81–90 of 113 posts
Since so many knowledgeable people interested in watches are around here ... What are some affordable, good quality watch brands? Somewhere around 100 to 300 Euro maybe? I like those beautiful, elegant designed watches but 10k EUR upwards is way out of my league.
Since so many knowledgeable people interested in watches are around here ... What are some affordable, good quality watch brands? Somewhere around 100 to 300 Euro maybe? I like those beautiful, elegant designed watches but 10k EUR upwards is way out of my league.
I see he has a copy of "Watchmaking" by George Daniels. That is the "Knuth" of watchmaking. Here in Britain, we have Roger W Smith, the only watchmaker in the world who makes everything by hand. He was the principal disciple of George Daniels, a truly legendary watchmaker, who sadly died a few years ago. Daniels famously taught himself watchmaking by taking apart old clocks, putting them back together and repairing t…
"I took a watch and a drawing and showed them how it worked and they said, "oh well, its complicated, and in any case we don't make pocket watches". So, I went home and got a wristwatch and put the same escapement in the wrist watch, took it back, "oh well we make thinner wristwatches". So, I went home and got a very thin wristwatch ... then there was some reason they couldn't accept it, then they did try to make it and failed, therefore it was no good ... went on like that for 15 years"
https://youtu.be/2NplYClpuP8?t=7m
If you listen to some of Douglas Engelbart's interviews he says the same things. Let's not do this to the up and coming young people in our field. Yes, lots of dumb ideas (really just learning mistakes) but know when to let them pass.
I see he has a copy of "Watchmaking" by George Daniels. That is the "Knuth" of watchmaking. Here in Britain, we have Roger W Smith, the only watchmaker in the world who makes everything by hand. He was the principal disciple of George Daniels, a truly legendary watchmaker, who sadly died a few years ago. Daniels famously taught himself watchmaking by taking apart old clocks, putting them back together and repairing t…
If anyone is really interested in Watchmaking, I wouldn't start out with G. Daniel's book. It's really about making a watch from raw materials. I would start with books by Fried. If you feel comfortable with 90% of Practical Watch Repair in a year, or two; go for Daniel's book. I guarantee most will not get through Practical Watch Repair, but might come back to the hobby/profession later in life. When time is more ch…
I can't discern from the article whether or not he actually makes movements. It says that "The hairspring, mainspring, jewels, crystal and leather strap are bought from suppliers, primarily Seiko subsidiaries." However, I imagine he buys entire movements and concentrates on the case, face, hands, and other aesthetic elements.
I'm not so certain about that; the article mentions his making a wristwatch (and pocket watch) version of a traditional Japanese clock which varies the length of a day by the seasons. Such timepieces (as clocks) fell out after the Meiji restoration (according to the article) when Japan transitioned to western style clocks.
Given that, unless Seiko (or some other company) is also making movements for traditional Japanese timekeeping, I can't imagine your scenario being true, simply because the market for traditional Japanese timekeeping watches would have to be pretty damn small, as they are virtually useless for practical use in the modern world, and only would serve as curiosities and/or art.
Just my opinion based only on the article, though - I could be completely wrong.
Permanence - One of the beautiful things about these watches is they will be treasures for hundreds of years. I serious doubt anyone will look back at my code in one hundred years and be amazed by the beauty. Not that it is not beautiful, software just doesn't feel like it has any lasting permanence. You can create amazing things with software but does any implementation actually have permanence?
Software hasn't been around long enough to really know if it has "permanence" - but the Sabre Reservation System probably comes pretty close...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_(computer_system)
/somewhat serious...
Since so many knowledgeable people interested in watches are around here ... What are some affordable, good quality watch brands? Somewhere around 100 to 300 Euro maybe? I like those beautiful, elegant designed watches but 10k EUR upwards is way out of my league.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raketa
Look for ones with mechanical movements prior to 1990 or so (?); they were one of the last (or maybe the last) company making mechanical analog movements (non-quartz) long after every other watch manufacturer switched. Eventually, they had to switch too, but like 30 years later.
There's a story (pretty sure its true) of the czar buying a failing Ohio (?) watch maker, lock stock and barrel; literally, they bought the entire company and employees, and moved the employees to Russia to teach them how to make mechanical movement watches - and that continued on through the Soviet era.
But with glasnost, etc - that came to an end - and quartz took over.
I recently purchased one of these watches - it was fairly inexpensive (about $70.00 USD); it was a Lunokhod commemorative watch - with a 24 hour movement, and an orange face.
In many cases, you can get these watches as "New-Old Stock" - because non-quartz movements fell out of fashion, and the old stock just sat unsold. But now, with collectors learning about these watches, and the want for mechanical movements, they've come back. But because so many exist, they are still fairly inexpensive to find and own (even the really old versions of such watches).
I see he has a copy of "Watchmaking" by George Daniels. That is the "Knuth" of watchmaking. Here in Britain, we have Roger W Smith, the only watchmaker in the world who makes everything by hand. He was the principal disciple of George Daniels, a truly legendary watchmaker, who sadly died a few years ago. Daniels famously taught himself watchmaking by taking apart old clocks, putting them back together and repairing t…
If anyone is really interested in Watchmaking, I wouldn't start out with G. Daniel's book. It's really about making a watch from raw materials. I would start with books by Fried. If you feel comfortable with 90% of Practical Watch Repair in a year, or two; go for Daniel's book. I guarantee most will not get through Practical Watch Repair, but might come back to the hobby/profession later in life. When time is more ch…
Since so many knowledgeable people interested in watches are around here ... What are some affordable, good quality watch brands? Somewhere around 100 to 300 Euro maybe? I like those beautiful, elegant designed watches but 10k EUR upwards is way out of my league.
Many interesting models are sold only in Japan, but you can get them through SeiyaJapan or Higuchi-Inc.