#1

03-02-2008, 11:46 AM

meijin

WatchGeeks Owner

True WatchGeek

Join Date: Feb 2008

Location: Atlanta, GA

Posts: 11,985

Real Name: Michael

A personal welcome from the founding members

So there I was...in the middle of June 2006. It was a late Saturday night/early Sunday morning

and I could not sleep, so I began to channel surf. I then happen to come across two guys selling

the most beautiful watch I had ever seen. Sure enough, it was Diamond Jim Skelton and Daniel

Mink selling the Renato Beast. I really liked watches at that point in my life, but had not yet

given over to "the dark side". The virtually dormant addiction got to me then and I purchased

one. And then it really kicked in as I watched the Sunday afternoon shows and bought two more!

LOL! The wild ride was on! I am now up to about 100 watches and there seems to be no real end

in site. I began to do some web searches trying to find out more about my inbound Renato

watches. I ended up coming across another forum where our own Jim Skelton was a member. I

was so elated! I immediately began peppering Jim with questions about Renato and other watch

brands. In what now Jim probably considers a huge mistake (LOL!), he answered. Those forum

messages have since evolved into an ongoing friendship, based on a seemingly innocent start to

watch collecting, who would have thought then that I would be where I am at now? Certainly not

me.

Along with Jim and Bruce (as well as the rest of the administrative staff), I'd like to welcome you

all to WatchGeeks and thank you for taking the time to check us out. I may be a bit biased in my

opinions, but I really do think that we have something unique and helpful to offer the watch

collectors out there in cyberspace. It is my hope that all of you will find WatchGeeks a great

community to hang out and enjoy this passion (or is it addiction?) that we all share. We have alot

in the works behind the scenes with some really exciting things coming up in the near future. If

you have any suggestions for us on how to do things better, please speak up! I cannot guarantee

you that we will implement all of your suggestions, but this forum is all about you...the watch

collector. And if we can help make your time here better, we will certainly do what we can!

Again, my thanks to all of you...now get to posting! LOL!

__________________

Michael

Argument is meant to reveal the truth, not to create it. ~ Edward de Bono

Invicta...in hoc nomen vinces!

meijin

#2

03-04-2008, 02:01 PM

NAYTH

WatchGeeks Owner Master WatchGeek

Join Date: Feb 2008

Posts: 2,885

Re: A personal welcome from the founding members

As I Posted in the General Forum, my watch obsession started with a channel-surfing "accident"

one Sunday when I bumped into Jim and Daniel featuring the Renato Beast.

What makes the hobby (read obsession) so enjoyable for me is the ability to share my thoughts,

knowledge, opinions and to learn from other watchgeeks.

Looking back on when Jim and I became friends in the mid-90's, and to be involved with him

directly in this Forum and in his current position, is both an honor and proof of the fact that we

NEVER know what tomorrow may bring.

My friendship with Michael started as like-minded buddies on another Forum and progressed to

the point of starting this Forum together.

So, I invite you into my/our "virtual home" to share your love of watches with all of the

Owner/Moderator Team AND hundreds of new Members as they become part of our

community.

Post, read, ask, learn, teach, share, ENJOY.

From myself, my partners and our Moderators, I take great pleasure and not a small amount of

pride in saying to all of our new friends:

Welcome Home to Watchgeeks.net!!!

Bruce "NAYTH" Nathan

__________________

NAYTH

#3

03-05-2008, 11:15 AM

jskelton

WatchGeeks Owner

True WatchGeek

Join Date: Feb 2008

Posts: 16,675

Real Name: "Diamond Jim" Skelton

Re: A personal welcome from the founding members

My watch obsession goes back to my teenage years, but my first "good watch" was purchased

when I was about 22 years old. I bought my first Swiss Made watch, a 2 tone Movado

Olympian. Since then my fascination grew and grew.

One day I was perusing eBay in search of interesting watches and came across this brand

"Invicta" and saw the Lupah for the very first time. I was floored by the design as I had never

seen anything like it before. That day I jumped into my Invicta obsession by buying a black on

black Lupah and a 2 tone white dial Speedway. Once I received them I did some searching and

came across a forum dedicated just to Invicta watches, and while that forum no longer exists as

it was, it was the BIGGEST at the time.

Over months of posting and collecting, I became a moderator over there. During this time I

began reviewing watches that I bought, and taught myself how to photograph them. I decided

that with all of the Invicta talk going on that I would ask Eyal to break his silence (he doesn't

really do interviews) and grant the forum an interview. It went so well that we did it twice.

It was then that I made a personal connection with Eyal, and I suggested to him that I could do

reviews of Invicta watches that were coming onto the market soon (at the time I was simply

reviewing watches that I already owned, and were on the market for purchase), and he agreed!

My first reviews were the Original Russian Diver, COSC Dragon Lupah, and the Swiss Ocean

Ghost II chronograph. Most of my old reviews are actually still on invictawatch.com.

About a day or two after they arrived to my house I got a call from Eyal. This was about 2

months after the other well-known watch host had left ShopNBC, and he asked me if I was

aware of this. I told him yes I was because I was a viewer of the shows. One thing led to

another, and I was contacted by ShopNBC to become a host for them, specializing in the watch

area. When Eyal first asked me about it, i fought it... telling him I had no interest in being on

television, but one thing you have to know about Eyal... he is very persuasive, and absolutely

does not take "NO" for an answer.

And that's how I began my career at ShopNBC. Just about 4 years later now (my first show was

on Oct 23rd 2004), and I love it more each day. It all began by simply loving watches, and

becoming involved in the watch forums. This is why I remain active in the forum communities,

because they are my roots... where I came from, and I never forget that.

We've seen a lot of forums come and go, and many we love evolve and grow. But even the ones

that started with the best of intentions slowly evolved into something different where the focus

was no longer on the MEMBERS. This bothered me, and my fellow Watch Geeks.net owners...

so the idea was sparked to open our own forum. What you see before you is born of a strong

passion for watches, and a commitment to the members. We plan to build Watch Geeks into a

forum that everyone can love and enjoy.

I hope that you're enjoying the forum, and we'll continue to grow and attempt to make this the

most enjoyable, and feature-filled playground that we can.