Opinions on Tag Heuer Automatic watches?

[tynopik]

pretty sure fine craftsmanship is pretty high up on the list of reasons to buy high quality things.

Your crazy if you think everything is just a label

the question isn't whether the watch has fine craftsmanship, the question is why do you care?

does the fine craftsmanship make it more accurate?

does the fine craftsmanship make it more rugged?

or, does the fine craftsmanship exist primarily to impress people?

 

[BoomerD]

Meh...a good watch is worth a bit more than a Timex or cheapo Casio. Not only because they're more accurate, but because they look better.

I had two $50 Casio watches. The hands actually fell off both of them.

IMO, IDGAF what someone else thinks of my watch...fuck them all...I care what I think of my watch.

(and I have BIG wrists...very few "stock" watch bands actually fit me right. I almost always have to buy a bigger band)

 

[lxskllr]

the question isn't whether the watch has fine craftsmanship, the question is why do you care?

does the fine craftsmanship make it more accurate?

does the fine craftsmanship make it more rugged?

or, does the fine craftsmanship exist primarily to impress people?

Like many things in life, what you know about an item affects enjoyment of that item. Swiss watches are the last word in mechanical precision. A Casio digital keeps time just as well, but a robotically assembled piece of silicon, rubber, and steel doesn't do much for the imagination, does it?

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Like many things in life, what you know about an item affects enjoyment of that item. Swiss watches are the last word in mechanical precision. A Casio digital keeps time just as well, but a robotically assembled piece of silicon, rubber, and steel doesn't do much for the imagination, does it?

My imagination is not so easily fooled. That "robotically assembled piece of silicon, rubber, and steel" does not in fact keep time just as well, it keeps time significantly more accurately for 1/1000th the price.

 

[lxskllr]

My imagination is not so easily fooled. That "robotically assembled piece of silicon, rubber, and steel" does not in fact keep time just as well, it keeps time significantly more accurately for 1/1000th the price.

Yea, so what? You buy Swiss for the engineering, and precise fitting of parts. If your life is defined by the accurate tallying of seconds, you're living wrong.

 

[CraKaJaX]

snip

That watch is a beaut!! I have a very good friend who collects watches that I've learned a lot from. My daily watch is a Citizen Eco-Drive right now but I've been wanting to get a high-end watch for some time now. This thread is just making me want one even more ...

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Yea, so what? You buy Swiss for the engineering, and precise fitting of parts. If your life is defined by the accurate tallying of seconds, you're living wrong.

No you don't! That's what you tell yourself. Your "engineering" produces accuracy worse than a $10 Casio and the "precise fitting of parts" is something you can't see, can't measure, can't appreciate and again, produces results worse than the oscillation of a quartz crystal in a watch without "precise fitting of parts".

A high end watch is not a time piece, it keeps time poorly compared to cheaper competitors. It's not quality "engineering", it's an overly complicated way to produce inferior results. As engineering goes, it's essentially a Rube Goldberg machine, too many parts to do something a dumb-ass inefficient way. It's jewelry, a decoration. Nothing more, nothing less. And that's fine. Nobody says a man can't wear jewelry. They can, if they desire, wear neck chains, decorative rings, earrings, watches, bracelets or even bedazzled scrotal piercings. There's no need to pretend a fashion accessory is anything more than a fashion accessory.

 

[Possessed Freak]

I used to wear watches, nothing so nice as that, but decent. I found the bulkyness on the wrist and the weight to be massively annoying. I now just use my cell phone if I must know the time and I am not near an office phone or computer (rarely). If I am not at work, I *really* don't care what time it is.

 

[lxskllr]

No you don't! That's what you tell yourself. Your "engineering" produces accuracy worse than a $10 Casio and the "precise fitting of parts" is something you can't see, can't measure, can't appreciate and again, produces results worse than the oscillation of a quartz crystal in a watch without "precise fitting of parts".

A high end watch is not a time piece, it keeps time poorly compared to cheaper competitors. It's not quality "engineering", it's an overly complicated way to produce inferior results. As engineering goes, it's essentially a Rube Goldberg machine, too many parts to do something a dumb-ass inefficient way. It's jewelry, a decoration. Nothing more, nothing less. And that's fine. Nobody says a man can't wear jewelry. They can, if they desire, wear neck chains, decorative rings, earrings, watches, bracelets or even bedazzled scrotal piercings. There's no need to pretend a fashion accessory is anything more than a fashion accessory.

My favorite clock in the house is a temperamental keywound mantle clock that needs adjusting every month. I have it cause it's a cool thing, not to tell time. I don't need a timepiece of any sort. I use my internal clock, the sun and the sky, and am always +- 15 minutes. That's all the accuracy I need. I still like my clock, and it's cooler than some digital piece of shit.

 

[ponyo]

I used to wear watches, nothing so nice as that, but decent. I found the bulkyness on the wrist and the weight to be massively annoying. I now just use my cell phone if I must know the time and I am not near an office phone or computer (rarely). If I am not at work, I *really* don't care what time it is.

Only time I wear a watch is when I'm at the beach or the pool so I can keep track of time in/around the water. Any other time I use my cell phone. I'm happy with the Seiko Black Monster diver watch. It looks good and it's cheap so I don't have to baby it and don't feel bad when I don't wear it for months at a time. I can easily afford nice Omega or Rolex but why? I'm not a watch person, and I don't have anyone to impress.

 

[JulesMaximus]

My favorite clock in the house is a temperamental keywound mantle clock that needs adjusting every month. I have it cause it's a cool thing, not to tell time. I don't need a timepiece of any sort. I use my internal clock, the sun and the sky, and am always +- 15 minutes. That's all the accuracy I need. I still like my clock, and it's cooler than some digital piece of shit.

:thumbsup: I also have a mantle clock that belonged to my Grandfather on my Dad's side, he loved clocks and collected them and this one is at least 50 years old if not older. It is key wound, runs for about a week before needing to be rewound and there are three movements to be wound.

I could have an electronic clock that plays the same chimes but I just love the mechanical clock. It is accurate enough as long as I keep it wound. Who the heck needs to know time down to the exact second anyway?

My Brother-In-Law has a beautiful wall clock that is key wound. It is a piece of artwork really and I love the way it looks and sounds. There is a devotion that comes with using a clock like that. It is something that can be appreciated for decades or longer. I have plenty of battery powered wall clocks. None of them are worth a damn but that mantle clock will be passed down to my son someday.

Man has been building timekeeping devices for centuries and it is this pursuit of accuracy and craftsmanship that I appreciate.

 

[JSt0rm]

If people lived their lives they way this forum think you should you would be in an all white room eating nutrient paste with a $6000 computer.

 

[DigDog]

my watch:

http://weirdape.com/products/mens-mirtello-gold-standard-mechanical-watch
a whoppin' 35 quid. ($50)
at times i have also worn

and

both heavy as bricks; although the diesel watch was surprisingly accurate. (he nixon was rubbish, 5+ minutes off per day)

 

[deadlyapp]

No you don't! That's what you tell yourself. Your "engineering" produces accuracy worse than a $10 Casio and the "precise fitting of parts" is something you can't see, can't measure, can't appreciate and again, produces results worse than the oscillation of a quartz crystal in a watch without "precise fitting of parts".

A high end watch is not a time piece, it keeps time poorly compared to cheaper competitors. It's not quality "engineering", it's an overly complicated way to produce inferior results. As engineering goes, it's essentially a Rube Goldberg machine, too many parts to do something a dumb-ass inefficient way. It's jewelry, a decoration. Nothing more, nothing less. And that's fine. Nobody says a man can't wear jewelry. They can, if they desire, wear neck chains, decorative rings, earrings, watches, bracelets or even bedazzled scrotal piercings. There's no need to pretend a fashion accessory is anything more than a fashion accessory.

Jesus aren't you a bundle of happiness.

 

[Brian Stirling]

I have a pretty nice Seiko that I received as a gift about 45 years ago, but since I spent 30+ years in the semiconductor industry and wearing watches wasn't permitted I lost the habit of wearing one. Also, for the better part of 20 years I've owned a cellphone and that has a clock that's more accurate than most any watch given the fact the time is constantly synced by the network and the network is tied to atomic clock timing.

But, I have been looking at some of the new smart watches as they have functionality that mech watches don't have. Things like fitness tracking with gps and heart rate.

But, many of these higher function smart watches are kind of fat/bulky and like many of the high end watches which are similarly fat/bulky they just don't make sense for anyone that's physically active.


Brian

 

[tynopik]

If people lived their lives they way this forum think you should you would be in an all white room eating nutrient paste with a $6000 computer.

That's ridiculous


The diminishing returns make it hard to justify anything much more than $2500

 

[Dr. Zaus]

^Very good point. Also Soylent 2.0 isn't a paste, it's a liquid!

it's essentially a Rube Goldberg machine, too many parts to do something a dumb-ass inefficient way.

I never thought of it that way... I need to go get a mechanical watch, the idea of wearing a Rube Goldberg machine is just too fucking cool!

 

[dethman]

look at the difference. My watch:

nice but personally i like the looks of the tag better.

 

[purbeast0]

that is a very nice looking watch OP, i like it a lot.

ignore all the haters though. that is just something poor people do to make them feel better about being poor and not able to afford the finer things in life.

 

[Oyeve]

Tag makes the most overpriced for the quality watch ever. I say this with the knowledge of being related to one of the last of the watch repair guys in the world. Tag automatics are fine but their traditional classic line of the past 30 years is garbage. Plastic gears. I shit you not. I have seen it in person watching this guy fix them. You want quality and class and great workmanship get a rolex. Seriously.

http://watchmakingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/tag-f03111.jpg

 

[edro]

man jewelry... pft

 

[squirrel dog]

I have swiss made mech watches and don't expect quartz like time keeping . Also I stopped wearing my tag ocean racer in the ocean after the last cleaning and oiling from the local watch man (225) His advice was to take the watch off before swimming , especially in a pool . I have my father's older rolex , the tag , a swiss invicta and a Seiko auto winder . The Seiko keeps the best time(it's off by about a minute or two a week) . I keep the tag in a box winder , wear the invicta or the Seiko daily . The invicta is the black face with the coin edge . The seiko is the dive monster , new version . Both cost less than the tax paid on a rolex , I gave that to my son . I agree on the quality of a rolex and would prefer it to watches costing x2 x3 times as much .

 

[preslove]

I'd never get a Tag. They mostly just buy ETA movements, but they apparently just opened a plant to start making in-house movements. The movement they're making is based on an old SEIKO movement. Personally, I'd buy an imported grand seiko over a tag.

Generally, swiss automatics in the $1,500-$5,000 retail area are a bad buy. They offer nothing that a sub $1,000 automatic doesn't offer and they're nowhere near a luxury watch.