The best watch for a businessman

Oct 07, 2006
I am a businessman and I have very many things to do and many people that I need to meet every day. I used to have a notebook where I would write down things I need to accomplish but one day I have lost it and had to call people and ask what I planned to do next. Then I have bought this watch and it is my best gadget that helps me with scheduling my time.

It is a very precise watch and its accuracy is +/- 30 seconds per month. Besides, its main function of telling you the time it can also store some memos for you. You can store up to 300 memos which is very great. It is enough for me to plan the whole week and that is what I do. Later on if I need to make some appointment I can just add it to the list.

The advantage that this thing has and the notebook does not have is that you can find any memo very quickly. There is a function in this gadget watch that allows you to find the memo by its initial letter. I use it all the time and it is very convenient to retrieve the information so quickly.

This gadget has also a chronometer which is very precise. It is 1/100 second stopwatch. You can use it when you work out sometimes or for things like that. Besides, the back light is bright and you will be able to see the information anytime you would like. There is also a countdown alarm which is use frequently when I work out at home. Sometimes I forget to stop because I like sports and I need something to remind me to stop myself.

The thing that I like about this gadget watch is that it has a calculator built in. The calculator is also very sophisticated. It can calculate some big functions and numbers but I use only the basic features of it. The buttons are pretty small and I have to use a pen to work with the calculator but I always have one with me when I need it.

Speaking about time: there is a feature built into this gadget that allows you to choose the time zone you are in. This watch it will adjust the time to the zone where you are at the moment.

The main function that a watch should have I think is the alarm. For a very busy man like me it is very important to not miss any appointment or to wake up very early. So this alarm helps me very much sometimes.

It is of course water resistant and has also a calendar built in. The calendar is preprogrammed to the year 2094. This gadget can replace a note book and it will save you some time and some nerves.

You can of course say that there are cell phones and other devices that can be used for the same purpose. However, you can loose your cell phone or your note book but it is very unlikely that you loose a watch.

This watch looks somewhat bulky and old style but I think that functionality comes first and then you can think about the look.
» Comments

Nov 13, 2006 11:46 PM » posted by: Tock Mikly
new is always better and this gadget is not an exception

Nov 11, 2006 04:54 AM » posted by: ponty
surely you cannot pass this gadget

Nov 10, 2006 11:13 AM » posted by: Jager
I think if I don't get me one of those gadgets in the next few days, I'm gonna do something to myself!

Nov 10, 2006 01:49 AM » posted by: Spark
I think if I don't get me one of those gadgets in the next few days, I'm gonna do something to myself!

Nov 09, 2006 11:23 AM » posted by: Vipen
I guess I could use some of these gadgets: for me, for my girlfriend and for my dog.

Nov 08, 2006 10:41 AM » posted by: Unknown
WOW! I want this gadget and I want it now. Do you know where can I get one of these?

Nov 08, 2006 10:40 AM » posted by: Veronika
Hey!!! I know this watch. One of my friends has such a gadget. We always have a lot of fun with it!

Nov 08, 2006 10:39 AM » posted by: Gray
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Tips for choosing the right watch

-Question yourself why you want to buy a watch is the first thing you should do when you are looking for a new one. Do you want a dress watch or sport watch? Does your watch have to served some important function and need to specially precisely display the time Try to find out your purpose so that you can pick the best suitable watch which fit your need, style and taste perfectly.

-Define your price and consider the appropriateness of the quality and price as well as purchasing ability.

-There are several essential factors you should think about, your lifestyle and your environment.

* If you have a casual lifestyle and love to doing outdoor activities and playing the sports, the best watch for you are a water resistant sport watch with a stainless steel bracelet which make you look nice for everyday wear and every activities.
* A sports-enthusiast consider a chronograph-a watch that can function as a stopwatch.
* If you are a besiness man or woman and want a watch supporting your professional image, think about a classic watch with a timeless design. For a traditional look, pick a small square or rectangular dial with a leather strap. For a modern look, select a large round dial with a two-tone metal bracelet blending steel and gold.
* If you are looking for a watch to wear in a formal settings or special occasions, you may want a magnificent timepiece with more accessory to serve as a precious jewlry. The excellent choices are solid gold or platinum with diamonds or other costly stones.

-Consider what type of maintenance the watch will require.Each type of watch has different method to maintain.Batteries watch should be serviced when the battery is changed but mechanical watch should be serviced and cleaned every three year to keep the best quality of time displaying.

- Learn about the reputation of the watch manufacturer by asking people who already had the types and brands of watches you are looking for.

-Remember that the popular brand name watch doesn’t mean that it is the best choice or high quality.You should research all of your options so that you will find the best watch that suits your need.

-Don’t forget to try on your watch before you walk out the store.Adjust the wrist to a comfortable tightness.Shake your arm from side to side and thrust your hand back and forth to check if it slides up your arm.Be sure that the strap doesn’t so tight that scratch your wrist.

-The place to buy a watch is also important. If you want to look plenty of choice and try on, you should go to the stores which have a various watches and new collection. For people who love to buy online and want more convenience, you are able to purchase from the reliable retailer’s official website.

Most Luxurious Ladies Watches around the World

1. Vacheron Constantin

Vacheron Constantin comes up with latest feminine collection beating women’s heart.This elegant and magnificent ladies timepiece is made up from a number of diamonds (brilliant cut) or 1329 diamonds which weigh 6.30 Carat. Feel the luxury with white gold watch and gold bracelet. This gracious time piece works with quartz movement and is water-resistant up to 30 meters.

For further information: http://www.vacheron-constantin.com/

2. Blancpain

Blancpain surprise you with the supreme and classy collection for special ladies like you. Complication watch lovers get ready to meet this sophisticated watch including complete calendar and moon phase. Clear vision with white dial decorated with mother- of- pearl. Look excellent with 26 polished diamonds.

Ref. 3253-6044-56B

For further information: http://www.blancpain.ch/e/collections/women_s_collection/women/moon_phase/white_gold_set/3253_6044_56b

3. Audemars Piguet

Audemars Piguet offers extremely unique watches for classy women. With distinctive style showing the magnificent black dial enriched with 383 brilliant-cut diamonds(1.95 carats) and 26 marquise-cut diamonds(3.20 carats),the excellent timepiece contains black moire satin strap and 18-carat white gold case.

Ref. 67493BC.ZZ.A002MR.01

For further information: http://www.audemarspiguet.com/en/timepieces/ladies_ie.html?collection=1

4. Girard-Perregaux

Girard-Perregaux create special collection for ladies. Spectacular with the classic style and special function small chronograph;column-wheel chronograph,small second and automatic winding. Excellent dial are made with sapphire crystal with gliding case embedded with 38 diamonds.

Ref.80440D11AB11-BKBA

For more information: http://www.girard-perregaux.com/collection/collection_detail_en.aspx?id=4&id_montre=29&id_declinaison=115

5.Breguet

One of the Swiss watch manufacturer proudly offers luxury watches for classy women. De Naples wristwatch is the princess of pearl made from18-carat white gold and decorated with Bezel, caseb and set with 76 baguette diamonds, approx. 6.06 cts. Distinctive dial is made from silvered gold and tempting with 0.09ct at 6 o’clock pear-cut diamond. Sweeten your personality with pink bracelet made with natural pink Akoya pearls from Tahiti. This beautiful time piece is water-resistant and functions self-winding movement.

For more information : http://www.breguet.com/en/welcome.html

6. Omega

The world-renowned Omega watches provide you magnificent ladies time pieces. Constellation Double Eagle Quartz is bright with yellow gold watch, case and dial made from 18 ct. yellow gold case and white mother-of-pearl with diamonds. Scratch resistant sapphire crystal is anti-reflective. It is also able to water-resistant 100 meters.

Ref.1189.75.00

For further information: http://www.omegawatches.com/index.php?id=599&details=1&ref=11897500&no_cache=1

Popular Brands of Ladies Watches

1. Rolex

All of watch lovers are sure to be familiar with the name Rolex. This renowned watch maker originated in Switzerland. Rolex has a great reputation for their high quality, supreme style and high price. This famous watch is not only a beautiful time piece but also a symbol of wealth and power. Rolex is the most reliable timepiece in the world. Moreover it is able to endure in all kind of sports and adventures.

2. Cartier

This is one of the popular classic watches for ladies. With it’s precision, quality and excellent image, Cartier remains the best watch with solid and enduring timepiece which watch adorers love to wear or even collect. Moreover, it is also rare and superb masterpiece as a symbol of elegance and sophistication of the wearer.

3. DKNY

DKNY is fashionable, reliable and elegant time piece for women of the modern age.

This name came from the abbreviation of Donna Karen and Anne Klein whose reputation in the world of fashionable clothes and accessories are greatly familiar.

DKNY watches have exclusive, chic style as well as excellent quality so you can be sure that you will never be late for any important dates.

4. Gucci

Gucci is also the name which came from the fashion world of clothes and accessories. Gucci watches are created in a boutique,elegant, modern and sexy style tempting watch lovers to own one themselves.

5. Guess

These watches are suitable for every woman whether you are a student, business woman or sport loving girl. Guess watches collection offers you a variety of the watch styles include sport,retro, bold, modern , classic and so on. You can discover your perfect timepiece which is precise, reliable and affordable.

6. Swatch

Let Swatch jazz up your life and change your look to become modern and fashionable. Swatch watches are the trendy, stylish and reliable. In addition, Swatch is a sophisticated timepiece for a young at heart person who wants to be unique. Find Swatch at every watch store and pick a perfect one matching you.

7. TAG Heuer

TAG Heuer is an exceptional and superb timepiece. It is the most popular brand for watches for long time and still remains a favorite for a number of watch lovers. This world famous watch was invented in Switzerland and gain a great reputation for its precision, aesthetic design, and surpass quality. TAG Heuer never stop drawing watch lovers who adore simple but classic styles of itself.

8. Seiko

Seiko is precise,reliable,affordable and accessible to everyone.Whether you are a young lady,a student, a professional or stay-at-home mom ,Seiko is the perfect timepiece for you. With high technology and wonderful quality,Seiko never let anyone down when you decide to purchase it. Seiko always come up with a pretty styles attracting watch lovers around the world.

WATCH BRANDS

(From www.watchreport.com)


There are many brands of watch in the world :

Abacus

Bathys

Bell & Ross

Breitling

Casio

Citizen

Fossil

Highgear

Junghans

Kobold

Luminox

MTM

Nike

Ocean7

Oceanus

Omega

Panerai

Patek Philippe

Rado

RGM

Rolex

Seiko

Sinn

Suunto

Swatch

Swiss Army

Tag Heuer

TechnoMarine

Timex

Tissot

Traser

Tutima

Yes Watches

History of Watch

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The Wrist watch (a watch worn on the wrist) was first sold by Patek Phillipe Co. in the late 1880s. It was originally a woman’s accessory but it was eventually found to be a useful tool for pilots.

Pilot watch

A Pilot watch is a wristwatch with special features (compass, stopwatch, etc.), traditionally used by the pilots of aircraft.

The first such use was by the Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont. While testing out his new aeroplane in the early 1900s, Dumont found it necessary to keep track of time. He asked his friend Louis Cartier for help, and Cartier built him a leather bound wrist watch. Dumont used his popularity in Paris to popularize the item and sell it to other men.

Today there are a few manufacturers specialised in Pilot watches:

• IWC
• Fortis Uhren AG
• Zeno-Watch Basel

Military use

Wrist watches gained more popularity in World War I, when officers began to realize that they were more convenient than pocket watches in battle. Also, because the pocket watch was more of a middle class item, the working class soldiers usually owned wrist watches, which they brought with them to their service. Artillery and infantry officers depended on these watches as battles became more complicated, because attacks needed to be coordinated at precise moments. Wrist watches were found to be needed in the air as much as on the ground: military pilots found them more convenient than pocket watches for the same reasons as Santos-Dumont had. Eventually, army contractors manufactured watches en masse for both infantry soldiers and pilots. In World War II, a popular watch of most American airmen was the A-11: it had a simple black face and clear white numbers for easy readability, and it met the aviator’s basic needs.

Post-war development

After the war, the returning officers kept their watches and wore them back home, popularizing them among the middle class. The middle class helped the item develop into more than a means of keeping time. The standards for pilot watches were raised, and they became much more advanced, including features like chronometers and slide rules. (Chronometers are clocks especially used in navigation, designed to have sufficient long-term accuracy and precision, while slide rules are mechanical calculators that can make rapid, approximate scientific and engineering calculations, such as time, distance and speed equations.) The popularization of the pilot watch among the middle class also made it an accessory; companies designed impressive looking watches out of stainless steel, leather, and mineral crystal, with showy gold and silver accents, elaborate faces covered in various numbers, rotating crowns, and numerous widgets all in one package.

Watch Overview

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Overview

A watch is a timepiece that is to be worn on a person, as opposed to a clock which is not. The term now usually refers to a wristwatch, which is worn on the wrist with a strap, while a pocketwatch, the common type before World War I, is carried in a pocket and often has an attached chain to lift it out. Watches evolved in the 1600s from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 1400s. In addition to the time, modern watches often display the day, date, month and year, and electronic watches may have many other functions.

The most common type of watch is the wristwatch, worn on the wrist and fastened with a watchband made of leather, nylon or other plastics (then called strap), metal links (called bracelet) or even ceramic. Before the inexpensive miniaturization that became possible in the 20th century, most watches were pocket watches, which had covers and were carried separately, often in a pocket and attached to a watch chain or watch fob.

In the 21st century, technological advances in metallurgy, composite materials development and physical vapor deposition greatly influence watch design and manufacturing. Solid stainless steel, titanium, tungsten carbide, carbon fiber, high-tech ceramic and ion plating processes dominate a considerable market share of today's modern watch-making industry. Sapphire crystals are often incorporated to complement and enhance the durability of a quality watch.

Most inexpensive and medium-priced watches used mainly for timekeeping are electronic watches with quartz movements. The most accurate watches have radio-controlled movements that are miniaturized, portable versions of radio clocks. Expensive, collectible watches valued more for their workmanship and aesthetic appeal than for simple timekeeping, often have purely mechanical movements and are powered by springs, even though mechanical movements are less accurate than more affordable quartz movements.

Pocket Timepieces

In the 15th century, navigation and mapping increased the desire for portability in timekeeping. The latitude could be measured by looking at the stars, but the only way a ship could measure its longitude was by comparing the midday (high noon) time of the local longitude to that of a European meridian (usually Paris or Greenwich)—a time kept on a shipboard clock. However, the process was notoriously unreliable until the introduction of John Harrison's marine chronometer. For that reason, most maps from the 15th century through the 19th century have precise latitudes but distorted longitudes.

The first reasonably accurate mechanical clocks measured time with simple weighted pendulums, which are unworkable when irregular movement of the fulcrum occur whether at sea or in watches. The invention of a spring mechanism was crucial for portable clocks. In TudorEngland, the development of "pocket-clockes" was enabled by the development of reliable springs and escapement mechanisms, which allowed clockmakers to compress a timekeeping device into a small, portable compartment.

In 1524, Peter Henlein created the first pocket watch.^[1] It is rumored that Henry VIII (the portrait of Henry VIII at this link shows the medallion thought to be the back of his watch) had a pocket clock which he kept on a chain around his neck. However, these watches only had an hour hand—a minute hand would have been useless because of the inaccuracy of the watch mechanism. Eventually, miniaturization of these spring-based designs allowed for accurate portable timepieces (marine chronometers) which worked well even at sea.

In 1850, Aaron Lufkin Dennison founded Waltham Watch Company, which was the pioneer of the industrial manufacturing of pocket watches with interchangeable parts, the American System of Watch Manufacturing.

Breguet developed the first self-winding watch known as the perpetual in 1780.

Parts

The first two are key mechanisms within any mechanical watch of classical design; the third is optional:

1. The escapement – a mechanism that controls and limits the unwinding of the watch, converting what would otherwise be a simple unwinding, into a controlled and periodic energy release. The escapement does this by interlocking with a gear in a simple manner that switches between a "driven" and a "free" state, with abrupt locking at each end of the cycle. The escapement also for the same reason produces the ticking noise characteristic of mechanical watches.
2. The balance wheel together with the balance spring(also known as Hairspring) – these form a simple harmonic oscillator, which controls the motion of the gear system of the watch in a manner analogous to the pendulum of a pendulum clock. This is possible because the moment of inertia of the balance wheel is fixed, and the wheel as a whole provides a regular motion of known period.
3. The tourbillon – a rotating frame for the escapement. It is intended to cancel out or reduce the effects of bias to the timekeeping of gravitational origin, which might result from the watch being kept in a particular position for much of the day. It is technically very challenging to create a high quality tourbillon, and those made by specialists and found in prestige watches are often very highly valued.

Watch movements

A movement in watchmaking is the mechanism that measures the passage of time and displays the current time (and possibly other information including date, month and day). Movements may be entirely mechanical, entirely electronic (potentially with no moving parts), or a blend of the two. Most watches intended mainly for timekeeping today have electronic movements, with mechanical hands on the face of the watch indicating the time.

Mechanical movements

Purely mechanical watches are still popular, although they are most commonly seen among medium priced watches such as Fortis, Mido and TAG Heuer, and expensive watches like Patek Phillipe, Omega, Vacheron Constantin, A. Lange & Söhne, Rolex, Ulysse Nardin and Audemars Piguet. Their superb craftsmanship accounts for much of the attraction of purely mechanical watches. Compared to electronic movements, mechanical watches are inaccurate, often with errors of seconds per day. They are frequently sensitive to position and temperature, they are costly to produce, they require regular maintenance and adjustment, and they are more prone to failure.

Generally speaking, inexpensive and moderately priced timepieces with electronic movements now provide most users with timekeeping more accurate than the most expensive Rolex or Patek Phillipe. The most expensive, diamond encrusted Rolex contains a similar movement as its less expensive C.O.S.C rated brethren and all modern models can keep time to within 1 second a day. However, in recent times there has been less emphasis on one's watch for time precision as many people now carry multiple devices that will tell them the time accurately such as mobile phones, PDAs and laptops, these finely crafted mechanical watches have remained popular as precision time pieces and in many cases more so because of their aesthetic value as jewellery.

Tuning-fork movements

Tuning fork watches (introduced by Bulova in 1960) use a tuning fork at a precise frequency (most often 360 hertz) to drive a mechanical watch. Since the fork is used in place of a typical balance wheel, these watches naturally hum instead of tick.

The inventor, Max Hetzel, was born in Basel, Switzerland, and joined the Bulova Watch Company of Bienne, Switzerland, in 1948. Hetzel was the first to use an electronic device, a transistor, in a wristwatch. Thus, he developed the first watch that could be qualified as electronic. However, fork movements are actually more "electrical", like an old electrical wall clock, than electronic. The sweep second hand moves fluidly like that of an old electrical wall clock.

Such watches were also sold by Swiss watch companies under license of Bulova. In 1974, after leaving Bulova, Hetzel developed a different tuning fork drive for Omega Watches. The watch featured a cal. 1220 micromotor, and a tuning fork frequency of 720 hertz.^[5] This development was obsolete compared to the newer electronic quartz watch which had become cheaper to produce and even more accurate.

Tuning fork movements are electromechanical. The task of converting electronically pulsed fork vibration into rotary movement is done via two tiny jeweled fingers, called pawls, one of which is connected to one of the tuning fork's tines. As the fork vibrates, the pawls precisely ratchet a tiny index wheel. This index wheel has over 300 barely visible teeth and spins more than 38 million times per year. The tiny electric coils that drive the tuning fork have 8000 turns of insulated copper wire with a diameter of 0.015 mm and a length of 90 meters. This amazing feat of engineering was prototyped in the 1950s.

Electronic movements

Electronic movements have few or no moving parts. Essentially, all modern electronic movements use the piezoelectric effect in a tiny quartz crystal to provide a stable time base for a mostly electronic movement: the crystal forms a quartz oscillator which resonates at a specific and highly stable frequency, and which can be used to accurately pace a timekeeping mechanism. For this reason, electronic watches are often called quartz watches. Most quartz movements are primarily electronic but are geared to drive mechanical hands on the face of the watch in order to provide a traditional analog display of the time, which is still preferred by most consumers.

The first prototypes of electronic quartz watches were made by the CEH research laboratory in Switzerland in 1962. The first quartz watch to enter production was the Seiko 35 SQ Astron, which appeared in 1969. Modern quartz movements are produced in very large quantities, and even the cheapest wristwatches typically have quartz movements.

The best quartz movements are significantly more accurate than the worst, but the difference is much smaller than that found between mechanical movements and quartz movements. Quartz movements, even in their most inexpensive forms, are an order of magnitude more accurate than purely mechanical movements. Whereas mechanical movements can typically be off by several seconds a day, an inexpensive quartz movement in a child's wristwatch may still be accurate to within 500 milliseconds per day—ten times better than a mechanical movement.

Quartz mechanisms usually have a resonant frequency of 32768 Hz, chosen for ease of use (being 2¹⁵). Using a simple 15 stage divide-by-two circuit, this is turned into a 1 pulse per second signal responsible for the watch's keeping of time.

Recently, efforts have been made to combine the best features of quartz and mechanical movements. For example, the Seiko Spring Drive, introduced in 2005, uses a mainspring to power both a mechanical movement and, via a generator, a quartz regulator that controls its speed. The result is claimed to be a timepiece that operates as a mechanical watch, but with quartz accuracy.

Radio-controlled movements

Some electronic quartz watches are able to synchronize (time transfer) themselves with an external time source. These sources include radio time signals directly driven by atomic clocks, time signals from GPS navigation satellites, the German DCF77 signal in Europe, WWVB in the US, and others. These watches are free-running most of the time, but periodically align themselves with the chosen external time source automatically, typically once a day.

Because these watches are regulated by an external time source of extraordinarily high accuracy, they are never off by more than a small fraction of a second a day (depending on the quality of their quartz movements), as long as they can receive the external time signals that they expect. Additionally, their long-term accuracy is comparable to that of the external time signals they receive, which in most cases (such as GPS signals and special radio transmissions of time based on atomic clocks) is better than one second in three million years. For all practical purposes, then, radio-controlled wristwatches keep near perfect time.

Movements of this type synchronize not only the time of day but also the date, the leap-yeardaylight saving time (on or off). They obtain all of this information from the external signals that they receive. Because of this continual automatic updating, they never require manual setting or resetting.

A disadvantage of radio-controlled movements is that they cannot synchronize if radio reception conditions are poor. Even in this case, however, they will simply run autonomously with the same accuracy as a normal quartz watch until they are next able to synchronize.

Watch Functions

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Watch functions

All watches provide the time of day, giving at least the hour and minute, and usually the second. Most also provide the current date, and often the day of the week as well. However, many watches also provide a great deal of information beyond the basics of time and date.

Some watches include alarms.

Other elaborated and more expensive watches, both pocket and wrist models, also incorporate striking mechanisms or repeater functions, so that the wearer could learn the time by the sound emanating from the watch. This announcement or striking feature is an essential characteristic of true clocks and distinguishes such watches from ordinary timepieces. This feature is available on most digital watches.

Complicated watches

A complicated watch has one or more functionalities beyond the basic function of displaying the time and the date; such a functionality is called a complication. Two popular complications are the chronograph complication, which is the ability of the watch movement to function as a stopwatch, and the moonphase complication, which is a display of the lunar phase. Other more expensive complications include, Tourbillion, Perpetual calendar, Minute repeater and Equation of time. A truly complicated watch has many of these complications at once(see Calibre 89 from Patek Phillipe for instance)

Among watch enthusiasts, complicated watches are especially collectible.

Chronographs and chronometers

The Rolex Submariner is an officially certified chronometer

The similar-sounding terms chronograph and chronometer are often confused, although they mean altogether different things. A chronograph is a type of complication, as explained above. A chronometer watch is an all-mechanical watch or clock whose movement has been tested and certified to operate within a certain standard of accuracy by the COSC (Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres). The concepts are different but not mutually exclusive; a watch can be a chronograph, a chronometer, both, or neither.

Types of Watch

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Types of watch

Fashionable watches

At the end of the 20th century, Swiss watch makers were seeing their sales go down as analog clocks were considered obsolete. They joined forces with designers from many countries to reinvent the Swiss watch.

The result was that they could considerably reduce the pieces and production time of an analog watch. In fact it was so cheap that if a watch broke it would be cheaper to throw it away and buy a new one than to repair it. One of these Swiss watch manufacturers (today named The Swatch Group Ltd.) started a new brand, Swatch, and called graphic designers to redesign a new annual collection.

This is often used as a case study in design schools to demonstrate the commercial potential of industrial and graphic design.

Dual time watches

A dual time watch is designed for travelers, allowing them to see what time it is at home when they are elsewhere.

Collectible and jewelry watches

Wristwatches are often treated as jewelry or as collectible works of art rather than as timepieces. This has created several different markets for wristwatches, ranging from very inexpensive but accurate watches intended for no other purpose than telling the correct time, to extremely expensive watches that serve mainly as personal adornment or as examples of high achievement in miniaturization and precision mechanical engineering. Still another market is that of “geek watches”—watches that not only tell the time, but incorporate computers, satellite navigation, complications of various orders, and many other features that may be quite removed from the basic concept of timekeeping.

Most companies that produce watches specialize in one of these markets. Companies such as Breitling, Patek Phillipe, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Omega and Rolex specialize in watches as jewelry or fine mechanical devices, while companies such as Casio specialize in watches as timepieces or multifunctional computers. Since watches are considered by many to be both functional and attractive, there are many types and manufacturers to choose from.

Important collectible American made watches from the early 20th Century were the best available at any price. Leading watchmakers included Elgin, Gruen, Hamilton, and Illinois. Hamilton is generally considered as having the finest early American movements, while the art deco styling of The Illinois Watch Company was unsurpassed worldwide. Early Gruen Curvex models remain very desired for how they entwined form and function, and Elgin made more watches than anyone else.

Computerized multi-function watches

Many technological enhancements to wristwatches have been explored but most of them remained unnoticed. In 2005 for example, one company marketed an alarm wristwatch called the Sleeptracker with an accelerometer inside that monitors the user's sleep and rings during one of his almost-awake phases which is considered to be the optimum wake-up time.

A number of functionalities not directly related to time have also been inserted into watches. As miniaturized electronics became cheaper, watches have been developed containing calculators, tonometers, video games, digital cameras, keydrives, GPS receivers and cellular phones.

In the early 1980s Seiko marketed a watch with a television in it, although at the time television receivers were too bulky to fit in a wristwatch, and the actual receiver and its power source were in a book-sized box with a cable that ran to the wristwatch. In the early 2000s, a self-contained wristwatch television receiver came on the market, with a strong enough power source to provide one hour of viewing.

These watches have not had sustained long-term sales success. As well as awkward user interfaces due to the tiny screens and buttons possible in a wearable package, and in some cases short battery life, the functionality available has not generally proven sufficiently compelling to attract buyers. Such watches have also had the reputation as ugly and thus mainly geek toys. Now with the ubiquity of the mobile phone in many countries, which have bigger screens, buttons, and batteries, interest in incorporating extra functionality in watches seems to have declined.

Several companies have however attempted to develop a computer contained in a wristwatch (see also wearable computer). As of 2005, the only programmable computer watches to have made it to market are the Timex Datalink, Seiko Ruputer, the Matsucom onHand, and the Fossil, Inc. Wrist PDA, although many digital watches come with extremely sophisticated data management software built in.

Spacewatches

The Omega Speedmaster, selected by U.S. space agencies.

Zero gravity environment and other extreme conditions encountered by astronauts in space requires the use of specially tested watches.

On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin wore a Poljot "Shturmanskie" (a transliteration of Штурманские which actually means "navigators") wristwatch during his historic first flight into space. The Shturmanskie was manufactured at the First Moscow Watch Factory.

Since 1964, the watches of the First Moscow Factory have been marked by a trademark "ПОЛЕТ" and "POLJOT", which means "flight" in Russian and is a tribute to the number of many space trips its watches have accomplished.

In the late 1970s, Poljot launched a new chrono movement, the 3133. With a 23 jewel movement and manual winding (43 hours), it was a modified Russian version of the Swiss Valjoux 7734 of the early 1970s. Poljot 3133 were taken into space by astronauts from Russia, France, GermanyUkraine. On the arm of V.V. Polyakov, a Poljot 3133 chronograph movement-based watch set a space record for the longest space flight in history. and

During the 1960s, a large range of watches were tested for durability and precision under extreme temperature changes and vibrations. The Omega Speedmaster was selected by U.S. space agencies.

TAG Heuer became the first Swiss watch in space thanks to an Heuer Stopwatch, worn by John Glenn in 1962 when he piloted the Friendship 7 on the first manned U.S. orbital mission.

The Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute was designed with a 24-hour dial to avoid confusion between AM and PM, which are meaningless in space. It was first worn in space by U.S.Scott Carpenter on May 24, 1962 in the Aurora 7 mercury capsule.^[12] astronaut

Since 1994 Fortis is the exclusive supplier for manned space missions authorized by the Russian Federal Space Agency.

China National Space Administration (CNSA) astronauts wear the Fiyta^[13] spacewatches.

FLIGHT-CERTIFIED BY NASA FOR ALL MANNED SPACE MISSIONS:

• Omega Speedmaster Professional 3570.50.00

FLIGHT-QUALIFIED BY NASA FOR SPACE MISSIONS:

• Omega Speedmaster Professional X-33
• Casio G-Shock DW-5600C
• Casio G-Shock DW-5600E
• Casio G-Shock DW-5900
• Casio G-Shock DW-6900
• Casio G-Shock Master of G G-9000
• Timex IRONMAN Triathlon Data Link

Displaying The Time

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Displaying The Time

There are two main ways in which watches display the time: analog and digital.

Analog display

Traditionally, watches have displayed the time in analog form, with a numbered dial upon which are mounted at least a rotating hour hand and a longer, rotating minute hand. Many watches also incorporate a third hand that shows the current second of the current minute. Watches powered by quartz have second hands that snap every second to the next marker. Watches powered by a mechanical movement have a "sweep second hand", the name deriving from its uninterrupted smooth (sweeping) movement across the markers, although this is actually a misnomer; the hand merely moves in smaller steps, typically 1/6 of a second, corresponding to the beat of the balance wheel. All of the hands are normally mechanical, physically rotating on the dial, although a few watches have been produced with “hands” that are simulated by a liquid-crystal display.

Analog display of the time is nearly universal in watches sold as jewelry or collectibles, and in these watches, the range of different styles of hands, numbers, and other aspects of the analog dial is very broad. In watches sold for timekeeping, analog display remains very popular, as many people find it easier to read than digital display; but in timekeeping watches the emphasis is on clarity and accurate reading of the time under all conditions (clearly marked digits, easily visible hands, large watch faces, etc.).

Digital display

Datalink USB Dress edition with Invasion video game, (one of eighteen posible modes). (Three lives remaining). The display is dot matrix. The watch crown (icontrol) can be used to move the defender left to right and the fire control is the Start/Split button on the lower side of face of the watch at 6 o' clock. The pixels of the invaders appear slightly blurred upon picture magnification because of the animation of the aliens. The faint pixels diagonally to the left of the defender block are pixel traces of alien missiles. This Datalink model is waterproof to 30 m.

Since the advent of electronic watches that incorporate small computers, digital displays have also been available. A digital display simply shows the time as a number, e.g., 12:40 AM instead of a short hand pointing towards the number 12 and a long hand pointing towards the number 8 on a dial. Some watches, such as the Timex Datalink USB, feature dot matrix displays.

The first digital watch, a Pulsar prototype in 1970, was developed jointly by Hamilton Watch Company and Electro-Data. John Bergey, the head of Hamilton's Pulsar division, said that he was inspired to make a digital timepiece by the then-futuristic digital clock that Hamilton themselves made for the 1968 science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey. On April 4, 1972 the Pulsar was finally ready, made in 18-carat gold and sold for $2,100 at retail. It had a red light-emitting diode (LED) display. Another early digital watch innovator, Roger Riehl's Synchronar Mark 1, provided an LED display and used solar cells to power the internal nicad batteries.^[8] Most watches with LED displays required that the user press a button to see the time displayed for a few seconds, because LEDs used so much power that they could not be kept operating continuously. Watches with LED displays were popular for the next few years, but soon the LED displays were superseded by liquid crystal displays (LCDs), which used less battery power. The first LCD watch with a six-digit LCD was the 1973 Seiko 06LC, although various forms of early LCD watches with a four-digit display were marketed as early as 1972 including the 1972 Gruen Teletime LCD Watch, and the Cox Electronic Systems Quarza.^[9][10]

Digital watches were very expensive and out of reach to the common consumer up until 1975, when Texas Instruments started to mass produce LED watches inside a plastic case. These watches, which first retailed for only $20, and then $10 in 1976, saw Pulsar lose $6 million and the brand sold to competitors twice in only a year, eventually becoming a subsidiary of Seiko and going back to making only analogue quartz watches.

From the 1980s onward, technology in digital watches vastly improved. In 1982 Seiko produced a watch with a small TV screen built in and Casio produced a digital watch with a thermometer and another watch that could translate 1,500 Japanese words into English. In 1985, Casio produced the CFX-400 scientific calculator watch. In 1987 Casio produced a watch that could dial your telephone number and Citizen revealed one that would react to your voice. In 1995 Timex release a watch which allowed the wearer to download and store data from a computer to their wrist. Since their apex during the late 1980's to mid 1990's high technology fad, digital watches have mostly devolved into a simpler, less expensive basic time piece with little variety between models.

Despite these many advances, almost all watches with digital displays today are not considered an impressive form of jewelry and most are seen as being in the category of simple timekeeping watches.

Expensive watches for collectors rarely have digital displays since there is little demand for them. Less craftsmanship is required to make a digital watch face and most collectors find that analog dials (especially with complications) vary in quality more than digital dials due to the details and finishing of the parts that make up the dial (thus making the differences between a cheap and expensive watch more evident).

Power Sources

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Power Sources

Springs

Traditional, purely mechanical watch movements generally use a wound spring as a power source. The spring must be rewound by the user periodically (usually once a day, or once every few days).

Self-winding watches

Automatic watch: An eccentric weight called a rotor, swings with the movement of the wearer's body and winds the spring

A self-winding mechanism is one that rewinds the mainspring (power spring) of a mechanical movement through some means other than explicit winding by the user.

The first self-winding mechanism, for fob-watches, was invented in 1770 by Abraham-Louis Breguet;^[6] but the first "self-winding," or "automatic," wristwatch was the invention of a British watch repairer named John Harwood in 1923. This type of watch allows for a constant winding without special action from the wearer: it works by an eccentric weight, called a winding rotor, that rotates to the movement of the wearer's body. The back-and-forth motion of the winding rotor couples to a ratchet to automatically wind the watch. The spring drives an escapement, which consists of a lever that moves back and forth against a gear, keeping the gear moving at a specific number of times per second, usually four or five. That gear, in turn, drives all of the other gears of the watch that turn the hands on the dial.

Kinetic Power

Some watches are powered by the movement of the wearer of the watch. Kinetic powered quartz watches make use of the motion of the wearer's arm turning a rotating weight, which in turn, turns a generator to supply power. The concept is similar to that of self-winding spring movements, except that electrical power is generated instead of mechanical spring tension.

Batteries

Electronic watches require electricity as a power source. Some mechanical movements and hybrid electronic-mechanical movements also require electricity. Usually the electricity is provided by a replaceable battery. The first use of electrical power in watches was as substitute for the mainspring, in order to remove the need for winding. The first electrically-powered watch, the Hamilton Electric 500, was released in 1957 by the Hamilton Watch Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Batteries (strictly speaking cells) for watches are specially designed for their purpose. They are very small and provide tiny amounts of power continuously for very long periods (several years or more). In most cases, replacing the battery requires a trip to a watch-repair shop or watch dealer; this is especially true for watches that are designed to be water-resistant, as special tools and procedures are required to ensure that the watch remains water-resistant after battery replacement. Silver-oxide and lithium batteries are popular today; mercury batteries, formerly quite common, are no longer used, for environmental reasons. Cheap batteries may be alkaline, of the same size as silver-oxide but providing shorter life. Rechargeable batteries are used in some solar powered watches.

Light-powered watches

Some electronic watches are powered by light. A photovoltaic cell on the face (dial) of the watch converts light to electricity, which in turn is used to charge a rechargeable battery or capacitor. The movement of the watch draws its power from the rechargeable battery or capacitor. As long as the watch is regularly exposed to fairly strong light (such as sunlight), it never needs battery replacement, and some models need only a few minutes of sunlight to provide weeks of energy (as in the Citizen Eco-Drive).

Some of the early solar watches of the 1970s had innovative and unique designs to accommodate the array of solar cells needed to power them (Synchronar, Nepro, Sicura and some models by Cristalonic, Alba, Seiko and Citizen). As the decades progressed and the efficiency of the solar cells increased while the power requirements of the movement and display decreased, solar watches began to be designed to look like other conventional watches.

Some critics point out that both the low cost of quartz watches and the extreme longevity of the newest lithium-ion batteries (said to be upwards of ten years in some watches) may make solar power, whilst an interesting technology, obsolete before it truly catches on. According to this view, battery-powered watches will become disposable items, so the purchaser will not care about the cost of replacing the battery. However, some purchasers may be persuaded by the ecological benefits of solar watches: less waste and lower energy input, not to mention the reduced hassle of not having to purchase a replacement watch every few years. In addition, the widespread use of watches as jewelry--worn as much for their aesthetic value as their timekeeping ability--makes the prospect of disposable watches less attractive.

Thermal power

A seldom used power source is the temperature difference between the wearer's arm and the surrounding environment (as applied in the Citizen Eco-Drive Thermo).