How come nobody mentioned Cartier? Please hold back the flames.

IMHO, they make some beautiful everyday watches and I particularly like the Roadster which is really sporty in stainless steel (has a leather strap also) and Santos 100 models. The Roadster currently sells for $4250, and you can usually find it discounted 20-30% depending upon who you know and where you live.

I <<<heart>>> my Pasha.

And if I had $15K burning a hole in my pocket, I also <<<heart>>> the Roadster Chrono in yellow gold. Just in case my FT Secret Santa is looking for the perfect Christmas present for me.

I think some of the Cartiers are real classics. I especially like the automatic tanks and the Pasha. A lot of them are quartz at this time though it seems. When I read the original post I thought he was talking about something less expensive.

The Roadster Chrono is hot looking. In fact, all of the Roadsters are great to look at. ^

Whew!

Credit card has been heating up lately as I've made quite a few purchases (see Apple iSight and Tivo threads). Now I have to pay for them. I won't be buying anything until Christmas.

I elected to go with the Breitling Colt Automatic (http://www.breitling.com/en/models/a...olt_automatic/ )

I'm very pleased with it. Thanks to all for their assistance.

Now I have to go make some money.

This thread made me think a bit. Are they any good forums like FT that people can recommend that are focused on watches? Im curious to learn more and also to learn more about where to by watches. A friend just bought an AP Royal Oak and travelled pretty far to pick it up. I know there are places that sell for way under list and am curious about where to learn more about watches in general and reputable discount dealers as somewhat of a particular. Thanks for any info.

I learned quite a bit from www.timezone.com and www.watchnet.com .

Try them out.

Yes! I was wondering why noone mentioned Cartier... I think they are superb watches.

I troll ebay quite frequently looking for watches -- I snagged a pre-owned, but excellent condition two-tone Cartier Tank Auto for $1600(US) a couple of months back.

My only fear with eBay is worrying about authenticity and condition on a relatively high-ticket item. Did you use an escrow service, or just cross your fingers? I guess if a seller has a monumental amount of feedback selling similar type pieces you can feel fairly secure, but I just get a little edgy with eBay sometimes.

I was in Geneva last weekend, and broke down and bought the IWC I've been drooling over for a while. Got a better deal on it than I could have in the US. Not as good as what I could have bought it off the web for, but trading a few bucks for not having to worry about dealing with some potentially shady web site, warranty validity, etc, it seemed worth it. Plus now it has a story and memories associated with it

Chris

Someone snagged my Cartier Pasha in Brussels last weekend for nothing -- right off my wrist.

Oh well, it was insured and they didn't do me any physical harm.

If anyone's offered a cheap Pasha on a Brussels street corner, let me know. It just might be mine.

I read through this thread. There is abundant information about man's watch. I would like to know if there are suggestions about woman's. I am looking for a small and square piece. A dealer suggested Cartier tank francaise or JLC reverso duetto. Are there other nice pieces that falls into this price range(<7.5k)? Does it really make sense to spend couple grands on a quartz watch?

I have really mixed feelings on this. For years I would have said no, it didnt make sense to spend that much on a quartz watch. I finally talked myself out of it and literally had a quartz one (Breitling) on my wrist for a final look before buying and just couldnt pull the trigger because it was quartz. So I bought something else instead that wasnt quartz. I am pretty sure, however, that JLC makes mechanical watches for woman although most are quartz. You might check on that, their mechanical watches are superb.

Actually I just checked and from what I could see most of the JLCs for women are not quartz. I would definitely go with the hand wound or automatic rather than quartz.

Thanks for the info. The JLC reverso duetto (beautiful watch) is mechanical and the reverso classique is quartz. The price difference is about 2k.

It's funny how the sales clerk touts about quartz watches. I suspect that he will talk down quartz when his next customer is interested in mechanical only.

One other thing to comment on; given the current economic situation I wouldnt even consider paying retail for a high end watch in NY. Virtually anyplace, and I mean authorized dealers not shady places, will deal on virtually all high end watches even under normal conditions. Perhaps the only exceptions, for different reasons, are Rolex, Patek and maybe Lange. Even on those you can usually get a little off retail. But this is a buyers market, big time. On JLC I would think 20%-30% off retail should be pretty easy.

I have had slightly different experience trying to find a dealer to negotiate and deal on watches. I used to have a friend who was in the business, so got watches there often for about 40-50% off retail. He would scratch someones back, get a cheap watch in return, i'd buy the watch and give up some great diners and scotch.

But that ended a few years back. So, recently I'm trying to find another IWC port PR. I have not been able to find a west or east coast dealer to give me more than 10-15% off with a cash sale. I need about 30% for it to be doable.

If anyone has success with a dealer on something like this, I would be VERY interested to know.