Digital watches, anyone?

[colinh]

Originally Posted by pvdhaar

I think we'd first have to decide what a digital watch is..

Anything that needs a battery is a digital watch. The battery drives a digital circuit that counts oscillations in a piece of crystal. What's done with the counted cycles is another matter, some watches show the result in digits (LED/LCD), others move a pair of hands around..

Originally Posted by varjag

Strictly speaking the circuit doesn't have to be digital, impulse is sufficient

Well, my analogue watch has an escapement which oscillates at 32768 Hz ( I think). I think we can define analogue as having an analogue display. You're thinking of quartz v. automatic/mechanical.

colin

[einolu]

I have one of these that I wear to work/school. I like how it looks, how light it is, and how easy it is to set the alarm (it's also loud enough to wake me in the mornings but not loud enough to irritate me). The stopwatch can also be helpful sometimes. I usually don't wear a watch when I'm not at work. I also have a pretty nice mechanical (I don't like automatics because I don't wear watches enough, perfer to just wind them on the weekends) watch that looks a lot more expensive than it was that I like to wear sometimes.

I like both vintage-like digital watches and fine mechanical ones. I would love if someone were to give me a Jaeger LeCoultre one of these days...

[thawkins]

I wear a 1968 Omega Speedmaster that is contemporary with the rangefinder cameras I enjoy using. I bought the first rangefinder in 1967 (Retina 2a) and the watch the next year. Both work perfectly.

[tominabox1]

Why do we keep up with this digital vs film stuff?

I still use a film watch.

[juhor]

I've got a digital watch that's made in Finland. I got it from my father because he likes he's older mechanical watch better. I usually forget to put it in my hand and so it stays at home, I think that the battery has ran out and I have to buy a new one. (glad Suunto designed it so that the user can change the battery!)

[mjflory]

Like a rangefinder camera, a wristwatch should help us focus on the essentials.

[Chris101]

I'd put this on my wrist:

http://www.yugop.com/ver3/stuff/03/fla.html

[wolves3012]

Originally Posted by pvdhaar

I think we'd first have to decide what a digital watch is..

Anything that needs a battery is a digital watch. The battery drives a digital circuit that counts oscillations in a piece of crystal. What's done with the counted cycles is another matter, some watches show the result in digits (LED/LCD), others move a pair of hands around..

So, despite having a analog looking faceplate, my day to day watch is digital..

Strictly speaking...you're quite right, yet wrong! The "digital" refers to discrete steps rather than a continuously varying amount. The counter in an analogue or digtal-display electronic watch is digital in the proper sense. Even the finger movement is digital in the strict sense, because the fingers move in jumps. Saying that, a mechanical watch does this too (in smaller steps) so you could argue it too is digital.

To answer the poll question, I have one digital-display watch, a Casio from the mid 80s. I have two electronic analogue watches: a Tag Heuer and a Citizen eco-drive. Mechanical watches were my father's hobby, however, and I have numerous mechanical watches, from the cheap and common through to high-quality ones. Most of them work, some don't. I even have a hand-made pocket watch dating from 1834; it works but the timekeeping leaves a lot to be desired!

[cmedin]

I can't really fit my Tissot T-Touch into any of the poll answers. It's a neat little (well, not so little) thing though.

[Morca007]

I like watches, I hate wearing them. I use my cell phone to check the time.

[nobbylon]

1986 Submariner and been on my wrist since then!

[flashfirenze]

I have this watch

[Thea]

I use my mobile phone....is that digital?

[amateriat]

Hmm...

Originally Posted by StuartR

I was given a nice watch when I got my masters, but I only wear it when I travel...normally I just use my cell phone...so I guess that's digital. In some ways, the watch is becoming obsolete as its function is so simple and so easily integrated into the other devices most of us now bring with us everywhere. Watches are now far more about jewelry than about function compared to times past.

Maybe. But...I'm so thoroughly "modern" that I use a Bluetooth earset when I'm getting around by bicycle (which is most of the time), so the phone itself is tucked away someplace where I can't easily reach for it. A wristwatch requires, well, a flick-o-the-wrist to get the time, something no high-tech non-wrist-worn device can top.

Originally Posted by Tuolumne

I prefer analogue watches but also have many digital watches. How about the Accutron: an analogue digital watch!

/T

Not digital, strictly speaking: the original Accutrons (not the stuff Bulova's pushing now under the Accutron name) operated via a miniature tuning fork. Also, Hamilton's electric watches, which predated the Accutron by a handful of years (1957) also were not digital, strictly speaking. Working examples of both have become collectors' items, despite the questionable reliability of early Hamilton electrics.

Originally Posted by pvdhaar

I think we'd first have to decide what a digital watch is..

Anything that needs a battery is a digital watch. The battery drives a digital circuit that counts oscillations in a piece of crystal. What's done with the counted cycles is another matter, some watches show the result in digits (LED/LCD), others move a pair of hands around..

So, despite having a analog looking faceplate, my day to day watch is digital..

See above.

Originally Posted by TheHub

A Speedmaster, a Seamaster & a Tag Heuer. I rotate them.

Had (and lost) a Speedy Pro. Fantastic watch, with an honest pedigree. Puts Rolex Daytonas in their place. Good enough for NASA (still), good enough for me.

Originally Posted by wolves3012

Strictly speaking...you're quite right, yet wrong! The "digital" refers to discrete steps rather than a continuously varying amount. The counter in an analogue or digtal-display electronic watch is digital in the proper sense. Even the finger movement is digital in the strict sense, because the fingers move in jumps. Saying that, a mechanical watch does this too (in smaller steps) so you could argue it too is digital.

To answer the poll question, I have one digital-display watch, a Casio from the mid 80s. I have two electronic analogue watches: a Tag Heuer and a Citizen eco-drive. Mechanical watches were my father's hobby, however, and I have numerous mechanical watches, from the cheap and common through to high-quality ones. Most of them work, some don't. I even have a hand-made pocket watch dating from 1834; it works but the timekeeping leaves a lot to be desired!

Here again, technology throws a curve-ball: Seiko, sometime in the 80s, created a quartz analog movement with a smooth sweep-second hand (no discrete "steps"). This was used both in watches (the first being a "doctor's" watch with a "pulsations" scale on the dial), and table alarm clocks (we have one of those in the house). We also have a pair of Kikkerland quartz wall clocks with a similar movement, as well as Solari-style flipping day/date display. Tres cool, except for when the Solari display occasionally gets stuck.

Originally Posted by nikonhswebmaster

Not much use for a watch, since my cell phone has accurate time.

Watches, are never the right time, why carry one unless you are treking? And what a sad person one would be to need a watch on vacation.

Never need a watch anyway, I am always where I am, so knowing the time is of no value since it is not a transporter. If someone believes I am late there is nothing a watch can do for me.

Accuracy? Depends on the watch. One of the most well-regulated ("accurate" can be somewhat a slippery description) watches I own is a manual-wind Hamilton
from the mid-60s; I can almost swear that I've had some cheap digital numbers that weren't a lot better than this one. But there's a caveat to this, which I'll get to shortly.

Yes, a cell phone's clock function is deadly-accurate (or at leas as much so as the time signal it's contantly referencing). But how about convenience? Ever watch someone fumble and dance for their phone when it's ringing? (Womenfolk seem to struggle more than menfolk here, but that's another matter.) Think they'll want to do this just to get the time?

As for me: I have a 15 year old Casio "hybrid" (analog dial with digital display inset) for day-to-day stuff, but my heart lies with a quartet of manual-wind Hamiltons, including one two-register chronograph that's scheduled to be rebuilt. All four just tell time (plus the chronograph's stop-watch function). No auto-wind rotors, or day/date displays cluttering the dial, on any of them. Just wind, set, and go, which to me is the perfect formula when owning more than one watch. They all keep very good time, which is all I need when taking a quick glance at my wrist. Yes, I have a PDA, several computers (all connected to the 'Net full-time), a cell phone, plus a stove, microvave oven, and a few other sundry items besides with a clock built into them. But, no, they do not render my watches obsolete, because at any given moment, when I want to know the time, the only thing within range is the watch upon my wrist. And, that watch (okay, any watch other than the Casio), with it's simple, elegant dial, telling the time of day and nothing else, is a gentle reminder of time's passing without making me feel a "slave" to time.

I also have a manual-wind Tiffany travel clock, a gorgeous thing that I picked up at an antuques shop a few years back, but unfortunately needs a new staff for the movement, which has to be fabricated...meaning not cheap. But I want it working as a bedside clock, because, weird as it sounds, I sleep better with a gently ticking clock as opposed to something with a glaring digital display.

And, all the while, my all-time favorite camera – my pair of Hexar RFs, are about as "digital" as a film-shooting camera can be without wearing its digital-ness, ahem, on its sleeve...


- Barrett

[photobizzz]

[I do wear a digital watch, it actually tells the time in 25 zones, has 5 alarms, tells temperture, barometer, compass, altimiter, oh and it is also solar with a titanium band. Over the top? Well I am in the military and am stationed in Iraq so I guess you wear what suits your needs.

[amateriat]

Originally Posted by photobizzz

[I do wear a digital watch, it actually tells the time in 25 zones, has 5 alarms, tells temperture, barometer, compass, altimiter, oh and it is also solar with a titanium band. Over the top? Well I am in the military and am stationed in Iraq so I guess you wear what suits your needs.

I'd say you're entitled to wear it. Be careful out there...


- Barrett

[windraider]

I can agree with the opinion that watches are more of jewellery than tools of necessity in this day and age. Even though quartz watches are cheaper and more accurate, I usually wear automatics during the weekdays at work as I prefer their classical look.

Originally Posted by photobizzz

[I do wear a digital watch, it actually tells the time in 25 zones, has 5 alarms, tells temperture, barometer, compass, altimiter, oh and it is also solar with a titanium band. Over the top? Well I am in the military and am stationed in Iraq so I guess you wear what suits your needs.

My weekend watches are Protreks too (PRG-80 & PRT-40) - love the barometer for forecasting the weather & the backlight. Used a Casio Diver style watch with hybrid analog & digital display when I was in the army (Protreks weren't out yet).

Take care out there.

[kross]

when i use my 20d, i put on my G-shock... when i use my m6, i wear my tag heuer automatic.... when i use my lomo, i put on my hamilton mechanical....

[KoNickon]

I guess I am hopelessly behind the curve -- the idea of using your cell phone as a watch strikes me as ludicrous. But then, I'm one of those people who does not leave the cell phone on.

I have as my weekend watch a Casio that I spent $15 on over 20 years ago. It's only on its second battery. The other watches I wear are all inexpensive (with one exception) quartz analog jobs, one of which was a 10-year work anniversary gift. Digital display is not cool in an office/suit environment -- doesn't really fit in.

[bmicklea]

Digital watches make me grumpy, like beautiful women who hide their faces with hats or long bangs.

My analog watch is battery powered but I have recurring dreams of getting a true automatic. Strangely I'm always wearing an antique Omega automatic watch in the dreams where I'm photographing with an M2. A great mechanical instrument is so much more impressive than a clever electronic gizmo. Perhaps I'm biased working with computers all the time though...

[CorreCaminos]

Analog watches only (Breitling Blackbird currently)
Analog cameras only (Leica, Hasselblad, & Nikon)
And if I could buy a new car with carburetors instead of EFI I would too. Seriously.

I just don't trust electronics with the stuff I really care about.

[victoriapio]

I have Rolex Datejust, Omega Seamaster, Elgin gold analog - all these are in the safe and for sale if anyone needs one.

I WEAR a Casio G-shock digital (solar powered, downloads exact time everyday from the atomic clock in Colorado) and an Orvis white faced analog quartz on dress up days at work. These two watches cost less than $75. G-shock is perfect for swimming, bike riding, outdoor photography and rangefinder work ;>)

O.C.

[rc12k]

My everyday watch is a Citizen Nighthawk. My self defense watch is a reissue Doxa 300T.
I tried the Rolex kool-aid decades ago and didn't like it. LOL

[rbiemer]

I wear a Timex Camper. Digital? Analog? It has a battery and it has hands. Basic, reasonably water resistant, light, and cheap. Goes well with my Dixon Ticonderoga pencils.
I've spent rather more but none of those watches stood up to the kitchens I work in any better.
Rob

[richiedcruz]

I usually prefer digital wrist watches and mechanical pocket watches, but I did break down recently and buy a cheap battery powered pocket watch.

I have a Timex Ironman Bodylink watch. The fancy one that has a heart rate monitor and keeps track of your mileage with a GPS unit. Its a fun watch, but it goes through batteries so quickly that I usually only use it when I am running, or otherwise do not need to know the time

Richie