Paging the horologisti

Do the railways still provide watches for their staff? I'm sure they
used to, like the military provided them for officers.

Little Bruvver has a Kriegsmarine watch, that Pa nicked off a corpse in
1944. Turns out the Swiss sold exactly the same watch to the British
Army.

 

Bear says...

As if.

 

Guards used to be issued pocket watches until the early eighties; drivers
weren't issued anything until 1985 and then it was a Timex with BR
stamped on the back (I still have mine) then we got a glow in the dark
one (which I still use).

We've just been issued an utterly crap looking thing that checks its time
with a radio in Frankfurt, or something (which I refuse to wear).

I feel a picture coming on:
http://sweller.dynalias.org/images/brwatches.jpg

Conclusive proof I haven't got anything better to do today.

 

It's got a rainbow badge on it.

 

sweller says...

<shudder>

 

Seiko automatic, 30 years old, around a minute a month, service every 5
years ish. Around 40 squids if you can still find one plus it doesnt
need winding. Also, this one got run over by several cars!

But previous poster is right. 10 quid Casios. When the military
discover them, be afraid, very afraid.

Iirc, my last Casio is at the bottom of the Solent. Wonder if its still
going?

 

*cough*snort*cough*wheeze*

 

Zippy or Bungle?

--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/KH500A8/TS250C
|_\_____/_| ..75805../..18781.../..3196./.19406
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4 PM#5
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11 WG*
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4
'^' RBR Landmarks: 24 Pts: 400 Miles: 1589

 

cnut cnut cnut!

 

That was nothing to do with the PVR. It was a) cos my satellite
system refused to show eurosport and b) I was too stupid to realise it
was on BBC2.

 

I wish I'd made this point.

 

You're kidding, right?

And that is shite.

I've always thought that people buy Rolex for one reason, and one
reason only - to demonstrate that they can blow 5 grand on a watch. I
mean, why else would you spend that sort of money when you can get the
same functionality for a fiver?

 

5 Grand ! No, mine only cost £250 new in Amsterdam in 1976

The same model now sells for about £2,000 in the High Street.

 

£250 in 1976 is a lot more than £250 today, I can't be arsed to work it
out though.

 

That was a *lot* of money in 1976.

It's still more than ten times what I'd spend on a watch, especially
one so inaccurate.

 

Up to a point, Lord Copper, but some people were given them by
parents/rellies/godparents. Mine came from my father, as a 21st present.
It wasn't all *that* expensive at the time, as the Swiss Franc was running
at about 10:1 and had yet to sky-rocket against Sterling. It's a steel
one - gold ones are indeed so naff - and has gone everywhere and done
everything with me. It's battered, and I love it. Since the old geezer
died, I alternate wearing the Rolex with his Jaeger LeCoultre alarm watch,
which is also stainless steel and discreet but very stylish. Both keep
immensely good time, as long as I keep them moving. Each would be absurdly
expensive to replace like-for-like, but they are nice to own.

 

I have my Pa's Olma, which was acquired in much the same way at El Alamein!

 

Granted, but I did say "buy" in my original post. Of course, plenty
of folk have family heirlooms which they now couldn't afford to
replace - a reflection of their relative downward mobility in the
social heirachy, I guess.

It's an interesting phenomonem. For me, it's been the other way round
- my family has never had anything of any value that would be
considered worth passing on to the next generation, and I'm definitely
the richest member of my family in the last 100 years - my maternal
grandmother was a chambermaid, and my maternal grandfather was a tramp
during the depression - Orwell's "Down and Out in Paris and London"
*was* his life (the London bit, obviously) for a few years.

 

And one that needs 'servicing', FFS.

FWIW my current watch did cost 50% more than your budget and has
lasted about seven years so far. It's Swiss (Tissot), but quartz, so
is likely to remain incredibly accurate for a very long time. Ideal
compromise.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

We were only fractionally further 'up' the scale on the paternal side,
pre-NH medics on the maternal side. Perhaps that's why I value the few nice
pieces that have come to me.

Yes, you said 'buy' but I was reacting to the conspicuous consumption swipes
further up the thread. The other telling point is the way that the UK
beer-token has slumped against the Swissie. I remember going on a family
holiday in the late 60s with the rate at 13-14 to the quid. It's now -
quick check - 2.28 and has been way below that. This partially explains why
the Swiss are arguably the world's worst investors. Why take risk, when
your clients will happily accept a pitiful return on their Bank of Toytown
money once it's been safely converted into a rock-solid currency? Why risk
an angry client ranting that you've lost 0.05% of his hard-stolen wealth on
an equity investment that went titsup? Much better to slot the whole lot
into bonds, and sleep at night. Years ago I had a Swiss fund manager client
who went off for 2 weeks' skiing ... and came back 5 weeks later, because
there was simply nothing that needed to be done with the portfolio.