What time is it? Watches and horology

Nah the Marui is way better 😉

Think it was @Jingle_Jangle??

Proportionally, the "reduced" Speedmasters are a little off for me… panda dial is always nice though

Yeah agree, the left and the right sub dials are pushed out quite far if that's what you mean? I think they did a great job on it though. Funny when you look at a white dial Speedmaster next to one, it makes the dials on the original almost look too close. I'm sure it's partly to do with the white space vs black, maybe the ideal spacing is somewhere in between, ha. Bracelet is not the best looking but could easily be swapped out and I kind of like that it's a little different.

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Makes perfect sense, cheers!

Yeah they were great - thank you. The watch itself wasn't anything fancy - was my dad's old handwound Sicura (became Breitling) - but it had not been given much love over its life so it really benefited from the service. Being able to see it move through the process via the pictures was a lovely thing.

They use completely different movements so the subdial positions, pusher angles etc bear no relation to each other.

I much prefer the Mitsukoshi of those two, it just looks more like a Speedmaster to me. One of my favourite moonwatch variants.

Question. My daughter plans to buy her boyfriend an Apple Watch for his 18th birthday. I'm thinking it will be obsolete in a few years and a 'proper' watch would be a more worthwhile purchase.
Before I broach the subject with her, could anyone give me an idea of what would be a good purchase for around £300 (presuming that is the cost of an Apple Watch).
Thanks - in anticipation

An Apple Watch is a different thing to a watch, though. Yes it tells the time and you wear it on your wrist, but it's another little computer that needs charging and talks to your phone all the time. You also really need to wear it every day to get the benefits, which usually means not wearing another watch (I've tried double wristing and it's weird).

It's a fitness and sleep tracker primarily, IMO. You can also have it repeat the thousands of notifications you receive on your phone but that can all be turned off. The health stuff is the real point of it. If that's what the gift is, then a watch-watch won't be any good. If the gift is a personal accessory that is a nice thing to wear, that will last for many years and reminds you of the gifter, then a mechanical or quartz watch would be better IMO, but it really depends on how the giftee feels about watches. Mechanical watches can be annoying, they're less accurate than quartz (which is in turn less accurate than an Apple Watch) and need winding or wearing otherwise they stop running.

At £300 you might not get something that will definitely last a lifetime but a Seiko or something like that has a good chance of doing so. The Seiko 5 Sports range are in that £300 ballpark and come in a range of styles (diver, field watch, general sports watch). The SRPE55 is as close to a general purpose GADA (go anywhere, do anything) watch as they make.

Wasn't me but I have a salmon mr01 I haven't used and want to sell...

How nice of your daughter. The Seiko Alpinist is still heavily discounted at WoS in brown to £310. Nice looking watch, half sporty, but looks sharp too. V good value.

I have an apple watch and agree with Regal, it is good for fitness motivation/tracking, and many other clever things that a young man might play with. You don't really need the top of the range. The fitness functions may not be very accurate, but you can compare your performance from day to day. I wear mine for a couple of months on and off. If he is slim the c44m ones are pretty chunky. Charging it every day is a bit of a pain, but a young bloke will just put it on a multi charger with his other stuff. I am pleased I have one. Loads of cheap straps to keep it fresh, and so many display changes.

Thanks for response. Maybe I should have mentioned I have an Apple Watch so I know the pros and cons. The cons, for me, involve fragility- I have broken 4 of them through negligence.
I will speak to my daughter about it and get her views - it will be up to her at the end of the day.

Thanks for response. Maybe I should have mentioned I have an Apple Watch so I know the pros and cons. The cons, for me, involve fragility- I have broken 4 of them through negligence.
I will speak to my daughter about it and get her views - it will be up to her at the end of the day.
I will have a look at WoS.

A quartz Tissot PRX is in the £300 ballpark as well.

My 2p: use the time you're about to spend on this endeavour doing something for yourself. You're not going to be thanked, even in the unlikely scenario you get your way.

She's come up with a gift idea. An 18yo would much rather have an iwatch. Leave them to it.

my wife bought me a Fitbit inspire 3 for Christmas and I've worn it every day since. I'm not entirely sure what improvement an apple watch would offer (unless it's a style thing). They're also much thinner, so you could get one of them, then use the difference on a 'proper' watch? Or you could buy the boyfriend the Fitbit and your daughter could spend the £300 on something more permanent?

Probably don't get involved though would be my advice! Kids don't understand longevity. For my 18th my parents and grandparents clubbed together to buy me a watch for £300. There was a plain vintage rolex in a 2nd hand shop I could have got but instead I bought a Dior Christal new but heavily discounted (for a reason). It's now worth nothing and never gets worn. But at the time the decision was easy and made me happy. If anyone had got involved and bought me the other one I wouldn’t have been their biggest fan back then

It will be discussed before any purchase. I got a Zenith for my 21st which got stolen when being sent for service in the mail - something which greatly annoys me albeit, if I still had it, I doubt I'd wear it much. I am a hoarder 😃

your daughter could spend the £300 on something more permanent

Good thinking.

A decent quality tattoo should last a lifetime. Plus on a £/d ratio represents exceptional value if done at this age.

A tattoo was not something I had considered.

For her, not you. That would be weird.

Albeit an excellent practical joke.

If the apple watch his idea? Are teenagers spending £300 on each other these days? That's a chunk of money especially for a kid.

It's my daughter's idea. Re the amount - it seems so! Both have part time jobs so have access to funds.

Thanks. I knew I had seen a watch recommended on here in the past at around my price range. That's it.

Costs have risen from my teenage days. Risen to a shocking amount in some cases. This news story is accurate - very accurate. I know as I am paying for it!

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