The Great Big Introductions Thread

Bill in British Columbia here.
Retired and able to spend a bit more time on hobbies these days. Have a couple of hundred watches and half again that in fountain pens and have a few other things I've accumulated over the years (cars, vinyl LPs, Rhododendrons etc. - just ask my wife!)

Have a handful of Omegas, a lot of vintage Longines and a smattering of vintage Le Coultres and other makes. Daily watch is a titanium, rose gold, tantalum Seamaster, but I rotate through a bunch of watches.

Hello Omega Forum!

First thing first! My apologies .. as I am way past due on my intro to you. So here it is -
My name is Mayank and I am a 33 years old working currently in USA as a Software Engineer. I am from India and will be relocating to India in probably a couple of years.

My love for watches started as a kid when my grand father used to give me those battery operated quartz watches and I used to break them to see what’s inside them that shows time . However I never learnt much about watches.. I only wanted ONE “The Watch” .. a Rolex. I did not even know what Rolex I wanted as I didn’t know what all models they make 😀.
Once in India (year 2011) I went to a Rolex showroom and hesitantly asked an employee who was near the door if he will let me have a look at those watches and I was pleasantly surprised when he with utmost respect asked me to come in and told as much as he could about all the Rolex models that were there in the show room. I thanked him and left and never stopped dreaming about owning a Rolex. Eventually I started making a little bit more money and could afford to buy one but as it goes with Indians they want to save their money by cutting as many expenses as they can to save for the future I too could never have the courage to spend that kind of money on a watch.
However over a period of time, I bought several Casios, Citizens, Swatches etc which now I repent after realizing that I could have owned a couple of vintage watches in that much money from here on OF 😀.
However this year on 29th oct I completed 10 years in my current job and thats when I thought this is the time to celebrate by finally buying my dream watch.
Thats when I started looking up to read a bit about tips to buy watches, came across several blogs, forums etc but I was skeptical of the tips as most of the blogs led me to some guy selling a luxury second hand watch or a replica which was a no-no to me.
I then came across this great forum and I must apologize as intially I thought this too is a private blog run by someone to sell fake watches. My sincere apologies 😀. But when I read more and more several posts here I thanked heavens for introducing me to this forum and thats when I came to know about this cool history behind the Moonwatch (which was also much economical to my pocket than a Rolex). I knew I wanted a Moonwatch before a Rolex. Thats when I started calling several dealers to find out the best price for the Moonwatch ( thanks to several posts here which suggested to ask for discounts from dealers).
I got a pretty good deal from an AD and finally bought my first luxury watch.
I habe already planned to buy my next two watches and have decided the dates to buy them 😀 ( read below paragraph for that 😀 ) -

My wife who before our marriage was fixed ( yeah Indian parents fix the marriage of their kids even today 😉 )was working in Australia left her job there to be with me here in USA. But not being on work permit here, she was not able to work. For which she always felt bad.I then motivated her to pursue a Masters degree in Computer Science ( paid for completely by me for which I am proud) so that when we relocate to India she can make up for the time lost and get a better job.
She has finally completed her masters from Univ Of Illinois at Springfield with a CGPA of 3.9. She is graduating in coming Spring and thats when I am buying a Tudor Black Bay heritage for me 😉..

She has promised me to buy me a Rolex Sub the day she finally gets her first salary 😀

That was a little about me.
I was once schooled here on one of my posts for importance of punctuation 😉 but English is not my first language so my apologies for punctuation mistakes. I am sure there will be plenty as it was a rather long paragraph that I just wrote.
I generally dont make many grammatical mistakes however but apologies for that too if you find any.

Finally thank you to some of you with whom I talked here via private messages and came to know about some things related to watches that were unknown to me. Also thanks to all those who have answered some questions that I have asked here on forums.

Last but not the least, a couple of pictures that i took today ( its snowing here today) with my 2 years old daughter whom I love dearly and with my Speedy ( as you guys call this moonwatch, and I hope I too can call it such.. fondly )

Merry Christmas.

Evening...found you all b/c my interest in Omega has grown and wanted a forum focused on them.

My collection...I consider them "classic" models of their brand. Again that's what I tell myself!

A quick family shot and a couple wrist shots of my Omega watches. The Professional is a 3574.50 Last Man on the Moon (Cernan).

Happy Holidays. Thanks for having me.

Superb forum, glad I could share some stuff during the 60th anniversary year of the Omega Speedmaster...
👍

Hi All,

My name is Simon and I am an Omega-holic.

After buying and selling many other brands of watches, reality finally hit me - they are no good.

So, I bought my first Omega recently and I am in love.

I hope to one day learn enough through this forum to make a more informed purchase of a vintage Seamaster.

Cheers guys!

-Simo

P.S. How many people from Australia?View attachment 489419

Happy holidays to all on the forum from a Scots expat in the Netherlands.

After three years of austerity where I have had no choice but to look after three small cute little adorable terrible bloody monsters I will be able to reenter the workplace in a matter of weeks as a software tester.

As well as buying a lot of Oud I would also like to buy a relatively affordable wristwatch. I am now into my early middle ages and it's time to grow up from whipping out a smartphone or wearing a casio to check the time that falls apart quickly.

I like to do research on any subject that interests me so given the apparent quality and accuracy of omegas new co-axial antimagnetic movements compared to everything else out there regardless of price it should be no surprise that I ended up here.

I have my eye on a titanium planet ocean:

https://www.omegawatches.com/watch-...al-master-chronometer-43-5-mm-21590442199001/

As this will be a forever watch and that I really don't like grey or orange I hope to be able to customise it with the bezel, hands and face from another model, which I understand will be difficult to arrange.

Sláinte!

OK, just come across this thread and like some of the contributors above I need to apologise for not posting here earlier.

My name is Richard and I'm a civil engineer, from West Yorkshire in England, married to an American. I work on infrastructure (often but not always roads) in developing countries. I'm currently living and working in Liberia.

I bought my first Omega, a Seamster PO 2500, at the same time as my wife's engagement ring in late 2009 from Berry's of Leeds, sponsors of the mighty Leeds Rhinos. I wear it about 75% of the time, on site, in the field. It still looks and runs great and hasn't been serviced yet but sweep hand tip has faded from orange to match the other lume. Only if I'm going somewhere a little more dangerous or maybe working on the car do I swap it out for a G-Shock Rangeman.

From 2011-2013 we were posted to London with my wife's job and I was lucky enough to be able to volunteer at the London 2012 Olympics (a Gamesmaker) and interact with some of the Omega people. During the games I actually went to the boutique on Oxford St and bought one of London 2012 1948 LEs. It's only ever worn with my dinner suit, which at most posts is 1-3 times a year, the Marine Birthday Ball, Burns Night and perhaps NYE.

In 2016, between postings, we were on leave in San Diego and my wife was surprised, but pleased, when I suggested we go to a particular shopping mall. It had lots of the shops she likes but she was immediately suspicious when, as we were passing the Omega Boutique, I said 'I'm just going in here you take the kids and I'll meet you at the food court in an hour'. I'd been emailing them for a few months so they had the Rio 2016 bullhead I was interested in and it came home with me. It gets worn a lot more than I thought it would.



So those are my three moderns and I'm hooked. In the last six months I've started to read and listen (Time4AApint and TGN) about collecting and decided that as my first three Omegas were inspired by earlier models I would look at buying 'matching' vintage pieces. This has been and continues to be a fascinating exercise with lots of diversions (I also now want a modern and vintage Speedmaster) and this week I made the first purchase, a 1965 Seamaster 300. I want to put it on a bracelet, which looks like it will be another adventure, but for now will go on a NATO.

I've had my eye on a couple of original Bullheads for a while but I've never seen a 1948 Seamaster for sale anywhere, my Holy Grail. I presume when/if I do it will be outrageously expensive. It looks a bit like the million dollar prototype which sold recently.

So that's briefly my journey so far, I can't wait for the next chapter, which is picking up my 300 when I'm next in UK in February.
Richard

Hey all,

Let me start this new year by wishing you all a great 2018, as well as by introducing myself . I’m Peter from the Netherlands and my interest in watches has been rising steadily in the past year. It started with the purchase of a modern quartz seiko, after walking through a jewellery store and buying my wife a nice present. I registered at the Dutch watch forum soon after, which soon triggered interest in vintage watches. The first vintage watch I purchased was an omega seamaster 600 from 1964. Having been gripped by the virus, several followed. I love the stories behind the watches, such as my dirty dozen Timor! In the past months, I have lurked in this forum, and learned a lot that way. The level of knowledge here amazes me!! I have also bought some watches from the sales forum, which fits my strategy to buy the seller in well known forums. Following the motto ‘pictures or it didn’t happen’ , here are photo’s of some of my watches:

Omega geneve:


Timor dirty dozen:


Private label breitling 765 from 1946:


Sincerely,

Peter.

G'day, y'all.

I'm Jon, an ex-pat Aussie now living in Texas. I work 9-5 for Big Blue as a systems admin, and moonlight as a track driving instructor on weekends.

When I was a kid, my Dad gave me his RAF navigators' chronometer - a Lemania single pusher - which I kept for several years, before, in the folly of youth, tossing it out when it stopped working. Still kicking myself for that, but it was the '70s and digital watches were the thing to have.

I had a series of cheap digitals for a few years after that, then eventually got myself a Seiko quartz Diver when I got my PADI certification, and wore that for many years.

I don't know what it was that made me suddenly become interested in nicer watches - perhaps it was a late midlife crisis - but abut three years ago I started wanting something nicer on my wrist. Still stuck in the Diver rut, I looked at Rolex Subs, but they really didn't do anything for me and instead I found myself drawn to the Seamaster. Eventually, while on vacation Down Under a couple of years ago, I took advantage of the exchange rate and picked one up for a few hundred dollars less than I would have paid here in the States.

That was the catalyst, and since then I've added a handful of other watches to accompany it, with the latest being a Speedmaster Tintin. It's only a small collection, and the two Omegas are the only ones that have cost more than a few hundred bucks, but each of them is different in its own way - I prefer variety over multiple examples of essentially the same thing. Each to his own.

That said, I would like to own a vintage Speedy one day - as someone who sat with my classmates huddled around a small B&W TV watching Neil Armstrong take that One Small Step, it holds a certain place in my heart. Tintin is nice, but vintage would be better. 😀

Nice to meet you, how do you like Texas, where abouts are you living?
Marcos

Hi, I'm Thomas. I am turning into an Omegaphile myself. I am a VT Alumni and currently an engineer and aspiring entrepreneur. Today I am wearing a 46mm Seamaster Planet Ocean Liquid Metal Titanium.

That's kinda like asking "how do you like Asia," because Texas has such a huge variety of climates, landscapes, communities, and beliefs. That said, I live in Austin, the state capital and a small blue dot of liberalism in what is generally a very conservative red state, and I love it. Except when we get an arctic cold snap like we're having right now, when it's best to stay indoors and off the roads because nobody here has the first clue how to drive in icy conditions!

Well I suppose it could be thought of like that, I grew up in Austin left in 2003 have visited every year or two since, I think it's a little crowded now myself but I sure do miss it, I imagine I will retire there.
I love meeting Australians y'all are some of the most jovial people I have come across in my travels.

I apologize for not introducing myself earlier.

My name is Clayton. I'm an unapologetic watch-a-holic. I have many vices, but my most expensive one involves buying and selling watches online. I've been around the forums for years. Mainly on Watchuseek. I've dabbled on the Bell & Ross and Breathing forums. I've just recently gotten into Omegas. My first Omega was a Speedmaster 145.0022 (sadly sold this watch) and now I have a Seamaster 2503.50.
I live in the great (expensive) state of California. Take it easy on me, most of my money goes to taxes.

I have been lurking for a couple of weeks, so the time to say "hello", has arrived.

I have inherited an Omega watch that was presented to my Wife's grandfather in 1959. It was passed to my wife's father in the mid 1970's. Sadly, he died a year ago, and the watch has passed to me.

It was whilst searching for some information about the watch that I found OF. And what a fount of knowledge it is! More so, members are willing, and happy, to share their collected wealth of information and expertise.

I doubt that I will ever be in a position to contribute anything of worth here, but, rest assured, I will have a few questions! 😀

Regards,

Steve.

Hello everyone - thanks for allowing me to participate in the discussions on the site. I am an Omega fan and in search of a vintage Speedmaster, among others (nb - my father did business w/Neil Armstrong's brother back in the day, and met Neil on one occasion). Look forward to engaging here on OF.

World traveler/explorer, based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Watch collection is fairly limited at the moment, though seek to change the status quo this year.
Cheers

Hi everyone,

I am not new to the site as a reader but new as an active participant. I am a big Omega fan and am just coming to the age where I can start to afford to purchasing these amazing watches. Looking for vintage examples mostly.

London, UK based.

Look forward to participating on the forum here and continuing to learn from the very knowledgeable people on this site.

Thanks,
James

Hi,
I've posted some already, but not a formal introduction. I'm a newbie collector from Stockholm, Sweden. My profession is repairing and renovating vintage wooden boats (preferably mahogany sail boats). As you can see from the picture attached (my current collection), I am 1. only just starting out, and 2. have not yet decided on a general direction...