Why buy a leather jacket? It does exactly the same job as a PVC one. And who wants a Saville Row suit when Asda will sell you one for twenty quid?
I think we've established that pretty much any watch is fine for work, but when you get into the realms of four-figure prices and above all you're paying for is it's jewellery value.
To that end, here's my brief impressions of watches I've personally owned, or have been owned by mates:
TAG Heuer quartz, approx. 1988:
Looked nice, not bad build quality, but went wrong 3 times in 4 years. Average repair cost was £90 each time. never again!
I chopped it in for:
Seiko Pilot Chronograph:
Good and solid, reliable in the extreme and accurate. Down sides? Extremely cluttered dial made it hard to read in poor light, and what use is a whiz wheel flight computer that's only 1.5" across?? I'd need glasses if I were still using it now. Looked better on a NATO strap too.
Breitling Crosswind, stainless steel ("Bentley" movement):
Very nice, accurate and well made, BUT extremely prone to scratches, dings etc. due to the overly fussy design of the case and the highly polished finish. You'd think at least twice about wearing it in anything other than ideal conditions. You'd never wear it anywhere near a beach, for example.
A bit big and "Bling" for my tastes too, but I can see why people like them.
Rolex Submariner:
Top quality, accurate and iconic. Bad points? Everyone assumes it's a fake, so it'll make you look like Del Boy. Hardwearing, but hollow links and a pressed steel bracelet clasp on a £3,000+ watch??? Do me a favour. Stainless is the only colour to have. The gold/steel ones are a real "Fruit salad" of a watch. have either or, not both.
They were good value once, but they're trading on their name now.
Ideal watch for me:
Omega Speedmaster Professional (Moonwatch)
A real historic icon of the 20th century. Durable as hell and extremely accurate for a mechanical watch. I'd have the one with the sapphire crystal.
The real Moon watches had a plastic crystal to avoid glass shards floating around in zero G in the event of a breakage, but I can live without that in exchange for a scratch-free lens. The coolest of the cool, NASA certified (The only watch of 5 different makes to survive NASA testing), but will only be recognised by watch afficionadoes. No "Rolex" effect (ie: "Is that a real one mate?")
My choice:
Omega Seamaster Quartz. "Bond" model from 1999 and current black-faced model.
Solid as a rock, extreme accuracy and almost impossible to damage in normal use. As I said earlier, my blue one has had 10 years of daily use and is still pristine. When it gets tiny bracelet scratches you can polish them out with a scotchbrite pad in seconds. The sapphire crystal lens is still absolutely perfect.
I'd have another like a shot. In fact, I've just bought another one, in black. Reason being that Omega will be replacing it soon with the Planet Ocean. Not as nice looking in my opinion, and the fact that the crystal is "coated" on both sides means that it marks easily. They're also dearer than the "Bond" version by a large margin.
The quality of engineering on these is amazing. Each link in the bracelet is made of 9 pieces of steel, and each link pin rides on 2 bearings. The clasp is machinbed from solid and is incredibly secure, requiring 2 buttons to be pressed simultaneously to release it.
Better than a Rolex and 1/3rd the price. Bargain! get one while you can.
