Mens Watch Guide Automatic or Electric

 First of all I don't buy watches as jewelery or to have people tell me "thats a nice watch you have on" . I like to know what time it is and I almost never take the dam thing off . But when I go with out its due to the cheap thing quit working or filled up with water . Or I lost it when the band broke . I got my first watch when I got my first job back in 1965 .So I have had a few . My first watch was a Timex and cost $9 ,in todays money would be something like a $900 watch . Gas for my car was 23 cents a gal and the gas station greese monkey would Check your Tires , Engine oil,clean your front window, Act frendly , acd if you filled up your tank they gave you a set of drinking glasses or Green stamps ,Now you fill your own Tank and get screwed at the pump . Back to watches , The Timex only lasted untill the leather band broke and it was lost , I did get another watch with a leather band . It was a Fairfax made in swiss made and came from a local Jewelery store ,A real nice watch that cost something like $39.00  in 1968 ,a nice used 1964 car almost Mint condition cost $700 so do the math ! The Fairfax was a wind up 32 jewel ,waterproof and shock proof gold filled not plated well hiped time keeper and was keeping time just fine but went into my pocket at work . I was a Aircraft mechanic at North American Rockwell then and if you were sticking your arm in tight places the watch had to go . I did not remove it from my work jeans when I got home and it ended life in the Westinghouse front loading water using ,hard spinning washer . The Shock proof Water proof Swiss ticker was in real small peaces . A New Front loading Little water using Junk Washer will most likely just wind a watch now and forget clean Jeanes . but in some cases the watch will not make it even today ,Thats due to asia Junk . My best friend for years was a Rollex Man . He got one when he was in the Army and started buying a Rollex for every day of the week after he became a salesman . He wanted to at least look like he was selling top of the line junk . After the swiss wind up blew I had a few Battery watches . Batterys lasted a year or two and new batterys cost as much as a new watch . I let my Rollex friend talk me into a Jewelry Shop Self winder "Automatic" I was into Scuba so a Rollex was out of the question .But what I did get was a Lucien Picard Sea Shark with a 18 k solid gold case . The watch cost less than a Rollex but was self winding and water and shock proof . Also it was heavy ,so heavy it would turn on my arm unless the solid gold link band was so tight my hand would turn blue . I had it untill I went off a high dive at a local swim club ,the watch blew a gasket and filled with water so much for water and shock proof . Just One day later It went to the jewelers and they said if I would have put it in rubbing or drinking Alcohol over night they could have saved it . That was nice to know , I broke it down and sold the gold for $20 . I think gold was $60 a oz then . I still miss that thing you knew it was well done as far as jewelery but not as a watch . After that I went through all the Over priced battery powered junk , I realy don't care who makes a battery watch they never last more than 3 or 4 years , The best one I ever had was another Lucian Picard that was realy French Swiss not Cheap China . They bosted a 7 year battery then . I think it lasted 5 . I did like the thing it was holding up well . I am hard on watches .I shoot all kinds of guns , Work on Cars ,Trucks and Motorcycles . Ride dirt bikes and sometimes scuba dive as well as do Kendo and Judo . Its to hard to take the watch off to do any of this stuff so I take my chances . The 7 year watch had batterys replaced at least 4 times then started leaking water . You see when the back is removed the o ring "Seal" takes a beating and when its ruffed up just a little the watch is going to leak ,and if it leaks a few times its done for . This brings me to NOW . My wife was buying watches as jewelery "Dan Battery Watches" She was a LN and was not able to have jewelery at work but all LN's need to have a watch (LN thats a Nurse,to bad she was not a Dr.we would be rolling in money right now ) any how ,I think she had spent enough for batterys that she could have had One Rollex . I did brake one of her watches trying to get the batterys changed and that was the end . JC Penneys had a 12 hr XMas sale on jewelery so I Ran out and got her a Citizen Eco Drive all stainless watch . That was 6 years ago and its still running fine .All of her other watches are Dead and done with . Now I am a bit hard on the watches so I don't like to put to much into them ,I also do not like batterys ,so I got a Citizen Automatic (not a Eco drive)on E Bay at Auction ,It came from some one in Asia . It cost all of $30 total at my door in the mail box ,People were not into over bidding then ,It was listed as New but no box or paper work . That means "Factory Reject or Second" .The watch ran fast by 15 min in a weeks time . But Crap it was Cheap . Also I did like the light weight design . For a Mechanical Automatic its a feather .Now for the bad part ! I droped the watch from wast high ,on to a tile floor .The glass hit the floor first but did not brake ,But the watch face diel marks fell off (all but 4) .Talk about Cheap ,If Citizen would have peaned the little pins that were holding the diel letters on the watch would have withstanded a Atomic bomb blast .But No they just stuck a little pin in a snug fit hole . I took the screw off back off the watch and dumped the loose letters out .I taped the watch so hard on a vice that I thought I would knock the gears out .I wanted to remove the last of the 4 letters from the face .Only one more came off ! So I adjusted the time and Put the Cheap thing back togeather . Ok so far and now it was a little slow but not to bad . 30 days later I was dirt biking and one more of those dam letters "numbers" fell off . This time I took the guts out of the watch and removed the letters "numbers ' 100%  and some how got it back togeather with the time real close to . With the numbers missing it sttill has marked lines on the face so I realy don't miss them . Its to bad they just did not paint marks on the face and left installed by junk pins number markers off . Most people would have trashed the Junker but I fixed it because I tryed to Buy another Junker at Auction but you all like to Over Bid on this Junk now . I see people paying $70 to $90 now for the same Junk watch that I got for $30 shipping and all .  I have tracked prices of almost all the watches on E Bay and people are way over bidding on factory seconds and returns . People I worked in sales a little and a l;arge valume dealer will buy lots of Factory rejects ,seconds and Blemished as well returns rehabs .They sell them as First rate New and get boxes with new papers And they pass them off for new .Most of the better dealers will sell them off at close out disvcount deals with little or no return backing .I was tracking Invicta Automatics on E Bay and Some sellers clame something like a Pro Diver is a $375 buck watch .Wow were in the hell did some liquidator come up with that price . On Shop MSNBC the same factory first New but a little Old from storage list price at $150 . E sellers are great at hipe ! Any more water proof is not water proof and shock proof is a joke .Self winding will not keep time and electric watches are almost Dead by the time they are up for sale . This is the KEY to this story . If you buy a Battery powered watch ,batterys last something like 2 to 3 years at best and after you remove the back to replace the chesp little thing the gasket is almost shot .Its to bad that gaskets are not standard and came with the replacement battery that are not standard also . If you want a Battery Watch pick up one at Walmarts for $15 thats what they are worth ,and all have the same batterys and movements no matter what they cost . some one Bids more than a few bucks for a old shelf setter ,Maybe New but has been in storage for years is NUTS save some money and by a newer junker at Wal mart . Presonaly I will not buy anything from that place but A motorcycle guy I know got a Diver watch with a movement made in Japan not China no sale for $9.50 their and It has been running for a week now . If I was forced to buy a Electric watch at gun point I think it would be a Eco Drive Citizen ,then I would take it to a local jeweler and have the numbers removed from the face before they fell off . I think it would be OK then . By the way their are only something like 4 watch makers in Asia with lots of different names . Russian watches are who knows what . If they are anything like their cars adjustments are done with a hammer . Most of the fine Europen brands are now made in Asia and well way over  priced . I do like self winding Automatics but see no sence in paying high prices for anything other than a NEW Rollex ,used is just plane stupid .No one gets rid of a Rollex that is keeping good time .My Rollex friend traded one in on a diamond top of the line ,but only because it was 35 years old and needed hundreds worth of repair . But if you work for a living just get a Cheap self winding watch .something light weight with a locking link band remember Leather "water buffalow" Bands brake often . And water restiant and good to 100m means you can wash your watch a little if it has mudd on it . Don't Over Bid at Auctions ,You are not getting a deal if you are trying to Win a Bidding War . If you don't get a real blow out buy you did not win ! And the battery watches are going to need a battery soon no one seems to ask how old the watches are if listed as New , most are real old and pulled from better retailers when a few of a lot stop working with DEAD batterys They end up with E Bay big outfits . As do the Seconds and rejects of the Automatics . A Timex at a Discount store starts looking real good no $15 to $20 Shipping and most Discount buyers don't have the time to mess with seconds and rejects and returns .One I know of deals with problem returns ,they are trash canned unless a employee wants it .