My most worn watches of 2023, with mathematical proof. (The Schwartzie Awards 2023)

I finally got around to figuring out which watch I wore most last year. I joined WatchCrunch on February 4th, which leaves 330 WRUW shots. I missed some (very few) days, and posted twice on some rare days, but let's assume a total of 330 shots for the sake of argument, because I wore a watch every day, even if a WRUW wasn't posted.

Counting the number of occurrences of a watch in my WRUW just wasn't good enough for me. There's no point in counting how many times my Eterna Matic appeared from February 4th to December 31st, because I only bought it November 4th. It has no hope of winning, so I decided to do some maths. I will count the number of times worn and divide that figure by the number of days I've owned it. In other words, it's the number of times I wore the watch when I had the opportunity to. Sidenote, these calculations do not take into account holidays where I did not have access to my full collection. There's no way to have bulletproof maths when it comes to something like this, so this as the best I could do without spending an unholy amount of time on this.

In last place, we have the Rottery 17, which was worn twice out of the 189 days (1,06%) that I've owned it. Can you blame me? It was a gift from the watchmaker for me to practice on. It wasn't meant to survive, but it did get some life breathed into it after I was bored and decided to service it. It has a frankly rubbish BFG 866 pin-pallet movement with one jewel and no shock protection. Its dial is also not to my taste, I don't know, something about the numerals and colour just makes it look cheap. It was as cheap as watches got in its era, so I'm not at all surprised. I love that fluorescent seconds hand though.

Next is my Casio Outgear Fishing Gear watch. It's too big and chunky for how I normally dress, so it was only worn five times this year, totalling to 1,51%. This isn't actually my second least worn watch. It may well be my most worn watch, because I wear it to the gym. I gym just about every day, other than weekends and exam seasons and when I'm on holiday... I don't have a total number of days that I went to the gym this year, but it's a lot. Seeing as my maths essentially calculates the statistical probability of me opening my watch box in the morning and putting a watch on, not accounting for later swops and switches if they happen, this Casio comes in second last place. Sorry, Casio; as reliable and sturdy as you are, you don't go with tweed.

In third to last place is my only other LCD watch, my Lambda LCD Quartz. I'm surprised at how seldom I wore this one. I genuinely thought that I wore it more. I wore it a total of 8 times out of 187 days of ownership (4,28%.) It doesn't have any glaring flaws that would make me turn away from it, so the only reason it can be so low on the list is simply because I have better watches. While I don't believe that many people care about or even notice what you wear, I choose to wear dressier watches because I dress more formally. I like to switch it up when I'm in uniform at school and wear whatever watch I like, but, like the Fishing Gear watch, you don't go with tweed, little Lambda. Such a cool and sciency name, but just lacking that premium and classy look and feel that I gravitate towards.

Tenth place was another surprise, my Lucerne Digital Jump Hour, being worn 16 times last year, coming to 4,85%, narrowly beating out the Lambda. Granted, it did sit for a while non-running, but it's been going strong for a long time now. I probably didn't wear it more because... just look at it. It's so ugly it's cool. While I love the design, it suffers from the same disadvantage as the previous two mentions: it just doesn't work with my outfits. As funky as it is, it's niche and doesn't go with everything. Reliability is also a concern. Knowing that it conked out at random once has me hesitant to wear it even after a service. Great watch, but another one-jewel pin-pallet movement (at least this one has shock protection) lead to paranoia about reliability.

Ninth place is awarded to my Camy Challenger. I'm surprised once more. I bought it in March, but didn't wear it until I gave up trying to sell it on Chrono24. I wore it 11 times out of 173, which is 6,358%. Even with all things accounted for, I just didn't wear it all too much. The only niggle I can come up with to justify this is the very short lugs which limit strap changes. It's basically stuck on a beige leather, which is very pretty, but not my first choice when I'm wearing a brown belt and brown shoes. A stainless-steel-plated (or chrome maybe?) base metal case also makes me want to avoid poking a sharp spring bar tool around the lugs. I love the numeral design, but beyond that, it's rather boring. Boring means good, reliable and safe, but I don't necessarily reach for "boring" when I want to put a watch on.

By a hair's breadth at number eight is the Casio Edifice chronograph being worn 21 times in 2023, totalling to 6,36%. This watch exhibited dominance early in the year for being stylish and looking very premium. It's the watch I've received the most compliments on, at a staggering two. My tastes have changed and a 42mm quartz chronograph just isn't what I wear anymore. Evidence of this are the dates of the last three times I wore it: September 16th, June 11th and June 2nd. September 16th was clearly a “pity wear,” where I put it on simply because I felt that I wasn't using it enough. I guess this highlights either being an enthusiast or a nutter (we're all probably both to some extent here) by projecting human emotions onto an inanimate object. I probably felt sorry for it and imagined it being sad after being pushed aside in favour of newer (to me) watches. I won't sell it, but I wonder when I'll wear it again.

In seventh place is the seven-jewelled Oris military watch at 7,84%. I wore this watch 25 times out of the 325 days that I've had it. It took its time to work its way into my heart, but as I've matured, I've come to appreciate the 31,5mm case. It's the famous Pointer Date, but without the pointer date complication. I love the patinated dial and big crown. Simplicity and wearing its age is its charm. It's my oldest watch and parts are scarce, which does make me a bit hesitant to wear it some days. I finally managed to get a spare setting lever and cover plate for it; I can't wait to fit it and get it back to perfect function.

Sixth place goes to my Edox Delfin. I've come to appreciate this one a lot more lately, although it needs regulating as it runs about ten minutes slow per day. Until I get that sorted, it's going to be keeping its spot in the box warm. I wore it 17 times out of 161, putting it at 10,56% probability. There's not much more to say here. A TV case watch is a funny thing: some days it feels like the prettiest and most versatile watch in the world and other days it just feels like something that should've been left behind in the ‘70s.

In at number five is my original Nivada Grenchen Antarctic Spider. This watch is nothing short of stunning and I expect it to move up a few places next year. This was a labour of love. I serviced and refurbished it myself and I'm extremely proud of the fact. I'm glad I get to own a piece of history like this. I wore it for 22 out of the 142 days that I've owned it, putting it at 15,49%.

Fourth place is awarded to my Tissot PR 516 Quartz Pepsi. It's got a scratched up dial and the movement was held together by Rodico for most of my ownership, but that didn't stop me. Dubious reliability aside, I still wore it 38 times out of the 208 days I've owned it (18,27%.) Unfortunately, it's given up the ghost and my Rodico solution doesn't work anymore. I'm in the process of securing a replacement stepper motor, which, if I play my cards right, can be in my hands come December 2024. I love the gold and the Pepsi logo on the dial is the cherry on top. As rough as it may look in some areas, it's a rare bird and I've only seen one other like it.

Pole position! In third place we have none other than the Seiko 5. This watch utterly dominated early 2023's WRUW, but fell slightly out of favour later in the year. It was worn 61 times, which puts it at 18,48%, narrowly beating out the Tissot. It's a great watch, but the movement is an uninteresting dinosaur and the case isn't the prettiest in my collection. It's also a bit thicker than I'd like, but my biggest complaint is the bracelet. It's not the dismal quality of it, but the fact that it doesn't taper down. It's 18mm from the lugs to the clasp, which isn't too pretty. Uncle straps seems not to make a bracelet for this case shape, so if anyone knows where I can get a decent replacement bracelet for the 03SO case, let me know.

Second place goes to the Eterna Matic 1000. It may have an advantage here, because its (albeit short) honeymoon period was rather recent, being bought November 4th. I wore it 11 days out of the 57 days it's been in my collection, coming up with a figure of 19,30%. I love the gold dial, which is pristine and without a single blemish or scratch. The black inserts in the hands makes the time incredibly easy to read despite the gold hands. The movement is also reliable and high quality. I can tell that this watch wasn't worn much, owing to the fact that it sat in my watchmaker's shop for a few decades after the original owner never picked it up after a service. It's also kickstarted a new fascination of mine: service watches. This is the classy and premium watch that some of my other watches aspire to be.

I'm sure those who know me aren't surprised at all with which watch made it to the number one spot... none other than the amazing Camy Club-Star. I wore it 82 times this year, which converts to a neat 24,85%. Can you blame me? I love the simplicity and reliability of it. It's also the most photogenic thing since Nicki Minaj wore that stars and stripes bathing suit. That's all before we factor in the sentimental value of it, which is higher than any other possession of mine. I see no watch more deserving of this title than my Camy.

You thought this was over? Not yet! Here are some more awards and honourable mentions.

The Kienzle Alarm Super Manual Wind by R. Schwartz was worn once and it wins the award for best proportions.

I'm a big fan of the square brass case and Bauhaus-esque design. It slides right under the cuff and goes with almost any outfit. The maths means that every time I open my watch box to choose a watch, there's a 0,4% probability that I will decide to put a clock on instead.

If we're to ignore all the dividing that I did earlier and find my most worn watch of 2023 based purely on the number of times a watch was worn, the results would be as follows:

1. Camy Club-Star

2. Seiko 5

3. Tissot PR 516 Quartz Pepsi

The longest streak of wearing one watch goes to the Tissot PR 516 Quartz Pepsi with seven days. I believe both the Camy Club-Star and Seiko 5 came close with six consecutive days each.

The Nivada Grenchen Antarctic Spider may have been the most worn watch of 2023 if it wasn't for one WRUW post on 11 August. I posted a picture of it before it was running well and didn't wear it again until I got a new crystal on 4 October. Put simply, I was lazy to service it. If we were to measure the number of times worn after it was serviced and divide it by the number of days I could wear it, the figure would have been in excess of 25%, but seeing as I wore it several times before properly servicing it, it's staying at number five this year.

The prestigious award for Bugger of the Year is awarded to the Lucerne Digital Jump Hour. The judges were especially impressed that a service and some more tinkering couldn't get it running perfectly.

The Man of the Match award goes to the Eterna Matic 1000. The judges were impressed by its class and wearability as well as the relatively low brand cache. A panel member described it as “underrated” but died under mysterious circumstances shortly afterwards.

The perseverance award goes to the Oris military watch. Seventy years and counting. A broken setting lever and cover plate, magnetism, low amplitude and age couldn't stop it. We're all confident that it will continue “balling” in its old age.

With that, I would like to wrap up the first annual Schwartzie Awards. My sincerest thanks goes out to the panel of expert judges, myself and my various personalities. I would like to especially thank the fed up Ryan for joining us this year and swearing incessantly. I hope that 2024 is even better than 2023 and that many new and exciting opportunities await all of us. Thank you for tuning in and I'll see you with another Schwartzie Awards this time next year.