Over a year ago, I mused about the possibility that the wristwatch might die out as a result of new technologies. For the moment, I give that possibility a fat zero. Although I can barely afford a beauty like this Patek Phillipe or Vacheron Constantin on my income, I have always been partial to watches. They are some of the oldest examples of Man’s genius for matching precision, practicality and beauty.
I was reminded of the greatness of the wristwatch by the fact that Geneva – home of the Swiss watchmaking industry – soon plays host to an annual fair showing of the finest watches in the world. Here in London, the Saachi Gallery in Chelsea hosts the SalonQP fine watch fair. Another chance for your humble writer to look at things he can’t afford.
Away from the glitzy world of uber-expensive watches, we should recall that this year is the bicentenary of the death of Nevil Maskelyne, the Astronomer Royal who clashed with John Harrison. Harrison solved one of the greatest challenges of his age: how to make a clock so accurate and yet robust that it could be carried on ships at sea, hence making possible accurate navigation. Maskelyne, who took a dim view of the older Harrison’s views, is sometimes portrayed as a villain of this story, although the writer Nick Foulkes argues this is unfair (article is behind a paywall).
Anyway, if you are interested in this tale, check out the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, which has started a project to research the history of the British Board of Longitude. The makers of the fabulous time-pieces of the 18th and 19th Centuries played their part in forging the modern world.
And of course, there are famous watches in films, such as that square Tag Heuer that Steve McQueen used to wear, or 007’s Rolex Oyster. And I think it was Buzz Aldrin who wore a watch over his spacesuit: one of these beauties from Omega.
Point of pedantry, Steve McQueen never wore a TAG Heuer. Techniques d’Avant Garde bought Heuer in 1985. (And sold it in 1999 to LVMH, but for some reason the name stayed.)
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some trains to spot…
The (mechanical) wristwatch is no closer to dying out than it was when the original post was made. And it will be a long time before it does.
llater,
llamas
Yes, but your being partial to watches won’t ensure their survival.
As a mass-market product that “everyone owns”, they’re already fading – and in 20 years they’ll be more uncommon than not, judging by people in their 20s and 30s not wearing them.
The wristwatch is doomed, apart from anachronists and affectations – and perhaps a few occupations where it might be necessary. Not sure what they’d be (perhaps pilots of some sort?), but perhaps.
Buzz put it this way “I’m on the Moon, why do I need to know what time it is in Houston?”
Apparently Armstrong didn’t wear the watch they gave him.
Interesting bits there. I’m probably one of the few under 30 who still wears a wrist watch. Part of it is habit, the other part is I work in an environment were personal phones are discouraged.
Well, I have a couple of dog cheap Casios and an Omega Speedmaster Automatic. Now that is super-cool.
I’ve worn a wristwatch since I was a boy, and still do. It’s so much more practical to be able to angle one’s wrist, rather than have to fumble in a pocket for a ‘phone, to find what the time is; also, witness the huge sales of the case for the iPod Micro which just happens to include a strap to encircle the wrist.
Clockwork, I accept, may be heading for a graceful demise; witness the death of Britain’s most respected horologist, only the other week. That said, it’ll still stick around in the esoteric high end; there’s still innovation as well as artistry to be had in the realm of clockwork, and you only have to look at the sheer, wonderful lunacy of the DeWitt WX1 to see it.
I’ve worn my Breitling Montbrillant Datora for about a decade now, had absolutely no trouble with it, and I’m not planning on changing it for something digital or to go in a pocket.
It’s so much more practical to be able to angle one’s wrist, rather than have to fumble in a pocket for a ‘phone, to find what the time is;
Quite so Dave. There are clocks in every goddam thing nowadays, even your Hoover, but it is still quicker to look at your wrist.
I have a Waltham solid gold antique wind up wristwatch from the 20’s. Keeps good time and is worth a bundle, but I never wear it.
What I wear is a Cartier Roman numeralled classic. Well it looks like a Cartier anyway (you have to get an eyeglass out to tell the difference) but it’s a knock off I bought in a Turkish market for three quid. Keeps perfect time and costs me more to replace the strap than the whole thing cost me in the first place.
As for the under thirties, well time is like so yesterday man! So if they ask me what the time is, I slip into the old Goon show Eccles riff… Oh yes my good man, I have it written on a bit of paper here somewhere… They run a mile!
Bloody smited again!
I have never owned a digital watch, always preferring analogue and, Swatches aside, mechanical.
My current is a rather boring to most Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Day Date.
Aside from during sailing lessons and races, I can’t recall wearing a wrist watch since high school. Even when I wore pin stripe and herringbone three piece suits, I had a chain with a small Swiss Army Knife on one end and an Armitron quartz pocket watch w/o a lid on the other end. Each one went in one vest (waist coat in Britspeak?) pocket. It was far easier and more discrete than the very obvious near pantomime motion of checking a wrist watch.
I couldn’t use a pocket watch while sailing so I used an Ironman with a count down timer and one of them even had a built in compass. That was a handy cheat for tacking angles etc. when sailing really small dingies that were not fitted with a compass.
I doubt I’ll ever own another mechanical watch that isn’t a keepsake of some sort.
There’s also a market for cheap, gaudy wristwatches.
The gas station/mini-mart at the corner has a case of wristwatches with 2″ cases, ornamented with fake bling.
(I live in a respectable but mixed area of Chicago – about 50% black and hispanic. There is known street-gang activity, but not much actual crime.)
I haven’t worn or owned a watch for years. Yet even now, when pressed for the time, my impulse is to glance at my wrist. I think it’s time time to buy a watch. Again.
I have a lovely antique silver pocket watch which I never use (since, like Midwesterner, I no longer wear vests). What I wear every day is the cheapest analog (don’t like digital) watch I can find at Walmart. They last a couple of years, look decent, and are as accurate as I need. The current one cost about $12. When it dies I’ll buy another (it’s cheaper than replacing the battery.)
I’ve got a keepsake Omega that requires fairly regular cleaning service in order to remain functional, but the manual labor required in my line of work seems to regularly involve me bashing my wrist into something and smashing the wristwatch of the day. Therefore the Seamaster stays safely in a box most of the time.
I’d always liked the understated appearance of Skagen watches, which are more visual design led rather than technology-led watches, so I kept a search active on ebay and eventually scored one for a fiver.
It turned out to be a skagen case and strap, with the movement replaced by a cheap quartz movement from Asia.
It has resolutely kept perfect time and has been indestructible for over two years now.
I haven’t worn a wristwatch for going on 5-6 years, due to always having a cell phone on me or sat in front of a computer I just find a watch completely superfluous.
I should also say that *when* I did use a watch it mostly stayed in a pocket and I rarely wore it on my wrist.
Sam Duncan, I was referring to the firm’s own website, so I guess you should direct your ire at that business for misleading brand advertising.
FFS!(Link)
Citizen Skyhawk in Titanium, asked for as a present when I was flying regularly. Love the solar power aspect and the ease of changing timezones is nice with the traveling I’m doing at the moment. Genuine rotational slide-rule too. Looks good but almost perfectly understated.
Cell phones are too delicate for many situations (or trade robustness for functionality) such as swimming but I can comfortably wear my watch in nearly any situation.
I wear a vest every working day. mrs llamas makes them for me. Albert chain with as many as 3 thumb drives on one end and a Russian-made pocket watch on the other. Gold-plated tool-crib tag and a miniature gold crescent wrench for a fob.
Mechanical Breitling Navitimer during the week, quartz analogue Navitimer on the weekends. I also sometimes wear a Rotary Sea Captain but that is a sentimental piece and I would hate to hurt it. Also cufflinks (ball-bearings, cartridge cases, gears, micrometers, anything engineering-related), necktie (plain Monday-Thursday, bow tie Fridays), stickpin, bottle-filled MontBlanc (sometimes my father’s, sometimes my own), a gold Eversharp that belonged to my grandmother (custom-tailored pocket in the vest, see above) and a 6″ stainless scale that I stole from Her Majesty 40 years ago – still has the broad arrow on it.
It’s my ‘engineers set’.
But I’m not vain, or sentimental – dearie me, no.
Clockwork is not on the decline – quite the opposite. All of the growth in the middle- and high-end watch market is in classic mechanical watches. There are some absolutely exquisite mechanical movements coming from the Far East these days at amazingly-low prices.
llater,
llamas
My last Casio 24 hour digital wore out early in the last decade and I decided that since I’ve always got a mobile on my belt, it was redundant.
I like wristwatches and can’t ever imagine being without one. The logical side of me says that since even the cheapest watches keep good time there really is no point paying more than a tenner for one but I like nice ones. I don’t have enough disposable income to pay silly money for one so mine are sort of in between. I have a Seiko Titanium army style alarm chronograph that I use every day. It keeps excellent time and it is robust enough to use at work, the alarm could do to be louder though. I have a Citizen Eco Drive moonphase watch for going out. It is solar powered and has to be left on the windowsill every so often. I have a digital clock on my mobile phone that is set to the correct time but I never use it to tell the time.
I’m always amazed in timepieces gallery. I just can’t stop staring on them. I dream one day that I can one one of them, though I have my Omega 😉
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