Because I think the question is worded poorly, let me give my example.
For me it’s the brand name. Not its reputation or history, but just how the name sounds. For example:
Omega - association with ancient greece, and also math and physics. 10/10 would explore space with one
Cartier - sounds french and expensive, is french and expensive; perfect for if I was rich and wanted to feel rich
Baltic - reminds me of the cold Baltic sea, perfect name for a dive watch; probably one of the reasons I love the Aquascaphe so much
Names that end with “ex” - generaly sounds like you’re lazily trying to look cool (Rolex is an exception, I don’t feel strongly about it)
So yeah I know it’s dumb but the brand name is the thing that is always plastered in big letters across the dial, I feel that the name should fit the style of the watch and also myself.
If the brand logo is stupid and/or intrusively placed, forget it. Looking squarely at you, Christopher Ward.
A lot of Christopher Ward hate in this comment section. We love to see it
Brand name. Anything overly French sounds stupid as heck to me or with people’s names.
If it’s just the last name, it’s fine for me
But Christopher Ward being called that, along with their hideous logo, makes me not even look in their direction
It is a bad—and something like their 3rd logo in 2 years… talk about a brand without any originality or idea of who they are…
Yes same here. For example Girard Perregaux can be ok. Specially when they just drop a “GP” logo instead of spelling it out. But Vacheron Constantin…man I don’t care if it’s holy trinity or whatever that sounds excessive and silly. Also Ulysse Nardin, great watches but it sounds like a fancy bistro restaurant and not a watch.
Funnily enough I don’t hate Vacheron Constantin as a name, but maybe that’s because they are so out of my price range that it’s not even worth it to consider those things
“I don’t know, Lloyd, the French are assholes”.
For me it’s how the clasp of a bracelet feels when I rest my hand on a desk. You can get used to anything in time, but there are just some clasps that annoy me to no end. Weirdly enough, my SMP 300M feels fine, but Rolex DJ always bothers me. Should be the other way around
Interesting.
But that’s something you can only get a feel for when you try the watch, right?
Correct, but I’d never recommend buying a watch over a couple hundred dollars without seeing it in person anyway
Very good point.
Would you consider swapping for a diferent bracelet or strap, if you hate the clasp but love the rest of the watch?
After collecting for 2 years, these are my non negotiables.
- How thin is it? Generally prefer under 13.5 if possible. I wear longer sleeves and cuffs so I prefer a thin watch, but also would prefer to not have a block on my wrist.
- How many HZ? As snobby as it sounds, if a watch is beating below 4hz/28,800bph - I don’t want it. Just looks too slow in comparison. I have no regard too for longer PR. I think brands like Omega and Hamilton reducing their beat rates in order to achieve tighter accuracies or longer PR is the wrong move.
- Does it have a complication? I think time only watches, no matter how beautiful are just pieces of metal. It’s not that I can’t appreciate a watch - I really can. But as someone who prefers to track time instead of looking at time, my collection is made up of exclusively chronos and divers. Your phone (no matter how old) likely far outperforms time only watches in terms of timekeeping. (With the exception of Grand Seiko Springdrives - that’s an engineering marvel.
My criterias may come off as snobby but I believe that it’s allowed for me to build a beautiful collection so far.
Ngl, they do come as a bit snobby, but I can mostly understand where you’re coming from, and at least you have your taste pinned down.
I just curious about your last point about phones. Phones are not just better at keeping time, they are also better chronometers than your chronographs. So saying you don’t like time only watches because your phone does a better job (if I understood this correctly), and like chronographs instead, doesn’t hold much water.
But it’s not like most watch collectors buy watches for their keeping abilities anyways.
Anyways, nice collection
Not really weird/dumb, but I think I’m one of the rare people that care about hour subdial on chronographs. I actually use timing features on watches, and I tend to time things that are an hour or more. So hour subdials are serious consideration when I’m looking at chronographs. For example, I would never consider the zenith chronograph with the 1/10 sec subdial because it’s missing the hour subdial.
This one is weird/dumb, but I think most of us do this. 100+ meter water resistance. I made my peace with the fact that I’m not the spontaneous type to jump into a pool on a whim, so I don’t need more than 50m water resistance on any of my watches. BUT I still have a requirement for my summer season watches to be 100+ meter water resist just in case. I think I’m still holding on to this idea of cool middle of summer spontaneous jump into the sea. Maybe one day I’ll do it and I’ll be glad I had a 100+ meter watch for that one moment.
That’s very interesting, especially because I imagine most people who buy chronographs never intent to use them for any practical application
YES. I love watches with at least 200/300m of WR. And honestly I don’t even try to rationalize it, I just think it adds to the coolness factor that a watch is able to withstand those kinds of pressures.
Brand name is not a feature. Your answer is invalid.
For me it would be the lugs. Lug-to-lug size is crucial because my wrist is thin, but lug shape also matters a lot. The fat and convex lugs from “turtle watches” are 100% no-go for me. Most thick lugs are no good, straight and pencil-thin lugs are also not optimal (Nomos Ludwig or even some Breguet)
Brand name definitely matters. I could never buy a Hamilton watch, simply because it always reminds me of Lewis Hamilton. Not that it’s specifically LH, it would bother me if it was called Schumacher or Jordan or Djokovic or any name of a sporting legend of that calibre.
I’m very new to watches and also not american, so Hamilton just reminds me of Hamilton the musical lol
Almost all of those athletes mentioned are not american (Lewis Hamilton is an F1 driver and british) Hamilton the musical definitely is though. Strange answer
Dunno I just saw Jordan, which is the only one I am mimimally aware of (I’m not into sports at all), so my mind just jumped to american sports celebrities. My mind just works like that sometimes.
Hamilton is American but I’d say it was a pretty worldwide phenomenon, if you like music and are on the internet.
Seiko – sounds like psycho. For one, 10/10 i’d slash you with a katana then feed you to a turtle like a tuna on an ashtray.
This is madness!!!
