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Saving the Swiss Watch Industry Again

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31–40 of 58 posts

Re: Saving the Swiss Watch Industry Again

#31

Funny that, my interest in watches started /because/ of the smart watches. I picked a cheap chinese automatic watch on aliexpress last year, just to see if it'd still annoy me to wear a watch, as it used to last time I tried a few years back. Idea was, if I can wear a basic watch, i'd buy a smart one... Lo' and behold, I loved it. My £12 chinese crapiola was actually pretty darn good and I wore it for several weeks,…

Do you have a favorite watch?

Re: Saving the Swiss Watch Industry Again

#32
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, the battery life is really good. I went away and forgot my charger and got 2 1/2 days out of it. I'm surprised that they can sell 2 days battery as a feature and have people swallow it. What's written behind my watch: "10 year battery life".

To be fair, your watch can be replaced by a well crafted stick and dial combo.

And throw on a compass to align it correctly. Of course this has been done already, and you can be the proud owner of a wrist sundial for only $40! https://www.amazon.com/Sundial-Compass-Leather-Strap-C-3117/...

Infinite battery life! Eat that, user5994461's watch! ;)

Re: Saving the Swiss Watch Industry Again

#33
post #29

My Dad had in no particular order: Audemars Piguet (gold with Moon phase) Breguet Jumphand Limited Edition Diamond encrusted Patek Phillipe Reversible face Jaeger le Couture sports watch Various 1960s Omegas and Longines with beautiful designs/inlays And for years I thought of luxury watches as something interesting and worthwhile, even if I personally could not countenance or afford spending £30,000 on one. But I le…

I have a cheap mechanical watch (a Seiko) that has a transparent back where I can see the mechanism. I can't say why, but there's something about carrying around a tiny little machine that harvests energy from my movement that I enjoy.

Everything you wrote is true - the watch needs maintenance and they don't keep great time. For me, that's part of the charm. It has quirks like if I leave it face down, it loses a bit of time. When it gets very quiet, I can hear the watch's heartbeat. When I got it, the watch was fast by about 5 minutes every day so I bought some tools to open the case and adjust the machine to slow it down.

When a month has less than 31 days, I have to adjust the date on the watch and that involves turning the crown which is a shaft with gearing on the end that spins the date dial. It's all very physical.

Re: Saving the Swiss Watch Industry Again

#34
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, the battery life is really good. I went away and forgot my charger and got 2 1/2 days out of it. I'm surprised that they can sell 2 days battery as a feature and have people swallow it. What's written behind my watch: "10 year battery life".

To be fair, your watch can be replaced by a well crafted stick and dial combo.

There is no place on Earth that gets sunlight 24/7 all year round.

Re: Saving the Swiss Watch Industry Again

#35

"The most resilient part of the industry is that you buy a Swiss watch because you want to say, 'I have a Swiss watch,'" said Paul Swinand" I love mechanical watches. I repair watches. I love all things related to horology. That said, if I bought a new Rolex, I really wouldn't own the watch the minute it went out of warranty. What? Yea, Rolex, and 99% of the other Swiss Watch Companies will not sell parts to their cu…

Are those parts patented? If not then the independents should be producing their own clones. And if they are, mechanical watches are supposed to have a very long service life, so they can wait for the patents to expire.

Unless the watch companies are doing something actually illegal I don't see how they are doing anything wrong. Why should they be forced to help their competitors?

Re: Saving the Swiss Watch Industry Again

#36
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, your watch can be replaced by a well crafted stick and dial combo.

And throw on a compass to align it correctly. Of course this has been done already, and you can be the proud owner of a wrist sundial for only $40! https://www.amazon.com/Sundial-Compass-Leather-Strap-C-3117/... Infinite battery life! Eat that, user5994461's watch! ;)

Coincidentally, my watch has a compass :D

Re: Saving the Swiss Watch Industry Again

#37

Funny that, my interest in watches started /because/ of the smart watches. I picked a cheap chinese automatic watch on aliexpress last year, just to see if it'd still annoy me to wear a watch, as it used to last time I tried a few years back. Idea was, if I can wear a basic watch, i'd buy a smart one... Lo' and behold, I loved it. My £12 chinese crapiola was actually pretty darn good and I wore it for several weeks,…

Do you have a favorite watch?

Actually the one I wear the most is the Steinhart diver one... because it's quite sturdy; and not expensive enough to be scared if it's bumped into stuff... It's really excellent value, I think.

As a full blood nerd, my read favourite is the Bulova Accutron Spaceview from 1964 -- it as ONE transistor, so I call it my smartwatch ;-)

Re: Saving the Swiss Watch Industry Again

#38

Funny that, my interest in watches started /because/ of the smart watches. I picked a cheap chinese automatic watch on aliexpress last year, just to see if it'd still annoy me to wear a watch, as it used to last time I tried a few years back. Idea was, if I can wear a basic watch, i'd buy a smart one... Lo' and behold, I loved it. My £12 chinese crapiola was actually pretty darn good and I wore it for several weeks,…

Do you have a favorite watch?

No. But a "good bang for the buck" manufacturer that keeps tempting me. http://www.archimede-watches.com/

Re: Saving the Swiss Watch Industry Again

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a favorite watch?

Actually the one I wear the most is the Steinhart diver one... because it's quite sturdy; and not expensive enough to be scared if it's bumped into stuff... It's really excellent value, I think. As a full blood nerd, my read favourite is the Bulova Accutron Spaceview from 1964 -- it as ONE transistor, so I call it my smartwatch ;-)

Ah. Steinhart. Good too. Kemmner, another one. Some kind of legend. But communication with him is said to be tricky: http://www.ebay.de/sch/erkahund/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&...

Re: Saving the Swiss Watch Industry Again

#40
I recently wanted to buy a smart watch. I took a long, hard look at each one of my options, and my final conclusion was that none of them is actually acceptable: they're all ugly or have poor features or too big or whatever.

But I still wanted a watch. So I took a look at some good mechanical watches. You know what? Many of them are beautiful. I want to wear one. Sure, they're expensive but — they're jewelry: there's nothing wrong with that!

So I ended up getting a good-quality mechanical watch, and I couldn't be happier.

There was a time when digital watches were the height of extravagance, but they quit being fashionable because they're honestly not better. Right now, smart watches are honestly not better, and I suspect that they never will be.

I wear a watch to tell the time, and to look good; I have a phone (or, better still, a tablet) to be a handheld computer.

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