Oh no not the wheatgrass

There's no detox for that!

What does it all mean.....Rolexes filling my dreams......flying by me.....springs and calibrations ticking gently by......buy me! Buy me! Then you will be happy!......Wear me on your wrist......You will be the new kid on the incabloc......

Then I awake, get dressed and with my iPod tuned into my trad jazz selection, I notice several workers just like me proudly displaying their Rolex Submariners on the morning commute. Rolex, the choice of middle management and wage slaves everywhere.

My wife's Rolex is in the shco (again), mine now about 5 seconds fast a day. I'm told that is about as good as you can expect. I got my son a Breitling Super Ocean in Switzerland in July. Seems to be very accurate.
I am considering a Breguet Marine (owned by the Swatch Group). Of course, my Swatch is the most accurate and least troublesome of the lot.

Could not have said it better myself.

Any quartz watch will outperform a mechanical one.

Do people really buy mechanical watches for their superior time keeping? I don't think so.

The best you're going to get out of a mechanical watch is a certified chronometer ("superlative" with some Rolexes) which has an accuracy of  between -4 to +6 seconds per day. This of course is certified at the time of testing and has no bearing on future reliability so is totally meaningless when you're buying vintage watches that may have never been serviced.

Nevertheless, when a watch has a second hand a mechanical hand's ticking or sweep is far more aesthetically pleasing that the abrupt movement of a quartz. Mechanical watches also retain their value more than quartz. The price of second hand quartz Cartier watches are a fine example of rapid depreciation of a fine product.

I've always admired people who go through life with the same watch day-to-day for thirty or forty years. I've always considered this an aim, but all the watches I've had have ended-up boring me and then I will purchase another one in the hope that I will find my ultimate watch and never need another. The search continues.

The last watch I thought was going to fulfill this was the Omega Speedmaster Automatic, a nicer size than the standard Professional moon watch with the same looks. However, it went back to Omega three times under warranty and once you've had that experience it will put you off the watch if not the brand for life. I hear bad reports that Omega's QC is substandard now and then I see a lot of people here in the Hague with Co-Axial Omegas and all the wearers I've asked have been satisfied with them.

Submariners seem to be on the way-out with oil & gas workers. One time they were pretty much ubiquitous and a watch that someone would automatically purchase after their first tour of duty in the Middle East. It was a badge of honour and status symbol that you were earning lots of lovely tax free cash. Of course, things have changed, the cost of Rolexes in Dubai are the same as in Europe and the allegedly wonderful tax free lifestyle in the Middle East is rapidly diminishing and a lot of expat jobs are being fulfilled by Indians now. It now seems tacky if not down right embarrassing to sport a shiny, new Submariner. Vintage Submariners with the tritium glow are another thing all together.

In saying that, and despite my reservations about Rolex's branding and their sport watches, last week I traded the Omega for a vintage Air-King Rolex with the blue metallic face. The Oyster watch case and bracelet is a design classic, sturdy and masculine. The size is also right, no pretensions and no bling, it fits under the shirt and tells the time fairly accurately for a mechanical watch. It will suffice for now.