First Love: The One That Started It All & Why?

[maxthecat80]

All of us here love watches.

No normal human being will spend hours each day/week perusing watch websites/insta/forum and spend relatively obscene amount of $$ on it. Yes, this stuff is not cheap. Its kinda ridiculous to be spending this amount of money on something which most of us use our phones for - to tell the time. My wife thinks i'm nuts but I told her, every human being needs to have a sin. Better a watch than another woman - no more arguments after that  l

Why we love it could be for many reasons. For some its a status symbol, or it could be brand loyalty,..  for some it's historic value - a great story, a sentimental gift, for those who are technically inclined -it could be movement or it can be pure aesthetics. Most likely its a bit of every one of those.

Like every first love, there is always THE ONE that started it all. What is your first ever grail? The one that caught your eye, and started you down this path of watch obsession?
 
In this topic, perhaps everyone could share very briefly THE WATCH that start it all and why. I will kickstart it. For me:-

First Love: Omega Speedy 3570.50
Why: Ive always loved a great story, and there is no better story than this- moonwatch etc.

[downsouth]

Mine is a Vintage Rolex Oysterdate 6694. It was my parents engagement watch.

My dad gave it to me several years ago and I left it in my drawer for a long time. At that time I didn't even know which Rolex it was. I prefer to wear cheap colourful rubber quartz watches and collect those.

One day while cleaning my drawer I took out the watch and started to get curious about its model and value. Thats when I discover it was a 6694 and was valued at more than RM 5 K. The watch was working perfectly but the bracelet needs replacement. I sourced a custom made leather strap and it complemented the watch nicely.

After that research, I started to get more interested with mechanical watches and thats when I got hooked.

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[maxthecat80]

Mine is a Vintage Rolex Oysterdate 6694. It was my parents engagement watch.

My dad gave it to me several years ago and I left it in my drawer for a long time. At that time I didn't even know which Rolex it was. I prefer to wear cheap colourful rubber quartz watches and collect those.

One day while cleaning my drawer I took out the watch and started to get curious about its model and value. Thats when I discover it was a 6694 and was valued at more than RM 5 K. The watch was working perfectly but the bracelet needs replacement. I sourced a custom made leather strap and it complemented the watch nicely.

After that research, I started to get more interested with mechanical watches and thats when I got hooked.

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great story.. thanks for sharing

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[gtr34]

For me it all started when my dad gave me a watch when I was just in primary school. I think I was in standard 1 or 2, can't remember exactly when. However, I do remember the watch very clearly. It was a Q&Q watch, manual wind, gold coloured case with a white dial and it was on a dark brown leather strap; it had a square casing and looked pretty much like a miniature Cartier.

I really cherished that watch. Every night, I would wind it up and place it next to my pillow before I slept; I could clearly hear it ticking as I dozed off into the night... The watch served me faithfully for the next 6 years until I made a deal with my parents to get me a DW-002 G-shock if I did well in my UPSR. I aced my UPSR and got the G-shock that I wanted. And the madness started ever since then...

Now I'm in my 30s and I think I have about a 100 watches, 70% or so are G-shocks and the rest are some swiss automatics as well as a few Seikos too. As I grow older and aquire the means to do so, the watch collection is still growing and right now I'm saving up for an Aqua Terra and a Polar Explorer II. I have a sickness and I don't know if I can cure it....

[D'Andy]

Now I'm in my 30s and I think I have about a 100 watches, 70% or so are G-shocks and the rest are some swiss automatics as well as a few Seikos too. As I grow older and aquire the means to do so, the watch collection is still growing and right now I'm saving up for an Aqua Terra and a Polar Explorer II. I have a sickness and I don't know if I can cure it....

Well, if you are moving from G-Shocks to Seiko, and now to Omega/Rolex; then I can't honestly say that you have a sickness. More like you are maturing into timepieces that would cost more but also hold their value better. While I can't say the same about your holding of 100 G-Shock watches, but you would soon realise that your Rolex are as good as hard currencies during times of need, especially if you have the right models.

[gtr34]

Well, the g-shocks that I've collected over the years are mostly vintage/rare ones, so I'm quite sure that I could get back most of my money if I decided to sell them... it's just a hassle to photograph one by one and post it for sale. For now, they'll just sit in their boxes in my cupboard.

This is the g-shock that started it all back in 1996 for me....


Then came this one a few years back that got me back into collecting watches again...




Do you guys still have your first ever watch with you?
I don't remember throwing my Q&Q out, so its probably somewhere in a drawer or something...

[ExplorerII]

i think my love of watches was probably fostered by my father. I remember he had a solid gold Vacheron automatic (it was super thin for that time), 3 daytonas (steel, half gold, gold) and an Omega Seamaster.  He also used to buy me loads of seiko and casio digital watches when i was young so never had any shortage of watches to wear! But the watch that probably started my addiction was a Raymond Weil dress watch that he bought for my 8th birthday....

[D'Andy]

Well, the g-shocks that I've collected over the years are mostly vintage/rare ones, so I'm quite sure that I could get back most of my money if I decided to sell them...

Wouldn't the resin start breaking down over the years? I had a handful of G-Shocks but there was a piece that I really put it through its pace back in the 90s, and I remembered the resin pieces breaking down one after another in pieces. But yeah, back in the old days, the G-Shocks were fun- I remembered that illuminator was new technology then and G-Shock placed special wording on special pieces like the GT-R (you must be a fan given your nick) and such. And these days, they packed so much more tech into the pieces like ABC and BT.

[gtr34]

Yeah, part of the fun about collecting g-shocks is restoring some of the older watches and giving them a second lease of life. I love finding old abused samples, sourcing new bezels and then doing a complete clean up and restoration of the said watch. A hobby within a hobby, if you will.

As for my NOS specimens, keeping them in the dark away from UV light apparently stops the "resin rot".
Yes, I'm a fan of the GTR,  specifically the R34 and R32.

The new G-Shocks with GPS Waveceptor tech are simply amazing. They're solar powered and will adjust time on their own... takes away the fun of our manual wind/automatic mechanical watches, but you'd always always have accurate time...

[D'Andy]

Yeah, part of the fun about collecting g-shocks is restoring some of the older watches and giving them a second lease of life. I love finding old abused samples, sourcing new bezels and then doing a complete clean up and restoration of the said watch. A hobby within a hobby, if you will.

I get what you meant about this. I loved finding old vintage watches too and then doing a restoration job vide professionals. I have a piece of 16710 coming in next month, which was reportedly all original and in good condition. Will be exciting to meet this old gal soon