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The blue dial Alpinist is a really cool watch, but two reasons stopped me from even trying to get hold of one: (1) the limited availability - all of them are sold out and only available second hand; (2) more importantly, the atrocious asking prices. I have the green Alpinist for a couple of years now, and while it is a fantastic watch at the 400 odd USD price mark for which I got it, it certainly does not warrant the crazy high prices that the blue dial one goes for on the secondary market.

Love my Alpinist though, and have put mine on a Strapcode oyster bracelet - absolutely killer combination. I had posted photos some months back on this thread, check it out (Post # 3341).

Lol! Yes, since I've been banned from buying any more watches by my bitter half, online window shopping is the only avenue of vicarious pleasure left open to me :)

Yes the prices are unrealistic but its absolutely beautiful. Someday for sure.

I notice the intended typo :D

What are the reputable sites to buy watch straps from? I am looking for a nato and the one which looks like the underside of a leather belt (tan / light brown) (what is it called by the way?)

My watch is a 6 year old Fossil FS4487. I love how it's silicone strap hugs my wrist without causing any stickiness or odour.

My recommendation will be Barton watch straps, based out of the US. Good quality straps at reasonable prices, with nominal shipping charges to India. I have purchased several straps from them (mostly silicone ones) and are happy with the way they have performed.

I have been using Casio Edifice for the last 6 years. Works brilliant. No issues. Even the paint is intact barring a few minor scratches!
clap:

I have been using Casio Edifice for the past 8 years and the Timex Ironman is with me since December 2005 :)

Got this as a cherished gift for my birthday.

I hope the issues with your wife's watch are fixed now. If the service center really did replace the movement in the watch, then there could only be two issues that cause the watch to slow down as significantly as you observe (15-20 mins a day):

1. The hands of the watch are touching the crystal or one of the indices. If they have contact, then hands tend to not move for certain periods of time. This is highly unlikely but technically possible.

2. Your wife's watch is getting magnetized with exposure to something in the house or at work: often unassumingly, microwaves, speakers, bedside clocks, magnetic clips in wallets and mags, can all cause watch movements to magnetize.

If I were to go out on a limb and guess, it is most likely that the watch was magnetized again. It will be a simple check at a watchmaker to de-magnetize a movement and then see if it keeps good time.

All the best!

thanks, so far so good!

Jeroen

Did you find the watch you were looking for?

You've asked an open-ended question with just the budget as a precondition, so I'd give you suggestions based on what I would do:

1. You probably already know this but remember that buying watches (especially) expensive ones are like starting a multi-year relationship. You don't want to work on it and realize it's gone sour too soon. So it is best to take your time before making the decision.

2. Look around for brands that you're able to relate to. Tissot and Longines stand for heritage, Rado stands for its innovative use of materials, and Hamilton stands for a century-old American watchmaking saga and strong ties to aviation.

2. Once you've picked a brand that you can relate to, then -most importantly- pick a style of watch that works for your lifestyle: a dress watch is most likely what you'd wear if you're an investment banker or work in a law firm. If you're not in one of those professions, a slightly dressed-down watch should be okay. I meet a lot of people that end up buying a watch -admittedly- due to peer pressure and repent the decision because the watch doesn't get adequate wrist time. If you're an aviation buff, a Pilot watch would fit well, but if you spend a lot of time at the pool or holidays at beaches, a nice dive watch is a good option.

3. Now you know the brands that appeal to you, the style of watch that works for your lifestyle, and how much you'd like to spend. The search becomes easier.

4. Automatic vs Quartz - you'll hear very snobbish opinions about this, some people tend to look down on quartz watches. My suggestion here again is to look for something that works for you and your lifestyle. I own many mechanical watches, but what I wear when I lounge around at home is all quartz or solar-powered Seikos. If you'd like to get into fine watches and start appreciating mechanical watches - do it for the purity of its purpose, but if you're a guy that would pit convenience over the romance of a mechanical watch, there is nothing wrong with that either!

You mentioned you'd like to look for brands that are not too niche but are well known, I haven't brought up a whole world of microbrands here since you specifically are looking for brands that are not niche.

So here are some options for you:

Dress watch - Tissot, Longines Heritage, Frederique Constant.
Pilot - Alpina, Hamilton, Sinn, Oris Propilot
Diver - Rado Captain Cook, Oris Diver 65, or Oris Aquis.

All the best!

Unfortunately not too many good options in India. I often go to cheapestnatostraps.com for precisely what they say (cheap nato straps!), but if I fancy myself nice leather straps I go to Hirsch Straps, or Watch Gecko.

if you want decent quality siicon straps, I'd suggest Horus. Everything except cheapestnatostraps.com are priced higher than average, but I've only had good experiences from those.

All the best!

While some of these are pretty good options, it is an increasingly popular (and very logical) trend to buy a watch which is as versatile as possible within one's budget levels. These watches are colloquially referred to as "everyday watches", precisely because of their versatility as compared to niche segment watches such as divers or dress watches. In other words, an everyday watch is one which can be worn across multiple social and business occasions with equal ease. For instance, for a Rs. 1 lakh budget, I will recommend the Sinn 556I or 556A, or the Damasko DA36 range. These are very high quality timepieces which are equally at home whether you are rocking a business suit, lounging in the pool or even attending a party. Granted, they are slightly leaned towards the sporty side of things, but they will work well in formal scenarios when dressed up with a quality leather strap.

Likewise, Seiko has absolutely fantastic watches (if you can get over the lure of the Swiss Made moniker at the bottom of the dial) which are very versatile. The SARX range of watches, or the SARB range of watches, readily come to mind in this category. Of course, these are well below the Rs. 1 lakh budget, but whoever complained about saving some extra cash :D

Hence, rather than trying to restrict oneself to watches for specific situations, if you are a one watch collection kind of guy, then you should look for versatility in one's timepiece to go with various situations that one finds oneself in from time to time. Of course, if you are open to having a multi- watch collection (3, 5 or more) then by all means buy timepieces which are meant for specific categories as you go about building your collection. In that case, versatility may not be as important as when you are restricting yourself to one high quality watch within your budget.

Thanks for the detailed pointers, nirupesh! I did find the watch I wanted after quite a bit of research. I did spend a fair amount of time before I narrowed down on the watch I wanted. Although I don´t work in a profession which makes a dress watch suitable, I did go for a dress watch (slightly dressed down in my opinion). I really wanted a mechanical watch as I wished to own a complex movement.

Ended up falling in love with a Frederique Constant watch. It is from the Runabout collection. The model is FC-303RMN5B4 which is a limited edition model limited to 2888 pieces (quite high I know but liked it being numbered :D). The box this watch comes in is a piece of art itself and reeks luxury. Liked the rose gold plated casing together with the blue strap and dial and hence picked it up from Ethos Watches.

A few pictures of the watch from Ethos Watches:






Thanks to everyone who gave me suggestions and advise for my foray into mechanical watches. Hope to be back on this thread in a few years for another one!