A run off the mill mechanical watch is an item built to endure and last. The case is generally stainless steel, capped by one or two pieces of scratch resistant glass (mineral if entry level, sapphire if mid/upper level).
This means you have an hermetically sealed unit which rewinds itself as you live your life, and works off its reserve when you put it aside. This unit runs off mechanical energy, with no electricity whatsoever, and keeps time pretty spot on for what it is.
Moreover this steel+sapphire construction is made to held up against daily elements and some (a 30 bar designation is no slouch), over the decades you presumably own the piece.
As a result, you carry something you can depend (and love to look at) for a very long time, and live your life together, in a sense. Long living items collect memories with you, and act as a trigger for these memories too.
This is very different from an item which you consume and (have to) throw away three years later. This is why some people are this much into watches, fountain pens, and other low tech items which have long lifespans, presumably generations.
Yes, mechanical watches are amazing if you think of them as tiny devices packed with gears and rotors and jewels and springs. This is what drew me to them in the first place.
But in an absolute sense, they are simply poor timekeeping devices. The "elite chronometer" certification on high-end watches means that a mechanical watch is required to be +/- 2 seconds/day. A normal quartz watch is +/- 20 seconds/month, which is significantly better. There are high-accuracy quartz watches which are +/- 5 seconds/year.
There is nothing preventing you from owning a quartz watch for decades just like a mechanical watch. It's just going to cost you - a small fraction compared to mechanicals. Replacing a battery every few years will cost you less than a full mechanical rebuild every decade.
> daily elements and some (a 30 bar designation is no slouch)
A silly flex. More WR comes with more weight/size. Divers mostly use diving computers now.
Well, considering a lowly Seiko 5 can always point to the correct minute within some (+/- 15) seconds without adjusting it ever is a remarkable achievement if you ask me. A top of the line server has more drift than that gearbox.
> But in an absolute sense, they are simply poor timekeeping devices.
If you want sub second accuracy to time F1 races, yes. For catching your metro, no.
> A normal quartz watch is +/- 20 seconds/month, which is significantly better. There are high-accuracy quartz watches which are +/- 5 seconds/year.
Yet, their batteries tend to go flat on the most inconvenient times, and without warning if you're not using a higher end movement.
> Replacing a battery every few years will cost you less than a full mechanical rebuild every decade.
Every 2-3 years to be precise, unless you use an entry level Casio digital wristwatch, which will last a decade.
> A silly flex. More WR comes with more weight/size. Divers mostly use diving computers now.
It's not a flex. A 30 bar watch will just last. It's not about just WR.
You don't need to like automatics, that's OK. If I want utmost precision, I'd wear a GPS enabled Casio. However, for some of us out there, using these things are about appreciating the craft and engineering going into these things. Like vinyl, fountain pens and mechanical keyboards.
No need to be frantic about some seconds unless you're synchronizing server farms for TLS, TOTP or other stuff. Even life is not that rigid about timing. That rigidity is something we enforce on our lives.
Use what you enjoy, get your favorite hot drink and relax. :)
I can't second this enough. I wore an Apple watch for years, then put it down in favor of a Seiko 5 automatic (mechanical watch). It's kept time like a champ and doesn't vibrate every five minutes begging for my attention. I previously had a quartz movement Timex, but there's just something about the mechanical watches that I really grew to appreciate.
Why? :)