Greg:
Let me throw one out: what watch did you come close to buying, but did not, and do you think that you have made the right decision?
Vario Trench 1918
Vario came to my attention when it released the Empire model several years ago. By the time that I found them that watch was sold out. They then dropped the Trench 1918. It was everything that you could not find in a watch at the time. It had the big blocky numerals that had lasted only about a decade in the wristwatch era. The dial seemed to glow. (I preferred the orange lume with cream dial version.) It would be unique in almost any gathering, even of watch nerds. It didn’t look like anything else from this century.
I kept going back to it on the Vario website. I was concerned that the fixed lugs and bund strap might make it only a weekend wear. I looked for NATO straps that could make it more versatile. But what really kept my credit card in my wallet was the size. (The one time that I was ready, it was sold out.) I remember the original as 40mm. It was too large for its vintage cues. I have been wearing vintage watches for so long that 36mm feels enormous to me until I habituate to the size. A bund is often used to give a small vintage watch more presence. The Vario may have been overkill.
After a few months, and a few purchases later, I realized that my doubts about the Trench 1918 had turned into a decision. I saw them on forums and always liked the different dial permutations. The bund always seemed to be the best option for the Trench. Other straps seem too thin and insubstantial. I have a bund that I don’t wear, and I have worn them in the past. They are a commitment. You have to really own the look. I realized that I would not. Also, I don’t have a connection to the doughboys. My jam is the mid-century. Those are my cultural vibes. That is the world that I remember in a gauzy haze.
I am really glad that the Trench 1918 exists. I am happy that it is profitable and popular. It just isn’t for me.
Chris:
Oh my… the near misses.
So many.
Montblanc Timewalker GMT Southern Hemispheres. I literally had the credit card in my hand, and I just walked away. It was on layover in Beijing Airport Jan 2019. I had spent nearly three weeks in Thailand volunteering at a number of animal charities, cumulating in a glorious few days off grid in the South in the rainforest. Beijing, however, was -2*C, and the terminal had the air conditioning on maximum. I was shuffling between boutiques in three hoodies, shorts, and flip-flops, starving for the lack of vegan food options, and wired on multiple Starbucks Americanos and 2 hours sleep on an Air Asia 737 that left at 02:00 hours from Phuket.
I loved the Montblanc, and the Southern Hemisphere image and places was novel being a European. Greys, yellows, an orange highlight, it was subdued and cool. The wife even gave me the thumbs up (rare). Whilst they were boxing it up, my brain snapped, possibly from the cold combined with the harsh glare of the lighting, and I just walked out muttering that I had changed my mind. The wife thought I was ill, and kept asking if I was sure. I really wish I bought it, would have probably sent me down a different path.
Graham Chronofighter and Silverstone. Both limited editions and blue dials. They were sitting side-by-side in a pawnbrokers in Holloway many years ago. I am sure I could have got them both for a good price if I haggled… but I did not even go in. Why did I not go in? What was wrong with me that day?
Heuer Silverstone reissue. F*cking moron: “maybe this will be around for a while then if it’s just out” and then could not pick one up weeks later. Twit.
Heuer Calibre 18 Telemeter with a baby blue dial. Right place, wrong time… Universe was not my friend.
Patek Phillipe Gondola. Blue. Offered as a gift for a birthday from the wife. Said no. My wife is long-suffering when it come to this “hobby” (read: obsession), and I was feeling a bit guilty about something, so I declined.
Vintage Tudor Ranger. Another right place, wrong time. Genuine article, but was asking a bit too much.
Vintage Omega Constellation in white gold… supposedly owned by Sinatra, but absolutely no provenance on that. It was at a watch fair, and it was a watch that someone who did not have a stall was trying to sell, so many red flags there. Regardless, the watch was stunning; striking tank with ornate bracelet, exquisite crystal, solid build, excellent condition, vintage Omega red box… scrap value alone would have been a safe bet, but I did have some doubts. Seemed too good to be true. I think about this watch often.
Talis skin diver, silver dial, shark mesh. I did get a blue dial version, but the silver one I was sniped out of was a difficult pill to swallow.
Todd:
That Trench is a cool watch and one I have considered, but never that seriously. And like you say, a Bund is a commitment and I am no longer someone that would wear one.
The watch I came closest to buying, but didn’t, is the original Spinnaker Fifty Phantoms in blue.
The Fifty Phantoms is built on their Fleuss line which draws inspiration from the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. If I could, I’d buy a Fifty Fathoms instead of a Submariner. I just prefer the look of it, especially the bezel.
However, since I’ll likely never own one, the Spinnaker seemed like a good fit. Fifty Fathoms vibes while being in my budget. Then add the lumed cartoon ghosts to the mix (I love a good lumed gimmick) in a fairly versatile blue color scheme and it should have been a slam dunk.
I was on a buying sabbatical after a frenzied 2022 and couldn’t really justify to myself that I should buy it. I could have, but it just didn’t feel right. More on this for next week’s post on The Escapement Room.
Was it the right decision? The jury is still in deliberations on whether not buying was a good decision or not. I still really want one, and the last time I checked, they were selling on eBay for at least twice the original price. On the other hand, right now I’m trying to reduce the size of my collection to 10 and having another dive watch I really like as well as my Tuna would make this process more difficult. If forced to choose though, I think right now I’d have to say it’s been the right decision… So far.
Ryan:
I came close to buying many watches, but I seldom think about the ones who got away.
For a long time, I wanted a Seiko Credor Pacifique, specifically the steel and yellow gold version. My budget only allowed for the quartz movement, which was nothing to scoff at, with it being high-accuracy and thermocompensated and whatnot. By the time I had enough money saved up, which was at the end of 2024, the prices had crept up just enough to make them unattainable again. I had moved on to greener pastures anyway, with that money saved up going instead to my Universal Genève Altesse.
Mid to late 2024 saw me weigh up a lot of watches. Like previously mentioned, I had money saved up and wanted to buy myself a watch to commemorate my high-school graduation. I have never really had enough capital to look at new watches, and I wouldn’t want to anyway as I have the unshakeable belief that vintage watches are just better value. Another watch I looked at was the Universal Genève White Shadow, the larger, automatic cousin of the Altesse. Eventually, I realised that for me to buy one would require even more saving, and that was pushing the limits of what I felt comfortable spending on a single metal trinket.
Numerous cheaper watches creep into my mind occasionally. There used to be a Kienzle Chronoquartz LED watch for sale on a local auction platform, but it has since vanished. Knowing how LED watches are, that was probably for the best. The same can be said of a vintage Mido, Movado and Oris Pointer Date. I considered the ’90s reimagining of the Pointer Date for my graduation watch, but that was pushing my budget to get one with a bracelet. I think I might regret that one. I love my Altesse, but the modern Pointer Date is such a good looking watch. I tell myself I made the right choice, because the Altesse has a lot that most watches in its price range don’t and I’m still very proud of it.
In an alternate reality, there’s a version of me walking around campus with an Oris Pointer Date on. I guess I’ll see most of these watches when I start working and get a bit of money to play with, because watch shopping as a student has really forced me to find bargains.
Colin:
Seiko Credor Phoenix GCBP997
I have been a little bit obsessed with the late 90s, early 2000s period of Seiko’s history. I feel as though they were in a bit of an identity crisis with core Seiko having come off its world killer status as the quartz disruptor, King Seiko dead and buried (before being revived in the 2020s), and Grand Seiko having just introduced limited runs of the Spring Drive. Seiko’s value positioning was under attack by a new generation of cheap fashion watches (like Fossil Group), and while some real gems have emerged from the period (among them the SKX and Sportura Kinetic chronographs), it felt like the echoes of a recently over golden era, rather than a new Renaissance.
Little Credor was a victim with this identity crisis, with the original Seiko high end dress watch brand being reinvented into a mass market quartz brand and also a maker of somewhat offbeat sports watches. Ryan, with all due respect to the Pacifique (a watch I love), the Phoenix is the Seiko Chronograph for me. I have an affection for watches that are completely out of character for their parent brands and the Credor Phoenix qualifies in all the ways that gets my juices flowing. I love the busy-ness of the otherwise inky blank dial, the stepped subdials that give it depth, the bullet shaped indices and assegai hands, and the definitely-not-a-Cartier jeweled cabochon crown. It’s a sporty Credor chronograph, how could I not adore it?
So why don’t I own it today? I tried to snag one from a used dealer here in the Bay Area but it was sold out from under my nose before I could rush into the shop. Still, Ebay has countless examples available from Japanese dealers and I have often wondered if I should just hold my nose and buy one, with the knowledge that I would spend 2x the purchase price refreshing a 25 year old Japanese mechanical chronograph. But I suspect the real reason I have held off is because of the odd integrated bracelet design which makes traditional strap changes nigh impossible. For a watch that bulky, the ability to swap out the bracelet is key to comfortable wearing and the Credor fails on that front.
Still, alerts pop up every so often and every time I linger on the buy now button.
Chris:
Strap(s) is/are actually a decent reason to not buy. I have avoided a few watches for that reason. I am partial to a Tag Heuer Link Oracle Racing Edition, but that one has an ugly bracelet, and I am not sure it is easy to change. Then again, I have a Scuba Amfibia, and the rubber strap has perished, so I am stuck with a watch that I cannot source a replacement due to the stupid case shape. I have seen the other side, it is just as painful.
I had a mad Tag phase during lockdown. Ugly 90s Tags were cheap, and I went all in. In the frenzy I managed to miss out on two editions of the Aquaracer that piqued my interest. Both were poker related and were either prizes or merchandise pertaining to tournaments in Macau and South America. I do not play poker. I do wonder if I will ever see them again…
I have also gone on record saying that I have tried to buy a Speedmaster five (5) times over the last 20 years and failed to pull the trigger each and every. I find the watch very “vanilla”. Please do not get me wrong, I have a fondness for the watch, and even love the ugly limited editions (I nearly bought the very famous ugly one for a couple of grand around 10 years ago), but it does not feel like a watch I would wear much, and if one is to part that amount of cash, it has to feel a little more special.
On a more practical note, I have also passed up on multiple WWWs. Omega, Cyma, Vertex, Timor, Record… not a Longines or a JLC. If I saw a Grana in the wild for reasonable money I might be tempted, but it is unlikely. The problem with the WWW is that I am really unsure of provenance, and to be honest, the prices are now very similar to the modern incarnations like the Vertex or Timor models, which will have modern parts. I also prefer the ATP – my 30mm Enicar is probably one of my favourite watches ever.
Greg:
I am with Chris on this one: no bespoke bracelets or strap attachments for me. As the former owner of two Gucci watches in the go-go 80’s I won’t make that mistake again. Also, no bracelets that look like scales or snakes, at least not until I get my secret lair under a dormant volcano on an island that doesn’t appear on any maps.
I also passed on a Timor “Dirty Dozen” a few months ago. Too many red flags and fuzzy pictures for a watch that is no better than my 1940’s Enicar or Britix (both 30mm), only much more expensive.
The Escapement Room 