Wednesdays child is full of tea...

[briantrumpet]

Small pleasures: replacing the battery in my cheap Casio analogue watch. 80p. Good for another year or three.

Off to do a lesson later... despite the lack of mountains, snow, or sunshine, to make the ride in more pleasurable.

Aldi-sourced dinner to cook later: chicken thighs in some sort of tomato & mushroom sauce. Quick, simple & cheap. And warming, which is just as well, as the house is taking a while to get above 13C. It's obviously taken umbrage at being left empty for three weeks.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Small pleasures: replacing the battery in my cheap Casio analogue watch. 80p. Good for another year or three.

Off to do a lesson later... despite the lack of mountains, snow, or sunshine, to make the ride in more pleasurable.

Aldi-sourced dinner to cook later: chicken thighs in some sort of tomato & mushroom sauce. Quick, simple & cheap. And warming, which is just as well, as the house is taking a while to get above 13C. It's obviously taken umbrage at being left empty for three weeks.

That is the benefit of a digital watch. The problem with 'luxury watches' is the cost whenever anything needs servicing or replacing. When the crown winding tube broke on mine a few years back it cost £400 to replace. The watch was a gift so I couldn't complain too much!

My faith in humanity had a welcome jump start today. Puncture out in the cold, two car drivers stopped and asked if I wanted help. The second even offered to stick my bike in the back and drop me home. I was just getting the tire back on so I politely declined but the offer was much appreciated.

 

[briantrumpet]

That is the benefit of a digital watch. The problem with 'luxury watches' is the cost whenever anything needs servicing or replacing. When the crown winding tube broke on mine a few years back it cost £400 to replace. The watch was a gift so I couldn't complain too much!

I've never understood the attraction of fancy watches - to me they are just something to tell the time accurately. £20 fits the bill quite nicely.

Being a tightwad most of the time does mean that one can afford the odd other big ticket item...

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

I've never understood the attraction of fancy watches - to me they are just something to tell the time accurately. £20 fits the bill quite nicely.

Being a tightwad most of the time does mean that one can afford the odd other big ticket item...

I have to admit to liking them, but I also fully accept that the prices are ludicrous, and they don't offer any real value for money.

 

[briantrumpet]

I have to admit to liking them, but I also fully accept that the prices are ludicrous, and they don't offer any real value for money.

I know that there were a few Cakestoppers who liked their fancy watches. It's just not something I can really wrap my head around, any more than finding football interesting, or liking tea. I've just come to accept that there's a lot I don't understand, and to be content with that state of affairs.

As one of my favourite games is to take them off and put them in a pocket, and only remember where I've put it once it's finished the spin cycle in the washing machine, a £20 watch is probably all I should be trusted with, TBH.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

and only remember where I've put it once it's finished the spin cycle in the washing machine, a £20 watch is probably all I should be trusted with, TBH.

I think it was Seano that managed to drop his brand new £2500 Tudor watch on the floor and smash the glass on it!

 

[TLW1]

Meh, long ass day in the office with a broken windscreen to add to January’s costs

Decent run when I got back and now chilling in the hot tub

 

[Stevo 666]

I know that there were a few Cakestoppers who liked their fancy watches. It's just not something I can really wrap my head around, any more than finding football interesting, or liking tea. I've just come to accept that there's a lot I don't understand, and to be content with that state of affairs.

As one of my favourite games is to take them off and put them in a pocket, and only remember where I've put it once it's finished the spin cycle in the washing machine, a £20 watch is probably all I should be trusted with, TBH.

I was one of them and still am - my geeky hobby. Not sure it can be properly understood, just one of those things. Although I agree with MG that the prices are silly, especially these days. Luckily I've pretty much completed the collection and might even offload a few 🙂

 

[Stevo 666]

I have to admit to liking them, but I also fully accept that the prices are ludicrous, and they don't offer any real value for money.

Agree, new prices are pretty offensive these days - for the better known 'premium' brands at least.

 

[briantrumpet]

I was one of them and still am - my geeky hobby. Not sure it can be properly understood, just one of those things. Although I agree with MG that the prices are silly, especially these days. Luckily I've pretty much completed the collection and might even offload a few 🙂

I remembered you were one of them (were there more?) Making a collection I can sort of understand... it seems to be a human thing. I've got a friend whose parents were addicted to collecting Chinese porcelain, and their house was stuffed with it. They knew their subject, enjoyed sniffing out the interesting but not expensive stuff, and doing the whole auction house thing. I suspect you apprecaite the delicate engineering side of watches, as well as the aesthetics.

A former accountant of mine once suggested that collecting valuables (or 'over-capitalising' on the housing front) might be a sensible part of retirement planning, rather than shoving everything into a pension which gives no pleasure and you can't touch for decades.

I think I can understand the 'collecting' thing much more easily than walking round with a £20k watch that tells exactly the same time as my £20 Casio watch with an 80p battery.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Agree, new prices are pretty offensive these days - for the better known 'premium' brands at least.

Omega are perhaps the worst culprit, I counted 4 lots of price increases on a seamaster, each around 35% within a two year period.

 

[Stevo 666]

I remembered you were one of them (were there more?) Making a collection I can sort of understand... it seems to be a human thing. I've got a friend whose parents were addicted to collecting Chinese porcelain, and their house was stuffed with it. They knew their subject, enjoyed sniffing out the interesting but not expensive stuff, and doing the whole auction house thing. I suspect you apprecaite the delicate engineering side of watches, as well as the aesthetics.

A former accountant of mine once suggested that collecting valuables (or 'over-capitalising' on the housing front) might be a sensible part of retirement planning, rather than shoving everything into a pension which gives no pleasure and you can't touch for decades.

I think I can understand the 'collecting' thing much more easily than walking round with a £20k watch that tells exactly the same time as my £20 Casio watch with an 80p battery.

Me, MG and Sungod I recall - there may have been one or two others who kept quiet about it...

Like you say, its just one of those things that has no rational basis - why does anyone collect anything? I do appreciate the mechanical side a bit, but in the end its male jewellery. If I want the exact time I've got a G-Shock and a Pro-Trek 🙂

As for investment potential, unless you really know what you're doing or are a dealer I reckon it's up there with owning football clubs for losing money. I once got my money back on one and that was the best I ever managed.

 

[Stevo 666]

Omega are perhaps the worst culprit, I counted 4 lots of price increases on a seamaster, each around 35% within a two year period.

Yep, would never buy a new Omega now although they're not the only ones. Apart from one that I bought back in 2006, the only one I got in recent times was bought from a dealer in Tokyo - new, but surplus stock of a model discontinued a few years previously.

 

[briantrumpet]

but in the end its male jewellery.

I suppose, on the plus side, it's not an oversized signet ring or a gold pendant swinging amongst the abundant hair on your exposed chest. Or a tiara, but I haven't got you down as one who'd push the boundaries in that direction.

 

[Stevo 666]

I suppose, on the plus side, it's not an oversized signet ring or a gold pendant swinging amongst the abundant hair on your exposed chest. Or a tiara, but I haven't got you down as one who'd push the boundaries in that direction.

The nearest I have to that is a gold medal awarded to my grandfather close on 100 years ago when he retired as a professional footballer. Safe to say I've never worn it...