Why Watches? Why Now?

After years of not wearing a watch, last fall I started wearing one. It wasn't the one I stopped wearing almost ten years ago. I still have no interest in that watch. Until this week it was a cheap Stauer Chinese-movement automatic mechanical watch that I saw in a SkyMall catalog while flying to Las Vegas. This week I bought an Invicta Swiss-movement copy of a Rolex Submariner. Why did my interest in these watches happen? Why will I not consider other watches?

It has to do with the movement in the watch. When I was a child my father bought me a Caravelle watch. It was a manual mechanical meaning I had to wind it every day. Quartz battery-powered watches were just starting to enter the market. I didn't know anything but that I liked being able to tell the time anywhere I went. I loved my watch. As time went by I bought other watches. I thought I made the big time when I bought a Seiko in the service. The only thing I disliked was the battery. I didn't think that it mattered and after I wore out the Seiko I looked at cheap Swatches, Timex and Casio LCD watches. The complexity of the features made it hard for me to make any adjustments without an instruction book. I just didn't like the watch anymore.

But that was before I realized that my nature as a curious engineer realized while reading the SkyMall ad for the Stauer Meisterzeit watch that the mechanics behind a self-winding watch is fascinating. Springs, gears, levers - I wanted a marvel of old-world technology on my wrist. And that Stauer didn't let me down. The watch has an exhibition back that shows the weighted rotor that moves 360 degrees to wind the watch anytime my arm moves. Now the ad talked about the first patent for the modern automatic in 1923 and how this watch mimicked that first automatic. I googled and wikied for all the information I could find regarding the technology. I discovered that the Chinese movement was not a replica of the bumper automatic but rather the Rolex-patented in 1930, full-rotating automatic movements that are in all automatics today. I also discovered what a hacking watch is. The $100 watch could hack - meaning the second hand stops when the crown is pulled out to adjust the time. That allows the watch to synchronize to another time source.

I didn't expect much accuracy with this watch because an electric signal from a quartz crystal is more accurate than a spring, a gear and a lever. For the first few weeks the watch was off by two minutes a week. But amazingly, it got more accurate as time went by and now it is off by a dozen seconds or so a week. Seeing the balance-wheel move through the exhibition back was another love of mine. This was brought even further by blogs displaying hand-made watches that were designed to show all of the mechanics of that watch. In particular are the Tourbillon movements. Those are found in watches that generally sell for more than $20,000.

This Stauer has a sweeping second hand. Just to show my ignorance, I was taught that a person could spot a fake Rolex watch by looking at the second hand. The fake ones I saw had the kind of second hand that clicks every second. Now I know that it has to do with quartz movements - all automatic mechanical movements have sweeping hands. The Chinese-movement in my Stauer could be in a Rolex-copy and I would be fooled. Never-the-less I still view the sweeping hand a sign of luxury - at any price.

I love the Stauer watch and recommend it to those with a low budget but I needed to move on to what I hope to be my final watch. My friend Larry wears a Rolex. It's not that he could afford one as much as it is that he always wanted one. I can't say the same so it's smart that my wife has no intention of getting me one. I would not appreciate it. But I do appreciate having a Swiss-made automatic movement on a nicer watch. I was considering getting a Hamilton watch someday. But I came across Invicta and found some really wonderful options. Invicta has a series called "Pro Diver." In the series are a half-dozen or so watches that look just like a Rolex Submariner. All of them are automatics and cost between $90 and $300.

I was opting for the Invicta model 8626 with a Japanese Miyota movement. But like my guitars, buying the inexpensive one would not satisfy me. The fact that the back display shows a plain movement and a plain rotor along with the fact that it's not a Swiss movement and it is non-hacking, with a mineral (scratchable) crystal would not have satisfied me. Fortunately I got a bonus from my boss and was able to get the $300 model 9937 with everything I want in a watch. I don't want a Rolex or anything costing close to that much. I hope that this watch will last me because the Sellita SW200 Swiss movement isn't proven yet and I'm not sure what Invicta means by calling the crystal "Flame-Fusion." I know what it means but the name is used as a trademark. Supposedly it is more durable than a straight sapphire crystal but it may only be a cost saver. Time will tell. The bottom line is that the watch looks great and already someone mistook it for a Rolex.

Why now? I don't know. Maybe I'm thinking back to when I was a kid with my Caravelle watch. Maybe it was discovering that I could afford a watch that looks like a Rolex. Maybe it's the marvel of the engineering. But I'm happy to own this watch and I will wear one from now on.