I had an all stainless steel timex for year until I finally ran over it with a Ford F150. I guess Im old school and just dont feel right without an ANALOG watch. After a couple not so cheap Casio and Timex watches and having the bands break or get an awful funky smell to them, I went back to an all metal watch. A nice Omega I picked up for 7500 Tengiz.
One thing kids dont consider about using their cell phones to check the time is when traveling, your phone continually updates with the local time. I can look at an analog watch and tell you what time it is in all the important places. Like home so Im not calling my wife at 2am.
It seems the only people wearing watches these days are those who wear a watch for jewelry. My cell phone is my watch, or my computer at work or home, the clock in my car, etc.
Somewhere I have some old watches the still work, including an old self-winding Timex from the 1970's. I come across them every few years back in a drawer.
Citizen watches are now all "Eco-Drive" meaning they have a charge storage device that captures the energy in light. In theory, you never need to replace a battery (which costs less than $5). Instead every few years I need to replace this charge storage device which costs over $50! I would rather they just used batteries and not be so fancy. My old battery power Citizen lasted over 15 years before it broke.
The article does seem to poke fun at Chinese watch manufacturing. Having been to the train station in Shenzhen, China and being offered a $10,000 Rolex for 300 RMB ($50) that was guaranteed to keep time to the minute, I understand that Chinese brands may seem to be faulty, but there are some good ones. Sea Gull watches manufactured in Tianjin, China are known internationally for their quality. As for Citizen, I have had the same one for the last 10 years and other than damaging the crystal once, it has never needed any repair.
Watches, my daughter tells me, are passé. Everybody (I guess the same everybody whose mom let them do this or that) uses the clock on their cell phone. Being old school dinosaur, I still prefer a watch, and one with a face and hands instead of a digital. I tend to get them at that great bastion of retail, where a new watch is less expensive than replacing the battery or band of the old one. It grates against my old school soul to replace instead of repair, but money is still money, For $8 I can get a new watch. .. or for $15 I can get a new band and battery. For the record, my phone does have a clock on the inside, one on the the outside, dual readouts for world travelers, three alarms, a timer, and a stopwatch. Talk about overkill.
Citizens are ok watches. Don't expect them to last a decade. Seiko is a better watch, I believe. I have a few watches. A stainless steel Seiko and a plastic band and cased Swiss Army. I save the Seiko for winter months and A/C environments and the Swiss Army for the Summer months. No corrosion and the bracelets look great. Also, never put your watch in your pocket. Ruins the bracelets in no time. If you don't want Seiko try Fossil watches. A family member of mine who has a Jewelry store and sales Rolex and Fossil actually prefers the Fossil over Rolex. Fossil is much lighter and actually keeps time better. Don't have to wind it up everyday. In watches everyone wants the more expensive watch, but they also have a much bigger advertising budget.
Your point about sacred brands losing their quality standards was just what I was thinking, Rob. This column has documented stories of so many products from once highly trusted brands that fell off a cliff quality wise with modern-day engineering/manufacturing practices. It's almost painful to watch.
As for wearing a watch. I, for one, always have one on. But for me, it's more about the jewelry/accessory aspect--I don't necessarily care if it keeps on ticking!!!
Good question, Beth. That was the first thing that came to mind when the blogger mentioned going back to Timex. In this column, we've seen so many sacred brands lose their quality. I've owned Timex watches and they do go on forever. But times change. I no longer wear a watch. I find my cell phone has ended my need to wear something on my wrist. My wrist feels absolutely liberated. And the time on my cell is always accurate, never fails.
Got it, Rob. That makes sense that where's there is one failure, there's another. So I guess it's back to the old Timex brand, which "keeps on ticking." I'd actually be curious to know if modern-day Timex watches are as reliable as the older models.
Good point, Beth. The watchband, however, was a dark sign of troubles to come. In the end, the watch itself stopped working. So, whatever quality lapses were apparent in the watchband design also seemed to affect the design of the innner workings of the watch as well.
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