Your Favorite watch brands

i have a RD Easy Diver.....bought it a few years ago after I saw one in Vegas and liked it very much.
However once i had I stashed it away with my collection and it did not get a lot of wrist time.

I like the finishing of the movement and that it has a geneva seal. However, somehow i just don't use it. I find it more of a fashion accessory than Horlogerie.

 

FP Journe makes some amazing pieces.
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Thats a beautiful Journe, he does make some amazing watches, my favs are AP, Vintage Rolexes and Panerai with sport watches and with dress watches a big fan of Kari Voutilainen, AP again, Patek, Vacheron Jump Hours and Mercators, R.W Smith and Vianney Halter. Dufour ofcourse is considered a legend but can't get any pieces from anymore unless you hunt them down in the secondary market.

S

 

oh, it's just an opinion of an avid watch nut.
i believe that there are the top 5 brands and then the fashionable ones.

does not mean they are lesser watches...they are simply more about design than groundbreaking watchmaking.

 

AP
Richard Mille
Romain Jerome
Swiss Army
Rolex

 

patek, ap, vacheron, j-lecoultre, iwc/g perregaux

 

Swiss Army really Dave? Please explain if you wouldn't mind.

I got one from VTC because I liked it (it has two 12-hour clocks); but for the few hundred it was, I thought the band and clasp could be stonger feeling, and the case more "machined"/smoother. Don't get me wrong, I still like it a great deal, but to be a "top 5" I don't see it......

 

Sure.

I think they are great watches. They look good, they're nice and heavy on and they are a great value. I'd take a limited edition SA watch over a low line Tag or Omega any day. I'd also take it over a comparably priced Citizen or Tissot in a snap. They are great performers and have that "Cool factor", IMO..... kinda like the Mini Cooper of watches!

 

I only have a top three.

Girard Perregaux
Rolex
Patek

 

I saw a Victorinox all-stainless automatic on some watch website...Princeton, maybe...for $750.

Nice and clean looking, trad dial, day/date. First "Swiss Army" watch I've seen that I like.

Is this the Swiss Army you all are talking about?

 

Yes.

 

Thats alot of watch for the money, great buy, if it had a crown guard and the name was switched to Panerai it would have been USD 11k minimum.

S

 

A major watch collector by the name of Bernard Cheong out in Singapore once taught me this distinction, you have the textbook industry top 5 and then you have the Independent Haute Horology Top 5:

Text Book Industry Top 5:

1) Patek
2) AP
3) Vacheron
4) Lange
5) IWC/GP/JLC/Breguet/UN

Haute Independent Horology:

1) Dufour
2) Kari Voutilainen
3) F.P Journe
4) Vianney Halter
5) R.W Smith/Paul Gerber/Romain Gauthier/Peter Speake Marin

Ofcourse all this imho and from what I've observed and learnt over the years.

S

 

My favorites:

Lange
GO
Breguet

With Omega and JLC just missing my top spots. Although the JLC GyroTourb II is my favorite overall.

-dsd

 

I saw a Dufour Simplicity in PT for sale. WOW! Really stunning stuff.

-dsd

 

I'm an avid watch nut, too.

I have several favorites:

1. Rolex Submariner
2. Locman
3. Girard-Perregaux (I actually like the earlier GP Ferrari model, and sold my "just too big" Panerai Rattrapante to buy another GP.)
4. Audemars Piguet
5. Movado (For dress watch)

I really like the look of the original Piaget Polo. Had one with 18k yellow gold and black onyx dial. After having to replace the quartz movement (which should NEVER need replacing), then having to return it to Piaget after only three months because the movement failed AGAIN, I sold the damn thing. Great looking watch, great feel, cr@ppy movement.

 

Thanks.

 

I almost always end up getting a new Seiko when I want another watch. They range anywhere from 50 bucks to 5000 bucks. I have a Rado, Gucci, Tag, Movado and Longines but I end up wearing the Seiko watches more and more. I also get the most compliments on the Seiko watches. They last forever!

 

I think the original post was to name your favorite brands. These are my favorites, but not my "preference" for personal watches. The list below represents my idea of superb watchmaking. Unfortunately, they are not affordable to mere mortals so they can't be my personal favs. In order of preference:

1. Breguet
2. VC
3. Patek
4. GP
5. UN

My FAVORITE real-world brand is Omega. I own 4 of them and I have my eye on a couple more. They're rugged, attractive, well made, affordable, offer large diverse selection, well respected, repaired everywhere and very comfortable. That's why I like them over all other brands, even though I have many other branded pieces, if I could choose only one brand it would be Omega.

Randy

 

I have an all-SS Rolex datejust, bought in 1991. It is an absolutely beautiful watch, keeps time as well as any quartz, by today's standards, it's conservative.

Day for day, I've worn it no more than 5% of time since purchase. After the initial kick of having it abated, it's been kind of a white elephant, a symbol of conspicuous consumption. I'm self-conscious about wearing it; consequently, it rests in my drawer, worn once a month or so around home, to exercise the mechanism.

This is wierd for a near 60 year old man who owns a very conspicuous and very noisy bright red Ferrari that is driven as often as schedule permits... 2 or 3 times a week at least.

I love the quality and design of the Rolex, and hate to see it sitting in a drawer. A dial face without Rolex markings, perhaps?

 

Send it my way...

-dsd