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Where do you see horology in 100 years?

3K views 53 replies 33 participants last post by  Janne 
#1 ·
Here is an interesting question to think about:

Imagine in 100 years, in 2112, what would horology look like?

Considering today's technology already makes mechanical timepieces obsolete, imagine what technology 100 years from now will do to horology.

What styles,trends, or new features might we see?

Would the same brands popular now also be so in the future?
 
#2 · (Edited)
Not much improvement on the movement side. Better batteries, maybe lasting for decades.

Mechanical movements will still be made, but from better materials like pressable ceramics, reinforced plastics etc.
lubrication free.

Some companies will still make movemrnts like today, to satisfy the connoseurs.


Hang on, you mean there will be no Appocalypse thid year?

Edit: maybe flexible, form contouring watches?

And Swatch will own 99% of the worlds watch industry. Only Rolex, PP, ALS and JLCwill remain independent from Swatch!
 
#39 ·
And Swatch will own 99% of the worlds watch industry. Only Rolex, PP, ALS and JLCwill remain independent from Swatch!
Of course SWATCH will not own ALS and JLC, Richmont Group still will though.....
 
#23 · (Edited)
Better lubricants.
I'd say that the lubricants could also be used for humans too (where it's applicable) :p

Otherwise, any mechanical watch would have an GPS-enabled electronic chip to help you locate your watch within seconds using Google map.
 
#43 ·
I don't think so. If anything there will be a new golden age of watches coming. As we are already seeing with the Millennium Generation starting to burn out on technology overload, I suspect there will be an upswing in watches as a luxury item. We're already seeing that demographic turn its back on the likes of social media, and suspect the day will come people will want to look back toward a simpler time.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I think people will still wear watches. I think mechanical will still be popular, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had even more kudos. I expect the level of finishing to get much higher for the same price, with much better shock protection and power reserve. New materials will be lighter and much more durable, yet be used in such a way that the final product will NOT be commensurately more durable. Expect the first Carbon Nanotube case from Seiko in 2035. Spring Drive will be ubiqitous, or at least a new and improved version based on some kind of capacitive harmonic feedback. Quartz watches will never need a new battery or service and be accurate to today's HEQ standards for the price of a Timex.....and still be bashed by some members.
 
#8 ·
I think people will still wear watches. I think mechanical will still be popular, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had even more kudos. I expect the level of finishing to get much higher for the same price, with much better shock protection and power reserve. New materials will be lighter and much more durable, yet be used in such a way that the final product will NOT be commensurately more durable. Expect the first Carbon Nanotube case from Seiko in 2035. Spring Drive will be ubiqitous, or at least a new and improved version based on some kind of capacitive harmonic feedback. Quartz watches which will never need a new battery or service and be accurate to today's HEQ standards for the price of a Timex and still be bashed by some members.
And WUS will have two now Forums:

Rolex Bashing Forum

Invicta hating Forum
 
#11 ·
Which n average worker will make in a couple of months.
 
#10 ·
Apart from some new fringe tech, I do not think that much will change.
I do not see anybody investing many millions in developing an Atomic movement.

If we look BACK 100 years, what has happened?
S/ s cases
Sapphire crystals
Anti chock protection
Better synthetic oils
Tuning fork ( dead)
LED ( dead)
Quartz
Solar
Spring Drive ( marginal )
LCD

Mechanical movements have not improved that much. Thanks to ETA, they are cheaper. That is basically it.
Accurancy - same
Life - same
Esthetics - worse in many cases

I frankly do not think they will start making perpentual batteries, or everlasting mech movements. As ScotPete says.
But I would not be surprised if some genius designed a mech watch that only lasted 10 / 15 years. Unservicable, but
good for business.

But I forgot: The highest fashion in 100 years for a Gent will be a watch that is thin and 34 mm in size!
 
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#28 ·
Apart from some new fringe tech, I do not think that much will change.
I do not see anybody investing many millions in developing an Atomic movement.

If we look BACK 100 years, what has happened?
S/ s cases
Sapphire crystals
Anti chock protection
Better synthetic oils
Tuning fork ( dead)
LED ( dead)
Quartz
Solar
Spring Drive ( marginal )
LCD
The biggest thing that has happened in the last 100 years was QUARTZ.
That completely changed EVERYTHING about watches.
 
#14 ·
We'll have robot slaves and cybernetic pets waiting on us hand and foot. It'll be a time of indolence and hedonism for the "haves" till the rise of the machines is upon us ... leading to the artilect (short for "artificial intellect") war.
 
#15 ·
Materials created in the vacuum of space, running off of a power source we don't know of it yet (at least the public).
Zero-point energy: No battery, no solar, no stored energy of any kind.
Dials that can float above the watch itself as a hologram - to your spec.
No more squinting.

Straps made of nano fabrics - no buckle, no clasp - that respond instantaneously to your wrist movements to keep the watch at a precise location and tightness of your choice at all times. Since the body expands and contracts throughout the day, so does the strap.
Bracelets will have no seams, more like a liquid metal that retains its shape, as in Terminator 2.
It locks and unlocks upon thought command.
 
#21 ·
In 100 years Seiko will still be mass producing reasonably priced quartz watches to the masses, and the Grand Seiko, Spring Drive and Ultra Future Drive will remain largely unknown except to the AIS (Apple Idiot Savant)

Kindest Regards,
Portauto
 
#25 ·
The lone survivors of a post-environmental catastrophe wasteland will use mechanical watches for currency, along with batteries, toothbrushes, and hygiene necessities.

Since the power grid long went down, all satellite control was lost and they all burned up in the atmosphere. So, the renaissance of GPS radio-controlled watches came literally to a crashing halt.

Warlords will show their station by weaving dozens of Rolexes (or Pateks for the truly rich) along their forearms into Roman gladiator-like braces. You'll find every model of those except the new Sky Dweller. Even those barbarians know those watches are ugly as sin. Since status is determined by how many watches keep time well, watchmakers hold status equivalent to witch doctors or shaman in the old world. Any watch +/- ten seconds or more subjects them 5 lashes with a whip made of Omega bracelets bracelets. +/- 30 seconds means slivers of Nixon bracelets shoved beneath their fingernails. +/- one minute means death by... well, it's too cruel to describe on a family site like this. But it involves Nixon and U-Boat watches and oh god it's just so horrible I can't I can't
 
#27 ·
It should be like asking "what's a clock" today, I bet people still know thats.
 
#30 ·
Ok - quartz did not bring change to mechanisms - but it did change everything in the industry.
Before quartz not everybody could afford to own a watch - then it became a commodity. Many brands failed and the industry heavily re-shaped because of this invention.

So ok, maybe in the 100 next years there will not be that many changes to the watch movements as we know them - but watches will change massively.
 
#31 ·
What I wanted to say is that the actual Quartz movement has not hanged much. OK, it is now massproduced, mainly from plastic parts, but not much change.

I do not think watches in general will change too much. The function is the same, our wrists will not change. The shape - everything has been done.
Materials - same.
Maybe we get some innovations in material combinations, like the recent Gold infused Ceramic matrix, but not much more can be done.
 
#32 ·
In the past, there have been many predictions about the future.
Apart from Jules Verne's ideas, most did not happen.
And the revolutionary inventions like computers were missed.
 
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#36 ·
I predict Google Glass and other devices will provide a HUD for real life, rendering watches, and probably cell phones obsolete.



This would relegate the wearing of wrist watches strictly to jewelry, and worn primarily by those who want to maintain a retro/vintage fashion look.
 
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