Would you buy a watch with an unused complication?

[sdog]

Would you buy a watch with a complication or function you don't expect to use from time to time?


I had to get a new watch recently and the watch i like the best, with regard to looks, had a tachymetre bezel. I've tried to find any use for it but failed. This sealed my decision not to buy it. I got a watch where i liked its look less, but lacked unused complications while it offered two aspects i greatly appreciate.

A similar thought ruled out some digital watches with tide display. I'm just not often enough at the sea to accept having to look at it 100 or 200 times a day to maybe use if for a fortnight every couple of years.

[drhr]

I have date function and moon phase watches that fall into the category . . .

[GlennO]

I have one chronograph and I never use the function for timing anything. Still love the watch though.

[Niceday3]

Tachymetre is more a decoration than a complication i'd argue. It is functional but not watch complication in the correct sense. But no, I see little point in paying extra for a function you rarely use.

[little big feather]

I have a watch that has one...I don't know how to use it.
In the days of old,we had slide rules...I doubt if you've ever seen one, some learned to use
them....they even taught it in High School in the U.S. It's a lost art now, computers make
slide rules useless, same as the tachymetre scale on your watch.

[sdog]

I have a watch that has one...I don't know how to use it.
In the days of old,we had slide rules...I doubt if you've ever seen one, some learned to use
them....they even taught it in High School in the U.S. It's a lost art now, computers make
slide rules useless, same as the tachymetre scale on your watch.

Incidently i should find a slide-rule very useful. It takes only a few minutes to learn how to use it. I don't bother with carrying a calculator with me. So i do most calculations in my head or on paper, one can get quite far when using approximations. When that is not enough i rather use octave (open source MatLab) on my Android. A slide rule that is always handy would be rather convenient and fill a spot in between, one example for calculations are currency conversions. (I suppose no-one would take out their phone to use a currency calculator in a store during their holidays.)

I'm ambivalent about a slide rule on a watch for two reasons however: It is just on the watch, but in no way related to the watch function, i could as well get a much more useful cardboard slide rule. It adds quite a lot of clutter to the dial. It will take a little more afford to identify at which tick the second hand is when there are two circles of slide-rule ticks adjacent to it.

@niceday
It is a seemingly functional decoration. I think it is an excellent example. Because for me, if i would not expect to use it, it would become a decoration. This would be bad for two reasons: It is pretentious as it suggests to someone looking at it there was a function on the watch, that looks precise, so the owner of that function is going to use that function. Decoration brings it closer to jewelry which is a form of boastfulness, luxury or vanity. While the watch is luxury rather than a tool, unless it's an entry level timex or g-shock, the pretense of a tool helps to rationalize or excuse having such.

@drhr @GlennO
Did you expect not to use the complications when you acquired your watches? Or did you think you might use those from time to time, but stoped doing so when it wasn't novel anymore?

[mleok]

I'm going to vote for manual Helium escape values for the most misunderstood and least used "feature" in practice. For most Omega Seamaster and Planet Ocean owners who actually like the manual HEV, I suspect it's just because they think it makes their dive watch look more serious.

Opinion: Too Much Hot Air About Helium Release Valves

[John MS]

Would you buy a watch with a complication or function you don't expect to use from time to time?


I had to get a new watch recently and the watch i like the best, with regard to looks, had a tachymetre bezel. I've tried to find any use for it but failed. This sealed my decision not to buy it. I got a watch where i liked its look less, but lacked unused complications while it offered two aspects i greatly appreciate.

A similar thought ruled out some digital watches with tide display. I'm just not often enough at the sea to accept having to look at it 100 or 200 times a day to maybe use if for a fortnight every couple of years.

I think that many watch complications are not really used to do something beyond making the watch enjoyable and attractive. For example I enjoy an Oris Complication with moon display, calendar and 24 hour pointers. I never use the moon phase to tell if the moon is up and I don't use the 24 hour pointer to tell zulu time. But I really like the way it all looks and how each complication tells about the passage of time in a different manner.

The tourbillon is a complication (or a movement feature) that at one time had promise for improving watch accuracy. It has been eclipsed in the 2 centuries since by other less costly and more effective ways of stabilizing time keepers. But it is still enjoyable to ponder it's design and be fascinated by it's operation.

[Watchbreath]

Won't make sense in terms of repair and service costs.

[Perseus]

I have a watch with a GMT hand that I don't need or use.