Digital watches, anyone?

Digital watches, anyone?

  • Yes! I have one of the early ones with red LEDs.

    Votes: 8 2.8%

  • Yes. It's cheaper and more accurate than a mechanical watch.

    Votes: 40 13.8%

  • Yes. And I placed my order for the M8, before it came out.

    Votes: 2 0.7%

  • No. But I did buy an M8.

    Votes: 27 9.3%

  • No. I listen to it ticking quietly as I fall into an analogue sleep.

    Votes: 130 44.8%

  • No. And I'm using a typewriter to browse the web.

    Votes: 18 6.2%

  • I don't wear watches. I just ask other people.

    Votes: 53 18.3%

  • Don't know.

    Votes: 12 4.1%
  • Total voters
    290
Speaking of watches, does anyone know a reliable place to buy old/used watches? I'm thinking particularly of 70s soviet watches, and the evilbay sellers on that front are even less trustworthy looking than FSU camera sellers!
 
Morca007 said:
Speaking of watches, does anyone know a reliable place to buy old/used watches? I'm thinking particularly of 70s soviet watches, and the evilbay sellers on that front are even less trustworthy looking than FSU camera sellers!
Click to expand...


The best place I've found is here: http://www.elitedealseeker.com/index.cgi?category=watches. Check as often as you can, but to reply to some ads, you gotta join the particular forum. Not 100% reliable dealers/ sellers, but more than the crooks on evilbay.

Good luck!

Bill
 
It may be of interest that the history of timekeeping actually precedes even the fully mechanical watch. Historians know that Alexander the Great had his chemists develop a cloth that was impregnated with various chemicals that turned color as the day progressed. So for example it might show green at 8:00AM, Yellow at noon, and blue at 6:00PM (although I no longer remember the actual colors.)

The cloth was sewn up in the form of a bracelet, which Alexander wore throughout the day, greatly aiding him in his ability to organize his staff, and improve efficiency.

Little mention is made of this invention today; obviously the development of the clock (Huygens, wasn't it?) pushed the chemical timepiece into near-obscurity. However, it is still occasionally referred to today, by historians, as "Alexander's Rag Time Band."
 
Alexander's Ragtime Band ..... BOO!

I just bought a Vostok Europe watch - 32 jewel automatic movement, 24 hour hand, calendar, screwdown stem, exhibition back with a nice leather band - all for $110. I hope this isn't the start of WAS (watch aquisition syndrome).
 
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I'm considering a Citizen Eco-Drive, specifically this one-
418f28iajklaa280vc3.jpg

$90 shipped at Amazon, any opinions on it?
 
do any of these digital watches have an alarm that you can set to go off on a certain schedule for the day, like 9:00, 10:30, 11:00, 12:00, 12:30, 2:00, 2:30...sort of like that?
 
I have a Citizen Skyhawk Eco Drive. It's both digital and analogue.

JR3060-59FP245.jpg


See? Oddly enough. I have both an M7 and an M8. But 85% of my work is done on the M7, and then scanned film.
 
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Interesting you should ask. I own a Leica because of my watch. When my last watch died, I found a fairly cheap 1967 manual-wind Rolex Oysterdate on the internet. Turns out it was even a real Rolex! I sat there looking at my "new" watch and realized that two things I have always wanted were a Rolex and a Leica. (Actually 3, I had always wanted a Ferrari too, but I had already owned two of them.)

Not to leave well enough alone, I started researching used Leica prices and found an M3 SS on e-Bay with a dented case and a broken film counter, cheap. I was the only bidder and I paid $350 for it. I then spent $100 on tools and a repair book (after all, it would be dumb to PAY someone else $100 to repair a cheap Leica!) and fixed the counter. Four lenses (50/3.5 uncoated Elmar, 35/1.4 Summilux, 100/3.5 Canon and 135/4.5 Hektor) and $1500 later, my "cheap" Leica was now complete!.;)watch:camera.jpg

P.S. This picture taken with a C-Lux 2
 
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Okay, it's like this: I gave up on digital watches a long time ago. No specific rant about them (although I am a Douglas Adams fan). Some time later, I moved away from quartz analog watches (I think we've gotten our categories mixed up here: the thread title alludes to "digital", i.e. quartz but non-analog-display watches), in favor of automatic and manual-wind mechanicals. Then, away went the automatics...didn't care for the thick casings on most of those watches to accommodate the rotor. You'd think my next move would be to a wrist-worn sundial, but you'd be wrong...almost:

http://mysite.verizon.net/bwbenton/citi207.jpg

It's sort of an about-face for me: I stumbled across it by accident (online...not available in the US alas). I liked the layout, features (chrono chapter dials that are actually useful in day-to-day stuff), and solar-powered*, which is where the sundial reference comes in. ;)

*Actually, its a solar cell that charges a long-life lithium cell; according to Citizen, that battery is supposed to be good for ostensibly the life of the watch, or upwards of 40-50 years, though I've heard of some people have early-generation Eco-Drives conking after a handful of years. We'll see, but after having several nice quartz numbers killed off by "watchmakers" botching a simple battery-change–the main reason I swore off quartz watches in general–I'm taking a flyer on something that hopefully won't need to be pried apart for quite some time, if ever.


- Barrett
 

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Most of my watches are mechanical. For me a watch mechanical movement represents the zenith of mechanical precision: so I have two Zeniths, and a Rolex which my wife bought me as a wedding present back when God was a boy. I think that she got it from Noah who had used it for navigating the ark. I have a Seiko dive watch (which would probably be useful for checking out the hull of the ark) - it tells you how deep you are! I wish it would translate into real life situations, as it could be a really useful to know how deep in it you are.
 
I got an Invicta automatic dive watch at some mall in port jervis for a discount, think it was only 80 bucks, works like a charm and even came with a display back (it has a citizen movement though). This will do until I can cough up enough dough for a flight certified speedmaster pro.
 
Wow. This thread is 3 years old!

I love my 5-6 years old Nomos Tangente (mechanical hand-wind) for every day use, but I like G-Shock with Tough-Solar and Wave-Ceptor time syncing as well. Basically, I prefer either doing everything manually or not doing anything at all but just wear and use. It's like shooting with Barnack Leica and iPhone. :D
 
I wear a Bertucci battery-powered/quartz movement/analogue face watch with titanium case, SEAL grade nylon band, good to 100 meters under water, not that I EVER intend to go SCUBA. The wind/set stem screws down tight. Waterproofness is a good thing to have when one mops a few thousand square feet every day.
I can read the analogue white numbers on black face without reading glasses. I carry a flip phone; two much hassle to flip it open, put on readers to check the time.
 
Okay...I know I voted but I never posted what watch...

It's the good old Timex Ironman I'm on my third or fourth Ironman watch...
I like what they offer, they haven't changed all that much and they do almost last forever...I replace them when I can no longer read the buttons...the weakest point are the bands...I just replaced this watchband last week so I should be good for some time now...I still have one or two of the old ones and they still work but they might need a battery at this point...
 
I bought a couple of Casio's 15 years ago, I change the batteries about every 5 years and they function perfectly, they're cheap, accurate and reliable and I can ask no more.

I do have some older mechanical but almost never wear them, here's photos of some older '60's Seiko's.

Sorry the links aren't working correctly.

DAC15431106.jpg


DAC15431225.jpg


DAC15431224.jpg
 
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