Did he like Hanhart too? I feel like he wore one on his trials bike.
The 2023 Watch Purchasing Abstinence Club (WPAC).
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We just watched The Adam Project, a movie about time travel, in which the protagonist IDs himself to a younger him, with his dad's watch... a Speedmaster. Disappointing. So cliche. Although dude was a pilot...
McQueen is purported to have beat women. I'm not real keen on associations with the guy, even though he was OK in movies, an avid motorcyclist, and I loved On Any Sunday, which I believe might have been produced by him? In any case, he was in it, with product placement for some visor mirrors on an offroad motorcycle helmet, which never caught on.
There's a specific variation of the Exp2 which is called the McQueen style. Supposedly worn by him, but there are no reference pix to confirm.
McQueen is purported to have beat women. I'm not real keen on associations with the guy, even though he was OK in movies, an avid motorcyclist, and I loved On Any Sunday, which I believe might have been produced by him? In any case, he was in it, with product placement for some visor mirrors on an offroad motorcycle helmet, which never caught on.
There's a specific variation of the Exp2 which is called the McQueen style. Supposedly worn by him, but there are no reference pix to confirm.
From what I've read he was a pretty troubled and messed up individual. Raised by a sex worker, physically beaten by her clients and abandoned by his dad. Then idolised and hugely wealthy with various substance misuse issues.
No excuse for violence and abuse to women. Obviously. But his story is complicated and a cycle of abuse. Going back to Bond, Connery had some pretty reprehensible views on women and what was acceptable... That didn't get much focus when he died.
Generally, celebrity endorsements are fraught with these contradictions and a risky strategy that must pay off, otherwise brands would stop pursuing them.
Probably not chat for a watch forum but this thread is somewhere where we go off on the odd tangent!
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That is correct:
His affection for his Hanhart 417 was made conspicuous when McQueen went to East Germany in 1964, along with motorcycle racing specialists the Ekins brothers, to represent the United States at the International Six Days Trial (ISDT).
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Had a chance to visit family this weekend, including my cousin who is a watch guy. He had two new watches to show me, and I was concerned that seeing them would cause me to start looking for a watch to buy. Fortunately, it did not. I think it helped that I liked but didn't love the two watches. He had a Rado Golden Horse and a Farer Lomond. The Rado was beautiful but I wasn't a fan of the anchor. The Lomond was too chunky for my tastes.
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The only way you'll know that those two watches aren't for you is if you buy them and test them out.
This seems a fairly flawed piece of logic.
I really dont like peanut butter... The only way I'll know for certain that I don't like all peanut butter, is to buy and taste every variety?
Edit - ^ that's a bad analogy from me but you get my point (it's late here)
If there are things you know you don't like about something, buying it anyway is definitely not the best solution... There's thousands of watches - you have to disregard some based on experience and knowledge of your own likes / dislikes.
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How else could you be sure?
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Nah, don't buy any PB to eatif you don't like it. But, if you happen to have some for guests it can be fed to trolls too.
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This advice seems counter-intuitive to the goals of the WPAC.
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I had my mind set on buying an Omega AT but the current AT is missing an index at 6 o'clock, so the entire watch looks unfinished. Sure, it's horizontally symmetrical now but I'd rather have vertical symmetry instead with a date at the 3 o'clock. The watch isn't horizontally symmetrical overall since there's a crown at the 3 o'clock. I probably need to find a pre-owned caliber 8500 with the framed date at 3...
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I know that's not an explicit request for a bash, but I have a lot of opinions to share on Omega
The aqua terra is also too thick, and the hands don't match very well...two arrows looks good (Planet ocean) or neither arrow (SMP) but arrow minute and plain hour doesn't seem right to me. Actually the nicest omega handset was the old SMP sword shaped hands, in my opinion.
Agree with you on the date at 6 vs 3, the horizontal-lined dial found on most of the latest models don't seem to match the vertical symmetry of the date at 6, either.
I looked a long time at Omega watches, and although on paper the Aqua Terra should have been a good fit for what I was looking for, I never found any of them that attractive. The exception was the ridiculously priced titanium golf model that was light, and sporty, and also had no date, but is still 13mm thick and costs something like 50k USD.....
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Haha.... Thanks for the semi-bash. Now I can't unsee some of these faults. Welp, back to the drawing board for the year!
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I think younger generations probably associate the Monaco more with Walter White now. Apparently he wore the watch; I don't know, I never watched Breaking Bad. And I only really associate McQueen with The Great Escape. I think the only racing movie I've ever watched was Talladega Nights--wait, do the Herbie movies count as race movies?
I've honestly never understood the appeal. Everyone points it out as an alternative to the Rolex Explorer or calls it the "perfect GADA," but the design has always seemed totally wonky to me. Along with what @atvar said, it always seemed like a bad decision to me to have the indices so conspicuously raised when there's basically a gap between them and (vertical, plain) chapter ring. Like, from the chapter ring you go to flat dial and printed minutes. Okay, classic choice and it works in a lot of cases. But then, moving further in, you have accentuated applied indices. It looks like a high rise on a flat plain. Just weird and clashing. And, honestly, most of the design elements look weird and clashing to me.
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!!! Do you want to leave the dungeon alive??
And for you to be miserable if you buy watches (or enable fellow members).... The dungeon is not there for your happiness ... 👿
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Had no idea the AT was that thick! Always found it an attractive case, but never had the chance to see it other than from front in a shop window.I know that's not an explicit request for a bash, but I have a lot of opinions to share on Omega
The aqua terra is also too thick, and the hands don't match very well...two arrows looks good (Planet ocean) or neither arrow (SMP) but arrow minute and plain hour doesn't seem right to me. Actually the nicest omega handset was the old SMP sword shaped hands, in my opinion.
Agree with you on the date at 6 vs 3, the horizontal-lined dial found on most of the latest models don't seem to match the vertical symmetry of the date at 6, either.
I looked a long time at Omega watches, and although on paper the Aqua Terra should have been a good fit for what I was looking for, I never found any of them that attractive. The exception was the ridiculously priced titanium golf model that was light, and sporty, and also had no date, but is still 13mm thick and costs something like 50k USD.....
I can sort of see what you mean, but I think you are agonizing over trivia. If you like the AT design aesthetic, get one. If you don't pick another watch. There are loads of watches that cut off parts of numerals and so on, which I think is worse, but people buy them.
Am I right in thinking Omega changed the grooving from horizontal to vertical. A minor detail. The arrow minute hand isn't my favourite. Another minor detail.
Anyway, homages. In the bad old days, I bought a Corgeut, and didn't realise it even WAS a homage/copy of an AT till later, but I enjoy wearing it. I bought a GMT version, knowing the bracelet was too short, but thinking I could use a spare link from the 3 hander, but it was a slightly different design, so that is on a strap. I also bought a Phylida version in green, but I prefer the white. Based on these, I think an AT must be a super watch to own, but I couldn't justify the cost.
I am not trying to be an enabler, but there can't be many watches that don't have a single thing their owners wouldn't change.
Anyway, surely you are here to be persuaded you don't need the AT at all???
Here's my variants.
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