I've got some nice mechanical watches and decided I did not want to go down the rabbit hole of getting more and more expensive watches. After reading common watch complaints for a few years on this forum I decided to narrow my selection:
- needs to be accurate
- needs to be a good value / reasonably priced
- needs to be reasonably sized
- needs to be lightweight
- needs low service costs
- needs infrequent service
- needs to be legible
- needs lume
- needs to be good looking
- needs to be from reputable brand that will be around awhile
- needs good fit and finish
Any of these particularly compelling? All of them?
It has been a year since I bought a watch but a new one showed up yesterday. I had been poking around reviews for months and just in the past week landed on one what really ticked all the boxes. For a few hundred dollars I came across the Citizen Eco Drive Radio Controlled Atomic Time Titanium AT4010-50E that comes in at 42mm.
For openers, the solar powered Eco Drive is a marvel that continues to improve... there are countless examples of watches with this proven technology that have run continuously without service for over 20 years. It doesn't require battery replacement. The quart movement in the base case stays accurate to within 10 seconds a month, but proven to be within 10 seconds a year... However at 2:00 am every night it syncs with Atomic time in Colorado so the watch is never off more than a fraction of a tenth of a second. Lastly it is made of Proprietary Super Titanium, 40% lighter and 5 times stronger than steel and very scratch resistant... Tougher than any grade of titanium Seiko makes. It adjusts for 30 day months, DST and leap years. Set it upon arrival when new and no adjustments or service necessary for the next 20+ years. All for a few hundred dollars. Insane! It is a reasonable 42mm and good looking. I almost feel guilty.
- needs to be accurate
- needs to be a good value / reasonably priced
- needs to be reasonably sized
- needs to be lightweight
- needs low service costs
- needs infrequent service
- needs to be legible
- needs lume
- needs to be good looking
- needs to be from reputable brand that will be around awhile
- needs good fit and finish
Any of these particularly compelling? All of them?
It has been a year since I bought a watch but a new one showed up yesterday. I had been poking around reviews for months and just in the past week landed on one what really ticked all the boxes. For a few hundred dollars I came across the Citizen Eco Drive Radio Controlled Atomic Time Titanium AT4010-50E that comes in at 42mm.
For openers, the solar powered Eco Drive is a marvel that continues to improve... there are countless examples of watches with this proven technology that have run continuously without service for over 20 years. It doesn't require battery replacement. The quart movement in the base case stays accurate to within 10 seconds a month, but proven to be within 10 seconds a year... However at 2:00 am every night it syncs with Atomic time in Colorado so the watch is never off more than a fraction of a tenth of a second. Lastly it is made of Proprietary Super Titanium, 40% lighter and 5 times stronger than steel and very scratch resistant... Tougher than any grade of titanium Seiko makes. It adjusts for 30 day months, DST and leap years. Set it upon arrival when new and no adjustments or service necessary for the next 20+ years. All for a few hundred dollars. Insane! It is a reasonable 42mm and good looking. I almost feel guilty.