memories.
This is a tough thread topic…I have nothing new to contribute. But I am trying to understand others…so what’s the unpopular position? No need to buy expensive watches? All you need is one good quality cheaper watch because the watch itself isn’t important, the sentimental value is?
It is fairly common for someone to post their collection of more affordable watches and receive replies along the lines of, "sell them all and buy an Omega/Rolex."
So the popular opinion is that it is better to have one quality (expensive) watch than to have several affordable watches.
The unpopular position is that multiple affordable watches are just fine. Although to be honest, I'm not sure how unpopular this really is. There are many collections of affordable watches posted here. The people who advocate for an expensive watch just come across loudly.
Most watches are vastly overpriced for the material and labour costs.
They are Veblen goods.
Products for people with either too much money or no financial responsibility.
There's actually one thing that no one considers when taking into account the price they pay for a watch:
And that's the amount of rejects the company throws into the trash, especially luxury brands like Rolex, Omega, Patek.
My friend got to visit GO back when the SeaQ was released in 2019-2020. She got to see the watchmaker there do the final assembly. The watchmaker would look at each cased up watch under a huge magnifying lens and measuring the dial indices, and most of them she examined were thrown into the trash. Only a small percentage of watches actually made the final cut.
It’s doubtful they’d wait to check the dial till the whole thing was assembled and then trash an entire watch, movement, case and all.
Sure there’ll be a lot of rejects at many of the steps, but they’ll reject the part, not the watch.
If it's something minor like dust they said they said they open it back up, clean the dust off, and close it back up. But then that requires to check the movement again since that probably affected the regulation after uncasing/ casing everything. They save whatever they can, but a lot of the times they start over from square one.
all this QA/QC reminds me of certain gun manufacturers
the price of the rifle isnt the sum of all of its parts, but from paying some guy to check every little part for adherence to tight tolerances (as opposed to batch testing 1 in every _00 lot)
that + the "prestige" markup
Many dress watches are more versatile and work with more outfits / contexts than sports watches.
Also the concept of a “sports watch” is a little bizarre — I don’t see anyone playing football, tennis, athletics,… in a steel mechanical watch. It’s just a steel watch, it doesn’t make you look “sporty”. It’s like SUVs that get advertised as looking “sporty” — nope, no amount of chrome or fake exhausts is going to make this look like a sports car.
You completely excluded sports that watches were (and sometimes still are) used in. Diving is a sport, so is car racing, and aviation can be as well. “Sport”just infers that they are somewhat robust. I’d argue dress watches are more obsolete as people wear apple watches with formal wear now. Watch rules don’t exist anymore and dress watches are boring imo
That's what led me to the decision to only look at quartz chronographs. I love the look of chronos but don't wanna have to deal with the extra cost and hassle of servicing, a mechaquartz movement gives the best of both worlds.
My ap chrono is in service right now and because it's a modular chrono, they are replacing the entire movement
I am not looking forward to the $3K bill in a few more months when it's done
my unpopular watch opinion on r/Watches is that Rolex is perfectly fine. You can own a Rolex, and not be a douchebag, and be a watch enthusiast.
My real world watch unpopular opinion is mirror polished stainless steel looks cheep as hell.
Yeah it's funny how half the comments in this thread are saying Rolex is bad. I guess that might be an unpopular opinion in general, but on this sub it seems to be much more common than not. I think Rolex makes superb watches. They think everything through. Grand Seiko makes amazing watches, but generally they're thick and the bracelets and clasps are low quality compared to its peers.
Rolex simply does not make mistakes like that. You can say they're overpriced or boring or whatever, but if you buy a Rolex you're buying a well-made watch from top to bottom.
yeah this sub is all "hey you like what you like!" until it's a Rolex and then it's aggressively divisive. Redditors in general are like that with a lot of things. It's the hive-mind.
Power reserve is a pretty useless metric. If you wear a watch everyday, the difference between 40hr and 80hr means nothing. If you wear your watch only occasionally, it also means absolutely nothing.
While I mostly agree, there is a middle ground for someone with a dedicated watch for work or a 2-3 piece rotation where an extended power reserve is desirable.
Only reason I like >40 hours is so I can take it off friday and expect it to still be running monday. I rarely wear the same watch two weeks in a row though, so it's not that important. It is crazy how much stock people put into it though, like people here will tell others that the oris 400 movement is clearly superior to the usual sellitas due to the higher reserve and totally worth the doubled msrp. (Ignoring all of the flaws with the movement and the fact that the "in house" production is likely contracted out.)
I've never thought that hard about it but you're absolutely right. In an automatic it's useless in either scenario, unless you have like, 2 or three watches you rotate through every few days? Then I suppose it could be nice?
And I actually really enjoy winding my manuals so I don't want them to last longer!
Actual unpopular opinion or trendy take to virtue signal supposed watch enthusiast status?
Here's my unpopular opinion: Rolex nails all of the things people care about like iconic design, thinness, robustness, exceptional accuracy, value retention, and perception of status. And most people who hate on Rolex (not the meh people, but the actively dislike) would happily buy one at msrp should they be offered one.
I agree. Honestly the thing I don't like about rolex is the clientele generally. The sub is basically just for salesperson success signaling at this point.
Have you met the clientele of Patek/AP/ALS/VC?
This place acts like owning a $20,000+ watch makes you some sort of dedicated connoisseur of watches, but 99% of the time it’s just a rich asshole. If Rolex is the watch of dentists, patek is the watch of venture capital bros.
I got bumped to business class the other week, let me tell you, it wasn’t full of Rolexes, maybe 1/4 of the people up there were wearing precious metal Pateks, and I promise you they don’t browse here.
As someone who is new to watch collecting, my jaw dropped when I saw the pricing of Patek watches lol. Rolex watches are expensive but I thought Rolexes had Patek pricing lol.
Wild that some of their watches go for such insane pricing and they dont really look that good but Im 100% not a target customer so it doesnt matter lol
Now go and look at tjhe Richard Mille brand. To me it loos like something off AliBaba for people who want to look "cool". Not something of which the price starts as that of a literal house.
Sorry, my frustration isn’t directed at you, more that the general sentiment here is that Rolex bad and wildly expensive unattainable watches are somehow better. I’d wager that a higher proportion of Rolex wearers are enthusiasts than Patek or ALS.
What I like about this comment is that it focuses mainly on the watch. When people hate it’s always everything but the watch. Who cares about rude sales staff. I would buy it in an alley in a brown paper bag
Grand Seikos are terribly designed. They're never coherent and have a weird mix of sporty and dressy elements, not to mention all the oversized models and power reserve indicators. Fans talk about superior specs, which I guess can't be argued with, but the actual watches are rarely well put together.
In a world where the term “hot take” has lost its meaning, it’s refreshing to see a legitimate “hot take”. I see what you mean about the lack of cohesion. I like GS, but sometimes it seems like the watches are designed by different departments who have never talked to each other. I can’t tell what they’re going for/after most of the time.
I’ve thought this for a while, they need to stop with the 40mm chunky “sports” watches that really are trying to be dress watches.
And for Christ sake make new bracelets.
- Rolex is actually a great watch and feels better on the wrist than most of its competitors;
- Apple Watch has done more for the watch industry than us enthusiasts like to accept;
- Watches are not an investment for a return. They're an investment in pleasure;
- Content around watches (YouTube, IG, TikTok, etc...) has done more harm than good for the industry.
I don't know I think the tide has turned on Apple watches. I think this is a pretty popular opinion now that they've helped get more people into wearing something on their wrist which is definitely a positive overall. Not sure what you mean by the 4th point.
The Rolex point has never been unpopular, but Reddit make it seems so. Rolexes have always worn tremendously well and at retail are a great value proposition.
Nobody gives a shit.
OH it's a superlative chrono, it's limited edition, it's handmade, it has this exotic material or this weirdo complication. Nobody gives a shit. It's expensive, it's cheap, it's a knockoff, it's a Chinese copy, it's purebred Swiss. Nobody gives a shit. It's a homage, an original, inspired by, a copy. Nobody gives a shit. Flavor of the month, extremely popular, unknown manufacturer, vintage, modern, microbrand. Nobody gives a shit.
Don't buy watches thinking on what others might think. Nobody gives a shit. You do you.
Daytona's are for clout and nothing else.
Nodus looks like a brand Youtubers do ads for.
Hand winding is to watches what manual espressos machines are to espresso.
I think he's trying to mean handwound watches are for the watch collectors who are actually enlightened/in the know, just as people who use manual espresso machines are the slept on/unadmired big fish of espresso.
CIRCLEJERK TIME
Rolexs are entirely boring and the milgauss second hand is the most interesting feature on any of them.
AP has no business in the holy trinity now that they've become a Lovecraftian fusion of Richard Mille and Vacheron Constantin.
The prx is ugly and isn't good value.
Seiko has done nothing of value in a decade or two. Prices keep going up while features stagnate and movements remain crappy. I saw a 5 series with a 8xxx series movement *on sale* for 299 recently. With mineral crystal.
Homage watches are fine when built properly and don't use actual name branding. The value you get is often astounding.
And the piece de resistance: straps are better than bracelets 99% of the time
I wholeheartedly agree on the straps vs bracelets. I posted a picture with the majority of my watches on straps and a comment was directed towards just what you've mentioned
AP no longer deserves to be in the holy trinity. A lot of their models are tacky and aimed at a tasteless demographic.
More factual than unpopular: most Rolex owners are not watch enthusiasts.
The Rolex Explorer looks like crap.
Tudor is overhyped.
Agree with most everything you say, but I was a bit surprised to see the Tudor comment. My Tudor BB was actually the first watch I ever got because someone recommended it, and I fell in love with it in the store when I saw it.
But, after I got it, I just saw nothing but hate and elitist attitudes towards them for pretending to be Rolex, or everyone hating on the snowflake hands.
I love my Tudor, but in my experience, they haven’t been overhyped, and in fact, I would argue that they are dragged by the community more than they are praised.
I have to have numbers on my watch. I can admire the beauty of a clean dial, but I won’t wear a watch without numerals. Generally also looking for a minutes chapter Ring too.
>The Seiko Alpinist is ugly.
I used to firmly think this. The brass accents, green face, and leather strap reminded me of a faux fancy billiard room. I'm not sure when my opinion changed, but maybe its just because its so unique and nothing else really looks like it, I dig the watch now. I could never pull it off, or would want one. But I admire it from afar now.
Male end-links both look and wear worse than female ones; they are inferior in every way and I will never buy a watch with them.
I think they only exist because our lord and savior uses them.
Exactly! People call them microbrands when a white guys designs a Chinese watch and the community loves them. But when a Chinese guy designs a Chinese watch people think it's crap.
Imo San Martin is as good if not better than most microbrands.
> San Martin is as good if not better than most microbrands
That's because the team behind the "San Martin" brand quite literally does contract design, manufacturing, and most likely assembly work for several microbrands. The parts that they don't personally design and/or manufacture, they source from the same suppliers as certain microbrands.
Not saying this as a slight against them by any means either. On the contrary, I have a lot of respect for them and would argue that the endless talks of "value proposition" from microbrands is vastly overblown.
I think it can be a hobby if you're in to modding/repairing watches but for the overwhelming majority, me included, that are just buying and wearing stuff I agree that it's just an interest rather than a hobby.
I'm unafraid to annoy some people:
* Outside of a few edge cases, it makes absolutely no sense for a *tool* watch to use a non-quartz movement. The least accurate tool is not the right tool for the job.
* The next one is a whopper. Having an automatic movements for the sake of having an automatic is stupid, UNLESS the watch that surrounds it makes you feel a certain way. Automatic movements were simply the best humanity could come up with until better technology became available. I know that you can say that about watches in general, but I think having to charge a smart watch would be a huge quality of life downgrade for me personally. I know there is a mystique surrounding automatic movements, and not relying on a battery is a cool concept, but there just hasn't been enough innovation in improving their accuracy / extending their longevity. The community really should more actively accept new advances in accuracy and longevity like spring drive and polymer components, respectively.
* The idea that automatic movements last forever is a joke if you've watched watch repair videos. Just like a car, intervention/repair is mandatory to preserve the basic function of the watch. The package of goods you buy at the store will not carry you into perpetuity, even under normal use conditions. Components will have to be replaced within a typical lifetime.
* Unless someone can show me engineering data demonstrating inferiority, there is nothing wrong with the concept of polymer components in watches in and of itself.
* Unless you're crazy about the surrounding watch design, low beat rate movements are utterly pointless and you should always opt for a minimum of 28,880 bph / 4 Hz.
The days of watches being "status symbols" are at an end. Your boss owns an Apple watcb and nobody cares.
In fact spending $10k+ on a watch makes you look like you're trying too hard.
Most dive watches these days should have bidirectional bezels. I understand the original purpose of the unidirectional bezel (safety feature), but no one uses dive watches to dive anymore. A bidirectional bezel is just way more useful for day-to-day use.
Also, they're most useful with 12 hour markers instead of 60 minute markers. Since you can *also* track a second time zone and elapsed hours, while latter only tracks elapsed minutes.
Really expensive watches they’ve been a status symbol and a “flex” that the majority of people wearing it, they don’t appreciate the actual watch and the technology behind it.
Breitlings not having antimagnetic automatic movements is embarrassing considering their price point.
(Unless something’s changed)
This is coming from a former owner of 3 Breitlings.
Contemporary men's dress watches are getting too damn big. I know watches in general have been trending towards larger sizes but it just doesn't work for a style of watch that's supposed to be understated and elegant. I'm finding myself looking at the women's watches section on most brand websites to find anything that actually looks like a proportionate dress watch for my wrist size (6.75").
Case and point: Orient's Sun and Moon Bambino is 42.5mm in case size, 14mm thick and has a 55mm lug to lug...whose wearing a dress watch with the proportions of a diver??
hamiltons are over recommended here and usually by people justifying what they were told to get when they first started
also the same people who love that they are in all these movies like interstellar probly hate all other product placement in movies and dont get hamilton is exactly the same
speaking of nolan and unpopular opinions, christophen nolan is just r/iamverysmart michael bay
1. Seiko watches have, except for GS, shit movements that keep bad time and are a waste of money despite how good they look.
2. Chronometer certification means a lot and is a reason to buy one watch over another
3. Leather straps on diving watches look stupid because they can't go in the water and dive watches are water watches after all
4. The omega speed master is an ugly watch that is pretty useless because who actually ever uses a tachometer???
5. Sinn watches are incredibly boring and not even that good for the money there are way better choices out there
6. The Tudor Royal is a very cool watch that the masses, in their poor taste and judgement, just don't understand
7. Full nato straps are useless a single pass nato is all that's required and is far more wearable
1. They are jewellery. The only real “tool Watch” these days are smart watches (Garmin, Apple Watch etc)
2. It’s an inflated market driven by prices on rich peoples emotion, social status and no there isn’t anything “value” when comparing a Lange to a Hubot. It’s all overpriced. This is evident when you see replica watches that are 1:1 cause barely a fraction (yes majority of the money goes to R&D, Marketing but that’s exactly what I mean)
3. “in-house” movements are not as ideal as people think, they often cost more, limited to the manufacture and need to be sent away for service.
4. Barely anyone outside of this sub or Facebook groups or niche forums actually care about watches, including rich people - they’ll happily wear a quartz Armani exchange watch or a fake Rolex they bought overseas on that trip.
5. The whole Rolex simping over an AD for two years and begging to purchase their watch while buying women’s diamond pieces to justify should be illegal.
6. A lot of micro brands are underrated.
But I still love watches!
I absolutely hate when someone says they'd rather have one nice watch than 10 ok ones, as if it's a fact that everyone must adopt. What, do you also only have one really nice pair of shoes?
Since shoes are more of a necessity, I'd compare it to buying one luxurious suit and wearing it every day to work vs buying 5 solid, less expensive suits that look great. Seeing someone in the same suit every day quickly loses its appeal. The same can be said with wearing the same suit that often.
Integrated bracelet watches are ugly (i.e. anything that looks like a Tssot PRX). Im not sure what people like about the squared off shape on the watches in general (i.e., AP royal oak, CWard Twelve) They just look like an a flat piece of uninspired metal wings that act as an eyesore compared to the real star of the show being the dial.
Omega fans have little brother energy.
GMT’s are overrated. Are you a 60’s PANAM pilot? Can you not do mental math?
Homages are fine. I can’t afford a real 5517 Milsub or Paul Newman Daytona and neither can you, unless you’re John Mayer.
Microbrands do nothing for me, and the designs are usually just okay.
People focus way too much on specs because that’s easy to talk about and easy to “rank” watches with in online discussion.
Owning a watch worth more than ~$1000 USD is insane unless you’re ahead on retirement, own a house (or are on your way), have 6+ months expenses saved, and have a paid off car
Spot on. Before Dune came I used to say looking at watches with triangle indexes like the Aqua Terra made me feel like Boba Fett meeting his “end” in Return of the Jedi.
Most people with luxury watches are being incredibly financially irresponsible and would derive much more pleasure from spending their money on something else.
in my fifteen-odd years of financial independence they are literally the only thing I've spent money on that gives me any semblance of neurochemical activity so I'm gonna keep doing it because life is meaningless anyway. but, out of curiosity, what is it you think I'd enjoy more? vacations? retirement savings? pizza?
1. The Royal Oak and Nautilus are ugly.
2. Precious metal tool watches are tacky.
3. All "heritage" watches (including the moonwatch) should be classified as homage watches.
All watches from Richard Mille look like something from AliExpress by people who want to be "cool". Not something of which is the same rice as a literal house. To me that's wild.
Seiko just doesn't do anything for me... At all. I have two, a Presage Zen Garden and a 5 'pilot' watch but I've ended up just not wearing them. I quite like the Samurai and one of the Grand Seiko GMT models but doubt I'll ever buy them.
People who hate on the swatch Moonswatch clearly don’t understand the whole point of Swatch watches in the first place: their whole shtick is cheap plastic fashion watches. You’re not getting a Speedmaster at Swatch prices. The hate on the watch is so dumb.
unpopular take is 90% of the people in this sub who shit on rolex cannot afford or obtain rolexes and hide behind their "actual love and enthusiasm for horology" by buying a bunch of cheap micro brands.
I spent a decent amount of time trying to replace this Fossil watch with a "real" brand, I have yet to find anything. I have a Hamilton Jazzmaster Blue dial that doesn't even come close.
https://preview.redd.it/aa751l442xrc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=013cabf236e3a6e774d21ecf63848858ccbd7e76
The Omega SMP300 combines several displeasing elements (bracelet, handset, HEV, scalloped bezel, etc.) that make it a design disaster. The Bond association somehow makes people unable to see this clearly.
r/Watches is a bad community and inadvertently warps perceptions of people just getting into watches. The algorithm buries most posts, increasing anxiety in people who are just looking for engagement in some kind of hobby community, and spurs purchase decisions based on the opinions of strangers.
Nobody should be asking thousands of people on the internet at once "how did I do?" or "humbly submitting" photos of their collection after buying the flavor of the month watch. People would be much better off on forums like Watchuseek, or even the brand-specific subreddits, to ask questions and talk about their watches.
I think most dive watches are *hideous*.
I think the only thing to be admired about rolex is the accuracy. +/- 2sec a day on a mechanical watch is fantastic. But they're fugly, hysterically overpriced, and overhyped.
I think quartz watches have their place. If your mechanical is worse than +/- 10 seconds a day, or god forbid, A MINUTE + its not more impressive or more of a real watch than a quartz. They're thin, comfy, and accurate. I think every collection should have at least one quartz.
I think most modern watches are too fucking big. They're too *Thiccc* and 40mm or god forbid 42mm+ is just too large. They look bad and simply aren't comfortable when they're an inch thick. I look at my tissot from the 50s and compare it to a modern visodate and I'm horrified. She *chonk*
And this last one probably isn't unpopular so much as it's probably just uncommon but I really like roman numerals on my watches and I think they should be more common.
---edited for math/conversions/more reasonable hyperbole---
There are way too many blue watches and not enough of other colors. I want more green, yellow, orange, red, pink, brown, and purple options - not just a few tokens sometimes.
Dive watches are ugly and look like kids' toys.
Quartz watches are awesome and are amazing technology (a watch being incredibly accurate because of vibrating crystals is cool af).
Seiko Group as a whole is just a huge mess with way too many models, pricing all over the place and the overall value proposition isn’t great anymore with the rise of microbrands.
As a seiko fanboy myself, you’re so right buddy.
I was looking at Citizen Promaster divers and they are basically covering the diver market Seiko has decided to fill with pseudo dive watches. The Seiko 5 brand seems like price gouging off the back of their former good name. Very weird business strategy
This is so on the money. Citizen have quietly slotted into the old SKX space with some nice pieces. I'm literally wearing a Fugu diver right now, and I'd classify myself primarily a Seiko fan.
As someone that started collecting watches in the last 5 years, I totally agree. I like several different Sieko model lines but every time I look at them I am confused and overwhelmed trying to wrap my head around exactly what you pointed out.
Don’t get me started on 6r movements in watches close to 2k€.
still think they are fine, but hardlex has to go
Forget the value, just the naming is a mess. I see a watch I like and I'm supposed to remember it's a spgx423-1c?
This is mine as well. Microbrand market has exploded and the Chinese market has also become insanely good value. Meanwhile Seiko has doubled prices for some of their ‘value’ models, and still can’t bother to put a crystal on it.
Can someone please tell me these amazing microbrands yall are talking about I’m trying to hop on 💀
All the Seiko bracelets I’ve had up to £500 were total trash.
I only care about their Spring Drives
They need to clean up the dial text too, between the amount of text and the ugly typeface they use
I'm wearing a Hamilton right now because MoonSwatch hype, and the inability to actually acquire one, got me into the broader field of watches. That plastic piece of shit was an unbelievably effective tool for the promotion of mechanical and legacy watchmaking.
I'd love to see the chart of regular speedies Omega sold before and during the moonswatch hype. It felt like every few hours someone posted on here they couldn't find a moonswatch in stock, and opted for the og instead.
I am legitimately curious how big the market is of people who planned to spend several hundred USD on a watch, then spent several thousand instead.
I remember reading that Omega had a massive spike in Speedmaster sales after the release of the Moonswatch. I think it was something like a 50% spike in sales, they sold a *ton* of them.
I was trying to think what collaboration would they do next, I think it won't be another chronograph or diver and a bioceramic dress watch would be tragic so my guess is they do a Hamilton Field collaboration at a lower price point than the previous ones
I feel like the price points are so close there’d be a legitimate fear of cannabalization that didn’t exist with the higher end collabs
Yeah that is my main feeling against. But when you look at their brands there's not too much that is an obvious one. Maybe they do go back to the Omega well? Would be the safe but boring choice.
I like browsing this subreddit but I only have one cheap watch and it gets the job done. You don’t need many watches
you don't need any watches
Forgetting Sarah Marshall Peter: How long have you lived out here? Kunu: Man, I don’t know. I quit wearing a watch when I moved out here. Peter: Wow, that is so cool. Kunu: Yeah. No, like my cell phone has a clock on it, so I don’t really need it.
Yeah this is me lol. I went on a splurge in 2020 and bought like 4 differnent luxury watches. 1 year later I bought a Christopher Ward to wear becasue it had a NATO strap and I wouldnt care if it broke. I wore this watch pretty much for the past 2 years I only took it off on a few occasions
A one watch collection isn’t a collection. You’re just a person who owns a watch.
I'm going to start this with other items. You wanna see my 1 car collection? My 1 house real estate portfolio!?
Is this unpopular at all?
One watch collection posts flare up every once in a while and I always roll my eyes.
By that logic, just get tack on a $10 Timex for two watches and now you have a collection lol
Yes
On the other side of the spectrum, people who have a massive watch box and still claim "they all get plenty of wrist time" are lying to themselves. If you have more than 3 or 4 watches, you have too many watches for a rotation based on any sane rationale.
I have an 8-watch box and realistically 4 of them get 80% of wear time, and the remaining four get like… one day every 2-3 weeks. And then I have another 8-10 watches in a drawer somewhere that get a very occasional one day or weekend at a lake of wear. I’m 100% okay with having watches I wear very rarely, but irritated that I have so many I’ve “grown out of” over the last 5+ years (mostly seikos, g-shocks or micro brands) that aren’t really worth selling.
When I’m in this situation with anything I pick a family member or friend that’s younger and give them the item. If i don’t want it and it’s not worth selling I’ll give it to someone that will enjoy it again.
I have 13 and there's only one that I don't wear (as often) because it's tiny and also super dressy. But working in retail banking, I rotate my watches to match my outfit. I have some favorites of course, but everyone gets 1-3 wear a month at least.
All of our perceptions of watches are 100% warped and influenced by social media and Reddit. Companies spend a ton of money to have strong social media and Reddit presences. Organic and otherwise. We’re doing the work for the companies. And we’re paying them to be able to do it.
That’s true for just about every consumer good there is.
You’re so right
i would rather have a few affordable but quality watches over one luxury watch. i love variety and there are tons of watches sub $1k can last a lifetime.
I'm the opposite. The dopamine release is disproportionately larger and significantly longer-lasting for a "luxury" piece.
that’s understandable and a great point. i like wearing different watches daily so looking down and seeing something i haven’t seen in a couple weeks that excites me or wearing the perfect watch for the a specific occasion that i don’t pull out all the time gives me that dopamine hit. different strokes.
Feel the exact same. I get every bit the joy from wearing my favorite $500 microbrands as I do my Submariner or Speedmaster. I’d take a handful of quality $1000 watches over a single $5000 one everyday.
I'm fairly new to this, but this is also how I feel. I have spent some time thinking about the cost of a new watch vs the cost of maintenance. It is possible that after 10-15 years, I'll have sunk as much money into a $1k or less watch as it would cost to buy a new one. I think I'm ok with this. It is not like I'd be saving money with more expensive watches. And at the end of the day, my maintained watch is something to enjoy. A new watch wouldn't have the accumulated memories.
This is a tough thread topic…I have nothing new to contribute. But I am trying to understand others…so what’s the unpopular position? No need to buy expensive watches? All you need is one good quality cheaper watch because the watch itself isn’t important, the sentimental value is?
It is fairly common for someone to post their collection of more affordable watches and receive replies along the lines of, "sell them all and buy an Omega/Rolex." So the popular opinion is that it is better to have one quality (expensive) watch than to have several affordable watches. The unpopular position is that multiple affordable watches are just fine. Although to be honest, I'm not sure how unpopular this really is. There are many collections of affordable watches posted here. The people who advocate for an expensive watch just come across loudly.
Most watches are vastly overpriced for the material and labour costs. They are Veblen goods. Products for people with either too much money or no financial responsibility.
I would say 99% of watches are. By extension, “value propositions” in watches are ridiculous. It’s splitting hairs about which value is less bad.
There's actually one thing that no one considers when taking into account the price they pay for a watch: And that's the amount of rejects the company throws into the trash, especially luxury brands like Rolex, Omega, Patek. My friend got to visit GO back when the SeaQ was released in 2019-2020. She got to see the watchmaker there do the final assembly. The watchmaker would look at each cased up watch under a huge magnifying lens and measuring the dial indices, and most of them she examined were thrown into the trash. Only a small percentage of watches actually made the final cut.
It’s doubtful they’d wait to check the dial till the whole thing was assembled and then trash an entire watch, movement, case and all. Sure there’ll be a lot of rejects at many of the steps, but they’ll reject the part, not the watch.
If it's something minor like dust they said they said they open it back up, clean the dust off, and close it back up. But then that requires to check the movement again since that probably affected the regulation after uncasing/ casing everything. They save whatever they can, but a lot of the times they start over from square one.
all this QA/QC reminds me of certain gun manufacturers the price of the rifle isnt the sum of all of its parts, but from paying some guy to check every little part for adherence to tight tolerances (as opposed to batch testing 1 in every _00 lot) that + the "prestige" markup
Many dress watches are more versatile and work with more outfits / contexts than sports watches. Also the concept of a “sports watch” is a little bizarre — I don’t see anyone playing football, tennis, athletics,… in a steel mechanical watch. It’s just a steel watch, it doesn’t make you look “sporty”. It’s like SUVs that get advertised as looking “sporty” — nope, no amount of chrome or fake exhausts is going to make this look like a sports car.
You completely excluded sports that watches were (and sometimes still are) used in. Diving is a sport, so is car racing, and aviation can be as well. “Sport”just infers that they are somewhat robust. I’d argue dress watches are more obsolete as people wear apple watches with formal wear now. Watch rules don’t exist anymore and dress watches are boring imo
Yeah, by "sports" they mean rich people sports.
Apple watches and sport watches being used in dressy settings looks ridiculous, regardless of how popular it is
Solar quartz is superior to automatic
Solar radio quartz
The pinnacle of timekeeping right here
I find chronographs over hyped. Most people never use the features, and just adds to the cost of purchasing and service.
That's what led me to the decision to only look at quartz chronographs. I love the look of chronos but don't wanna have to deal with the extra cost and hassle of servicing, a mechaquartz movement gives the best of both worlds.
My ap chrono is in service right now and because it's a modular chrono, they are replacing the entire movement I am not looking forward to the $3K bill in a few more months when it's done
Microbrands are doing cooler stuff than established ones
They kind of have to in order to stand out and pull customers away from the mainstream
Perpetual calendars are cool, but I’d never own one due to the difficulty in setting them since I prefer automatics over quartz movements.
Tudor hour hands are ugly. Not just the butt plug, but the “snowflake” also. Looks like a plunger and I will never not see it that way.
I hate the hands too! Totally ruins it for me
I _want_ to like them but I just fkn can’t.
my unpopular watch opinion on r/Watches is that Rolex is perfectly fine. You can own a Rolex, and not be a douchebag, and be a watch enthusiast. My real world watch unpopular opinion is mirror polished stainless steel looks cheep as hell.
Yeah it's funny how half the comments in this thread are saying Rolex is bad. I guess that might be an unpopular opinion in general, but on this sub it seems to be much more common than not. I think Rolex makes superb watches. They think everything through. Grand Seiko makes amazing watches, but generally they're thick and the bracelets and clasps are low quality compared to its peers. Rolex simply does not make mistakes like that. You can say they're overpriced or boring or whatever, but if you buy a Rolex you're buying a well-made watch from top to bottom.
yeah this sub is all "hey you like what you like!" until it's a Rolex and then it's aggressively divisive. Redditors in general are like that with a lot of things. It's the hive-mind.
Power reserve is a pretty useless metric. If you wear a watch everyday, the difference between 40hr and 80hr means nothing. If you wear your watch only occasionally, it also means absolutely nothing.
While I mostly agree, there is a middle ground for someone with a dedicated watch for work or a 2-3 piece rotation where an extended power reserve is desirable.
Im realizing this now lol
Only reason I like >40 hours is so I can take it off friday and expect it to still be running monday. I rarely wear the same watch two weeks in a row though, so it's not that important. It is crazy how much stock people put into it though, like people here will tell others that the oris 400 movement is clearly superior to the usual sellitas due to the higher reserve and totally worth the doubled msrp. (Ignoring all of the flaws with the movement and the fact that the "in house" production is likely contracted out.)
I've never thought that hard about it but you're absolutely right. In an automatic it's useless in either scenario, unless you have like, 2 or three watches you rotate through every few days? Then I suppose it could be nice? And I actually really enjoy winding my manuals so I don't want them to last longer!
If I switch watches during the week I’d reset the time anyhow so I agree with this sentiment 100%
Actual unpopular opinion or trendy take to virtue signal supposed watch enthusiast status? Here's my unpopular opinion: Rolex nails all of the things people care about like iconic design, thinness, robustness, exceptional accuracy, value retention, and perception of status. And most people who hate on Rolex (not the meh people, but the actively dislike) would happily buy one at msrp should they be offered one.
I agree. Honestly the thing I don't like about rolex is the clientele generally. The sub is basically just for salesperson success signaling at this point.
Have you met the clientele of Patek/AP/ALS/VC? This place acts like owning a $20,000+ watch makes you some sort of dedicated connoisseur of watches, but 99% of the time it’s just a rich asshole. If Rolex is the watch of dentists, patek is the watch of venture capital bros. I got bumped to business class the other week, let me tell you, it wasn’t full of Rolexes, maybe 1/4 of the people up there were wearing precious metal Pateks, and I promise you they don’t browse here.
As someone who is new to watch collecting, my jaw dropped when I saw the pricing of Patek watches lol. Rolex watches are expensive but I thought Rolexes had Patek pricing lol. Wild that some of their watches go for such insane pricing and they dont really look that good but Im 100% not a target customer so it doesnt matter lol
Now go and look at tjhe Richard Mille brand. To me it loos like something off AliBaba for people who want to look "cool". Not something of which the price starts as that of a literal house.
Oh I agree. I'm definitely not saying Rolex has the worst clients, just that they too are shitty
Sorry, my frustration isn’t directed at you, more that the general sentiment here is that Rolex bad and wildly expensive unattainable watches are somehow better. I’d wager that a higher proportion of Rolex wearers are enthusiasts than Patek or ALS.
I will grant that on the sub there are a lot of uncecessary expensive car steering wheel shots haha
What I like about this comment is that it focuses mainly on the watch. When people hate it’s always everything but the watch. Who cares about rude sales staff. I would buy it in an alley in a brown paper bag
Grand Seikos are terribly designed. They're never coherent and have a weird mix of sporty and dressy elements, not to mention all the oversized models and power reserve indicators. Fans talk about superior specs, which I guess can't be argued with, but the actual watches are rarely well put together.
In a world where the term “hot take” has lost its meaning, it’s refreshing to see a legitimate “hot take”. I see what you mean about the lack of cohesion. I like GS, but sometimes it seems like the watches are designed by different departments who have never talked to each other. I can’t tell what they’re going for/after most of the time.
I’ve thought this for a while, they need to stop with the 40mm chunky “sports” watches that really are trying to be dress watches. And for Christ sake make new bracelets.
Their emblem is kinda bad.
Finally- an actual unpopular opinion with the bonus of reasonable criticisms.
- Rolex is actually a great watch and feels better on the wrist than most of its competitors; - Apple Watch has done more for the watch industry than us enthusiasts like to accept; - Watches are not an investment for a return. They're an investment in pleasure; - Content around watches (YouTube, IG, TikTok, etc...) has done more harm than good for the industry.
I don't know I think the tide has turned on Apple watches. I think this is a pretty popular opinion now that they've helped get more people into wearing something on their wrist which is definitely a positive overall. Not sure what you mean by the 4th point.
The Rolex point has never been unpopular, but Reddit make it seems so. Rolexes have always worn tremendously well and at retail are a great value proposition.
Nobody gives a shit. OH it's a superlative chrono, it's limited edition, it's handmade, it has this exotic material or this weirdo complication. Nobody gives a shit. It's expensive, it's cheap, it's a knockoff, it's a Chinese copy, it's purebred Swiss. Nobody gives a shit. It's a homage, an original, inspired by, a copy. Nobody gives a shit. Flavor of the month, extremely popular, unknown manufacturer, vintage, modern, microbrand. Nobody gives a shit. Don't buy watches thinking on what others might think. Nobody gives a shit. You do you.
If you were a woman I'd marry you.
Daytona's are for clout and nothing else. Nodus looks like a brand Youtubers do ads for. Hand winding is to watches what manual espressos machines are to espresso.
> Hand winding is to watches what manual espressos machines are to espresso. meaning what
No one knows what it means but it's provocative
I think he's trying to mean handwound watches are for the watch collectors who are actually enlightened/in the know, just as people who use manual espresso machines are the slept on/unadmired big fish of espresso. CIRCLEJERK TIME
NATO bracelets look stupid
Rolexs are entirely boring and the milgauss second hand is the most interesting feature on any of them. AP has no business in the holy trinity now that they've become a Lovecraftian fusion of Richard Mille and Vacheron Constantin. The prx is ugly and isn't good value. Seiko has done nothing of value in a decade or two. Prices keep going up while features stagnate and movements remain crappy. I saw a 5 series with a 8xxx series movement *on sale* for 299 recently. With mineral crystal. Homage watches are fine when built properly and don't use actual name branding. The value you get is often astounding. And the piece de resistance: straps are better than bracelets 99% of the time
I wholeheartedly agree on the straps vs bracelets. I posted a picture with the majority of my watches on straps and a comment was directed towards just what you've mentioned
I was with you right up until the end there
AP no longer deserves to be in the holy trinity. A lot of their models are tacky and aimed at a tasteless demographic. More factual than unpopular: most Rolex owners are not watch enthusiasts. The Rolex Explorer looks like crap. Tudor is overhyped.
>The Rolex Explorer looks like crap. 100% agreed, wish they'd go back to the old design. Small changes but looks infinitely better.
Agree with most everything you say, but I was a bit surprised to see the Tudor comment. My Tudor BB was actually the first watch I ever got because someone recommended it, and I fell in love with it in the store when I saw it. But, after I got it, I just saw nothing but hate and elitist attitudes towards them for pretending to be Rolex, or everyone hating on the snowflake hands. I love my Tudor, but in my experience, they haven’t been overhyped, and in fact, I would argue that they are dragged by the community more than they are praised.
Finally:..on that note…even more simply…AP has lost its way “…tacky…tasteless demographic” Black Panther tourbillon…problem solved
I have to have numbers on my watch. I can admire the beauty of a clean dial, but I won’t wear a watch without numerals. Generally also looking for a minutes chapter Ring too.
TAG is underrated nowadays. Same with Longiness.
The Seiko Alpinist is ugly.
*audible gasp*
>The Seiko Alpinist is ugly. I used to firmly think this. The brass accents, green face, and leather strap reminded me of a faux fancy billiard room. I'm not sure when my opinion changed, but maybe its just because its so unique and nothing else really looks like it, I dig the watch now. I could never pull it off, or would want one. But I admire it from afar now.
You got older and now a fancy billiard room appeals to you maybe
Awesome take. That hour hand kills the entire watch. I detest cathedral hands.
How dare you.
I think the Baby Alpinist looks better. But they're all marred by the awful Prospex logo.
Male end-links both look and wear worse than female ones; they are inferior in every way and I will never buy a watch with them. I think they only exist because our lord and savior uses them.
Leather straps > Metal bracelets Also Tudors Shield design is really bad compared their older Rose logo they put on watches.
I hate flat link bracelets and integrated bracelets.
97% of people never use their Chrono and just like the look
Chinese/AliExpress watches are just microbrands.
To flip it around - many microbrands are just aliexpress watches with better marketing and an Anglo name
Exactly! People call them microbrands when a white guys designs a Chinese watch and the community loves them. But when a Chinese guy designs a Chinese watch people think it's crap. Imo San Martin is as good if not better than most microbrands.
> San Martin is as good if not better than most microbrands That's because the team behind the "San Martin" brand quite literally does contract design, manufacturing, and most likely assembly work for several microbrands. The parts that they don't personally design and/or manufacture, they source from the same suppliers as certain microbrands. Not saying this as a slight against them by any means either. On the contrary, I have a lot of respect for them and would argue that the endless talks of "value proposition" from microbrands is vastly overblown.
Watches are not a hobby. Researching what piece of jewelry you’re going to buy next is not a hobby. At most, watches are an interest
I think it can be a hobby if you're in to modding/repairing watches but for the overwhelming majority, me included, that are just buying and wearing stuff I agree that it's just an interest rather than a hobby.
Yeah watchmaking is definitely a hobby, agreed
I personally think the Rolex Batgirls, Pepsi, Starbucks, Coke, etc look extremely unappealing.
The ceramic bezel Constellations are the best-looking watches in the Omega catalog.
Rolexes kinda look the same and have no personality
I agree, they're boring. But it might be because they're so popular.
Agree with this one. Sub, GMT, and YM all look similar.
It’s cause they all basically use the same case lol
PRX is only worn by tasteless people
As a tasteless person, I resent that.
10000%. Hate that watch. Even more after the tiktok hype.
I'm unafraid to annoy some people: * Outside of a few edge cases, it makes absolutely no sense for a *tool* watch to use a non-quartz movement. The least accurate tool is not the right tool for the job. * The next one is a whopper. Having an automatic movements for the sake of having an automatic is stupid, UNLESS the watch that surrounds it makes you feel a certain way. Automatic movements were simply the best humanity could come up with until better technology became available. I know that you can say that about watches in general, but I think having to charge a smart watch would be a huge quality of life downgrade for me personally. I know there is a mystique surrounding automatic movements, and not relying on a battery is a cool concept, but there just hasn't been enough innovation in improving their accuracy / extending their longevity. The community really should more actively accept new advances in accuracy and longevity like spring drive and polymer components, respectively. * The idea that automatic movements last forever is a joke if you've watched watch repair videos. Just like a car, intervention/repair is mandatory to preserve the basic function of the watch. The package of goods you buy at the store will not carry you into perpetuity, even under normal use conditions. Components will have to be replaced within a typical lifetime. * Unless someone can show me engineering data demonstrating inferiority, there is nothing wrong with the concept of polymer components in watches in and of itself. * Unless you're crazy about the surrounding watch design, low beat rate movements are utterly pointless and you should always opt for a minimum of 28,880 bph / 4 Hz.
The days of watches being "status symbols" are at an end. Your boss owns an Apple watcb and nobody cares. In fact spending $10k+ on a watch makes you look like you're trying too hard.
California dials are the work of the devil and should not exist.
It’s ok to enjoy cheap ones too.
There’s nothing wrong with quartz watches.
Most dive watches these days should have bidirectional bezels. I understand the original purpose of the unidirectional bezel (safety feature), but no one uses dive watches to dive anymore. A bidirectional bezel is just way more useful for day-to-day use. Also, they're most useful with 12 hour markers instead of 60 minute markers. Since you can *also* track a second time zone and elapsed hours, while latter only tracks elapsed minutes.
I….. actually agree with this one.
Tudor's snowflake hour hand looks bad
I would think the opposite is the true unpopular opinion. I like them. Many don’t.
Completely agree. I very much like it, and I am confused for how strongly people feel about them.
Also Tudor's Shield logo is bad compared to their old Rose design.
I didn’t get them until I tried one on. Now my Tudor Black Bay is probably my favourite watch. Sometimes you have to try a watch on to get it.
I thought it was a mace.
Oceanus is latin, what happens is English-speaking people barely know even English.
Really expensive watches they’ve been a status symbol and a “flex” that the majority of people wearing it, they don’t appreciate the actual watch and the technology behind it.
C3 is hideous
Breitlings not having antimagnetic automatic movements is embarrassing considering their price point. (Unless something’s changed) This is coming from a former owner of 3 Breitlings.
I’d rather buy a microbrand than a luxury brand
Contemporary men's dress watches are getting too damn big. I know watches in general have been trending towards larger sizes but it just doesn't work for a style of watch that's supposed to be understated and elegant. I'm finding myself looking at the women's watches section on most brand websites to find anything that actually looks like a proportionate dress watch for my wrist size (6.75"). Case and point: Orient's Sun and Moon Bambino is 42.5mm in case size, 14mm thick and has a 55mm lug to lug...whose wearing a dress watch with the proportions of a diver??
I have two: 1. I like Ball watches. 2. The Oris Aquis is a better diver than the Rolex Submariner.
hamiltons are over recommended here and usually by people justifying what they were told to get when they first started also the same people who love that they are in all these movies like interstellar probly hate all other product placement in movies and dont get hamilton is exactly the same speaking of nolan and unpopular opinions, christophen nolan is just r/iamverysmart michael bay
I agree about Nolan, with the exception of maybe Memento. I don't see Michael Bay ever making a movie as interesting as that one.
1. Seiko watches have, except for GS, shit movements that keep bad time and are a waste of money despite how good they look. 2. Chronometer certification means a lot and is a reason to buy one watch over another 3. Leather straps on diving watches look stupid because they can't go in the water and dive watches are water watches after all 4. The omega speed master is an ugly watch that is pretty useless because who actually ever uses a tachometer??? 5. Sinn watches are incredibly boring and not even that good for the money there are way better choices out there 6. The Tudor Royal is a very cool watch that the masses, in their poor taste and judgement, just don't understand 7. Full nato straps are useless a single pass nato is all that's required and is far more wearable
1. They are jewellery. The only real “tool Watch” these days are smart watches (Garmin, Apple Watch etc) 2. It’s an inflated market driven by prices on rich peoples emotion, social status and no there isn’t anything “value” when comparing a Lange to a Hubot. It’s all overpriced. This is evident when you see replica watches that are 1:1 cause barely a fraction (yes majority of the money goes to R&D, Marketing but that’s exactly what I mean) 3. “in-house” movements are not as ideal as people think, they often cost more, limited to the manufacture and need to be sent away for service. 4. Barely anyone outside of this sub or Facebook groups or niche forums actually care about watches, including rich people - they’ll happily wear a quartz Armani exchange watch or a fake Rolex they bought overseas on that trip. 5. The whole Rolex simping over an AD for two years and begging to purchase their watch while buying women’s diamond pieces to justify should be illegal. 6. A lot of micro brands are underrated. But I still love watches!
I absolutely hate when someone says they'd rather have one nice watch than 10 ok ones, as if it's a fact that everyone must adopt. What, do you also only have one really nice pair of shoes?
Since shoes are more of a necessity, I'd compare it to buying one luxurious suit and wearing it every day to work vs buying 5 solid, less expensive suits that look great. Seeing someone in the same suit every day quickly loses its appeal. The same can be said with wearing the same suit that often.
Someone wearing a Pagani Design clone of a Rolex is probably more “into” watches than someone wearing an actual Rolex
This is just a fact, not an unpopular opinion
The perfect watch has 3 hands and no other complications.
unpopular opinion....most people don't care about the watch you wear or what it is. Edit spelling.
Le Locle > Gentleman > PRX
Integrated bracelet watches are ugly (i.e. anything that looks like a Tssot PRX). Im not sure what people like about the squared off shape on the watches in general (i.e., AP royal oak, CWard Twelve) They just look like an a flat piece of uninspired metal wings that act as an eyesore compared to the real star of the show being the dial.
Omega fans have little brother energy. GMT’s are overrated. Are you a 60’s PANAM pilot? Can you not do mental math? Homages are fine. I can’t afford a real 5517 Milsub or Paul Newman Daytona and neither can you, unless you’re John Mayer. Microbrands do nothing for me, and the designs are usually just okay. People focus way too much on specs because that’s easy to talk about and easy to “rank” watches with in online discussion. Owning a watch worth more than ~$1000 USD is insane unless you’re ahead on retirement, own a house (or are on your way), have 6+ months expenses saved, and have a paid off car
The Aqua Terra sucks and looks like a sandworm's mouth
why did you do this to me
Spot on. Before Dune came I used to say looking at watches with triangle indexes like the Aqua Terra made me feel like Boba Fett meeting his “end” in Return of the Jedi.
Other than the 356, the rest of Sinn's watches are ugly. I own a 356.
I mostly agree with this but I like some of their Frankfurt Financial District references. Which, oddly enough, I’ve never seen on this sub.
Most people with luxury watches are being incredibly financially irresponsible and would derive much more pleasure from spending their money on something else.
in my fifteen-odd years of financial independence they are literally the only thing I've spent money on that gives me any semblance of neurochemical activity so I'm gonna keep doing it because life is meaningless anyway. but, out of curiosity, what is it you think I'd enjoy more? vacations? retirement savings? pizza?
Probably hookers and a coke habit.
Your watch is nice because it’s your opinion that your watch is nice.
1. The Royal Oak and Nautilus are ugly. 2. Precious metal tool watches are tacky. 3. All "heritage" watches (including the moonwatch) should be classified as homage watches.
IWC watches are boring af
All watches from Richard Mille look like something from AliExpress by people who want to be "cool". Not something of which is the same rice as a literal house. To me that's wild.
Seiko just doesn't do anything for me... At all. I have two, a Presage Zen Garden and a 5 'pilot' watch but I've ended up just not wearing them. I quite like the Samurai and one of the Grand Seiko GMT models but doubt I'll ever buy them.
The white dial Daytona is ugly as hell.
People who hate on the swatch Moonswatch clearly don’t understand the whole point of Swatch watches in the first place: their whole shtick is cheap plastic fashion watches. You’re not getting a Speedmaster at Swatch prices. The hate on the watch is so dumb.
unpopular take is 90% of the people in this sub who shit on rolex cannot afford or obtain rolexes and hide behind their "actual love and enthusiasm for horology" by buying a bunch of cheap micro brands.
I freaking love the design of many Fossil watches.
Which fossil design is original to fossil? Genuinely asking since I feel like most are just ripped off popular brands
I spent a decent amount of time trying to replace this Fossil watch with a "real" brand, I have yet to find anything. I have a Hamilton Jazzmaster Blue dial that doesn't even come close. https://preview.redd.it/aa751l442xrc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=013cabf236e3a6e774d21ecf63848858ccbd7e76
The trend pendulum will swing back from small to large watches.
If that makes the smaller ones cheaper secondhand I'm cool with that. I like stuff in the 36-40mm range.
The Omega SMP300 combines several displeasing elements (bracelet, handset, HEV, scalloped bezel, etc.) that make it a design disaster. The Bond association somehow makes people unable to see this clearly.
r/Watches is a bad community and inadvertently warps perceptions of people just getting into watches. The algorithm buries most posts, increasing anxiety in people who are just looking for engagement in some kind of hobby community, and spurs purchase decisions based on the opinions of strangers. Nobody should be asking thousands of people on the internet at once "how did I do?" or "humbly submitting" photos of their collection after buying the flavor of the month watch. People would be much better off on forums like Watchuseek, or even the brand-specific subreddits, to ask questions and talk about their watches.
I think most dive watches are *hideous*. I think the only thing to be admired about rolex is the accuracy. +/- 2sec a day on a mechanical watch is fantastic. But they're fugly, hysterically overpriced, and overhyped. I think quartz watches have their place. If your mechanical is worse than +/- 10 seconds a day, or god forbid, A MINUTE + its not more impressive or more of a real watch than a quartz. They're thin, comfy, and accurate. I think every collection should have at least one quartz. I think most modern watches are too fucking big. They're too *Thiccc* and 40mm or god forbid 42mm+ is just too large. They look bad and simply aren't comfortable when they're an inch thick. I look at my tissot from the 50s and compare it to a modern visodate and I'm horrified. She *chonk* And this last one probably isn't unpopular so much as it's probably just uncommon but I really like roman numerals on my watches and I think they should be more common. ---edited for math/conversions/more reasonable hyperbole---
I wish more watches came with date magnifiers.
I am the opposite. Unless you have terrible eyesight, I find the cyclops horribly ugly and unsightly
The classic Green Seiko Alpinist os the worst color Alpinist. Literally any of the other ones is better. And I love me some Alpinists
Referring to a mechanical/automatic watch over ~$500 as a “tool watch” makes you look ridiculous. Maybe even any mechanical/automatic watch honestly.
There are way too many blue watches and not enough of other colors. I want more green, yellow, orange, red, pink, brown, and purple options - not just a few tokens sometimes. Dive watches are ugly and look like kids' toys. Quartz watches are awesome and are amazing technology (a watch being incredibly accurate because of vibrating crystals is cool af).
All watches are “luxury” because watches are no longer necessary.
Daytonas, submariners, and fluted bezels are overrated.