HoustonHorn

Came to post this. Saw Jose Andres last night on TV and he's there in Ukraine preparing meals. Very passionate.

Yes, there is a wait list. You said when he was 15 or 18 so figured there wasn't a huge rush. Holthinrichs also has a year waiting list. I might be able to get that expedited for you though. Quite a bit more expensive. This is an older model called the Ornament 1. I really want to get one of these. OnJ custom makes it to the customers specs but not sure if they have a long waiting list.

https://anordain.com/ Very unique. Beautiful Enamel dials. $2.5k or less. Custom engraving. My watch is on order and hopefully I'll be getting it soon. Holthinrichs https://holthinrichswatches.com/ Less than 10k. 3D printed cases - totally different. I don't know if they do engraving but I'm sure they can if you ask. I can get you directly in touch with them. Ochs und Junior https://www.ochsundjunior.swiss/watches/two-time-zones/customizer/ Also very different but really cool watches with tons of customization options. I love the 2 time zone. Custom engraving. A friend has one and loves it and he's tough to please. Definitely on my list.

Me too.

I'm of the very strong opinion we need to be recycling these Lithium-Ion batteries and investing heavily in the companies that do this. And by we, I mean AMYZF and by investing heavily, I mean Tesla should buy AMYZF for about $10/share or more. Perfect time for independence from China, and by that I mean my independence from my employment. @Harrison Stafford agrees.

At this point I'm hoping they declare bankruptcy - the stock price will skyrocket. It's crazy they continue to report great results and it keeps going down down down down.

Breitling has really turned things around recently. They brought in Georges Kern. They also received private equity investment fairly recently. Huge improvement and they have some really nice releases in the past year.

The AquaTerra is one of the most underrated watches. You really have to see it in person and try it on to appreciate it. I passed over it a bunch of times without a glance. Once I actually stopped and tried it on, I realized how great a watch it actually is. I haven't bought one yet as I've gotten into independents but I love them.

The new Oris Chronos Limited Edition looks pretty nice and fits not have a proprietary lug /bracet system so will be able to change straps. Comes with the new Calibre 400 movement with 5 days of power reserve. I like this alot.

Didn't you have a Nomos a few years back? Or am I thinking of someone else?

Picture of the Festina so we have an idea of your tastes or some general guidelines. Need it to be somewhat professional, sporty, dressy? Any certain complication you use. For closer to 2k, Oris gives you a lot of quality. For just over $3k the new in-house Calibre 400 is a big upgrade. 5 day power reserve. 10 year service interval and 10 year warranty. Either way, excellent watches for the money. https://www.oris.ch/en/collection/big-crown-propilot?filters=all,col32

Oris has some great options for 3k and under. Sinn or Damasco for a tool watch. Farer for something a little different with some color. Oris really is killing it these days. Great new movement and lots of great designs, not just the Aquis diver. Brellum has some nice stuff, as does Norqain.

RubberB and Everest for rubber straps both have really good reviews. I bought a cheapo Borealis. I liked it then the buckle broke and I've never gotten around to fixing it. I bought an Artem sailcloth for my Speedmaster. It's nice but was pretty stiff. The Speedmaster lug width (Racing at least) is about 21mm, and the 20mm strap just wasn't quite big enough. Not bad looking but not a perfect fit. So I've never broken it in. I'm sure it's great after that.

I don't really like NATOs either because the watch sits weird. But single pass aren't as bad.

Delugs makes nice straps. I'll go back and get you some names. The Artem sailcloth I got was pretty decent for the money. A little stiff but will wear in over time. Looking for something exotic, I've bought several from Lonestar Leather on Etsy for pretty cheap and they are quality. There are some expensive bespoke strapmakers as well.

I would absolutely wear a UN Freak.

In some sense, any watch is total nonsense. But if you actually depend on a watch to tell time, then anything more than a $5 quartz watch is total nonsense. I'm betting not many people here wear a $5 quartz watch. That said, none of those are something I'd wear. I just get the appeal. A cool mechanical piece of art that will likely increase dramatically in value over time.

Not me, I could watch that all day. Incredible engineering and precision at such a small level.

Thoughts on this from the crowd?

I'm a big Oris fan. I like the company and I like their watches.

The worst part about Swiss Francs is when you convert them to USD, it's more USD. Irwin, about 6 years ago I did not own a working watch. I bought my wife a nice watch for a birthday/anniversary. 5 years ago I made my first "luxury" watch purchase, an IWC Spitfire. At the time they had a blue Vacheron Constantin Overseas Chronograph for sale for just over $20k. I thought that was insane and there was no way anybody would ever WASTE that much money on a watch. It was the most beautiful watch I had ever seen and one of the most beautiful things I had seen. But $20k was outrageous and nobody in their right mind would spend that for a watch. That watch is worth at least double that now. I'm any event it can be a slippery slope. Right now the watch market is crazy, so there's definitely an opportunity to get a watch at pretty much any price point without a large drop in value the second you walk out the door. Obviously the brand and model matters. Some are better than others. But it's a good time to be buying a watch. If you're interested in something or would like recommendations I'm sure some of the people in this thread will be happy to recommend something. Also, if you're interested in trying out a higher priced watch but not sure. Breitling has a subscription service that let's you try out 3 watches over a year and you earn some points that can go towards the purchase of the 3rd watch. Not for everyone, but might be worth looking into if you like Breitling watches. Interesting concept at least. But Breiing has been down for a while with, imo, some large, gaudy, ugly designs (and that's saying something if you've seen some of the stuff I've posted that I love). They are on the way back up and they have a good heritage and the designs are starting to really improve. Watches - a strange game. The only winning move is not to play.

Can I include some watches I have down payments on that will come in later this year? Otherwise I'm going to lose this for sure.

Welcome to the club. I have a suggestion. [emoji1787]

I so need this to be right.

This is a pretty nice looking watch. Love the firehose strap!