Replying here made me commit a major forum sin: reviving a years old thread. But I like the subject although it must have popped up in different guises many a time.
I received my first watch from an uncle. It was a chrome plated boy's watch with a grey leather strap and the brand was Ancre. I could hardly tell the time but wearing the watch made me feel that I belonged to the grown ups. The year must have been 1968. I somehow lost track of the watch and my parents didn't buy me another one. Fast forward to 1975. My father bought his cigarettes at a tobacconists that also sold Sicura watches. Chrome plated and hand wound Swiss watches made in Grenchen. Some were blatant copies of Rolex sports models, others elaborate chronographs. After saving all my pocket- and birthday money I was able to buy one. After that had to be repaired I received one for free because the watchmaker (who lived downstairs) lost it. But after that also broke down I was without a watch. And then came the LED and LCD watch era. When I saw an LED watch in a posh department store for the first time I was completely blown away! The mesmerising red numbers on an otherwise dark watch face were pure Science Fiction. The first ones were the equivalent of US$800. In the Seventies. Over a month's worth of wages for the average punter! In a couple of years the prices plummeted and I bought one of those Tandy/Radio Shack LCD watches for peanuts. But they became boring soon and the batteries were expensive. Without a watch yet again.
Until...... The Sicura 'Stunt Watch' entered the scene. Somewhere in the late Seventies. Remember the commercial in which that watch was strapped to the front wheel of a dirt bike? It made a couple of rounds, through mud and water and the watch was still running and in great shape. I bought two, because the first one got a scratch on the crystal and I couldn't stand that. The first sign of becoming a 'Watch Freek'
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I somehow lost that as well and after another short watch-less period I must have bought a Seiko LCD watch (as featured in a James Bond movie). I gave that to my father and bought a Seiko Quartz diver. I entered the service, went to Lebanon and must have bought 4 watches there, ranging from Casio calculator watches to a Seiko dress watch. Which again, I gave to my father who still has it.
Still a single watch guy I started to read watch magazines in the Public Library and in 1980 my eye caught article on the Cartier Santos Dumont. It was presented as a modern remake of the first real wristwatch. A couple of Dutch athletes received one as a promotion and I vowed to get one myself. And I did! It was 1995 Dutch Guilders and my father could not believe someone, let alone his son, paid that much for a steel watch!
I sold it to my brother in 1982 to raise money for a Cartier Tank Vermeil, something I regret until this very day. I sold that watch because I needed the money (the first and only time I had to to this) in 1984 and after a short while bought a Citizen Aqualand Pro dive watch. Sold that and bough another Aqualand Pro, a digital one with a docking station to download dive data. And I'm not a diver
. Many years with different watches followed, most of them divers. I can't remember most of the brands any more.
The last watch before the watch bug really bit me was an excellent Citizen world time chronograph, analogue with two LCD read-outs for various world times and other functions. I had that for 4 years until it broke down beyond (affordable) repair. I still wore it to our first trip to Indonesia in 2007. On our second trip to Indonesia I bought a Swiss Expedition (but made in China) quartz chronograph. And the year after that I bought another. Two watches. And I bought an analogue DCF watch. Three watches. And I was given a Benrus WWII re-edition. Four watches. And I bought my first micro diver, a Deep Blue Juggernaut II. Five watches. And then I bought (whilst on vacation in Portugal and from an internet café) the venerable H2O Orca! Six watches. I became the Watch Freek I am now. The interest in watches had always been there, the means to pursue that interest only came after I could afford all those watches.
And now my watch ship sails a steady course, my watch knowledge increases steadily because of this fine forum and its members and my preference is clear. And I bought a tool set just for watch making and are planning to buy an Ace Timer. I own over 25 straps and bands, a watch winder and cases to store all those watches.
I am, ladies and gentlemen, a Watch Freek!
