Brands you had never heard of...

A place to discuss other watch-brands
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Amor Vincit Omnia
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Brands you had never heard of...

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

...before joining watch forums?

Earlier I posted that I had never heard of Ulysse Nardin before I joined watch forums. But there were others.

I knew about all the brands you can/could find in the High Street and the airports, mainly the big volume brands. I think I was aware that there were brands out there beyond the Rolex orbit, and I had probably heard of P-P and A-P. However, V-C, Piaget, and many others in the horological stratosphere, I was ignorant of those.

I didn't know about brands like Orient and I knew nothing of microbrands. Or the ascending stars of Glashütte.

Were any of you in a similar state of ignorance or innocence?
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jkbarnes
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Re: Brands you had never heard of...

Post by jkbarnes »

Complete ignorance! Of the major players, I was aware of Rolex, Omega, and Cartier. Then there were what I call the “department store” brands - Citizen, Swatch, Seiko, Hamilton, Bulova, Movado, Gucci, and maybe Tissot. Lastly, there were the “discount store” brands - Timex & Casio.

I was barely aware of what a mechanical watch was, whether hand wound or automatic.
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Re: Brands you had never heard of...

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

jkbarnes wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 5:34 pm I was barely aware of what a mechanical watch was, whether hand wound or automatic.
I think that after around 30 years I had kind of made the tacit assumption that all new watches were quartz.

I've told this before, but I had an interesting conversation with a Saturday assistant at a mall-type store...

"Nice watch, sir, it's mechanical."

"Err, no, I think it's quartz."

"Yes, sir - quartz mechanical."

He meant "analogue" of course! :lol:
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Re: Brands you had never heard of...

Post by missF »

jkbarnes wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 5:34 pm Complete ignorance!

I was barely aware of what a mechanical watch was, whether hand wound or automatic.
I'm the same. I was wearing a rotary 'dive' watch that I found on Amazon when I first spotted the C11 and disappeared down this rabbit hole. I knew nothing of the 'industry', had probably heard of Rolex, Casio. Had bought a giant orange Stuhrling watch when I was high in hospital - because it was orange, not because I'd ever heard of Stuhrling before.... :lol:

Until I listened in to the back of my new C11 I didn't know what a mechanical watch was. I had to catch up fast...
watching you fail in your quest for a “one watch” has been great entertainment
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