Good Watches

[jdennis1989]

Let me start by saying I have looked at the other thread about a cheap watch and am not interested in a 7 dollar watch from Walmart.

I bought a watch on Amazon (Fossil) for about $150 bucks three months ago. I absolutly fell in love with the watch and wore it everyday and for me at work its easier than pulling out my cell phone. I have found it's also easier to look down at my watch while soloing so that I know to be back in time before my instructors next lesson. However, some aspects of the watch stopped working already and I just sent it back to Amazon for a full refund. I am not searching for a nice looking dress watch again. I don't think I can go to a cheap watch after wearing this nice looking watch for so long. I have to wear dress clothes to work, and the previous watch that I had fit the appearance nicely(and always getting compliments on it never hurt lol).

Does anyone have any suggestions on some nice watches in the $100-$200 dollar range that might also better fit my soon to be frequent flying lifestyle? It needs to look nice and dressy, glow in the dark hands wouldn't hurt but my last one didn't have that and I didn't care too much, proven watch brand that won't break down on me like this fossil did.

Thanks

 

[DaleB]

I've had really good luck with Citizen watches. Some are pretty pricey, some not. My wife got me the Blue Angels Eco-Drive for our anniversary last year; it's out of your target price range but I love the features. They probably have less-fancy models at half the price.

 

[NineThreeKilo]

I've had really good luck with Citizen watches. Some are pretty pricey, some not. My wife got me the Blue Angels Eco-Drive for our anniversary last year; it's out of your target price range but I love the features. They probably have less-fancy models at half the price.

+1

Get a simple chrono, their pilot watches are expensive, cluttered and have crap pro pilots don't even bother to use

This is a good one (though I prefer a fabric diving strap)

http://www.jacobtime.com/osc/produc...m_medium=cse&gclid=CLjOjJPSm7gCFc9xQgodO2YAmw

 

[jpower]

I've got a Citizen Skyhawk that I love love love. It's higher than you're looking at, but it might be worth it for a good watch that you can keep for a long time.

 

[jdennis1989]

+1

Get a simple chrono, their pilot watches are expensive, cluttered and have crap pro pilots don't even bother to use

This is a good one (though I prefer a fabric diving strap)

http://www.jacobtime.com/osc/produc...m_medium=cse&gclid=CLjOjJPSm7gCFc9xQgodO2YAmw

The previous watch I had was a leather strap. I have a lot of arm hair and have always gottin pinched by metal bands on cheaper watches.... I am assuming that wouldn't change with a more expensive one?

I appreciate everyone recommending citizen. That's the brand I have been looking at, and it seems they have some less cluttered dress watches in my office range. Thanks

 

[jpower]

The previous watch I had was a leather strap. I have a lot of arm hair and have always gottin pinched by metal bands on cheaper watches.... I am assuming that wouldn't change with a more expensive one?

I appreciate everyone recommending citizen. That's the brand I have been looking at, and it seems they have some less cluttered dress watches in my office range. Thanks

My Citizen Skyhawk doesn't pinch my arm hair at all.

 

[AggieMike88]

Count me in as part of the cheap sunglasses and a cheap watch crowd. I have had great success with the $30-40 Timex watches that I buy at Cabela's. The digital and analog versions seem to suit me the best.

As previously stated the Citizen brand watches are very nice but have too many bells and whistles are too cluttered for my taste. But your mileage may vary.

 

[Nostalgair]

I bought a 'base model' TAG Heuer back in 1990. There are no extra features or bells and whistles other than the date.

It hasn't ever missed a beat.

Cheers.

 

[X3 Skier]

I have an Omega Speedmaster that was an award in a contest that I won about thirty years ago and I love it. Never would have bought it if I had to pay for it.

If I didn't own it, I would have any of the simple model Citizen Eco Drive chronographs.

Cheers

 

[timwinters]

Count me in as part of the cheap sunglasses and a cheap watch crowd.

Count me in as part of the "who the heck still wears a watch?" crowd.

I'm never without at least one timepiece...my phone...and usually have two or three within view. (in the plane there's never less than four, and many times five).

The only time I wear a watch these days is when I need some add'l bling for an "occasion". That's typically every three years or so and I'm dragged there kicking and screaming.

 

[Seanaldinho]

Count me in as part of the "who the heck still wears a watch?" crowd.

You know its kinda wierd. My dad who wore a watch for 30+ years while in the service stopped wearing one when cell phones became popular and he doesnt miss it at all. I on the other hand am 17 and wear a watch everyday. Yeah Ive got a smartphone in my pocket but I feel naked without my watch and its fun as hell to watch my friends struggle to read my watch...

 

[denverpilot]

I'm in the $20 Casio crowd, so I'm no help.

 

[NineThreeKilo]

I wear a watch everyday, it's for work (I use my chrono ALOT), I also dont like relying on anything with batteries, I decided on a watch is powered with a Valjoux 7750 automatic movement.

Also not wearing a watch as a professional is a little odd to me, a watch is a symbol of your most valualible commodity, your time, also a sign of respect for others time.

Metal bands are a pain IMO, when I ordered off for my watch I specified no band, I've been using Maratac bands for about 5 years now and they are GREAT. They feel good and if you loose a spring bar you dont loose your watch, the bands go through both bars.

http://www.broadarrow.net/maratac.htm

 

[Skylane81E]

Count me in as part of the cheap sunglasses and a cheap watch crowd. I have had great success with the $30-40 Timex watches that I buy at Cabela's. The digital and analog versions seem to suit me the best.

As previously stated the Citizen brand watches are very nice but have too many bells and whistles are too cluttered for my taste. But your mileage may vary.

Me too, I have a Timex I bought, gee, 13 years ago, just needs the occasional battery

If I ever wear it, it is in my tool box right now

 

[DaleB]

I'm in the $20 Casio crowd

I have two watches my Dad wore. One is a Casio Data Bank that dates back to the early 90s, I guess. I never wear it, but he loved the thing.

The other is his stainless Rolex Explorer that he bought at the Rolex factory on a business trip to Switzerland in the late 1960s. It's very understated - he referred to it as the "no-BS Rolex". He wore that right up until he got the Casio.

 

[denverpilot]

Also not wearing a watch as a professional is a little odd to me, a watch is a symbol of your most valualible commodity, your time, also a sign of respect for others time.

Heh. I know what you're saying, but ... gag me with a sharp fork.

All the people in my line of work who have spiffy watches, are the folks you *know* are going to waste your time.

They don't even notice the network synchronized clock within milliseconds of the GPS network clock in the bottom right corner of their PC screen (top right if they're on a Mac), courtesy of my team.

 

[NineThreeKilo]

Heh. I know what you're saying, but ... gag me with a sharp fork.

All the people in my line of work who have spiffy watches, are the folks you *know* are going to waste your time.

They don't even notice the network synchronized clock within milliseconds of the GPS network clock in the bottom right corner of their PC screen (top right if they're on a Mac), courtesy of my team.

I hear ya.

But a fancy bling bling watch is something different, not not a good thing lol

A simple automatic chrono on a nylon stap is as fancy as I get.

Just seems odd when a professional man isnt wearing some type of watch (be it a 10 bucker or 6k Omega)

 

[Skylane81E]

I hear ya.

But a fancy bling bling watch is something different, not not a good thing lol

A simple automatic chrono on a nylon stap is as fancy as I get.

Just seems odd when a professional man isnt wearing some type of watch (be it a 10 bucker or 6k Omega)

Departed pa in law was a (slimy) used car salesman, we have a drawer full of rather convincing fake Rolexs

 

[ClimbnSink]

I always liked the swiss army brand watches. Matches the not cheap, not expensive, and works requirements.

 

[jdennis1989]

I decided on a Torgoen Swiss T28. The citizen watches that I wanted reached the $400 dollar range, so I bought this watch for a little less than $200. Bought online again, hopefully it will look beautiful when I get it on Friday!

 

[steingar]

 

[Silvaire]

My niece gave me a Casio Model 5176 last Christmas. It has Thermometer and Altitude/Barometer functions and came with a 79 page manual that is three by two and a half inches in size and has the tiniest print I have ever seen in my entire life. To this day I have not worn it and I swear I have not been able to figure out how to even set the date/time on the darn thing. I think you'd have to go to night school for a month to be completely proficient with it.

It looks pretty impressive from an arms length but up close you'll note that all of the fancy chronographic graduations are completely fake. There is an important looking scale in signal orange that runs from 12 to 3 o'clock with two tick marks but up close it just says "Water Resist 100M" so is basically an advertisement.

There is an alarm function that goes off every night at 11 pm and I have had no luck trying to figure out how to either turn it off or cancel it when it does go off and it's not because I haven't tried - I have.

But it was a gift from my darling niece so I can't sell it on ebay or toss it in the trash. I'm stuck with it.

 

[tmyers]

I have one of those and though it is not a watch that I love it filled the purpose of having UCT on the digital display and local time on the analog display. The altimeter is good plus or minus 300 or 400 feet. It is a throw away watch and I think cost about $55. Have had it for a year and a half now and it is working ok. Looses about a minute a month so I have to know how to set it to keep it close to the correct time. The book does suck but once I figured out what function the buttons perform it isn't too hard to maneuver though.

 

[tmyers]

I really like the Torogen watches I am just too cheap to buy one and trash it at work.

 

[e.pie]

My wife got me a Casio MTP-4500 for my birthday, I like it.

 

[tmyers]

Thats a great looking watch but it is missing the UCT time hand that the Torogen has. I did find one less expensive watch that had the 24 hr hand but it was tied to the local time on the analog setting and could not keep two distinct time zones.

 

[olasek]

Watches are man's jewellery and styling usually trumps all other considerations.

I never liked watches with metal bands. I like leather bands but grew tired of replacing them too frequently plus I got into salt water a lot and wanted to have a watch that would be OK with that. I ultimately settled on MTM Special-Ops but they start at $450, I like the fact they offer those super heavy duty ballistic-velcro bands, I find them very comfy. Thy obviously have all the glowing stuff you can handle including proprietary lighting system. I am not sure they would pass the "dressy" test.

 

[Ghery]

I've had really good luck with Citizen watches. Some are pretty pricey, some not. My wife got me the Blue Angels Eco-Drive for our anniversary last year; it's out of your target price range but I love the features. They probably have less-fancy models at half the price.

I've got a Citizen Skyhawk that I love love love. It's higher than you're looking at, but it might be worth it for a good watch that you can keep for a long time.

I'll add my vote for the Blue Angels version from Citizen. My wife gave me mine for Christmas in 2008. Nice surprise. I travel a fair amount, much of it internationally. The system for re-setting the watch to different time zones is VERY handy for me. Now, the E-6B on the thing has actually been used in flight - once.

Yes, it is out of the price range you mentioned, but it is nice.

 

[jdennis1989]

Only thing I'm afraid of with the watch I just purchased is it might not fit with my dress clothes since it is a leather band with rivets on the band. But it is a nice looking watch from the pictures, and Torgoen is an aviation watch brand. It's also not cluttered with stuff I don't use. Time and date is all I need at the moment.

 

[Skip Miller]

My first wife gave me a Breitling. Not one of the new crapped up designs, but not an antique either.

Second wife during her initial period of insecurity over whether I had really separated from wife #1 bought me a Hanhardt. It is a replica of a German WWII watch. Simple in design and elegant looking (IMHO).

A word to the wise regarding both (because both have the same movement inside the jewelry): After five or 8 years, they begin to lose time, and you need to send them in to be cleaned. This is a very expensive cleaning, coming in at about .6 AMUs. My Breitling is now in my sock drawer, waiting for the first grandson to pass his checkride.....

This is the price of wearing a high end watch. I love them for their looks, but ... come on, $600 will buy a lot of batteries for a much cheaper, much more accurate watch.

Hanhardt Admiral watch photo attached....

-Skip