Lee's Watch Thread for MM'ers of Impeccable Taste

[WRXtranceformed]

Bracelet looks great! There were some manufacturing flaws that I emailed him about, I don't know if they're worth going through the hassle of replacing it or not but we'll see what he says:

[WRXtranceformed]

Shinola's first automatic movement will be in a dive watch!

https://www.ablogtowatch.com/shinola-lak...ch-stockx/

[JustinG]

Just got an email.

Spend $250 at Jomashop, pay with PayPal, get $20 off.

Coupon code: PAYPAL20

[WRXtranceformed]

So I might have done a thing.

[SlimKlim]

So I might have done a thing.

[JustinG]

[WRXtranceformed]

[WRXtranceformed]

Phew what a day.  I have never waited so hard.  Shipping was crazy fast overnight from CA but the FedEx guy was an hour late on his window.  If he delivered during a client executive call I had to lead, I would have raged on the world.

Background story:  You all know I had been slush-funding for a while but I found out last week that my team was going to hit our yearly revenue goal a month ahead of schedule.  It's been a long, tough grind of a year and a half building a neglected business unit into a viable, thriving and respected business.  I decided it was time to go after my grail!

The experience unfortunately was not as pleasant as I was hoping.  Buying from trusted preowned luxury watch dealers was more used-car salesy than boutique experience.  I think I was expecting more considering there is a really great, well established community of dealers in the watch enthusiast world but my bad experiences were actually with some of the most well-known ones.  Many dealers were posting "inventory" on their pages that was either quickly sold or never existed in the first place, so that they could keep you on a list indefinitely.  

Aside from that, I learned that this time of the year is one of the worst to go luxury watch shopping.  Apparently it's a thing that people go and buy 5-6 Rolexes at a time before the holidays, as gifts or whatever, making it difficult to find good examples.  I have never heard of this happening so clearly I am not hanging in certain circles

I narrowed it down to three dealers who were all good and not stringing me along and settled on a mint G serial GMT Master II from Patrick at OC Watch Guy!!  The G serial dates the watch to about 2010, this one was originally sold in March of 2011 by an AD down in Mexico (that Joey discovered after some Googling!).  This is also the last year before Rolex went to a "random" serial system.  I think the thought is that Rolex went to randomized serials because some models were sitting on the shelves at ADs for years and people didn't want to buy a new Rolex that was actually a few years old.  So this method ensures for the most part that since 2011 you can't tell when each specific watch was made.  In the next 20-30 years when this becomes vintage status, I am really glad I will be able to know exactly when this watch was made! 

Shipped overnight and showed up today.  I am smitten, it gives me absolutely the same feeling as the first time I tried one on.  Unboxing:



Didn't know what this was until I opened it:



A very cool touch from the seller!









Not sized yet but test fitting



I made an attempt to size it like I do with most of my watches but the screws were in tight and I really didn't feel like shredding the bracelet.  Heading to the jeweler tomorrow for a sizing and appraisal for the insurance company!

[SlimKlim]

Pack it up boys, thread's over.

[davej]

Congratulations on the successful year!! That is an amazing looking piece​ engineering art.

Does this become a daily or reserved for special occasions?

[WRXtranceformed]

Thanks man!! Now I just have to do it again next year!

I'm staggered, every bit of it is so well built. Even the click of the bracelet locking has that same perfect sound like when you close the door of a solid luxury car.

Bruh I'm going to wear this thing out, it'll be in the daily rotation haha. Definitely not going to be a safe queen!!

[Ken]

Congrats! looks stunning!

[G.Irish]

That thing is marvelous!  Congrats on knocking your sales goals out of the park!  

Now, to satisfy my curiosity about vanity, you have to keep us updated about reactions to the watch.

[WRXtranceformed]

That thing is marvelous!  Congrats on knocking your sales goals out of the park!  

Now, to satisfy my curiosity about vanity, you have to keep us updated about reactions to the watch.

Thanks man!  I caught one random stranger at a truck stop on the way up here gazing at it and then see me and be like "oh hey sir" like I was an old man or something haha.  We spent most of the day today in Middleburg where that kind of thing is par for the course.  Joey and I are gonna grab coffee on Friday tho and nerd out over some of our collections 

[Apoc]

I caught one random stranger at a truck stop

Maybe I don't want a Rolex.

[WRXtranceformed]

I caught one random stranger at a truck stop

Maybe I don't want a Rolex.

It depends on what you're looking for 

[WRXtranceformed]

Courtesy of Joey: Free watch with purchase of $50 on Jomashop, today only:

[Ryan T]

Courtesy of Joey: Free watch with purchase of $50 on Jomashop, today only:

  Just the motivation I needed to make another watch purchase. That isn’t the prettiest watch I’ve ever seen, but I’ve been looking for a black leather band dress watch. Very few occasions that I would wear a black leather band watch, but for free, I’ll buy something else I like and add this one!

[Ken]

So, watch winders. Pros/cons? Anything i should know?

[WRXtranceformed]

Nice Ryan!  Post up what you end up getting!  You can't beat that free watch and it does have a nice clean look.

Ken:  There are lots of opinions on winders out there.  If you have a rotation of automatic watches and some don't get worn enough to keep them wound, and you don't want to have to wind and set them (ie have them "grab and go") a winder is really helpful.  They really are more useful IMO for watches with complications that are a pain to set.

If you do get a winder, don't get a cheap one.  I have read about the cheaper winders not being magnetically shielded and they actually end up magnetizing your watches.  I have a Heiden double watch winder that has been great but I only turn it on if I know I'm going to be rotating a couple of watches within a few days.  Otherwise you can just let them die and wind them up when you're ready to use them. 

The other thing with winders is that there are recommended settings for each brand and movement so you want to buy one that is bi-directional and that has many adjustable speeds.  But you still have to end up experimenting a little to find a setting for each watch that actually keeps it wound and that doesn't cause it to gain or lose too much time.  Like my Seiko mod is +/- 0.5s per day when wound and worn or resting face up, and the winder keeps it wound but because of the angle it probably loses 4-5 seconds per day.  My Dagaz on its current setting really doesn't lose any time on the winder.  I haven't tried the Rolex on it yet because I've worn it almost constantly