Rob-F
Likes Leicas
I love the looks of this one! Such a highly readable dial and so nice looking.
jonal928
Well-known
Everything is in the DNA
Everything is in the DNA
First of all, thank you for your response.
You know how things go. Let's just say, thate, if a company like Breitling, had to rely on pilots as its main customers, any interest in selling wristwatches to the general public, would be listed in the company's books as losses ...
In Breitling, they realized pretty quickly, that watches like the legendary Navitimer, are legends that will go magic on buyers. But in reality, unlike fairy tales, there are no Cinderellas. And a pilot watch as good as it can be, which has no protection against water, and its mechanism is completely manual, will not put much money into the company's bank account.
So Breitling decided to adopt a different approach, offering a multitude of watch models that drew inspiration from the company's pilot watches. These were automatic watches with proven mechanisms - whether it's calibers like the valjoux 7750, or the company's self-made caliber 01. Thus, Breitling's loyal clientele received successful pilot watches along with watches that looked like, but also provided the "bling" which was so necessary to transmit to everyone the right feeling along with success.
As mentioned, just like the Porsche 911 lovers, who refuse to get a non-air-cooled engine and see a sporting SUV as a matter of blasphemy, so are just Breitling lovers, who don't connect with the Glitz & Glamor line with whom the company went. Which is completely understandable. Ultimately, the scales are the determinants, and although we sometimes twist our noses against a wristwatch that seems to us particularly exaggerated, we can say that in the line of profit Breitling has succeeded well and even managed to preserve its unique DNA.
Everything is in the DNA
First of all, thank you for your response.
You know how things go. Let's just say, thate, if a company like Breitling, had to rely on pilots as its main customers, any interest in selling wristwatches to the general public, would be listed in the company's books as losses ...
In Breitling, they realized pretty quickly, that watches like the legendary Navitimer, are legends that will go magic on buyers. But in reality, unlike fairy tales, there are no Cinderellas. And a pilot watch as good as it can be, which has no protection against water, and its mechanism is completely manual, will not put much money into the company's bank account.
So Breitling decided to adopt a different approach, offering a multitude of watch models that drew inspiration from the company's pilot watches. These were automatic watches with proven mechanisms - whether it's calibers like the valjoux 7750, or the company's self-made caliber 01. Thus, Breitling's loyal clientele received successful pilot watches along with watches that looked like, but also provided the "bling" which was so necessary to transmit to everyone the right feeling along with success.
As mentioned, just like the Porsche 911 lovers, who refuse to get a non-air-cooled engine and see a sporting SUV as a matter of blasphemy, so are just Breitling lovers, who don't connect with the Glitz & Glamor line with whom the company went. Which is completely understandable. Ultimately, the scales are the determinants, and although we sometimes twist our noses against a wristwatch that seems to us particularly exaggerated, we can say that in the line of profit Breitling has succeeded well and even managed to preserve its unique DNA.
Archiver
Veteran
Loving these stories! @calzone, @donal928, such cool tales. I've loved watches since I was a kid, often wandering into jewelry shops and taking the catalogues on the display cabinets. I still have a collection of catalogues from local shops, as well as Seiko, Citizen, Omega, Tissot and later Breitling, Rolex and IWC. Something that thrills me is that Seiko knows that enthusiasts love the older, discontinued models, and have begun to reissue them in modern form over the last few years. We're seeing reissues of classic dive watches that were popular during the Vietnam war, and the development of the Grand Seiko line which rivals its high end Swiss counterparts.
There's quite a crossover between people who love cameras, watches, and often things like pens, guns, knives, cars and motorbikes. I think the sense of 'collection' is a part of it, as well as the appreciation of physical design and manufacture.
There's quite a crossover between people who love cameras, watches, and often things like pens, guns, knives, cars and motorbikes. I think the sense of 'collection' is a part of it, as well as the appreciation of physical design and manufacture.
jonal928
Well-known
There is a complete correlation between our passion for cameras,
watches, cars, motorcycles, musical instruments and old stereos.
All we need to produce a photo is the click of a button. But what
kind of button is this, and what it means. And let me tell you, that
right at the point of pressing the camera shutter button, or pressing
the chronograph activation switch on your wristwatch, begins a long
road of research that we all go through at some point in our lives;
A way that ends up falling in love with the device; And that could
be the camera, or the wristwatch, or your motorcycle, and so on
with all that other jazz ...
Because the same shutter button, which begins and ends in a single
instant, the act of photography, is actually a series of mechanical
operations that require great discipline and precision. These can,
for example, be the order of the plunger and the speed of an old
boxer two-cylinder engine, or the amount of time it takes to heat
the vacuum tube in Amplifier before the latter, combined with the
rest of the sound system components, produces sounds that you
indulge in and dive into.
Compared to mechanical cameras, watch calibers are required to
undergo a rigorous regime of pressure and speed, all during many
years of work, in which they need to move constantly and act
recisely to show the exchange of time. And as with cameras,
wristwatch calibers, too, get worn out and erode over time, and
should be brought to the watchmaker to bring them back to normal activity.
And like watches, cameras also operate under a strict time regime.
Make no mistake, because an electronic camera, say the Nikon F5,
is another collection of chips installed on a flexible electronic board
array. That's not the case. When you have the Nikon F5 in your
hands you can easily feel the mass of this huge structure and
appreciate those who designed and built it. The Nikon F5 also
needs that crucial moment of time, in order to transmit light to
the organic material which is the photographic film, from which the
image will be obtained. And to do this accurately and for decades,
As we can prove with all our years of accumulated experience with
the camera today, we need the mechanical operation of the shutter
and the mirror. And the Nikon F5 as experience proves, will do so
without any complaints over one million shutter presses.
So, we can love the Nikon F5, and equally admire the patina patches
created in the old Leica M black lacquer. And just the same things can
be thrown at watches, sound systems, cars and motorcycles that we
all embrace and admire.
**
watches, cars, motorcycles, musical instruments and old stereos.
All we need to produce a photo is the click of a button. But what
kind of button is this, and what it means. And let me tell you, that
right at the point of pressing the camera shutter button, or pressing
the chronograph activation switch on your wristwatch, begins a long
road of research that we all go through at some point in our lives;
A way that ends up falling in love with the device; And that could
be the camera, or the wristwatch, or your motorcycle, and so on
with all that other jazz ...
Because the same shutter button, which begins and ends in a single
instant, the act of photography, is actually a series of mechanical
operations that require great discipline and precision. These can,
for example, be the order of the plunger and the speed of an old
boxer two-cylinder engine, or the amount of time it takes to heat
the vacuum tube in Amplifier before the latter, combined with the
rest of the sound system components, produces sounds that you
indulge in and dive into.
Compared to mechanical cameras, watch calibers are required to
undergo a rigorous regime of pressure and speed, all during many
years of work, in which they need to move constantly and act
recisely to show the exchange of time. And as with cameras,
wristwatch calibers, too, get worn out and erode over time, and
should be brought to the watchmaker to bring them back to normal activity.
And like watches, cameras also operate under a strict time regime.
Make no mistake, because an electronic camera, say the Nikon F5,
is another collection of chips installed on a flexible electronic board
array. That's not the case. When you have the Nikon F5 in your
hands you can easily feel the mass of this huge structure and
appreciate those who designed and built it. The Nikon F5 also
needs that crucial moment of time, in order to transmit light to
the organic material which is the photographic film, from which the
image will be obtained. And to do this accurately and for decades,
As we can prove with all our years of accumulated experience with
the camera today, we need the mechanical operation of the shutter
and the mirror. And the Nikon F5 as experience proves, will do so
without any complaints over one million shutter presses.
So, we can love the Nikon F5, and equally admire the patina patches
created in the old Leica M black lacquer. And just the same things can
be thrown at watches, sound systems, cars and motorcycles that we
all embrace and admire.
**
Pál_K
Cameras. I has it.
Such lovely photos on this thread.
Who will love our watches and cameras when we're gone?
Who will love our watches and cameras when we're gone?
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
There is a saying, "You know you are a redneck when half the cars you own are not running." LOL. At one time I owned 4 cars and I happened to live in the "Idle Hour" section of Oakdale which was formally a Vanderbuilt estate. For some reason the neighbors did not call the cops on me.
In a way I kinda had a junk yard set up in this afluent neighborhood. How cool is that? LOL.
So one of my cars was this 1964 Ford Falcon that I called the "Ratmoble." This car was half maroon/ half bare metal rust. On the front passenger side there was no floorboard so when it rained and I drove though a puddle I got splashed. Understand that this car had a $300.00 bike roof rack, and the roof rack was worth more than the car.
I had a Saab 900 four-door that was my "chick-car."
There was 1982 Firebird that I bought from this English guy who installed a ZZ3 crate motor (Corvette engine) and lost his license doing 135 mph on Montaulk Highway out in the Hamptons. This engine had 350 HP and 400 foot pounds of torque.
I bought the Firebird for the motor to transplant into a 1984 Jeep Scrambler that had a half cab, big tires, and a lift. I had armored the Jeep because I worked at Grumman and knew all the right people. Effectively I built an urban assault vehicle before they developed the HumVee.
The Scrambler had a Ford 9 inch rear, posi. With the top off and minis the doors it only weighed 3,000 pounds, and in a drag race could beat a SVO Mustang.
When I was 15 I had a Ducati motorcycle when my friends had ten-speed Schwin Varsities.
Watches, cameras, cars, motorcycles, guitars, basses, bicycles, and tube amps to me are all pretty much the same.
Currently I don't own a car nor motorcycle.
Cal
In a way I kinda had a junk yard set up in this afluent neighborhood. How cool is that? LOL.
So one of my cars was this 1964 Ford Falcon that I called the "Ratmoble." This car was half maroon/ half bare metal rust. On the front passenger side there was no floorboard so when it rained and I drove though a puddle I got splashed. Understand that this car had a $300.00 bike roof rack, and the roof rack was worth more than the car.
I had a Saab 900 four-door that was my "chick-car."
There was 1982 Firebird that I bought from this English guy who installed a ZZ3 crate motor (Corvette engine) and lost his license doing 135 mph on Montaulk Highway out in the Hamptons. This engine had 350 HP and 400 foot pounds of torque.
I bought the Firebird for the motor to transplant into a 1984 Jeep Scrambler that had a half cab, big tires, and a lift. I had armored the Jeep because I worked at Grumman and knew all the right people. Effectively I built an urban assault vehicle before they developed the HumVee.
The Scrambler had a Ford 9 inch rear, posi. With the top off and minis the doors it only weighed 3,000 pounds, and in a drag race could beat a SVO Mustang.
When I was 15 I had a Ducati motorcycle when my friends had ten-speed Schwin Varsities.
Watches, cameras, cars, motorcycles, guitars, basses, bicycles, and tube amps to me are all pretty much the same.
Currently I don't own a car nor motorcycle.
Cal
Pál_K
Cameras. I has it.
Pix of the Ducati? I love the 900SS. Friend has a black one.
Rob-F
Likes Leicas
Want to be James Bond
**
Don't want to be James Bond
**
I don't quite get it. I haven't seen all the Bond movies. Did he wear a Doxa in one of them? I'm pretty sure he wore an Omega in at least one. So why would Omega be the Don't want to be James Bond?
Jeremy Z
Well-known
With the Doxa, it's a Dirk Pitt reference, from the books of a famous author. (I'm blanking on his name right now) Though Dirk's was orange, I think...
Not sure who that Omega Seamaster pic is referencing, as it's nothing like the ones Bond has worn in the last 20 years.
jonal928
Well-known
A bit of explanation about both watches.
I was one of the lucky ones to have first ordered the Doxa SUB 300 Searambler watch even before it was manufactured. When Doxa decided to produce a limited amount of 300 SUB watches, I was not ashamed to ask them that the watch designed for me would have a serial number that would be as low as possible.
Fate came out and Doxa sent me a watch whose serial number is 007 as the nickname of Her Majesty's Secret Agent James Bond. Also and to my knowledge, in the James Bond movie series, you will not find a Doxa wrist watch. Omega watches, on the other hand, have Bond films and plenty.
And although writer Ian Fleming's Rolex 1016 Explorer is Bond's original watch, cinematic reality prioritizes Omega's dive watches as the original Bond watches. But the Omega Seamaster 200 Pre-Bond dive watch that I own has never been part of Bond movies, and that's what I'm proud of.
References
*https://www.fratellowatches.com/doxa-sub-300-searambler-review/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05H9Ocw9Tas
goamules
Well-known
It's funny, but this has been a watch week for me. Went to a Navy reunion and many of my tech shipmates were wearing Rolexes and Omegas. I've never been a watch guy. Cameras, vintage motorcycles, antiques of all kinds. Shoot wetplate no less. But never figured out why a fine $200 Seiko was not nearly as good as a $12,000 Rolex. I believe it's pretty much the price tag that people want, not the timekeeping. As the intro to this thread spoke of, it's all about bragging rights and jealousy. The timeless Leica IIIF being "better" than a Nicca III-S. You know, because it's more expensive.
But my old Swiss Army watch that worked for 10 years died a year ago, and I got tired of pulling a cell phone out of my pocket, pushing buttons to see what the damn time was. So before the reunion I decided to go antiquing in town, and look for a watch. Quickly, I was leaving in a couple days, no time for careful, tedious ebay searching.
I hit several pawn and coin shops, and had a guy bring this one out he had just gotten in. 1950s Girard-Perregaux that seemed to be working, I talked him down to $80.
When in Las Vegas, I showed my shipmate. He is really into Omegas (was wearing a Rolex), and took me into several boutiques to price them. Many thousands, many times more than my $80 Swiss watch, happily ticking along on my wrist. I figure I can buy 2-3 vintage motorcycles, or a good portion of a new truck for the price of one of these luxury items. That just tell the time, unless you get close enough to brandish the logo at someone. I guess I'm into vintage quality that is under the radar of most.
But my old Swiss Army watch that worked for 10 years died a year ago, and I got tired of pulling a cell phone out of my pocket, pushing buttons to see what the damn time was. So before the reunion I decided to go antiquing in town, and look for a watch. Quickly, I was leaving in a couple days, no time for careful, tedious ebay searching.
I hit several pawn and coin shops, and had a guy bring this one out he had just gotten in. 1950s Girard-Perregaux that seemed to be working, I talked him down to $80.
When in Las Vegas, I showed my shipmate. He is really into Omegas (was wearing a Rolex), and took me into several boutiques to price them. Many thousands, many times more than my $80 Swiss watch, happily ticking along on my wrist. I figure I can buy 2-3 vintage motorcycles, or a good portion of a new truck for the price of one of these luxury items. That just tell the time, unless you get close enough to brandish the logo at someone. I guess I'm into vintage quality that is under the radar of most.
Archiver
Veteran
I have much younger relatives with equally strong penchants for collection and appreciation of mechanical design, not to mention sentimental value. They will probably get my watches and cameras.
If I discover otherwise in the coming years, I'll will them as a collection somewhere.
Archiver
Veteran
Archiver
Veteran
Very cool on both counts. I came across Doxa in the late 90s/early 2000s when I was experiencing a resurgence in watch interest. The new Doxa dive watches looked super appealing, but I never got one. And that Seamaster, so nice! Is there a story behind that one, too?
Funny story. A few years ago, I saw an orange dial Doxa in the window of a shop. Having never seen one of those before, I went in to ask about it. The shop has been there for years, and sells a range of new and secondhand watches, usually in the realm of vintage Bulova, Seiko, Baume et Mercier, that sort of thing. The grizzled European shopkeeper came out from the back, and the conversation went something like this:
Me: "There's an orange dialed watch in the window, could I have a look at it?"
Him: "It's not for sale. I was thinking of selling it, but I found it is rare. So I'm not doing that."
He went to the front window cabinet and took it out, looking at it and turning it over in his hands.
Me: "Oh, I see. Is it a vintage Doxa, or one of the new production models?"
Him: blinks and looks at me curiously. "It's vintage."
Then he turned around and walked back into the back room of the shop, taking the watch with him!
I took this photo before I entered the shop, though. Haha! Taken with my Ricoh GXR and 28mm aps-c module, cropped for detail.
Attachments
jawarden
Well-known
For some people you're absolutely right, they buy expensive jewelry to impress. That's fine by me.
For others that are interested in the history of timekeeping, navigation and finding longitude, tribology, mechanical complications, etc, well then wristwatches might mean a whole lot more than signaling wealth. For those with an interest in such things a little research will show that a $12K Rolex is a whole 'nother animal from a $200 Seiko, and also that a humble $200 Seiko is a wonderful manufacturing accomplishment in its own right.
Seiko makes watches well beyond the $12K mark too, by the way, and they're very special indeed. But because they say Seiko on the dial they're easily confused as more pedestrian Seikos, making them excellent under-the-radar watches for people who enjoy the very high end of horology but don't want to crow about it.
kshapero
South Florida Man
100% mechanical, no eco drive, no batteries.
Archiver
Veteran
It's threads like these that make me wish there was a Like button for posts on RFF.
jawarden
Well-known
The new Apple watches have an always-on display. I think it just took them some time to design around the power consumption issues of always-on watch faces.
