How often do you see ANY nice watch in the wild?

Easy. I was walking right after surgery. Certainly some pain to deal with. I kind of stacked my issues, as I had a pretty extensive right shoulder surgery three weeks before this left hip replacement. It’s been four days since the surgery and I mowed my lawn today. I don’t expect to be back to 100% for several more weeks, but I’ve been walking with intense pain for too many years. It feels great to have surgery-pain, but no more joint pain.

Well, believe it or not, I spotted a super old ladies Constellation in line at the grocery store today. The woman wearing it was quite elderly, and I didn’t have the guts to ask about it, but it’s a very unique design and hard to miss from behind. Looked a lot like this, but pretty worn.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/606368...MIsr_c3N-x3AIViblkCh1ZHQjmEAQYBiABEgLUq_D_BwE

No, but "pilfer his Rolex" is one.

In Stockholm I've seen a speedmaster every day it seems.

Vintage?? If then I need to move there...tonight 😁

No most look very fresh. I've only seen one with tritium and an older bracelet. Didn't have time to figure out how vintage it was.

I also see a shit ton of 2254 seamasters and submariners. Stockholm has too much money.

Sitting here doing some watch spotting at the outlets on lunch. Seiko, Nixon, G-Shock, fashion watch, fashion watch, Apple Watch... nothing interesting.

Just bought some lighter fluid from a watch repair kiosk, and the guy was wearing a nice Tag. He spotted my blue speedy and was like “wow man... nice watch. Expensive!” Tried to get him to show me his Tag, but he wasn’t interested.

Just saw a speedy on a plane. Refreshing!

I was working in a library yesterday, when I noticed someone behind me was carefully photographing a watch. We got talking and it turned out to be a very nice early '80s Submariner.

So, not just a watch in the wild, but a fellow WIS in the wild too.

Oddly enough, most of the nice watches I spot are at my gym. Ive seen a Rolex Yachtmaster II, Rolex Sub 14060, and an AP ROO in rose gold.

Every time I look at my wrist when I’m out. 😗 😁

Sitting at a cool retro pizza place in Amsterdam last friday a waiter came by and asked if my Omega Flightmaster was a MK I, II or III... He was also bitten by the vintage bug. 😀

I see a lot of SubCs in NYC. As far as Omega goes I've seen a handful of SMP, Speedys, and ATs.

Loving this topic, I caught myself spending hours reading through the entire thread 😀


I live in Berkshire, UK, but despite being called "The Royal borough", I haven’t seen a lot of fine, let alone fine & vintage watches out in the wild. Have to admit though, I don’t go out a lot these days.
Like the others mentioned, there are heaps of Apple watches, and the occasional usual modern Rolexes and Tags.
Most of the time I’m limited to staring at other people’s wrists at work, in the lift, with a variable success rate. A few worth mentioning are the CEO’s: the former wearing a Tag Carrera Calibre 36 (not bad!), but later replaced with a black Rado square ceramic (whaaat?). The current CEO started off with a modern Daytona, but later spotted wearing a Tag smartwatch. Come on, you’re on top of the food chain at a Billion dollar company, surely you can do better than that..
One interesting spotting might have been the Finance director wearing a Lange – potentially, I’ve only seen it for a split second, and from a distance. I’ll find out about that later, though.
There’s a half-watch nut colleague, who owns 3 modern Tags: a McQueen Monaco, an SLR, and a black DLC coated Monaco. All lovely pieces. We had brief a chat,
but he’s admitted that’s as far as he goes, not really into vintage stuff.

What I’ve learnt though, is that you can’t really judge by the looks, clothing, etc.
Sometimes it’s the gentleman in high fabrics who wears a blatant fake Rolex, and the poor looking guy who have a fingerlicking vintage piece peeping out from under the cuff.

Rewind 13 years, a 25YO eastern block boy arrives to the UK, with a poor english, he first works as a dustman (grabbing & throwing rubbish bags in the back of the dust lorries). However, on his wrist, there’s a ’65 Rolex Oysterdate.

Yep, that’d be me. Fast forward 13 years, today (not a dustman anymore, but in a job fully utilizing my degree in economics), still nearly a dozen of my watches, each, are worth more than the car I’m driving 😀

If I was to match my clothing with my watches, I’d probably be running around in Brioni suits all day long, driving S-class (or rather a Volvo P1800).

It’s all about passion. If you do love watches, you’ll find a way to owning them, and have priorities reflecting that.

I do appreciate a modern Rolex, but sadly most people wear them for the wrong reason.

I just remembered what as a teenager I read in a book on etiquette about watches: "The adequate way for a gentleman to wear an expensive Rolex watch, is as if he wasn’t aware of the value strapped on his wrist".
Gone a bit off topic now.
By the way, the only time I got a compliment on my vintage Rolex (or any other watch) out in the wild, was at a tube station in Richmond, London, at the ticket office. An elderly gentleman at the till said to me "You’ve got a nice watch there. It’s delightful to see a fine vintage piece on a young man’s wrist" he smiled. Unfortunately the queue behind me didn’t let us get into a deeper conversation, but I’ll always remember this.

Im a student from the US but this summer I've been in the UK (Windsor). I went from never seeing anything more than a apple watch here and there in the states (Ohio) to going to the golf club and running into a couple wearing a rose gold Daytona and a rm-035. it really does depend. All I have to say, is the people around here have too much money and they don't know what to do with it

Saw a breitling emergency on the L today. Interesting choice for a city professional!!