The Pocket Watch has replaced the wristwatch.
Man, do I have an amazing pocket watch. This thing is so fancy, it does anything I can imagine. I think everyone now has a pocket watch.
Have you ever heard of the Marie Antoinette Grand Complication? That watch took 44 years to build. The customer nor the creator lived long enough to see it complete. They call it priceless but it's estimated to be worth better than $30 million. It has a clock, a perpetual calendar, a minute repeater, thermometer, a chronograph, about everything a mechanical watch can have.
Well, my new pocket watch is so much better than that. It does everything. I have an atomic clock, a countdown timer. It tells me the weather. It has an alarm. It plays music. I can see every timezone in the world. It tells me the weather. It plays movies, videos and games. It's better than any dictionary or encyclopedia. Oh, and it even makes phone calls.
Sure, it's not nearly as pretty or interesting as my old watch but, it's made me rethink what I really need in a wristwatch.
About a decade ago, I bought my grail watch. An Omega Speedmaster. Not the Moonwatch. No, I wanted something more complicated than that. It's a chronometer, a stopwatch, it has the day, date and month and it's an automatic with a 24hr subdial. And it's waterproof. It's a real beautiful piece. I don't wear it so much anymore. My new pocket watch does everything the Speedmaster does better. And my pocket watch costs a lot less and I'm not worried to death about breaking or loosing it.
Since I don't wear it everyday, the automatic is about worthless. I have to wind it up. Unless you wear it every day, there just isn't a point in having an automatic. I actually enjoy winding up a watch in the morning. It give me just a few seconds to appreciate my watch and think about the tasks I'll tackle throughout the day.
The stopwatch, I just can't hardly read. I guess it will record time up to 1/10th of a second or something like that but really, that hand is so small, I can't tell. My pocket watch is perfectly accurate to like a 100th of a second.
The day, date and month is hard to read. My eyes are failing me a bit I suppose. Setting the day, date and month is a bit of a pain in the ass and really, how many times a day do I need reminded of the date? I really don't forget once I know in the morning. If I do forget, I'm usually in front of a computer screen and my pocket watch has a calendar for every year me and my grand kids will be alive.
24 hr subdial? Really? Why did I need that? I don't live on a submarine. If I can't figure out if it's night or day, I probably need to stay in bed.
Being waterproof I suppose is nice but do I really need to risk a nice watch by taking a shower with it or jumping in a pool with it? I'm not a diver so I'm good with leaving my watch on the counter while in the shower. Even more simple watches are just fine if you splash them while washing your hands.
The Speedmaster is beautiful piece but I do think it misses something. It's not quite as soulless as my pocket watch but it is a little hollow. There are probably a million just like it, mass produced and they all lack the love and care of the 'old' pieces. Sure, there are still watches that have the artistic care, precision and craftsmanship, but you pay through the nose for those. Those cost more than my house.
I love my watch even though I don't really need it anymore. I have re-thought what a watch really needs to do. For me, anyway.
For one, I have to be able to tell the time in an instant. Wrist watches were invented during WWI so that soldiers could tell the time without digging in their pocket. Same holds true today. I like the time quick and easy.
I don't need much technology. Sure, there is still technological progression with mechanical watches. Silicone escapements, computer aided designs, anti-magnetism and so forth. But really, no amount of technology in a mechanical piece can compete with my pocket watch.
Since the wrist watch is with me for every waking moment, I need to like it. I like it if it reminds me of something or means something to me. Because it is the only piece of jewelry I wear, it needs to look good. It needs to fit my style and fit with my self image. I now value the artistic value of the timepiece more than I value the technology. My watches today tell a story. I designed it. It is exactly what I wanted. Or at least pretty close. Perfection will always escape me. I need it to tell time. Reasonably accurate. I don't have to have a chronometer.
Did you know chronometers were invented as navigational aids? They were considered scientific instruments 100 years ago. Well, I pretty much have an atomic clock, the most accurate timepiece in the world on my pocket watch so if my wrist watch is accurate within a few seconds a day, I'm all good. Oh, as as for navigational aids, I have a GPS precision map in my pocket watch. I can't read a sextant anyway. Come to think if it, I doubt I could find the north star with a compass.
More than tell time, I want my timepieces to tell a story. Simple. Robust. A little more art than science.