mdre55amg

Rolex Submariner (18k & Stainless/black dial)
Movado Esperanza (two-tone)
I almost forgot about the pocket watch for my 3-piece suits!

For those of you who own a Rolex, do you ever send it to Rolex for service? I believe they clean it up and do some sort of preventive maintenance. Let me know if that's something I should be doing. I figured I would just send it in if I have a problem with it running slower than normal. I also use a watch winder as I was told this is a good thing to do-it keeps it wound and lubricated.

CWW

Well you guys inspired me to take some pics. And lemme just say, I had no ****** clue how difficult it is to photograph a watch! I'm always lookin' at eBay and thinkin "ha, what a douchebag, selling a $20k watch and doesn't know how to take a picture" but when I tried it myself it's actually really hard.

Anyway, here goes:



Knockaround: Rado Retro (solid titanium, very cool watch):



Nicer knockaround: Rolex 36mm DateJust, limited "anniversary edition":



Dress Watch: Rolex President, diamond bezel, matte black face:



Sorry for the crappy pics, and for the dirty watches. I've been meaning to get all 3 cleaned but have been really busy.

OUTCAST

Jacques Leemans F1 everyday
Ramond Weil

lbE55

Spinner:

http://www.myhiphopbling.com/spinner-watch-black.html

CWW

Oh yeah, I just remembered I have another one here at the house that I forgot about. This one's very cool, one of my favorite watches overall. It must weigh 2lbs.

This will take some folks way back, to the days before Raymond Weil became a popular mass-market company.

Amadeus automatic chrono, circa 1980's:



I actually have two of these, one with a white face and one with a gold, bought from tourneau in NYC. I have some other stuff too, but they're at the bank deposit box. I have a vintage IWC, and some other old/unusual stuff, and some family hand-me-downs, repeater pocketwatches, etc.

Improviz

Rolex recommends servicing their watches every five years or so; think of it as being analagous to an oil change on the car, not a good idea to wait until the engine starts to run poorly before changing the oil.

Watch winders are handy if you rotate the watches you wear frequently, although if the watch doesn't have a date function you can simply set it quickly when you want to wear it (even with a date function you can do this, but you've got to go to the extra hassle of rolling the date over to ensure you're setting it to the proper AM/PM time), although if you wear it infrequently I would recommend winding it periodically. Of course, while it may save some wear and tear on the mechanism to do this, it will increase wear and tear on the crown, so there's no free lunch.

If you use one, hopefully it's of the type which has programmable turns-per-day and direction (CW, CCW, or both), as Rolexes like the 650 tpd/both setting, while some other watches want only one direction and need more turns.

I got ome from www.watchwinderstore.com. It is the Landmark Deluxe 4 watches winder, works great, picked it up for about $400 or so (couldn't stomach a few grand for a winder, as being an engineer, I know how ridiculously simple the circuitry therein is). I believe it comes w/a two year warranty, so far it's performed without a hiccup. Has the aforementioned turns/direction settings, very nice, particularly for the money.

CharlyE500

I guess a lot of people wear Rolex....... the only problem I have with Submarine is too heavy ..... this watch weight like half pound in my wrist...... not too confy for daily...

mdre55amg

I think I'm approaching the 5 year mark with mine. I have a "Y" serial number, model 16613. I should probably think about sending it in for service one of these days (or I could upgrade to the newer version with no pinholes, "ROLEX" on the inner bezel, and the updated case shape and ceramic bezel for 2009). When I purchased the watch new in 2004, Tourneau threw in a $400 watch winder. Surprisingly, the "free" winder does actually alternate between clockwise and counterclockwise turns. I couldn't beat the price!

I do alternate between the two watches, so the winder is a necessity.

Thanks for the info!

mdre55amg

Call me weird, but I like watches with a lot of weight.

Vader13

I dropped my Limited Digi Rolex Dial ( I was in a house I just got in Santa Barbara and in the bath room, it had all new spanish tile and it got knocked off the counter and wacked with a thud on some really hard stone tile on the ground. It was one of those moments)like the gold one above but SS/White Gold and it was under warranty ( was bought new, has 2 weeks left on it!!) It stopped running. I sent it in and they cleaned it and sent it back in a Green Gold service box that I sold on ebay for 30 bux
I think it's best to have them service it, but I only do it if they stop running.
You can sell the boxes for good money at least..
I traded some old jewelry for a used Day Date, it was around a 1200 dollar deal.
Then I traded ti for my HRES that were for sale at 4K.
Rolexs are killer!

Vader13

It's called a Submariner.

CharlyE500

I know.... its very sporty watch.... I go to gym with it.... weight trainning, swimming pool and even Sauna....... the watch is really strong

Mr Kram

i'm a rolex junkie. here's my collection:

TT Daytona, Champagne dial, diamond markers
SS Date Circa 1950
TT Datejust, Onxy dial, diamond markers
Seadweller
TT Blue Submariner
TT GMT Master II, Rootbeer dial
Explorer II, White dial

Not pictured - 18K President, Champagne dial

CWW

I freakin' L-O-V-E that winding box, that thing is amazing! Where did you get it? That's the nicest one I've ever seen...

Mr Kram

it's actually a cheapo steinhausen. i think i paid about $400 for it. i also have a 4 watch winder from them that i gave to my wife and both have been running great for at least 5 or 6 years now.

CWW

It looks incredible, I love the design. I'm guna get one of those.

Nice collection you have too! I especially like the 18k/SS Sub with the blue face. That is absolutely classic, looks good w/ anything, and will never go out of style.

VCA_AMG

CWW, do you find increased wear/maintenance intervals w/your Rolexes kept in a winder 24/7? What little I've been taught about nice auto watches, including the few nice ones I own, is that using a watch winder is the equivalent of keeping an E55 idling in your garage 24/7 when you're not driving it. IE, unnecessary wear and tear. I don't use a winder so I'm curious what you think.

Gorgeous timepieces & winder regardless, great collection!

CWW

I don't have a winder currently, but have been toying with the idea of getting one.

It's a real PITA having to wind and set a watch every time you want to wear it. Sometimes I forget, and a few times the hands stopped at a time that isn't too far off of whatever time it really is, and I didn't notice it. Then I was really late or really early to somewhere I was supposed to be and looked like a dumbazz.

I don't know what effect the winders have on the watches, that's a real good question and I'd be curious to know the answer as well. I was just thinking about it mostly from a convenience standpoint, as well as having a nice place to put them. I don't know if it hurts the watch, but what you're saying does make sense.

VCA_AMG

I agree it's a PITA to re-wind, but my nice autos (IWC & TAG) are both worth the 1:30-min it takes to re-set in my opinion to reduce wear.

My bad CWW, I thought you had the winder...now I see it's "Mr. Kram." So Mr. Kram, any thoughts on the winder wear & tear issue?

Mr Kram

i have never had any issues with wear and tear. i do service my watches regularly so perhaps everything is brought up to standard at that time. the winder is very convenient as i switch my watches daily.

mbenz06

It's amazing how ignorant some of you are. I understand if you don’t know much about watches but to comment when you know nothing baffles me. I’m here trying to sell a timepiece someone can use and enjoy as opposed to throwing it in my safe and letting it collect dust. Some members here are looking to purchase and to discredit another member without the slightest clue of what you are talking about is immature and childesh.

3x-4x what the watch is worth... pwnage... Do some research and then reply.



Here are a few more pics.

CWW

I dunno, man, something just looked "off" about that watch at first glance. Look at the gaps in between the watch head and the top links of the band. It's a SS band, so it shouldn't have any stretch like what your pics show.

Here you go, see the difference?



http://cgi.ebay.com/BREITLING-CHRONO...3%3A1|294%3A50

And I certainly could be wrong, but the only ones I've seen with that gap between the top link of the band and the head are these ones made in China...which looked a little like the one in your first pic:



As to the box and papers, those are all over the net for $80 a set:

http://forums.watchnet.com/index.php...o=151422&rid=0

If you are a watch buff, you know Breitling is probably the most faked watch brand out there, and the fakes are getting so good lately that I honestly can't tell the difference anymore. The only way I'd buy a breitling at this point is from an authorized dealer, otherwise I'd probably be worried sick.

Anyways, hey, I'm not out to start WWIII here. I looked at the pics and something just looked off, but it could be the angle, the lighting, or any number of things. My apologies, if you say it's real then it's real, end of story. I was being an azzhole even agreeing with the other guy, it's not my business and I shoulda kept out of it.

Anyway, if you say I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. My apologies and no hard feelings.

Improviz

A few pointers on watch winders:

1) different watches want to be wound in different directions. You can find out more about the particular watch(es) you wear by clicking here and visiting the orbita watch database; some want to be wound in both directions, some counter clockwise, and some clockwise.

2) as can also be seen from the orbita database, the number of turns per day a watch requires is different, and also note that some of those are wrong: for example, my Daytona is perfectly happy at the same setting as my Planet Ocean, 650 tpd, while they recommend 800-950 tpd. However, I do not leave my chronograph running continuously as some do, so perhaps this setting is designed to account for this...anyway, point is, you really want one with programmable tpd, as if you wind a watch that is happy at 650 tpd for 950 tpd, you've subjected the watch to hundreds of extra needless turns.

The one I listed above is the only multi-watch winder I've seen for under (well under) a grand that does both of these, but one could probably find others with a google search...come to think of it, someone had mentioned to me that Costco has something like this as well, but I can't swear to it.

3) wrt wear on the watch, it's no more than if you were wearing the watch normally; the movement of your wrist causes the rotor to rotate, which is what keeps it wound, which is what the winder is designed to simulate, so it's really not any more harmful than wearing it. The lubricants they use break down after a certain time period in any case, so wear it or not, it's going to need servicing after a certain amount of time: you might gain some time between servicings by not putting it on a winder, but then there's the potential day/date (depending upon model) hassle to deal with...also, bear in mind that if you leave them sitting without running for too long, this is also not good on the internals, and can cause the lubricants to coagulate, so if you don't go the winder route, at least wind it up once a week or so just to keep all of the parts lubricated.

There are different schools of thought on this, but imo if the watch has a date function or is worn every few days (or if one watch is worn to work, and another to dinner or whatever), it's worth it to me to keep it on a winder, ready to roll...otoh, if it's only worn once a week and has no date function, then as long as one is very careful not to cross-thread the crown, setting it and winding it will only take a few moments....if it's a Rolex GMT which requires one to advance the hours to change the date however, one might quickly rethink this philosophy.

Can Drive 55

to CCW. I know what you mean when you said it's difficult to photograph watches. I took several and this is the best one. I think a good macro lens would be in order.

Improviz thanks for the winder info. I have a Wolf winder. It is nothing elaborate and does not have a TPD adjustment. However, it has a microchip (for whatever that is worth) and does have a direction selector. I use the "both" direction position. I don't know the number of turns, but I do know that I bought it from the jewelry store where I bought the two Rolexes and they said it would be a good one for these watches. I suppose if I ever get another one, I will get one with a TPD selector as well. Oh, and while I am thinking about it, Kirbys was great. Couldn't remember if I told you or not.

Improviz

I think you'll be fine with the Wolf, they're excellent winders. Most Rolexes are supposed to be wound in the "both" position, except the Daytona for some reason, maybe the chrono is different. Nice thing about owning Rolexes in DFW is that you can just drive down there to the service center when they need it & save yourself $100 in insured shipping.

Glad you liked Kirby's. They shut the one up there in Plano down, much to the chagrin of my buddies who live nearby!! I think it was the arrival of Bob's up in the Lakes of Legacy or whatever that did them in, NOT due to better steaks (imo), but location, location, location...and now they've gone bankrupt, wonder if they'll shut that down as well (no loss for the Planoites imo ). One wonders if Kirby's wishes they'd toughed it out for a bit longer, though...