Your Watch before you got into Rolex

[BlueNote]

The mid 60s Hamilton Thin-o-Matic I inherited from my Dad was my first decent watch and it was the piece that got me on the trail toward Rolex. I still wear it occasionally though it has a Buren micro-motor movement which is hard to get parts for.

[Headshrinker]

That’s easy, it’s my Omega Speedmaster. I bought it with my own money while in high school.

[Meyrin]

An Omega Seamaster, an 18th birthday present. I ruined it swimming off Valencia in Spain. I´d reset the time at Barcelona airport, and had forgotten to screw the crown back in Lesson learned the hard way! A cheap Citizen followed. I then inherited my father's lovely 1973 solid gold Omega Genève Automatic, which I wore everyday for years until I bought my 14060 new in 1996, since then my everyday watch. But the Omega still runs and keeps good time, ca. +10 secs per day!

[Panych]

My Swiss watches before Rolex:
2001 - Longings La Grand Classic
2007 - Omega Seamaster Professional 300
2017 - Tag Heuer Carrera Caliber 5

[Wcdhtwn]

Swiss Army GMT. Moved up to Omega, then IWC before gaining enough appreciation of Rolex to buy one.

[R G]

Cartier.

[Gerry62]

only 2 watch before buying a Rolex Submariner 14060

1985/95's

1995/2005's

[csaltphoto]

Hadn't worn a watch in 10 years. Bought a Rolex.

[HogwldFLTR]

This prior to my first Rolex... many watch history prior to it however.

[jvb.nc]

i wore a swiss army renegade for about ten years.

i then bought a breitling chrono avenger which i wore daily for about seven years.

i then added an omega seamaster planet ocean, which i wore daily for about five years.

then things went downhill. i added a linde werdelin oktopus, then a 116710BLNR.

since then... rolex has gotten a bit of my money.

[jitdc]

My first “nice” watch was a Citizen Nighthawk purchased somewhere around 07/08. Wore that until the Apple Watch series came out. I have gone through 3 Apple watches. Now the Rolex Explorer is in the wrist. I still miss some of the convinces of the Apple Watch but there are so many more positives to the Explorer that I can’t see myself buying another piece of wearable tech.


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[hawkeye43]

First mechanical watch before Rolex was a Nomos.

[Max7857]

My first watch was some type of a Gruen that I got at 10 or 11. After I “proved” I could responsibly wear a watch I was given my grandfathers Doxa at around age 13. It is still one of my favorite watches. I believe it was from the 1940’s. It is fully manual wind and keeps reasonably accurate time. The band recently broke and I am going to put it on a leather strap. Fortunately I don’t live in California so it might even be an alligator strap lol.

[dwjez14]

No photos but Gucci watch with diamond dial at numbers haha

[Evad3]

First watch and first Rolex



45mm, back before I understood what was considered a large watch

[Fredcohiba]

First expensive-ish watch for me was in 2002, Omega SMP..

[Joearch]

Tag, Bell Ross....then Panerai which I still enjoy. Now blended Rolex and Panerai.

[2001jesper]

I am not going to post a DW, but how on earth can that Seiko be a perpeptual calendar

[planemad]

A few digital Casio pieces as a teenager, then a quartz Rotary watch was my first “proper” watch. My first mechanical piece was a 2013 Omega Seamaster before moving onto Rolex.

[djyolky]

Tag Heuer 2000, purchased in 2002. I turned $50 dollars into $950 on online Black Jack. I always wanted a Tag up until that point. Still love it today. The bracelet reminds me of the President and is super comfy. Rattly like a 5 digit Rolex. It's been used and abused and had held up well.

Some of the ink in the dial has worn off (sadly from when I took it for a service) but it actually made the dial cleaner).

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[denmanproject]

Before my first Rolex, a 114060 it went something like this..

- Timex Indiglo

- ESQ two tone quartz

- Swiss Legend Worldtimer Auto

- Tag Heuer Carrera Day-Date

[ras47]

For me, Chronosport UDT, G-Shock, and Omega Seamaster. When I got to Wall Street I noticed all the big dogs wore gold Rolex watches. So all the wannabe big dogs wore 'em too. But so many of those guys wore their Rolex watches with such disdain it really turned me off to the brand. Like bracelets, they wore them with an inch of slack between the clasp and wrist, and many never bothered to set the time or date. The watch was merely a golden bobble. I got a blue dial Omega Seamaster whose color perfectly matched my firm's floor coats.

[HobokenRolex]

This was a high school graduation present which I wore daily for about 15 years. Lots of memories - through college, getting married, for the birth of two kids. Still wear it occasionally.

[chloebear]

Originally Posted by samson66

This is painful for me but I did have a couple Invictas.

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It's ok Mike....you're in a safe place.

[chloebear]

Originally Posted by jitdc

My first “nice” watch was a Citizen Nighthawk purchased somewhere around 07/08. Wore that until the Apple Watch series came out. I have gone through 3 Apple watches. Now the Rolex Explorer is in the wrist. I still miss some of the convinces of the Apple Watch but there are so many more positives to the Explorer that I can’t see myself buying another piece of wearable tech.


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I'm with you on that one. The Apple watches are cool, but I can't spare the writ time, nor do I like being too connected. The Explorer is perfection. I think I'm going to pick one up soon.

[djyolky]

Originally Posted by HobokenRolex

This was a high school graduation present which I wore daily for about 15 years. Lots of memories - through college, getting married, for the birth of two kids. Still wear it occasionally.

That's my same watch, just different color dial. See a few posts above.

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[Spartacus]

I was ALWAYS into Rolex. I just could not afford one.

I started with a Seiko Monster, next Omega PO, ...Breitling, more Seiko and eventually could afford to enter the world of Rolex.

[sgmgolf]

Tag > Omega > Rolex...that’s been my progression.

[boogiebot]

I think my very first watch I got was a timex ironman.


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[EndlessEight]

Originally Posted by BlueNote

The mid 60s Hamilton Thin-o-Matic I inherited from my Dad was my first decent watch and it was the piece that got me on the trail toward Rolex. I still wear it occasionally though it has a Buren micro-motor movement which is hard to get parts for.

Amazing.

“o-matic” is a sort of quintessential description for the period.