Watches

I was reading Gary Fong's blog the other day (Gary is a world famous wedding photographer but today is an inventor of light diffuser products for photographers) and someone in the comments section of one of his posts mentioned watches.

Well, watches are an interesting topic for me. I have quite a few. But lately, I've been wearing a relatively inexpensive watch as my daily watch. It's an Invicta 9094 automatic movement watch. It's kind of a cross between a Rolex Submariner and an Omega Seamaster. It has a bezel that looks like a Seamaster, but the rest of it looks like a Submariner. Both of these watches are world class timepieces, but you'd be surprised at how the Invicta gives them a run for the money at a fraction of the cost.

The automatic movement of the Invicta is similar to the perpetual motion winding mechanism of a Rolex. It is self winding so no batteries are needed for these types of watches. Is the Invicta accurate? Well... it's probably as accurate as you can expect from something that emulates a Rolex. So that's pretty accurate, right? Well, no.

A cheap $20 Timex Quartz watch is going to be far more accurate than an Invicta or a Rolex. Surprised? Well, don't be. The Invicta and the Rolex both have mechanical movements that don't have the consistency of a quartz movement. An Invicta or a Rolex is going to be either fast or slow by a few seconds per month. Not a big deal really, but that cheap Timex Quartz is probably going to be right on the money all the time. So why do people pay so much money for something like a Rolex? Well... status maybe?

Really, the Invicta isn't quite a Rolex. But for a fraction of the cost of a Rolex, who cares? It's a great "everyday" watch and that's what I use it for. It's built really solid and that's what I like. I tend to favor the "Diver" style watches and have several.

The good watches only come out for special occasions. One of my favorites in my collection is an Omega Seamaster that used to belong to my dad. That watch is probably circa 1964 or so. It's a wind-up watch. Yeah, they don't make them like that any more! Today's version of the Omega Seamaster is known as the James Bond watch. It's seen in many of the recent Bond films. My dad's Seamaster in no way resembles that watch though. Omega has updated the styling of the Seamaster since my dad's watch was made.

Some watches don't seem to reflect what they cost. And if you really want something really accurate... go buy yourself a basic Quartz movement watch. A Timex will do just fine.