What are these things?
Really though, watches, who the hell decided that such scientific manifestations should be so subjectively alluring and beautiful at the same time? The audacity of todays watchmakers to generate these trinkets, which are quite outdated technologically, and quite overused and long-lingering of a fashion object is just mind boggling to me. One might think that as tech, the mechanical watch is dead and defeated—why keep building the statues? I don’t have any clue the way the world of fads and trends work, but I have noticed that things seem to cycle out and perhaps find their way back in again only to disappear once more with fashion, yet watches have just always been there through and through.
What is going on that this little world of mechanical timekeeping has managed to hold so steadfast? How does it remain so adaptable in two highly volatile quick-changing worlds?
The rabbit holes of hobby-ing in general can produce a near opiate inducing experience if one begins to listen, so I guess there’s that. Passion in humans is weird. We’ve really held onto our tools through the generations with such devotion that the romance of stories begins to overtake logic and rational thought.
It confuses me, I love it, but I’m blundered.
Keep on Crunching.
Not the fanciest of collections. Just an amateur enthusiast, with a little interest in some things EDC as well. And tennis. And F1. And nature. And science.
The thing is that passions don’t get along with logic. I have a frenetic, irrational love for handmade things. The idea of owning something that was made by the skilled hands of a human that trained and honed his/her craft to the point of making something that people may fall in love with is perplexing and I’m heavily attracted to… Same thing with watches, although functionally replaceable, romantically they’re hard to beat. I will never remember my dad for his smartphone, I’ll remember him for the car he drove, the watch he wore. Of course, this is on a more vain level. I’ll remember my dad for the lessons he taugh, the love he gave, but you get the point.
Thanks for this post!
Bounteous blundering abounds in the orbiting kuiper belt of watch design. Just another nugget in the relative reality of our persnickity existence.
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If it's the giant sundial I think it is?
I wonder about the industry surrounding watches and how many people are employed by it, and then the number of people and generations sharing and passing down knowledge and stories about their individual trinkets and the instances are in the billions of things happening just to tell time...maybe.
If it's the giant sundial I think it is?
Pure art my friend... 👏👏👏
There is only one good reason to make and sell anything. "Someone is willing to buy it." As long as people are willing to spend vast sums of money for beautifully crafted watches that are LESS accurate than a $20 drug store Timex then someone will be making these wonderful mechanical watches.
They really aren't buying a watch, they are buying status, prestige and cache. Watches aren't like other measuring devices. They are not valued by accuracy. They are valued by craftsmanship, history and exclusivity.
There is only one good reason to make and sell anything. "Someone is willing to buy it." As long as people are willing to spend vast sums of money for beautifully crafted watches that are LESS accurate than a $20 drug store Timex then someone will be making these wonderful mechanical watches.
They really aren't buying a watch, they are buying status, prestige and cache. Watches aren't like other measuring devices. They are not valued by accuracy. They are valued by craftsmanship, history and exclusivity.
Yet the ones that are sold in the millions are the cheap drug store watches (in my case, Amazon) that are bought for their simple quartz accuracy and robustness:
Here is mine....
Probably the most watch you can get for the money.
Seiko makes something equally good, for four times the price.