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In an utterly opposite-topic vein, I've recently discovered the joy of automatic, mechanical watches. No battery, no electronics, no manual winding. They're j
by georgieporgie 16y ago
In an utterly opposite-topic vein, I've recently discovered the joy of automatic, mechanical watches. No battery, no electronics, no manual winding. They're just a spring, gears, and a rotor that 'charges' the spring when you move your arm.
Sure, I have a mobile, but I feel a bit silly digging in my pocket when I just want to check the time. Plus, there aren't many non-tacky forms of jewelry for men. Finally, there's just something neat about a completely mechanical solution which is simultaneously old-tech (concept) and high-tech (execution).
Searching for "Seiko 5" on Amazon turns up a lot of options, and the core mechanism has been around since the 1960s. My absolute favorite automatics are the Seiko SKX007 and 009 dive watches, which seem to be unrivaled in value for money.
I'm very curious if this old-tech option appeals to the 20-somethings as much as it does to me, a guy who grew up when digital watches and (gasp) calculator watches were the coolest thing on the planet.
- WalterBright 16y agoI have a self-winding watch in a drawer. I abandoned it because it wasn't accurate. I had to reset the time every day. I love the cheap quartz watch I have. Big face, big hands, can tell the time without my glasses on, incredibly accurate, $20, with a button for a backlight.
- georgieporgie 16y agoThe Seikos are supposed to be accurate to within +/- 5-10 seconds per day. You can't beat quartz, though.
- InclinedPlane 16y agoSo it's off by half an hour to an hour over a year? That's pretty shoddy accuracy if you ask me, especially in an era where clocks accurate to the second are ubiquitous and cheap.
- georgieporgie 16y agoSure, if you never adjust your watch for a year. The whole point is how amazingly accurate it is for a sub-$200, purely mechanical timekeeping device. Besides, it's pretty common for super-accurate quartz watches to become wildly inaccurate about once per year (dead battery)...
- sabj 16y agoI think that there is a very strong appeal in the high-tech, vanguard crowd of HN and the like for mechanical things of this nature - this is echoed in the fanbase for steampunk, for example. Personally, if I were to get a new watch (I haven't worn one in years, and am a current college student) I'd want a nice analog watch - digital watches are quite passe, unless you go extremely avant-garde, in which case they're rather much of a statement.
- sabj 16y agoI think that there is a very strong appeal in the high-tech, vanguard crowd of HN and the like for mechanical things of this nature - this is echoed in the fanbase for steampunk, for example. Personally, if I were to get a new watch (I haven't worn one in years, and am a current college student) I'd want a nice analog watch - digital watches are quite passe, unless you go extremely avant-garde, in which case they're rather much of a statement.
- jim_h 16y ago'Orient', which I believe owned by Seiko, also makes nice inexpensive mechanical watches.
- motters 16y agoI'm also a fan of mechanical watches. When I was a kid I used to take them apart and mend them - something taught by my grandfather. However, mechanical watches are more about fashion or collectability than they are utilitarian.
- duck 16y agoNot sure how they could be more utilitarian... it tells you the time which is what watches are suppose to do. They type the parent is talking about is very accurate as well from my experience as well.
- ZoFreX 16y agoI am a twenty-something and the idea of a watch that never needs winding and keeps good time definitely appeals to me. For something so basic, reliability trumps flashiness - and on the engineering appeal, it's far more impressive and elegant than any digital watch (to me, a complex system of interlocking gears is less understandable, and so more awe-inspiring, than a watch that is also a computer. Big deal, I already have a computer!)