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I happen to work in this industry, and just a word for those that compare this with an Apple Watch or a Casio, this Vacheron-Constantin will likely be around 20

I happen to work in this industry, and just a word for those that compare this with an Apple Watch or a Casio, this Vacheron-Constantin will likely be around 200 years from now, it will still be a testimony of the refinement and engineering of a fine craft that few can achieve, a highly valued item with specialist technicians marvelling on the talent of its builders, just as is the case today with 200 year old timepieces. you'll be very lucky if your Casio can last as long. Your mass commoditised Apple watch will likely be worthless. Personaly, I like the IWC on my wrist as much as I like my Casio G-Shock, both are wonderful in their own way. The Apple watch on my wife's wrist is a fine computer i guess, but at some point, it will have the same "quaint charm" as the IBM Thinkpad she owned 23 years ago.

TimByte 1y ago
My $40 Casio surviving everything from camping trips to getting dunked in a sink still feels like its own kind of masterpiece
- Mainan_Tagonist 1y ago
  And in a way, it is...
- PeterStuer 1y ago
  Used to have one of those. Survived daily swim practice and saunas for years.
- bookofjoe 1y ago
  Iconic F-91W currently costs $16.88 at Amazon AND it now comes in colors: Clear, Pink, Blue, Gray, Green, Gold, White (and Black)
  - dole 1y ago
    A158 (Obama) for the upgrade to steel, A168 for EL backlight.
    - ooterness 1y ago
      Look at moneybags over here paying $30 for a watch. /s
      - jxjnskkzxxhx 1y ago
        One thing I like about Casio's, especially the cheap ones, is how unpretentious they are.
    - helij 1y ago
      Just go for solar radio sync G-Shock square and you're done. No batteries, no setting up, extremely rugged and imo it looks good as well. Since I got that one a few years ago I only wear mechanical watch for various "occasions" - pretty much like a jewellery.
  - jxjnskkzxxhx 1y ago
    I went thru a couple of F91W and the bracelet kept breaking. I since got a A158WA-1. Check it out.
    - bookofjoe 1y ago
      Done. Thank you!
  - tokai 1y ago
    All the F-91Ws I have gotten through Amazon have been fakes.
    - bookofjoe 1y ago
      Remarkable. I've purchased at least five over the decades, all the real thing.
LeafItAlone 1y ago
>this Vacheron-Constantin will likely be around 200 years from now I’m interested to hear more. Typically things that are “most complicated” and lost lasting don’t go hand-in-hand.
- Mainan_Tagonist 1y ago
  You should visit this museum : https://www.patek.com/en/company/patek-philippe-museum/the-museum https://www.patek.com/en/company/patek-philippe-museum/the-m... Since mechanical watches are, by design, open source, there will always be a technician interested in keeping them going.
  - theamk 1y ago
    The mechanical watches are not open source at all - most (all?) of them do not come with engineering drawings nor with list of materials. Even if you have a watch in front of you, it does not mean you can create a copy of it without a lot of work - you need to measure every gear, guess the materials used (how stiff should this spring be?), and re-draw mainplate and dial. Compare to things like old electronics, which came with full schematics, service manual and sometimes even debugging guide.
- benhurmarcel 1y ago
  The people who buy this kind of watches don’t usually wear them much, they store them in a safe environment.
ZiiS 1y ago
But I can buy an Apple Watch Ultra every year for the next 200 years for less.
- Mainan_Tagonist 1y ago
  So, 199 Apple watches Ultra in landfills 200 years from now. Congrats.
  - ZiiS 1y ago
    A very worthy concen, but I don't think you want to go too deep on the morality if luxury goods. An Apple watch a decade leaves a lot of charitable giving.
  - PeterStuer 1y ago
    499 actually. Can't let our unsold overproduction dilute the demand for the next model, so straight to the landfill it is.
- sorokod 1y ago
  Apple watches are unlikely to exist then Apple is unlikely to exist then You... well you already know.
  - threeseed 1y ago
    Apple will likely exist in 200 years. It has $86B in cash on hand and could easily have had $1T if shareholders didn't kick up a fuss a few years ago. I wouldn't bet on the Swiss watch market being necessarily around given that many young people aren't being taught how to tell the time and have little appreciation for watches.
    - bookofjoe 1y ago
      Perplexity Pro's list of companies that have been around since 1825 (200 years ago): 1. Kongo Gumi (578 AD, Japan) 3. Specializing in temple construction for over 1,400 years, it was acquired in 2006 but still operates under Takamatsu Construction Group. 2. Drohobych Saltworks (1250, Ukraine) State-owned and Europe’s oldest salt producer, now also a cultural heritage site. 3. Shirley Plantation (1613, USA) Virginia’s oldest family-owned business, operating as a historic farm and museum. 4. Avedis Zildjian Company (1623, USA) The world’s premier cymbal manufacturer, founded in Istanbul and relocated to Massachusetts in 1929. 5. Hudson’s Bay Company (1670, Canada/USA) Originally a fur-trade monopoly, it now operates department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue. 6. White Horse Tavern (1673, USA) America’s oldest continuously running restaurant, serving patrons in Newport, Rhode Island. 7. Baker’s Chocolate (1765, USA) Launched by James Baker in Massachusetts, it remains a baking staple under Kraft Heinz ownership. 8. Laird & Company (1780, USA) The oldest licensed distillery in the U.S., producing applejack since the American Revolution. 9. King Arthur Baking Company (1790, USA) Founded in Boston, it’s now a Vermont-based leader in flour and baking products. 10. Brooks Brothers (1818, USA) America’s oldest clothing retailer, surviving bankruptcy in 2020 and continuing under new ownership.
StopDisinfo910 1y ago
> this Vacheron-Constantin will likely be around 200 years from now, it will still be a testimony of the refinement and engineering Usual playbook of the luxury watch market since marketing somehow made it relevant in the mid to end of the 20th century. Thank Haye for not being able to stand near a Swiss mechanical watch without someone uttering the world "timeless". This is the second best achievement of marketing after making people believing that diamonds are valuable. These watches use small mechanical pieces (which are still very far away from the state of the art - a watch is an engineering achievement by the standard of 200 years ago). They require very regular maintenance to keep working and this maintenance is very expensive. They are not in anyway "timeless". This is an expensive piece of jewellery, subject to everything related to expensive pieces of jewellery including fashion. It’s basically a Veblen good signalling wealth.
- milesrout 1y ago
  Mechanical watches don't require much maintenance. They need reoiling every decade or so. They also aren't usually very expensive. You wouldn't say that clothes are a Veblen good just because there are expensive clothing brands that are. Most mechanical watches are not this kind of luxury example.
  - StopDisinfo910 1y ago
    Cheap mechanical watches are not generally what people talk about when they brandy the usual marketing points. They are poor timekeeping pieces bottom feeding from the expensive brand marketing. A quartz movement in the same body is an all around improvement except for the smugness.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
    - mplanchard 1y ago
      I like watches where I don’t have to change the battery. I have a kit to change them, but I appreciate the elegance of the purely mechanical solution, and my mechanical watches are generally my favorites for that reason. None of them are luxury goods or particularly expensive. Even though I am not the kind of person who would spend an insane amount of money on a watch, I still think the elegance of the manufacturing of a piece like the one under discussion is really impressive and interesting.
userbinator 1y ago
The Apple Watch has billions of transistors in its microcircuits, mass-produced repeatably at very low cost. It's a different type of engineering but I think it's nonetheless impressive too (and I'm not actually a fan of Apple either.)
jasode 1y ago
>I happen to work in this industry, and just a word for those that compare this with an Apple Watch or a Casio, this Vacheron-Constantin will likely be around 200 years from now, it will still be a testimony of the refinement and engineering of a fine craft that few can achieve, a highly valued item [...] The Apple watch on my wife's wrist is a fine computer i guess, My friend does not work in the watch industry so maybe that's why she came to the opposite conclusion from yours. She has several high-end watches Omega, Ebel, Cartier ... and when she got the Apple Watch almost 10 years ago, it instantly demoted all her expensive jewelry watches to the drawer. The cheaper "disposable" Apple Watch instantly cured her from wanting any new expensive jewelry watches. She let the batteries die off in the old watches and has never replaced them. Instead, she just loves having the weather, timers, task notifications, etc on her Apple Watch. Sure, the classic watches have "diamond encrusted bezel, gold wristband, Swiss mechanical movement yada yada yada..." but all that is negated by the useful features of the smart watch. It's a rare situation where a cheap product completely replaces an expensive product. I had a a similar evolution in thinking when technology made me re-evaluate products I once coveted. When I was young before the internet existed, I drooled over this Geochron illuminated framed wall map $4000 : https://www.geochron.com/clocks/boardroom/ https://www.geochron.com/clocks/boardroom/ A lot of expensive offices had that and I thought I had to have it too. But then I bought cheap atomic clocks you never had to set and the web had dynamic maps I could explore. Even the new Geochron units don't automatically set to the radio signal from atomic clocks. New technology completely cured me of wanting to buy a Geochron. People used to want tall grandfather clocks in the house foyer as an elegant piece of accent furniture. Now you can't even give away those clocks for free on craigslist. Everybody has clocks on their smartphones so buying a grandfather clock for the house isn't a priority anymore. Even if we romanticize grandfather clocks with descriptions about "heirloom furniture craftsmanship, intricate wood carvings, etc", it still won't entice most people today to want one.
- konart 1y ago
  I have somewhat different store. Moved to Garmin (for sports and outdoor activities) and Mido as an everyday watch from Apple Watch (had 3 and 7 versions). Can't really imagine going back. I guess I was sold the idea that I neeed notifications, weather and all this bullshit on my wrist all the time. At some point I realized I've disabled notifications completely and basically the only thing I was using my Apple watch was paranoidal heart rate monitoring. >Swiss mechanical movement yada yada yada... Most swiss mechanical movements cost 50-100$ though.
lm28469 1y ago
Mostly because it'll be worn by a rich dude who uses it one day per week and sends it for CLAa every 5 years, treating it like some sort of religious idol every step of the way. The most extreme thing it'll go through is the swing of a golf club
- bipson 1y ago
  No, because the achievement, the mastery behind it is not obliterated in the next few years, by the upcoming iterations of newer smartwatches. Smartwatches, Phones, (most) Cars, TVs, ... all of these are mass produced, and as such completely obsolete in a few years, even if they are sold as "premium" products for a month's salary. Unique, manufactured Design pieces are... timeless. It's a piece of art. And I say this without any inclination to ever join that market.
  - lm28469 1y ago
    > No, because the achievement, the mastery behind it is not obliterated in the next few years, by the upcoming iterations of newer smartwatches. Just like a Casio F-91W, or the $50 mechanical Swatch. > It's a piece of art Yes, that's the only argument really, it's a good looking wearable piece of art. It won't last longer than a waterproof gshock, it isn't more precise than a $5 quartz watch, &c.
  - microtherion 1y ago
    > No, because the achievement, the mastery behind it is not obliterated in the next few years, by the upcoming iterations of newer smartwatches. That's just another way of saying that there is no real innovation in end user benefits in mechanical watches. The marketing is all about how difficult they were to make. Look at the functionality that the watch described in the article has to offer: * It can show the time — to an accuracy of 8.5 seconds a day, apparently: https://www.reddit.com/r/VacheronConstantin/comments/1aiyjeb/sec_per_day_for_modern_vc_overseas/ https://www.reddit.com/r/VacheronConstantin/comments/1aiyjeb... Technological marvel, innit? * It can show the date (with squiggly hands, for some unfathomable reason). It probably can even account for different lengths of months, and leap years (I was flabbergasted when I learned that there are watches being sold today for hundreds or thousands who require a manual adjustment at the end of every month that doesn't have 31 days). * It can show the phase of the moon. Awesome if you're a werewolf running a hedge fund, I guess. It has a ton of other astrological indicators (Zodiac signs, etc.) * It can chime every hour (presumably to remind the people around you that you exist and wear an overpriced watch). * It works as a chronograph. That's it, as far as I can tell. Nothing a $10 watch on Aliexpress could not do. It does not even seem to have an alarm, apparently. You get three actually useful functions (time — inaccurately, date, chrono) in a package that is 15mm thick. No payment functionality, step counter, agenda, calculator. But yes, you have a $100K or whatever watch that you can leave to your great-grandchildren so they can be assured that prior generations overpaid for gimmicky crap as well.
Gud 1y ago
I've had my Casio g-shock for 20 years, including bringing it to two war zones. I have a physical job and I abuse the shit out of it. I'll take my chances with my Casio.
- throw0101d 1y ago
  > I've had my Casio g-shock for 20 years, including bringing it to two war zones. Watch aficionados appreciate G-Shocks just as much as an A. Lange & Söhne. If you visit their Youtube channels and web sites you'll often see things like Seiko SKXes were recommended for years (pre-discontinuation) as good value and great for day-to-day wear (beach going, gardening, etc).
  - LandR 1y ago
    Yep. I have 40 watches, from tudors, omegas, iwc, zenith, dunhill, nomos, oris, grand seiko, panerai. I still love the shit out of my g shock. The only reason it doesn't get worn much is it was replaced by my garmin.
diego_moita 1y ago
> this Vacheron-Constantin will likely be around 200 years from now And why should I care? I won't be alive 50 years from now. Besides, right now, what I care about is functionality. And, right now, my old Pebble offers far more of it than this jewelry for millionaires. This thing is just a stupid Veblen Good[1], like a diamond ring, a Hugo Boss suit or a Porche Carrerra. Remember, 150 years ago, millionaires used beaver fur top hats to show off. Have you seen any billionaire wearing them? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
- Mainan_Tagonist 1y ago
  Nobody asked you to care. As for co fusing soft from hard luxury... a Porsche Carrera or Bugatti Veyron will likely be worthy of consideration 150 years from now, a Hugo Boss suit, not so much..
  - diego_moita 1y ago
    > Nobody asked you to care. Well, you did. It is implicit in your comment. Don't get me wrong, you have every right of fooling the fools, even to the point of believing in the foolishness and fetishism. But don't expect me to be one of the fools. Your overcomplicated watch is just another version of "Jackie Kennedy's fake pearls necklace", as in this video[1]. Your "timelessness" of it is just fake sophistication, like Michael Jordan's "signature" in Air Jordan Nike. You are selling illusions, but it is coherent that you believe in them. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63oErn-gKfU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63oErn-gKfU
coldtea 1y ago
>you'll be very lucky if your Casio can last as long The Casio would last even longer - and would be closer to the right time even without touching it in between.
- elorant 1y ago
  Good luck finding a compatible battery for it after 200 years.
  - WXLCKNO 1y ago
    I'll just ask the ruling AI to summon one into existence from the required atoms?
  - coldtea 1y ago
    Adapting to whatever battery exists 200 years from now to the form of a CR2032 battery would be simple. A Casio just takes a round battery shell that contacts with the positive and negative terminals on each side. Hell, I can make one from scratch in my workshop trivially, from basic materials. Finding high-end mechanical watch technicians? Not so easy. And hardly so cheap.
FreebasingLLMs 1y ago
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zx10rse 1y ago
There is craftsmanship in software. It is just the reality that we live in you are not gonna exactly hear from A list celebrity talking about what a wizard Ken Thompson is but you are gonna spot the celebrity secure a brand deal wearing some monstrosity like RM. As much as like and appreciate mechanical watches let's not kid ourselves you are talking about CNC machines and cad models rest of it is marketing from the 70's quartz crisis. Given that just Apple watch outsold the whole swiss watch industry I am not sure if VC we will be here in 200 years but some piece of software will be probably still running.
crazygringo 1y ago
Sure, but I wear watches to tell the time or (mainly) as a fashion accessory. Not as an object to donate to a museum someday... And 200 years from now, I'm sure there will be a few Apple Watches in museums as well. And some Casios too.
- Mainan_Tagonist 1y ago
  I wonder how many of these Casios and Apple watches will be in working order, and as functional as day one.
  - crazygringo 1y ago
    Museums don't operate objects that are 200 years old, so it doesn't really matter. But also, it's not like a mechanical watch is going to work for 200 years without maintenance and repair either. Lubrication, springs, bearings... these all degrade over time.
wenc 1y ago
I own mechanical watches and had the hardest time switching to an Apple Watch. But one thing sold me on it. Apple Pay. It’s so convenient to be able to wrist tap things without whipping out my phone. I can pay for things in 1 second. With express transit I can tap to ride subways and buses. I gave up the status of a mechanical watch wearer for this convenience. And the status is often more limited than we think — I realized no one except other mechanical watches enthusiasts really notice what watch I was wearing. You can wear a Vacheron Constantin and realistically 99% of people you meet will not know what it is and likely will not notice it.
- hinkley 1y ago
  When I started on a plan of ramping up my walks to half marathon distances, I knew I didn’t want to have to carry a wallet with me. I had Apple Pay already, which gave me the idea, but I was due a new watch so I got the cellular version, so if I got caught in a storm or tweaked a knee I could call someone to pick me up. I still wish they got better battery life with each new version. You can chew up that whole battery in about 2:30 by running the workout app, music, and Bluetooth headphones. Half the reason I bought a HRM was to improve the battery life. And sure enough the time I actually did tweak my knee, I had to stop listening to music and the workout app to conserve the battery long enough to ask for a ride and get somewhere that I could be picked up. By the time they arrived my watch was dead.
  - wenc 1y ago
    Yes battery is definitely a limitation. I’m able to get 15-16 hours on my Series 7 between charges. That works for me because I just charge it when I shower and it takes no time. I wonder if for your use case a Watch Ultra might work better? It has a bigger battery. That said, I agree with you that the battery could be better. Other smart watches have battery lives measured in days. (That said, they also do less)
    - hinkley 1y ago
      Music and workout at the same time seem to have a power law relationship with power drain. Most batteries produce more juice when discharged at their preferred rate and produce more heat if driven at full tilt.
xvokcarts 1y ago
One could argue that the potential number of complications in any smartwatch is practically limitless, and also that the sophistication and craftsmanship required to make it, including the hardware part, is the ultimate testimony of refinement and engineering. If you took an Apple Watch and this Vacheron 2000 years in the past, which one would the people of the time find more impressive (until the juice runs out, that is)? In other words - which one looks more like magic? We're just used to microprocessors we can't see tick and maybe don't always appreciate the complexity.
boznz 1y ago
Original iPhone 1 is worth quite a lot actually.
_xtrimsky 1y ago
I agree with what you said. But unfortunately I find this watch to have very little use. If I got it for free, I'd love it's value, wear it once or twice a year to some events, but that's pretty much it. On the other hand I sleep with my Garmin smartwatch, and use it every day. Between vibrating alarm clocks, notification synching (which allows me to use my phone less), NFC wallet, and all the fitness tracking for triathlons, it is one of the electronics I use the most. I got so used to all the value my Garmin provides, I don't think I could handle replacing it with a watch that does nothing. It would be like going from a smartphone to an old nokia. I'd go crazy not being able to flip my wrist just to check the outdoor temperature.

TimByte 1y ago

My $40 Casio surviving everything from camping trips to getting dunked in a sink still feels like its own kind of masterpiece

Mainan_Tagonist 1y ago
And in a way, it is...
PeterStuer 1y ago
Used to have one of those. Survived daily swim practice and saunas for years.
bookofjoe 1y ago
Iconic F-91W currently costs $16.88 at Amazon AND it now comes in colors: Clear, Pink, Blue, Gray, Green, Gold, White (and Black)
- dole 1y ago
  A158 (Obama) for the upgrade to steel, A168 for EL backlight.
  - ooterness 1y ago
    Look at moneybags over here paying $30 for a watch. /s
    - jxjnskkzxxhx 1y ago
      One thing I like about Casio's, especially the cheap ones, is how unpretentious they are.
  - helij 1y ago
    Just go for solar radio sync G-Shock square and you're done. No batteries, no setting up, extremely rugged and imo it looks good as well. Since I got that one a few years ago I only wear mechanical watch for various "occasions" - pretty much like a jewellery.
- jxjnskkzxxhx 1y ago
  I went thru a couple of F91W and the bracelet kept breaking. I since got a A158WA-1. Check it out.
  - bookofjoe 1y ago
    Done. Thank you!
- tokai 1y ago
  All the F-91Ws I have gotten through Amazon have been fakes.
  - bookofjoe 1y ago
    Remarkable. I've purchased at least five over the decades, all the real thing.

LeafItAlone 1y ago

>this Vacheron-Constantin will likely be around 200 years from now I’m interested to hear more. Typically things that are “most complicated” and lost lasting don’t go hand-in-hand.

Mainan_Tagonist 1y ago
You should visit this museum : https://www.patek.com/en/company/patek-philippe-museum/the-museum https://www.patek.com/en/company/patek-philippe-museum/the-m... Since mechanical watches are, by design, open source, there will always be a technician interested in keeping them going.
- theamk 1y ago
  The mechanical watches are not open source at all - most (all?) of them do not come with engineering drawings nor with list of materials. Even if you have a watch in front of you, it does not mean you can create a copy of it without a lot of work - you need to measure every gear, guess the materials used (how stiff should this spring be?), and re-draw mainplate and dial. Compare to things like old electronics, which came with full schematics, service manual and sometimes even debugging guide.
benhurmarcel 1y ago
The people who buy this kind of watches don’t usually wear them much, they store them in a safe environment.

ZiiS 1y ago

But I can buy an Apple Watch Ultra every year for the next 200 years for less.

Mainan_Tagonist 1y ago
So, 199 Apple watches Ultra in landfills 200 years from now. Congrats.
- ZiiS 1y ago
  A very worthy concen, but I don't think you want to go too deep on the morality if luxury goods. An Apple watch a decade leaves a lot of charitable giving.
- PeterStuer 1y ago
  499 actually. Can't let our unsold overproduction dilute the demand for the next model, so straight to the landfill it is.
sorokod 1y ago
Apple watches are unlikely to exist then Apple is unlikely to exist then You... well you already know.
- threeseed 1y ago
  Apple will likely exist in 200 years. It has $86B in cash on hand and could easily have had $1T if shareholders didn't kick up a fuss a few years ago. I wouldn't bet on the Swiss watch market being necessarily around given that many young people aren't being taught how to tell the time and have little appreciation for watches.
  - bookofjoe 1y ago
    Perplexity Pro's list of companies that have been around since 1825 (200 years ago): 1. Kongo Gumi (578 AD, Japan) 3. Specializing in temple construction for over 1,400 years, it was acquired in 2006 but still operates under Takamatsu Construction Group. 2. Drohobych Saltworks (1250, Ukraine) State-owned and Europe’s oldest salt producer, now also a cultural heritage site. 3. Shirley Plantation (1613, USA) Virginia’s oldest family-owned business, operating as a historic farm and museum. 4. Avedis Zildjian Company (1623, USA) The world’s premier cymbal manufacturer, founded in Istanbul and relocated to Massachusetts in 1929. 5. Hudson’s Bay Company (1670, Canada/USA) Originally a fur-trade monopoly, it now operates department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue. 6. White Horse Tavern (1673, USA) America’s oldest continuously running restaurant, serving patrons in Newport, Rhode Island. 7. Baker’s Chocolate (1765, USA) Launched by James Baker in Massachusetts, it remains a baking staple under Kraft Heinz ownership. 8. Laird & Company (1780, USA) The oldest licensed distillery in the U.S., producing applejack since the American Revolution. 9. King Arthur Baking Company (1790, USA) Founded in Boston, it’s now a Vermont-based leader in flour and baking products. 10. Brooks Brothers (1818, USA) America’s oldest clothing retailer, surviving bankruptcy in 2020 and continuing under new ownership.

StopDisinfo910 1y ago

> this Vacheron-Constantin will likely be around 200 years from now, it will still be a testimony of the refinement and engineering Usual playbook of the luxury watch market since marketing somehow made it relevant in the mid to end of the 20th century. Thank Haye for not being able to stand near a Swiss mechanical watch without someone uttering the world "timeless". This is the second best achievement of marketing after making people believing that diamonds are valuable. These watches use small mechanical pieces (which are still very far away from the state of the art - a watch is an engineering achievement by the standard of 200 years ago). They require very regular maintenance to keep working and this maintenance is very expensive. They are not in anyway "timeless". This is an expensive piece of jewellery, subject to everything related to expensive pieces of jewellery including fashion. It’s basically a Veblen good signalling wealth.

milesrout 1y ago
Mechanical watches don't require much maintenance. They need reoiling every decade or so. They also aren't usually very expensive. You wouldn't say that clothes are a Veblen good just because there are expensive clothing brands that are. Most mechanical watches are not this kind of luxury example.
- StopDisinfo910 1y ago
  Cheap mechanical watches are not generally what people talk about when they brandy the usual marketing points. They are poor timekeeping pieces bottom feeding from the expensive brand marketing. A quartz movement in the same body is an all around improvement except for the smugness.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - mplanchard 1y ago
    I like watches where I don’t have to change the battery. I have a kit to change them, but I appreciate the elegance of the purely mechanical solution, and my mechanical watches are generally my favorites for that reason. None of them are luxury goods or particularly expensive. Even though I am not the kind of person who would spend an insane amount of money on a watch, I still think the elegance of the manufacturing of a piece like the one under discussion is really impressive and interesting.

userbinator 1y ago

The Apple Watch has billions of transistors in its microcircuits, mass-produced repeatably at very low cost. It's a different type of engineering but I think it's nonetheless impressive too (and I'm not actually a fan of Apple either.)

jasode 1y ago

>I happen to work in this industry, and just a word for those that compare this with an Apple Watch or a Casio, this Vacheron-Constantin will likely be around 200 years from now, it will still be a testimony of the refinement and engineering of a fine craft that few can achieve, a highly valued item [...] The Apple watch on my wife's wrist is a fine computer i guess, My friend does not work in the watch industry so maybe that's why she came to the opposite conclusion from yours. She has several high-end watches Omega, Ebel, Cartier ... and when she got the Apple Watch almost 10 years ago, it instantly demoted all her expensive jewelry watches to the drawer. The cheaper "disposable" Apple Watch instantly cured her from wanting any new expensive jewelry watches. She let the batteries die off in the old watches and has never replaced them. Instead, she just loves having the weather, timers, task notifications, etc on her Apple Watch. Sure, the classic watches have "diamond encrusted bezel, gold wristband, Swiss mechanical movement yada yada yada..." but all that is negated by the useful features of the smart watch. It's a rare situation where a cheap product completely replaces an expensive product. I had a a similar evolution in thinking when technology made me re-evaluate products I once coveted. When I was young before the internet existed, I drooled over this Geochron illuminated framed wall map $4000 : https://www.geochron.com/clocks/boardroom/ https://www.geochron.com/clocks/boardroom/ A lot of expensive offices had that and I thought I had to have it too. But then I bought cheap atomic clocks you never had to set and the web had dynamic maps I could explore. Even the new Geochron units don't automatically set to the radio signal from atomic clocks. New technology completely cured me of wanting to buy a Geochron. People used to want tall grandfather clocks in the house foyer as an elegant piece of accent furniture. Now you can't even give away those clocks for free on craigslist. Everybody has clocks on their smartphones so buying a grandfather clock for the house isn't a priority anymore. Even if we romanticize grandfather clocks with descriptions about "heirloom furniture craftsmanship, intricate wood carvings, etc", it still won't entice most people today to want one.

konart 1y ago
I have somewhat different store. Moved to Garmin (for sports and outdoor activities) and Mido as an everyday watch from Apple Watch (had 3 and 7 versions). Can't really imagine going back. I guess I was sold the idea that I neeed notifications, weather and all this bullshit on my wrist all the time. At some point I realized I've disabled notifications completely and basically the only thing I was using my Apple watch was paranoidal heart rate monitoring. >Swiss mechanical movement yada yada yada... Most swiss mechanical movements cost 50-100$ though.

lm28469 1y ago

Mostly because it'll be worn by a rich dude who uses it one day per week and sends it for CLAa every 5 years, treating it like some sort of religious idol every step of the way. The most extreme thing it'll go through is the swing of a golf club

bipson 1y ago
No, because the achievement, the mastery behind it is not obliterated in the next few years, by the upcoming iterations of newer smartwatches. Smartwatches, Phones, (most) Cars, TVs, ... all of these are mass produced, and as such completely obsolete in a few years, even if they are sold as "premium" products for a month's salary. Unique, manufactured Design pieces are... timeless. It's a piece of art. And I say this without any inclination to ever join that market.
- lm28469 1y ago
  > No, because the achievement, the mastery behind it is not obliterated in the next few years, by the upcoming iterations of newer smartwatches. Just like a Casio F-91W, or the $50 mechanical Swatch. > It's a piece of art Yes, that's the only argument really, it's a good looking wearable piece of art. It won't last longer than a waterproof gshock, it isn't more precise than a $5 quartz watch, &c.
- microtherion 1y ago
  > No, because the achievement, the mastery behind it is not obliterated in the next few years, by the upcoming iterations of newer smartwatches. That's just another way of saying that there is no real innovation in end user benefits in mechanical watches. The marketing is all about how difficult they were to make. Look at the functionality that the watch described in the article has to offer: * It can show the time — to an accuracy of 8.5 seconds a day, apparently: https://www.reddit.com/r/VacheronConstantin/comments/1aiyjeb/sec_per_day_for_modern_vc_overseas/ https://www.reddit.com/r/VacheronConstantin/comments/1aiyjeb... Technological marvel, innit? * It can show the date (with squiggly hands, for some unfathomable reason). It probably can even account for different lengths of months, and leap years (I was flabbergasted when I learned that there are watches being sold today for hundreds or thousands who require a manual adjustment at the end of every month that doesn't have 31 days). * It can show the phase of the moon. Awesome if you're a werewolf running a hedge fund, I guess. It has a ton of other astrological indicators (Zodiac signs, etc.) * It can chime every hour (presumably to remind the people around you that you exist and wear an overpriced watch). * It works as a chronograph. That's it, as far as I can tell. Nothing a $10 watch on Aliexpress could not do. It does not even seem to have an alarm, apparently. You get three actually useful functions (time — inaccurately, date, chrono) in a package that is 15mm thick. No payment functionality, step counter, agenda, calculator. But yes, you have a $100K or whatever watch that you can leave to your great-grandchildren so they can be assured that prior generations overpaid for gimmicky crap as well.

Gud 1y ago

I've had my Casio g-shock for 20 years, including bringing it to two war zones. I have a physical job and I abuse the shit out of it. I'll take my chances with my Casio.

throw0101d 1y ago
> I've had my Casio g-shock for 20 years, including bringing it to two war zones. Watch aficionados appreciate G-Shocks just as much as an A. Lange & Söhne. If you visit their Youtube channels and web sites you'll often see things like Seiko SKXes were recommended for years (pre-discontinuation) as good value and great for day-to-day wear (beach going, gardening, etc).
- LandR 1y ago
  Yep. I have 40 watches, from tudors, omegas, iwc, zenith, dunhill, nomos, oris, grand seiko, panerai. I still love the shit out of my g shock. The only reason it doesn't get worn much is it was replaced by my garmin.

diego_moita 1y ago

> this Vacheron-Constantin will likely be around 200 years from now And why should I care? I won't be alive 50 years from now. Besides, right now, what I care about is functionality. And, right now, my old Pebble offers far more of it than this jewelry for millionaires. This thing is just a stupid Veblen Good[1], like a diamond ring, a Hugo Boss suit or a Porche Carrerra. Remember, 150 years ago, millionaires used beaver fur top hats to show off. Have you seen any billionaire wearing them? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good

Mainan_Tagonist 1y ago
Nobody asked you to care. As for co fusing soft from hard luxury... a Porsche Carrera or Bugatti Veyron will likely be worthy of consideration 150 years from now, a Hugo Boss suit, not so much..
- diego_moita 1y ago
  > Nobody asked you to care. Well, you did. It is implicit in your comment. Don't get me wrong, you have every right of fooling the fools, even to the point of believing in the foolishness and fetishism. But don't expect me to be one of the fools. Your overcomplicated watch is just another version of "Jackie Kennedy's fake pearls necklace", as in this video[1]. Your "timelessness" of it is just fake sophistication, like Michael Jordan's "signature" in Air Jordan Nike. You are selling illusions, but it is coherent that you believe in them. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63oErn-gKfU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63oErn-gKfU

coldtea 1y ago

>you'll be very lucky if your Casio can last as long The Casio would last even longer - and would be closer to the right time even without touching it in between.

elorant 1y ago
Good luck finding a compatible battery for it after 200 years.
- WXLCKNO 1y ago
  I'll just ask the ruling AI to summon one into existence from the required atoms?
- coldtea 1y ago
  Adapting to whatever battery exists 200 years from now to the form of a CR2032 battery would be simple. A Casio just takes a round battery shell that contacts with the positive and negative terminals on each side. Hell, I can make one from scratch in my workshop trivially, from basic materials. Finding high-end mechanical watch technicians? Not so easy. And hardly so cheap.

FreebasingLLMs 1y ago

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zx10rse 1y ago

There is craftsmanship in software. It is just the reality that we live in you are not gonna exactly hear from A list celebrity talking about what a wizard Ken Thompson is but you are gonna spot the celebrity secure a brand deal wearing some monstrosity like RM. As much as like and appreciate mechanical watches let's not kid ourselves you are talking about CNC machines and cad models rest of it is marketing from the 70's quartz crisis. Given that just Apple watch outsold the whole swiss watch industry I am not sure if VC we will be here in 200 years but some piece of software will be probably still running.

crazygringo 1y ago

Sure, but I wear watches to tell the time or (mainly) as a fashion accessory. Not as an object to donate to a museum someday... And 200 years from now, I'm sure there will be a few Apple Watches in museums as well. And some Casios too.

Mainan_Tagonist 1y ago
I wonder how many of these Casios and Apple watches will be in working order, and as functional as day one.
- crazygringo 1y ago
  Museums don't operate objects that are 200 years old, so it doesn't really matter. But also, it's not like a mechanical watch is going to work for 200 years without maintenance and repair either. Lubrication, springs, bearings... these all degrade over time.

wenc 1y ago

I own mechanical watches and had the hardest time switching to an Apple Watch. But one thing sold me on it. Apple Pay. It’s so convenient to be able to wrist tap things without whipping out my phone. I can pay for things in 1 second. With express transit I can tap to ride subways and buses. I gave up the status of a mechanical watch wearer for this convenience. And the status is often more limited than we think — I realized no one except other mechanical watches enthusiasts really notice what watch I was wearing. You can wear a Vacheron Constantin and realistically 99% of people you meet will not know what it is and likely will not notice it.

hinkley 1y ago
When I started on a plan of ramping up my walks to half marathon distances, I knew I didn’t want to have to carry a wallet with me. I had Apple Pay already, which gave me the idea, but I was due a new watch so I got the cellular version, so if I got caught in a storm or tweaked a knee I could call someone to pick me up. I still wish they got better battery life with each new version. You can chew up that whole battery in about 2:30 by running the workout app, music, and Bluetooth headphones. Half the reason I bought a HRM was to improve the battery life. And sure enough the time I actually did tweak my knee, I had to stop listening to music and the workout app to conserve the battery long enough to ask for a ride and get somewhere that I could be picked up. By the time they arrived my watch was dead.
- wenc 1y ago
  Yes battery is definitely a limitation. I’m able to get 15-16 hours on my Series 7 between charges. That works for me because I just charge it when I shower and it takes no time. I wonder if for your use case a Watch Ultra might work better? It has a bigger battery. That said, I agree with you that the battery could be better. Other smart watches have battery lives measured in days. (That said, they also do less)
  - hinkley 1y ago
    Music and workout at the same time seem to have a power law relationship with power drain. Most batteries produce more juice when discharged at their preferred rate and produce more heat if driven at full tilt.

xvokcarts 1y ago

One could argue that the potential number of complications in any smartwatch is practically limitless, and also that the sophistication and craftsmanship required to make it, including the hardware part, is the ultimate testimony of refinement and engineering. If you took an Apple Watch and this Vacheron 2000 years in the past, which one would the people of the time find more impressive (until the juice runs out, that is)? In other words - which one looks more like magic? We're just used to microprocessors we can't see tick and maybe don't always appreciate the complexity.

boznz 1y ago

Original iPhone 1 is worth quite a lot actually.

_xtrimsky 1y ago

I agree with what you said. But unfortunately I find this watch to have very little use. If I got it for free, I'd love it's value, wear it once or twice a year to some events, but that's pretty much it. On the other hand I sleep with my Garmin smartwatch, and use it every day. Between vibrating alarm clocks, notification synching (which allows me to use my phone less), NFC wallet, and all the fitness tracking for triathlons, it is one of the electronics I use the most. I got so used to all the value my Garmin provides, I don't think I could handle replacing it with a watch that does nothing. It would be like going from a smartphone to an old nokia. I'd go crazy not being able to flip my wrist just to check the outdoor temperature.