Did You (Will You) Get/Receive a Retirement Watch?

[Duracuir1]

Do employers still give out retirement watches? Will you get one?

As an employer, do you give them out?

What is your ideal retirement watch?

I got two of these (one was for my wife but I gave it to my father in law). Nice looking watches. I gave one to a friend when he became a Colonel (Canadian Armed Forces). Lots of room on case back for engraving.

It’s evident that the folks who selected the watches at my organisation are not collectors, but a safe choice that appeals to most normal people.

My wife gave me this one… And I saved up for a couple years for this one… FOIS.

What about you? What would be your ideal retirement watch?

Edited: Apr 5, 2023

 

[blufinz52]

When I retired in 2011, my employer had just stopped giving a watch, usually a Tissot. They gave me a wall clock, which I have never removed it from the box. I really should take it out and see what it looks like.

 

[Evitzee]

It's too expensive for employers to give out a nice watch in the USA any longer. It's taxable income to the recipient over a certain low level. The days when a $200 steel Datejust or $150 Atmos clock were given at retirement are long gone when they are now $5,000+ items. Giving a cheap $200 quartz watch isn't too appealing to the employer or employee these days, but that's what we have, employee often has a range of gifts in the $200 to $300 range to choose from, most of it forgettable junk. I have a Trek bicycle still in its box in my garage.

Edited: Apr 5, 2023

 

[RevZMan123]

When I worked for IBM (2001-2012), for my 10th anniversary I got to choose from a catalog of typical IBM schwag valued at no more than like $25 or 50 MAX! I picked the knife set as it was the most useful at the time and I do still use the block and a few of the steak knives which only really cut cake anymore.

 

[rendo]

The Bulova looks nice. The subtle logo is there to remind you of your service, but not to catch your eye every time you look at it.

Other than a retirement cake with a thick layer of frosting on it, my employer gives nothing to retirees, even after 30+ years. They send a gift card every 5 years equal to $10 x years of service.

 

[Duracuir1]

My wife received this at 15 years. And at 20 she got this… And she just reached 25 years and chose diamond earrings.

 

[kohster]

My employer gives us catalogs of things to choose from at various service anniversaries. I just passed 25 years last year and in the catalog was a generic picture of a "dive watch". It's weird, some of the items in the catalog specified brand name of whatever it was and others didn't. By zooming in on the picture and searching for the text on the description, I figured out it was a Casio MDV-106A. So I went for it and so did a few other people who all had their 25 year marks around the same time, so now we have a bit of a common keepsake. Here it is next to the Wave Ceptor that it displaced on my wrist until I got an Omega from my dad in the fall.

 

[bonzodog]

Sadly no watch given,or anything else for that matter.

 

[rcs914]

If casio made the Casio MDV-106A exactly the same but Solar and waveceptor atomic time keeping I'm not sure it would leave my wrist 90% of the time. For some reason 3 hander solar/atomic watches are all on the expensive side for quartz. Pretty much a minimum of $500 if you don't want a "world time" bezel.

 

[vbrad26]

The family company bought my grandfather a Coral OP for his retirement.
Our company logo is a red "S" and I was instructed to buy him a Rolex with a red dial.
So I did lol. He wore a gold Day Date and the OP sits in the box.
I don't think we will be making a habit of buying watches for our retirees.
But I also wouldn't mind doing so if they actually had an interest in it.

 

[Watch Later]

Why didn't this cross my mind, I was self employed.

 

[rcs914]

vbrad26

The family company bought my grandfather a Coral OP for his retirement.
Our company logo is a red "S" and I was instructed to buy him a Rolex with a red dial.
So I did lol. He wore a gold Day Date and the OP sits in the box.
I don't think we will be making a habit of buying watches for our retirees.

If he would be interested in a long term lend out I'd be happy to wear it for him 😗

 

[vbrad26]

rcs914

If he would be interested in a long term lend out I'd be happy to wear it for him 😗

Get in line buddy lol.

 

[josiahg52]

I bought a Scurfa M.S.19 for my 20 year. The organization I work for now gives out lapel pins every five years but I didn't get my 5, 10, or 15 until 18 years and then my 20 at 22 years so hopefully they'll be on time by 25.

 

[vitriol]

I still have something like +20 years till a retirement, and frankly speaking I do not expect to be gifted with a retirement watch. Probably because nowadays more and more people tend to change the companies more often and it is rather rare to work 10 or more years in a one company.
Also, when the long-time seniors or executives been retiring, I have not heard about the watches.

After 5 years in the gas&oil business as my anniversary gift I have received.. a drop of crude oil closed inside a cubic plexiglass.
Pretty cool gimmick, sadly the plexi has starded developing some fading inside so by now it is no longer transparent 😁

 

[rcs914]

vitriol

I still have something like +20 years till a retirement, and frankly speaking I do not expect to be gifted with a retirement watch. Probably because nowadays more and more people tend to change the companies more often and it is rather rare to work 10 or more years in a one company.
Also, when the long-time seniors or executives been retiring, I have not heard about the watches.

After 5 years in the gas&oil business as my anniversary gift I have received.. a drop of crude oil closed inside a cubic plexiglass.
Pretty cool gimmick, sadly the plexi has starded developing some fading inside so by now it is no longer transparent 😁

I can't sea the oil.

 

[peatnick]

I got nothing except a foot in my back at 58 after 20 years, software is a young man’s job I suppose. . .



Our company logo is the name in red so I gifted my boss this when he passed the threshold at 60 a few years before my “retirement”. No complaints from either of us as we both enjoy not working there anymore 😀

 

[Canuck]

I worked for a Rolex dealer for a few months short of 25 years. Came the day I had turned 50, the store lost money for the first time, the lease was up, and my 50th birthday, and you hadda know what was coming! When the store was closed, I was offered continued employment for a 40% pay reduction, or a salary for one year if I chose to resign. I wasn’t offered a Rolex watch, but even if I had, I’d have taken the salary for one year. It was worth a lot more for me. But I still left their employ with a Rolex won in a Rolex sales contest in 1971. 😀 This Air-King came with a steel bezel. I lucked into a NOS genuine Rolex 14-karat bezel decades ago. Don’t remember when. It was in my stash in its original Rolex envelope with a $595.00 price on it. In 2021 (my 50th year of ownership), I put the bezel on the Air-King.
.

 

[Duracuir1]

Canuck

I worked for a Rolex dealer for a few months short of 25 years. Came the day I had turned 50, the store lost money for the first time, the lease was up, and my 50th birthday, and you hadda know what was coming! When the store was closed, I was offered continued employment for a 40% pay reduction, or a salary for one year if I chose to resign. I wasn’t offered a Rolex watch, but even if I had, I’d have taken the salary for one year. It was worth a lot more for me. But I still left their employ with a Rolex won in a Rolex sales contest in 1971. 😀 This Air-King came with a steel bezel. I lucked into a NOS genuine Rolex 14-karat bezel decades ago. Don’t remember when. It was in my stash in its original Rolex envelope with a $595.00 price on it. In 2021 (my 50th year of ownership), I put the bezel on the Air-King.
.

Beautiful!

 

[p4ul]

peatnick

a foot in my back at 58

After 15 years giving my all, happened to me at 40, awful at the time, with hindsight it made me.

Life Lesson : Employee Employer Loyalty is a one way street, do them before they do you.

Subsequently took as much education/promotion/reward as I could from each employer and job hopped for larger benefits whenever the opportunities arose.

No gold watch on retirement because the boss was a bastard. (Ended up Self Employed).