Hardly ever see any great examples in the wild. Guys are probably at home, writing posts on watch forums...

 

A bunch of guys at my work have Breitlings, but that's about all I see.

 

I saw a guy in the local town centre with a vintage speedy on black leather which looked great last weekend.

Another guy I met with last week had a Rolex 16610 Sub with a really nice patina, I was too busy getting my ass handed to me to compliment him on it LOL.................

Earlier this year I was in Florence & I have never seen so many high end timepieces in such a small amount of time. Mostly Subs but also IWC, Panerai, Patek & AP.

 

Rather similar story here in Italy.....our interpreter has a Rolex GMT he bought in the early 1990s. His daily wear......

 

I see lot's of expensive watches as a result of my job. Mostly I see Rolex or Patek because most of these people are trying to make a statement. Sometimes I see ALS or AP. In my office we have everything from Apple on up but more than 50% do not wear watches.

 

Here in mid-Missouri, Michael Kohrs, etc.
The good news is that I do get to see some nice Rolex's and even an Omega, the bad news is that it's on my cardiologist, my dermatologist, my urologist, my broker,.....

 

In Paris, I see a lot of subs, mostly modern and occasionally nice vintage ones, GMT's and Dayonas less often, tons of lady Datejusts. I've seen a few modern speedies but much less Omegas than Rolex. A couple of guys wear Audemars piguet at the gym and even take them into the sauna. I see Panerais now and again. The most flashy watches I've seen were a 6263 Daytona and a moonphase Patek.

Thankfully, I've never seen an apple watch

 

Reason for editing: Clarification.

 

My Irish friend, Paul Sheehan, says there is no such thing as a gay Irishman...they become urologists.

 

Mine was examining me and said "It's perfectly normal to experience an erection during this type of examination".
I responded, " but Doc, I don't have an erection"?
He whispered, "I know, I was speaking for myself"!

My apologies, couldn't help myself.
Also, credit to whomever I stole this one from.

 

My friends in Detroit all love to call themselves "watch guys" and some have really nice pieces but nothing amazing IMO. Mostly Rolex Sub's and Panarai. None of these guys are real "watch guys" and probably have never heard of PP, AP, Vacheron, AL&S or JLC. As for Omega, they still probably look at my collection as the poor man's Rolex. I guess they are open to their opinions...

When I'm home in San Diego or visiting LA, I tend to see some really cool watches with a ton of character....NOMOS, Omega, IWC, Cartier, Etc. Etc.

 

Have you ever looked into advertising costs? I'm not 100% on this, but it wouldn't surprise me that luxury watch brands have advertising budgets to comp their products just to be tied into said movie or celebrity? A perfect trade off!

 

Yay for hometown pride!

 

It rarely see anything of interest on others wrists, although I am always looking. I am a bit worried that it may come across very weird and creepy.

However we were recently on a small boat in the Galapagos and there was a couple from Mumbai with his and hers Datejusts. Hers was studed with diamonds and I suspect they were both platinum. Seemed like maybe not quite the right equipment for the job, but i couldn't take my eyes off them

 

Flew to Qatar from Dubai via Muscat today. Plenty of fake Hublots, 1 Nautilus, 1 Royal Oak and 2 Datejusts...plus my Hamilton Jazzmaster GMT

 

It's not very often I notice the watch someone is wearing.
Last night I went to visit a friend in the hospital that is recovering from heart surgery. The surgeon was making his late night rounds checking up on his patients. The doc was checking his pulse off went the chimes. I noticed the watch was a Philippe Dufour Grand Sonnerie. I just looked at his watch and thought WOW.

 

On my home turf (Los Angeles), I do a lot of looking for interesting watches but spot very few. About 75% of what I do see are Rolex Submariners. I remember seeing one Breitling SuperOcean at the local grocery store recently. One guy in my office, who is a sales executive, wears a Rolex Yachtmaster (with platinum dial & bezel).

My wife and I recently returned from a two-week vacation in Italy. There, spotting was much more fruitful. Yes, I probably saw more Submariners than any single watch, but I saw a remarkable number of Speedmasters, Seamasters, and Planet Oceans. My impression was that European men are more inclined to own at least one, good watch compared to the average American male. On our return flight to the US one of the Alitalia flight attendants -- a jovial, husky fellow in his late 40s-early 50s -- was wearing a 1990s-made Seamaster GMT.

 

I in my life have never seen any luxury watch on anyone's wrists ever. I've seen more Ferrari's and that's not many, then I've ever seen a nice piece on someone's wrists. I look, and I look often, and never see anything cool....

 

I see so few interesting watches out in the wild that I often wonder how they are so popular online - I mean there are literally billions of dollars in high end watches sold yearly - who is wearing them all?

Obviously I see Rolex most often - all modern, and all common (sub, seadweller, datejust) - I've rarely bothered to say anything to anyone wearing one. In my personal experience those wearing them are typically not watch people, so when I have made a comment I basically get a brush off. Yes I realize this is somewhat pejorative. Same with Tag Heuer wearers typically.

I just came back from a week in San Diego and saw pretty much nothing of interest, other than one Japanese lady wearing a PAM Radiomir. No idea if it was real or not though.

In the past year I have run into one fellow Speedmaster wearer - he had bought his in 1990, and had been his daily wearer since. Another guy I ran into at Target was wearing a Stowa Prodiver, which was fairly unusual to see.

Typically most people wear no watch, and those wearing a watch at least 50-60% of them are wearing a smartwatch of some sort, and at least 75% of those are Apple watches.

 

The man I bought my house from in the beginning of the 90ies (he built the house BTW) gave his son a watch when the son was 18 in the 60ies. A Speedmaster. They both visited us 5 years ago, and the son told me that he had always been very disappointed with his father's choice of watch, since his buddies got the more dressy Seamaster, and he got this clumsy Speedmaster, which he was still wearing, a 105.003. As the Gentleman I am I offered to buy the watch from him, and gave him a generous offer which made him excited! Sadly he called his wife to confirm the sale, but got a negative response

Now, since no one has asked, to OP, your amazingly beautiful wife, a picture, or it did not happen!