Watch Shopping in San Francisco

I visited the SLQ017 a few times duringmy stay on Union Square, tried it on a few times, and even started negotiatingon the price, but in the end, in the spirit of trying to control moving costs,I ended up not buying it. I hope I don't regret it, but I probably will.I found a Tourneau watchstore in a mall on Market Street that had a decent selection of Rolexes, amongother brands. In the used watch case was an 8-year-old white-dial Rolex Daytonafor almost $14,000. I learned that the movements in the older Daytonas were actuallymade by the Swiss watchmaker Zenith which surprised me because Rolex is knownfor *** their own movements (the newer Daytonas have Rolex movements). It wasan extremely beautiful watch, though overpriced. New Daytonas go for about$7,000, but they are in such high demand that when retailers are not bound by Rolex'spricing policies (as in the case of used watches), they often can't help but partakein a little price gouging. I asked the manager about putting my name on a waitinglist for a new stainless steel Daytona, but I was told in a very snobby tone thatonly customers with excellent purchase histories could be put on the list (meaningcustomers who had bought Rolexes for Tourneau before). Apparently, Daytonas arein such high demand that poor slobs like me aren't even allowed to wait for them.Maybe if I'd been wearing something more respectable than jeans and a t-shirt,and if I'd bothered to shave sometime that week, I would have gotten differentresults.So what am I wearing on this particular rainy San Francisco Saturday morning? Noneother than a CasioAtomic Solar G-Shock. I'm about to head over to a friend'splace to help him paint his new house, and an inexpensive but tough plastic G-Shockis the perfect watch for the occasion.Over the last three weeks, I have been in the process of moving from WashingtonD.C. to San Francisco. Although I've been very busy with housing, hotels, commuting,working, and coordinating my relocation, I'm never too busy to do a littlewatch shopping.I picked up a TissotT-Touch primarily for the compass function to help me getoriented in the city. I've been to San Francisco dozens of times, but I've alwaystaken cabs, so now I'm having to adjust to finding my own way. I have a terriblesense of direction, but fortunately, the T-Touch has a pretty good one.I wrote avery thorough review of the Tissot T-Toucha few months ago, but I wasn't ableto keep the watch I reviewed, so I ordered a new one with a black rubberstrap. I typically go for watches with stainless steel or titanium bracelets, butthe black rubber strap and the black dial of the T-Touch make a greatcombination.I stayed in a hotel right on Union Square (the historic WestinSt. Francis, forthose of you familiar with the area) for about a week while I waited for my householdgoods to arrive, and I found a little watch store nearby that had a SeikoSportura SLQ017in the window. The SLQ017 is a limited edition Kinetic chronographwhich is one of the most unusual and striking chronographs I've ever seen. Seikoonly made 1,500 of them, and only 400 of those made their way to the US, so I wasthrilled to come across one in person.