How much will you pay for a watch?

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Tom

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I see lots of folks, including grandkids, wearing $400-$1,000 Apple watches. I can't imagine paying that much for a watch, although I feel 'lost' without one on my wrist.

Some years ago we were having dinner with several RVing friends and friends of friends. The FoF's, both retired psychs/shrinks, clearly had an inferiority complex (won't go into the detail). The FoF hubby kept waving his wrist under my nose, saying "my $4,000 Rolex watch ..." (or was that $5,000 or $6,000?). I eventually got tired of it, and waved my wrist under his nose, saying "my $43 Costco watch ...". It's been on my wrist for 25-30 years. When it needs a battery replacement, the repair guy says "it's missing some digits", to which I reply "I'm waiting for the remainder to fall off".

True story, and I was reminded of it when the battery in my $43 watch died a couple of days ago. I kept looking at my wrist to see the time, and eventually called in to the watch repair booth at a local CVS Pharmacy.

FWIW I like metal watch bands, but stainless steel really causes a skin issue, so I look for titanium bands. Same story with eyeglasses.

Back in the olde country 50+ years ago, my $10 Timex watch (leather band) quit. I rarely took that watch off, even to shower. I took it to my BIL who was a hobby watch repair guy. He opened it up and said "it's all rusty inside", to which I replied "your job is to get it working", which he did. It lasted another 10 years.
 
My wife bought me a Fitbit. Thinking of returning it. It keeps telling me I need to get off my ass and walk. 😎
LOL that's one advantage of my old Costco watch - it's electronic, but old technology.
 
I never caught the bug of owning/wearing a nice watch. My most useful and long-lived watch was a Casio G-Shock and it was a cheap one ~$50. I don't own an Apple watch, but I have looked at them and might eventually buy one. Since I'm not a watch person (as jewelry or status) and try not to be absorbed in my phone (or watch screen) in public, I decided against it for now.
 
Smart watches are not really watches they are more like micro smart phones you wear on your wrist. As to traditional watches, the most I have ever spent on one was circa $1,000, which I bought about a dozen years ago, and still wear on a daily basis. I was seriously into scuba diving when I was younger, worked as a scuba instructor while I was in college, etc. so as a result I think all the watches I have owned as an adult have been waterproof to 500+ feet, etc.
 
That's expensive!

Well you said yours cost $43 so $50 is not too expensive :p I mean, $7 difference... $7 barely buys a combo at a fast food restaurant these days.
 
The people who buy very expensive watches are wearing them as jewelry. My wife's past it now, but when I met her she wore her many watches -- not so expensive but "pretty" -- as bracelets. Think of them as pinkie rings for the wrist.
 
My watches are analog with a quartz movement (except the Croton chronograph is windup), but I've had a Timex for many years that does me fine. But some years back my wife bought me a nice watch (it was the jeweler's store brand and a couple of hundred bucks, too much), which I really like, and it's just analog with 12 numbers and a second hand.

But that Croton I bought waaaaaaay back, early in my flying days, before battery watches were common, but though analog it's rather fancy with its rotating bezel that allows me to position the numbers on the bezel to Zulu (or other) time zone leaving the actual face for local time. It also has its second usable as a stop watch (stop/start buttons). I don't wear it often, but I still like it.

All three have Twist-o-flex bands, which I much prefer since I don't have to unfasten something to move them out of the way, yet will keep them in place well.

And I certainly can't see any reason to wear a watch that needs to be recharged daily (or nearly so), and that has such a tiny screen that I need a microscope to read the face beyond keeping time. My pocket computer (some call it a phone) does all of that stuff just fine, when I care to take it with me.
 
My then $25 (now $33) Timex Indiglo digital watch has served me well for the past ~12 years. My hearing aids tell me when my cell phone rings, and my scales tell me when I need to exercise more, so no fancy watch needed here.
 
I see lots of folks, including grandkids, wearing $400-$1,000 Apple watches. I can't imagine paying that much for a watch, although I feel 'lost' without one on my wrist.
...
The reason those watches cost so much is because (like another posted above) they are mini computers you wear on your wrist.

I have a Samsung watch that is paired with my Samsung phone. The "watch" is much more than a "watch." Oh yes, it shows what time it is. But, because is's paired to my phone, it also works as a phone (I don't need to carry my cell phone with me any more). It has all my contacts and the ability to read text messages, as well as make and receive phone calls.

It also does things like, track the distance walked every day, records your daily activities (exercise), and calculates how many calories burned every day.

It tracks my health, heart beats, works as a compass. It has Google on it, a calculator, and even has the ability to record how I sleep at night; how much time I'm in deep sleep, REM sleep and so on.

It records my stress level, as well as local temperature.

Basically, almost everything my cell phone can do, the "watch" on my wrist does the same thing.

THAT is why it costs so much.
 
The reason those watches cost so much is because (like another posted above) they are mini computers you wear on your wrist.

I have a Samsung watch that is paired with my Samsung phone. The "watch" is much more than a "watch." Oh yes, it shows what time it is. But, because is's paired to my phone, it also works as a phone (I don't need to carry my cell phone with me any more). It has all my contacts and the ability to read text messages, as well as make and receive phone calls.

It also does things like, track the distance walked every day, records your daily activities (exercise), and calculates how many calories burned every day.

It tracks my health, heart beats, works as a compass. It has Google on it, a calculator, and even has the ability to record how I sleep at night; how much time I'm in deep sleep, REM sleep and so on.

It records my stress level, as well as local temperature.

Basically, almost everything my cell phone can do, the "watch" on my wrist does the same thing.

THAT is why it costs so much.
Whatever turns you on.
 
I started off with a Timex that really took a lickin', and kept on tickin', for a while anyway. When I went to Japan after I joined the AF, I bought what I thought was a really good Seiko self winding watch. It ran fine for a couple of years, then started giving me problems. I had it in the shop (a Seiko repair facility) and it did okay for another couple of years, then started doing what it did before. I was really disappointed in that watch. After that I went with the Casio digitals. The first one did great for many years. I started traveling a lot (after the Air Force) so I got a Casio that could adapt easily to time zone changes. I had that one for 15 years or so, and still have it. But I wanted to be "connected", so I got a Huawei smart watch. About $300 or so for it, and it worked just fine. But I have quit wearing watches now, as my skin is so sensitive (due to peripheral neuropathy). So I have all these watches and nothing to do with them. Kids all just use their phones, so I can't hand them down. Oh well, I guess they will end up inheriting them one day!
 
So I have all these watches and nothing to do with them. Kids all just use their phones, so I can't hand them down. Oh well, I guess they will end up inheriting them one day!
(y)
 
My mom couldn't wear a mechanical watch. Within a week or so any watch she wore would start gaining time. Once a neighbor had a watch that was running slow, Mom wore it for a couple of weeks and returned it to him keeping perfect time.
 
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Tom, I had a uncle who bought 2 Timex watches in the mid 1950's, back then they had a lifetime warranty.
When one stopped running he returned it for repairs and wore the other. He did that until he passed away at 87 years old in the late 1990's.
Me, I like and carry pocket watches. I have 7, 2 are over 100 years old, I have my grandathers pocket watch from the 1880's; trouble is, very few mens pant have a watch - pocket today.
Side story, one time maybe 25 years ago we were ready to board the train in Branson, MO, the old man (80's?) who was the ticket-taker saw my pocket watch chain and asked to see the watch. Then he said "when I was a young man they called men who wore wrist watches sissies".
 
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