Digital watches, anyone?

[varjag]

Anything that needs a battery is a digital watch. The battery drives a digital circuit that counts oscillations in a piece of crystal.

Strictly speaking the circuit doesn't have to be digital, impulse is sufficient

 

[iml]

For the last few years I've had an analogue wind-up Poljot Russian chronograph, about 25 years old. It keeps very good time and just needs a quick wind each morning.

Ian

 

[StuartR]

Those make my head spin. I don't like things that make me do math any more than I need to.

 

[colinh]

Watch?? Is that anything like a sundial?

It's a sort of portable sundial. Hmmmm. I wonder if there'd be a market for a GPS-based sundial? (The markings differ depending on location).

colin

 

[Carzee]

I don't wear wrist watches or rings... for occupational reasons -- could scratch/zap a sensor while I'm cleaning it or something. Digital stuff is small but so fragile.

My sentimental favorite is the Large Format analogue timepiece, but due to its age, weight and fragility (outside use is likely to degrade accuracy) .... well in truth it rarely leaves the studio wall and its a nostalgia piece.

 

[colinh]

I think we'd first have to decide what a digital watch is..

Anything that needs a battery is a digital watch. The battery drives a digital circuit that counts oscillations in a piece of crystal. What's done with the counted cycles is another matter, some watches show the result in digits (LED/LCD), others move a pair of hands around..

Strictly speaking the circuit doesn't have to be digital, impulse is sufficient

Well, my analogue watch has an escapement which oscillates at 32768 Hz ( I think). I think we can define analogue as having an analogue display. You're thinking of quartz v. automatic/mechanical.

colin

 

[einolu]

I have one of these that I wear to work/school. I like how it looks, how light it is, and how easy it is to set the alarm (it's also loud enough to wake me in the mornings but not loud enough to irritate me). The stopwatch can also be helpful sometimes. I usually don't wear a watch when I'm not at work. I also have a pretty nice mechanical (I don't like automatics because I don't wear watches enough, perfer to just wind them on the weekends) watch that looks a lot more expensive than it was that I like to wear sometimes.

I like both vintage-like digital watches and fine mechanical ones. I would love if someone were to give me a Jaeger LeCoultre one of these days...

 

[thawkins]

I wear a 1968 Omega Speedmaster that is contemporary with the rangefinder cameras I enjoy using. I bought the first rangefinder in 1967 (Retina 2a) and the watch the next year. Both work perfectly.

 

[tominabox1]

Why do we keep up with this digital vs film stuff?

I still use a film watch.

 

[juhor]

I've got a digital watch that's made in Finland. I got it from my father because he likes he's older mechanical watch better. I usually forget to put it in my hand and so it stays at home, I think that the battery has ran out and I have to buy a new one. (glad Suunto designed it so that the user can change the battery!)

 

[mjflory]

Like a rangefinder camera, a wristwatch should help us focus on the essentials.

 

[Chris101]

I'd put this on my wrist:

http://www.yugop.com/ver3/stuff/03/fla.html

 

[wolves3012]

I think we'd first have to decide what a digital watch is..

Anything that needs a battery is a digital watch. The battery drives a digital circuit that counts oscillations in a piece of crystal. What's done with the counted cycles is another matter, some watches show the result in digits (LED/LCD), others move a pair of hands around..

So, despite having a analog looking faceplate, my day to day watch is digital..

Strictly speaking...you're quite right, yet wrong! The "digital" refers to discrete steps rather than a continuously varying amount. The counter in an analogue or digtal-display electronic watch is digital in the proper sense. Even the finger movement is digital in the strict sense, because the fingers move in jumps. Saying that, a mechanical watch does this too (in smaller steps) so you could argue it too is digital.

To answer the poll question, I have one digital-display watch, a Casio from the mid 80s. I have two electronic analogue watches: a Tag Heuer and a Citizen eco-drive. Mechanical watches were my father's hobby, however, and I have numerous mechanical watches, from the cheap and common through to high-quality ones. Most of them work, some don't. I even have a hand-made pocket watch dating from 1834; it works but the timekeeping leaves a lot to be desired!

 

[cmedin]

I can't really fit my Tissot T-Touch into any of the poll answers. It's a neat little (well, not so little) thing though.

 

[Morca007]

I like watches, I hate wearing them. I use my cell phone to check the time.

 

[nobbylon]

1986 Submariner and been on my wrist since then!

 

[flashfirenze]

I have this watch

 

[Thea]

I use my mobile phone....is that digital?

 

[photobizzz]

yes...digital

yes...digital

[I do wear a digital watch, it actually tells the time in 25 zones, has 5 alarms, tells temperture, barometer, compass, altimiter, oh and it is also solar with a titanium band. Over the top? Well I am in the military and am stationed in Iraq so I guess you wear what suits your needs.

 

[amateriat]

[I do wear a digital watch, it actually tells the time in 25 zones, has 5 alarms, tells temperture, barometer, compass, altimiter, oh and it is also solar with a titanium band. Over the top? Well I am in the military and am stationed in Iraq so I guess you wear what suits your needs.

I'd say you're entitled to wear it. Be careful out there...


- Barrett