Today, we are joined by the newest member of the Council of Considered Opinion 'Dave The Highwayman', for the second of our '40 Years of the Formula 1' celebratory posts. Dave is the newest member of the C.O.C.O. and a valuable addition given his thoughtful and insightful comments, so I'm interested to see what his top ten Formula 1s might be...
DTH: When Rob asked me to write a piece about my top ten F1's, I really had to delve into the memory bank. Trying to recall what I thought of them at the time, and importantly, what I was actually wearing in the second half of the 80's.
I remember the original F1 watches very well, I was not however a customer at the time. In truth, they really didn't appeal to me. I was...and still am a man entirely untouched by fashion trends! One could argue I was very much the target market, I was young, I had a little money and I was into motorsport. They just didn't hit my spot though, I wore a suit for work and wanted a “serious” business-like daily watch.
I chose to wear a well used 70's steel Omega Geneve. That watch was actually my first “deal”, bought for £50 from a colleague and later sold back to the same guy for a £100. I still feel slightly bad about that one.. The F1's were quirky, small, colourful and in my mind at the time.. something of a novelty, throwaway item. I looked at them but didn't seriously consider buying one.
I did however buy an example of the totally forgotten Avia “Turbo” for weekends. In black and red,it matched my black XR3i with red bumper inserts.. Ahh, those were the days, before the inevitable, crushing disappointment of adult life set in !
Looking back, that Avia was clearly intended as a cheaper F1 alternative, aimed squarely at the same market. Multiple bright colours, racing stripes and “Turbo” printed on the rubber strap. They also shared the same ETA movement as the F1 for about a quarter of the price, nothing changes does it..
