Most unnecessary watch complications?
Hey fellow crunchers,
I was wondering for some time now what the most unnecessary watch complication is.
And although I own two of them my self I think that the chronograph Funktion is quit unnecessary. There is literally no moment, in the last 15 Years of wearing a Chronograph, where i was using my watch to stop the time. It was always more accurate and faster to use my phone. And in addition to that it makes the dial a bit to crowded.
But what do you guys think? Do you think there is something that is more unnecessary than the chrono feature? (Maybe Moonphase or a Roulett wheel inside your watch ;) )
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I use my chrono all the time for work, much quicker to tap the button than using the phone. If I'm not wearing a chrono I'll use a stopwatch webpage, but never the phone.
I'd say the day/night or 24hr subdial is pretty pointless (I have a few), and even the moonphase (despite looking nice).
I am quite new as well. So maybe we’re both wrong 😂
How dare you insinuate that moon phase is not useful? Now the current GMT fad, nobody but 1960's airline pilots use that. Some yokel will claim that their uncle-in-law lives in some time zone six hours away and that they're too stupid to remember the time difference for the daily something that they do with this person. Need I explain how self-contradictory this is?
Oh wait, someone else is claiming that they are all jet set and are flying internationally every single day and have no time to change the time on their watch during the several hours needed to make such a flight. Again, shenanigans.
It’s not about how useful a complication is it’s about having it. A Watch isn’t needed yet we have them.
It’s not about how useful a complication is it’s about having it. A Watch isn’t needed yet we have them.
I need a watch for my job, and know of literally tens of thousands of people like me...
How dare you insinuate that moon phase is not useful? Now the current GMT fad, nobody but 1960's airline pilots use that. Some yokel will claim that their uncle-in-law lives in some time zone six hours away and that they're too stupid to remember the time difference for the daily something that they do with this person. Need I explain how self-contradictory this is?
Oh wait, someone else is claiming that they are all jet set and are flying internationally every single day and have no time to change the time on their watch during the several hours needed to make such a flight. Again, shenanigans.
As a member of the werewolf community, I find this deeply insulting 😁
For me, it’s day/date on a dive watch. “How long before I need to go back to the surface, and also is it Tuesday today?”
Date.
24 hour complication on a quartz movement.
Mechanical watches regardless of complications (even time only) are unnecessary in a world where we’ve quartz :P
Most useless complication: Word of the Day/Emoji of the Day
Sidereal time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidereal_time?wprov=sfla1
The 24 hour indicator. I know when it's AM or PM, thank you very much.
The most useless complication for me is the 24Hr indicator on a chronograph. It doesn't serve any function related to chronographs, it doesn't provides any information that can't be gathered by looking through a window and it's simply stuck there on the dial for the sole purpose of "looking nice" - a purpose that could be fulfilled just as well by simply painting a circle on the dial and calling it a day.
The month.
If you don’t know what month you’re in you’ve got bigger problems than a watch can solve.
The most useless complication for me is the 24Hr indicator on a chronograph. It doesn't serve any function related to chronographs, it doesn't provides any information that can't be gathered by looking through a window and it's simply stuck there on the dial for the sole purpose of "looking nice" - a purpose that could be fulfilled just as well by simply painting a circle on the dial and calling it a day.
Well, it helps if you don’t have a window to look through 😉
I have a time only, a diver and a GMT. I’ve used the GMT when travelling to simply keep track of my baby’s routine according to ‘home’ time. Helps with feeding/sleeping etc.
Could I do simple math in my head every single time? Of course. But why spend £thousands and not enjoy these little functions.
The diver - again, only use it for swimming at swimming pool levels and in waist high water by the beach. So I don’t need the diver timer per se, but it’s nice to have a watch designed to be used out in the ocean when doing water related activities.
As many have said, mechanical watches aren’t a need for the majority of us, but I try to enjoy mine to the fullest and make use of the functionality because I can.
Well, it helps if you don’t have a window to look through 😉
Or if you're a Polar Explorer, just like I'm not :-/
On all my digital watches it's too much of a pain in the ass to ever bother using a stopwatch functionally. Like, I know it's there, but to get to it you need three strong lads to work the bellows and a lodestone. With my chronograph watch, it's very simple to use one button to start, same button to stop, and an additional button to reset the hand. I'll occasionally use a chronograph to time stuff but it's always very mundane crap. What I use the timer on all the time is my dive watch timing bezels. I use these when I'm going for walks so they don't always have to check my fitness band to see how long I've been walking, I'll use them when I got clothes on the washing machine. For me, it's the most practical type of timer.
The most useless complication in my experience must be completely subjective and I'm sure it's useful to some people-tide graph. I live kind of near an ocean, and I freaking love a good dive watch, but if I'm ever in 50 m of water I am so screwed. Alternately, I might say on like half my G-Shocks they have some kind of crazy little dial or gauge that is constantly filling up and it's probably seconds but there's like three of them and God knows what the other two are if only one of them is seconds.
Hello friend,
Quick preamble: I own many digital devices and do not consider myself stuck in the 1960s (I wasn't born yet)
Talking about the daily life of a airline pilot:
Flight plans, air traffic control instructions, weather reports and forecasts etc... All this references Zulu Time.
Work schedules, flight schedules, shuttle/taxi pick-up times etc... All this references local times
Local times tend to, you know... change as you travel east/west whereas Z time remains the same.
Is it absolutely vital to have a GMT complication on a watch? Certainly not, but definitely a very handy tool, especially the "traveler's GMT" variety, which allows to change the local time (sometimes several times a days if you're in the regional business) without stopping the balance while UTC time remains untouched.
I have close to zero interest in having a moonphase indication of any kind on anything around me. I am just not interested. But I would not pretend it couldn't be useful or enjoyable to someone else for some reason that completely eludes me.
I would also not insult anyone for using their watches the way they like.
I just assumed that airplane cockpits had digital time displays in there somewhere, seeing how cars typically have two or more. Modern ones must, right? Glass cockpit and all? So I guess you are correct and "1960's airline pilots" should more specify airline pilots of less-than-current planes?
I am unsure whether the people that don't get moon phase usefulness are living in areas afflicted with light pollution or they just don't go out at night.
Day complications. Dislike date too, but can see how that'd be useful for those with useless memories - but if you can't remember what day it is , you've got serious problems 🤣
Seconds hand.
Do tachymeter scales count as "complications"? Cuz those are just useless, nostalgic clutter around a dial...the horological equivalent of putting racing stripes on your car.
The worst example of this has to be the Zenith El Primero Revival Shadow, an otherwise amazing design made stupid by the decision to eliminate the inherently useful seconds track from the dial while keeping the tachymeter scale, rendering the watch totally useless as a chronograph.
Equation of time has got to top the list. "The equation of time complication on a watch displays the difference between the length of an actual solar day and the mean solar day." Who even knows what that means? The difference between your watch and a hypothetical sundial, or something. More to the point, who even cares? Yet it's a very high end complication.
As a health care professional, 100% a pulseometer. Not only is it useless, it makes taking a pulse take more time and/or more cumbersome. It is insanely easy to take someone’s pulse with a regular analog watch. This goes for both pulseometers on 3-handers and chronographs. There are plenty of useless but fun complications. This one I find actively counterproductive. The only thing I will this complication is that sometimes the aesthetics are elevated like in the second watch below. I can’t deny that looks pretty darn awesome.
How dare you insinuate that moon phase is not useful? Now the current GMT fad, nobody but 1960's airline pilots use that. Some yokel will claim that their uncle-in-law lives in some time zone six hours away and that they're too stupid to remember the time difference for the daily something that they do with this person. Need I explain how self-contradictory this is?
Oh wait, someone else is claiming that they are all jet set and are flying internationally every single day and have no time to change the time on their watch during the several hours needed to make such a flight. Again, shenanigans.
Yeah…can’t see much for a GMT. If I need dual time, I’ll wear one of a myriad of my digital watches.
Neither I or my old truck are fast enough to utilize a tachymeter…unless of course both of us lust after personal shame and moral degradation.
World time or GMT. Honestly, if you can't remember that the important parts of America are 5 hours behind the UK, and California is 8 hours (and several decades) behind, or Australia is 11 hours ahead (and upside down), then you have bigger problems. There is absolutely no point in having a GMT if your relatives live in Europe because it's just one hour ahead. If you can't work out the time from that then there's no hope for you.
Also the date is kind of useless too. The day of the week is more useful, and the month is no use at all especially when it's on the display in the wrong order for us Brits.
I've never used a chronograph ever to time anything. The countdown timer is more useful for cooking or eBay auctions when you are looking at something else and not watching the page, but a stopwatch has no use to anyone outside of athletics when you're still at school.
And although not a complication, screw down crowns are pointless too.
I SCUBA, so a screw-down crown is essential for adequate water resistance.
I occasionally travel across time zones and hate doing math, so a GMT hand is awesome.
I suffer from CRS (Can't Remember Shite) and write checks - so the date window is great.
I use my chronograph to time many things - from how long the horse mush has been soaking to how long we've been out on trail, cooking, etc.
And THIS, my friend, is why they have to make so many different watches - 'cause there needs to be an a$$ for every seat. 😎😉
My vote is heart rate monitor, step counter, message app, apple music player, and phone......😜🤪 But YMMV....
Should have made this a poll.
My 2 cents-
It's has to be the moon phase.
There is an argument for just about any other complication. Other than pilots, Military will also see a need for a gmt.
I'm forever writing the date at work. When your days off move around, it's nice having the day to remind you.
I know several people who get off the grid quite often and trust a mechanical over quartz. You never know when that battery will go on you.
But the moonphase....ever notice it's usually on high end, non tool watches? Like a few people said, nice to look at, but not very useful. The children of the night know when it's a full moon. You can feel it. I don't need a watch to tell me.
"You never know when that battery will go on you." Yes you do, if you have a Seiko with a 7N42 quartz movement. The second hand will register two seconds at a time for a couple of weeks, giving you warning and plenty of time to change the battery.