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What's Your Origin Story? (A MoT's/WatchWithUs Giveaway!)

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What's Your Origin Story? (A MoT's/WatchWithUs Giveaway!)

Post by MoT »

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WatchWithUs (Hi [mention]Rixsler86[/mention]!) has offered us a Timex Q 1979 Reissue, to give away!

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All of us have an origin story. A memory of a first watch given as a gift, or bought on our own. It could be the watch you always wanted. The watch that grandpa wore. The watch that you stopped to look at every time you went to the mall. Often, that watch is what leads to the rabbit hole of watch collecting and bargain hunting.

To qualify to receive the Q, all you need to do is the following:

1. Be a member of this site with 25 or more posts.
2. Reply to this thread with your "origin story". What was the watch that brought you into the hobby? Maybe it wasn't a watch you owned, but a watch a friend or family member always seemed to be wearing. Maybe it is just something you've made up in your head to justify your obsession. Whatever that story is, we want to read about it, and since we like pictures, some of those would be nice, too!

That's it!

You have until 12:00am EST on February 5, 2021 to get your stories in. At that time, the story with the most "Likes" will be given the watch, so put on your best storytelling hat and make your entry a memorable one!

Oh, and be sure to check out and subscribe to the WatchWithUs YouTube channel, linked up top!
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Your friend in time,
Matt - MoT

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Re: What's Your Origin Story? (A MoT's/WatchWithUs Giveaway!)

Post by cortman »

Great thread, thanks to Watch With Us!
My origin story is also available in my still-updating "My Watches" thread- so I'll put that here as well.

In the winter of 2017/2018 my wife and I started planning a two week camping and exploring trip through the American west. We'd never gone on a vacation that long, and never camped as a family before (though both of us had other past experience with it). Part of my preparation for it was searching for a new, rugged watch- preferably a diver, as we'd be well out of cell service most of the time and there was no point in carrying an expensive phone around in the mountains/desert just to tell the time. So I started doing some research. I eventually settled (to no one's surprise) on the venerable SKX007.
The SKX arrived, and I remember opening the box and thinking WOW. The size, the heft, the mass of all that polished/brushed 316l, that purposeful looking bezel, the insane lume, the smooth mechanical seconds hand- I was seriously impressed. I had an aversion to bracelets at the time and so immediately put it on a cheap Amazon bond NATO.
I wore that watch throughout our entire trip, keeping it at my head in a tent pocket at night. It was incredibly fun to own and use. It was so reliable and rugged and good looking that just glancing at it made me feel good. From the Gunnison in Colorado to the Grand Canyon to central Utah, it never failed. It was there in a quick pic my wife snapped of my daughter and I at the rim of the canyon.

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And all throughout the trip!

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I've since sold it and moved on to other pieces, but that watch and wearing it on that trip really cemented and accelerated my interest in watches and I will always remember it fondly.

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Last edited by cortman on Sat Jan 23, 2021 6:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What's Your Origin Story? (A MoT's/WatchWithUs Giveaway!)

Post by whoagorgeous »

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I don't remember when I got it. Maybe during my High School/College years. (20+ years ago).
I don't remember how I got it either.

But I remember getting A LOT of compliments on it. Way more than anything I own at the moment.

And to be honest, I didn't even know it was a chronograph lol. I don't think I've ever used those functions on this watch.

And I wore the hell out of that watch and surprisingly, have kept it.

It wasn't my "origin" watch. My origin watch was a Mickey Mouse watch my dad gave me when I was a kid and have lost during my adolescent years. Wished I had kept it.
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Re: What's Your Origin Story? (A MoT's/WatchWithUs Giveaway!)

Post by sobwanhoser »

I love these stories on how the obsession started! Great idea WatchWithUs!
For me, it began with a Timex like this:
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Back in 1976, I needed a watch to keep track of time for my morning paper route, so I took my earnings and went to get a watch. I was about 9 yrs old. Why I picked this one vs any of the other models?

Well, I guess because much like I still do, I find different designs or styles more appealing than the common versions. This affliction has caused me to pick up some God awful watches over the years :oops:
I'm guessing that price was also involved, as the lucrative newspaper delivery boy only made $5/week or something - I believe it cost me $13CAN new?

But come on - a Woodgrain dial in blue dressier watch - and hand winding = I can guarantee I was the only one at school with that watch. Mine only had a blue leather strap. Every one else had quartz or Casios.....Too cool for school! 8-)

I still remember sitting at the bus shelter at 4am in a snow storm, holding the watch to me ear, listening to the tick-tick-tick while waiting for the papers to arrive, so I could trek out into the frozen morning....

It seized up on me in my teen years and, prior to the rekindling of my watch hobby 35 years later, it unceremoniously went out with the trash at some point....thanks Mom! :lol:
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What's Your Origin Story? (A MoT's/WatchWithUs Giveaway!)

Post by JMD1082 »

Nothing too exciting to be honest, I always had a watch I wore to work. Mine was a Tag Calibre 5 that my wife bought me as a wedding presesnt. That thing took a true beating and still keeps excellent time. Fast forward 5 years and my wife says she wants to get me a new watch for our anniversary. Not in the same range as the TAG but something nice. She tells me about this site called Jomashop that has watches much cheaper than retail but she isn't sure if they are real. So I start googling, and I come across WUS, along with some other sites but after reading a lot I settle into WUS, and their forums. So I find that Joma, along with Ashford and CWS, Gemnation and so on and so on do sell real watches, and exactly what the gray market is. Then after I do some forum searches about brand that I was lookin for the anniversary watch I find out more and more about brands I had never heard of, like Oris and Hamilton, Certina, Mido, and micros like CW, Bernhardt, Davosa. I learn about homages, and styles of watches. Dress, and casual vs tool. Then what type of tool watches, aviator styles with Chrono functions, divers and different depth ratings, racing styles watches and tachymeters. There's so much info I keep going back day after day. Reading up on styles and movements. Finding about about quartz vs autos. High frequency vs the best in house movements and then I start dissecting things like ETA vs Sellita and then the STP-1 the chinese clones. You start to think that Swiss is the only way to go until you read that the Miyota 9015 actually performs as well if not better that the standard swiss. Fast forward and I come across the HUISABH thread and it is more than I can handle. I start buying and I start small, I get a Spinnaker of a drop for $100 bucks, and I go to the sale forum and make a small profit after I wore it for awhile and figured out domed crystals are not for me. I move on to Deep Blue, again with everything being on line and me still being new to things I find out the hard way 45mm isn't for me. I flip again small profit. Some Seikos, came and went, finally I had enough to grab a CW which I was convinced was going to be my watch (ceramic bezel was all I could focus on and the 300m depth rating, I've never gone diving) So I wait and I wait and I grab a Black CW trident GMT no less for a shade under $500 and that was it. I got the bug, I got what I felt was a steal and I needed that feeling again. The watch didn't even show up for another 3 weeks but I was riding high just thinking about it. Then I started to get snobby and only wanted original designs or stuff with unique heritage, picked up a squale I can't even remember because I loved it in picture but couldn't get past the logo on top and again below. Then flipped what I thought was the grail CW and moved into other categories. Snagged an Alpina Startimer Chrono at a sample sale in NYC for $500 and came with manufacturer's warranty I was pumped about that one. Next was a Fortis, since it was the world's first automatic wrist watch, I had to have one. I keep buying and trying all this time thinking I'm going to absolutely love this next watch and this will be the only one I'll ever need to go along with my Tag (that one will never get flipped) Along the way my wife sees how much I love watches and buys me some for birthdays and fathers day and stuff like that. Mostly fashion brands that I wear for a month and then become watch box staples. I finally get a bunch of money together and buy a Omega Seamaster a newer model with the 8100 movement in it and I am hyped. I'm wearing it all the time and loving life. I was telling people who could care less about Omegas unique escapement and how it causes less friction blah blah blah. Now reality sets in I have a new baby and we are trying to buy a house so I sell the Omega and totally ditch my hopes of a Rolex anytime soon. I still check the forums regularly and grab smaller stuff when I can. Example that VSX chrono from TJ Maxx, still wearing that one along with a Glycine combat sub and one of those aluminum Hamilton's, the blue one the be specific. My time will come again to buy and sell like crazy but for now I wait in the weeds for those can't be beat deals. Remember I slowly turned a Spinnaker into and Omega with time, patience and very minimal extra cash. It may take a long time but I will get that Rolex before I'm too old to show it off. So that's my long ridiculous story.Image
Last edited by JMD1082 on Thu Jan 21, 2021 2:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What's Your Origin Story? (A MoT's/WatchWithUs Giveaway!)

Post by tommy_boy »

First, I will disclose that both the featured watch and the featured watch owner are vintage.

No doubt I wore watches before this one, but they are apparently forgettable.

When I was a high school senior, my parents bought me this. It was 1969, and even though electric watches were all the rage, they didn't have the cool factor that this one presented to me. I was in the BSA Sea Explorers and an avid sailor so a diver seemed suitable.

A bunch of friends and I left for the Oregon coast right after our graduation ceremony. We took camping gear and had to hike down to the beach in the dark. Being seventeen and a bit goofy, I left the trail and stood behind a tree, intending to jump out and startle a guy. "I know you're there, Tom. I can see your watch." That was the moment when I discovered the power of luminescent paint.

Every scratch is mine. I had an issue with the stem, but the repair was simple, and it still keeps good time. It has the original crystal. The OEM tropic strap is long gone. It has recently seen a NOS tropic, a NATO, and leather. I love the red font on the date wheel. Somebody told me that Blancpain made movements for Waltham during this time period, but I was told by a professional that was not the case. Regardless, it's here to stay.

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Although I have a half-dozen electric watches, mechanical movements have always been my love, and divers dominate my collection.

Thanks for attending my TED talk. :)
Just my $0.02 USD as always.
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Re: What's Your Origin Story? (A MoT's/WatchWithUs Giveaway!)

Post by bogray57 »

Terrific watches and stories so far! I already own a Q79 and it gets plenty of wrist-time, so I'm not entering...just saying a big "thank you" to ManOnTime and WatchWithUs for the very generous giveaway. :P
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Re: What's Your Origin Story? (A MoT's/WatchWithUs Giveaway!)

Post by kl884347 »

Humble beginnings...
I was always a fan of motorsports, F1, LeMans/Sportscars, and IndyCar. Richard Mille sponsored so many teams. Looked them up on ebay and..uh..okay. Like I could afford that...never. Back then I didn't know a quartz from a handwind, or diver from a dress watch. (Still so much to learn about movements but I digress). Then I saw this watch with a tonneau shaped case and look, it's only $60! A fraction of a RM... Of course it's not very accurate but the transparent case and skeleton movement was so awesome back then. Heck, I still wear it every now and then for fun. My wife still pokes fun at me because my rule back then was if it was over $50 then I wouldn't buy it. Haha. What the heck was I thinking...
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Re: What's Your Origin Story? (A MoT's/WatchWithUs Giveaway!)

Post by primerak »

Started with the original G-Shock square, which showed me a watch can be perfect tool companion over time and more than just changing fashion.
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Re: What's Your Origin Story? (A MoT's/WatchWithUs Giveaway!)

Post by sobwanhoser »

primerak wrote: Sun Jan 24, 2021 8:42 pm Started with the original G-Shock square, which showed me a watch can be perfect tool companion over time and more than just changing fashion.
WHAT!!? You achieved watch clarity on your first watch?? What madness is this? :lol:
I'm still searching....
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Re: What's Your Origin Story? (A MoT's/WatchWithUs Giveaway!)

Post by Sporkboy »

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Rolex Oyster Perpetual Air King

I hadn’t worn a watch in years when my father in law died. I had shown some interest in his watch as I was currious about it since he wore it every day. He said that when he was gone that I could have it (I was the son he never had). He was a mensch and died far too soon. I wish he was with us still, but I have his watch and I wear it in special occasions or when I need to be reminded about the importance of family.

Since I hadn’t worn a watch in years, I figured I should get used to wearing one so that I would be comfortable wearing this nice watch. That led me to the Timex Weekender and the whole WIS rabbit hole.

There are other watches that influenced me in my youth: —My father’s many Mickey Mouse watches that he picked up on our frequent visits to Disneyland. They were all laid out on his dresser and he had over a hundred.
-A cheap Lorus Mickey Mouse watch of my own.
-My Timex Ironman Triathlon ‘93 which fascinated me with its Indiglo.

I was also born in 1979 when the original Timex Q was released.
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Re: What's Your Origin Story? (A MoT's/WatchWithUs Giveaway!)

Post by BruceR »

When I was a kid my dad used to travel on business a few times per year. He traveled infrequently enough that it seemed like a special occasion for my sister and me, and we got used to receiving gifts when he returned. As a kid, I imagined my dad exploring a new city and searching for that special gift. In retrospect, it’s pretty clear that he got the gifts from airport gift shops. Anyway, I was happy when my dad returned and I got things like a king-sized Snickers Bar or the latest edition of Sports Illustrated (which he undoubtedly read on the plane).

So I’m probably around ten years old and my dad returns from a business trip from I don’t recall where (I never really thought too much about where he went unless I got a t-shirt with the name of the city on it) and my dad gives me the requisite gift. It’s a watch—and it’s not just any watch. It’s an analog three-hander with the name BRUCE on the dial. How cool is that? Custom made just for me! My sister did not get a watch with her name on it. She, did however, get a key chain with her name on it. I declared myself the winner because at 10 years old I did not have any keys but occasionally I did have the need to tell time.

It’s clear to me now that my dad intended to get two key chains (because key chains are cheaper than watches) but they didn’t have a key chain named BRUCE. They did, however, have a watch named BRUCE and despite the fact that the watch named BRUCE didn’t last long, the seed had been planted.

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Re: What's Your Origin Story? (A MoT's/WatchWithUs Giveaway!)

Post by sobwanhoser »

BruceR wrote: Thu Jan 28, 2021 2:59 pm When I was a kid my dad used to travel on business a few times per year. He traveled infrequently enough that it seemed like a special occasion for my sister and me, and we got used to receiving gifts when he returned. As a kid, I imagined my dad exploring a new city and searching for that special gift. In retrospect, it’s pretty clear that he got the gifts from airport gift shops. Anyway, I was happy when my dad returned and I got things like a king-sized Snickers Bar or the latest edition of Sports Illustrated (which he undoubtedly read on the plane).

So I’m probably around ten years old and my dad returns from a business trip from I don’t recall where (I never really thought too much about where he went unless I got a t-shirt with the name of the city on it) and my dad gives me the requisite gift. It’s a watch—and it’s not just any watch. It’s an analog three-hander with the name BRUCE on the dial. How cool is that? Custom made just for me! My sister did not get a watch with her name on it. She, did however, get a key chain with her name on it. I declared myself the winner because at 10 years old I did not have any keys but occasionally I did have the need to tell time.

It’s clear to me now that my dad intended to get two key chains (because key chains are cheaper than watches) but they didn’t have a key chain named BRUCE. They did, however, have a watch named BRUCE and despite the fact that the watch named BRUCE didn’t last long, the seed had been planted.


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Sorry Sis, it is clear Dad loved your brother more!! :lol: However, back then, she probably thought YOU got hosed...
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Re: What's Your Origin Story? (A MoT's/WatchWithUs Giveaway!)

Post by Kirk B »

This is fun, I love readying origin stories like this.

I feel very, very fortunate with my origin story. I was born in 1970 and just two years after that my father bought a nice watch. He paid $200 and bought a brand new Rolex Explorer 1016. That was his only watch (can you imagine that!) for more than twenty years, but then he stopped wearing it as much and bought cheap quartz beaters. I loved that watch though. I remember very clearly going into my father's bedroom and finding that watch on his dresser. I tried it on and wondered at how loose it was on my wrist. It was just confirmation in my mind what a giant of a man my father was. He wasn't really, but in a young son's eyes he certainly was. I loved that watch not for what it is to us collectors, but for what it was to my father and my family. I have known that watch all of my life that I can remember!

Then in the year 2000 my father was updating his will and asked me what I wanted him to leave me. I asked for one thing and one thing only - his watch. Well since he was mostly wearing quartz beaters by then he gifted it to me on my birthday 20 years ago. My collection has grown since then and I have my own modern Explorer, but that 1016 is and always will be the prize of my collection. I feel very lucky to have a grail watch like this as the one that actually started me out on my journey into watches.

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Re: What's Your Origin Story? (A MoT's/WatchWithUs Giveaway!)

Post by Klaatu3 »

It’s hard to nail down the origins of my watch obsession to just one watch, but the Gruen Curvex seems to have played a big part. It was the late 1990’s, and on a whim I bought the “Curvex” pictured on the left, which is not really an original Gruen, but a modern quartz homage made in Asia. It’s basically worthless…but it sparked an interest in vintage watches, and eventually I picked up the one on the right, an early 1940’s vintage Curvex in a 10K gold filled case. The claim to fame of these watches was the slim, curved case AND a curved hand-wound movement, allowing them to conform to the wearer’s wrist.

I got it from a watchmaker named Jerry who ran a small jewelry store nearby. He's a Lebanese immigrant who had been an engineer in his home country, but fled to the US due to the poverty and violence. He turned to watchmaking and became an American business owner. What I liked most was that he was patient and would spend as much time as I liked discussing watches and his vintage inventory. So, I spent many hours (and dollars) buying watches there. Eventually I moved and lost touch, but hence the sickness grew.

The Curvex is small by today’s standards (23mm wide and 31mm lug to lug) and--alas--has stopped running and I haven’t gotten around to having it fixed. But it was an early seed that led me to the widely varied collection I have now.

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- Klaatu3

"I don't have time to set all these &%#* watches!"
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