Hello all,

After buying a new watch on August 6th, I noticed today that it has its first virtually invisible and microscopic scuff, on one of the lugs. We have started bonding already!

For those of you who have bought one or more watches brand new, do you remember how long it took you to notice the first signs of your watches becoming really yours? Or maybe you remember the exact moment you knew that something happened to your watch?

Thank you for your input!

 

Spending all day at a desk, for me it's the clasp getting scuffed.

 

Same here Tiny, in fact those scuffs wouldn't even classifify as damage, in my book. Plus the bracelet can always be changed for a new one. The problem is that I noticed yesterday that my cheap IKEA bedstand which I fashioned into a makeshift desk gets scuffed more than the watch. Thank you for your reply.

 

Last night I was up a tree with a trimmer hacking away the dead stuff when I realized I still had the Omega on.

Though about how stupid it was to be up there risking damage to a nice clean original piece (1944)

And then got back to it...... it'll live.

 

Its always the very first day. Always.

 

Exactly, and so will we (touching wood now)!

 

Well if it was touching wood that would've been the problem

 

Touché…

 

I agree.

 

I remember vividly: a very good friend (still... ) and also watch-enthousiastic tried on my new and pristine AT 8500 -I had it for about a month- next to his R&^%x watch, accidentally causing a very tiny scratch of the R&^%x crown on the brushed side of my AT.
He was shocked, so was I a bit, but we both liked the idea of 'friend's damage' -which is nearly impossible in my book- so much we had a nice glass of wine to celebrate. And welcomed the watch in our midst.

 

What a perfect story!

 

First day with a new Breitling and as I was admiring it off my wrist, it accidentally slipped out of my hands into a tiled floor. What do you know, no damage, not even a scuff. Very very lucky and learned a big lesson. After I got my heart out if my mouth that is. [emoji33]

 

Life is made of lessons, not mistakes… And about your heart coming out of your mouth, that's completely relatable. I probably would have had a chocolate chip cookie magically appearing in my briefs.

 

My wife gave me a sparkling new Aqua Terra with 18k rose gold bezel; it was the most beautiful and most generous gift I'd ever received in my life. Within 24 hours the bezel had a number of little "brush" marks on it, and within a week, a genuine ding. Once I got over the initial shock of seeing my perfect watch become somewhat less than perfect, I learned to live with life's little dings. But I am also now very, very careful about when and where I wear the watch.

 

Beautiful watch. I believe a bit of spacial awareness, 'defensive' behaviour – a bit like when driving – that's proactive in trying to anticipate possible sources of damage, and a good age-old dose of luck is what the watch enthusiast needs in his or her arsenal. Some gestures are second nature to me now, like bringing my arm slightly behind my back and within my shoulders' bulk when I am approaching a pole on the pavement, or crossing a doorway. I don't consider myself a slave to my watches, it's just the mindset of people owning expensive objects and looking after them in the best possible way, without loosing any sleep on it, but without being complete scatterbrains either.

 

Soon after my first "ding" experiences with my Aqua Terra, I went on the grey market and bought myself a new Planet Ocean (pictured in my avatar) so I'd have a nice watch to wear in less hospitable circumstances. I do a lot of work in the field around exposed rocks and large machines, so the prospect of my watch coming in contact with potentially damaging objects is greatly increased. Getting a second Seamaster was pretty much a defensive move. Plus, I usually SCUBA dive with a wrist watch as a backup timer (apart from an electronic dive computer) so now my Planet Ocean is my new dive watch.

 

Yes, I can understand all of the above. Any blemish on any watch around our neck of the woods is now referred to as a 'birthmark'. Games we play! [emoji15]

 

I still think of this quite often....my first Rolex around 20 years ago I was on holiday and dived into a swimming pool and my watch scraped along the bottom of the pool...everything was in slow motion I could feel the grating...it put a big rough dig on one of the lugs ,I was devastated at first but gradually got used to the marks that add "character"
Also dropped my beloved PO 8500 onto a marble floor (another slo-mo moment)from over 2m up which bent a lug and damaged the movement...that hurt

 

For Pete's sake it's not a car