Are wrist watches history ?

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I also have a fitbit and a wrist watch and a pocket watch.

I have a wristwatch my folks gave me for my high school graduation in 1974; a Seiko automatic-wind diver's watch. I've replaced the band many times over the years but some years ago, it started to run slow and it wouldn't take a wind for very long - most likely needs to be cleaned again. The local shops won't touch it any more and I haven't gotten it together to send it to Seiko.

In the meantime, I've been using a pocket watch I bought in 1991 at a local surplus chain store. It's a Soviet-era Russian watch with the trade name ракета on it. When I got it I asked a Russian-born fellow at work to translate it for me and was quite amused. It was at a time I was not active in this hobby but now I'm quite proud to have it.

I've added a Fitbit which has a time readout to my wrist now so may not get the Seiko fixed. I'll check the phone occasionally for the time but it's not my go to.
 
I have been wearing a wrist watch for about 60 years and the only time it comes off is when I sleep or shower. As an EMT, pulling out my cell phone is not good patient care because they think your surfing the net and it is not wise to spread the patients wet stuff to your phone or into your pocket. My current wrist watch is a self winding Invicta that I purchased on Amazon.
 
I have a wristwatch my folks gave me for my high school graduation in 1974; a Seiko automatic-wind diver's watch. I've replaced the band many times over the years but some years ago, it started to run slow and it wouldn't take a wind for very long - most likely needs to be cleaned again. The local shops won't touch it any more and I haven't gotten it together to send it to Seiko.

In the meantime, I've been using a pocket watch I bought in 1991 at a local surplus chain store. It's a Soviet-era Russian watch with the trade name ракета on it. When I got it I asked a Russian-born fellow at work to translate it for me and was quite amused. It was at a time I was not active in this hobby but now I'm quite proud to have it.

I've added a Fitbit which has a time readout to my wrist now so may not get the Seiko fixed. I'll check the phone occasionally for the time but it's not my go to.
USS Constitution is on me pocket watch.
I couldnt wear jewel at work back when I was still pipe welding.
 
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I still like my Omega Speedmaster Pro Mark II given to me for high school graduation in '74. I send it in for overhaul every now and then. I believe the version just before this one was the Speedmaster Pro that was used on the moonshots.
None of the American watch brands at the time could withstand the conditions in space. They had to threaten the astronauts to turn them back in as they were "gubermint" property. Ashame, as they put their keisters on the line and the
least that could have done was let them keep their watches!!! Kurt
 
I had a G-Shock dive watch that I liked a lot. So much so, that when it died after about ten years (and only one battery replacement) that my wife bought be another one. That one however, didn't fare as well. The band broke and, being an odd size, no one carried it. My wife, again knowing how much I liked it, found a place online and bought a new band (for about $45 dollars!!). That would have made a great story, but my new band, as expensive as it was, broke in less than a year. I still have the watch in a drawer somewhere, but I refuse to pay that much for a watchband.

I have nice Seiko that my parents got me for graduation from my Masters program a few years back, but I let the battery die. It's a nice enough watch, and has enough sentimental attachment to it, that I will eventually replace the battery and wear it whenever I wear a tie (Sundays).
 
I have a fair collection of Elgin pocket watches. Some open face, some hunter's case (metal front cover). A couple are old enough that they are wound with a key, and that is also how you adjust the time. I also have a Colibri hunter's case pocket watch that I bought with my first paycheck. It's not very rare or anything, just had horses on the front case. I haven't owned a wrist watch since I was a kid in the '70's. Never liked something bulky on my wrist.

Adrian
 
This bad boy has been with me for 30 years now. Same band, change the battery every 5 years. Keeps perfect time!
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Adrian, can you post some pic of your watches? Or email them to me. I'd be really interested in seeing your time pieces.
Elgin was a name brand of many things at one time from Sears. Do you have any original packaging with these pieces?
Thank You Kindly.

I have a fair collection of Elgin pocket watches. Some open face, some hunter's case (metal front cover). A couple are old enough that they are wound with a key, and that is also how you adjust the time. I also have a Colibri hunter's case pocket watch that I bought with my first paycheck. It's not very rare or anything, just had horses on the front case. I haven't owned a wrist watch since I was a kid in the '70's. Never liked something bulky on my wrist.

Adrian
 
I like watches. I don't buy them very often. I don't why or really thought about it much but, I like looking at a watch when I need to know the time.
 
I've worn a watch since I was a kid. In high school it was a Bulova Caravelle mechanical watch. For probably 25 years (maybe more) I wore Casio calculator watches. They would typically last three or four years each - the band would die and I'd replace it, then the case would fail at the band attachment about the time it was due for the second band. Several of these are still around and occasionally used as stopwatches.

I got myself a 42mm Apple Watch Sport for my 60th birthday last October and retired the most recent Casio. The Apple Watch is about the same size as the one it replaced, but can do more. It's a little more awkward to use as a calculator since a touch screen just isn't as good as actual physical buttons for the calculator...but for everything else it's better as long as I put it on the nightstand charger every night (it's now my bedside alarm clock as well). And I like the fitness tracking aspects as well....and that it taps me on the wrist and tells me to get up and walk around if I haven't done so in the last hour or so.

But I'd be wearing some kind of watch in any event. The Apple is a splurge for me, and time will tell if I get my money's worth from it. (no pun intended)
 
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I went on a trip and could not find my watch before leaving, so I was stuck with either my cell phone or iPod Touch as "pocket watches" during the trip.

The cell phone did NOT update the time automatically where I was, it was an hour off, no way to manually set it.

Ipod, once I FINALLY got to a working Wifi spot, it finally updated. So, I used that at the destination.

But on the way back, stopovers at two airports that were supposed have "Free WiFi", didn't have free WiFi, and it wasn't worth paying for, and without WiFi there was no way to update. So, the iPod had the wrong time until I got back home. Indeed at one point I thought I had one less hour to make a flight than there really was, a local clock said it was about 2 PM when I thought it was 3 PM. I was misled because I THOUGHT my cell phone had updated to the correct local time as it had given me an "update" message recognizing WHERE I had flown into, but not WHEN....... there was no way for me to know that the alleged "update" was not an actual "time update", until I happened to see a local clock.

If I had had MY WATCH, I could have manually updated it. Also, of course, I could have looked at it easily without either getting anything out of my pocket, or asking someone what time it was when my hands were full.

A few months ago, I also got a cheap "Smart Watch", that was.... pretty dumb. So it ended up being a fancier looking version of a typcial watch, since it didn't do anything extra that was worth it to me, with the inconveniences of needing ot charge it every few days, and needing use both hands anytime I wanted to see what time it was (one hand to press the button of the atch on the other arm), so almost like going into my pocket to fid out the time. Also one thing that bugged me was the actual time display when the button was pressed was to show an analog watch dial. Nice BUT, no option to display it as DIGITAL without pressing another button to get into the menu which showed digital time much smaller along side basic menu options (so, again, a dumb "smart watch").

A friend, Jay Marsh, had a "Smart Watch" that is much better (and more $) than mine. It could not be updated AT ALL without interfacing with his cell phone. Which he was unable to get it to do during the trip. So his "Smart Watch" was stuck at the time zone where he lives.

Now if I could afford an Apple watch.....it would have features that would be worth it to me. Probably ACTIVELY reminding me to charge the thing when it got low, as the cheap dumb watch was too stupid to let me know (if it only warned me when I looked at it, and I had gone a couple of days without wearing it, well, I never saw such warnings and it went dead). Even my old ancient "Flip Phone that is just a phone" gives me low battery warning beeps. At least when I bought the dumb "Smart" watch, I knew that at that price not to expect a lot out of it, so I wasn't really surprised, it was a bit of a gamble worth taking a shot at for the price. Although..... now that I think of it, it was "Smart" enough to let me MANUALLY SET THE TIME!

All of this reminds me that I either need to find my good old $15 B/W LCD watch soon, or buy a new one at Walmart.

- George Gassaway
 
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Yeah, what interesting personal stories with watches. I also have 2 My first watch I bought when I was 7. I broke it during a football game one month later. Then, as a student in university I had of course wrist watch to go regularly lectures and exercises. Once as I was walking me attacked four gypsies. I fought bravely (I practiced karate and was in top form) and driven them but the clock was broken.But the watch was Russian and very healthy. The head of one of the Gypsies was a lot worse than watch :) Only the glass was missing and one of the arrows ,but watch works! .More I never bought a watch :) Clock woke me at home, but because my work was related to computers watching time on the desktop. Then already I had mobile phones and now smartphone.
 
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I'm partial to pocket watches myself. Something honest, solid, traditional, manly, and satisfying about whipping out your pocket watch and popping it open.
The latest one was a birthday gift from my wife. Love the inscription.
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I'm partial to pocket watches myself. Something honest, solid, traditional, manly, and satisfying about whipping out your pocket watch and popping it open.
The latest one was a birthday gift from my wife. Love the inscription.

I've always thought pocket watches were cool.....and agree on the inscription - very nice.
 
I'm partial to pocket watches myself. Something honest, solid, traditional, manly, and satisfying about whipping out your pocket watch and popping it open.
The latest one was a birthday gift from my wife. Love the inscription.
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I used to have a really nice pocket watch that was small enough to fit in a suit vest pocket. It was given to me by my Aunt in Germany when I visited in 1979 (I was 14 at the time) but some *%$&@ burgled our house and stole it.
 
Even though I carry a smart phone and wear a fitness tracker that can be a watch, I am still quite fond of my Tissot Race-touch. Theonly analog watch I know of with a touch sesitive dial.

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I've not worn wristwatches in decades...the bands tend to irritate my wrist, and I'm left-handed as well. Not much need really as I have pretty good time sense (within a few minutes) without looking and have little to no requirement for the fashion aspects. As a west coast engineer somebody literally has to die to get me into a suit. When I really need accurate time the iPhone works great and tracks time zone changes just fine when I'm travelling. But I do like old pocket watches, though I've only got one - a 100-ish year old Elgin railroad type.
 
OK - since we have watch fans engaged:
I'm looking for a new watch.
Needs to have an daily alarm and a backlight (as in I read it in the middle of the night - no luminous hands that fade quickly)

I've been using Timex Expeditions but they seem have dropped in quality and I'm now on my third that the stem has broken ... they last about 6 months.
Like their feature-set, but they keep dying.

Looking for something better that has just three features: Time, Alarm, Backlight.
Recommendations please.
 
Have a dozen or so Seiko Solar and Citizen Eco-Drive watches as I hate changing batteries. I always wear a watch at work or business meetings as the impression given is a more complete, prepared look.

I bought a solar-powered G-Shock watch at Costco close to ten years ago. It updates the time automatically and I haven't had to change any batteries, I just keep it on the windowsill when I'm not wearing it.
 
Adrian, can you post some pic of your watches? Or email them to me. I'd be really interested in seeing your time pieces.
Elgin was a name brand of many things at one time from Sears. Do you have any original packaging with these pieces?
Thank You Kindly.

Woody. No packaging. Here you go. I also have a spreadsheet detailing each watch, but I'm not sure I should post that... Let's just say that the newest watch is the stainless steel military bombing timer @ 1942. The oldest one I own, working or not (working, I think) is an Elgin (well they all are Elgins, but they name the fancier watches) G M Wheeler from 1868, it must be wound and time adjusted with a key.

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Sorry a couple of the pics are blurry. One that's blurry, I'll try to retake sometime. It has what's called a "three finger bridge". They're pretty cool looking. None of mine have more than 17 Jewels unfortunately. Most are size 18 (my favorite) and the rest are 16's. The other pic that is blurry gets the point across that the whole movement comes out of the case. It's almost like a case inside a case. One of my favorites, I broke the crystal. Those fobs you see are heavy and the watch hit it just right and "poof" no more crystal. I keep forgetting to bring home my digital calipers to get an exact measurement to buy the right crystal.

Adrian
 
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Boy, a couple of those are blurrier than I thought. Good thing I'm not a professional photographer... Sorry

Adrian
 
If you need to know time, there is nothing simpler than a wrist watch. They are smaller, lighter, cheaper and far more reliable than a cell phone because they don't need any outside systems to operate like a cell phone does.

If you simply need to know time accurately, it is hard to beat a $15-$30 waterproof Casio digital wrist watch with a 10 year battery. Once set, they are typically accurate to 1 minute a month (and often 1 second per day). These "cheap" watches have multiple alarms, stop watches, and time zone features and a night light. And they don't need an expensive cell phone network to operate! They are not works of art, nor are they collectable, but they do one thing extremely well and that is keep accurate time.

If you want a mechanical marvel, work of art, or a collectable then you can spend more, but regardless, a watch doesn't need a cell phone network.
 
Well, finally found my watch. Simple basic inexpensive Casio, with an expansion band for comfort (have used expansion bands since I was a teenager). It does what I need.

Have used this model since the early 1990's (It's my second one, bought 8 years ago as the first got damaged).

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