G-SHOCK GW-M5600. It's not called The Best Watch In The Real World for nothing. :wink:
I listening to 2 blokes talking watches the other day and I thought I would share as it got me thinking... One of the guys had a Patak on they had been given to him by his dad. The other had a casio digital both seemed to be earning the same amount. The guy with Casio was berating the Patak for not having any lume on it so you have to switch the light on to see the time at night. Apparently servicing is thousands of pound too...!
The Casio of course is not eco friendly and adds to toxic waste around the world.....but is ugly easy to scratch and the time not visible at a glance.
They agreed that style was important and your watch says as much about as your suit.
So what is a practical watch.........Automatic, long power reserve, good lume, day date, good quality sapphire and scratch resistance highly visible...............and stylish
IWC, Aquatimer gets my vote.....but it is a bit heavy, perhaps it needs to comfy to wear as well.
G-SHOCK GW-M5600. It's not called The Best Watch In The Real World for nothing. :wink:
Yes but it needs a battery....and stylish??? Not sureOriginally Posted by Seamaster73
Uprated Samurai (needs the sapphire to match your list).
Quartz movements are probably more practical than mechanical, but for me they don't have any "emotional" pull. That, and style (subjective I know!), tends to override practicality for me.
I'm always surprised when I see an obviously wealthy guy wearing a cheap, rubbish watch. But then again, not everyone's obsessed like us!
Quartz is better for accuracy but I agree quartz watches are not nice and always feel cheapOriginally Posted by seagull
Yet in the remit of this thread only quartz should be considered. One minor drop is easily capable of killing a mechanical.
That depends on which quartz you are referring to. :wink:Originally Posted by thusspoke
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Was he Indian? :wink:Originally Posted by thusspoke
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Originally Posted by Chris_in_the_UK
Nothing goes better on a cheese sandwich IMO:
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
:lol: Good spot you guys, not much use for telling the time though.
I agree its not stylish but some like that sort of thing, I have one of those G-shocks and its solar powered so in theory will not need a battery change for a long time. It updates its time sync from the atomic clock signals sent via radio so is also very accurate (assuming you can receive the signal). The only problem I have with digital readouts is they are not as easily read at a glance as an analog dial, but they are better for accurate reading which is why IMHO the ani-digi hybrid arrangements such on Breitlings is the perfect arrangement. Having said that the low weight and low cost of the G-shock makes it enormously practical even ignoring the inherent robustness. Depends what you do I guess if you actually need something tough. In my working life there is very little risk of a watch getting dinged, exposed to high/low pressures or exposed to high magnetic fields. For me accurate easy to use timers/alarms/stopwatch even slide rule bezel are all useful features which enhance a watches practicality, at some point or other I have used all of those features in my work.Originally Posted by thusspoke
Practical? G-shock Riseman, I guess. Can take a knock or two, tells the time in the dark, keeps accurate time to the second, 5 alarms, stop watch, timer, can predict the weather, 200m water resistant (I doubt I'll survive below 3 metres as I don't have breathing apparatus to hand), only needs the capacitor changed once every 10 years (compare that to most mechanicals which require fixing every 3 years... sorry, "servicing"). I omit the altimeter function because it's a stupid thing based on pressure so you need a reference point... Oh, yeah, and when you break it, you just buy another without worry.
If "at a glance" is important to you, then there are analogue Gs... my Cockpit Diver is pretty good in that department although needs a new battery every 2-3 years.
Problem is the same people who call it that also say that a Big Mac is the most tasty meal in the real world, a polyester tie from Asda is the most stylish fashion accessory in the real world and Mary Higgins Clarke is the best writer in the real world.Originally Posted by Seamaster73
The Seiko Kinetic PVD Diver on rubber I'm wearing today is pretty hard to beat, unless you have to have 5 alarms, a stop watch and christ knows what else
If it all came down to practicality then we'd all have one cheapo quartz knockabout and this forum wouldn't exist. Down with practicality! :D
F.T.F.A.
Difficult one to pin down this.
If you think of the term "practical" as meaning being suited to use or action (as in a pair of "practical" shoes) then we are blessed with being able to buy some extremely practical watches for very little money.
I've got one and I refer to it as my Ronseal watch- It does just what it says on the tin, and it's what I reach for when I really need a practical watch. This need is often teamed with the fact that an overtly expensive watch is impractical or insensitive to the company I'm in.
Gentlemen I give you the Time Factors PRS-10
It will accurately tell you the time, and give you the date and give you change from £100. It's got reasonable lume and is small enough not to get in the way and will never be considered ostentatious.
Teamed with a suitable strap it will not disgrace a suit and tie, and yet is also rugged and waterproof and will serve as a beater.
So, how much wrist time does it get......as little as possible!!
Bugger practical, life's too short. Visceral thrills and emotion. That's why I'm "into" watches!!
Depends on your "real world" I suppose. Although I have a desk job, I do think that a watch the claims to be practical ought to be able to withstand a drop of a few feet.Originally Posted by SimonK
I like mechanical watches, of course, but in terms of practicality they are in some ways anachronistic baubles.
The answer is currently in the sales corner - IWC 3717-04!Originally Posted by thusspoke
Or for the lighter budget, how about a Sinn 103?
Cheers,
Guy :)
I fail to grasp the concept of practicality in this context.
But I'd say that the most practical watch is the one you happen to wear when you need to know what time it is.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Well, you say that. I use an alarm to remind me to get up, an alarm to remind me to set the hot water in the evening, the timer to turn off the hot water heater so that I don't remove the flesh from my skeleton when I go to wash my hands (no mixer taps, I can't set it for 30 minutes heating and the timer won't work independently of the CH), and an alarm to remind me to go to bed (although I have a habit of ignoring that one). And it's nice to know the weather forecast by just glancing at my watch.Originally Posted by Parabola
Almost forgot this daft statement.Originally Posted by thusspoke
The Patek? Not seen this, then?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSmSTpRUeLs
Quite true. Even though Hobbes doesn't wear his a lot... I do, though, and must agree that it is hard to beat as a practical watch that is more stylish than a G-Shock and compared to a Patek leaves you enough money for something more useful...Originally Posted by Hobbes
So guys,
when I am out with the indian PATEK oops most of you agree with his fellow traveller that a casio is the watch to have! unless you like flaunt yourself......I just love the idea of all the engineering that goes into my watches.
I love the idea of the engineering that goes into a G-SHOCK.Originally Posted by thusspoke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzcr00yMEjM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMbn9DR3AwI
That is probably not the smartest thing to sayOriginally Posted by thusspoke
But the guy with a Patek will most likely smile, agree and leave you in your crass ignorance of what horology is all about.
PS, and a hint: it isn't about practicality :twisted:
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I like my GW-M5600 but never wear it to work. I us it for timing other watches when the OCD kicks in. I like wearing a watch even when gardening, playing with power-tools, or building flat pack furniture and that is when it is used... BUT... . My best all-rounders (perhaps not the same as most practical) would be my quartz chronos - they do the job in almost all situations.Originally Posted by jd
(Big Mac is Ok, prefer Whopper. Silk Ties only please. Will have to google Mary Wasserface.)
GW-M5600
Sorry, another vote for the GW-M5600 here.
I bought one to use as my beater, put it on a bracelet from Tiktox, but liked it so much I wear it every day and I ended up selling my other watches. It does everything I want, and is cheap enough to be disposable/expendable if I lose it somehow.
I wear it with a shirt and tie too, and I think it just about works when its on the bracelet. I wore it to a job interview last week! :P
I think the only thing that'll eventually replace it is a GW-5000-1JF when prices drop a little further (now about £180 on Ebay), the improvements being a screwed DLC coated back and Multiband6.