About Watches from a fan

Watches have hundreds of minuscule parts, meticulously assembled by artisans who can trace their craft back to the watchmakers under Elizabeth, Peter, and Napoleon. Before the Great War, these artisans were focused on making pocket watches, a true gentleman’s accessory. But during the First World War, soldiers found that the small, easy to maintain wristwatches were an asset in the wet trenches. When the war ended, young well-dressed men wanted to emulate the gallant heroes of the war, and wristwatches became a must-have. In the process of reading one of my casual reads, Talya's blog shades of gold, I came across a  post on her Michael Kors 5055 watch. After reading her brief entry I then passed down to comments and came across this very interesting 'Watch fan' who then took things to another level of good brain freeze for me as I also own a Michael Kors 5191 watch and two of my friends too. Here below is a read borrowed directly from shades of gold , where he/she shares his/her take on watches.

Watch Fan
Apr 10, 2013 @ 16:06

1. Nice watch. Love the sunken dial look, insignia on the crown and the almost retro ‘Rolex look’ going on. Is it automatic? If you don’t mind me asking, why did you go for Michael Kors twice? He typically ‘takes’ looks from real luxury brands and applies them to his latest ranges, his Royal Oak for example was a shocker. Another thing, and bare with me please, I’m a watch geek, but he also has everything assembled and sourced from mass produced factories and other watch movement makers, so nothing truly his about it. I mean I’m not dissing MK really but rather, as a watch fan, I’d like to help you choose your next watch. 1) Buy Automatic watches. Anything other than auto is not really a watch IMHO. 2) Don’t buy fashion watches unless they are REALLY cheap for fun. They are un-original at the best of times. 3) Don’t buy watches in the R10 000 range. These watches pretend to be something special with their premium price tag but are actually the same value as a R3000 to R5000 watch. TW Steel is a good example of this but there are many. R3000 to R5000 watches, depending on brand are usually a good investment. 4) Don’t buy a watch because it says Swiss. most Swiss watches won’t say that, they’ll say Geneve or nothing about being Swiss. If it says made in Switzerland or Swiss, it’s usually trying to benefit from the prestige of Swiss companies, mostly using one single Swiss part and then claiming to be Swiss. There are many of these, they’re easy to spot. 5) If you can, buy real Swiss. They really are the best watches. My advice would be starting with a Tag if you don’t have the cash for the +R30 000 range. You can get a tag for -R30 000 and it can be passed gracefully to your grand children and their grand children after. doesn’t that sound nice? hope I’ve helped with your next watch purchase. Maybe I can write a ‘How to buy a watch’ guide for your blog? for your fashion section. would be glad to just let me know. lots more advice over the years of watch collecting.
 
Watch fan
Apr 10, 2013 @ 16:37
 
2. Oh shoot and another very important point, don’t by watches in the R3000 to R4000 range unless they are a REAL watchmaker name. By this I mean that you could buy a ‘Guess’ watch, pay a premium for the quasi-name brand and then you’ve effectively paid lots of money for a Timex. But don’t get me wrong, Timex is a great watch company but you shouldn’t have to pay a third more just for the name Guess, which in my opinion is a doting brand anyway. Another notorious one is Fossil. They are predominantly made by Citizen and Seiko, two flawless Japanese brands but again, you shouldn’t pay for a watch you think is cool under the name Fossil, when you could get a Seiko or Citizen at a cheaper cost. Watch makers and fans like myself call these watches ‘Fashion Watches’ or ‘novelty watches’ because you can change them with the fashion. Not worth the R3000 tag.

I am working on getting a full post on watches from this informed watch minion.