Author Topic: Wearing a watch  (Read 126694 times)

ian

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #475 on: 17 October, 2018, 10:00:07 am »
Isn't watch inflation a bloke thing? Like big cars and basically all stupidly oversized shit? There should be a name for blokes making stuff unnecessarily bigly. It's too early in the morning to invent one.

I think I'd like a mechanical watch (now I know they still exist, I assumed they'd gone the way of the dinosaur). I like the idea of clockwork and winding stuff up. Seems an antidote to modern life and time servers and satellite and accuracy and precisions measured down to microseconds. Plus my-watch-stopped is a brilliant excuse for being late.

I honestly don't get paying thousands of pounds for a watch though (or jewellery etc.)

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #476 on: 17 October, 2018, 10:21:13 am »
I've also noticed that watches have got bigger, along with cars, phones, mugs and, ooh, people. But I don't think it's specifically a man thing. At least not in general – might be for watches specifically (has women's jewellery got bigger?) – you see plenty of women drinking from a litre-cup of coffee while driving a Mitsubishi Potemkin.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ian

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #477 on: 17 October, 2018, 10:37:51 am »
Outliers, I still think bigly is a blokeish phenomenon. Girls wear teeny watches usually (it sometimes goes too far, you need a microscope to see the face on some of my wife's watches) whereas blokes wear those enormous hunks of metal the weight of small cars (some of them might actually be small cars). Over time it stretches their arms till they have the appearance and gait of lopsided orangutans.

And what's with all the dials?

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #478 on: 17 October, 2018, 10:50:45 am »
Multidials is, I grant you, a masculine fashion thing. Says "I'm an athlete, a scientist, an engineer, a submariner, an aviator and a high court judge." Okay, perhaps not the high court judge, or not necessarily.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ian

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #479 on: 17 October, 2018, 10:59:00 am »
From a couple that I've just looked at I'm not sure how you're supposed to extract the actual time from the whirling orrery of hands. What time is it? I'd panic. Three seconds past two, I think.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #480 on: 17 October, 2018, 11:01:06 am »
Perhaps one of those dials is for the high court judge? Indicating the length of sentence to be passed.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #481 on: 17 October, 2018, 11:31:23 am »
https://share.icloud.com/photos/05CpW9JlyQomtBy9r-LuqwGBA#Home
Let’s see if I can post a picture first.






Can anyone see a picture here? I’ve tried 9 different links and it would seem all to no avail.  :(
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #482 on: 17 October, 2018, 12:07:04 pm »
For serious watch nerdery try https://forum.tz-uk.com/forum.php


There are some people on there with far too much disposable income.


Having said that Rolexes in particular seem to be a good investment, older models in good condition are worth serious money, and they restrict the availability of new models which means they’ll frequently sell for more than the retail price.


I’ve slightly fallen out of love with my chunky Omega divers watch & am currently wearing a 1960s gold Seamaster De Ville which is much slimmer & lighter.
Not fast & rarely furious

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ian

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #483 on: 17 October, 2018, 12:18:39 pm »
When I googled 'mechanical watch' the first suggestion was £213,350, the second £38,500.

I presume they come with a helicopter or something.

Samuel D

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #484 on: 17 October, 2018, 12:20:33 pm »
Girls wear teeny watches usually

The ones I see by and large don’t. Most of them now wear big watches like men. My girlfriend’s watches are a lot bigger than my Stowa.

If you want your watch to be seen, it follows that big is useful. This, alongside the fact that no-one in the microchip age is impressed by the miniaturisation of clockwork (that drove the impossibly small watches of the 1800s), is the reason for the trend. It takes an experienced – not to mention biologically sound – eye to identify what someone is wearing at a few paces. Extend that by 40% and the catchment area of your status symbol doubles.

My watch is particularly unostentatious because I particularly dislike status symbols. It was a gift from my girlfriend for my 30th birthday, though she had the sense to let me choose it. I think it was about €570 back then (2012). I don’t consider that obscene for something that will last a long time. That said, I’ll need to spend about €200 to fix it, which has apparently thwarted me for a while now. I still like it very much and intend to do it some day soon.

On watches generally, you’d have to have a heart of stone not to find something like this beautiful (ignore the glaringly inappropriate Comic Sans if you can; isn’t it odd how aesthetic appreciation can be so limited in scope? I hope I’m not that ignorant of things beyond my immediate interests).

Kim

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #485 on: 17 October, 2018, 12:28:18 pm »
Isn't watch inflation a bloke thing? Like big cars and basically all stupidly oversized shit? There should be a name for blokes making stuff unnecessarily bigly. It's too early in the morning to invent one.

Brunel's law, innit.


Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #486 on: 17 October, 2018, 12:34:56 pm »

This is my current watch. It has to be wound up manually everyday, though it has a 40hr reserve, so it isn’t critical to what time of day. I think of it as the antithesis to an Apple Watch.

I like watches, and would collect them, but I tend to buy a watch and wear it constantly until it dies. Taking an Omega Constellation skiing though, was not a sensible move. It has been serviced since, but needs a new bracelet and omega want something like £500 for a replacement.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #487 on: 17 October, 2018, 12:50:25 pm »
Must say the only people I know with Apple watches, or similar, are girls. Well, women. Old ladies even (one of them is 74 – though I very much doubt she'd call herself a lady!)
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #488 on: 17 October, 2018, 12:52:59 pm »
Isn't watch inflation a bloke thing? Like big cars and basically all stupidly oversized shit? There should be a name for blokes making stuff unnecessarily bigly. It's too early in the morning to invent one.

Brunel's law, innit.


Nah, if Brunel had made watches, they'd be vacuum-powered, run backwards and require a staff of hundreds to grease them with whale oil. But they would keep perfect time!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ian

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #489 on: 17 October, 2018, 12:54:28 pm »
In addition to my fine collection (two) from Decathlon's sub £7.99 range, I do have Timex Indiglo which goes as far as a second hand but now fails to glo (and a battered Timex Expedition, which does glo). I bought the indiglo twenty-odd years ago – my first ever watch – bought to grimly acknowledge that from that point onwards life would demand I occasionally have reference to the actual time. Previously as a researcher, I really only needed chronological precision to the nearest day.

The problem with the Timexes is that my wife hides them because she hates ticking.

I believe I have documented my indecision over Apple watches. I like the idea but really I can't be bothered enough to find a use. I'm more mechanical, I think. I still use a fountain pen. I'm still not sure I can get my head around paying £300+ for a watch though. My wife just shakes her head at my parsimony.

Right, I'm off to stare at women's arms to verify whether or not their watches are smaller. It's not wrong, it's science.

(Actually, my colleague, a girl with the appropriate bumps and all, has an Apple watch.)

Kim

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #490 on: 17 October, 2018, 12:57:45 pm »
Most of the people I know of with Apple watches are either disabled people using them as assistive tech, or Apple fanboys with more money than sense.

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #491 on: 17 October, 2018, 01:23:03 pm »
Most of the people I know of with Apple watches are either disabled people using them as assistive tech, or Apple fanboys with more money than sense.

I work in IT and nearly everyone seems to have an Apple Watch. I don't.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #492 on: 17 October, 2018, 01:26:07 pm »
In addition to my fine collection (two) from Decathlon's sub £7.99 range, I do have Timex Indiglo which goes as far as a second hand but now fails to glo (and a battered Timex Expedition, which does glo). I bought the indiglo twenty-odd years ago – my first ever watch – bought to grimly acknowledge that from that point onwards life would demand I occasionally have reference to the actual time. Previously as a researcher, I really only needed chronological precision to the nearest day.

Indiglo is brilliant (well not literally - ist a sort of soft light). I tend to like Casios better as cheap watches but their lighting is rubbish compared to Timex Indigo.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #493 on: 17 October, 2018, 01:29:11 pm »
I've got a fairly battered Seiko watch which cost me about £70 15 or so years ago. It still works OK but I haven't worn it for a long time. These days I've nearly always got my mobile phone on me, the bike always has a Cateye and if I've got the Garmin I have the time permanently displayed above the map.

I've just noticed that my old Seiko has stopped and I was wondering whether to buy a new battery for it, but it hardly seems worth it.

Who else has given up watch wearing these days?

On the bike - no as like you say Garmin tells me the time right infront of me.  Failing that when I'm at a cafe stop I've got my phone.

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #494 on: 17 October, 2018, 01:32:37 pm »
Garmin Forerunner 230 here.  It looks mahoosive on this young demoiselle's wrist, but I don't think it's excessively big on my spindly arms.


ian

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #495 on: 17 October, 2018, 03:10:03 pm »
In addition to my fine collection (two) from Decathlon's sub £7.99 range, I do have Timex Indiglo which goes as far as a second hand but now fails to glo (and a battered Timex Expedition, which does glo). I bought the indiglo twenty-odd years ago – my first ever watch – bought to grimly acknowledge that from that point onwards life would demand I occasionally have reference to the actual time. Previously as a researcher, I really only needed chronological precision to the nearest day.

Indiglo is brilliant (well not literally - ist a sort of soft light). I tend to like Casios better as cheap watches but their lighting is rubbish compared to Timex Indigo.

Almost as though shamed by reading this thread the broken indiglo - despite not working for years — has unbroken. Glow restored!

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #496 on: 17 October, 2018, 03:54:08 pm »
Garmin Forerunner 230 here.  It looks mahoosive on this young demoiselle's wrist, but I don't think it's excessively big on my spindly arms.

Fitness watches are a separate breed of bigly oddness.

I wear a Garmin Forerunner 935 all the time (even whilst sleeping) and it's a similar size to the 230 above (48mm watch face according to my measurements). Some people say it looks a bit big but I'm used to it now (it's certainly smaller than the 920xt that I used to wear).

The only other watch I own is a Mondaine but I rarely ever wear it.

On women most sports watches look bonkersly big. From a few blogs/twitters I follow:-

DC Rainmaker's wife: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2018/10/the-girls-2018-swim-bike-run-gear-i-use-list.html

Kate Carter (who used to do the running blog in the Grauniad): https://twitter.com/katehelencarter/status/1049613480616189952
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Kim

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #497 on: 17 October, 2018, 04:07:54 pm »
Barakta uses a Garmin fitness watch to feel Android notifications (seeing as women's clothes don't have pockets and she can't usefully hear ringtones).  Nearly all of them are far too big for her left wrist.

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #498 on: 17 October, 2018, 04:17:14 pm »
Barakta uses a Garmin fitness watch to feel Android notifications (seeing as women's clothes don't have pockets and she can't usefully hear ringtones).  Nearly all of them are far too big for her left wrist.

Kim the new FitBit Charge 3 does Android notifications and isnt massive, plus its cheap (compared to an Apple watch) at about £130. Mrs Pcolbeck has tiny wrists and wears a FitBit Charge 2 and that looks fine.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Kim

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #499 on: 17 October, 2018, 04:46:25 pm »
Barakta uses a Garmin fitness watch to feel Android notifications (seeing as women's clothes don't have pockets and she can't usefully hear ringtones).  Nearly all of them are far too big for her left wrist.

Kim the new FitBit Charge 3 does Android notifications and isnt massive, plus its cheap (compared to an Apple watch) at about £130. Mrs Pcolbeck has tiny wrists and wears a FitBit Charge 2 and that looks fine.

Her Vivosmart whatever it is is a similar size (possibly slightly narrower).  It's not quite small enough for the diameter of her left wrist (there's a gap where the body of the unit is too long to conform properly), but it's close enough for government work.  Being able to know when something happens on her phone when out and about is a game-changer.  As she has titanium pins through her ulna instead of a radius I doubt that anything's going to be better, unless it was designed to fit small children - and those won't have the required features, even if they are available in colours other than camo and PINK.

Good to see that FitBit are now doing notifications properly though.  Last time we looked it was the better Garmins or the full-on smartwatches that could do arbitrary notifications, with FitBit only doing phonecalls and music or something useless.