What Does a Watch Tell You about the Person Wearing It?

[Green Arrow]

This is a spin off from another thread. People say that you can tell a lot about a person from the watch they wear. I'd like to test that out against some real life persons I know who wear certain watches and see what the watch tells you about them. I'd like to hear what their relative wealth is, what they do for a living, and anything else the watch tells you about them. Here they are:

1. Short man, about 5' 2" wearing courduroy pants, cowboy boots matching color to the pants, regular collared shirt, short sleeve. Man appears to be in late 60s, early 70s. Man is trim and in good shape. Wears a Mio Heart Monitor plastic watch. Alternate watch is a Casio G Shock.

2. 5'9" tall man around 200 pounds -- wears black slacks over black nondescript shoes, short sleeve Hawaiin shirt and;

a. is wearing a Panerai 44 mm watch; or
b. a 1993 Rolex TT Daytona; or
c. a new Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon "Mad Cow" You only see him in one of the three watches, so it's like 3 different guys in this question;

3. 6' 4" man in gray stretch slacks. Thin, light powder blue dress shirt, penny loafers or their modern equivalent. Casual stride. Wearing Timex plain faced watch on strap.

4. 5' 10" man wearing black slacks, short sleeved golf shirt, looks to be about 15 pounds overweight, wearing Rayban sunglasses (brown) no rings, no jewelry other than a solid gold GMT II black dial new supercase.


What do the watches tell you about these people?

[Gedanken]

1. He's either really trendy and following the return of corduroy, or he's right on the other end of the scale and has been wearing cords for so long they went away and came back again.

2. He likes watching Donald Belasario shows.

3. He's probably like guy #1, only that penny loafers haven't come back yet.

4. If it wasn't for the GMT, I'd swear it was Daren.

[SPACE-DWELLER]

Originally Posted by YachtmasterTT

This is a spin off from another thread. People say that you can tell a lot about a person from the watch they wear. I'd like to test that out against some real life persons I know who wear certain watches and see what the watch tells you about them. I'd like to hear what their relative wealth is, what they do for a living, and anything else the watch tells you about them. Here they are:

1. Short man, about 5' 2" wearing courduroy pants, cowboy boots matching color to the pants, regular collared shirt, short sleeve. Man appears to be in late 60s, early 70s. Man is trim and in good shape. Wears a Mio Heart Monitor plastic watch. Alternate watch is a Casio G Shock.

2. 5'9" tall man around 200 pounds -- wears black slacks over black nondescript shoes, short sleeve Hawaiin shirt and;

a. is wearing a Panerai 44 mm watch; or
b. a 1993 Rolex TT Daytona; or
c. a new Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon "Mad Cow" You only see him in one of the three watches, so it's like 3 different guys in this question;

3. 6' 4" man in gray stretch slacks. Thin, light powder blue dress shirt, penny loafers or their modern equivalent. Casual stride. Wearing Timex plain faced watch on strap.

4. 5' 10" man wearing black slacks, short sleeved golf shirt, looks to be about 15 pounds overweight, wearing Rayban sunglasses (brown) no rings, no jewelry other than a solid gold GMT II black dial new supercase.


What do the watches tell you about these people?

1) Could be an academic, probably a retired doctor

2) Would be a man in his late 40ies, non academic, probably drives a Porsche. Wants to APPEAR "different", and is very much aware of what he wears, even though he might seem "casual". The Panerai adds to his wish to "go different", yet be noticed (BIG watch!!!). Being noticed is very important to him!

3) Again an academic, stuck in the 1980ies somehow . Couldn't care less what clothes to wear, let alone what watch and what people would think about him/his clothes/his watch. For him, telling the time is.....well, telling the time! No more, no less! Period.

4) Non academic, new-rich man who thinks Rayban and a hefty gold watch gets him accepted in the rich society that he will never really be part of. Funnily enought, the richest of them of could be type number.............ONE!

[C.J.]

That they all know what time it is. Aside from this, we would need more information before we go making assumptions as the the "books within the covers"

Not to take this thread off track, but I just want to share a quick story with you. A guy walks into a nightclub, a very highend nightclub. He's wearing about $3,000 in clothes and shoes. He pulled up in a Mercedes that runs about $70,000 and it's new and he's wearing a YG DD. He has about $3,500 in cash on him and he's spending it freely.

The guy must be doing pretty good, huh? Well, he's got ZERO in the bank, the car is three months behind in payments and the DD is twelve years old and he only paid $6500 for it (over time, mind you. It took him eight months to pay it off). The guy lives day to day from a cash job. But, he looks good, but that all it is, just looks. He's not a fictional character, his name is Carmine and I've known him since we were kids.

Now, I worked a jewelry show at the Taj Mahal casino. It was closed to the public and only certain high rollers were granted access. It was held in one of the finer ballrooms in the hotel. There had to be millions of dollars in jewelry displayed at the various stations and most of the shoppers looked very well to do.

At one point, a man walked in that attracted the attention of both jewelers and security alike. I'll admit, even I payed quite a bit of attention to this "square peg" amongst all the round holes in the ballroom. The man was in his early to mid fifties. Balding on top with long, shoulder length gray hair from the sides and back of his head that appeared to be not well maintained. He wore large framed glasses, a blue T-shirt with a small pocket on the left chest. The shirt was at one time navy blue, but it now resembled a faded bluish/gray and was obviously at least one size too small. He was about thirty pounds overweight and donned a pair of faded blue corduroys and even more faded brown boat shoes.

Myself and my group were in the employ of one of the jewelers as as "incognito" armed security as the local Police response time to a point well inside of the casino was in their opinion lengthy.

One of the women with the company we we're hired by asked us to quietly escort the man out. We refused initially not wanting to blow a perfectly good cover for no good reason, and I'm glad we did. The man had asked to see a particular necklace. This necklace was accompanied by a $4,000 plus price tag, very cheap compared to most the the items on display. The sales lady scoffed at the man and was rather insulting. The man was very polite and quietly left. He returned about twenty minutes later accompanied by Donald Trump, the owner of the casino and one of his Senior VP's. The woman was fired, the shops concession was closed, the entire group of exhibitors was told to give the gentleman anything he wanted and it was to be billed directly to Trump and everybody there learned a valuable lesson in what judging a book by it's cover can cause.

The guy turned out to be some mega-millionaire that actually earned his fortune and was just a real down to earth kind of guy. I was a WIS back then too. This guy wasn't even wearing a watch. He ended up talking to Trump and had the concession re-opened and the womans job returned to her.

[rolex5]

Originally Posted by YachtmasterTT

... People say that you can tell a lot about a person from the watch they wear...

I believe that a watch alone is not enough to tell much about a person. To know more about a person, we need to look at the whole package. The way a person carries himself such as walking, talking, eating, looking etc... will let us know more about that person pretty precisely.

There was a time, a lot of people (I really mean a lot) judged me wrong (big time) by looking at my short. I love wearing shorts. In return by looking at their eyes, I know a lot about their characters.

We must look at the whole package to have a profile. A pig is always a pig regardless of what he does or wears. On the other hand, a tiger is always a tiger eventhough he's sleeping :).

For me, the reason i'm wearing my Rolex is not about the status. I'm wearing my Rolex simply because it is the king. :)) j/k.

Again, that's my 2 cents.

Take care all.

[astcell]

Good story CJ. I bought a Chrysler back in 1986 and the salesman was wonderful. I told him I was going to tell my buddy Lee about what great service we got.

Weeks later I drive by the dealer and there was a sheet of paper displayed in every window in the showroom. I wondered if it was some legal thing, I mean the papers were everywhere.

It seems that the dealer and salesman had received a letter form my friend regarding how well customer service was, and in 1986 Chrysler was not doing so hot. They copied the letter and posted it all over the place for potential customers to see what a great bunch of guys they were.

After all, they just received a personal endorsement and thank you from Lee Iacocca!

[GoldenBear]

Everyone is different. I know multi-millionaires that wear $75 Casios because they work out with them and they are comfortable. I also know wanna-be's that wear watches well above their means to "impress" people. I don't think you can or should read too much into what kind of watch a person is wearing. People should wear what they like and not what it means people will think about them.

[Bama]

Excellent stories from both CJ and Robert. Lessons to be learned from both.

[ohlins]

Originally Posted by YachtmasterTT

What do the watches tell you about these people?

nothing.....

[USMCsilver]

Yeah, I sell appliances. While I will often admit that a watch does say a lot about a person, there is also a lot more that needs to be considered. Judging a book by its cover is something that we all tend to do way too often. I've been very surprised before by customers in the past and I try to always remind myself not to judge when dealing with some people. 95% of the time I'm right, but it's that damned 5% that'll get you every single time!

[Gedanken]

Originally Posted by astcell

Good story CJ. I bought a Chrysler back in 1986 and the salesman was wonderful. I told him I was going to tell my buddy Lee about what great service we got.

Weeks later I drive by the dealer and there was a sheet of paper displayed in every window in the showroom. I wondered if it was some legal thing, I mean the papers were everywhere.

It seems that the dealer and salesman had received a letter form my friend regarding how well customer service was, and in 1986 Chrysler was not doing so hot. They copied the letter and posted it all over the place for potential customers to see what a great bunch of guys they were.

After all, they just received a personal endorsement and thank you from Lee Iacocca!

Iacocca would have been on the $1 salary at the time too, if I recall correctly.

[John685]

Originally Posted by C.J.

The guy turned out to be some mega-millionaire that actually earned his fortune and was just a real down to earth kind of guy. I was a WIS back then too. This guy wasn't even wearing a watch. He ended up talking to Trump and had the concession re-opened and the womans job returned to her.

I observed a similiar situation several years ago. While in a pipe store, I was visiting with the owner (who made beautiful custom pipes) when an older gentleman came in. He appeared to be down on his luck and was mildly unkempt and wearing bib overalls.

I mentioned to the owner that he could leave me and go wait on the potential customer but he declined. We both watched the old man wander around the store. He spent a considerable amount of time in the shop and based on the owner's ignoring the old man, I suspected he was merely coming in to get out of the heat.

Finally the old man flagged the owner over and pointed out several pipes that he wanted to buy. He pulled out a big roll of cash from the top of his bib overalls and paid for $25,000 worth of pipes!

After he was gone the owner explained it was a regular customer that came in about 2 or 3 times a year, always making substancial purchases. The old man preferred to browse without being helped until he was ready to buy.

The owner was quite amused by my initial impression of the old man and I must admit I definitely had misjudged him.

[C.J.]

Originally Posted by John685

I observed a similiar situation several years ago. While in a pipe store, I was visiting with the owner (who made beautiful custom pipes) when an older gentleman came in. He appeared to be down on his luck and was mildly unkempt and wearing bib overalls.

I mentioned to the owner that he could leave me and go wait on the potential customer but he declined. We both watched the old man wander around the store. He spent a considerable amount of time in the shop and based on the owner's ignoring the old man, I suspected he was merely coming in to get out of the heat.

Finally the old man flagged the owner over and pointed out several pipes that he wanted to buy. He pulled out a big roll of cash from the top of his bib overalls and paid for $25,000 worth of pipes!

After he was gone the owner explained it was a regular customer that came in about 2 or 3 times a year, always making substancial purchases. The old man preferred to browse without being helped until he was ready to buy.

The owner was quite amused by my initial impression of the old man and I must admit I definitely had misjudged him.

Good story But, $25,000 in pipes? I would have never imagined they cost that kind of money.

[astcell]

I know a guy who is an all around country boy type. He has a Dodge and his friends have Ford. Come to find out later that he has a Viper. He calls it his Dodge because he does not want to appear to be ostentatious.

Another buddy is in sales. He retired from a great government job and tells folks he sells new and used hunks of aluminum. Everyone assumes he sells cars. He sells 747s and Airbusses.

The answer above, NOTHING, was the correct answer. My reason for wearing a Rolex is in no way related to wearing a suit or not, or driving a nice car or not. That's like saying my eyes are green and that is relate to my height which must be related to my blood type. Negatory good buddy.

[John685]

Originally Posted by C.J.

Good story But, $25,000 in pipes? I would have never imagined they cost that kind of money.

This was a very high end custom pipe shop. In fact, that's where I saw my first Dunhill pipe. The owner was a second generation pipe maker and quite well known in the region. The store had been there for years and unknown to me at the time, he had quite a following.

[richardlo]

Typically if I see a fine watch on someones wrist I either admire it if I know what it is and usually just think they know what a quality timepiece is.
I dont judge people so much by what they wear but how they act. Attitudes and personalities are more important to me.

Plus I live in LA where you really cant judge book by its cover, with bums walking down the street with multimillionaires. The dirty looking long haired guy with holes in his jeans and tshirt could actually be a homeless person or Johnny Depp.

[C.J.]

Originally Posted by John685

This was a very high end custom pipe shop. In fact, that's where I saw my first Dunhill pipe. The owner was a second generation pipe maker and quite well known in the region. The store had been there for years and unknown to me at the time, he had quite a following.

Sounds very cool I have to check some out

[Blue Bull]

Real Rolex says nothing,fake Rolex says everything.

[Gedanken]

All that said, if someone's wearing a YM2, he's either gotta be Stevie Wonder or the sixth most famous person in Kazakhstan.

[TexasTechC6]

I wear a MIO HRM or a Swatch daily! On the other hand, I am a City official and can't wear my gold/ss sub to work! I like my Mio! I am 5'10, late 20s and very athletic! My swatch reminds me allot of the TAG Formula 1 watches, and believe it or not, gets allot of good comments! (where my Rolex, gets stares from people trying to watch the sweep and see if it is real!!) Interesting article though!

[triton]

Originally Posted by ohlins

nothing.....

i cannot agree more. it is all about stereotyping.

[RONeb]

I don't think it is really matter what watch a man wear (as long as he DO wear a watch )
Some rich guys I know (some of them make more than a 120,000$ a month - more than what most of us make a year), don't have big "goldy" houses, cars, and so on
They live the usual life just like every JOE on the strret, and they don't care about watches to much
For them a watch is just a tool for seeing the time, so they end up with a TIMEX or G-Shock, or nice quartz cheap Seiko or some thing like that (nothing worth more than 250$)

When I look at it this days, the more and more people stop seeing watches as an "investment" or something to reflect their character or something to love
The guys who do love watches, like most guys here will get the watches they want, because they love it!
Just like I won't buy a golden ring with diamonds, it isn't my style and I don't understand it

Also, I have come to notice that some people that have Rolex,Omega,IWC,Panari and so on arn't rich at all!
Most of them make an average+ salary, but I guess that it is important enough for them to save for the "one" (or more) watches they do love

[JJ Irani]

Interesting read this thread, guys!!

[davinci]

Originally Posted by YachtmasterTT

This is a spin off from another thread. People say that you can tell a lot about a person from the watch they wear. I'd like to test that out against some real life persons I know who wear certain watches and see what the watch tells you about them. I'd like to hear what their relative wealth is, what they do for a living, and anything else the watch tells you about them. Here they are:

1. Short man, about 5' 2" wearing courduroy pants, cowboy boots matching color to the pants, regular collared shirt, short sleeve. Man appears to be in late 60s, early 70s. Man is trim and in good shape. Wears a Mio Heart Monitor plastic watch. Alternate watch is a Casio G Shock.

2. 5'9" tall man around 200 pounds -- wears black slacks over black nondescript shoes, short sleeve Hawaiin shirt and;

a. is wearing a Panerai 44 mm watch; or
b. a 1993 Rolex TT Daytona; or
c. a new Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon "Mad Cow" You only see him in one of the three watches, so it's like 3 different guys in this question;

3. 6' 4" man in gray stretch slacks. Thin, light powder blue dress shirt, penny loafers or their modern equivalent. Casual stride. Wearing Timex plain faced watch on strap.

4. 5' 10" man wearing black slacks, short sleeved golf shirt, looks to be about 15 pounds overweight, wearing Rayban sunglasses (brown) no rings, no jewelry other than a solid gold GMT II black dial new supercase.


What do the watches tell you about these people?

If I could understand what the hell you are talking about, I might be able to answer...
Cowboy boots???????????????? Who on earth wears cowboy boots in the UK except for strippers
Slacks?????????????????? Women used to wear those in the sixties
Corduroy PANTS?????? They must chaffe around your goolies. I tend to wear cotton boxers

HAWAIIN SHIRT........good grief.....do people really wear those??????

[leopardprey]

The only thing you can really tell about a person from a nice watch on his wrist, is that he has a nice watch. He may be rich, he may have been given it as a gift, he may hoave stolen it, he may have inherited it. Who knows. The only time wearing a Rolex or other expensive watch has gotten me any recognition, is when I am browsing a high end watch shop. They see the watch I am wearing and know I am a potential customer, as I have already bought one high end watch.

I have friends that are millionaires yet wear Casio G Shocks, and I have friends you are lower enlisted in the Army, and wear a Rolex.

I wear swiss mechanical watches, because I like mechanical watches. Plain and simple.

[JJ Irani]

In all honesty, what a man wears on his wrist tells me BUGGER ALL about him!!

He could be wearing a 50-Dollar Timex and be one of the nicest human beings on earth....or he could be wearing a Platinum Day-Date and be one of the biggest sons-of-b!tches that walked this planet.

In short, a watch tells you absolutely NOTHING about a person - it's just a timepiece on the wrist to tell time to 99.99% of the folks out there - and nobody gives a rat's ass about what watch the other person is wearing.

It's we who are so crazy about watches that we often look at other people's wrists to judge them by the watch they are wearing.

All my good friends here in Auckland wear simple "cheapos", but it doesn't make one iota of a difference to me. They are what they are.....and the watch they wear makes absolutely no difference to their character or nature.

I love them for what they are.

Cheers - JJ

[Flyjet601]

Originally Posted by ohlins

nothing.....

I couldnt agree more ......you beat me to it............says ZERO about a person.

[Flyjet601]

Originally Posted by JJ Irani

In all honesty, what a man wears on his wrist tells me BUGGER ALL about him!!

He could be wearing a 50-Dollar Timex and be one of the nicest human beings on earth....or he could be wearing a Platinum Day-Date and be one of the biggest sons-of-b!tches that walked this planet.

In short, a watch tells you absolutely NOTHING about a person - it's just a timepiece on the wrist to tell time to 99.99% of the folks out there - and nobody gives a rat's ass about what watch the other person is wearing.

It's we who are so crazy about watches that we often look at other people's wrists to judge them by the watch they are wearing.

All my good friends here in Auckland wear simple "cheapos", but it doesn't make one iota of a difference to me. They are what they are.....and the watch they wear makes absolutely no difference to their character or nature.

I love them for what they are.

Cheers - JJ

Well said JJ....Kudos

[Flyjet601]

duplicate post....BTW anyone want a Scorpion on a stick

[Andad]

Ha Ha, good one Larry.