There seems to be a small yet persistent impression amongst both young and older, that mechanical watches are kaput, no longer being made, etc. Here's the straight dope:
$49 bought you a quality watch in 1950, and that translates into $800 today. You can get an excellent Swiss mechanical watch for around $400-$500, so the prices are actually lower now.
Don't want to spend that much? Look into a quality used Swiss mechanical, serviced and guaranteed by your friendly neighbourhood watchmaker.
Cheers to a new year
R
- Mechanical watches are a multi-billion dollar industry and it is expanding
- Mechanical watches are reliable in hot and humid climates (India) whereas quartz watches are not
- Mechanical watches can and do last for 100+ years, quartz watches maybe 20-35 years for the best
- Mechanical watches do not keep quartz accuracy, COSC spec is within 4.5 sec/day
- Some quartz watches in the lower end don't meet COSC spec
- Mechanical watches are green technology, no batteries required ever and their footprint of manufacture is spread out over a long period of time
- Mechanical watches are in some cases more robust than quartz, they are not rendered dead by magnetic fields whereas a good jolt will kill a quartz watch. Mechanical watches are more susceptible to shock
- No charging, no cells to buy, no capacitors to replace, no re-programming, the movement is made of metal, not plastic
- See where I'm going here?
$49 bought you a quality watch in 1950, and that translates into $800 today. You can get an excellent Swiss mechanical watch for around $400-$500, so the prices are actually lower now.
Don't want to spend that much? Look into a quality used Swiss mechanical, serviced and guaranteed by your friendly neighbourhood watchmaker.
Cheers to a new year
R