I think I must just hang out in the wrong places.

Granted, my post-retirement job is driving a dump truck, so I never see a nice watch being worn anywhere I go except what is on my own wrist.

Last night my amazingly beautiful wife and I attended her HS reunion. It was at a nice place in Monterey and there were a few hundred people there. Many financially successful folks among them. As is my usual habit, I looked harder at wrists than at name tags. The nicest watches I saw were aluminum Apples.

In the past year I spied one Sub on a friend's wrist at a barbecue at my brother in laws house. That's my sum total of finds in the wild.

Am I just a low-class rube who hangs out with the wrong crowd, or has the world really gone 99.9% G-Shock and Apple?

 

In Los Angeles, see Rolex as often as I see Apple watches. Just last week, saw a dude at a mall in West LA wearing an uber high end AP ROO skeleton. Was at LA zoo recently and saw a handful of lady and men's datejusts. Was in a conference a few days ago and the guy that sat next to me had a gold Daytona. Plenty of high end watches everywhere.

 

In San Francisco obviously everyone wears either an Apple watch or Fitbit (or both) with the occasional Submariner, Explorer or Datejust. Lots of fashion watches too, 9 times out of 10 if they're wearing a non-digital watch it's a Daniel Wellington or equivalent quartz

 

I'm retired now, but I have a distinct impression that fewer nice watches were to be seen in bank lobbies or bank board rooms by the time I retired than at any former time in my career. I attributed it to generational tastes and a certain lack of awareness.

The Rolex Datejust or President models were by far the most commonly seen "back in the day" in the Dallas-Fort Worth region of Texas. So much so that I was heartily sick of seeing them and wouldn't have been caught dead with one on my wrist. Only since frequenting OmegaForums have I found myself tempted to occasionally "like" these nice Rolex models that some of y'all feature from time to time.

Perhaps I ought to acquire one for old time's sake.

 

I just saw someone with a cool Doxa 300T this morning. Don’t know if you call that a nice watch but it’s certainly interesting.

 

Let's see, this weekend I've seen two Daytonas, a WWI Henri Mosler, a sweet little gold Rotary, a few modern TAGs, a Kermit, a Pogue ... and a few others I can't recall right away. I'm itching to see the 5510 that someone I know just picked up.

 

Over here in The Netherlands, and specifically in academic circles, it's either nothing or an Apple watch (usually nothing). None of my friends outside the Ivory Tower wear (or care about) watches, either.

I rarely see any interesting watches. But last month, I spotted a Speedy and a Reverso on the same day. Interestingly, neither owner had a particularly high-paying job, and both were into watches (and prepared to discuss them with a strange bearded fellow ;-).

 

When flying, I look at the wrists of people as I walk past those in first class on my way to coach. I usually see Rolex watches. Once I saw two Omega.

Outside of that, I gotta say it's pretty rare to see anyone wearing a real mechanical or automatic watch. I guess I am hanging out in the wrong places. My guestimate is 95.99% don't wear watches, an the other 4% wear apple watches or digital watches.

Hey, I just wore my Ploprof for 25 days straight. I'm thinking it's pretty rare for anyone here to jave worn a single watch in their collection for that length of time.

 

couple of nights ago, I went to a Greek restaurant in Mainz, Germany and one of the servers was wearing a Rolex GMT with a Pepsi bezel that showed a nicely faded color/shade - when he brought the beer to my table, I said "nice Pepsi you have there" - he smiled. I asked him if he knew why I called it "Pepsi" and he said yes...then I asked him how long he had owned it, his response was "since 198-something" (I did not get the something part) followed by "and I paid 1,900.....and that's when I told him, I'll give you double the amount you paid for it right now, he smiled again and said with a big grin in his face "no thank you"

and here's a picture of the beer (and shot glass of ouzo), sorry no photo of the Pepsi GMT

 

In Italy, it seemed like you couldn't swing a stick without hitting a guy wearing a Rolex. Even the servers were wearing Datejusts. The guy that owned the pizza place down the street from our apartment in Rome had a good looking Explorer 2.

With that said, the most interesting watches in my office (finance) are a Coke GMT and a Hulk Sub. Everyone seems bemused by my watch interest, as if it's bizarre that you might own more that one.

 

Here at home, the most I may see on another individual is the occasional Rolex. If someone is wearing an actual watch, it's typically a fashion watch. Living in the Pacific Northwest, it's entirely dominated by fitbits, apple watches, and flannel. So much flannel!!

 

At least once a week here in New York, usually on the wrists of older gentlemen and ladies. Most business people who happen to be sporting watches are usually wearing Rolex or Tag, sometimes Omega. Seeing the Explorer II white dial on the train made me like it much more than in pictures.

 

Well I'm happy to know that some of you mingle with the right crowds. I guess I just need to stray farther from home. Thanks for some interesting responses.

 

I see modern luxury watches on people's wrists daily, but I stopped into my local pub one Friday in June after work, and the gentleman beside me, well into his late 60's was wearing this! I believe it's an Autavia 7763, a watch his father gave him on his 16th birthday and he had no clue of its monetary value, but clearly this piece meant a lot to him, and it's his daily wearer.

 

It cracks me up that people see a watch on a person's wrist and are convinced it's what they think it is. There are a million copies, homages, and all manner of similar watches that you wouldn't recognize as such unless you get really close and stare at it, and that would be foolish (and potentially creepy). It's the same with movie watches-the overwhelming majority are prop watches that look like "famous" watches but aren't even functional. They're just part of the look, and it would be silly for the prop department to spend a fortune on real timepieces when camera-ready prop watches work just fine and are easy to get. Yet punters freeze frame and magnify and are sure it's a 30's Rolex Zerograph on Matt Damon's wrist.

 

I'm an engineer in oil and gas. Mostly see apple watches or no watch. As far as luxury watches, Rolex are by far the most common with a few Tags, Omegas, Breitlings thrown in.

 

At work (tech startup) we have a couple Panerai enthusiasts (including one who also has some Omegas) as well as another Omega fan who probably has more than I do.

So things are good except for the growing Apple watch contingent. I've been picking up 60s/70s era watches but I may start rocking an Omega pocket watch (ala Mad Dog) just to be - that guy...

 

I've actually seen some Rolex, JLC and Breitling in the Dutch academic circles and that's more than the number of Apple watches I have seen. So a nice surprise for me I guess!