NOT THE MECHANICAL WRISTWATCH

[abraxas]

Citizen Campanola Grand Complication AH4010-58L *

Let’s play a game. Let’s say the mechanical renaissance never happened and today’s WISdom was primarily preoccupied with electronics. Assuming that your main interest is mechanicals, I want to see how you would respond to a non-mechanical world or would you just wear vintage tickers?

1. Do you think that quartz watches of today would be any different if the mechanicals did not exist?

2. Do you think that today the quartz and the mechanicals are in any way still competing with each other?

3. Are there any people here who are predominately interested in quartz with the mechanicals being a side-issue or no issue at all?



As it happened I did play the game once and had a G10 for a while but eventually I gravitated to stealth ... with lots of embedded, up to date electronics.



If I had to pick today I’d probably opt for the Junghans World Timer ... but damn it that Campanola looks great. A Rolex case with a Breitling bracelet, how can you wrong?

What would you do?

john


* As much Campanola as you can handle
http://74.52.28.50/~ablogto2/?s=citizen+campanola

[mikec]

Interesting

The Campags are very nice. The name reminds me of the top notch bike parts that I used to hanker for when I was a kid. Now Shimano own the bike bits business with their truly amazing mechanical bits for the modern bike.

So for me it is very interesting that a Japanese company should choose to use an Italian name for their top end Quartz watches. I think its also healthy that a company has the balls to push non mechanical designs higher up into the market. I notice that the future of electronics seems to lay in micro machines, and carbon nano tubes.......all mechanical.

Mike C

[Crusader]

In my view, mechanicals come into their own the more rugged they are ... basically time (and date) only, and no chronograph or complications ... the more complicated a watch is, the more advantageous a quartz movement is.

Complicated mechanical watches (i.e. beyond a chronograph, date, bezel, perhaps UTC) are something different, IMHO, like safe or museum pieces.

[abraxas]

In my view, mechanicals come into their own the more rugged they are ... basically time (and date) only, and no chronograph or complications ... the more complicated a watch is, the more advantageous a quartz movement is.

.........

Good point. Never looked at it that way before.

...........

Complicated mechanical watches (i.e. beyond a chronograph, date, bezel, perhaps UTC) are something different, IMHO, like safe or museum pieces.

I have reached that conclusion instinctively and financially rather than logically.

john

[swanbourne]

For anyone born after 1970 quartz is the only type of watch movement they have known, mechanical movements are something which went before quartz and are obsolete technology. Only when they become older and wiser will they appreciate the charm of mechanical watches, fountain pens and real leather shoes which need polishing.

Eddie

[Dave E]

For anyone born after 1970 quartz is the only type of watch movement they have known, mechanical movements are something which went before quartz and are obsolete technology. Only when they become older and wiser will they appreciate the charm of mechanical watches, fountain pens and real leather shoes which need polishing.

Eddie

Ah yes.

I was born in 1971.

I wrote with a fountain pen for most of my university career, and then switched to biros, before returning to the fountain pen about 5 years ago, because they really are nicer to write with.

I had my first mechanical watch when I was 17, a handwound Sekonda with made in the USSR on the dial, but went over to the way of quartz right up until 2004 (which is when I found here). Now I don't wear quartz unless it's a G-Shock. (I'm not anti-quartz, I just don't want to wear one.)

Leather shoes that need polishing?

Nope, you've lost me there :D Mind you, I don't wear trainers at all, always shoes or boots, I just don't like ones that need polishing!

Don't know if I'm older and wiser, definitely older though.

[Brian]

For anyone born after 1970 quartz is the only type of watch movement they have known, mechanical movements are something which went before quartz and are obsolete technology. Only when they become older and wiser will they appreciate the charm of mechanical watches, fountain pens and real leather shoes which need polishing.

Eddie

Only the other day, besuited, in North London I asked a "local" for directions (daytime). He looked down at my polished shoes and uttered " yeah right, you're a copper!" and walked off.

Old perceptions still linger it would seem. :)

B

P.S.......So I got my fountain pen out and wrote him off instantly. :D

[mr1973]

I'd probably still wear this one here:

It was my first wristwatch and I still have/love it ;-)

[tribe125]

3. Are there any people here who are predominately interested in quartz with the mechanicals being a side-issue or no issue at all?

Me. I have ten quartz watches, plus a Stowa Airman and a Sinn 656. I like the imperturbability of quartz, and on a day-to-day basis I want a watch that needs no thought or input. I realise that for many the interdependency of watch and wearer is a large part of the appeal.

I was born in 1955, so grew up with mechanical watches (that I invariably ruined by taking them apart). When quartz came along I adopted it with enthusiasm as a better way of doing things.

I appreciate the miracle of tiny engineering in a mechanical watch, but it's essentially a romantic or nostalgic appreciation. Not quite to the degree of a liking for steam engines (because mechanical movements are still a viable way of doing things), but getting that way.

I will still buy a watch with a mechanical movement if it seems historically or stylistically appropriate, but for a modern functional watch I go for quartz every time.

[Timw]

Born 1969.

First Watch. Mechanical Timex. Check :)

Proper leather shoes and sole...that need polishing..and a dab of Neats Foot oil when new...Check :)

Fountain pen...No Check...
I never could write very well, no matter how much I tried, although I can write a sentence with both hands at the same time.
The left hand writes an exact mirror image from right to left ...go figure..Must be down to just missing out being born in the 70's...on the cusp :lol:

To think a few days later I would be wearing flat soled shoes with no heals and made of modern fabrics that wick away moisture and sporting a calculator watch :shock:

Crikey...sooooo close

T

[angeche]

Question 1: No, quartz watches would be the same, the only change would be in desin.
Question 2: No, they are not competing with each other
Question 3: No, nobody can be interested in quartz watches and be a WIS......but then....I love my Aerospace...... :?

[Glamdring]

1 - Mostly correct, I suppose. There are different qualities of movements though.
3 - I reckon you may be right. It's hard to be passionate about quartz. You can still be passionate about the watch itself, though, as many are about tuning fork movements and so on.

[abraxas]

Question 1: No, quartz watches would be the same, the only change would be in desin.
Question 2: No, they are not competing with each other
Question 3: No, nobody can be interested in quartz watches and be a WIS......but then....I love my Aerospace...... :?

I am trying to understand as to what exactly did happen to the competition. With hindsight it looks like quartz won the battles but lost the war.

... and also getting this nagging feeling that the cheap mechanicals will go the way of the expensive quartz.

Electricals, sonics and some classic quartz like the Aerospace, X-33, spring drive etc, will always be WIS fodder.

john

[Seamaster73]

Born 1973.

LED watches are the future. I've seen it.

[Glamdring]

... and also getting this nagging feeling that the cheap mechanicals will go the way of the expensive quartz.

I don't doubt that so many of the people who buy the cheap mechanicals will often get fed up of the task of winding and resetting and the watch will end up on eBay or in the back of a drawer whilst a nice new Seiko quartz will replace it. For me the spring drive is the perfect answer: a mechanical that's quartz accurate and never needs to be fiddled with, beyond setting the date. Out of my reach, sadly.

[Mrcrowley]

Born 1972.

Apart from a couple of inotive/just good looking qtz, stuff em.

[Born T]

I was born in 1977. But....

My first watch was a handwound Snoopy from Timex, which was then followed by various Russian automatics and a Gruen automatic. I had one quartz watch, which died on me when I was about to board a plane, thus forcing me to buy a new, nasty, expensive one at the airport. I have not trusted a quartz watch as an everyday companion ever since.

I have been using fountain pens since secondary school, practically after I switched from pencil. I have some ballpoints, but they are mainly for lending.

I have not had anything but leather shoes that need polishing for some time now.