SiWhite

If you want something that is stylish and not too in your face, but very good quality then have a look at the following makes which all have watches in your price range:

Corum
Eterna
Porsche
Blue

A good friend of mine is a jeweller and to give me ideas of how good a watch was when I bought one a couple of years ago he compared the makes I was looking at to cars.

He said that TAG's were the watch equivalent of an RS Turbo, look flash on the outside, but underneath they are still a Ford

Rolex is the RR of watches.

By the way he really rates the makes I have listed above.

Cheers

Si

Matt Churchill

At that price, got to be a Tag I reckon. That's what I went for!

POC

Must admit I am not overly keen on tag.

I am leaning toward Omega or possibly a Breitling, I am keen on the history these brands have behind them and the general quality is amazing..... looking forward to hitting town now!

polarbearit

Careful with the omega's
(most) Omega Seamaster = nasty & tacky
Omega Speedmaster =

Personally I've got 4 watches, but not any expensive ones (ie dearest one was ~ £200)

Nice watches maybe good, but I've recently bought a Swatch James Bond collection 'Goldfinger' and like it more than most of the £1k types...

Fuzz

what are your opinions on the make Tissot ?
I picked this one up second hand for 100 squid !

SiDHEaD

do you get a courtesy watch when these expensive jobbies are in for services??

106rallye

Father_Jack Costco are not an authorised dealer of some maybe all of the brands you listed, this is not always a bad thing as there are many reputable grey market dealers, but you will not get the 1 or 2(some omegas definitely) years manufactures warranty. The ones in Costco are probably ok but some of the other grey dealer will remove serial numbers to hide their source. If you have one of these then Omega definitely and probably all the others will refuse to service the watch ever!

BTW some official jewellers may be able to get close to that price 10 - 15% reduction sometimes even 20% can be found.


POC have a look at ORIS as a slightly different make

Good luck making a choice!

Andy


[Edited by 106rallye - 8/27/2002 9:06:23 PM]

father_jack

106 - You seem to know your onions, I will quiz Costco on their policy, but they don't do dodgy gear surely the watches will just be yank imports, and I cant see how they can refuse to service a pukka serial numbered watch.

Anyway, I've now spotted the likes of a Speedmaster Pro for $1000 -so about £650
The Bell and Ross and IWC stuff is quite appealing too.

http://www.orolus.com/

http://www.2000watches.com/

Anyone used these people?
There's obviously a huge markup on these things and I'd hate to spend £600 more on the same watch.
Rip off Britian again perhaps.

Andy Mid.

I posted a similar "watch question" on Scoobynet a few months ago and got tons of useful replies. I then spent about two or three weeks reading up - there is so much to learn !

I found that http://www.timezone.com was the scoobynet equivalent of the watch world and the forum is pretty useful.

I concentrated on "pilots watches" i.e. gauge like looks with a black face and very clear, easy to read face. I considered watches from

Sinn
Bell & Ross
IWC
Revue Thommen

and eventually went for this



I chose it because it was an automatic with exactly the same ETA movement as watches double the price. It's not a flash make but I'm not bothered about that and I guess that's why I also drive a Subaru

Dave P

Got a Heuer Carrera myself (re-edition of course)silver face leather strap with holes in. Lots of people have commented on it. Think I paid £850 for it....

Also got a cheaper TAG for swimming in etc.

Dave

paulr

Andy...how much was it and where did you get it

Paul...

Tiggs

i got a seamaster pro recently after my breitling got lost (insurance paid up though! )

i'm affraid Tag have become the thing of choice for people who like Oakleys and only wear T****s if they have Nike on them, there are to many copies around and also to many tags in the "cheapish" bracket. Part of owning a watch worth £1000 is the fact that ppl know u have a £1000 watch (dont say it isnt cause a least a bit of the ownership experience is that) and if you own a Tag ppl will think you have just got back from holliday where you were grab by a watch seller on the beach!

T

carl

That Revue Thommen looks nice! Roughly how much are we looking at for one of those?

Andy Mid.

paulr & carl - YHM

What watch did you go for in the end POC ?

father_jack

Andy - I thought ETA were a terrorist movement not a watch movement you've been done m8

paulr

Andy.....thanks for the mail

bigmac

Tip from when I used to work in Belgium. I used to travel on "le shuttle" a lot and noticed there was a watch shop in the duty free bit on the French side.

Anyroad, prices where very good (esp if exchange rate favourable) + combine purchase with your eurostar points card (this works were you get points on the card when you book tickets, buy in certain shops - a bit like the supermarket loyalty cards) + combine all of this with the special offers they sometimes run (at the time they were offering double points, nice!).

Bought a Tag for the better half and got a stonkin deal (good price + lots of points on the eurostar card). In fact if I remember correctly I used my points for a couple of other trips of the tunnel.

Tie this in with some beer purchases and your laughing.

Incidently I've got a Tag and very happy with it too.

Mark.

POC

Not decided yet Andy, am off to town in about half hour mmmm shopping!

Nail on the head there mate. Looking forward to checking out some of the seriously expensive then settling for a cheap (£1k) watch!

Cheers guys, will check in when I return home

Paul

sillysi

Personaly I would steer clear of Tags, Rolex etc, when I see someone wearing one in the pub I usually think it is a fake, just buy a cheap Timex at least ppl with think it is an original

TomM

Ive got a GUCCI which was about 1k and a BOSS which was about £500, I wear the BOSS for work and general and the GUCCI for weekends and going out and stuff like that. I know they are not Rolex or Cartier but Ive loved both of them, they are both great watches and unlike the Armani/DKNY rubbish they are both Swiss made. Ive had the GUCCI for about 3 years and it still looks brand new, the BOSS needs a new strap but is still a top watch.

I looked at Breitling and all the usual ones but just like the GUCCI and the BOSS was a present, I like expensive watches, its one of the few things in life where you can feel the massive difference in quality to cheap Sekonda rubbish. People do give me stick for it sometimes but if you can afford it then why not?

Not something you have to replace in a hurry is it!, and house insurance is double handy when you want a new one

Mungo

Probably a bit late for POC now, but I've got an Omega Seamaster Porfessional. It's self-winding which is normally great but can be a pain if you don't wear it for 48 hours and it has stopped. It's only mid-size, so it's not too massive either. I've been very happy with it for the year I've had it.

yoza

Havent read all threads properly..........but to my horror,I cant see anyone mentioning the Breitling SUPEROCEAN professional,twice the watch of the much mentioned Omega SEAMASTER professional and at nearly the same price
Also no metion of the Omega SEAMASTER GMT loverly watch,auto with 4 fingers,the 4th being a 24 hr pointer.

PS wot did you end up getting?

Andy Mid.

lol @ father_jack

It's ticking so I've called the bomb squad !

travisg

I know you fancy a silvery type of watch, and a well recognised brand.
However, why not consider something a little different

Mine is.....

JUNGHANS Mega solar - Black Ceramic strap(very tough) and case, Scratch resistant quartz glass,Water resistant to 30m, Solar powered so no batteries (manual says it can sustain power for 6 months if placed in a dark drawer with no light), updates itself every night to time signal.In addition to traditional silver hour/minute movement, has small LCD display of date/seconds, transmitter recieve status. Very thin profile, if you don`t want a bulky watch.

Cost about £500 4 years ago... still going strong, and wear it all the time...

OK, so maybe it doesn`t carry much streed cred, as regards branding, as most people have not heard of Junghans, but it has attracted some questions and queries in the past (Whats that!!??)

Maybe worth looking at at least. Got mine from Goldsmiths.

Graham

south-star

I'd like a Blancpain Fifty-Fathoms.About £6000

Big Goon

TAG, I've had mine for 2 1/2 years, never, ever take it off, even when doing concrete, painting, whatever, not a single mark on the face and once a year I get it polished up and it comes up like new.

And loads of ppl ask what a pikey like me is doing with such a nice watch, maybe thats the only downside of TAG ownership is ppl like me wearing them.

boomer

travisg,

as an aside, how do you set the JMS to GMT/BST?

It takes it's signal from Germany rather than Rugby, so do you set a time-zone offset on the watch?

I must admit, they are quite nice - no winding, no batteries, no setting

mb

POC

Put a deposit on one of these yesterday, actualy found a dealer that had one in stock, I was shocked to say the least!

Blew my £1000 budget a little with the watch costing £2300!

Compared to the other trinckets I looked at, the quality of the Explorer was outstanding. very impressed.

Already begining to think maybe I shouldnt have spent that much, got a little time (!) to make a final decision thought.

Leaning towards yes though! Thanks for all the advice lads!

Paul

SlowBoy

iTrader: (1)

Find out about servicing. Just like the car, how often and how much. (Find out from an independent source, not the dealer.)

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious, just that I've heard salesmen talk so much cr@p and some customers don't bother checking out the real deal.

CraigH

Make sure you get it insured!

Servicing is every 5 years.......

You wait till you see the box they come in