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Post by Humph on Sept 17, 2021 11:25:16 GMT
I like watches. It's sort of a family thing, my maternal grandfather was a jeweller and watch maker.
Anyway, my "good" watch is poorly. It's away at the moment being assessed by a jeweller to see if it can be repaired. I'm sure it can, but it'll not be cheap I don't suppose. It's a mechanical automatic and has been losing too much time, coupled with my smashing the crystal when I forgot to take it off prior to riding my bike a bit too recklessly.
While it's away, I had been wearing another less valuable, but still halfway decent old thing but then I managed to forget to take that off before getting in the pool...yeah I know ok?
So, now I'm down to my black plastic digital G Shock that I normally remember to wear on the bike or in the pool. Looks a bit shit, but is extremely accurate being solar powered, and picks up a radio signal to keep it bang on time.
My wife has suggested that I just buy a new decent watch, but I'm more inclined to press on with getting the old one fixed.
Or, in truth, maybe just not bothering with either and just wearing the G Shock for everything. I never wear a suit or any kind of formal clothing unless someone dies or gets married and in that event I could just not wear a watch at all if it looked too incongruous.
Dunno.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2021 11:27:12 GMT
Don't wear one any more. Pointless and uncomfortable, like neck ties. Time is on my phone.
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Post by EspadaIII on Sept 17, 2021 11:35:58 GMT
Oh Humph - I know how feel....
My grandafather had a very special Bulova Accutron - the one with the tuning fork to keep time before quartz watches. It has a spaceview back and stopped working properly the day he died (!) 39 years ago. I have had it serviced twice but it just refuses to work properly - it stops randomly. I can't part with it though.
I went through a phase of buying 'stylish' watches, but in the end 15 years ago I bought a Seiko which has proper numbers, second hand and date with numerals, hands and hour pips all luminous. It has never let me down and I rely on it. Fancy watches (by which I mean expensive ones) are now like Ferraris etc. Totally over the top for day to day use and unlike cars, the technology will never trickle down unless watch batteries go out of fashion.
I keep looking at other watches but it feels like I am about to start an affair!
Yes - the time is everywhere; phones, screens etc, but just being able to lift a wrist is wonderful - and how do people learn the term clockwise if they can't tell the time with an analogue watch?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2021 11:45:53 GMT
I wasn't aware analouge clocks were a victim of EU bureaucrats (unlike proper British Imperial measures, which I see are to be allowed again, sigh, is this what Global Britain looks like?). My children were taught how to use analogue clocks at school in recent years so I don't think there's anyone over the age of 7 who doesn't know how clockwise/anti-clockwise works.
My last watch is a Casio £19.99 steel band digital from Argos. I've got my Dad's old Citizen analogue self-winding as a memento, but the clasp is broken and I can't see me ever fixing it to wear it.
Yes a nice watch is a thing of beauty, but I don't really want to be mugged for one (dodgy place, Reading), particularly if it has sentimental value, and they're best off in museums now. I like to dress as inconspicuously as possible, I always attract the train and bus loonies as it is, and I don't need the local mugger scrotes hassling me as well.
P.S. I'm aware the ban on imperial measures wasn't an EU directive but a UK government one, another one of those blue passport, crowns on pint glasses lies about the EU. Sorry for the tangent.
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Sept 17, 2021 12:18:02 GMT
I like a proper watch and have a couple of pocket watches, one I inherited, I want to get it rebuilt and will once Covid is over and I can visit a watchmaker I would trust to rebuild it.
I'm also all for technology and minimal maintenance so have a couple of solar powered Citizen watches which are surprisingly cheap to have maintained properly. My daily wear had a few scratches on the bracelet and chipped glass. I bought it in the UK. Took it to my local Citizen retailer who sent it to Hamburg, Hamburg couldn't service it due to being a non-German market watch so it was sent...to the UK you'd think ?...nah ! back to Japan. Came back spotless with new glass and and the bracelet mounted upside down, local shop switched it in minutes as you'd expect.
I've always wanted a Breitling Navitimer. My wife offered to buy me one earlier this year and for some reason I declined. I don't know why but the thought of wearing such a watch no longer appeals and at the price it wouldn't really be an appreciating asset so not an investment. Funny how your priorities change without you really thinking about it.
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Post by Humph on Sept 17, 2021 12:30:48 GMT
The Navitimer has an integral slide rule doesn't it, if I recall?
I still have my old schooldays slide rule, never use it now of course, but again, it's one of those things I can't quite throw out. Not sure why.
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Sept 17, 2021 12:35:21 GMT
Yes it has, so has one of my Citizen watches. Not something I use at all.
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Post by Humph on Sept 17, 2021 12:36:35 GMT
Not something a Sparky needs nowadays I suppose?
😈
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Post by Humph on Sept 17, 2021 12:44:48 GMT
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Sept 17, 2021 12:53:37 GMT
Big numbers for tired eyes  |
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Post by Humph on Sept 17, 2021 12:55:30 GMT
You're not too far off the mark there in truth.
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WDB
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Watch out
Sept 17, 2021 12:57:40 GMT
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Post by WDB on Sept 17, 2021 12:57:40 GMT
I’ve inadvertently given up watches too. Last year I bought a little Garmin Vívosport [sic] activity and heart rate tracker which, to be useful, needs to be worn all the time. It used to go on my right wrist — it’s small enough not to look like a second watch — but with warmer weather and working at home in short sleeves, I found it rubbed uncomfortably against the edge of my desk as I worked my mouse.
So I swapped it to the left, which left no room for a watch-watch. And it’s fine. It tells me the time when I need it, has rudimentary stopwatch and countdown features I occasionally use, and is there and ready when I do something more sporting. It only gets hard to read on a moving bike, so (ironically, perhaps) I now strap an old Casio to my right wrist for cycling. Not elegant but there’s nobody out there to see it but squirrels.
I expect the proper watch will return when I go back to meeting actual people — long sleeves, less mouse work — but this will do for now.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2021 12:58:23 GMT
About 20 times more expensive than I'd consider accessible. Good point on the big numbers though. Doro phone next?
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Post by Humph on Sept 17, 2021 13:06:24 GMT
I’ve inadvertently given up watches too. Last year I bought a little Garmin Vívosport [sic] activity and heart rate tracker which, to be useful, needs to be worn all the time. It used to go on my right wrist — it’s small enough not to look like a second watch — but with warmer weather and working at home in short sleeves, I found it rubbed uncomfortably against the edge of my desk as I worked my mouse. So I swapped it to the left, which left no room for a watch-watch. And it’s fine. It tells me the time when I need it, has rudimentary stopwatch and countdown features I occasionally use, and is there and ready when I do something more sporting. It only gets hard to read on a moving bike, so (ironically, perhaps) I now strap an old Casio to my right wrist for cycling. Not elegant but there’s nobody out there to see it but squirrels. I expect the proper watch will return when I go back to meeting actual people — long sleeves, less mouse work — but this will do for now. Well, that's sort of my dilemma, the occasions when I actually "use" a watch are for timing myself on the bike or in the pool, which is exactly what the G Shock is good for. The rest of the time, a watch is frankly, mainly jewellery for me, and I'm no longer sure I'm all that bothered about that aspect. |
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bpg
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Watch out
Sept 17, 2021 16:39:05 GMT
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Post by bpg on Sept 17, 2021 16:39:05 GMT
Well, that's sort of my dilemma, the occasions when I actually "use" a watch are for timing myself on the bike... When I read that I got the picture in my head of the board, when entering a power station, telling you the number of days since the last accident. |
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