Time to give up on watch genres?
Been thinking about how obsessed the hobby is with outdated notions of a watch's genre category and how often a watch is judged by how closely it hews to functional or stylistic requisites that haven't been relevant for decades. It's weird how we (and even more so, watch "journalists") sit with straight faces when companies roll out earnest marketing campaigns that pretend helium-escape valves, altimeters, or tachymeter scales are "professional" features for their luxury tool watches. Hell, we don't even laugh at the phrase "luxury tool watch" as we should. We're not divers, astronauts, jet pilots, race car drivers, or mountaineers and those who are would be foolish to rely on a mechanical timepiece as the best tool for the job. Hard as it is to admit, in the 21st century, what we're really describing when we categorize a watch is fashion, not function. "Dive Watch" and "Pilot's Watch" describe 20th-century looks, not 21st-century use-cases. I'm starting to settle around just a few relevant genres for my own watches: "Durable" vs "Delicate," and "Fancy" vs "Casual." Beyond that and indulging in a little bit of child-like cosplay, none of the other marketing verticals matter to me.
Which brings me to this watch: I think one of the things I've come to love about it is that it makes no attempt to fit any category at all. It reminds me that, with the exception of my Apple Watch, which I do wear as a proper tool while cycling or hiking, all of the other watches I own, no matter how they were marketed, are ultimately just fashion choices I've made, no different than putting on sneakers or boots when I get dressed in the morning.
Design obsessive who loves watches but loathes the watch industry and the snobbery and flex-culture that feeds it. What’s a boy to do?
Welcome to enlightenment
one step at a time ;)
i see your point, but the search goes on to find that intangible feeling of excitement--relive childhood, teenage, young person dreams where i still couldve been an astronaut, diver, race driver, explorer. Watches can be symbolic of those dreams, though they arent realistic tools anymore.
I had an Apple Watch Ultra, and series 6. They still can't do what a real timepiece can do for me. besides that, they kinda look like sh*t. 🤭
I really DO like that McM dial in your image though.
Shhh. Blasphemy and offensive posts will be deleted.
Watch categories help describe particular looks that people like, even then, some have become so bastardized that they have no real meaning. The "field watch" category is a great example of this. In what way is a Rolex Explorer related to watches issued to military members for use in the field? It got lumped in because it was used in the "field" by explorers, but that isn't the origin of the "field watch" category.
So my takeaway is this; categories make it easy to discuss styles, but there is no need to get too wound up about them.
Nice 47zero 👍
i see your point, but the search goes on to find that intangible feeling of excitement--relive childhood, teenage, young person dreams where i still couldve been an astronaut, diver, race driver, explorer. Watches can be symbolic of those dreams, though they arent realistic tools anymore.
I had an Apple Watch Ultra, and series 6. They still can't do what a real timepiece can do for me. besides that, they kinda look like sh*t. 🤭
I really DO like that McM dial in your image though.
Agree with everything you're saying completely--and my Apple Watch only gets worn when I'm on my bicycle or a long hike because I think it's as ugly as you say and soulless to boot.
My point is really more about how the community criticizes watches that don't fulfill dated genre expectations and give far too much weight to specs and functions we don't need ("how can they call this a "dive watch" when it doesn't have a screw-down crown??"). Likewise, how brands present these things to us so seriously and market them as "professional" tools to justify their prices and relevance. I have what I'll call a "dive-style" watch that I bought because it looks cool to me and because I know it can withstand the worst my uneventful life will throw at it. I have no love of the sea, no romantic notions of underwater exploration, or no concern for its history beyond my love of 60s-era design. I have chronographs exactly because I'm a bit of a car nerd and they do give me a bit of cosplay joy, but I can't pretend that any actual racer would take eyes off the road or hands off the wheel to time a lap with one, regardless of how many billboards Rolex wants to litter F1 tracks with or how many former drivers it pays to wear their watches.
Wear whatcha love...let's just not take it so seriously or pretend that, say, a "Pilot's Watch" needs to be anything more than a cool watch that kinda looks like what pilots used to wear 50 years ago and just have fun with it.
Good points well made.
For me there are two categories:
1. Rough and tumble - for gardening, diy, hiking, running, swimming, wearing around babies. Water resistance matters and cases need to be steel, chromed brass or plastic.
2. Everything else.
Agree with everything you're saying completely--and my Apple Watch only gets worn when I'm on my bicycle or a long hike because I think it's as ugly as you say and soulless to boot.
My point is really more about how the community criticizes watches that don't fulfill dated genre expectations and give far too much weight to specs and functions we don't need ("how can they call this a "dive watch" when it doesn't have a screw-down crown??"). Likewise, how brands present these things to us so seriously and market them as "professional" tools to justify their prices and relevance. I have what I'll call a "dive-style" watch that I bought because it looks cool to me and because I know it can withstand the worst my uneventful life will throw at it. I have no love of the sea, no romantic notions of underwater exploration, or no concern for its history beyond my love of 60s-era design. I have chronographs exactly because I'm a bit of a car nerd and they do give me a bit of cosplay joy, but I can't pretend that any actual racer would take eyes off the road or hands off the wheel to time a lap with one, regardless of how many billboards Rolex wants to litter F1 tracks with or how many former drivers it pays to wear their watches.
Wear whatcha love...let's just not take it so seriously or pretend that, say, a "Pilot's Watch" needs to be anything more than a cool watch that kinda looks like what pilots used to wear 50 years ago and just have fun with it.
agree. lot of energy expended trying to justify watch acquisition. and marketing anachronistic objects as necessities is quite the stretch. i think it's part of the learning curve for new collectors.
Watch categories help describe particular looks that people like, even then, some have become so bastardized that they have no real meaning. The "field watch" category is a great example of this. In what way is a Rolex Explorer related to watches issued to military members for use in the field? It got lumped in because it was used in the "field" by explorers, but that isn't the origin of the "field watch" category.
So my takeaway is this; categories make it easy to discuss styles, but there is no need to get too wound up about them.
totally with you--use the historic categories as short-hand for the visual style the watch is echoing, but don't get upset because it doesn't conform to some mythical use-case that none of us will ever encounter.
I'll repeat, though I can't remember who said it first, "All watches are cosplay."
I'll repeat, though I can't remember who said it first, "All watches are cosplay."
Not true, lots of people need watches for work.
Now, there is an element of fashion in most watch choices, but that's not the same as "cosplay" or LARPing.
Not true, lots of people need watches for work.
Now, there is an element of fashion in most watch choices, but that's not the same as "cosplay" or LARPing.
If it's anything more than a $50 G-Shock, it's cosplay. Call it jewelry if you prefer.
I rather rely on a mechanical watch than a battery operated watch if I'm using a #divewatch ...buy it is sadly true, that aside from placing a stick in the ground, any other means of knowing the time is just pure fashion.. 😂 (but that is why we are here). BTW....nice watch!!
If it's anything more than a $50 G-Shock, it's cosplay. Call it jewelry if you prefer.
Sure... There is zero practical functionality in any watch that isn't a G-Shock just because some dude on the internet says so. I guess my experience in my job is a lie.
I'm looking for a watch with a stress relief valve
I think the “genres” or “tropes” are fine, but they are also not going anywhere as many brands (of different sizes and origins) just look backwards. Not many brands look very far forward, or they got that out of the way in the 90s with the jobby-shaped watches. No, G-Shocks are not futuristic, they’ve just had a big birthday.
The simple fact, whether we like it or not, is that you will see people wear divers as dress watches, or vice versa (if they are masochists), and then you will have the painfully cool people wearing tiny vintage unironically like it’s no thing - to each their own. I think rules are made to be broken, but to truly bend them you must understand them, but then again, I am an insufferable prick, why listen to me.
This could have been a lot longer as a post from me, but most of you will have mentally atrophied by around paragraph 7.
Well said.
We all try and validate the purchase by saying things like, "I can use a GMT for when I travel". "This chronograph will help me...", it's just enough of a selling point to justify spending a crazy amount of money on a clock. It's all vanity in the end. But I love everything about it.
The terms we use are perfectly valid. They will continue to be used. A dive watch is referred to as a dive watch because that's it's background and what it was designed for. Just because a wearer doesn't go in the water with it, let alone dive, doesn't mean the style needs a rename. That's on the wearer, not the watch. It's no more complex than that.
Well said.
We all try and validate the purchase by saying things like, "I can use a GMT for when I travel". "This chronograph will help me...", it's just enough of a selling point to justify spending a crazy amount of money on a clock. It's all vanity in the end. But I love everything about it.
As far as alibis for jewelry purchases go, those are among the most valid! I use my chronos all the time when cooking and GMTs can be handy even if most are so hard to read as to render the complication pointless beyond having an excuse for a third hand in a fun color.
It's more the box-ticking around specs and styling cues certain kinds of watches "must" have and the silly ways they're sold to us as if they really matter that gets my eyes rolling. I can promise you that I use my chronograph more often timing what's on my stove than Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton have ever used theirs to time anything within 5 miles of a racetrack 😉
I think the “genres” or “tropes” are fine, but they are also not going anywhere as many brands (of different sizes and origins) just look backwards. Not many brands look very far forward, or they got that out of the way in the 90s with the jobby-shaped watches. No, G-Shocks are not futuristic, they’ve just had a big birthday.
The simple fact, whether we like it or not, is that you will see people wear divers as dress watches, or vice versa (if they are masochists), and then you will have the painfully cool people wearing tiny vintage unironically like it’s no thing - to each their own. I think rules are made to be broken, but to truly bend them you must understand them, but then again, I am an insufferable prick, why listen to me.
This could have been a lot longer as a post from me, but most of you will have mentally atrophied by around paragraph 7.
Preach on!
Though I do think that Seiko and Citizen look forward as often as back--technologies like solar, their continued evolution of quartz, spring drive, and their mind-boggling GPS watches are ridiculously impressive. It just says something about large chunks of the watch community that we dismiss those advancements while praising big Swiss brands for managing to squeeze out another second of daily accuracy for a mere $10,000 or introducing a new self-congratulatory certification for achievements in 1960s watchmaking.
Just like I don’t actually play sports in a “sport coat”.
I like this.
This is a phenomenon that can be found in many hobbies/industries.
Labels make it easier to discuss and compare things which must be why medias rely on them so much.
These labels also make it easier for companies to market their watches/ for customers to navigate through the catalogues to find what they like...
The downside is brands might be creating arbitrary constraints for themselves that filters out fresh ideas.
You make a good point. I have seen more reviews that use terms like "dive style".
"The only egg-timer that makes you look like a he-man"
In line with the conversation, I love this ad. There's a level of honesty and humor no modern watch brand would dare attempt. The watch ain't bad, either ;)
I agree to an extent. While most watches I own are purely for the enjoyment of them, I do have a few I have for the functionality.
The Apple Watch Series 3 I got to track and record my workouts
The Casio G-Shock GWM5610-1 I got because I needed something that could take a beating and it being solar powered means I never have to worry about the battery dying on me at the worst time.
The Gotham Railway Classic Pocket Watch I got because it’s highly discouraged to wear anything on your wrists while welding but I still needed to be able to tell the time.
And of course the most important tool a teenage me could have ever needed 😂
I agree to an extent. While most watches I own are purely for the enjoyment of them, I do have a few I have for the functionality.
The Apple Watch Series 3 I got to track and record my workouts
The Casio G-Shock GWM5610-1 I got because I needed something that could take a beating and it being solar powered means I never have to worry about the battery dying on me at the worst time.
The Gotham Railway Classic Pocket Watch I got because it’s highly discouraged to wear anything on your wrists while welding but I still needed to be able to tell the time.
And of course the most important tool a teenage me could have ever needed 😂
Never seen the grinder watch before...genius!