|
NOTE: It is not my intention to steal the thunder of my esteemed HMSS colleague, James McMahon, with this article. He has already held forth expertly on the subject of Bondian horology on the "Q Branch" page. I merely wish to address the subject from a slightly different angle. Those of you who, like me, can't find a Sea Island cotton shirt or afford a Brioni tux but are looking for a piece of Bondiana (albeit expensive) to wear may enjoy this and, I hope, become an educated consumer. |
A huge vote of thanks goes to Derek Ziglar for his superbly written online reference work, the thoughts exchanged by email that struck a creative spark in my addled mind, and some valuable "post-production" assistance. Oh-and don't let the supermarket tabloid "cut-and-paste" trick above fool you, dear reader. I can't afford the Brioni tux or the Beemer bike and was never this skinny on the best day I ever had!
It began innocently enough in the summer of 1974. As a college student of nineteen, I was flush with some extra cash from a summer job, and decided to go on a quest for a nice watch. I simply wanted the best quality sports watch I could find. At that tender age, I didn't even know the meaning of the phrase "status symbol" (oh, was I about to learn it, though!).
I had narrowed it down to an Omega
Seamaster, an Omega Speedmaster, or a Rolex Submariner. Both Omegas were either
approximately equal to the "Sub" or a little less in price as I remember it. The
Seamaster design as I recall was downright
ugly then (to me anyway). The cachet of owning the only wristwatch to make
it to the moon (the Speedmaster) was attractive, but as I wanted something I
could snorkel and SCUBA dive with someday (I finally became a certified diver in
1992), the Submariner won out. Of
course, I suppose the fact that it had been featured on the wrist of a certain
popular book and film hero didn't hurt...
So, I ponied up the $240.00, narrowly
beating a Rolex price increase which tripled the price of the "Sub" to $720.00
US by November of that same year. Over the next couple of years I discovered
that Rolex had also become a "badge of Top Peopleship". Had I known this at the
time I was buying it, you could not have given it to me. I've
always harbored a quiet loathing for conspicuous consumption as a means of
buying class.
My battle-scarred Sub remains quietly elegant instead of
loudly ostentatious and has given me pretty good service over these 25 years.We
have been through a lot together, from college days through my wedding day to
being surrounded by a school of sharks a hundred feet down off Nassau. However,
I've always ranted about the bills for repair and maintenance. What Rolex
service invoices lack in frequency they more than make up for in size. After a
quarter-century I felt ripe for a change; but unless a substantial opportunity
for action presented itself, I decided inertia would prevail.
And there the story would have ended, but for a chance remark by my lovely wife Michele.
We were walking through a pricey department store on a Christmas '98 shopping expedition. Now, I had been after her for years to let me buy her an expensive article of jewelry. Practical soul that she is, she'd always declined (and I suppose I love her all the more for it since if she accepted as often as I offered, we'd be homeless). Suddenly, out of the blue, Michele said, "Let's take a look at the watch you're going to buy me". I think she was kidding, but she lived to regret it.
Delighted, says I. We looked at a few cases containing some hideously ugly overpriced garbage, and then spotted something she liked-an Omega Constellation. With our 15th anniversary just around the corner ("traditional" gift-crystal, "modern"-watches) we started joking about the idea of "his & hers" as a Christmas/anniversary present. As Michele was trying on a few models the salesperson said, "may I show you something, sir?" Just for grins, I said, "let's see that one". That one, of course, was the Omega Seamaster Professional Diver Automatic Chronometer in stainless steel #2531.80, the one currently marketed as "James Bond's Choice". This was the one worn by 007 in Tomorrow Never Dies, but not in GoldenEye - the GoldenEye Seamaster was the same style, but with a quartz movement.
Here I should state that since my love for the Fleming books is boundless, I will always think of the Rolex as the true timepiece of 007-at least in the era in which the literary Bond operated, the fifties and sixties. I was initially scandalized at hearing Brosnan would wear an Omega in GoldenEye. I viewed it as yet another sellout to product placement. How dare they? Bond wore a Rolex "Sub" as recently as Licence To Kill, and we escaped all these damn signs in the jewelry stores then!
So, I tried the Seamaster Pro (which until that moment I had unfairly dismissed as a Rolex "wannabe") on, and found myself unreasonably reluctant to take it off! For all I love my "Sub" (and I still do, in my way) I had to admit to myself the Omega was at least as good-looking, and really different enough to claim its own identity. It was also more comfortable to wear despite being significantly larger, and felt more solidly built. Suddenly the "his & hers" notion didn't seem so whimsical.
I was resolved, however, not to pay a fancy department store price tag for this indulgence (#2531.80 carries a list price of $1750 USD) So I decided to research the heck out of it. My number one research tool? You're surfing it right now.
One of the first places I found was a seller of watches (not an authorized dealer) on the Internet who routinely quoted a 35% discount on Omega, and will sometimes go as high as 40% (authorized dealers are, I believe, supposed to discount no deeper than 20%) .
I continued researching, and ran across a terrific page written by an ordinary guy named Derek Ziglar. No offense to Derek here-I use the word "ordinary" merely to indicate that he is not involved in the watch industry. Certainly he and the knowledge he has acquired on this particular subject are anything but ordinary. Derek simply wanted to share all the facts he accumulated while researching his purchase of a Seamaster and so wrote an unofficial "Seamaster FAQ". Everything you ever wanted to know and then some! This was easily the most valuable document I encountered on the Web on this subject. Smart guy, too - smart enough to link to James McMahon's "Q Branch" article. After reading this document, I began lurking in alt.horology and the "watch talk" forum at watchnet.com. Before long I found myself in conversation with the salespeople at my local Omega dealers and telling them things they didn't know about the Seamaster.
Omega's web site cautions potential customers not to buy over the Internet. Their policy, I believe, is not to permit authorized dealers to sell on-line. Many authorized dealers have websites, but do not sell Omega watches through them. I found out why in two words-"gray market". What exactly is "gray market"? Derek explains it better than I could.
Think long and hard before buying an Omega-or any big-ticket wristwatch-on the 'net. You'll get a great price, but it will be on a "gray market" watch. There are also stores in shopping centers throughout America where you can walk in and get a nice price on these watches, but if you cannot verify that the store is an authorized dealer, you could still very well be buying "gray market".
Without an official, properly stamped and filled-in warranty card matching the serial number on the watch ("gray market" watches typically have had theirs burned off with a laser) you have no manufacturers' warranty protection, and must rely on the integrity (and service department) of the company that sold you the watch. The watch manufacturer or any member of their authorized dealer network will not provide free warranty service during the warranty period on such a watch. Depending on the manufacturers' and/or dealers' policies, lack of a serial number could even interfere with your ability to get an authorized dealer to provide out-of-warranty service. TAG-Heuer also is quite emphatic about this-they even go so far as to provide dealers with signs for their display cases, something most others do not do. Caveat emptor indeed! To obtain "warranty" service, you have to go back to the place you bought it from-or, more likely, ship it there via UPS or FedEx to be serviced by the seller's in-house watchmaker. I'm not saying don't do it; I am saying whatever you do, go in with your eyes open as an educated consumer. I personally could not justify it. I decided to pay a bit more and have the official support network available to me through a local dealer.
After about a month of serious comparison shopping, we settled on an authorized dealer about a mile from our home, got an acceptable price, and pulled the trigger, putting my Visa card on the critical list for the rest of the month.
Much to my surprise, the missus went for what I suppose you could call "Jane Bond's Choice" - a ladies' two-tone Seamaster Pro Diver. Its rugged yet elegant good looks won her over much the same way I suppose mine did many years ago. Once she actually tried one on she found she liked it more than the Constellation she had been eyeing. And since she had been down there with me surrounded by those Bahamian sharks, I suppose a divers' model seemed more practical to her as well...
Seamaster VS. Submariner page -featuring
- Editorial - should OMEGA really be Bond's choice for the nineties?
- Some comparisons based on personal experience.
- And now, a cautionary tale for all owners of water-resistant watches...
Text © 1999 by Mike Vincitore
