Watch Wearing Wednesday: Rumours Men's Quartz Watch with Rotating Bezel

Sometimes wearing a cool watch brings great joy.  The watch doesn't have to be expensive.  It just needs to be cool. One of my coolest and one of my oldest watches is this silver-on-silver quartz watch from Rumours.  If it cost me $20 new, I would be surprised.

Rumours Men's Quartz Watch

Why do I like this watch?

That's a good question.  It just seems to have a certain something, something.  First of all, it has Silver-and-Silver as a color palette and that is almost always good.  Second, it has a unidirectional rotating bezel which is perfect for timing pizzas in the oven and other important elapsed time activities.  I've posted on my criteria for judging cheap watches before.  This watch just hits all the right marks for me.

This Rumor Watch has Silver on Silver in Spades

Watch Size Matters

The other thing that I like about this watch is its size and weight.  It doesn't sit high on the wrist and can fit under any cuff.  It's lightweight and you can wear it comfortably all day.  Finally, it has smooth edges and it doesn't dig into the wrist so it is comfortable.

The metal bracelet for this watch is comfortable

Overall

This isn't a review.  You'd be hard pressed to find this watch on ebay or Etsy.  This is just a cool watch from my collection and a reminder that brand, movement, and pedigree aren't everything.

A Rumours-brand Watch takes a bow on a restaurant table

How Department Stores Can Fix their Watch Departments

It seems like department store watch departments are getting to be more and more disappointing.  As a watch collector, it's hard to go to stores like Kohl's or Belk and find any interesting watches lately.  The stores reduce the sizes of their watch departments and make me wonder:  

"Do you even know me at all?"

A Hawker Hurricane Watch from AVI-8

If you want repeat customers in a watch department, you need to have interesting and current watches. It's not enough just to have respectable looking watches that gleam under the lights. Provide an interesting browsing experience with watches that are truly unique and that really appeal to customers.  

Tap into popular culture.  People literally announce their "tribe" with their apparel, tattoos and accessories all the time.  Watches are one way to do that.  

• Where are all those Marvel Comic book watches?  
• Where's that Darth Vader watch? 
• Where are all those aviation inspired watches?  
• Where's that James Bond watch?  
• Where are those NATO watch straps so I can customize my watch? 
• Where's that interesting watch you advertised online?  
• Where are the Apple, Samsung, and other brands of Smartwatch?

The old paradigm of "what should be buy dad?-Let's get him a watch!" needs to be retired.  How about offering watches that are interesting enough to bring Dad into the store?  Having someone on hand who is enthusiastic about watches would also help.  Establish a pipeline from your stores to the cool watches. 

If a customer is impressed by the Captain America watch, but really wants a Thor watch, be able to special order something and get it in for the customer faster and less expensively. Get a line on exclusive watches that can only be found in your store.

There are lots of high end watches that are just out of reach for typical middle class.  Obviously, we won't see a Rolex at Kohl's any time soon, but can you offer a European watch brand with a little cachet?

Finally, when I can be kept busy browsing something that interests me in a department store, my wife can shop for longer and have more fun. If you can't offer interesting watches, at least offer me a couch and wifi.

Wristwatch Review: Mens Legion Analog Watch

A recent visit to Belk, one of the South's greatest department store chains, turned me on to Legion brand watches.  Legion watches are attractive house brand watch that sell for modest prices.  This review covers the first of three that I bought.

[Please note:  This review covers the Legion brand of watches that are a house brand at Belk department stores in the Southeastern United States.  I do not believe that these Legion watches are in any way related to the Legion Watches currently making a splash on the web at www.legionwatches.com.  I don't know if the Legion watches on the web are any good.]

Design.  My first, Legion watch has an attractive silver-on-silver design that looks great. The dial is silver, the bezel is silver, the case is silver, and the bracelet is silver.  Of course, when designing a silver-motif watch, it's all about contrasting tone and texture. The dial, case, and bracelet have a flat brushed metal appearance while the bezel, numbers, and Legion logo have shiny, high gloss, look.  The bezel has the popular ship's porthole look and the bezel has indents to look like it is screwed down into the case of the watch.

Construction.  As a fashion watch, this Legion watch is not rated for water resistance or shock.   For the record, of course, we are speaking of silver in color--not of the metal actually used in making the watch.  The watch has a stainless steel case back and a base metal for everything else.  However, the watch appears to be fairly solid in construction.

Dimensions.  This Legion watch is well proportioned with a dial large enough to be manly and on trend, but small enough to be tasteful and appropriate to all ages.  The bracelet is comfortably wide and adjustable via a pin in the clasp.  Initially, the watch hung very loose on my rather large wrists.  By moving two adjustments smaller on the bracelet, it fit better.

Drawbacks.   Many of the Legion watches at my local Belk had dead batteries.  Make sure that the watch you intend to purchase actually works.

Value.  Legion watches are marked at $40 to $55, but can be had on sale for considerably less.  By taking advantage of a sale and register coupon, this watch was about $23.  I'd say this watch is a solid $30 value and compares well to other commodity quartz watches like Structure, Precision by Gruen, and Folio.  Overall, I like this watch and believe it to be a good value.