Watches

[Jesse B 707]

Who still wears watches?

[vonDrehle]

I still wear one. I have a Citizen ProMaster SST. No idea how to use the stuff around the face.

[garublador]

Watches are something I'd like to get into...once I have much more disposable income. I have three Fossil watches I go between now, one that's almost 14 years old. It's one of the "Blue" watches and it came out before the faces got to be gigantic. I have another automatic one that's kid of clunky and keeps terrible time. You can see the weight spin around the outside of it and it has a cool, purple face so I like wearing it. I also have one that has a LCD robot that dances in the background.

[Timko]

I think that's the thing right now; I need to find a rainy day / cold weather hobby, and cleaning and restoring old mechanical watches sounds like fun. You can pick them up for like $20 on eBay.

There's one I'm currently watching that will end tonight. Let's hope for the best.

[XComet]

People use mechanical more for the appreciation of the engineering and work that has gone into it than the accuracy. Quartz watches are easily more accurate, but I appreciate the mechanical ones more.

Absolutely. Here's mine:

First is my daily-wear Omega De Ville Chronometer in stainless steel:



Yes I wear it when I play disc golf in cool weather. Here's a better google photo, the light makes the hands on mine look discolored in the above pic:



My dress watch is a Patek Philippe 5119J Calatrava in 18k yellow gold case/buckle:



The light was rather dim in the jewelry store when I picked it up, here's a better google photo:



The Omega is self-winding, the Patek is manually wound. I've only re-set my Omega once since I bought it last summer, I don't wear the Patek every day so I re-set it when I wear it.

The advantage of a Swiss mechanical watch is that, with proper maintenance, I'll pass it on to my heirs.

[jubuttib]

Mechanical actually keeps time worse than quartz these days.

So watches are in 2 main categories: Mechanical and quartz. The passage of time is either measured by the oscillation of frequency controlled by a quartz crystal or by a complex mechanical system.

I'd add the third main category, radio controlled watches that sync with an atom clock (or some other standard time source) via radio waves.

[Timko]

People use mechanical more for the appreciation of the engineering and work that has gone into it than the accuracy. Quartz watches are easily more accurate, but I appreciate the mechanical ones more.

Absolutely. Here's mine:

First is my daily-wear Omega De Ville Chronometer in stainless steel:



Yes I wear it when I play disc golf in cool weather. Here's a better google photo, the light makes the hands on mine look discolored in the above pic:



My dress watch is a Patek Philippe 5119J Calatrava in 18k yellow gold case/buckle:



The light was rather dim in the jewelry store when I picked it up, here's a better google photo:



The Omega is self-winding, the Patek is manually wound. I've only re-set my Omega once since I bought it last summer, I don't wear the Patek every day so I re-set it when I wear it.

The advantage of a Swiss mechanical watch is that, with proper maintenance, I'll pass it on to my heirs.

Nice watches! I see you've made a sizable investment with those 2. I'm sticking a little cheaper right now, to make sure I'm going to wear something I make that kind of investment in.

[JimW]

I haven't worn a watch in probably a year and a half, since the strap on my watch broke and I was lazy about replacing it long enough to stop getting all twitchy about not having a watch on (as I always do at first when I'm used to wearing one). I only wear cheap digital watches though because I can't have nice things of that type for everyday use. I bang my watch into stuff, scratch it against things, and am just totally careless in general about it. Like with sunglasses I know better than to spend any money on something nice because I know I'll destroy it.

However, if I was to get a dress watch for special occasions I would get something from TokyoFlash. They used to sell a bunch on Amazon which is where I first saw them years ago but looking on their website they no longer sell the one I was most interested in back then. Of their current selection these two are my favorites.

[XComet]

Nice watches! I see you've made a sizable investment with those 2.

Thanks. It IS an investment, they'll hold their value over time. Everybody should acquire a nice watch of some sort, life is too short not to. If you've got the watch-bug now, you'll get one too, eventually. It's like collecting uber-rare CE discs

[garublador]

Mechanical actually keeps time worse than quartz these days.

So watches are in 2 main categories: Mechanical and quartz. The passage of time is either measured by the oscillation of frequency controlled by a quartz crystal or by a complex mechanical system.

I'd add the third main category, radio controlled watches that sync with an atom clock (or some other standard time source) via radio waves.

Don't those only set the time via radio waves periodically and then use a quartz crystal to keep the time between settings? So they measure the passage of time by using a quartz crystal, but set the actual time via radio waves rather than you having to set them yourself.

[Timko]

Yeah, in the end, watches are powered by mechanics or quartz. How these devices get their power is the thing. For example, an autoquartz watch uses a rotor like an automatic mechanical, then uses the energy stored up to power the quartz.

If I ever get a nice Chrono, I'd like some sort of quartz movement powered by a manner other than battery (solar, thermal, electricty, rotor).

[jubuttib]

True, they're quartz watches apart from the sync. I was thinking of one radio clock I read about that was neither mechanic nor quartz based, but now that I think about it wasn't a watch. My mistake, carry on!

[vonDrehle]

I love the look of the Black Leather Band with the Gold Watch.

[Mark Ellis]

A watch must be waterproof because I never take it off, even for the shower. Unfortunately as soon as you replace the battery it is no longer waterproof. So I treat watches as disposable items and therefore, since I always wear a watch, I have gone through lots of them: dress, sports, weird, trendy, whimsical, whatever. Once I put on a watch, so long as it is comfortable I probably don't take it off until it stops working. Early in my legal career I wore fancy watches. Now that I actually know what I'm doing I wear what I like.

I like a watch with a low profile (flat to the wrist, completely the opposite of the current trend of huge, oversized watches) because it fits more easily with sleeves, especially the multiple layers I wear in the winter to golf in.

Three essential times to have with you at all times (at least while clothed): watch, writing utensil (usually a pen) and a mini. Three items that are always readily accessible: currency, cell phone and car key.

[craftsman]

Ive been fond of skagen (denmark) for the last couple years. I like their slim, minimalistic styling and they seem to keep time well (im no expert).

I dont understand the popularity of the huge watches that wont even fit under a dress shirt. If your name isnt captain, you likely look like a douche.