Five Benjamins

The question: "How much do you have to spend before an affordable [watch] is comparable to a more expensive watch?" This was posed by mrsamsa on a watch forum this week. To rephrase, at what price point does the quality curve really start to flatten out? Beyond what price do you increasingly pay for style and branding rather than higher quality? A rough majority would say, about $500. Quoth midshipman01:

A $500 watch running an ETA 2824 is going to be, for all practical purpose, as good at being a watch as one costing 10x's as much. It'll probably be made of the same materials, the movements will be well-established and high quality, and quality control at least has a chance of being somewhat comparable from the end-user's perspective. . . . But, as we say here time and again, watches (especially mechanical and high end types) aren't really about tangible qualities. People pay Rolex prices to get piece of the Rolex pedigree. They don't want a watch, they want a Rolex. They find some sense of satisfaction in it that's worth a cost far beyond what functionality or even "craftmanship" is actually offered.

Movie Night: How a Watch Works

I love this old movie, produced in 1949 by the Hamilton Watch Co. It explains perfectly the basic operation of mechanical watch movements. I put it up on YouTube, but better quality versions are available on the Internet Archive.

Loafing at the Mall

I took my daughter and her friend school shopping this week and, at loose ends for a couple of hours, browsed watches at the mall. I never do this; I'm just not a mall shopper. But it was, well, not entirely uninteresting.

Except for one jewelry store that carried TAG Heuer, and another with Movado (blech), there were mostly just consumer and entry level affordable watches on offer. The brands were the usual suspects: Citizen, Seiko, Pulsar, Invicta, Skagen, Armitron, Bulova, Kenneth Cole, Fossil, etc. Turns our that JCPenney also carries Elgin, behind glass, which places my new Chinese watch somewhere on the cheap American jewelry scale. I guess that's something. Maybe.

It's interesting to see fashion brands (Fossil, Kenneth Cole) next to jewelery brands (Bulova, Movado) next to full-blooded watch brands (Citizen, Seiko). I'm a little surprised to say that, dollar for dollar, I don't think there is a lot of difference in quality between them all. Ignoring consumer-grade watches, most were otherwise equally well-made, all-stainless watches with Japanese quartz movements. Most are OEMed from the same factories in Singapore, Hong Kong, and China. I tried on a $50 Fossil, and the quality was honestly great. It's principally their superior aesthetics and design that makes some Citizens and Seikos stand out so strongly against their competitors.

But only some. I'm disappointed to say that Citizen and Seiko apparently have special branches dedicated to designing ugly watches for tasteless Americans. On the low end, many of their best watches are only offered in foreign markets. And on their high end, I think Citizen beats Seiko handily with their stateside offerings. (This a not the case in Europe and Asia.) The only surprise was to see a number of (regrettably, ugly) Seiko solar-powered watches. Seiko has traditionally ignored solar, which Citizen has embraced and dominated with their extensive Ecotech offerings. Not sure what to make of this.

Other trends? Watches continue to get bigger, especially in the fashion brands. I saw many 50mm and larger watches. A lot of watches still look very blingy, though there seemed to be fewer saucer-sized, "diamond" encrusted hip-hop models. Still, the number of watches sporting fake diamonds were legion. Ugly and baffling. Who wears such things?

I was very pleased to see many mechanical watches, mainly in the fashion segment. Most all were using Chinese movements (some Invictas used Miyota/Citizen movements), and most were of skeleton or open heart design. You pay a premium for them, but at least everyone can see you're wearing mechanical. In this sense, these mechanical movements are being employed for aesthetics as well as exclusivity, which is a new trend in itself. I hope their popularity continues to rise, not only because I love mechanicals, but also so that Seiko and Citizen may be incentivized to expand their mechanical offerings. Both make very high quality movements, but they are plain and dull and, at least in American models, used very rarely.

Cuffs

Wearing a watch with a long-sleeved shirt is problematic for me, and I wear long-sleeved shirts most of the time. I have 8.5 inch wrists, quite large, and I like my watches sized loose. Consequently, most of my watches won't fit comfortably, or won't fit at all, under most of my cuffs. Many other men must have this same problem. What to do?

Style guru Alan Flusser maintains that only thin and inconspicuous watches should be worn with formal dress. A bulky sports watch worn with a dress shirt, he says, is a gaff. Well into the 90s, most men wore very small and thin watches, compared to those of today. They fit under cuffs just fine. But that looks stylistically to a past era.

Big sports watches are the predominant style now, even with dress
shirts. It takes confidence today for a thick-wristed man to wear a vintage 32mm watch. Many of my vintage watches look girly compared to my new ones, even though I don't really have or like overly big watches (say, over 42mm).

In the high-style era of the 30s through 60s, as men transitioned from pocket to wrist watches, watchmakers competed to see who could make the thinnest watch. At the same time, men often wore generous French cuffs and had shirts tailored to fit, including bespoke cuff sizing. Fitting a watch under you cuff was not at all an issue. The Italians introduced tight-fitting cannon cuffs, but style mavens like Gianni Agnelli just took to wearing their watches over them. You still see this occasionally, but it's hardly conventional. GQ says that the "only cuff [a watch] should be worn over is that of a wet suit."

The clothier Luciano Barbera, with watch worn over shirt cuff.

Most men, it seems, just bunch their sleeve up above their watch. I can't stand this myself. I either roll up my sleeves or leave my left cuff unbuttoned. But these are workarounds, not solutions. The real solution is of course to have your cuffs tailored to size. If that's not in your budget (it's not in mine), some men just relocate the left sleeve button out further toward the cuff edge, and may also have it shanked (hung from a longer, knotted thread). This can give you an extra half inch or more.

But frankly, as an ideal, Flusser certainly has it right. If you're dressing up, just go thin.

Addendum:  The photo above is many years old, but I just came across a recent one that shows Luciano still wearing his watch over the cuff.

Photo: Luciano Barbera, via A Suitable Wardrobe

The Daily Beater

Choice can sometimes be a burden when you have a drawer full of watches, so every enthusiast has a watch or two that you reach for by default when you just can't be bothered to give it any thought. The criteria are probably the same for most of us. The watch has to be comfortable, versatile and, frankly, one you are unconcerned about damaging. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a beater.

Right now I have three beaters that together are found on my wrist more than half the time, probably much more. The first is my one dollar mechanical on a green NATO strap. It's my true beater beater, perfect for mowing the lawn or working on the garbage disposal. It keeps good time, looks decent, is extremely comfortable and all but worthless.

My second beater is my Seiko 6309-7290 diver. For such a top-heavy watch, it's surprisingly comfortable on its current Jubilee bracelet. As Seiko divers go, it's nothing special, but even the lowliest Seiko diver looks great and goes great with anything from a sport coat to swim trunks. Of course it's waterproof, and probably bombproof.

But one of my most worn watches remains my very first mechanical, an Invicta 8926 (review). This is Invicta's single most popular wristwatch. It's an homage of the Rolex Submariner, though the most recent version (mine) has adopted a scalloped bezel like the Omega Seamaster.



The Invicta's Miyota 8215 automatic movement keeps great time and is very robust, one of the best basic automatic movements made (comparable to the ETA 2824-2). Its solid link oyster bracelet balances the substantial 40mm case quite well. It's heavy (ca. 150g), but not too heavy; big, but not too big; a bit blingy, but unlike most Invictas, not too blingy. My only complaint is that the polished center links on the bracelet get scratched up in no time. But that might almost be seen as a desirable feature, because once you scratch up your watch, you're no longer afraid to really wear it. To make it a beater.

Horological Topography I: The Price Ladder

It is difficult to talk about "fine" or "quality" watches in general, since the meaning of such descriptive terms is very relative. So to make this all a bit more specific, I'm going to start by breaking down watches into three major categories, by price, with some additional subcategories. This is fairly arbitrary, I admit, but it will provide one clear reference point when discussing the many variables of watch quality. Prices are street.

Consumer Watches ($50 or less)
Affordable Watches

• Entry level ($50-$300)
  
• Mid-range ($300-$800)
  
• High end ($800-$2000)
  
Luxury Watches

• Entry level ($2000-$6000)
• Mid-range ($6000-$20,000)
  
• High end ($20,000 and up)
  

Consumer Watches: These are your basic Wal-Mart watches, brands like Timex, Casio and Armitron, and all those countless fashion watch brands that do not actually make watches themselves, but know people with factories in China that do. If your only interest is keeping time, they are by far the best value. They are also the only watches that the vast majority of people will ever wear. But they are cheaply made and do not much interest us here.

Affordable Watches: These are the watches that interest here, because they are generally fine, quality watches. And among quality watches, they offer the best value for price. They are constructed from high-grade materials, with smart designs (many of them, anyway), and built by very capable robots. Actually, most will receive some personal attention from human watchmakers as well, and overall quality is high. This segment is dominated by the Japanese giants Citizen and Seiko, though both also have some entry level luxury lines as well. They are your typical jewelry store watch. There are also a few Swiss brands in the low end, like Swatch and the various Swiss army brands, but especially in the mid-range and high end one also finds Swiss makers like Ball, Hamilton, Fortis, Glycine, Oris, Tissot and numerous smaller concerns. These are all good brands.

There are also a number of upscale fashion brands in the low end of this category, many owned by Fossil, Movado, and other fashion conglomerates, or OEMd by Timex, or made by contract in unguessable Chinese factories. These are less interesting. There is also the very popular Invicta brand, a Florida company that manufactures in Asia. There is much debate about Invicta, in part because their quality and service is uneven, but the brand has its fans. Finally, Russia has a rich tradition of watchmaking and has recently started marketing its better products to the West, especially under the Vostok Europe brand. Even more interesting are the high-end Russia-only brand watches, made by companies like Buran and Poljot, with mechanical chronograph movements of Swiss design made on Swiss machinery. All of these fall comfortably into affordable watch territory.

Luxury Watches: These watches are very interesting, but not to me, since I will never own one. This is the domain of the manufactures of the Swiss canton of Jura and the German craftsmen of Glasshütte. In the low end one starts to find the familiar Swiss brands of Omega, Rolex and TAG Heuer. Then in the mid-range and high end are found the handcrafted, micro-mechanical wonders of world-famous manufactures like Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Vacheron Constantine, as well as the work of smaller "independents" like F.P. Journe. If this is what interests you, browse on over to The Purists. If they sound elitist, well, they can afford to be.

This blog is devoted to affordable watches, and skewed somewhat to the lower end. These are fine watches any middle-class person can afford. They do not receive as much attention from many watch collectors for that same reason. But their value is excellent. In subsequent posts we'll take a closer look at just what makes a fine watch fine.

Wristwatch Art

Many aficionados regard fine watches as functional art, especially mechanical watches. These watches are now enjoying a renaissance, in large part due to the aesthetic pleasure their owners derive from these marvels of mechanical miniaturization. But watches are also being turned into other forms of art far removed from their original purpose.

The round dials, bezels and cases of most watches naturally suggest wheels, even steering wheels.



And there has long been a connection between watches and racing, which is now even expressing itself in race-car inspired watches by manufacturers like TAG-Heuer and Richard Mille. So perhaps it's natural that someone would eventually repurpose watches as the raw materials for creating motorcycle sculptures.



While watch sculpture is quite unique and rare, wearable watch art is comparatively common. Cufflinks, rings, broaches, necklaces and more are easily found online at auctions and handicraft vendors like Etsy.



Aside from watch cufflinks and tietacs, which are really aimed at the lawyer who has everything, much of the popularity of watch jewellery seems to be driven by interest in the artistic and literary genre of Steampunk, or more precisely by a Steampunk subgenre called Clockpunk (see here, here and here). That is why so much of it has a Victorian character, a central motif of that genre. Now Clockpunk, there is a topic worth blogging about . . . another day.

Presidential Watches

American presidents receive an enormous amount of scrutiny, which may extend, yes, even to their watches. I wish that I could attend the exhibit "Time in Office: An Exhibit of Presidential Timepieces," at the National Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia, PA. It runs through December, if you are local. The watch a president wears just may say something about him.

When it was reported that someone had stolen George W. Bush's Timex, it left many of us scratching our heads. Given the security detail surrounding him, it seemed like a lot of risk for a watch that can be had for $30 and trip to Wal-Mart. But it turns out he pocketed it before a round of glad-handing so that no Timex thieves would be tempted. (To be fair, it was a Special Presidential Timex.) Nevertheless, it turned the puditocracy's attention to the fact that the leader of the free world wore the cheapest of watches, and led to some speculation about what that may say about a man. Earlier, Pravda noted Bush's watch inferiority when compared to Vladimir Putin, who wears a $60,000 Patek Philippe. Western capitalism, hah!

Unfortunately for Putin and the proud Russian pundits, the head of state with the most expensive timepiece is Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, who wears a Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Minute Repeater Perpetual Calendar (whew!) that retails for a staggering $540,000. Apparently pitying Bush and his Timex, Berlusconi gave W. a comparatively modest $13,000 Franck Muller, which the soon-to-be-ex-president wears, it is said, on special occasions.

Other presidents, and presidential candidates, have not shown much more taste in watches. Or at least, their tastes strongly run to Timex. John Edwards liked $400 haircuts, but when not wearing a Timex Ironman, his extravagance in watches only ran to a $100 Casio G-Shock GW-300. John Kerry, during his presidential run, wore a very modest Freestyle Tide. John McCain was more likely to be seen with an interesting memorial bracelet than an interesting watch, but his twentysomething daughter Meghan sports a rare Glycine Chronometer. Perhaps a gift from mom and dad?

Clinton wore a Timex in office, which he is reported to have given to the Smithsonian. But now he has moved considerably uptown, being seen wearing Cartier watches (both a Santos-Dumont and Balon Bleu), a Panerai Luminor (great anecdote here), a Kobold (four, actually), and even teaming up with luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet to raise money for his anti-poverty Clinton Foundation with special Presidential Edition timepieces. Carol Felsenthal reports that he has over 50 luxury watches in his collection, one of which is valued at $100,000.

Where were these when Clinton was in office? Cold storage, for political reasons that go back to his days as governer of Arkansas. You see, Timex has extensive operations in Arkansas, and it is the last large American watch manufacturer. This, and the need appeal to Joe Sixpack, may explain the political predilection for Wal-Mart wrist gear. As Levine and Milk put it, "Read my wrist." But are all politicos really that insecure?

Not any more! President-elect Barack Obama proudly wore a Swiss TAG Heuer Series 1500 two-tone dress diver, on a brown leather strap, for most of his campaign. While not the priciest of TAGs, it is a fine quality watch that is appropriate to his sartorial style. It seems Obama bought or received it after graduating from law school, or perhaps when he got married. He has at any rate worn it consistently for 10 or 15 years.
This has now been replaced by a Secret Service Chronograph that was a gift from the agents who protected him during his campaign. While it is a step down in quality (Chinese-made with a Japanese Citizen movement), it is certainly a step up in exclusivity. These may only be purchased at the Secret Service employees' store by agents ($210). Do not expect to see the genuine article at a retailer near you. Replicas? A definite possibility.

Update 05/20/2011: In Sept. 2010, the Financial Times did an article on Obama's Secret Service watch. Why the Financial Times? Because the maker of the watch, Jorg Gray, has received a huge boost in sales from admirers of the president and his timekeeper. In fact, sales "have grown from zero in retail sales 18 months ago, to close to $1m a month now [September 2010]." The basic Commemorative Edition of the watch retails for $350.

Update 05/30/2011: I just came across an article in the WatchTime archives (December 2008 [pdf]) on presidential watches. Well worth the read.

The Indiglo Factor

In my last post I observed that men and women often regard watches very differently. While women will purchase and enjoy fine watches just as men do, very often these are fashion or jewellery watches. Large segments of the men's watch market are filled with watch types that are rarely produced for women (divers, radio controlled, chronographs, etc.). And it is a fact that there are comparatively few women who collect wristwatches or who would consider themselves watch enthusiasts.

My wife always wears a watch, even when sleeping. Her watches get used hard and are quickly destroyed. I bought her an inexpensive but sturdy diver-style watch that she loves, and it has held up well. Her only regret? That it does not have Indiglo, a feature of Timexes. As a watch enthusiast I of course find this a little discouraging. She wants a Timex? Not a great brand, not fine watches.

But I came across a recent post on Outhouse Opines that offers almost poetic insight into one woman's relationship to her wristwatch. I think my wife would be in full sympathy. I reproduce part of it here but recommend the entire post:

I am a simple girl and I like simple things. Thus my favorite watch brand is Timex. I am very picky about watches, which makes me difficult to buy a nice expensive watch for as a gift. I want a plain black band (or white for summer) not a bracelet style band. I do not want Roman numerals or little dots where the numbers are supposed to be. I want my numbers, people! I either want my numbers and hands to glow in the dark or I want an indiglow dial. And most importantly, I want my watch to tick.

The watch of my choice was my watch as a child. I remember the nights I spent with my grandparents on the farm. There was no air conditioning so in the summer the windows were open. I could hear the wind blowing in the cottonwood trees that shaded their house. I could hear the horns of tug boats coming down the river occasionally. I could hear my uncle snoring in the other room. And I could hear my watch ticking.

I slept in my watch and I would lay in a position so that my watch was close to my ear. The rhythmic ticking of my watch was soothing. I would fall asleep to the ticking of my watch.

What Is a Man's Wristwatch?

A wristwatch may be much more than a portable timekeeper. It may have a great deal of personal and cultural significance. A fine, brief survey of that significance is found in the introduction to Gene Stone's The Watch. Stone offers a male perspective, and in my experience men and women do regard the wristwatch very differently (I'll discuss that in another post).

What is a man's wristwatch? Is it a piece of jewelry? A mechanical marvel? A fashion accessory? Or a fashion necessity?

It all depends on its owner. For many men, a wristwatch is the only piece of jewelry they'll ever own. It's a chance for those who disdain a chain or an earring to wear a precious metal–gold silver, or platinum. Men who feel uncomfortable even with a bland school ring will wear a huge solid-gold Audemars Piguet or Vacheron Constantin.

Then again, many men will tell you that a watch isn't a piece of jewelry at all. It is a practical device worn for a sole reason: to tell the time. Jewelry is a trifle, whereas a watch is a necessity. Many of these men are fond of quartz watches because of their accuracy, and opt for Japanese brands such as Citizen and Seiko, or the German Junghans, which manufactures radio-controlled timepieces.

For others, the wristwatch is a complicated piece of machinery. And the more complicated, the better. These are men who want the newest innovations in chronographs, calendars, power reserves, repeaters, and tourbillons. IWC's Il Destriero Scafusia is a split-seconds chronograph with a tourbillon that tells hours, minutes, seconds, day , date, moon phases, year, and also contains an hour, quarter-hour, and minute repeater. This model sold out. And watches with even more complications have been introduced.

Given that the watch is often the only item a discreet man can wear that shows off his wealth, some consider a watch the equivalent of a fancy sports car for the wrist. In these circles, a watch offers men the chance to roll up their sleeves and prove their worth with a huge piece of glitter, such as a Franck Muller or a Roger Dubuis.

And then there are those for whom wearing a watch is a chance to prove that they possess the latest, hippest invention: a device that not only tells time, but also features accessories like a temperature measurement function, a heart-rate monitor, and tidal information, such as the Casio G-Shock model line, whose instruction manuals are thicker than many books.

A watch is also a piece of history. To own a watch is to own the latest evolution of a record of timekeeping dating back to water clocks and sundials–it's a tiny replica of the same mechanism used by medieval clocks six hundred years ago. Some of the watches from companies like Jaquet Droz or A. Lange & Sohne purposefully look like timepieces of yore–and these, too, often sell out.

A watch can represent a slice of family history, too. A friend of mine has a gold Patek Philippe that his grandfather bought in 1925. Then his father wore it (only on special occasions–he considered his Longines more useful for day-to-day wear). Now my friend owns the Patek Philippe–but as the company's own advertising slogan boasts, you don't own a Patek Philippe as much as you pass it along to the next generation.

But of course, if you don't want to pass the watch along, you can sell it. That's yet another category of watch: the appreciable investment. Unlike a refrigerator, which loses value the moment it's purchased, a well-bought watch can gain value. A 14-karat-gold Hamilton Otis that cost $67.50 in 1938 can fetch $10,000 today.

For the less financially minded, a watch is a fashion accessory to be matched with a belt and shoes. Such men disparage the notion that one can wear a brown leather band with black shoes and belt, or vice versa. A watch, whatever its brand or price, is a detail in an outfit, and at times a $50 vintage watch can be more correct than a $10,000 Rolex if the rest of the attire complements it.

Finally, a watch is an aesthetic pleasure. What do you look at more often each day than your watch? Why not wear on your wrist something that makes you happy whenever you see it? Aesthetes aren't interested in its movement, or how it corresponds to their clothes, or even whether it keeps good time. For them, the face is everything.

For all watch wearers, the timepiece is something else. Everyone finds himself alone at some point, in an unfamiliar environment or in a strange place: the terrible hotel room you’re given when a flight is canceled, the motel room that’s never been cleaned. These are the times when you know that, even if your clothes are rumpled, the phones aren’t working, and the lighting is ominous, you have a companion. You take out your small piece of metallic genius and gaze at it. You feel a sense of pride in its workmanship, a sense of familiarity with its face, a sense of attachment to its touch.

A wristwatch is a universe of possibilities. It is a metaphor for the cosmos or a hunk of gold. It is anything and everything you want it to be. Wear it, stare at it, love it, repair it, open it, time it: Your watch represents a small part of you, wherever you go.

Raison d'être / Raison de la montre

As a young child, sitting in church services, bored as a child at church may be, my father would often pass me whatever he had at hand that might provide some small entertainment value. I counted the coins in his coin purse (remember those?), ate his breath mints, played with his watch. His watch was nothing special, I don't think. A working man's Timex on a Twist-O-Flex band. But putting it on my wrist gave me a small thrill of manhood, like sitting behind the wheel of his truck or putting on his Hai Karate aftershave.

I would not have known or cared then, in the mid-70s, that watchmaking was undergoing a revolution, with the advent of highly accurate, highly affordable quartz watches. By the close of the 1970s one could buy for $20 a watch more accurate than those Swiss marvels still given to retirees just ten years prior as high expressions of collegial esteem.

I care very much about a second, contemporary revolution in portable timekeeping: cellphones. My father no longer wears a watch. His cellphone fills that function, as it does for so many. When I graduated from high school I purchased my first watch, both out of practical need as I entered into adult pursuits, but also because wearing a wristwatch still served for me as a symbol of manhood. For most boys today, when they cross that threshold into manhood, the wristwatch will not have for them the same utility or symbolism. They may see a watch as an item of jewelery, or maybe as just a relic, but owning one will not be the rite of passage it was for me, or even more so, for young men the world over in the 1960s and earlier.

Perhaps this is progress, a happy convergence of technologies. But in fact, contrary to expectations, watch sales remains robust and, in particular, the market for fine watches is seeing stout growth. Swiss mechanical watch manufacturing, which was almost wiped out in the 1970s by the Japanese quartz watch, has seen dramatic growth since the 1990s and can scarcely keep up with worldwide demand. It seems that wristwatches still retain much utility, and even much symbolic and stylistic force, in today's world. My father aside, most men I know still wear watches. Even Dad admits there are times when having a clock on his wrist, instead of in his pocket, would be useful.

I have started this blog as a public service. Really! I am myself a wristwatch enthusiast and am involved with several online communities and forums that serve that interest. Like all enthusiasts, I feel a kind of evangelical zeal. A passion must be shared to be fully enjoyed. And it is true that with this blog I want to promote, in some modest way, what I call watch culture. But my hope here also is to do something more basic and useful for a much broader constituency. I want to create in blog form something like a Consumers Report, or a Dummies Guide to Wristwatches. This is less another blog for enthusiasts (though it will be that too, in part) than a guide for the wristwatch perplexed.

Why buy a watch? Why buy a nice watch? Why buy an expensive watch? What is a nice watch? Are nice watches necessarily expensive? Are expensive watches worth the money? What exactly are you paying for? Where are the cheapest places to buy nice watches? What are the best brands? How does one navigate all the different watch styles? What watches are appropriate for which activities and styles of dress? What is the difference between mechanical and quartz? What is an "atomic" watch? Eco-drive? Kinetic? A tourbillon? Etc., etc., and etc.

I will try to address these and similar questions, in one form or another, in the usual blog fashion, by aggregating relevant content from other sites. But I will also author a glossary of terms, profile brands, review specific watches or lines of watches, and offer mini-primers on watch history, style, and related topics. I will, as best I can, let feedback on my posts shape content. Oh, and there will be the occasional off-topic post, just 'cause I can!

Welcome to the Wrist Watcher!