The Under £200ish Watch and occasional Opera Thread! Vol2

[Mr E]

BrokenSkunk said:

I don't mind at all. although we're off topic a tad. I'm a professional herder of electrons, aka electronics design engineer.

I imagine you may have to look for a whole hour before someone invites you to interview.

[Bobberoo]

Mr E said:

BrokenSkunk said:

I don't mind at all. although we're off topic a tad. I'm a professional herder of electrons, aka electronics design engineer.

I imagine you may have to look for a whole hour before someone invites you to interview.

I work in the Aerospace industry and we're really struggling for skilled machinists, is it the same in other industries?

[blue_haddock]

Father's Day pressie arrived.

Isn't it great when your watch and car coordinate!

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Bobberoo said:

I work in the Aerospace industry and we're really struggling for skilled machinists, is it the same in other industries?

I'm not employed by industry, but help broker the customer demand in aerospace, autonomy, defence and space. Industry is gagging for skilled staff. Anyone with technical skills will have their arms bitten off if they apply.

[Bobberoo]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Bobberoo said:

I work in the Aerospace industry and we're really struggling for skilled machinists, is it the same in other industries?

I'm not employed by industry, but help broker the customer demand in aerospace, autonomy, defence and space. Industry is gagging for skilled staff. Anyone with technical skills will have their arms bitten off if they apply.

Yep, unfortunately the company I work for is in denial, they admit they can't get staff, but won't increase wages to attract staff, so they get unskilled workers applying and then can't understand why our skill level is dropping.
A portion of it is due to brexit, half decent guys returned home, a larger portion is due to Covid as a lot of older people decide to retire or not to return to the industry.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Bobberoo said:

Yep, unfortunately the company I work for is in denial, they admit they can't get staff, but won't increase wages to attract staff, so they get unskilled workers applying and then can't understand why our skill level is dropping.
A portion of it is due to brexit, half decent guys returned home, a larger portion is due to Covid as a lot of older people decide to retire or not to return to the industry.

That's spot-on. I know it's off-thread and dangerously political, but Brexit was the biggest case of self-harm this nation has done since giving the vote to women*.


* Obviously a joke. It's a gazillion times fking worse than that.

Sorry, I'll pipe-down now. End of rant.

[Bobberoo]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Bobberoo said:

Yep, unfortunately the company I work for is in denial, they admit they can't get staff, but won't increase wages to attract staff, so they get unskilled workers applying and then can't understand why our skill level is dropping.
A portion of it is due to brexit, half decent guys returned home, a larger portion is due to Covid as a lot of older people decide to retire or not to return to the industry.

That's spot-on. I know it's off-thread and dangerously political, but Brexit was the biggest case of self-harm this nation has done since giving the vote to women*.


* Obviously a joke. It's a gazillion times fking worse than that.

Sorry, I'll pipe-down now. End of rant.

Discussion is healthy, and to be blunt I disagree, we are an island nation and one law/rule does not suit all members, that for me was the problem, I got fed up with being dictated to by a faceless bunch of Europeans, Britain had become nothing more than a cash cow for the EU.

[trickywoo]

I’m more than happy for OP to have the last word on that.

Back on topic here is my G and brand new sock (the matching one is on the other foot).

Enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would having been automatic only before.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

trickywoo said:

I’m more than happy for OP to have the last word on that.

Agreed. Back to timepieces from our collections getting wrist time.

[BrokenSkunk]

Thanks for your support everyone.
I'm well aware of how difficult it is to hire good staff at the moment. We've been trying to get both hardware and software enginneers since January. There are very few CVs circulating at the moment, We were getting one a week at best and the quality wasn't great. When the occasional good CV did arrive, the candidate wanted more money for a mid level role than our principal engineers are getting. Whilst we could afford the candidate, we couldn't afford to increase the wages of everyone else pro-rata.

I looked yesterday. In under an hour I found something 3 miles away (instead of 50), £8K more with better holiday at a much more junior level than I'm currently working. But it's on an industrial estate instead of in a barn in rural Berkshire, I'd be working for someone instead of being in charge of my own destiny and there is the remote possibility that they'd expect me to actually work!

Having heard what the company's restructuring plan is, I think they have an excellent chance of success. I'm going to sit tight. If they intend to survive without me, they'll have to give me statutory redundancy and three months salary (there will be no benefit to them for me to work any of that, so likely three months paid leave.) If they do fold, I'll get nothing of course.

Ho hum, what's the latin for "brown stuff occurs"?

Right, back to watches. Erm, I have nothing new to add. But today I'm wearing this, and it was well within thread budget:
_1100122

[21st Century Man]

Dishy.

[conkerman]

trickywoo said:

I’m more than happy for OP to have the last word on that.

Back on topic here is my G and brand new sock (the matching one is on the other foot).

Enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would having been automatic only before.

You have a G-Shock on your foot? Unconventional.

[Barchettaman]

BrokenSkunk said:

Having heard what the company's restructuring plan is, I think they have an excellent chance of success. I'm going to sit tight. If they intend to survive without me, they'll have to give me statutory redundancy and three months salary (there will be no benefit to them for me to work any of that, so likely three months paid leave.) If they do fold, I'll get nothing of course.



Right, back to watches. Erm, I have nothing new to add. But today I'm wearing this, and it was well within thread budget:
_1100122

Plus if you get three months paid leave, you can finally get round to fixing that three-wheeled lunatic mobile that you promised me a go in next time I’m down your way.

Anyway, here’s a Steeldive 1953, which is definitely the one to get as it has the applied indices, with the Tiroler Festspielhaus on the left and hills behind Oberaudorf in Bavaria on the right.



Edited to actually include the photo.

Edited by Barchettaman on Friday 24th June 10:39

Edited by Barchettaman on Friday 24th June 10:40

[BrokenSkunk]

Barchettaman said:

Plus if you get three months paid leave, you can finally get round to fixing that three-wheeled lunatic mobile that you promised me a go in next time I’m down your way.

Fixed! (Currently). Here's a pic of it at Stonor Park a few weeks ago:

[Barchettaman]

^ what an absolute cracker - well done, and I hope you get plenty of use out of it this summer!

[r159]

Bobberoo said:

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Bobberoo said:

I work in the Aerospace industry and we're really struggling for skilled machinists, is it the same in other industries?

I'm not employed by industry, but help broker the customer demand in aerospace, autonomy, defence and space. Industry is gagging for skilled staff. Anyone with technical skills will have their arms bitten off if they apply.

Yep, unfortunately the company I work for is in denial, they admit they can't get staff, but won't increase wages to attract staff, so they get unskilled workers applying and then can't understand why our skill level is dropping.
A portion of it is due to brexit, half decent guys returned home, a larger portion is due to Covid as a lot of older people decide to retire or not to return to the industry.

One of the routes where I take my Kinetic for a walk (and the dog) has 5 light industry factories along it, every one has a sign advertising for staff. Both my sector (building products) and my wife's (warehouse management systems) is struggling to get good people and that is across all functions. I had my 13 yo lad with me for the day on Tuesday, when asked by a colleague if he would like to work here, there was no hesitation in saying no. To be fair though he's brighter than me...

[TheThing]

trickywoo said:

I’m more than happy for OP to have the last word on that.

Back on topic here is my G and brand new sock (the matching one is on the other foot).

Enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would having been automatic only before.

I purchased one about 4 weeks ago. Great watch

[Drooles]

TheThing said:

trickywoo said:

I’m more than happy for OP to have the last word on that.

Back on topic here is my G and brand new sock (the matching one is on the other foot).

Enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would having been automatic only before.

I purchased one about 4 weeks ago. Great watch

Another itch…

I really fancy one of these

[TheThing]

Drooles said:

TheThing said:

trickywoo said:

I’m more than happy for OP to have the last word on that.

Back on topic here is my G and brand new sock (the matching one is on the other foot).

Enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would having been automatic only before.

I purchased one about 4 weeks ago. Great watch

Another itch…

I really fancy one of these

All the watch you could ever need to be honest. Only 95 beans in argos. I got this for father's day as well... I've got a thing for retro G shocks at the moment.

[7mike]

Finally decided to add a G-Shock to my modest collection, really pleased with it