My Watches

Time was when the local watch market in the 60’s was dominated by Swiss made brands. But as the years went by the advent of Japanese made watches made them the choice of the locals because of their durability, quality and price.    

When I was young my first watch was a Swiss made hand wound hand-me-down from my brother. Becoming a soldier later I used to buy either a Seiko or a Citizen as my timepiece. I couldn't remember anymore where my old watches went. For all I know, they were probably lost because in the military I didn't have a permanent place of residence. Most often, I moved from one place to another depending on the contingency of the service.                                                                        

As a person I always like to have a watch on my wrist to glance at the time at any moment. This is the reason why I sort of having a watch collection. But my watches are not expensive they are just cheap to modestly priced ones from reputable brands. I don't buy expensive watches because I don't consider then as investment. If I had the means, I would rather buy jewelry because gold appreciate in price overtime.                                                                                                                                                       

Most of my old watches were automatic. Their movement is powered by a rotor that spins with the motion of the hand. In the late 60s the quartz technology was introduced taking the watch industry by storm. This technology enabled manufacturers to make more accurate watches at a much cheaper price than the traditional mechanical watch. Furthermore, the watch can be easily manufactured thus facilitating the mass production of cheaper watches. Quartz watches keep time through a battery which electrifies its tiny crystal. They can measure exact time to within half a second per day whereas an automatic watch is accurate to within 5 to 10 seconds per day. Battery of a quartz watch can last for about a year or two.

Despite their soundness, quartz watches are frowned upon by some people because they looked cheap and not durable. And they don’t look good enough to be seen on one’s wrist. On the other hand, mechanical watches are more expensive, built like a tank, and can even outlive their owners. A quartz movement looks like a piece of electronic parts while a movement of mechanical watch is composed of tiny metal gears and other parts that display great craftmanship and precision engineering in their production.

After several years when I settled back for good in my city, I bought an automatic Japanese made Orient watch. Although its movement is run through the traditional mechanical technology, its make and some features have the trappings of a modern mechanical watch. It has an open-heart black dial, a case back display, and a bracelet with push button clasp. In addition, it has a hackable second hand, and the movement can also be hand wound.

Although I had some Casio digital watches in the past, my first experience with analog quartz watch came when my sister gifted me with a Timex watch. When its battery ran out, I thought that it was totally broken so that I replaced it with a newer Timex version- a field watch. Sending my old broken Timex to a watch maker, I found out that it only needed a new battery and crown replacement. Since then, that watch is still active with me although I use it only sometimes. I like both of my Timex because of their indiglo feature which give sufficient illumination on the dial in the dark.

I like simple looking watches, but on the other hand, I am fascinated too with watches with sub dials and multiple hands. In this regard I have with me my Timex chronograph, but I didn’t like it because the second hand is small and situated in a sub dial. In its usual place is the chronometer second hand which is still when the chronometer function is not activated. I wanted something other than a chronometer, so that I bought a Fossil stopwatch. I like it because its second hand is placed where it should be in an ordinary watch. I like to see the second hand always moving and not stopping. I’m not really into the special functions of these watches because I rarely use them anyway. It is their aesthetic look that draw me into them.

Being a former soldier, I also have a watch whose features I can associate myself with. Casio is a leading producer of multi-function digital watches. Mine is a solar-powered Casio Pro Trek that aside from keeping the time is also equipped with features that are useful for outdoor activities such as camping and hiking. This watch can give compass direction, as well as barometer and altimeter or elevation readings among others. Although these features are not a big deal today because they are accessible through apps in Android phones provided there is an internet signal. In addition, my Casio can determine sunset and sunrise time as well as a stopwatch and chronometer functions. Since it is a solar-powered watch it needs to be always exposed to a light source especially sunlight to keep its battery energized.

Some time for a change especially in social event, I would like to wear a watch that suit the occasion like a dress watch. I have with me a cheap quartz dress watch. This is a Citizen watch with a rectangular shape with the dial markers or indices set in stones which make it look distinct from all the others that I owned.

In today’s age, a person can just get along without having any wristwatch at all. His smart or other phone can tell him the time. I for one have a Vivo smart phone that can also serve as a timepiece. It can be downloaded with apps of my own likings through the Android play store. I can even download GPS navigation apps for free. An internet signal though is needed to access those apps.

The advantage of a wristwatch over a cell phone in keeping up with the time is that wristwatch is made to withstand adverse weather condition such as rain. One should not worry to get caught in the rain with his watch drenched in water. But not so with cell phone. Contact with huge amount of liquid may permanently damage the phone.

At present I tend to prefer a quartz watch over a mechanical watch although I will say that ’m still a fan of the latter. I don’t wear my Orient every day, and when I take it off my wrist and put it away in my drawer or somewhere else for several days or a week, it stops running. And this is really something I don’t like since I must reset the watch hands and shake its automatic mechanism to reactivate it. My quartz watches on the other hand can keep on running even if they are off my wrist for days, weeks or even months. And when I want to wear them again, I just have to put them back on my wrist without any bother at all.