Hello from Los Angeles
Hello everyone, I'm pretty new here and to this hobby. As the title says, I live in Los Angeles, in the Valley Village/North Hollywood area to be more specific.
I realized recently I missed wearing watches. Just like so many others, when I started carrying a mobile phone around, I slowly stopped wearing a watch. It was a part of me from the time I was a child up until a few years ago. I decided to dust off the old Diesel, replace the battery and start wearing it again but I quickly remembered why I had stopped wearing it. Its fairly scratched and dinged and the nylon strap is dirty. But I still wore it.
I started to shop around for watches. I was going mostly to department stores and other mall stores looking in the $100-$250 range. The first thing I noticed was the prices seemed to have gone up significantly in the past 5 years. Maybe the manufacturers were selling fewer watches and had to raise prices due to limited demand, or maybe the watch customer has changed and is more willing to pay more for the right fashion piece that will stand out. Maybe it was just inflation, maybe it was just my imagination. I'm not sure. The first thing I noticed is that most watches were ugly. This is nothing new. I was having a tough time finding something that really suited me, though. Most of the Nixons were a little over the top and the decent looking ones are way too expensive. Diesel seems to be in the business of copying Nixon, or maybe it is the other way around. The watches branded with clothing designers names had quite the premium on that name, just like anything else would. Invicta seems to be a practical joke to see how ugly of a watch people are willing to buy and wear.
After browsing around a couple of different malls, I decided I liked Skagens, in particular a large multi-dial titanium with a mesh band. I didn't like it that much in pictures or display case, but once I tried it on I loved the look and feel of it on my wrist. I found a lightly used one on eBay for 40% of retail and bought it. While browsing watches on the internet, one of my Google searches brought me a result for "replica watches". I was intrigued, this had not occurred to me as an option. I thought it would be cool and kind of funny to have a "Rotex" (as my wife jokingly calls them) so I started to do more searching and browsed around. I found various review sites, message boards, forums and dozens of sites selling reps; I had just scratched the surface. I was checking out one vendor that had received some positive mention on some other sites and one day they had a huge sale. They are not a trusted vendor here so I won't mention the name, and at regular price they're overpriced anyway. Out of the dozen or so watches that were marked over half off, I found three I liked and bought all three impulsively as my first rep purchase. I was officially hooked.
What I got were an Omega Seamaster with an automatic movement, it looks the closest to an Aqua Terra, but not quite. A manual wind all black Radiomir Black Seal, with yellow numerals and edge around the dial. Last and definitely least, a Tag Carrera Calibre 36 quartz that looked much better in the pictures, but it at least keeps good time. I got all three of these shipped for about $180 which was a heck of a deal. Although I learned a great deal from the purchase, i don't regret it at all. I replaced the cheap Radiomir strap with something I bought from eBay which improved it significantly, this is by far my favorite of the three. The Omega I've worn a few times and like the look of it but I'm keeping my eyes open for a better strap in the odd 19mm width. I've only worn the Tag once and haven't decided what to do with it. I still wear the Skagen the most since I don't feel like I need to worry about scratching it as much, and the Diesel got some wrist time a couple of weeks ago when I moved into a new office and was moving boxes and furniture. I also own a gen Raymond Weil my wife bought me a few years ago I wear when I we go out to dinner, this is still my favorite for obvious reasons.
What did I learn from my first transaction? I want more! I've got the bug pretty seriously and consider myself lucky to have found this forum to help guide me through this hobby. I would like to have a pretty wide range of looks on my wrist. I have an office job in the film industry which means I can wear anything to work from jeans and a t-shirt to slacks and a button down long sleeve and I'd like to have the appropriate wrist gear to match. What I've got my eye on right now are-
Rolex Milgauss
B&R BR-02
Omega Planet Ocean
several IWC's
And that's just the short list.
A few years ago I made the mistake of thinking a watch was just there to know what time it is. I overlooked that it could be an extension of one's personality, an additional clue to the outside world of myown singularity. I'd like to thank everyone here in advance for the support and information I've received here and hope to share my experience as it progresses.
Alan
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