zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

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: I am always interested in why collectors and enthusiasts first
: became fascinated by:

: 1) watches;
: 2) mechanical watches; and
: 3) specifically Omega.

: I was always interested in watches, and as I came of age in the
: electronic era, quartz "gadget watches" were some of
: the first I owned. My family did not have a history of fine
: mechanical timepieces, so my watch history started with me. The
: first ones didn't make it out of my teen years and twenties, and
: in accordance with their cost and the practices of the day, when
: a battery change didn't fix it, out they went.

: Here are two of the watches I have owned the longest. This Seiko is
: still one of the more practical and attractive of the designs of
: the late 1980s.

:
:

: The watch I have owned the longest is the Certina, with a ETA
: quartz movement still sold today. I purchased this watch in 1982
: or 1983, shortly after I got a "real job".

:
:

:
:

: Watches were (and are) the most prominent accessory a man has.
: Before cell phones had calendar features and before PDAs came on
: the scene, I went through a couple of watch-based
: alarm/calendar/reminder/to-do list "solutions". Some
: were really ugly.

: This one was marginally practical and at least wasn't what Chuck
: Maddox referred to as a "CBP" (cheap black plastic)
: watch.

:
:
:
:

: Later, I moved to a less arduous entry method. This watch worked
: with Microsoft Outlook and would download appointments,
: birthdays, to-dos and contacts by displaying bar codes on the
: screen. The circular dot on the watch face at 12 is a bar code
: reader!

:
:

: Cool technology, but not very efficient and limited. Then I got a
: cell phone and PDA, then a PDA with a cellphone . . . my wrist
: was freed up for timekeeping and more traditional looks.

: Then I rediscovered mechanicals . . . . and shortly thereafter,
: vintage, and then chronographs.

:
:

:
:

:
:

: I had slept as a child with a Big Ben wind up alarm clock, which
: was an incredibly loud ticker (and alarm). The sound of a
: mechanical watch held to my ear brought back a flood of
: memories. While I still have quartz, mechanicals are my strong
: preference.

: Why Omega? Accessibility and history

: 1) Omega is accessible because they produced lots of watches for a
: long time.
: 2) Omega is accessible because they produced almost every
: complication and used every technology at some point in their
: history.
: 3) Omega is accessible because the watches are among the least
: expensive for the quality of product.
: 4) Omega is accessible because there is more information available
: about vintage Omegas than any brand I know of (despite Jeff
: Stein's amazing efforts on Heuer).

: Few watch companies have the history and often dominance that Omega
: did for over 160 years.

: What watch matched this in the 1950s

:
:

: and in the 1940s

:
:

: and there are examples from every decade in the 20th century -- and
: some from the 19th

:
:

: Few watch companies produce icons

:
:

: That has existed for 50 years, with only incremental changes

:
:

: That's my story . . . . so, the question(s) of the day:

: -- why do you like watches?
: -- why manuals/automatics/tuning forks/kinetic quartz/quartz, what
: is your preference?
: -- why Omega?

: Sam aka Hewybaby