Many do not know of the different types of wrist watches. Recently I went to a big watch show room, enquired about mechanical watches. To make my point clear, I talked of analog watches. He showed me in turn, all watch brands of the world. He said “We have Rolex, Tissot, Timex,” and endless other brands. All these watches are not mechanical watches. In this case, I will not be buying a time piece of my choice i.e., mechanical, but certainly will be buying an expensive wrist watch brand. The salesman in the showroom knows about the brands; not about watches. He has a strange sense of expensive watches, but does not know time!
Watches are broadly classified into the following types. I am writing from a general user perspective, not from a technical point. They are:
- Mechanical watches.
- Automatic
- Quartz and
- Digital
Mechanical watches are also known as winding watches. Every 24 hours, we have to wind the watch to keep the machine ticking. These watches are very much and almost only type of watches till 1970s. Sometime in 1970s arrived mechanical watches with day; I do not think it is possible to have day and date. I could be wrong too.
Automatic wrist watches are also known as non-winding watches. It is said “All you need to do is to wear the watch. It will work! There is no need to wind the watch”! These watches are available in all types and styles. We have presently automatic watches without day and date and with day and date. Every known company in the world manufactures these watches. You can get these watches from $100 onward. These watches are usually the heavy ones.
Sometimes in 1980s came quartz watch revolution. Leaving technicalities a side, a quartz watch is one that functions on the battery power. A small battery is inserted to power the watch movement. With the introduction of the quartz technology watches became lighter, cheaper and with variety of designs. A typical battery lasts about two years.
Technology made the difference. A digital watch is a quartz watch where the time is displayed digitally. Casio, Seiko and citizen are few good companies who are exploiting the market even today. These watches are light in weight and are cheap. With the digital technology many additional functions are being added to wrist watches such as blood pressure monitoring, heartbeat count, telephone etc. These are watches of tomorrow and are very expensive. A typical Apple watch costs over $700/-
I for one who loves the mechanical watches. Every morning I religiously wind my watch. It gives me a feeling that I am the boss of my time! These are the watches of 1930s and 1940s. These watches are light in weight and not expensive. No maintenance cost. They look very elegant. I set aside all my expensive brands of watches and began wearing a mechanical watch with date.
What would I tell the salesman in the shop? He is a salesman by chance in an expensive watch showroom without basic knowledge. Hence judging him will be a waste of my time. Hence, I choose to be silent. Finally, winding the watch every morning has taught me that time like wealth and fame are very deceptive. They are never loyal. They always run away. Hence, I do not trust them.
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional. What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com