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I own a few Swiss, German, Japanese and Chinese watches, including some with the ETA movements mentioned in the article. But the high end remained, because men
by thenanyu 14y ago
I own a few Swiss, German, Japanese and Chinese watches, including some with the ETA movements mentioned in the article.
But the high end remained, because men's fashion is about storytelling, and the story goes like this: This highly precise, beautiful timepiece that you are wearing around on your wrist is put together by hand, powered by what amounts to a crazy microscopic wind up toy, and is a prime example of craftsmanship and mechanical engineering.
The very fact that it's not as precise as a $2 quartz watch is the whole romance of it. Sure, I could use the inelegant solution, but I'd rather have the cool solution.
When people make adders and ARUs in minecraft, we clap and say well done! The inelegance and extraneous effort is itself the appeal.
- mimiflynn 14y agoI absolutely agree with you. It's the story that adds to the fashion appeal, but also the mechanical beauty of an automatic or hand wound watch. In such a digital age where time is so easily tracked with batteries and cell towers, there is something incredibly appealing in a mechanical watch. I wonder why they didn't mention the Japanese watch market more. I've been noticing watches that used to have ETA movements move to Miyota movements and sell for half price. It even prompted me to recently consider the purchase of a Breytenbach with an ETA movement because so many of their watches are now coming with Japanese movements. The crazy thing, though, is that Japanese movements are practically flawless, I just want the ETA because I know they are going to become rare... Well, that and they feel more solid when worn, but that could just be marketing and the Swiss mystique working on my senses.