Survey: Watches

[chas]

I only wear a digital watch with a timer. I time everything on my watch. My stove has two timers; I sometimes need three when I'm cooking. I time things in the lab just about every day (as well as when to check the water in the kettle and my steeping tea).

I don't have a smart phone.

[Innocent Bystander]

I haven't worn a wristwatch since I was about 15. Around that time, I discovered that the awful rash that went up my left arm was caused by wearing a wristwatch. I tried a number of straps of different materials - white metal (dreadful), kind of webbing type tape (not good) and even leather. Nothing stopped the rash. So I used a pocket watch for many years. The advent of the mobile phone era is a Godsend for me.

Ditto. I think I am sensitive to the chrome (or nickel, or whatever the hell they plate the catch with). I've tried those expanding metal linked bands, and find them irritating too, and they catch on the arm hairs.

Mostly, estimating the time, I am within a quarter of an hour, which is good enough for most situations. Airports and Railway stations have their own clocks, and so do pubs - still can't get the hang of these licencing hours.

[MTGuru]

I discovered that the awful rash that went up my left arm was caused by wearing a wristwatch. I tried a number of straps of different materials - white metal (dreadful), kind of webbing type tape (not good) and even leather. Nothing stopped the rash.

Those of you with this problem might want to try a so-called NATO strap, a one-piece nylon strap designed in such a way that no metal contacts your skin. The strap passes through the spring bars and completely under the watch. And the buckle and rings are "pocketed" by the strap, so no touching skin or catching hairs.

They're stylish and trendy, very secure, come in different color and stripe combinations from understated to bold, and look good on any watch IMO from Timex to Rolex. And inexpensive to start, under $10. Timex supplies them with some of their Weekender watches, so they're often available as replacement straps where Timex are sold (Target, etc.).

If you have metal sensitivity, and no sensitivity to nylon, a NATO strap may let you display your timepiece where it belongs - on your wrist.

Here's a good history of the NATO strap: http://gearpatrol.com/2014/01/07/icon-nato-strap/

[ggiles]

Analog for me ... but it is very sentimental as well. My Grandfather's wrist watch he got when he retired in 1972, an Omega Automatic Grand Sport Geneve. No batteries, Self winding ... very simple yet smart looking watch that puts a smile on my face when I look at it and I think of him.
Past away 2 years ago just before his 101 birthday. Was a great fiddler that could play the tunes with the best of them.

[Innocent Bystander]

I discovered that the awful rash that went up my left arm was caused by wearing a wristwatch. I tried a number of straps of different materials - white metal (dreadful), kind of webbing type tape (not good) and even leather. Nothing stopped the rash.

Those of you with this problem might want to try a so-called NATO strap, a one-piece nylon strap designed in such a way that no metal contacts your skin. The strap passes through the spring bars and completely under the watch. And the buckle and rings are "pocketed" by the strap, so no touching skin or catching hairs.

They're stylish and trendy, very secure, come in different color and stripe combinations from understated to bold, and look good on any watch IMO from Timex to Rolex. And inexpensive to start, under $10. Timex supplies them with some of their Weekender watches, so they're often available as replacement straps where Timex are sold (Target, etc.).

If you have metal sensitivity, and no sensitivity to nylon, a NATO strap may let you display your timepiece where it belongs - on your wrist.

Here's a good history of the NATO strap: http://gearpatrol.com/2014/01/07/icon-nato-strap/

I appreciate the thought, but I just don't like having something strapped to my wrist. Timepieces don't belong on your wrist - that's like saying "you are owned by time; You are time's slave!". Chronometers belong in your waistcoat (US "vest") pocket - on a chain. Time is not your master, you are Time's master. Swatch used to make modern watches of this sort - perhaps they still do - but I kept losing mine. So I'll stick with my mobile phone's chronometer - it's one fewer item to lug around.

[benhall.1]

I perhaps ought to say that I've set my clock on my mobile phone (one of my two mobiles phones, that is) to analog. Of course.

[brewerpaul]

To me, it's not just practical. Strapping on a watch is a symbolic act of transition from the world inside my own head to the outer world of standardized time, appointments, etc.

Agreed. And conversely, leaving that watch off on Saturday marks a transition back into that quieter, more private place.

[daiv]

I wear an analog wristwatch. Digital was too stressful... sometimes you don't want to see the exact numbers, but just the relative passing of time. I got tired of using my cell phone. I believe time is important and like being able to stay on top of it. It helps me make time for things that are important, like friends and music.

I wear a hamilton khaki automatic. I like the military styling, American heritage, and the craftsmanship of a swiss watch. I also like how the watch isn't fancy and doesn't make people give it a second glance. I can't tell you how often people tell me "nice Timex," which I take as a compliment. Honestly, I don't need such a nice watch, but I enjoy it. I like the sweeping second hand and looking in the back to see it winding itself. It feels like it is alive. It is also my way of protesting against technology, which I'm surrounded by constantly.

As MTGuru mentioned, I also wear my watch on a NATO strap. No fuss and no worrying that I will ruin the strap that came with my watch (I'm embarrassed to admit how much it would cost to replace the strap). I don't know how to make the picture smaller in here, so sorry if it is too match man-wrist for one thread! In watch forums it is customary to give such a shot, so I figured "when in Rome," or in this case, "when in Little Italy."

[I.D.10-t]

I have a sun stone. I've been trying to use it to know where I am, yet to know that I need to know when I am. How does one calibrate candles?

Otherwise, when the buzzer sounds, I work, go to break, work, go to lunch, work, clean, go home.

[MTGuru]

I have a sun stone. I've been trying to use it to know where I am, yet to know that I need to know when I am.

Yes ... I think John Harrison solved that dilemma for us in the post-Viking age.

[I.D.10-t]

I have a sun stone. I've been trying to use it to know where I am, yet to know that I need to know when I am.

Yes ... I think John Harrison solved that dilemma for us in the post-Viking age.

I must be behind the times, can one know position and time?

ps. If anyone is able to tell me how this calcite rock works I'll be thankful.

[Nanohedron]

ps. If anyone is able to tell me how this calcite rock works I'll be thankful.

Do you mean what makes it work, or do you mean how to make use of it?

[Chuck_Clark]

Time is a concept foisted on the Western world by some ancient obsessive-compulsive.

[MTGuru]

Time is a concept foisted on the Western world by some ancient obsessive-compulsive.

The particular not-so-ancient obsessive-compulsive usually pointed to being Frederick Winslow Taylor. Or just blame the railroads. And sure, the perception of time is always culturally constrained - e.g. the Quechua/Aymara speakers with their "backwards future". But the obsessive bit is hardly uniquely Western. Seems to me that, for one, the guys who dragged those giant Legos to Salisbury Plain were quite interested in the meaning of time.

[chas]

ps. If anyone is able to tell me how this calcite rock works I'll be thankful.

It's called birefringence. The index of refraction is different for different directions in the material. In microscopic terms the crystal structure is stretched in one direction, so the index of refraction is smaller in that direction. When light propagates through a crystal (or water, or anything besides air), the index causes a shift in the angle of propagation, which we perceive as a shift in the position of whatever we're looking at. In the case of calcite, the light polarized along the long axis shifts less than the light polarized along the short axis, resulting in a double image.