Recommendation needed

lmlt

Hi all,

Looking for a 40th birthday gift of a man's watch.

He already has a Seiko Kinetic, which he bought himself and likes and a Raymond Weil, which was a gift from his father.

I was thinking of an everyday smart casual watch maybe with leather strap. Price range of 800 - 1200euro (a bit more if right watch).

Any advice would be appreciated.

peasant

puhhh ...in that price range the choice of nice, good quality watches is almost endless while on the other hand you're still just touching the bottom range of the big names.

Anyhow ...if my wife were to make me a present like that, I'd probably ask/hope for a Damasko DA 34



Simply because they're tough, well made, appeal to the half baked engineer in me and because not everybody has one.

http://www.damasko.de/eng/index.html

ronnie3585

Stowa make very nice watches. They're very good value for money and come within your price range.

http://www.stowa.de/lshop,shopstart,131894570210436,en,1318945702-10436,,,,,.htm

lmlt

Thanks for your replies.

I really like the Stowa watches. Ideally I would like to see the watch before I buy but I guess there is limited stock on sale in shops in Ireland. Are there Stowa retailers in Ireland?

Would you buy a watch online without seeing it somewhere first?

ronnie3585

lmlt wrote: »

Thanks for your replies.

I really like the Stowa watches. Ideally I would like to see the watch before I buy but I guess there is limited stock on sale in shops in Ireland. Are there Stowa retailers in Ireland?

Would you buy a watch online without seeing it somewhere first?

Stowa only retail online.

Yes, I have (and would again) buy a watch online sight unseen - provided it's from a reputable dealer.

Bullseye1

Stowa sell directly. Your watch is made to order. You can however buy pre-owned ones on many of the watch forums.

Reloc8

I'd happily buy a new Stowa sight unseen (and have done so). They have universally high standards pre and post purchase and the quality is pretty exceptional for what you are paying.

I'd be much less happy buying second hand any watch sight unseen unless I had full confidence in the seller.

A point to bear in mind on Stowa - if you ordered from their website today you'd be given a delivery date in 2012. I don't know how that fits your time budget.

lmlt

Thanks. I need it in a month so I guess Stowa is out.

Another question: the chronograph feature, is it a tech thing or a looks thing?

foxyboxer

Frederique Constant FC-303S6B6

The styling of a Patek Calatrava but at a fraction of the price. Stockists aplenty in Dublin.

peasant

lmlt wrote: »

Thanks. I need it in a month so I guess Stowa is out.

Another question: the chronograph feature, is it a tech thing or a looks thing?

A chronograph has a stopwatch function.
It also has a few extra dials on the watchface, which can look good or overly fussy ...depending on the watch.

A chronometer on the other hand is a watch with high accuracy, certified to certain standards (only good with the the actual certificate supplied)

Monty Burnz

peasant wrote: »

Anyhow ...if my wife were to make me a present like that, I'd probably ask/hope for a Damasko DA 34

Seconded. Have a look at the Damasko range, especially the DA36 and 46 - these watches have probably the toughest cases ever made, a high-quality movement, and I've never seen another one 'in the wild'. Something a bit special.

They sell on-line only. If these watches were selling with the jeweller's mark-up, you'd be looking at paying 2 grand for them.

http://www.timefactors.com/damasko.htm