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Mechanical Watch (2022)

ciechanow.ski

61–70 of 135 posts

Re: Mechanical Watch (2022)

#61

I think one of my favourite things about an automatic is that its design calls for it to be worn and not collected. If you collect them, then you'd either be wnding or shaking them when you actually want to wear them, so they aren't automatic. It forces you to wear, and therefore own, just the one, which is how it should be. I have a seiko 5 which i always wear except in the shower.

Anyone with a few auto mechanicals will tend to be a 'luxury' watch collector and almost certainly have an auto-winder watchbox or similar solution. It gets way too finnicky to constantly reset crown based Chronos, nevermind something with wheel based control like an AirKing.

Those who collect manual-winders tend towards trench watches, marriage watches converted from pocket or 1950-69 era vintage Omegas and the like - as the Timex/Hamilton/Seagull re-issues hold little cachet to a collector. The glaring recent exception being the appalling SwatchxAP collab with the hand-wound version the SISTEM51 movement, bringing the worst aspects of both manual wind movements and the unservicable and ultimately disposable nature of contemporary swatch movements.

Re: Mechanical Watch (2022)

#62
post #52
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or buy a nice Swiss automatic in the 1-2000 range.

Or a $300 Seagull 1963 (the Chinese bought the rights, the design, and the machines.)

Those look really nice (love the moon phase indicator that some of them have too!), but the "red star" motif on the watch face does put me off.

Re: Mechanical Watch (2022)

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Related I guess, but these celebrity "bling" watches are entirely the least interesting part of horology.

I'm in a similar boat and I find it really hard to talk watches with folks who are experienced in the way of the Rolex AD. I really enjoy cheaper vintage watches that call back to when everyone had one of them on their wrist. Something about a semi-autonomous machine ticking away on your wrist, whether you're looking at it or not, using no electricity, is just intrinsically satisfying to me. I got into watch servicin…

Rolex ADs are just a para-social gatekeeper for Veblen goods, but there's a huge resurgence in the entry level Swiss Automatic space with some fantastic value propositions in the likes of the enormously popular Tissot PRX 80 line (hello Rolex Land-dweller), or the more recent output from smaller marques like Christoper Ward who are producing COSC certified swiss-made watches for about 4x markup whilst Omega and the rest are jacking up prices quarter on quarter.

Re: Mechanical Watch (2022)

#66
When studying distributed systems you have to convince yourself that clocks cannot be relied on. It is hard to do so because all the clocks around me are always working just fine.

When this article was posted here earlier I got an idea that maybe wearing a mechanical watch for a while might help.

I bought a cheap mechanical watch. It needs manual winding daily. If you take it off your wrist it gets out of sync with the other clocks or just stops.

Few weeks with that clock convinced me.

Re: Mechanical Watch (2022)

#67
I've been fascinated by mechanical watches for years. It can become a deep rabbit hole (like most hobbies). I frequently have watch restoration videos playing in the background as I'm doing things and love the process of taking apart, cleaning, and reassembling these watch movements. Wristwatch Revival is probably my favorite. I has encouraged me to tear apart a few watches of my own to give them a good service. As complex as they look, most follow a very similar process to rebuild.

Re: Mechanical Watch (2022)

#68

I think one of my favourite things about an automatic is that its design calls for it to be worn and not collected. If you collect them, then you'd either be wnding or shaking them when you actually want to wear them, so they aren't automatic. It forces you to wear, and therefore own, just the one, which is how it should be. I have a seiko 5 which i always wear except in the shower.

Any reason for not wearing yours in the shower? I wear mine pretty much all the time except sleep.

Re: Mechanical Watch (2022)

#69
post #56

I love that there's not only the internals of a standard three-hand, but the automatic mechanism as well. If you're going pure mechanical, an automatic is the best way. As long as you actually move during the day the watch generally stays wound up (though a twist when you put it on is a good measure). There's a ton of great watches out there powered only by walking around, and it's fascinating to look at what they ca…

Casio Oceanus S100 is made of titanium, adjusts itself over the radio[0], understands 29th of February, sets itself on/off DST, never needs tinkering or battery change, and sells for a whooping $350. It's the watch you can set all your other watches to. [0] Don't have radio coverage where you live? "There's an app for that" -- or several -- that simulate radio control signals.

Ooh, that is a nice quartz watch! Really good review here: https://www.peterferenczi.com/blog/2023/3/19/the-casio-ocean...

Re: Mechanical Watch (2022)

#70
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just want to make sure that this is what you are talking about: https://www.google.com/search?q=bench+knife https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-ihwnd7z21q/images/stencil/12...

The term GP was looking for is "Caseback Knife": https://diplomatwinders.com/cdn/shop/products/55035knife_102...

Ah, yes ... that seems more reasonable. Thank you.
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