bubu Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 We all love our automatic and manual movements. They are a marvel of mans craftmanship, detail, and ingenuity. But are they better !!! or just more complicated? Is the KISS acronym acurrate? KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID. What is the real purpose of a watch? Tell Time? Jewelry? Prestige? Just Fun? What are your needs that a watch fills? And why quartz does or does not meet your needs? Quartz is less complicated, easier to repair and maintain, and cheaper to purchase. What are your thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FxrAndy Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 I like the thought of that little mechanical engine ticking away on my wrist or as you say "the marvel of mans craftmanship, detail, and ingenuity" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victoria Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 Quart is less complicated, easier to repair and maintain, and cheaper to purchase. What are your thoughts? I love my lady Cartiers, and other Quartz watches. But I have never liked the implication that women are not as detail-oriented as men, and thus would fail to handwind or maintain their watches properly. Conceding this may be indeed true, just upsets me more. That's what a quartz means to me. It's the microwave to the oven. It's the automatic to the 5-speed. It's one less skill to master as a human. Darn if they aren't convenient though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Carl Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 Quartz is to timekeeping as camera phones are to photography. Carl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 If you prefer solid state & CD/mp3 over tubes & LPs, you will probably prefer quartz over mechanical, and for similar reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamemax Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 Bravo!!! well said!! Nothing wrong with either preference, just ... different If you prefer solid state & CD/mp3 over tubes & LPs, you will probably prefer quartz over mechanical, and for similar reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offshore Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 As a wise man elsewhere said..."Quartz watches have no soul" (Unfortunately 99.9% of all watches "born" each year, are soul less!) Why is it that we have a shortage of watchmakers...easy...the quartz watch! We live in a throw away society...the battery goes flat... and it's either thrown, or put in a drawer. You would be amazed how many people haggle over the price to fit a battery.....and then produce multiple watches (up to 10 - 20) which "aren't going"... and the great majority just need a new battery. I see it every week.... and have just finished 2 batches, one of 7 watches (all "revived") and one of 11 watches... (10 are OK- the other needs a new quartz crystal) I find I spend less and less time working on mechanicals, and so your skills and learning suffer. Offshore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Carl Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 Carl has already replied to this thread so he asks your forbearance for a bit of editorializing. As it happens, Carl still lives in a small Midwestern US town in the former northwest territory. The town still has a shoe repairman and a watch repairman. One is a crotchety old black guy and one is a crotchety old white guy. Which is which is not important. They are both about the same whenever you deal with them. In fact, they are good friends, having lunch together occasionally, and wondering why they come in to work each day when at the end of some days, they haven't added a five dollar bill to the cash register. They are both probably past what you or I would consider to be retirement age. They only keep going because it is what they have always done. If you bring an old pair of Johnston and Murphy shoes, or an old Hamilton watch, they will perk up and smile and give you a very reasonable estimate for a professional repair of a quality product. Sadly, most people don't want to pay the pittance which these artisans ask. Thanks for listening. Carl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crick0234 Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 quartz is the work of the devil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormTooper4 Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 Agree agree agree mechanical is what this is all about. But I would rather have a quartz IWC Panda Porto on my wrist than none at all, which is the case now. I'd also probably have a decent moon omega speedmaster and a couple of other decent lookers in the box. I think we kinda cut our noses off sometimes with our anti quartz snobiness. That all said my best friend bought him self a gen quartz seamaster for his 40th. What a f*#kin tool. I could of punched him. Yes but no but , yes but no Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RepLover Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 Carl has already replied to this thread so he asks your forbearance for a bit of editorializing. As it happens, Carl still lives in a small Midwestern US town in the former northwest territory. The town still has a shoe repairman and a watch repairman. One is a crotchety old black guy and one is a crotchety old white guy. Which is which is not important. They are both about the same whenever you deal with them. In fact, they are good friends, having lunch together occasionally, and wondering why they come in to work each day when at the end of some days, they haven't added a five dollar bill to the cash register. They are both probably past what you or I would consider to be retirement age. They only keep going because it is what they have always done. If you bring an old pair of Johnston and Murphy shoes, or an old Hamilton watch, they will perk up and smile and give you a very reasonable estimate for a professional repair of a quality product. Sadly, most people don't want to pay the pittance which these artisans ask. Thanks for listening. Carl "No Country for Old Men!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pix Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 If I prefer mechanical movements for being proud of owning some kind of rare/different/complicated piece on my wrist, I have nothing against quartz, depending on what I'm looking in the watch : - reliability ? Quartz - good replication : most often the mechanical movement, except when a quartz replicates an other quartz - both : I buy a gen - spend less : quartz etc... I own several quartz reps. None are good reps, but all are great watches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanuq Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 Simple... quartz watches represent a disposable-commodity era. Mechanical watches are art. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dude Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 (edited) I see no practical advantages of an automatic over a quartz and find them to be a real pain in the butt. I appreciate the art and craftsmanship, but not the cost of maintenance, effort to keep them wound, accuracy, etc. I like the way autos sweep. Why can't they make a quartz that sweeps? I'm looking for a good analogies but can't really find one: How about these: Bently = automatic Honda Accord = quartz Pam Anderson = Automatic Jennifer Garner = quartz Original Van Gough = Automatic Van Gough lithograph poster = quartz Having a lion as a pet = automatic Having a house cat as a pet = quartz Edited March 1, 2008 by Dude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubu Posted March 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 Thanks for the feedback. I think it is a process that starts with KNOWLEDGE and then appreciation for the beauty and workmanship and complication of the movement. Art at all stages is enjoyed from Chagal to Rodin to Peter Max. That is why there is the great variety in art and watches. We go from the noobie to the purist. Again, it is a process and each meets a need in our development. And interests. And esthetics. And availabilty. And my wife, "Not another one. How much is this watch costing? Your collection of replicas is costing too much." Quartz is cheaper. Just kidding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victoria Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 There is something about the mechanism of a watch which must've alarmed human beings, back in the 1600s. Wearing them was a bit like having a stranger on your person, living alongside you. But it's also comforting. Tick-tock, like a human heart. Moving. Ticking. Winding. Springing. There is no Ghost in the Machine feeling with a quartz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glitch Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 For me, it's not KISS. It's the number of jewels that matters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pugwash Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 Quartz watches have no soul. Their cold robot hearts slice time into neat little dead seconds, counting down the time remaining before your death with their tick, tick, tick. They accurately tell you the time you have left each day in your dead-end job as you work your way to another ulcer, second by second, tick, tick, tick. Never missing a beat, the relentlessness of their scything of the day into painful and perfectly sized chunks driving you mad. Tick, tick, tick. No thanks. I'd rather have a less accurate but warmer, looser and more friendly mechanical marvel on my wrist, miniaturised by centuries of craftsmen all straining their eyes and putting their steady fingers to use improving what is essentially a machine for slowing down the rapid unwinding of a spring into a controlled smooth movement, the coiled tension controlled by man's ingenuity. I think you know where I stand on this one. Quartz is for kitchen clocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DET11 Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 Dude: Pam Anderson = Automatic Jennifer Garner = quartz I think you have these two backwards, should be: Jennifer Garner = Automatic Pam Anderson = silicon, err..quartz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P4GTR Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 Quartz watches have no soul. They accurately tell you the time you have left each day in your dead-end job as you work your way to another ulcer, second by second, tick, tick, tick. What would a dying billionaire pay for another 24 hours of perfect health? Everything. What is more important than time? Nothing. As I watch my time pass me by, I prefer to do it with dignity and class. An automatic watch is the slow beating wakizashi of the present age blue-collar samurai. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pugwash Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 Pam Anderson = silicon, err..quartz I'd say Quartz is Lolo Ferarri - totally made up and ... um, dead. Automatic would be Angelina Jolie - beautiful beyond all others, but occasionally goes off the rails, and even that would be fun to watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fendushi Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 (edited) I'm a tech freak by nature and there's not much things that I own that is not digital. To me, there's an emotional connection between the watch and the wearer. A mechanical watch NEEDS attention from the wearer, more so than a battery powered quartz. They WILL stop ticking if left alone, even for a couple of days. Whereas with a quartz, you take it for granted and assumes that it will keep on ticking as long as there's battery power. To me, a mechanical watch is a part of me that will serve me well the more I pay attention to it. It's been said that a good mechanical watch could last for generations, much more so than a quartz. To me, a mechanical watch is an escape from the digital world. I could look at a skeleton watch or a display back for hours, just marvelling at their movements and how all those gears need to work together for one purpose: TO TELL THE TIME. Edited March 2, 2008 by fendushi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victoria Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 I'd say Quartz is Lolo Ferarri - totally made up and ... um, dead. Automatic would be Angelina Jolie - beautiful beyond all others, but occasionally goes off the rails, and even that would be fun to watch. Automatic = Cary Grant Quartz = Hugh Grant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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