That first scuff or major scratch - How Angry

[matt_knowles]

..... Very in my case!

My Tudor BB58 is nothing too precious (value wise) but that doesn't make it any easier to stomach. It's my very frequent go to watch and I love it.

Today, browsing watch shops (as it happens) in Singapore. I've just gone to check out some Sinn peices, which were very nice I might add. I exit the shop ready to do some man maths and research on a couple that tickled my fancy. Walking through a wide open mall, when some punk walking towards me decides he's doing the "I'll go left, you go right" dance and then vice-versa. We soon figure things out..... I'm going right and he's going right! Awesome, until whack..... His 67mm peice of granit on his wrist, plows into my feable 58 like a wrecking ball, then he prepares to power on without a moments notice.

I'm left there flabbergasted at the events of this attack.

I know there can't be much damage, so I refrain from looking until I get back to my hotel. Upon inspection, there is some grazing on the link next to the lower righ lug, but more annoyingly a visible chunk out of the side of the bezel, close to the 30min marker.

On the grand scheme of things, it's no big deal but this watch was immaculate until this ordeal. Now it moves into true daily beater category, although it kind of was anyway.

Still love this watch, so that first scuff hurts.

No pics.... Probably no point!

Whats your story?

[Jinba Ittai]

You've just written the first chapter in the story of your watch. Don't worry about it, more will come. Wear it and enjoy it!





(Still fking annoying though!!!)

[dieselgrunt]

The first one always hurts. Weirdly enough I find that after I get another one it becomes more cherished to me.

[Ratski83]

Dropped a relatively new Sub on the floor of a hotel bathroom in Thailand about 6 years ago. God knows what the tile was made of as it came off completely unscratched while the rear corner lug of my watch was left with a nasty dent in it and started losing time after that.

The watch ended up getting stolen last year and I got it replaced eventually on insurance with a nice new dent free one.

[thebraketester]

My story is that I wear my watch 24hrs a day everyday of the year and never take it off (unless heavy diy is taking place). It’s got a few scuffs here and there. I’d rather it have scuffs and be on my wrist rather than “box fresh” and sat in a chester draws somewhere. :-)

[dundarach]

Jinba Ittai said:

You've just written the first chapter in the story of your watch. Don't worry about it, more will come. Wear it and enjoy it!





(Still fking annoying though!!!)

The perfect answer, says everything about all similar situations, be it watch, car or whatever..

[ali_XF]

Pristine Zenith Rainbow flyback. Forgot to take it off before a trip to the gym. Came back, looked at my wrist and ....
Went back to the gym to look for the bezel insert- no sign of it anywhere. That was a year ago. It’s still sat in the safe looking like that. Still angry with myself

[HM-2]

Put a big scratch down the polished side of my Aquaracer with my wife's engagement ring not long as I first got it. Really annoyed me, though not as much as chipping the ceramic on my F1 getting my arm caught in a closing gate.

The last three watches I've bought are all S/H do have their own patina. Including two fairly substantial scratches on the crystal of my Seamaster (how these got done I've got absolutely no idea) which are a bit weird as the rest of the watch, clasp aside, is pretty much immaculate.

[romeodelta]

As said, the first one always hurts, but after that it becomes patina.

If you are planning on passing the watch to a child, you can tell them some nice stories about your trip to Singapore.

[matt_knowles]

Thanks folks....good way of putting it!

[Nigel_O]

I've managed to keep my Submariner very clean over the four years I've had it - right up to the point where I shorted the bracelet against my Westfield's ignition switch while I was working on it. 12v might not seem very much, but try sticking a spanner across some battery terminals to see what happens - a shower of sparks and a couple of "weld" marks on two of the links.

I thought I would be seriously annoyed when I finally caused some damage, but I was surprisingly OK with it. I'd probably have been less happy if it the watch case though...

[AmosMoses]

I have a chunk missing out of my Sea Dweller when i knocked it into a wall. I was angry for all of about 30 seconds then thought, fk it its only a watch!

[z4RRSchris]

my AP ROC is scratched to st because i wear it every day, cycling, DIY, washing up, etc... you always knock your wrist on something and hear this massive dong... ooooops.

my 14060 sub is mashed to st but i rather like it that way.

its just a watch

[Sheetmaself]

My Bell & Ross Military Ceramic Green came from the shop brand new with a scratch on the case. They are supposed to be scratch proof so god only knows what happened to it, saving grace was they had priced it wrong at £1800 new (should of been £2800) so i took it on the chin and figured i had £1000 to put right any issues that may crop up with it in the future.

Also bought a Tag Microtimer from Watchfinder which was in perfect condition apart from the pushes stayed in when pushed came back after repair with a big v shaped scratch on the front! I love that watch but everytime i wear it i see that mark.

[Lorne]

Ratski83 said:

Dropped a relatively new Sub on the floor of a hotel bathroom in Thailand about 6 years ago. God knows what the tile was made of as it came off completely unscratched while the rear corner lug of my watch was left with a nasty dent in it and started losing time after that.

The watch ended up getting stolen last year and I got it replaced eventually on insurance with a nice new dent free one.

This is the most frequent cause of warranty returns for the watches I make (I do a 'damage it and I'll fix it for free for the first couple of years' warranty). Bathroom floors are ceramic, which has a higher toughness than steel, ie a very brittle material with no 'give' until it cracks, so when you drop a watch it's the watch that absorbs the impact energy rather than the floor. You can think of it a bit like if you hit a concrete wall in your car; wall would be OK, car will absorb the impact energy first with its bumpers, then through its crumple zones. The bumpers and crumple zones on a watch are the movement bearing springs, movement holder and then the outer case, each of which should be balanced to take a higher amount of energy. Small impacts and the movement springs will absorb it, larger impact and the movement holder should buckle or dislodge itself, bathroom floor and it needs springs, holder and case damage to take the energy. Get it all right and the watch should still be running and keeping good time.

Sods law also comes into play of course in that your watch will invariably land on its weakest point. With Rolex it's normally on the slightly proud sapphire, giving an impact between two brittle materials which the thinner sapphire never wins, or as with yours, onto a small steel area like the lug which causes a noticeably nasty dent. The crown is also a favourite spot to hit the floor first, so needs seals that have enough give in them and a movement stem that disengages from the movement to prevent the energy going into the movement. A face down landing results in the shortest load path to the movement, so I introduced a quite unique vertical compression spring on the movement a couple of years ago to take some of the energy and prevent the hands falling off and the movement springs being overloaded. This was a direct result of the 'fix it for free' warranty as it allowed me to closely look at how the two watches that came back fared under the impacts and modify the construction accordingly. I'm uming and ering now about switching to a screw down instead of floating crown for my next model as the floating crown isn't the order of magnitude better that the calculations indicate it should be, and peoples general preference is screw down for its perceived betterness.

The solution to everything, as we all know, is called a casio g-shock!