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How Watches Work

fratellowatches.com

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Re: How Watches Work

#11

Post by nine_k »

martinkraft wrote: post #9

For those who are interested in superior technology, start reading about quartz movements and the piezoelectric effect. Citizen Watch Company recently release the most accurate quartz watch ever, accurate to 1 second per year . Contrast that to the mechanical watches that Rolex—one of the best mechanical manufacturers—produces and the best they can do is an accuracy of about 1 second per day . Hundreds of times less…

Mechanical watches are a fashion accessory that also happen to show time.

This does not prevent them from being feats of engineering, because of the technology limitations, and the need to show off (ever saw a tourbillion watch?). I would compare them to Fabergé's eggs of our time.

Re: How Watches Work

#12

Post by dvt »

martinkraft wrote: post #9

For those who are interested in superior technology, start reading about quartz movements and the piezoelectric effect. Citizen Watch Company recently release the most accurate quartz watch ever, accurate to 1 second per year . Contrast that to the mechanical watches that Rolex—one of the best mechanical manufacturers—produces and the best they can do is an accuracy of about 1 second per day . Hundreds of times less…

> Hundreds of times less accurate. Yikes!

Everyone knows this; you're making it seem like it's some kind of conspiracy.

Mechanical watches are awesome. I bought my first "semi-luxury" one (a Longines Diver for like $3,000) two years ago and I love everything about it: the style, the complication, the fact that I need to wind it if I want to wear it. Everything is so interesting and neat. Everything has so much history: watchmakers were the pinnacle of human engineering for centuries!

It's something special I'd love to leave to my hopefully future kids. I like my Casio F-91W for different reasons[1], but it's certainly not as special.

[1] https://dvt.name/2019/06/03/hacking-the-casio-f-91w-to-handl...

Re: How Watches Work

#14

Post by joshocar »

NinjaViking wrote: post #7
CydeWeys wrote: post #6

I got pretty into watches during the pandemic. It's definitely one of those expensive hobbies.

Not necessarily! You can get plenty of nerd mileage out of Orient, Seiko and Vostok automatic/mechanical watches for a reasonable amount of money.

I'm a big fan of Hamilton watches. I like the simple design and the one I have is amazingly accurate, like within seconds of NTP over weeks when the weather and temperature are ideal. They definitely don't break the bank.

Re: How Watches Work

#15

Post by creeble »

CydeWeys wrote: post #6

I got pretty into watches during the pandemic. It's definitely one of those expensive hobbies.

Can be, for sure.

One thing I’ve enjoyed is a focus on just a couple of brands of old watches. I have about 10 Enicar watches; they made everything from simple hand-wind no-date watches (my favorite) to complex chronographs. They have a whimsical logo (a shark jumping at Jupiter) that matches the whimsy of their founder - his name was Racine, but he had an uncle in the watch business with that name, so he spelt it backwards.

Re: How Watches Work

#16

Post by martinkraft »

dvt wrote: post #12
martinkraft wrote: post #9

For those who are interested in superior technology, start reading about quartz movements and the piezoelectric effect. Citizen Watch Company recently release the most accurate quartz watch ever, accurate to 1 second per year . Contrast that to the mechanical watches that Rolex—one of the best mechanical manufacturers—produces and the best they can do is an accuracy of about 1 second per day . Hundreds of times less…

> Hundreds of times less accurate. Yikes! Everyone knows this; you're making it seem like it's some kind of conspiracy. Mechanical watches are awesome. I bought my first "semi-luxury" one (a Longines Diver for like $3,000) two years ago and I love everything about it: the style, the complication, the fact that I need to wind it if I want to wear it. Everything is so interesting and neat. Everything has so much histor…

Longines makes a high-accuracy (± 5 seconds-per-year) quartz watch called the Conquest V.H.P. that is respectable. Both your mechanical and their quartz movements are produced by ETA (Swatch Group).

Re: How Watches Work

#19

Post by vgeek »

NinjaViking wrote: post #7
CydeWeys wrote: post #6

I got pretty into watches during the pandemic. It's definitely one of those expensive hobbies.

Not necessarily! You can get plenty of nerd mileage out of Orient, Seiko and Vostok automatic/mechanical watches for a reasonable amount of money.

Exactly this. There are tons of essentially new old stock mechanical watches from all over the world (Vostok and other similar brands) that can be had in the $100 range, and the $300-500 range has lots of solid watches (maybe also Hamilton?).

I'd take an equally functional and/or reliable Japanese movement over an ETA that is used in the "luxury" categories where you're just paying for the label on the watch.

But quartz watches (~90% of my collection) are way more practical. They last longer (most mechanical watches need servicing every 5 years at $150+ per pop), keep better time, can be picked up and put on without setting if not worn every day and are only like $3 to swap out a battery. The key is finding a neat "gimmick" with quartz watches from quality brands. Things like Tritium luminescence are good if you like field watches. Or Citizen/Casio atomic watches that are super accurate through the use of the WWVB signal. Or "other uses" -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W#Usage_in_terrorism

Re: How Watches Work

#20

Post by joshocar »

martinkraft wrote: post #9

For those who are interested in superior technology, start reading about quartz movements and the piezoelectric effect. Citizen Watch Company recently release the most accurate quartz watch ever, accurate to 1 second per year . Contrast that to the mechanical watches that Rolex—one of the best mechanical manufacturers—produces and the best they can do is an accuracy of about 1 second per day . Hundreds of times less…

> Mechanical watches are an emotional rather than rational technology, and hey if that's what you're into: mechanical watches and horse-drawn-buggies and gas lanterns then that's totally cool.

You could say the same thing about people who are into classic muscle cars. "Hey, if like driving around in a model T and braking down every 5 miles then that's totally cool." Everything is emotional. Does anyone really need a GPS synced watch that is accurate to the nanosecond? No, people want it because they think it's cool. Some people want mechanical watches because they think they are cool.

You must be so fun at parties.

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