Watchlords

The reviewer is asking whether watches like the Fossil should be dismissed by the cognoscenti simply because they are inexpensive and can be found at any mall department store.

For the money, he finds the quartz Fossil to be quite acceptable for the most part. While the dial diameter and lug to lug width is a bit large for his svelte wrist, the bracelet is quite nice for the price point.






https://twobrokewatchsnobs.com/fossil-w ... -and-info/

Most department store watch counters are filled with gaudy and visually disgusting watches; so much so that I scarcely glance in their direction as I head for the shoe department (there was a sale on).

I felt this way even before I had bought my first watch; they all just looked rather cheesy. Now, this particular Fossil doesn't look that cheap but it's also unlikely to be one of the watches on display unless that jewelry department manager has a modicum of taste. (remember where I live. ps: it's not Manhattan)

For my first watches, after running quite violently from the shopping mall, I perused the internet for the brand that for me said "good watch". Yes, I was looking for Citizen watches. And I found them, and bought a couple. Then I saw, and appreciated or understood, the deficiencies between what was offered and what I, in my moderately successful career as mad scientist, could afford.

And so the sickness began. At least I'm vaccinated against Michael Kors, Fossil, Invicta, Daniel Wellington, etc., etc.

That's not bad at all. Nothing much really wrong with it. If one is being really fussy, perhaps the hand lengths are too similar. I like it.

Too fucking big. Also, I'd rather not waste any more time of my life wearing a hundred dollar watch. Every minute I'd wear this flat behemoth I'd find myself thinking, "why am I wearing this thing instead of a Sinn or a Tudor?" I do this when wearing the new Seiko 5 GMT, which cost five times this much.

conjurer wrote: ↑

October 21st 2022, 10:03pm

Too fucking big. Also, I'd rather not waste any more time of my life wearing a hundred dollar watch. Every minute I'd wear this flat behemoth I'd find myself thinking, "why am I wearing this thing instead of a Sinn or a Tudor?" I do this when wearing the new Seiko 5 GMT, which cost five times this much.

Nice enough looking if the wearer can carry off the size - nice for folks just looking for a decent watch at the department store or TJ Max watch counter.

It would be interesting to know what the "lesser quality stainless steel" is.

conjurer wrote: ↑

October 21st 2022, 10:03pm

Too fucking big. Also, I'd rather not waste any more time of my life wearing a hundred dollar watch. Every minute I'd wear this flat behemoth I'd find myself thinking, "why am I wearing this thing instead of a Sinn or a Tudor?" I do this when wearing the new Seiko 5 GMT, which cost five times this much.

Bad day at the office?

jason_recliner wrote: ↑

October 22nd 2022, 8:14pm

conjurer wrote: ↑

October 21st 2022, 10:03pm

Too fucking big. Also, I'd rather not waste any more time of my life wearing a hundred dollar watch. Every minute I'd wear this flat behemoth I'd find myself thinking, "why am I wearing this thing instead of a Sinn or a Tudor?" I do this when wearing the new Seiko 5 GMT, which cost five times this much.

Bad day at the office?

Methinks some people (particularly me) are done wearing cheap battery powered watches, particularly if fugly like the OP watch.

And my office is in my house and I no longer work for the man

Fossil did make some pretty cool L.E.D./LCD ana-digi watches.
I emphasise did.

codguy wrote: ↑

October 23rd 2022, 6:47am

jason_recliner wrote: ↑

October 22nd 2022, 8:14pm

conjurer wrote: ↑

October 21st 2022, 10:03pm

Too fucking big. Also, I'd rather not waste any more time of my life wearing a hundred dollar watch. Every minute I'd wear this flat behemoth I'd find myself thinking, "why am I wearing this thing instead of a Sinn or a Tudor?" I do this when wearing the new Seiko 5 GMT, which cost five times this much.

Bad day at the office?

Methinks some people (particularly me) are done wearing cheap battery powered watches, particularly if fugly like the OP watch.

And my office is in my house and I no longer work for the man

I'm not snobbish jaded sophisticated enough that I can't appreciate notable stylistic professionalism and the quality and integrity of engineering that goes into making a desirable (to beautiful young people) watch like that available for a hundred bucks, or wish to spend all my time at home and have no contact with civilisation. Perhaps related, I appreciate grilled cheese on toast and get a kick out of seeing a new flower unfurling, or a community garden working bee installing a fire pit. Fingers crossed I can one day overcome these boorish and oafish tendencies, and spend my final days basking in a blissful sense of superiority over my fellow man

ps - apologies Conjurer, I didn't realise you don't 'work for the man' these days.

jason_recliner wrote: ↑

October 25th 2022, 11:04pm

codguy wrote: ↑

October 23rd 2022, 6:47am

jason_recliner wrote: ↑

October 22nd 2022, 8:14pm

conjurer wrote: ↑

October 21st 2022, 10:03pm

Too fucking big. Also, I'd rather not waste any more time of my life wearing a hundred dollar watch. Every minute I'd wear this flat behemoth I'd find myself thinking, "why am I wearing this thing instead of a Sinn or a Tudor?" I do this when wearing the new Seiko 5 GMT, which cost five times this much.

Bad day at the office?

Methinks some people (particularly me) are done wearing cheap battery powered watches, particularly if fugly like the OP watch.

And my office is in my house and I no longer work for the man

I'm not snobbish jaded sophisticated enough that I can't appreciate notable stylistic professionalism and the quality and integrity of engineering that goes into making a desirable (to beautiful young people) watch like that available for a hundred bucks, or wish to spend all my time at home and have no contact with civilisation. Perhaps related, I appreciate grilled cheese on toast and get a kick out of seeing a new flower unfurling, or a community garden working bee installing a fire pit. Fingers crossed I can one day overcome these boorish and oafish tendencies, and spend my final days basking in a blissful sense of superiority over my fellow man

ps - apologies Conjurer, I didn't realise you don't 'work for the man' these days.

No apologies necessary, Herr Tobes. I do work for the man, and he treats me well.

I have no issues with young people, coming into the hobby, starting with a Fossil watch (although they would get a better watch, for the same money, if they started with an Orient, or Seiko, or Citizen.) Also, if a guy's budget is such that a Seiko 5er is the best they can comfortably afford, I'd certainly rather see them wearing one than a Daniel Wellington or, worser, a smartwartche. I myself have never worn a Fossil, although I bought a few for Mrs. C, and they all died sometime after the first battery change (or before.) I do own a Zodiac Super Sea Wolf GMT, which is part of Fossil, but rarely wear it because it is, possibly, the gheyist watch on the planet since Red Sea Watches folded.

I prefer to wear, usually, a Sinn or a Tudor or even *gasp* a Rolex, because, when I check the time, I can see it rendered accurately and have the satisfaction that I find myself at a place where I can afford a fine watch, and be happy about that. I don't get that feeling when I wear an inexpensive mall watch.

conjurer wrote: ↑

October 26th 2022, 8:17am

jason_recliner wrote: ↑

October 25th 2022, 11:04pm

codguy wrote: ↑

October 23rd 2022, 6:47am

jason_recliner wrote: ↑

October 22nd 2022, 8:14pm

conjurer wrote: ↑

October 21st 2022, 10:03pm

Too fucking big. Also, I'd rather not waste any more time of my life wearing a hundred dollar watch. Every minute I'd wear this flat behemoth I'd find myself thinking, "why am I wearing this thing instead of a Sinn or a Tudor?" I do this when wearing the new Seiko 5 GMT, which cost five times this much.

Bad day at the office?

Methinks some people (particularly me) are done wearing cheap battery powered watches, particularly if fugly like the OP watch.

And my office is in my house and I no longer work for the man

I'm not snobbish jaded sophisticated enough that I can't appreciate notable stylistic professionalism and the quality and integrity of engineering that goes into making a desirable (to beautiful young people) watch like that available for a hundred bucks, or wish to spend all my time at home and have no contact with civilisation. Perhaps related, I appreciate grilled cheese on toast and get a kick out of seeing a new flower unfurling, or a community garden working bee installing a fire pit. Fingers crossed I can one day overcome these boorish and oafish tendencies, and spend my final days basking in a blissful sense of superiority over my fellow man

ps - apologies Conjurer, I didn't realise you don't 'work for the man' these days.

No apologies necessary, Herr Tobes. I do work for the man, and he treats me well.

I have no issues with young people, coming into the hobby, starting with a Fossil watch (although they would get a better watch, for the same money, if they started with an Orient, or Seiko, or Citizen.) Also, if a guy's budget is such that a Seiko 5er is the best they can comfortably afford, I'd certainly rather see them wearing one than a Daniel Wellington or, worser, a smartwartche. I myself have never worn a Fossil, although I bought a few for Mrs. C, and they all died sometime after the first battery change (or before.) I do own a Zodiac Super Sea Wolf GMT, which is part of Fossil, but rarely wear it because it is, possibly, the gheyist watch on the planet since Red Sea Watches folded.

I prefer to wear, usually, a Sinn or a Tudor or even *gasp* a Rolex, because, when I check the time, I can see it rendered accurately and have the satisfaction that I find myself at a place where I can afford a fine watch, and be happy about that. I don't get that feeling when I wear an inexpensive mall watch.

Wise words.

jason_recliner wrote: ↑

October 25th 2022, 11:04pm

codguy wrote: ↑

October 23rd 2022, 6:47am

Methinks some people (particularly me) are done wearing cheap battery powered watches, particularly if fugly like the OP watch.

And my office is in my house and I no longer work for the man

ps - apologies Conjurer, I didn't realise you don't 'work for the man' these days.

Make no mistake Lord Underscore, I was not speaking for Lord conjurer, I was speaking only for myself hence my use of "me", "my" and "I".



If I am a snob for not wanting to wear a hundred dollar mall watch, so be it. And if I have a hard time understanding why watch folks (read non-beginners) on this forum digging cheap kiosk wartches, so be it also too.

Must bea snob since the most inexpensive wartch I've purchased and worn in the past 12 years or so is probably my Damasko D36 @ $1,300usd .
Am I a snob?? Probably, if one considers cheap watches unappealing as being snobbish. OK with me.

Now if I could only afford one of these---------

I am a snob. I revel in it. I'm a snob in my watches, I'm a snob in the books I read, the TV and movies I watch, in the food that I eat. Too many people today have such plebeian taste.

Here I stand; I can do no other.

45mm wide and 53mm lug to lug. Man, that is way too big. Chr Ward made the equally minimalist 595 mechanical, which was 39mm and 6mm thick. Some still complained it sat weird on the wrist.

codguy wrote: ↑

October 26th 2022, 10:15am

jason_recliner wrote: ↑

October 25th 2022, 11:04pm

codguy wrote: ↑

October 23rd 2022, 6:47am

Methinks some people (particularly me) are done wearing cheap battery powered watches, particularly if fugly like the OP watch.

And my office is in my house and I no longer work for the man

ps - apologies Conjurer, I didn't realise you don't 'work for the man' these days.

Make no mistake Lord Underscore, I was not speaking for Lord conjurer, I was speaking only for myself hence my use of "me", "my" and "I".



If I am a snob for not wanting to wear a hundred dollar mall watch, so be it. And if I have a hard time understanding why watch folks (read non-beginners) on this forum digging cheap kiosk wartches, so be it also too.

Must bea snob since the most inexpensive wartch I've purchased and worn in the past 12 years or so is probably my Damasko D36 @ $1,300usd .
Am I a snob?? Probably, if one considers cheap watches unappealing as being snobbish. OK with me.

Now if I could only afford one of these---------

https://www.jomashop.com/mathey-tissot- ... 152ti.html

ocean wrote: ↑

October 26th 2022, 8:29pm

codguy wrote: ↑

October 26th 2022, 10:15am

jason_recliner wrote: ↑

October 25th 2022, 11:04pm

codguy wrote: ↑

October 23rd 2022, 6:47am

Methinks some people (particularly me) are done wearing cheap battery powered watches, particularly if fugly like the OP watch.

And my office is in my house and I no longer work for the man

ps - apologies Conjurer, I didn't realise you don't 'work for the man' these days.

Make no mistake Lord Underscore, I was not speaking for Lord conjurer, I was speaking only for myself hence my use of "me", "my" and "I".



If I am a snob for not wanting to wear a hundred dollar mall watch, so be it. And if I have a hard time understanding why watch folks (read non-beginners) on this forum digging cheap kiosk wartches, so be it also too.

Must bea snob since the most inexpensive wartch I've purchased and worn in the past 12 years or so is probably my Damasko D36 @ $1,300usd .
Am I a snob?? Probably, if one considers cheap watches unappealing as being snobbish. OK with me.

Now if I could only afford one of these---------

https://www.jomashop.com/mathey-tissot- ... 152ti.html

Why, that would fool anybody, by golly!!

Wait... What? Red Sea Watches went under? Why is this the first I'm hearing about it?!?!?!

jason_recliner wrote: ↑

October 27th 2022, 6:34pm

Wait... What? Red Sea Watches went under? Why is this the first I'm hearing about it?!?!?!

Well, they had been going down since they started, FFS.

Yeeeeeah…. I dunno, I suppose it depends on my mood. I enjoy the confidence of being able to afford, for the most part, whatever I have desired. And I really used to enjoy buying a slew of affordable watches largely on impulse in between more significant finds. I honestly believe I have every watch that has ever appealed to me - though, to the point of several who have posted above, I also have grown to be less enthusiastic over some of my lower-end watches.

To the point where I do still actually enjoy owning some rather janky watches - though I often find I no longer have a motivating desire to wear them.

I’ll still replace the battery on the tired quartzes and occasionally modify some of the replaceable mechanical (read, ‘Seiko’) and I’ll wear them around the house and yard…. but if I leave the premises part of dressing appropriate will include wearing a watch of quality rather than novelty. I still like the Orient I wore swimming, but an Omega is more appropriate for dinner.

Shitty watches are a lot like Lemons racers - they can still be fun despite the questionable quality - according to both the hillbillies and the affluent who wear/race them. But where the hillbilly wouldn’t think twice about driving a shitbox Lemons racer on the street, his affluent counterpart wouldn’t be caught dead around a Lemons car away from the track, in public.

Snobbery? Probably. Two-faced? Nah, don’t be rude - you wouldn’t go to a restaurant wearing a muster-stained wife-beater t-shirt, right?

The Fossil is like a clean wife-beater. It’s a little awkward and doesn’t look to be properly proportioned but it could be suitable for use while working in the yard, or while watching a movie. When the movie’s over and it’s time to go to that stupid charity auction a Fossil simply will not do.

A vintage Seiko would be a more interesting talking point, or for even the most rigid of budgets you can’t go wrong with a Hamilton.

I have a moratorium on any new quartz powered watches.

codguy wrote: ↑

October 26th 2022, 10:15am

And if I have a hard time understanding why watch folks (read non-beginners) on this forum digging cheap kiosk wartches, so be it also too.

Besides me liking to quote myself, here is an additional point to above.

I get it if a first time watch wearer purchases a working claw machine watch, it is their first watch.

What I don't get are watch enthusiasts digging a third, fourth, fifth & more cheap watches after the the first.
You know like two $100 watches = a single $200, three @ $100 = an even nicer single $300 watch , two $500 watches could have purchased a decent watch for a grand. etc., etc.

We have all heard of forum members here/elsewhere claim not being able to purchase a $1,000 watch due to financial restraints-------but has purchased a sock drawer full of cheap watches within afew months time that totaled more than $2K.


Thats my caffeinated coffee rant cecil for this morning, now to find more of my posts I can quote.

If I like the way the watch looks, I may buy it.

I rarely think, it's too inexpensive for me to wear.

I drink wine. I appreciate wine. I can afford to drink $40-50-60 a bottle wine, night after night. But I don't. I can find plenty of wine costing much less that I enjoy just as much or almost as much. Probably enjoy them more because I can drink more of them for the same amount of money. Every once in a while, I'll run across some amazingly good wine and I'll buy it, damn the cost. But that doesn't mean I'll stop drinking the every day "slugging" wine. I won't let snobbery cripple my appreciation for tasty wines that happen to be less expensive.

Nobody has ever looked at my wine glass and asked why I'm drinking such cheap swill. Nor have they ever noticed any watch I've ever worn. So i drink the wine I like and wear the watch I like.

If for some reason, I can't bear the thought of wearing a less expensive watch, I'd have to take a step back and consider why I've made that decision.

Mind you, there are "reverse snobs" that are outspokenly proud of the fact they've never worn anything better than a quartz Timex bought at the Wal-mart. And when they keep better time than that Rolex, won't ever get stolen, and can be replaced every year indefinitely without ever costing in total as much as a servicing of said Rolex, they may have a point. A point only snobs will bother arguing over. (Rolex owner vs. Timex owner).

I like your wine analogy…

codguy wrote: ↑

October 26th 2022, 10:15am

Now if I could only afford one of these---------

Hehehehehe

Yeah nah.

The fossil isn't perfect but it beats this wrist-shrine to epic ghey!

codguy wrote: ↑

October 26th 2022, 10:15am

...I have a hard time understanding why watch folks (read non-beginners) on this forum digging cheap kiosk wartches...

Speaking for myself only, it's much harder to engineer a cheap high quality item than an expensive one. When a manufacturer achieves this and puts a high quality well designed item within reach of many I appreciate the effort and skills of the product team that this represents.

codguy wrote: ↑

October 28th 2022, 6:41am

What I don't get are watch enthusiasts digging a third, fourth, fifth & more cheap watches after the the first.

I don't want to wear the same watch every day for various reasons.