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I love my dumb watches

gary.onl

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Re: I love my dumb watches

#51

Post by BoorishBears »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #40

I love that everybody can enjoy watches differently :-). There are people thay get a rolex. And good on them and they certainly send a message O:-) There are people who like obscure Soviet watches, or hyper expensive ridiculously over complicated modern marvels, or just a few solid units from citizen and Seiko, etc etc. I have a nice citizen blue angels navihawk with a tremendously useful ;) circular slide rule - but…

Everyone enjoys watches differently, but for the "spirit watch" of modern HN, I'd nominate the Ressence Type 3: https://ressencewatches.com/products/type-3-black

https://youtu.be/HtQ2pRMZUGE?t=212

An half-air/half-oil filled watch that looks like a smartwatch, but is fully mechanical. No bling, somewhat understated, but still quite visually interesting with a modernist design.

And all kinds of interesting technical quirks like using a magnetic coupling to transfer motion from the air filled half to the oil filled half, tiny bellows that open and close to allow the oil room to expand, the little temp gauge etc.

It's very expensive, but not cartoonishly expensive. And the expense isn't tied to speculation or hundred year old pedigree like some other watches, instead it feels like you're paying for people who really enjoyed skirting along the edges of their craft in a time-intensive way the same way a hacker does

(I don't think the pick has stayed the same over time though: early days would have been some Casio calculator watch, then the Apple Watch/Pixel Watch, and now this)

Re: I love my dumb watches

#52

Post by HoldOnAMinute »

Here is my recommendation for a watch that is somewhere between a dumb watch and a smart watch.

https://www.casio.com/us/watches/gshock/product.GW-9400-1/

Casio Rangeman GW-9400 Series

It is solar powered and has a lot of passive sensors including a thermometer, barometer, altimeter, and compass. It sets the time from a radio signal. It is everything-proof. This is my "zombie apocalypse" watch.

Re: I love my dumb watches

#54

Post by imiric »

HoldOnAMinute wrote: post #52

Here is my recommendation for a watch that is somewhere between a dumb watch and a smart watch. https://www.casio.com/us/watches/gshock/product.GW-9400-1/ Casio Rangeman GW-9400 Series It is solar powered and has a lot of passive sensors including a thermometer, barometer, altimeter, and compass. It sets the time from a radio signal. It is everything-proof. This is my "zombie apocalypse" watch.

It's a shame that 60% of it is reserved for gaudy plastic branding rather than for showing useful information.

Casio keeps pumping out these G-SHOCK clones, but I wonder who's buying them? I haven't seen one in the wild since the 90s.

Re: I love my dumb watches

#56

Post by arprocter »

I've had mixed luck with that auto 31 jewel Vostok movement - one still going strong (although it did have to be sent back to RU for attention), and another that completely gave up the ghost

Prior to certain geopolitical events they could be had for under three figures, which is a steal if you got a good one

The danger with the older ones is that the rubber seals might be toast - if it's an Amphibia this kind of defeats the object of a dive watch

Re: I love my dumb watches

#57

Post by mixmastamyk »

HoldOnAMinute wrote: post #52

Here is my recommendation for a watch that is somewhere between a dumb watch and a smart watch. https://www.casio.com/us/watches/gshock/product.GW-9400-1/ Casio Rangeman GW-9400 Series It is solar powered and has a lot of passive sensors including a thermometer, barometer, altimeter, and compass. It sets the time from a radio signal. It is everything-proof. This is my "zombie apocalypse" watch.

I have a casio pro trek. It’s fantastic in general, though the band is unfortunately getting gooey after five years or so. No wifi or telemetry.

Re: I love my dumb watches

#58

Post by jazzyjackson »

throw0101c wrote: post #22
watwut wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My cheap dumb watch requires battery change once in 4 years and counting. > also find the reasoning in "Why track your sleep at all? If you’ve had a crap night, you’ll wake up tired." weird. That's the equivalent of saying "Why track your blood pressure at all? If you've had a problem with high blood pressure, you'll wake up with a stroke These are not nearly comparable. If you have issue, regular blood pressure meas…

Casio has just released W-221H watches that talk about 10 year battery life: * https://www.casio.com/intl/watches/casio/product.W-221H-1AV/ If you're willing to spend a bit more, there are solar powered watches (digital and analog faces).

Casio’s classic F91W often lasts more than 10 years, I guess they just didn’t want to advertise it til they could stand behind it.

I really like my new F91W modded by CW&T, embedded in a brick of resin so there’s no buttons, no way to change the time, no changing the battery, just a watch that will tick for 10ish years and then die.

https://cwandt.com/products/solid-state-watch

Might as well use this comment to also share somebody stuffed an ARM processor into an F91W

https://www.crowdsupply.com/oddly-specific-objects/sensor-wa...

Re: I love my dumb watches

#59

Post by jazzyjackson »

Gualdrapo wrote: post #23

My parents bought an automatic Orient watch for each of them in the 70s - those that don't require batteries nor anything. My mother's watch was stolen somewhere in the 2010s and my father broke the crystal and kept stored for like 15 years or so. Just some weeks ago I remembered about it and sent it to service - now it looks and works like new and the service itself wasn't expensive. I'm pretty amazed.

Super

I started working for a clock and watch repair shop a few months ago after deciding it has better job security than computer programming :) I change batteries, replace crystals and hands etc

I thought I would like the mechanical puzzles (not all that different than debugging programs) but now my favorite part is just knowing I’m keeping a talisman going, for someone to pass on to their grandkids, and it’s true that the well-made stuff can last centuries with occasional service.

Re: I love my dumb watches

#60

Post by jazzyjackson »

helterskelter wrote: post #32

Citizen makes great dumb watches. They're built well, reasonably priced, and completely solar powered. Promaster is maybe the best dumb watch you can get for that price point, you just need to put a sapphire glass in it. I wish they'd do a "Promaster Pro" model though, with a higher frequency quartz crystal and magnetic resistance. That would be asymptotic with perfection.

I work at a watch repair shop and wish I could fund public service announcements that the eco drives will not last forever if kept in the dark, ie stored in a jewelry box or a drawer longer than a few months. They use capacitors that become ineffective if allowed to die all the way. You need to keep them exposed to light, and even then ~15 years is the optimistic end of the capacitor’s lifetime.

IMO you’re better off with a cheaper Casio that can last ten years on a 5 dollar battery. When the capacitor fails in a solar watch due to being kept in the dark we charge 85$ to replace it.

Also the older eco drives are unserviceable and you’ll have to buy a new watch if something goes wrong in the electronics or mechanics.

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