Poor man's watch thread

[Jazzmenco]

I'm a Seiko fanatic, so I'm drawn to the diver.

But, to thine own self be true.

The true is that knowing me I'll probably end up getting both.......

 

[Jazzmenco]

I can deal with quartz as long as it is an eco drive, hate paying for battery changes.

 

[Kingstonian]

I can deal with quartz as long as it is an eco drive, hate paying for battery changes.
View attachment 1527610 View attachment 1527614

You have many mechanical watches which need servicing from time to time. This costs more than a battery replacement. A battery replacement is also usually done while you wait.

So I dont understand the dislike of battery replacement.

I have a Seiko that I got four decades ago. Still works fine with no servicing and an inexpensive battery change which I now usually get done in the local street market. I also have Citizen EcoDrives and solar powered G Shocks.

 

[Adsky Luck]

Mechanical watches may need servicing but that doesn't mean they are going to get one.
In my experience, most are good to go for decades without any servicing, if ever at all.
Also, quartz watches are like flamingo-killing Teslas while mechanical watches, especially if with complications, are like manual drive collector's cars. Which one would a petrolhead (watch enthusiast) rather drive?

 

[knittieguy]

My early xmas present...

View attachment 1522633

what size is that? Doesn't look unreasonably big, like a lot of divers

 

[jmacan911]

what size is that? Doesn't look unreasonably big, like a lot of divers

39mm case diameter
47mm lug to lug
12mm thick

Aquascaphe Classic Blue Gilt - Baltic Watches

Discover the Aquascaphe Blue Gilt, our vision of the purest dive watch. A 39mm toolwatch, waterproof, scratch resistant and shock-proof.

baltic-watches.com

 

[knittieguy]

39mm case diameter
47mm lug to lug
12mm thick

Aquascaphe Classic Blue Gilt - Baltic Watches

Discover the Aquascaphe Blue Gilt, our vision of the purest dive watch. A 39mm toolwatch, waterproof, scratch resistant and shock-proof.

baltic-watches.com

Good looking watch

 

[Kingstonian]

Mechanical watches may need servicing but that doesn't mean they are going to get one.
In my experience, most are good to go for decades without any servicing, if ever at all.
Also, quartz watches are like flamingo-killing Teslas while mechanical watches, especially if with complications, are like manual drive collector's cars. Which one would a petrolhead (watch enthusiast) rather drive?

‘Good to go’ but not particularly accurate. More so if you ignore servicing.

Quartz you just forget about maintenance. Radio controlled will be more accurate than the most expensive mechanical watch.

I still don’t know why a £5 battery is a big deal.

 

[Adsky Luck]

‘Good to go’ but not particularly accurate. More so if you ignore servicing.

Quartz you just forget about maintenance. Radio controlled will be more accurate than the most expensive mechanical watch.

I still don’t know why a £5 battery is a big deal.

this is the old quartz versus mechanical argument that has remained unresolved since the quartz "revolution" of the early 1970s.

 

[Kingstonian]

this is the old quartz versus mechanical argument that has remained unresolved since the quartz "revolution" of the early 1970s.

Not really. It is about why five quid is a showstopper - particularly for someone who has new watches every month.

I can understand people who like mechanical watches. What I can’t work out is why such a trifling amount is a big deal if you then look to purchase a quartz watch.

 

[Jazzmenco]

Not really. It is about why five quid is a showstopper - particularly for someone who has new watches every month.

I can understand people who like mechanical watches. What I can’t work out is why such a trifling amount is a big deal if you then look to purchase a quartz watch.

In my part of the world it costs a lot more than 5 quid. The watch repair guy that I use varies the price based on the value of the watch, even though it's the same battery and basically the same labor. This annoys me along with the annoyance of having to go there. I prefer mechanical and I'm not a person that needs pinpoint accuracy. I do have my share of quartz watches, my point was that the eco drive eliminates the need for battery changes.

 

[am55]

You can also own both and enjoy both types of engineering.

Just within Seiko you have Spring Drive for a smoothness difficult to achieve with a pure mechanical movement, you have the 7C46 which can withstand extremes of temperature as well as force, you have the ultra high accuracy 9F which measures temperature continuously and adjusts accordingly... in the PMW range the 8F56 perpetual calendars in the Alpinist series were pretty cool and one of the most affordable ways to have a perpetual calendar in a watch, and as a bonus you got the GMT and lightness of titanium - I've been looking for a decent specimen for years. And of course Casio gives you a thousand options for ultra accurate time with eternal battery life.

Then you have the space considerations. Decades ago if you wanted a low profile you'd have to pay about a car's worth to Piaget but these days $200 will get you a Citizen Stiletto, or if you want precious metals and high craftsmanship ten times that to Credor will do the trick.

Then there is what became possible with the wearables revolution. My backup GPS when hiking in the bush away from cell reception is a Garmin Instinct which has heaps of battery life, is about as unbreakable as a (complicated) G-shock and gives me a breadcrumbs map (not ideal but in one instance did get me back home). As a bonus I also get a compass, altimeter and barometer and even a thermometer. For 3-5x more I could either stay with Garmin or look at Casio for beautifully made full offline topo maps on the wrist... Casio whose game has really stagnated in recent years and which is being overtaken by the smartwatch manufacturers who are learning how to do water resistance and ruggedness and long term reliability.

The Chinese are dumping thousands of SKUs with mostly the same features for under $100, which if you do not care about reliability is a great way to explore new "complications". And Pine just launched an open source smartwatch for $25 so you can literally program your own complications.

There's many complications I find useful daily (sunset times and "last 6 hours" barometer especially, if I'm out without reception) and others I wish someone would implement properly already, such as tide where "the station 250km away" is not a helpful piece of information especially in places with complicated tide patterns.

On a lighter note going nuts with electronics can be seen as a form of art. Famously Steve Wozniak found the idea sufficiently interesting to wear a Nixie tube watch a la Dan Flavin meets industrial mid-20th-C Silicon Valley. Aside from the Apple Watch, I do find some of the Chinese designs to border on art, like the glass drop of the original Mi Band, very 2001 Space Odyssey.

The one aspect of mechanical watches which remains superior is durability. Even Casios will die after 10-20 years of daily use, and parts rely on an industrial supply chain that has already retooled and moved on, and relies (relied, really) on scale to drive parts costs down. With replacement cost of the whole watch so low what is the point of repairability? This makes collecting anything with electronics a pain, just browse eBay for all the dead classic quartz watches of decades past...

 

[knittieguy]

I can deal with quartz as long as it is an eco drive, hate paying for battery changes.
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Is that the Brycen AW1593-06X watch?

 

[am55]

From an engineering standpoint though it's important to be aware that more complications means more chances for things to go wrong and a shorter life. The Seiko Kinetics don't do well if mostly unworn, and the solars will fail in the same order of magnitude time as a battery powered watch. Reminds me of the mechanical vs electronic injection debate amongst 4WD owners (and related premiums for old diesel engines). Smartwatches from even 5 years ago, and almost all from 10 are bricked as software support is abandonned, except by the biggest players like Garmin or Apple.

 

[Jazzmenco]

Is that the Brycen AW1593-06X watch?

Yes indeed, I swapped out the strap for something a little nicer. I have a box full of spares.