Christmas and eBay watch shopping

This is a very unscientific observation based merely on informal information on eBay items: stuff is expensive on eBay now. I'm not seeing any cheap watches; I'm seeing lots of bidding. This is good as I've sold a couple watches (Nixon Primer which was way too small, for example). I think I'll have to wait until after Christmas to make any new purchases. Maybe we'll see some buy it now deals after Christmas? Or just less shopping?

New/old Arrival: Oakley D2 watch

Okay, early on I got the D2 in blue, before I really understood the significance of my early watch desires. I was young (you know, 34) and stupid (same guy) and I thought a blue watch would make sense. I was very wrong. Anyway, I have been looking for a black D2 and would then sell my blue one. I did both successfully, and actually made a few bucks. I like Oakley products, and often wear their clothes and always wear their sunglasses, and have three pairs of RX Oakley shades. I had another pair stolen about a decade ago.
In any event, good watch, a little small, funky but cool shape. Similar button layout to the D1. The rubber feels a little weird, but different weird from the D1. Maybe because it's been off the market for about a decade.
Here's the D2 below.

Minor Epiphany?

I think I may start thinning out my herd of watches and focusing on quality not quantity. There are watches that I never wear. I don't think I could sell them for much on eBay, but I might as well get something instead of nothing for them, and put the money towards something I will enjoy and wear time and again. So my number may go down, but as always I have my eyes open for some new buys. And Christmas is coming up, and I may do some bartering.... More to come.

Why the hell is this watch so expensive?

I like this watch, and it's on my eBay daily reminder list, and I would love to have it. But why the hell is it so expenisve? It just sold for $141. Here's the watch.



I think it's the same as the one I own (that's all black) but with a silver rectangle around it. Here's the one I own.



I got mine for $30 at a Nike outlet with a gift card I got somewhere. I like mine. I would probably have a slight preference for the silver faced one, but why on earth is it going for over $100? I also see them coming up for sale on eBay more often than you would think for a discontinued watch. I can't figure it all out, folks.

Here's the link to recent eBay listing:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rt=nc&nma=true&item=260696608734&si=ZTpEIlGQsR67c3DUWQ3478CJMZk%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3ASS%3AUS%3A1123&autorefresh=true

I'm Not Allowed Watches for Christmas

My wife thinks I have too many watches, and I should drop any hints about desired watches for Christmas to family who may be in the buying mood. Bummer. Maybe I'll get an Amazon gift certificate or something.

Stupid Daylights Saving Time

I live in California, and we have Daylights Savings. Guess what? I need to adjust all the clocks in the house, but much worse, all of my watches. I started to do them as I wear them, and tried to be systematic about wearing all my Freestyles, big to small. I must say, I wish the buttons for setting would be consistent (which my Nike watches are, probably because they use the same mechanism for all their watch electronics) for the Freestyles. Oh, well. Soon I'll be on to my non-Freestyle, non-Nike watches which I'll have to reset.

Old but good: Freestyle Buzz

I need to revisit some watches I've had for a while and are great watches. I've been wearing my Freestyle watches, starting with the large and working to small. I trekked around for a day with this one, and I forgot home much I like it. Great design, a like the angular points on the top and bottom, interesting curved font. One strike against is the weird integrated gray into the band. A solid 9 out of 10.

Freestyle Buzz below

Okay, I'm buying this.

I blogged about this before, but now it's serious. I need the watchband and the new iPod nano. Very cool.
Hex iPod wristband.


http://www.shophex.com/home

New Arrival: Nike Cage

Awesome watch. Somewhat similar to the Chisel, which I've had for a while and got with a gift certificate at a Nike outlet years ago. I got the Cage just now for $45 on eBay after an auction without much bid action and an auction that ended at midnight West Coast time. Good news for me.
I just got back from a run with this watch, and it's great. The digital layout is familiar, with a nearly identical look to my other Nikes. The best part of course is the "cage," or the big metal brackets around the sides of the watch. They make it beefy and weighty. It looks a little threatening, which I like in a watch.
This watch has been on my radar for a while, and it doesn't show up much on eBay -- and when it does it's usually in awful red. I'm very pleased. A 9.5 out of 10.

Nike Cage watch below:



Nike Chisel watch below:

New Arrival: Origo Fishing Pro

I'm a city boy, and I hate fishing. Another cheapish acquisition on eBay, and it was a little used. Band was a bit stretched, and a little wear inside the band where it connects to the watch. But solid, heavy, big. Not a huge fan of the light blue trim, and I don't need all the crazy features with the tides in Clearwater Florida or whatever. It was awkward to set up the time and the date. But it's good, nice design, solid watch. Good font even. I give it a 8.5 out of 10.

Origo Fishing Pro below:

New Arrival: Nike Blade

Another solid watch from Nike. I got this one for $35.00; the prices on eBay had been all over the place and this one was a buy it now with free shipping, so I quickly pulled the trigger when I got my email of new searches. I got it and it's a hair too small, but I'll wear it. In fact I have, and I really like the design and the feel of the watch. If this were a bit bigger, it would be a favorite, but it's an 8 out of 10.

Nike Blade below:

New Arrival: Tocs Sports-Digi

Terrible name. Okay watch. This one was a super cheapo. $9.50 on eBay with free shipping. I had actually seen it a few months ago for around 3 bucks including shipping on eBay but got outbid. Boy am I cheap.

This watch is fine, good but not great. A little too much white, not much silver. Feels a little flimsy, appropriate for a $9.50 purchase, I suppose. Awkward buttons and setting; I may get frustrated when I go for a run with this one. A little too small for my taste. But I'll wear it, and I give it a 6.5.

Tocs Sports-Digi below:

New Freestyle Touchscreen Digital Watch

Also while checking the Freestyle blog, saw the future touchscreen watch. Still waterproof. Looks pretty cool. Hope it's not too expensive. Here's from the blog.

Tangent Watch below:

Freestyle Test Team

I got an email from Freestyle asking for input on potential new watches. As a reward for doing the survey, I will get a $30 off coupon for their store. I'll probably use it for a Killer Shark or the Navigator.

I'm not allowed to disclose the information about the new potential watches, so it will be interesting to see what actually comes to stores....

Not sure if this will result in future input into their watch lines.

iPod Nano watch

Okay, I want to make a watch out of a new Nano. Pretty cool idea. Get the square Nano, get a band to attach to the face, set in on clock, and you got a watch. Cool website, but no rubber watch strap available yet. I emailed the guy at this website, and he's working on it.
Check it out:
http://www.watchmynano.com

New Arrival: Freestyle Durbo

This is another big catch for me. A watch I waited for with high expectations. It's actually not as big as I thought it would be when it arrived, but is a big, beautiful watch. I won't use the surfing tool thingie, which is a little gimmicky for my taste. But I'm all in favor of it, if it will make Freestyle make a bigger watch. Now, I give this watch a 8.5 out of 10. However, I may try to see if I can get Freestyle to Frankenstein this watch, as the silver surround on the white watch would make this an even cooler watch.


Freestyle Durbo black below

Freestyle Durbo white with silver below

New Arrival: Highgear Altis

I wanted this watch badly for a while. It was at the top of my list. I got my first Highgear watch, the Axio Max, and liked it much more than I thought I would. I got the Altis for a great price on eBay. The Altis, like the Quiksilver Moondak, has a smallish time reading on the face. But because of the pixels, it's easy to read, very sharp. I especially like the way the watch will write out the whole day of the week on the face (although you can't tell in the photo below; my bad). This is a pretty heavy watch, just like I like, with some weight. I was a little underwhelmed based on my high expectations, but I give it a 8.5 out of 10.

Highgear Altis below:

New Arrival: Quiksilver Moondak

Sorry I've been gone for a while. I have a baby. Anyway. Cool new watch: nice size, lots of silver around the face. I like the Quiksilvers. I have had it for a while but haven't found myself wearing this watch as much as I probably should. I don't use the tide info on the screen, and the time is relatively small. But I like the level of detail in the pixels with all the information on the screen. Overall, a 8.5 our of 10.

Quiksilver Moondak below:

New Arrival: Carrera watch

I just got this thing in the mail after the eBay purchase with a $41 buy it now offer. It was immediately accepted, so maybe I should have made a lower offer. Oh, well, I made a couple other offers that day on some eBay expensive watches and struck out, so you never know. I like the watch, although it was a little cumbersome to set. Nice and big. I don't like the relief writing on the straps. Freestyle has tried this on a band (of the Gilgo I think) and I don't like it. I'm not sure if Carrera is the manufacturer, or the model, or what. I assume this is the same as the Porsche car model, as it's the same font? Overall, 8 out of 10.

Carrera watch below.

New Arrival: Cadence Wrist Rocket

Here's another watch I got today. Pretty cool. Got an email from Cadence (somehow I guess I'm on their list) saying Monday only it was on sale for $29.95. Impulse buy. Solid watch, pretty big, nice feel, nice look. Reminds me a little of my owned Quiksilver Axiom, but a little bigger, less silver color. An 8.5.

Cadence Wrist Rocket below.

New Freestyle Watch Coming: "Mariner"

Surfing the Freestyle website, I discovered this cool watch. It comes in three colors. None my perfect silver face with black band and no color (orange is closest to minimal color), but I like and will eventually get the light blue accent color one. It says it's a whopping 50 mm across. Nice. No photos online except at the website.

http://www.freestyleusa.com/products/Mens/The+Mariner/

New Freestyle Watches: Speed Dial and Tide 3.0

I got a really good deal through eBay and received in the mail two new Freestyle watches.


I'm very pleased with the Speed Dial watch, a new one for this season from the fine folks at Freestyle. It's bigger than I expected, and the band is glossier than others. From the side, the profile of the watch reminds me of the Freestyle Funbox; not sure if that was planned by the designers. The Funbox was always one of my favorites, so I appreciate this perhaps-borrowed element. The Speed Dial's dial mode operation is fine, not a real big deal for the watch. I like the line on the bottom of the screen, but do wish it had the date on the main time screen without having to hit the button to tell me the date. Overall, a 9 for the Speed Dial.

The Tide 3.0 is a nice, but smaller watch than I had remembered. I have seen it at Macy's when they had carried Freestyle watches before, and I remembered it being bigger. The screen is somewhat small in proportion to the rest of the watch. But it's still a solid watch. I got a little confused when I got into the actual tide lists, which I will not use. Good watch though. A 7 out of 10.


Freestyle Speed Dial below:

Freestyle Tide 3.0 below:

Nike Watches: Owned

Here are the Nike watches I own, in descending order by size:

Hammer below


Chisel below


Press below


Triax Mobius below


Ratchett below



Drill below


Torque below

My Collection Storage

I showcase my watches on my wrist daily. I keep them in line in my kitchen drawer. Maybe I should get a fancier display mechanism. Until then, here they are.

Size Matters

I think that I've come to realize that I like bigger digital watches. Not sure why, maybe it's a testosterone thing. I hate my tiny Nixon Primer watch not because of its design but because of its small stature. I love my Freestyle Nomad and Lopex III and my Nike Hammer because of their girth. I have my eye on the Freestyle Killer Shark because it's a whopping 50mm across the face.

Some boring details. I want a watch across the face at least 38mm and up. 40mm and up is a safer larger size. I often look for information about size when shopping. The Nomad is 50mm, same size as the advertised Killer Shark. Other big ones are in the mid 40s in mm. You get the picture.

Freestyle Nomad below:

Nike Hammer below:

Buying: Google Shopping

I regularly check out new leads on watches I haven't seen with Google Shopping. Search the make and model of the watch, hit the shopping link, and you get a pretty good result with photos and prices. I have stumbled across some deals on new digital watches this way. Obvious, but helpful, and a good jumping off point.

Highgear Enduro v. New Balance Nduro

What's the deal here? I found the New Balance Nduro at Kohl's. I made a note then surfed the web for the watch and deals. Here's the New Balance watch.




Then I surfed around and found the Highgear Enduro. Here's what it looks like.


Same exact watch, different logo at top. I bought the Highgear for $14 with free shipping from Amazon. It's a little smaller than I wanted, and it has red in the strap and the face. I don't like red at all, and I generally don't like color on my digital watches. Still and all, a solid watch. I give it a 7. Not sure why it was so cheap when other Highgear watches are so expensive.

My current saved searches on eBay

I have a lot of saved searches on eBay. I love getting my daily updates of new stuff from my saved searches around noon daily, seven days a week.

Here's my current list of saved searches. Brace yourself.

adidas candy watch
adidas fitness control watch
asics watch
body glove rhyz
body glove toob
body glove warpt
carrera digital watch
columbia peak 15 watch
columbia tailwhip watch
freestyle durbo
freestyle killer shark
freestyle protege watch
freestyle speed dial
freestyle tide
halo kr3w
highgear altis
nike anvil
nike blade watch
nike cage watch
nike monsoon watch
nike oregon square digital
nike sledge
nike typhoon
nixon connect
nixon housing
nixon lowdown
nixon outsider tide
o.d.m. 3 touch digital
oakley d2 watch
oregon nike watch super
puma escalate watch
quiksilver accent watch
quiksilver adictiv watch
quiksilver code watch
quiksilver moondak watch
quiksilver mover watch
rip curl bells oceansearch
rip curl rincon
rip curl trestles
soleus watch
starck fossil watch
suunto m4
tech 4 acceleartor watch
timex e-instruments abt
timex t41501
timex ws4
tocs sports-digi
vestal crusader
vestal digichord

Whew. Got all that? Things will change as acquisitions occur and new discoveries found.

Freestyle Watches: Owned

These are my favorites. I own, in descending size

Nomad below

Lopex III below

Lopez World Class below

Funbox below

Convert Black below

Convert Frankenstein below

Gilgo Frankenstein below

Boiler below

Shark Buzz below

Shark Buzz 2 below

Shark Mako below

Rockaway below

My all time favorites are probably the Lopex III and the Nomad. I didn't think I would like the Nomad as much as I do. Probably because of its massive size and brute force. I check the temperature on the watch occassionally, but it's usually about 85, which I assume is corrupted by body temperature.

Quiksilver watches

These are great watches. Well, I only have one of them, the Axiom, which is a fun watch, with buttons just on the front and not the sides. Pretty durable and stylish. A 8.5.

Here's the Axiom below.

Others I'm in the market for:

The Mover below:

The Code Below:

The Addidictiv below

The Moondak below:

Other Things Are Cool Too

I like digital watches. I like them because I think they look cool. But I also like design in architecture, interior design, art, photography, you name it.

I have given this a fair amount of thought, and this is what it boils down to: I like things I think look cool. My wife and I designed (with an architect; let's not get crazy; I'm a stupid lawyer) and built our dream house that's very modern. We like it because it's cool. I like cool furniture, and cool books, and cool shoes.

Cool buildings
Renzo Piano's Marie Tibaou Cultural Center in New Caledonia




Cool shoes
Puma L.I.F.T. Racer




Cool sunglasses
Oakley Juliet




Cool fruit basket
Alessi Blow UP



Cool prefab house
Rocio Romero prefab, which gets you a kit for about $43k for a 1400 square foot house.




Cool car
Lotus Elise