Mechanical Watch Thread

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AHTOXA
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Mechanical Watch Thread

Post by AHTOXA »

Did we have one of these before? I can't remember.

As a fan of manual transmissions, I am surprised it took me this long to get into mechanical watches.

I have always like watches and I have worn a watch daily since 2011. Problem is, until recently all of my watches have been quartz.

There is nothing inherently wrong with quartz. They are more accurate and the quartz watches I have had prior offered a ton of features - altitude, barometric pressure and compass, etc. I still use these watches today as my hiking and outdoors watch.

But, I have come to appreciate mechanical matches and I have been on this diver watch kick. In my mind, a mechanical watch, although not as accurate, is a lot like the modern manual. Modern manuals may not shift as fast as a DSG, but there is pleasure to be had in the experience. In the same way the mechanical watch is not as accurate as quartz, but to me they are examples of art that is lost on most people. This is mechanical engineering at its best. It is a machine made of over 100 moving parts that has a precision rate of over 99.97%.

So let's get into this. Enough babbling. I only have but 2 mechanical watches but this should get things started.

Bernhardt Binnacle Diver (formerly the Sea Shark) 200M. Simple, reliable and made by a company in North Carolina. Fred Amos the owner responds to all communications himself and does it within 1 business day or less. Cannot beat that and it's my favorite watch to own at the moment. Powered by a a Japanese Miyota 8215 movement.
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This is the watch I have in the mail now. Should be here by Wednesday Next week or so.
Armida A4 2000m. Real diver watch. Swiss movement. Reliable. Although it more costly than the Bernhardt, it is still affordable and is a good entry-level Swiss movement (ETA2836-2)
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Let's see your mechanicals!
Last edited by AHTOXA on Sat Jun 18, 2016 12:06 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Mechanical Watch Thread

Post by Bill B »

Have not had a mechanical watch that you had to wind everyday in years, but this thread brings back memories of that. Not a watch, but I still use my wind up Baby Ben alarm clock. This particular Baby Ben was made by Westclox. If you look at the bottom of it, it will say made in the USA. They ended up being made overseas (cheap labor) sometime later.
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Re: Mechanical Watch Thread

Post by Teamwork »

I'm going to chime in here Tony. I think a lot of the points you made about mechanical watches and manual transmission are pretty spot on in how I feel. I pretty much wore a watch growing up everyday of my life as a kid but I had a period where I fell out and then came back into watches of recent times. I actually have a leather box that holds 10 and I have 9 spots filled (last being for hopefully a wedding gift :)). No mechanical watches though for me... I've always been on the fence about getting one but I always talk myself out of it since they aren't as reliable and usually pricier to repair. I'm also kind of a feature whore when it comes to these things so I really prefer quartz but I actually just got a smart watch from Fossil for my birthday and that's going to be my daily driver for what I suspect to be years. If I didn't end up getting that for my birthday though I was going to end up getting an automatic watch that winds with the movement of your arm...

I have a feeling another day this could definitely be a possibility but I really love my smart watch now.

This is the automatic watch that I was pretty close to getting many a times: http://orientwatchusa.com/collections/m ... r/aa02005d

This is one of my favorite watches I own: http://www.citizenwatch.com/en-us/watch ... BJ7000-52E

I always feel like a watch and nice dress shoes could really complete a suit or business attire in general. Like a finishing touch.
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Re: Mechanical Watch Thread

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Tony, et al,
I view what you are calling "Mechanical Watches" as being the equivalent of an "Automated Manual Transmission", which, while being comprised of helical range gears which are in constant mesh and a synchronizer system for "Clutching" those gears into and out of the drive torque flow are not really under the control of the driver in the same way as a true manual transmission, since they use an automated system to select which gear to utilize at any moment and actuate the gearshift with servo-hydraulics or stepper-motors rather than a manually-operated shift linkage system.

My timepiece is a truely mechanical and manually-operated one. I purchsed it as a kit and it only took me one afternoon to assemble it.

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Re: Mechanical Watch Thread

Post by AHTOXA »

Teamwork wrote:I'm going to chime in here Tony. I think a lot of the points you made about mechanical watches and manual transmission are pretty spot on in how I feel. I pretty much wore a watch growing up everyday of my life as a kid but I had a period where I fell out and then came back into watches of recent times. I actually have a leather box that holds 10 and I have 9 spots filled (last being for hopefully a wedding gift :)). No mechanical watches though for me... I've always been on the fence about getting one but I always talk myself out of it since they aren't as reliable and usually pricier to repair. I'm also kind of a feature whore when it comes to these things so I really prefer quartz but I actually just got a smart watch from Fossil for my birthday and that's going to be my daily driver for what I suspect to be years. If I didn't end up getting that for my birthday though I was going to end up getting an automatic watch that winds with the movement of your arm...

I have a feeling another day this could definitely be a possibility but I really love my smart watch now.

This is the automatic watch that I was pretty close to getting many a times: http://orientwatchusa.com/collections/m ... r/aa02005d

This is one of my favorite watches I own: http://www.citizenwatch.com/en-us/watch ... BJ7000-52E

I always feel like a watch and nice dress shoes could really complete a suit or business attire in general. Like a finishing touch.
The Orient Ray is a nice watch.

Yeah, mechanicals are pricier to service, but not that bad. 200 bucks every 5 years is minor, really. The upside is, mechanical movements are repairable whereas quartz are usually not. If it breaks, you need another movement, and it's usually cheaper to get another watch at this point.
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Re: Mechanical Watch Thread

Post by Teamwork »

AHTOXA wrote:The Orient Ray is a nice watch.

Yeah, mechanicals are pricier to service, but not that bad. 200 bucks every 5 years is minor, really. The upside is, mechanical movements are repairable whereas quartz are usually not. If it breaks, you need another movement, and it's usually cheaper to get another watch at this point.
I've literally never heard of too many people who end of repairing quartz unless it was under some sort of warranty. My fossil smart watch has a 2 year warranty which is pretty surprising because I feel like A LOT could go wrong over time. I mean this is really relying on technology through and through and fairly advanced. I've only been using it for 2 days but I feel like the technology and concept is still in 'guinea pig' phasing. It doesn't feel like a final product on the software or hardware end and it really could use some surveying and polishing. For example, on the hardware end of things it has a really unsightly light sensor that actually takes up part of the screen (a noticeable amount). Also, there's no way to directly charge the watch you have to strap it on a pillow cushion which acts like a charger and if you don't strap it on tight enough it doesn't make a good connection. Software side of things it feels like a beta... It's not that intuitive to set up overall also- like I couldn't imagine someone past the age of 50 being able to work this thing properly. I actually myself had to resort to an instruction manual to figure things out.

Maybe you could answer this question Tony since you started the thread but how do you go about handling mechanical watches if you don't wear them every day? I'm talking about the ones that are supposed to "wind" with your natural arm movements on a daily basis... do you need to get a winder? How often do you wind it? Again, I'm totally not against the idea but now I have a declared daily driver and 9 others to rotate through I'm not sure if it'd make much sense for me to get an automatic.
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Re: Mechanical Watch Thread

Post by potownrob »

Like with most things, I've had bad luck with watches. Quartz watches, wind-up watches, "autotragic" watches, you name it. I've had issues with almost all of them. A few years ago a coworker told me he hadn't worn a watch in years and how liberating it was (to not check the time every few minutes). This was before he had a cell phone on him at all times, so he seemed a little crazy saying that. I had been having issues with my watches and moisture build up on my skin under them, so I stopped wearing watches. I had a cell phone on me most of the time, so I didn't really need a watch. I have had watches since then to wear to special occasions but they of course either die or break. These aren't $500 watches, mind you, but mostly not the cheapest ones either. Maybe someday I'll try wearing a watch again.
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Re: Mechanical Watch Thread

Post by AHTOXA »

Teamwork wrote:
AHTOXA wrote:The Orient Ray is a nice watch.

Yeah, mechanicals are pricier to service, but not that bad. 200 bucks every 5 years is minor, really. The upside is, mechanical movements are repairable whereas quartz are usually not. If it breaks, you need another movement, and it's usually cheaper to get another watch at this point.
I've literally never heard of too many people who end of repairing quartz unless it was under some sort of warranty. My fossil smart watch has a 2 year warranty which is pretty surprising because I feel like A LOT could go wrong over time. I mean this is really relying on technology through and through and fairly advanced. I've only been using it for 2 days but I feel like the technology and concept is still in 'guinea pig' phasing. It doesn't feel like a final product on the software or hardware end and it really could use some surveying and polishing. For example, on the hardware end of things it has a really unsightly light sensor that actually takes up part of the screen (a noticeable amount). Also, there's no way to directly charge the watch you have to strap it on a pillow cushion which acts like a charger and if you don't strap it on tight enough it doesn't make a good connection. Software side of things it feels like a beta... It's not that intuitive to set up overall also- like I couldn't imagine someone past the age of 50 being able to work this thing properly. I actually myself had to resort to an instruction manual to figure things out.

Maybe you could answer this question Tony since you started the thread but how do you go about handling mechanical watches if you don't wear them every day? I'm talking about the ones that are supposed to "wind" with your natural arm movements on a daily basis... do you need to get a winder? How often do you wind it? Again, I'm totally not against the idea but now I have a declared daily driver and 9 others to rotate through I'm not sure if it'd make much sense for me to get an automatic.
Well, considering that my second mechanical watch is arriving this week, I haven't had to deal with this as typically my current mechanical is only off my wrist during the weekend when I hike with my Mudman g-9300.

But, I'm probably gonna get a auto winder. Just attach your watch and it moves about every few hours keeping the kinetic movement charged.

Not entirely necessary for me though, since both can be manually wound as well instead of relying solely on movement. The auto winder is easier, though, and they are not expensive.
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Re: Mechanical Watch Thread

Post by potownrob »

That Bernhardt watch looks nice. I love dark blue and it can be hard to find a really good looking watch with a blue face like that. They have some cheaper watches that look nice but they're mainly Quartz.
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Re: Mechanical Watch Thread

Post by Teamwork »

AHTOXA wrote: Well, considering that my second mechanical watch is arriving this week, I haven't had to deal with this as typically my current mechanical is only off my wrist during the weekend when I hike with my Mudman g-9300.

But, I'm probably gonna get a auto winder. Just attach your watch and it moves about every few hours keeping the kinetic movement charged.

Not entirely necessary for me though, since both can be manually wound as well instead of relying solely on movement. The auto winder is easier, though, and they are not expensive.
I'm definitely getting itchy about getting one. This thread is fueling a fire for sure... I might have to look into getting an auto winder- this would be nice also because I can save a spot in my watch box for that "marriage watch". My wrists are fairly small so I can't really wear anything 45mm or wider face wise without looking ridiculous. I am really happy with my Fossil Q Smartwatch being my daily driver... but it has a tough time fitting under the cuff of my dress shirts. I hate that feeling also when it doesn't slip out and in of a cuff easily. Wish I had manlier wrists... :?

The thing about Quartz is almost every watch I have has a party trick of some sorts and I feel like mechanical can't live up to that. I have either solar power hybrids, atomic time keeping, or a built in calculator even for my G Shocks. What I'd really like with a mechanical is a sweeping second hand motion.
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Re: Mechanical Watch Thread

Post by AHTOXA »

Teamwork wrote:
AHTOXA wrote: Well, considering that my second mechanical watch is arriving this week, I haven't had to deal with this as typically my current mechanical is only off my wrist during the weekend when I hike with my Mudman g-9300.

But, I'm probably gonna get a auto winder. Just attach your watch and it moves about every few hours keeping the kinetic movement charged.

Not entirely necessary for me though, since both can be manually wound as well instead of relying solely on movement. The auto winder is easier, though, and they are not expensive.
I'm definitely getting itchy about getting one. This thread is fueling a fire for sure... I might have to look into getting an auto winder- this would be nice also because I can save a spot in my watch box for that "marriage watch". My wrists are fairly small so I can't really wear anything 45mm or wider face wise without looking ridiculous. I am really happy with my Fossil Q Smartwatch being my daily driver... but it has a tough time fitting under the cuff of my dress shirts. I hate that feeling also when it doesn't slip out and in of a cuff easily. Wish I had manlier wrists... :?

The thing about Quartz is almost every watch I have has a party trick of some sorts and I feel like mechanical can't live up to that. I have either solar power hybrids, atomic time keeping, or a built in calculator even for my G Shocks. What I'd really like with a mechanical is a sweeping second hand motion.
Yeah, I'm a G shock guy so I can relate. The G shocks are my outdoor beaters. I primarily wear the G 9300-1 on the weekends when I'm out in the woods. Nothing else can take a beating like that.

My wrist is pretty small, too, at 6.75". Usually it isn't the case size that I look at but the lug-to-lug measurement. Shape of wrist matters, too because a flatter wrist will have more real estate for a larger watch.

My Armida I received today is a 44mm case with a 54mm lug to lug. My wrist is about 58-59mm wide and this watch is at the limit of how large I can go and not have the lugs hang off my wrist.
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Re: Mechanical Watch Thread

Post by AHTOXA »

Shots the aforementioned Armada. 54mm lug to lug is rather massive.

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Re: Mechanical Watch Thread

Post by Teamwork »

That's pretty nice man.. I like threads like this and in general I kind of like talking about watches. I've worn one everyday since 6/6 up until today and my wrist feels WEIRD. Again, the only annoyance I have is when I have trouble pulling it over my cuff (I even wear my cuffs to the bigger opening just for my watches) so naturally I'm going to prefer smaller faces. Big faces are in style though for sure and if I had a bigger wrist I'd go as big as I possibly could.

I have 3 G-Shocks and really love the brand. That was my last informal daily... My smartwatch Fossil Q is a really big and heavy face (I'm guessing because of the battery also) so if I buy another for collection purposes I'd def be looking for something specific. Elegant, classy, and thin/small > and probably links. I don't usually prefer links but my leather/silicone bands ratio to links is growing pretty steadily.
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Re: Mechanical Watch Thread

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Yeah, I only have one watch with a metal bracelet, all others are rubber/silicone; it's just a more comfy fit for me, looks be damned.

I have 2 G Shocks so I'm a bit behind you on that.

Been measuring my new watch pictured above and so far it has been running a steady negative 5 seconds every 24 hours. Not bad at all, given that chrono-certified mechanicals are -4/+6 second range, so I'm just outside that with a non-chrono certified watch.

Although I must say that I prefer my mechanical watch to run fast rather than slow (most run fast, but can go either way). My Bernhardt runs about 8 seconds fast every day.

I guess it's easier to reset a fast watch and I'd rather be running ahead than behind. Even though few seconds a day dont make a lick of difference in real world.
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Re: Mechanical Watch Thread

Post by Teamwork »

AHTOXA wrote:Yeah, I only have one watch with a metal bracelet, all others are rubber/silicone; it's just a more comfy fit for me, looks be damned.

I have 2 G Shocks so I'm a bit behind you on that.

Been measuring my new watch pictured above and so far it has been running a steady negative 5 seconds every 24 hours. Not bad at all, given that chrono-certified mechanicals are -4/+6 second range, so I'm just outside that with a non-chrono certified watch.

Although I must say that I prefer my mechanical watch to run fast rather than slow (most run fast, but can go either way). My Bernhardt runs about 8 seconds fast every day.

I guess it's easier to reset a fast watch and I'd rather be running ahead than behind. Even though few seconds a day dont make a lick of difference in real world.
I can really utilize links/metal too because my arms are not hairy either. My father who has really hairy limbs in general basically shuns links because it pinches him, inevitably so I feel like I should be taking advantage of my genetic disposition. When it comes down to it though, my preference is rubber/silicone or leather. I have a Diesel watch that's actually giving me problems and I'm probably going to part ways with it (it wasn't incredibly expensive compared to my other pieces) but the leather feels soft and supple. My only complaint about silicone/rubber material is that it seems to scuff against my skin and create sweat marks the easiest.

I really think with formal attire a watch with links though completes the outfit even more so then a belt or shoes (both fairly important too). Don't mean to digress but have you ever tucked in a polo/dress shirt with no belt on? It looks RIDICULOUS... I'm wearing my watch today and I feel like all is right in the world haha- yesterday kind of felt lost. As Potown said the need for a watch has disintegrated with cellphones but sometimes in a business meeting I'd rather look at my watch where the intention couldn't be confused for anything else- where pulling a huge cellphone out could be confused for a lot of things. And again, it's a nice male fashion piece of jewelry I think!

My G-shocks I seriously have no doubts will last decades even with the fancy technology. Really great values IMO for what you're actually getting and they can take a beating without looking too haggard or dying. My dress watches are all Citizen's and they feel sturdy and well made but fragile at the same time.

If I went mechanical I'd like for it to run faster rather than slow too. I actually keep my clocks in my cars running 10 minutes fast for over a decade now. Needless to say I'm never late and it works for me psychologically.
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