Seiko Club Singapore Museum

My own reflection

ivan
My own reflection
Now, since i am free. Mind u guys, when i say i m free, i mean my 2 boys are asleep. 1 just a few days old and the other 2 years old. :)



I m not in a gd position to write anything abt watch collecting. But after i met Lunarin79 and oOsiMm, i realised how far a guy can go to understand their watches. And of cos, impress me so much that i sat down, i was reflecting my needs after a crazy span of 6weeks love-hate relationship in this watch collecting craze.



How I came to know Seikosg is by sheer coincident. I got myself 2 watches that night, totally clueless abt them when I got it. Actually, equally clueless now... Ha ha ha.



I sprung into action immediately, 1 hand I was trying to get watches that I can afford, basically look good, hoot first talk later. The other hand, picking up Watch Terminology on the Internet, like Crown, Dial, Bezel, Case and the hardest to figure out, movement. Before I can even understand a single bit, I came to know that we have this Vintage la, chronology la, power reserve la, GMT la..... Blah blah. Head exploding.... Ha ha..



Then, reading the forum I realized there are different watches for different occasion. This one is the easier to understand. Really hope everything is this easy. They r namely Dress watch, sport watch, everyday watch and last but not least, the expensive watch..... Ha ha ha, I made up this term. It should be complicated watch but, as far as I know, it is expensive.



I asked myself as well as my wife. And she gave me a very good answer, "you can tell a lot about a man by what is on his wrist"



So what watch that can tell people about me? I looked into brands like Azimuth (ops, it has lost it's appeal to me, dun ask me y becos I follow my heart..... Ha ha ha), Omega (they keep updating/changing the movement without changing the design, they all look quite similar, but I was totally in love with PO and seamaster, and yes this 2 r in my wishlist) Rolex (I m in love with deepsea and sea dweller) Pam (in love with the design but still trying to figure out their model numbers), others like breitling, TagHeuer, Oris, Fortis, blah.blah... Is either they r too expensive or doesn't appeal to me.



Oh wait, what abt Seiko? and not forgetting my favorite G-shock or casio.

Actually, I kept this as the last becos, somehow regardless how luxurious or branded other watches are, these 2 never fail to turn my head when I walked pass a watch shop. This is when I realized, they win my heart. I m a person that follows my heart. So, I have a winner here.



Forgive me if I m or I was a bit brand conscious, and yes, I was vain for a period but I won't blindly go after a certain brand anymore, but follow my heart. There r some watches that I feel I will want to buy. Not becos I need, but rather I want. Try explaining? I can't and here I m..... Writing on an iPhone.



Hope I m not long winded and hey, Lunarin79, I didn't get your name. Paisay, i didnt get your watch and i was pretty much apologetic for that. And Thanks to u, Glenn. I only realised i didn't pick up the box. As for the warranty and book, i m not sure if i gotten them, this I need to check.



And u guys r so young. Tot I will c some1 that is older.... Ha ha...



C u ard!
johnwongtw
Re: My own reflection
Hey Ivan,



I gone through the same process myself, so I feel you. 3 months back, I've only owned 1 seiko and I won't even dare call the watches I owned, a collection. Then my wife bought me a Seiko Sumo, I loved it the moment I saw it, my collegue spotted the sumo a few days after and we talked a bit about his Tuna(s) and Seiko. I started reading up about seiko and got extremely interested in their vintage chronos. I joined forums and read up about watches(not only seikos) and the different kinds of movements, and these fascinated me.



Now I own 13 seiko watches(2 more on the way by post), mostly eBay or forum purchases. as time passed, I have become more specific with what I wanted. Not just because I have unlimited wants matched by limited resources, but also because I don't want something that I could just pick up off the City Chain display case. I now go for discontinued models, mainly vintage chronographs and divers, or at least models that you cant get locally.



I am already facing a growing dilemma of some watches not getting enough wrist time and I may have to part with the less popular ones later. But for now, I would slow down my collecting and put in alot more thought before pouncing. Each of these watches are special to me and I hope I won't have to part with anyone of them. At least not for the time being. :)
herzausstahl
Re: My own reflection
I think I am so young too. My wrinkles only come out when I smile or frown, not permanent yet :lol: You want to meet older, wait Meepokman coming back soon. Meet him lor, not so young :lol: :lol: :lol: Btw I too have two kids, and understand what you mean by "free". However, mine are older now, and autonomous.



Think the important thing is that a hobby must stay a hobby, and so long as we "collect"/hoot within our means and not affect our other responsibilities, no need to think so much :mrgreen: The knowledge comes with time, and in the process one of the pitfalls is over-relying on the forums, where sometimes opinion is passed off as knowledge, and it is possible to reference two sources for confirmation when actually one of the sources cut-n-paste from the other one.
fireal
Re: My own reflection
this how my journey started... long long ago on 1 fateful day i found a spoilt watch at home and opened it up to just mess around with it ...couldn fix it so started to read up on it and sparked it my interest. more interested in watchmaking at that time so i bought in some cheap watches to experiment with .. destroyed more than i saved but learned a lot (through the hard way).... eventually was proficient enough to completely disassemble and assemble a basic manual / automatic



after that got interested in the history of the watches and that lead to me collecting vintage wtaches... still mend / restore watches now ( part and parcel of collecting vintage) , but have left the serious servicing to professionals as i dont want to fug up a delicate vintage watch with my clumsy finger
ivan
My own reflection
Ha ha ha....

Nice to hear everyone's story.



Sorry MOD, I might have started this thread in the wrong section.

Can help me shift to chit chat instead.



Paiseh paiseh!
watchlooker
Re: My own reflection
To me..... from beginning..... collect watch is like a journey to self discovery which is very enriching.... which eventually lead to life discovery now..... :lol: :lol:



Money come and go..... but watch stay with u till u pass it down..... someday some one will own part of u..... :idea:
Astro2212
Re: My own reflection

"herzausstahl"

I think I am so young too. My wrinkles only come out when I smile or frown, not permanent yet :lol: You want to meet older, wait Meepokman coming back soon. Meet him lor, not so young :lol: :lol: :lol: Btw I too have two kids, and understand what you mean by "free". However, mine are older now, and autonomous.

[color=#0000BF]Bro u bo steady leh,told u MPM IS not dat OLD.[/color] :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen:

Think the important thing is that a hobby must stay a hobby, and so long as we "collect"/hoot within our means and not affect our other responsibilities, no need to think so much :mrgreen: The knowledge comes with time, and in the process one of the pitfalls is over-relying on the forums, where sometimes opinion is passed off as [color=#FF0000]KNOWLEDGE[/color], and it is possible to reference two sources for confirmation when [color=#FF0000]ACTUALLY[/color] one of the sources [color=#FF0000]CUT AND PASTE[/color] from the other one.

Yah dun tnk so much,young oni 1 x dun wait til old than regret... :D

Fully agree with the highlighted 1...:)
watchlooker
Re: My own reflection

"Astro2212"


Yah[color=#FF0000] dun tnk so much,young oni 1 x dun wait til old than regret[/color]... :D

Fully agree with the highlighted 1...:)


This one I fully agreed...... :lol: :lol: and I try to do it now..... really regret not doing something when I'm younger....
roo7
Re: My own reflection

"ivan"

Ha ha ha....

Nice to hear everyone's story.



Sorry MOD, I might have started this thread in the wrong section.

Can help me shift to chit chat instead.



Paiseh paiseh!


It's ok, it's still within topic of watch collecting ;)



I think everybody started collecting in a big bang way, suddenly wanted to get everything that's out there.



It happened to me with my collection of vintage russian watches, at one point I have too many of them and I don't even wear some of them. It was really buying for the sake of buying, the thrill of winning an eBay bid in the middle of the night.



Right now, my collection is still pretty rojak, although I try to have specific themes around them and grow those themes that I'm more focused on and slowly let go the rest that's can't belong to any other themes.



End of the day, as you collect more, you will learn from your mistakes and slowly you will realise, it's better to rely on your own instinct and knowledge rather than depending on somebody else.



We are a tighter and smaller community as compared to WUS and SCWF as they are across various countries. Most of us here are very helpful, there are also members here who can give really sound advise to new collectors but please don't take them for granted too.



As the saying goes, you give a man a fish, he feed for a day, give him a fishing rod, he feed for his remaining days.



End of the day, I just hope everybody enjoy their stay here while learning at the same time, like what our govt says, don't stop learning, as it's a life long process. ;)
ivan
My own reflection

"roo7"

Its ok, it's still within topic of watch collecting ;)



I think everybody started collecting in a big bang way, suddenly wanted to get everything that's out there.



It happened to me with my collection of vintage russian watches, at one point I have too many of them and I don't even wear some of them. It was really buying for the sake of buying, the thrill of winning an eBay bid in the middle of the night.



Right now, my collection is still pretty rojak, although I try to have specific themes around them and grow those themes that I'm more focused on and slowly let go the rest that's can't belong to any other themes.



End of the day, as you collect more, you will learn from your mistakes and slowly you will realise, it's better to rely on your own instinct and knowledge rather than depending on somebody else.



We are a tighter and smaller community as compared to WUS and SCWF as they are across various countries. Most of us here are very helpful, there are also members here who can give really sound advise to new collectors but please don't take them for granted too.



As the saying goes, you give a man a fish, he feed for a day, give him a fishing rod, he feed for his remaining days.



End of the day, I just hope everybody enjoy their stay here while learning at the same time, like what our govt says, don't stop learning, as it's a life long process. ;)


Thanks bro.



Err. Can I have the fish? I m kidding.

Yup. I m in a watch shop in Marina Sq now waiting for a watch to be served and catch a Look at Seikosg.



I must say, trying to find the style/theme that I m collecting is like what u said, ROJAK.....



But I love doing things the hard way, cos this is where one learns faster. For the time being, just hoot if I see 1 catches my eyes. Movement/vintage/discontinued watches will take time to learn and yes, I like to know more.



:) :) :) :)
oOsiMm
Re: My own reflection
Hi Ivan bro,



yup this is just an experimenting and exploring stage that all new collectors will face when they just begin their collecting journey...some ppl would just quit this hobby as they cant find their focus and nothing appealing to make them stay,while most will eventually find their heading..

.



its normal to have a rojak kinda collection but what matters is ,do you knw your main focus/genre/style..? That would mean your main watch collection is based on something(say divers,chronos,dress,movement calibres,brands,etc).. I can hardly think of anyone that follows a very strict non rojak collection..its just how many % of the misc watches that you may have,aside from the main focus... But then again,if one is happy with a rojak collection of all genres/style.....so be it as most impt is happy can riao..



For me is more to vintage with kinda 85% divers,10% chronographs or related and 5% dresswatches..
Ed.YEO
Re: My own reflection
To be frank, my Japanese started back 10yrs ago with the SNKX(or SNXK?)4xx series of SEIKO flieger while my biggest interest then still falls on Swiss produce.

During that time my impression with SEIKO/CITIZEN was still not so good after the 2nd piece i got was a lemon, the rotor turns, but not the movement, after few days of purchase. So i went back to look for the seller, and he did send the watch back to ThongSia for diagnosis... when it came back, it works for a couple of months, then back to the same lemon state. By then, i hv given up on Japanese quality...





So how did my interest came back biting on me again? The first SEIKO i bought was my daily beater then, until my purchase of the first SANDOZ submariner. So the SEIKO works with me for about half a year, and i always have to wear it with care as i'm told that the SEIKO flieger was not built for shock and bash, where the environment i worked in reflects the kind of condition which this piece fails in. After the SANDOZ, i realized that there are other dial variants of the flieger which i've got, in addition of the smooth and neat and low profile appeal of the SEIKO, as well as the good price($110), that may eventually make a good collection, i fall into the pit again. Then it takes me about half a year to complete a set of the 4xx- Fliegers, at the same time makes me realise that collecting a full set of SEIKO variants are also as challenging as the Swatch smileys chronos.



Ever since the last flieger collection, i have stopped looking at SEIKOs as most of the designs have gone too "soft" and dressy. No other military themed design appears except for the chronos, until in recent months the interest bites back on me with the SNZG17 and the other variants...though without sand blasted bracelets options.



Now looking back at the releases in the past 3yrs, there are more and more "black" beauties out there that caught my attention. And with this forum, i get more and more ideas what i might be looking for the next purchase. Thx folks!



P.S. on a side note, my love for Swiss piece will not fade!
ivan
My own reflection
Everytime, I read a new post, I m getting poisoned with more models.



I have to stop it. Ha ha ha.

Stop logging in for a month.



And yes mr yeo, I share the same sentiment. I love Swiss watches too.
ivan
My own reflection

"oOsiMm"

Hi Ivan bro,



yup this is just an experimenting and exploring stage that all new collectors will face when they just begin their collecting journey...some ppl would just quit this hobby as they cant find their focus and nothing appealing to make them stay,while most will eventually find their heading..

.



its normal to have a rojak kinda collection but what matters is ,do you knw your main focus/genre/style..? That would mean your main watch collection is based on something(say divers,chronos,dress,movement calibres,brands,etc).. I can hardly think of anyone that follows a very strict non rojak collection..its just how many % of the misc watches that you may have,aside from the main focus... But then again,if one is happy with a rojak collection of all genres/style.....so be it as most impt is happy can riao..



For me is more to vintage with kinda 85% divers,10% chronographs or related and 5% dresswatches..


I have been reading up whole day n trying to figure out what genres are my watch style.

I think I m more into diver watch.I believed the cyclone I bought from you is a diver watch. Maybe I m wrong.



Yeah!!!!
fireal
Re: My own reflection
speaking of genre of watches to collect... for me my small collection also quite rojak .i do particularly like interesting designs / features in my vintage watches though
kymwatchlog
Re: My own reflection
at the end of the day, there is no right or wrong style/focus/theme.



one simply change along the way to accomodate new taste, budget etc.



this is an obsession and to me obsession follows no fix lofic and many times is irrational.