Attempt to amateur to understand the watch market
Hi Geektimes. The watch market has been around for more than one hundred years, although now they are largely irrelevant - each smartphone shows the exact time synchronized via the Internet. Nevertheless, it became interesting to find out what kind of models are on the market and how they differ. Who is also interesting, the details under the cut.
Tag Heuer Carrera watch, price 4700 €, photo from the offsite
The first impetus to this interest was the BBC Mechanical Marvels Clockwork Dreams film, which shows watches that are more a work of art than just a mechanism. About the price of course, it is better not to talk. Nevertheless, I recommend recommending the history of watchmaking, at least for general development.
To begin with, let's answer the stupid question - why do we need a watch?
')
There are at least three functions here:
- Show time (oddly enough, yes :).
Given that smartphones are now increasingly bulky, a quick look at the clock is sometimes convenient. The good news here is that any modern watches from any modern brand (Casio, Citizen) do it well and inexpensively - for $ 50 you can buy watches that will work for 10 years without problems, then you can just throw them away and buy others. As an example, Casio Wave Ceptor for $ 75 has even built-in radio synchronization, and will always show the exact time (whether the function works in Russia, I do not know).
- To please the eye with a beautiful design.
Models can differ in the type of dial, the number of functions, etc., everything is individually. Indeed, beautiful watches, if they are selected with taste, look stylish, and it is nice to look at them.
- To be a status thing, first of all in the eyes of the owner. Say "yes, I can afford it." The price range here starts from 100 € and to infinity, everyone has different incomes. Well, tastes, of course, do not argue.
Pictured: Breguet Marine 42 Tourbillon, priced at € 122,479
And this is at a price far from the limit. On the Internet forum I saw an advertisement for the sale of used watches in Moscow at the price of $ 250,000, the buyer was provided with a settlement room and a cash collector with security guards to take the purchase to the house. Well, in general, the “status” is a purely personal concept, for many it would be quite a sum to spend even $ 5000 on Tag Heuer.
But however, back to the technical issues.
By the type of mechanism, modern watches can be divided into 3 categories:
- Mechanical
Everything is clear, the principle of their work has not changed 50-100 years. Such models have the lowest accuracy of the course - 5-10 seconds per day , they also need to be wound every 1-2 days. Yes, even hours for 100 000 rub will go away for a couple of minutes a month. But on the other hand, these models do not become morally obsolete, they do not need to change the firmware and batteries, and with careful use, they can also be left to the grandchildren for memory. By the way, it is recommended to maintain expensive watches in the service every 3 years for cleaning and adjustment.
It may seem strange, but mechanical watches can have a lot of functions - from a stopwatch or a perpetual calendar, to display the phases of the moon. There are also models with automatic winding , which are not required to wind up, they wind up from the movement of the hand while walking, in the catalogs such watches are often called Automatic.
In the photo is a Vicrorinox Swiss watch:
Among the mechanical ones, we can separately mention models with a tourbillon - a special suspension, something like a gyroscope, designed to compensate for the unevenness of the clock because of the different inclination of the mechanism. The device is very difficult to manufacture, the cost of such watches is from $ 15,000.
- Quartz
In such a watch, the driving element is quartz with a frequency of 32768 Hz. Unlike mechanical, quartz watches have an accuracy of 1-2 seconds per month, well, of course, they do not need to wind up, sometimes changing the battery. They are also theoretically more reliable, because The mechanical spring mechanism is more complicated in design and is experiencing heavy loads in operation (it is practically difficult to verify, because by historical standards, quartz watches appeared relatively recently).
In watch “gurus”, quartz watches are considered less “pontovy”, although all modern watch manufacturers, even expensive ones, often have both types of models in the line.
- Electronic and combined
There is a large selection, from "classic" with an LCD screen, to modern ones, with a solar battery, radio synchronization and so on. Well, of course, modern Smart Watch is also very popular now.
The classics of the genre of high-quality modern watches are Switzerland and Japan. True and there is a nuance - the Swiss Made logo means only that the watches are assembled in Switzerland, and some of the parts are made in Switzerland. So even when buying a cheap Swiss watch, you need to keep in mind that there are likely to beChinese non-Swiss parts.
If we talk about design, here you can select several categories.
Classic
Everything is clear from the picture.
In principle, such a design will always be relevant - the task of the watch to show the date and time, and many unnecessary elements in fact, only distracts.
Chronograph
A watch with additional functions like a stopwatch, timer, second time zone, etc. I don’t know how often an ordinary person needs a stopwatch in his life, but probably someone is relevant.
Skeleton
I do not know how to translate it into Russian, the essence is that the clock mechanism is visible. Watches of this type are both desktop and wrist, pocket, etc.
Multifunctional
A very interesting example is the Seiko Astron series - a clock with a solar battery, GPS synchronization, of course, all the basic functions are also present. The price is true, bites, about $ 2000.
There is an interesting series of Citizen Eco drive, also with power from the solar battery, radio synchronization and various additional functions, up to the conversion of gallons to liters:
Watches with a solar battery is now a popular trend, and Tissot releases them:
Sports
Here are the “classic” Casio / Citizen, as well as modern Garmin watches with calorie counters, steps, heart rate monitor, etc. The design is usually an amateur, but probably someone likes it.
Smart watch
The most actively developing trend now. These watches are all good and functional, except for battery life, which is 2-3 days.
As it was said at the beginning, a good watch “to show time” can be bought for $ 50-100. Quite high-quality Swiss or Japanese watches can be bought for $ 100-1000. Swiss watches with a claim to style and design (both mechanical and electronic), can be bought for $ 1000-3000. Swiss watch with a claim on the Hi-End, starting at $ 2000, well, but the upper limit of the price, as was said, no.
If we talk about functionality, the clock with radio synchronization can be bought for $ 70 (for example, the Casio WaveCeptor series), the clock with radio synchronization and the solar battery can be bought for $ 150. The mechanical Seiko mechanical watch can be bought for as low as $ 100. Regular electronic watches Casio in the style of "Electronics" from the 90s can be bought for $ 20-30.
Of course, there are also “copies of Rolex for $ 100” on sale, I don’t consider them. The task of the watch is to please its owner in the first place, it can hardly be done with the help of a fake. If someone wants to "throw dust in the eyes" in front of non-specialistgirls , then such watches are on sale, of course, too.
By the way, to the question of quality and fakes. The photo shows a watch from Amazon with the proud name KS Luxury Tourbillion Moon Phase Automatic Wrist Watch and Price: $ 35:
Looks at a layman, quite well. Only in reviews, the average score is about 2x - for one user they are in a hurry for 5 minutes a day, for another the hour hand has fallen off and hangs out in the case, the third has got up in a month. And so on.
Maybe someday the LCD screen will be implanted directly into contact lenses or immediately into the eye, and the exact time will always be visible, but for now the clock will remain relevant for a long time. And even in this case, as a design element, they will still exist. Like vinyl records, they will not leave the market - this is one of those cases when the process of use is no less interesting than the result. The watch market is huge and interesting in its own way, many may find something new for themselves. Or not find anything, now the clock is really not the first thing.
Personally, my idea to upgrade the watch, ended with ... nothing. I like the functionality of my watches with Andoid Wear (I described them in a separate article ), but something much better in design or functionality costs quite different money.
By the way, it is interesting to note that the attempt to put the “classic” design of the dial with arrows on Android Wear ended in complete failure - even on a slightly brighter sun, the LCD screen is not visible, and instead of beautiful hands only a barely noticeable hint at them. In general, a good mechanical design cannot be replaced with any IPS-screen, so there is still something to think about in terms of upgrades ...
Finally, for those who are interested in different models of watches, I advise you to watch the video “Before You Buy A Watch - 15 Biggest Mistakes To Avoid”.
And a bonus for those who read to here. If someone has old broken wall / floor / table clocks at home - they can be “revived”, separate Hermle or Seiko quartz movements can be bought for fairly little money, from $ 20 to $ 100, with options from simple to more complex with combat or radio synchronization. Of course, this cannot be called a full-fledged restoration, the watches will be quartz and not mechanical, and the battle will not be real, but reproduced through the speaker, but the clock can get a second life, it's better than nothing. Search keywords “Hermle clock movement”.
Tag Heuer Carrera watch, price 4700 €, photo from the offsite
The first impetus to this interest was the BBC Mechanical Marvels Clockwork Dreams film, which shows watches that are more a work of art than just a mechanism. About the price of course, it is better not to talk. Nevertheless, I recommend recommending the history of watchmaking, at least for general development.
Video under the spoiler
Purpose
To begin with, let's answer the stupid question - why do we need a watch?
')
There are at least three functions here:
- Show time (oddly enough, yes :).
Given that smartphones are now increasingly bulky, a quick look at the clock is sometimes convenient. The good news here is that any modern watches from any modern brand (Casio, Citizen) do it well and inexpensively - for $ 50 you can buy watches that will work for 10 years without problems, then you can just throw them away and buy others. As an example, Casio Wave Ceptor for $ 75 has even built-in radio synchronization, and will always show the exact time (whether the function works in Russia, I do not know).
- To please the eye with a beautiful design.
Models can differ in the type of dial, the number of functions, etc., everything is individually. Indeed, beautiful watches, if they are selected with taste, look stylish, and it is nice to look at them.
- To be a status thing, first of all in the eyes of the owner. Say "yes, I can afford it." The price range here starts from 100 € and to infinity, everyone has different incomes. Well, tastes, of course, do not argue.
Pictured: Breguet Marine 42 Tourbillon, priced at € 122,479
And this is at a price far from the limit. On the Internet forum I saw an advertisement for the sale of used watches in Moscow at the price of $ 250,000, the buyer was provided with a settlement room and a cash collector with security guards to take the purchase to the house. Well, in general, the “status” is a purely personal concept, for many it would be quite a sum to spend even $ 5000 on Tag Heuer.
But however, back to the technical issues.
Design
By the type of mechanism, modern watches can be divided into 3 categories:
- Mechanical
Everything is clear, the principle of their work has not changed 50-100 years. Such models have the lowest accuracy of the course - 5-10 seconds per day , they also need to be wound every 1-2 days. Yes, even hours for 100 000 rub will go away for a couple of minutes a month. But on the other hand, these models do not become morally obsolete, they do not need to change the firmware and batteries, and with careful use, they can also be left to the grandchildren for memory. By the way, it is recommended to maintain expensive watches in the service every 3 years for cleaning and adjustment.
It may seem strange, but mechanical watches can have a lot of functions - from a stopwatch or a perpetual calendar, to display the phases of the moon. There are also models with automatic winding , which are not required to wind up, they wind up from the movement of the hand while walking, in the catalogs such watches are often called Automatic.
In the photo is a Vicrorinox Swiss watch:
Among the mechanical ones, we can separately mention models with a tourbillon - a special suspension, something like a gyroscope, designed to compensate for the unevenness of the clock because of the different inclination of the mechanism. The device is very difficult to manufacture, the cost of such watches is from $ 15,000.
- Quartz
In such a watch, the driving element is quartz with a frequency of 32768 Hz. Unlike mechanical, quartz watches have an accuracy of 1-2 seconds per month, well, of course, they do not need to wind up, sometimes changing the battery. They are also theoretically more reliable, because The mechanical spring mechanism is more complicated in design and is experiencing heavy loads in operation (it is practically difficult to verify, because by historical standards, quartz watches appeared relatively recently).
In watch “gurus”, quartz watches are considered less “pontovy”, although all modern watch manufacturers, even expensive ones, often have both types of models in the line.
- Electronic and combined
There is a large selection, from "classic" with an LCD screen, to modern ones, with a solar battery, radio synchronization and so on. Well, of course, modern Smart Watch is also very popular now.
Producing country
The classics of the genre of high-quality modern watches are Switzerland and Japan. True and there is a nuance - the Swiss Made logo means only that the watches are assembled in Switzerland, and some of the parts are made in Switzerland. So even when buying a cheap Swiss watch, you need to keep in mind that there are likely to be
Design
If we talk about design, here you can select several categories.
Classic
Everything is clear from the picture.
In principle, such a design will always be relevant - the task of the watch to show the date and time, and many unnecessary elements in fact, only distracts.
Chronograph
A watch with additional functions like a stopwatch, timer, second time zone, etc. I don’t know how often an ordinary person needs a stopwatch in his life, but probably someone is relevant.
Skeleton
I do not know how to translate it into Russian, the essence is that the clock mechanism is visible. Watches of this type are both desktop and wrist, pocket, etc.
Multifunctional
A very interesting example is the Seiko Astron series - a clock with a solar battery, GPS synchronization, of course, all the basic functions are also present. The price is true, bites, about $ 2000.
There is an interesting series of Citizen Eco drive, also with power from the solar battery, radio synchronization and various additional functions, up to the conversion of gallons to liters:
Watches with a solar battery is now a popular trend, and Tissot releases them:
Sports
Here are the “classic” Casio / Citizen, as well as modern Garmin watches with calorie counters, steps, heart rate monitor, etc. The design is usually an amateur, but probably someone likes it.
Smart watch
The most actively developing trend now. These watches are all good and functional, except for battery life, which is 2-3 days.
Issue price
As it was said at the beginning, a good watch “to show time” can be bought for $ 50-100. Quite high-quality Swiss or Japanese watches can be bought for $ 100-1000. Swiss watches with a claim to style and design (both mechanical and electronic), can be bought for $ 1000-3000. Swiss watch with a claim on the Hi-End, starting at $ 2000, well, but the upper limit of the price, as was said, no.
If we talk about functionality, the clock with radio synchronization can be bought for $ 70 (for example, the Casio WaveCeptor series), the clock with radio synchronization and the solar battery can be bought for $ 150. The mechanical Seiko mechanical watch can be bought for as low as $ 100. Regular electronic watches Casio in the style of "Electronics" from the 90s can be bought for $ 20-30.
Of course, there are also “copies of Rolex for $ 100” on sale, I don’t consider them. The task of the watch is to please its owner in the first place, it can hardly be done with the help of a fake. If someone wants to "throw dust in the eyes" in front of non-specialist
By the way, to the question of quality and fakes. The photo shows a watch from Amazon with the proud name KS Luxury Tourbillion Moon Phase Automatic Wrist Watch and Price: $ 35:
Looks at a layman, quite well. Only in reviews, the average score is about 2x - for one user they are in a hurry for 5 minutes a day, for another the hour hand has fallen off and hangs out in the case, the third has got up in a month. And so on.
Conclusion
Maybe someday the LCD screen will be implanted directly into contact lenses or immediately into the eye, and the exact time will always be visible, but for now the clock will remain relevant for a long time. And even in this case, as a design element, they will still exist. Like vinyl records, they will not leave the market - this is one of those cases when the process of use is no less interesting than the result. The watch market is huge and interesting in its own way, many may find something new for themselves. Or not find anything, now the clock is really not the first thing.
Personally, my idea to upgrade the watch, ended with ... nothing. I like the functionality of my watches with Andoid Wear (I described them in a separate article ), but something much better in design or functionality costs quite different money.
By the way, it is interesting to note that the attempt to put the “classic” design of the dial with arrows on Android Wear ended in complete failure - even on a slightly brighter sun, the LCD screen is not visible, and instead of beautiful hands only a barely noticeable hint at them. In general, a good mechanical design cannot be replaced with any IPS-screen, so there is still something to think about in terms of upgrades ...
Finally, for those who are interested in different models of watches, I advise you to watch the video “Before You Buy A Watch - 15 Biggest Mistakes To Avoid”.
Link under the spoiler
And a bonus for those who read to here. If someone has old broken wall / floor / table clocks at home - they can be “revived”, separate Hermle or Seiko quartz movements can be bought for fairly little money, from $ 20 to $ 100, with options from simple to more complex with combat or radio synchronization. Of course, this cannot be called a full-fledged restoration, the watches will be quartz and not mechanical, and the battle will not be real, but reproduced through the speaker, but the clock can get a second life, it's better than nothing. Search keywords “Hermle clock movement”.
Photo c eBay under the spoiler
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/403605/
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