Hard to find watch lovers outside of this forum.

[jbk45]

Agreed. I am also Bay Area-based, work in tech and rarely come across other enthusiasts outside of AD-related events. I’d love to gtg and talk shop some time with other WIS in the Bay. I own a handful of nice watches and the only one in my collection that’s ever been noticed was my Hulk and thats maybe 3 times in the last two years.

[Fleetlord]

There is a lot going on here that is completely true.

The watch hobby seems widespread due to the amount of content that is out there for enthusiasts, but that really is just a matter of perception on our part because we are INSIDE the bubble.

From my experience, the general public knows the following traditional watch brands.

1) ROLEX

2) MOVADO

3) SEIKO / Citizen

4) INVICTA

5) Michael Kors / Fossil

6) Tag Heuer

That's about it....Hippity Hopsters rap about Patek and AP...but idk if that really means anything...

The vast majority of people couldn't care less about watches and defintiely don't recognize it as a hobby.

I have, however, been able to convert some...

[EDL7]

Times change..
Quality is not the norm anymore..
Population has dumbed down..
Wallmart stuff..good..
Everything else...well..

[fiddyg]

I also am from the Bay Area and work in Health Care. I don’t know too many people that have interest in watches. They prefer an Apple Watch if they even wear a watch. Only time I get to talk about watches is when I go to Davidson and Licht. Couple friends are into watches but not a vast majority are.

Have friends and family in the Philippines and they seem to know and have more interest.


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[kingSubTT]

Most people don’t understand that what I am wearing in 80% cash. I can get that any day. For those who bought SS models, it’s 100%. My BLNR, I can get probably 100% of what I paid anytime.

[doubleinfive]

Originally Posted by richard371

I’ve been into watches since I was a kid. I’ve had many over the years. I can’t seem to find another human being outside of the forums that shares the same interest. I do ok and live and work in tech in SF. I have 100s of friends from IT to drs and lawyers and no one I know gives a sh%# about watches. Back a few years ago I had my friend over who is a very successful ER dr for dinner and wine and he saw my collection of 4 SS Rolex watches. He asked what those were rotating in my winder I told him and he said I’m weird. I work for a prestigious law firm and don’t see anyone wearing a nice watch. It seems no one in SF has an interest in nice watches and they all wear an Apple Watch. Sad but if I want to have a conversation with anyone here outside the forums I have to walk into an AD. The person I’m dating now asked about my Daytona and I gave them the history and what I paid for it and what it goes for now and they told me I should sell it now and invest the money.

With that said I went to Asia for work for 6 weeks recently and everyone appreciated and had nice watches. Maybe this is an American/SF thing that has no interest in watches?

Perhaps you should visit to Jacek at the Mission District...

[Yobber76]

I would agree with this thread. Watch enthusiasts have a collector mentality, usually keyed to a historical era in their life. I'll bet many watch enthusiasts have also collected other things, guns, art, books, car(s). There is a pleasure gained by owning something that reflects a time of lasting quality, born of an era where things were built and bought to last.
We talk on this forum about watches as jewelry, and I would agree that in the past 20 years, watches were bought to be big and blingy, with price pointed at changing your watch with your outfit. Like women's costume jewelry, some change watches the same way you would change rings and bracelets.
I will say this though, many younger people respect luxury watches like Rolex, even if they don't see a reason to buy one. I think there will always be watch enthusiasts, and truthfully, I think it has always been a small percentage of people, even when everyone wore a watch.
It's great that there are now forums for those who love watches, to meet and talk.

[Zakalwe]

Hard to find watch lovers?

I barely even know people who wear mechanical watches.

Four that I’m sure of, to be precise. Two of those bought theirs after approaching me for advice and hadn’t shown any prior inclination towards an interest in horology. None could remotely be described as watch enthusiasts.

It doesn’t though surprise me in the slightest. Spending money on a mechanical watch fundamentally cannot be rationalised, so if there isn’t an emotional reason for liking them such as an interest passed down from an enthusiastic parent, the average Joe will wear a cheap quartz, smartwatch or nothing.

[warrior]

Bingo! I’ve said this many times on the forums—Generally and relatively speaking, Americans , with disposable incomes, generally aren’t into luxury mechanical watches.
More big houses, cars. It’s a lifestyle thing. Asia is very different.

Originally Posted by richard371

I think its an American thing. Americans have no interest in fine watches anymore . I'm on the Rolex Facebook group and hardly anyone is an American thats into watches. We need more Dr Toms :)

[topgear1985]

I agree as well, most people I interact with have no interest whatsoever in timepieces. I work in IT for a financial company and even senior managers and directors don’t really wear anything besides their Apple Watch or Fitbit.


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[ShingaMC]

Come to San Jose, Cupertino, sunnyvale,

Most of the time I can spotted good numbers of DJ around on Asian peoples, some American on their black subs, some European on their Panerai/IWC

Oh, I did saw 2 AP15400, 1 white and 1 black dial last Friday


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[beshannon]

Originally Posted by richard371

Hard to find watch lovers outside of this forum.

I guess it depends on whom you associate with.

I know plenty of watch lovers, most of which have never heard of this forum

[jcdeng]

Its been opposite for me lately. Friends in different fields all the sudden start asking me about watches, especially rolex. And ironically in this dry market for ss sports, everybody and their mom seems to want a sub date, a hulk or a 500c from AD. All I can tell them right now is "good luck".

[Aclockworkblue]

Originally Posted by Brew

If you think watch enthusiasts are rare, try striking up a conversation with one of the guys at the gym about straight razors! Or better yet, just stand there and shave, and see what happens. lol.

Fellow straight razor shaver? (fingers crossed)

[marc2828]

wore my new SD43 to office. Showed my colleague...I was all happy. He said.."looks like a watch, what the big deal?"

[Rolex addict]

This group is a very small portion of the population who have high end watches. Many buy them as status symbols, but there are many other items that are more recognizable and gathers attention like a Ferrari, Porsche, $1MM home, etc. Any of those are much more recognizable than a Patek or Richard Mille.

[Norbert]

I'm in the same boat. Hate to bring up my watch passion to others because if they aren't WIS's also, it'll seem like I'm just showing off. So I just never mention it.

[dba]

Originally Posted by Mystro

We don’t wear disposable watches. We invest in mechanical masterpieces that are timeless. It’s a investment in culture, style and quality of living. The technworld moves too fast to appreciate anything that is timeless or mechanical.

This^^ is about as true a statement about our hobby as I've seen written. I gave my son my Rolex 16613 when he graduated from college. He knows I'm disappointed when he doesn't wear it when he comes to visit for F1 Sundays and the assorted get togethers.

Some folks just don't get it and that's okay. My brother has a Tudor Sub and a Breitling; rarely wears either.

I want to get my wife at least a 31mm Datejust because her poor eyes can't read the older 26mm Datejust she has. She's not having anything to do with that and most times when she puts on her Rolex, it's not even running.

Best friend wears a rotation of two TT Breitlings and a 16613. Another buddy wears a 16600 and laughs about my serial flipping.

We all know what we like and although we on this forum are spread across the globe, we're a merry bunch!

[samson66]

Let's face it, to most people the idea of spending thousands of dollars on a watch is lunacy, and to some extent they are right. But different people spend lots of money on different things. I'd rather spend $10K on a watch that I can wear and enjoy every day than I would on a piece of art work or something like that. I doubt that people who wear Apple Watches or Fit Bits have a whole lot of passion for them - they are just disposable tools that they use, and really there's nothing wrong with that if that's what they want.

I do get depressed that I rarely see anyone younger than me wearing a Rolex. I'm almost 50 and 9 out of 10 people I see in the wild wearing a Rolex are probably 55 and older. I hope this passion doesn't die out with the younger folks and the disposable culture we have become.

[samson66]

...guess this may be why Rolex have gone so upscale in recent years. They know their future is with the affluent and the display of wealth, not with trying to convince twenty-somethings to ditch their gadgets.

[jsausley]

Originally Posted by richard371

I’ve been into watches since I was a kid. I’ve had many over the years. I can’t seem to find another human being outside of the forums that shares the same interest. I do ok and live and work in tech in SF. I have 100s of friends from IT to drs and lawyers and no one I know gives a sh%# about watches. Back a few years ago I had my friend over who is a very successful ER dr for dinner and wine and he saw my collection of 4 SS Rolex watches. He asked what those were rotating in my winder I told him and he said I’m weird. I work for a prestigious law firm and don’t see anyone wearing a nice watch. It seems no one in SF has an interest in nice watches and they all wear an Apple Watch. Sad but if I want to have a conversation with anyone here outside the forums I have to walk into an AD. The person I’m dating now asked about my Daytona and I gave them the history and what I paid for it and what it goes for now and they told me I should sell it now and invest the money.

With that said I went to Asia for work for 6 weeks recently and everyone appreciated and had nice watches. Maybe this is an American/SF thing that has no interest in watches?

I have no experience in SF but it's largely the same out here on the East Coast. I travel a lot for work and for pleasure and I will occasionally get into a conversation about watches with someone, but it's usually a 35,000 foot overhead view type of conversation, nothing about movements or horology or specific vintage and/or rare references.

I will say that in regards to Asia, they are obsessed with luxury goods. Louis Vuitton, Hermes bags, Rolex watches, etc. Even Apple phones are considered status symbols, especially in Japan. In this countries those people are very interested in material possessions and I don't mean that in a negative way. My wife and I just got back from a European cruise around the Mediterranean (there were more Asians on this cruise than there usually are on cruises originating from the US and sailing around the Caribbean) and my wife couldn't BELIEVE how all of the Asian ladies wore elegant evening gowns and very nice dresses every single night to dinner. Meanwhile on a cruise out of Miami or New York, people try to get by wearing shorts to the main dining room and complain about having to wear slacks or a button down shirt. I've heard, "I don't even own a tie" more often than I'd like to admit.

Sometimes I wish people in the US still cared about looking nice and owning nice things.

Note: I'm 30, so I'm not necessarily some old fart reminiscing about when people cared more. I just genuinely wish people cared more about their appearances I guess.

[TheDon2000]

I know at least 5 people that are into watches with decent collections of 3-5 watches. A lot of car guys are into watches. Palm Beach and Miami Florida were both loaded with watches on almost every wrist I past. Went to Beaches in the Turks and Caicos and almost every person there wore a Rolex. I find it fairly common. Last week I nodded at someone wearing an SD4K and he knew exactly what I was nodding for. Not that rare.

[imperio]

OP, check out this subforum - https://www.rolexforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=31

I'm in North San Jose and I've been to a 2 gtgs in the past 3 weeks. At the meetup this past weekend in the East Bay, I think Dr Robert and I were the only ones from TRF.

[lenfried29]

I know few people at work that into the watches. In fact they got me into it. But they only collecting them for the status. When I talk to them about details, they just don't know anything about it or don't even want to. They don't know how to setup time zones in they GMT's. When I offered my help, they don't even care.

[CoveWatch]

I am in a similar scenario here in southern california.. although I do seen plenty of nice watches on wrists, depending on where I'm at (Beverly Hills, Newport Beach, etc is full of them), I've learned that a huge majority of those people either do not know much at all about what they are wearing, or don't care much. Fortunately I've met and friended some folks at a monthly GTG in Orange County and thats always something I look forward to.

[SeaAndSky]

I fly with lots of others who are in to mechanical watches.

[RedwinGV]

I'm thinking it's accidentally clandestine. Being in the midwest (metro Detroit now) I do see some them from time to time, but folks just keep it to themselves. I probably see the most mechanicals when we take a cruise. But even then, I think I ended up talking about watches only once. (hot tub time.)

Odd that it is so different from cars, cameras, etc.

[rod727]

Living in the Midwest I rarely run into others wearing Rolex. We were at a birthday party recently when one of the guest kept looking at my watch. I saw he had a datejust on and commented “nice watch”. That morphed into a discussion about my 116610. Turns out he has been lusting for one. Other than that it’s usually in airports.

[tudorbaja27]

Different people have different taste.
I take great pleasure in reading about and finding more about timepieces, history etc. The same way I take pleasure in dressing well etc.

I live in Boston - I'm in a minority in both

[TheRtHonA]

I work in an investment bank in London and i have rarely come across people really into watches, bar one or two. However 20-30% of the people wear a Rolex / Omega and very occasionally you see something nicer. However, the environment doesn’t lend itself to talking about watches.

Ironically I see the most Rolex watches before my Barry’s Bootcamp classes. The number of males and females going into the class with a datejust / Submariner is insane. I know the watches are durable but not sure I’d risk it.