I do like some utility...
to the features on my watch dial and I think the UTC provides a useful function for some folk. However, your illustration about the craftmanship and enjoyment of your tourbillon is good case in point about utitily not being the only factor for a complication...and in that context, I think the retrograde would be an interesting dial variation that some would enjoy...though probably not me.
Best regards,
Jim
Ah retrograde! I had a Gerald Genta...
retrograde watch which I found quite alluring a few years ago. I was fascinated by this watch for some time. But after a while it started to feel "gimmicky " and I traded it in for something else. I don't often sell my watches so I really had a change of heart.
Bottom line is that I would not purchase another retrograde watch. But I certainly understand the attraction.
GMT : +1, Retrograde : 0
For me, at least. When on travel, I like to be able to set my watch to another time zone WITHOUT having to reset home time. I know it is easy to turn the hands to a new position, but I like not having to stop the hands while doing so. And the IWC GMT module is exactly what I need.
On the other hand, I find a retrograde complication (even if it is not so complicated) unattracting and even repulsive to me, as it is not showing time flowing, but breaking it at each jump. I like to see time passing evenly. And that is why I do appreciate round watches with a perpetual calendar. Retrograde is really not for me.
Regards,
Jean
understood, but on GMTs vs. Worldtimers...
I see a large difference. To me a Worldtimer makes sense, and I personally would be in favor of a Big Pilot model, especially one with innovative case construction and more than a revolving external bezel (even if there can be daylight savings time issues).
But to me a GMT has much more limited utility --it is two timezones and it's not very difficult to add or subtract from A to B, or B to A. If I recall, Franck Muller made, and perhaps still does, a three timezone GMT --the Master Banker-- model. It had some slightly greater utility, but the market for it has been a small niche.
Regards,
Michael
My problem with such metrics..
..aside from subjectivity appearing quantifiable, is that the relative weightings can be way off.
I recall well that an insurance company hired a new software system supplier because it scored highest on its weight chart --there were 10 criteria and each were worth ten points. It scored 91 --perfect 10s in 9 categories, and a 1 in one other. The "one other" was financial strength, and the company went bankrupt-- leaving the insurance company with a totally useless IT system.
So to me I can't compare a Moonphase to a Power Reseve, at least quantitatively. And a tourbillon isn't "useful" at all, unless a person likes popping bubble-wrap to keep preoccupied. ;) But it might have some "value" that transcends, say, a GMT.
If the essential issue is craft, then the standards are different. To me, fine watches are more like paintings in an Art Museum. Else, one can fufill all the metrics with a Citizen Grand Comp.
Outspokeningly,
Michael
A BPW
A BP Worldtimer. I have never thought of it but this could be a very ambitious project for IWC.
A BP Worldtimer the more I think of the more I like
A BP Worldtimer...
Thank you Michael quite inspirational
Argiris
Concur. The GMT "complication" has little...
utility imho, and is only slightly more useful than "power reserve", which I find annoying in an automatic watch, especially with a movement with 7 day PR.
Retrogades? I do not see the utility Time flows in one direction, so should the hands. :)
It is not black or white
It is not either craftmanship or even artmanship like paintings in an Art museum, or merely technically good watches like the Citizen you mentioned. The point for me is to intelligently create some synergy between the two, and for me IWC is a master in this respect. They make great looking watches with, most of the time, functions and features that make sense. And sometimes they show what they can by being extraordinary, like with the Portuguese tourbillons, de Deep 2 and the digital date Da Vinci.
Trying to find out what features are wanted or needed is great fun too, that questionnaire may help. And then you make those features with great craftmanship and even artmanship: that is IWC for me.
As the questionnaire can be viewed as a model, it always is flawed, you know that from the start. The point is not to make a flawless model, that is impossible; but to make one with only small flaws, and to know about these flaws: that insurance company was quite stupid, if they really did what you described, considering they work in the financial world.
Kind regards,
Paul, wearing red gold VC Portuguese, to me a flawless model of time
The watch should be renamed...
to BWW - Big Worldtimer Watch, as it is no longer a true pilot's watch. A pilot's watch does not need to have to have infomation about the time all over the world. Pilot's fly UTC or Zulu, which is the same all over the planet. In the same vein, I find the BPW with a perpetual calendar a very amusing watch, as would be an Aquatimer with a perpetual calendar. A perpetual calendar is a useful in a cockpit as it is in scuba diving.
Don't get me wrong, I love complications but they must be useful and in the right type of watch.
No objection about the BWW
as long as it would be a reality.
But why do you find Perpetual Calendars useful both in cockpits and submerged?
Argiris
good philosophic point about time flowing one way
..and therefore retrogrades don't truly reflect time. I hadn't really thought about that before.
However, I have heard the same argument made in favor of round watches only --the sun is round, the moon is round, timekeeping is round, etc. The argument is that shaped watches therefore violate what time is about.
With respect, I don't buy that. It's clever, I admit but too philosphical even for me. Besides, I just like rectangular watches and I like retrogrades. What can I say?
Regards,
Michael
thank you for your opinion (nt)
I was being facetious...:))
Imho perpetual calendars in pilot's watches are as useless as they would be on an Aquatimer. No one can stay airborne or under water long enough for a perpetual calendar to provide useful information. Perhaps one day an austraunaut could benefit from a watch with a perpetual calendar in a trip to another planet taking more than 4 years.
I agree. I also like rectangular and square...
shaped watches, and own a couple. Like you, I fail to see the connection between the shape of objects in the Universe and the shape of watches. Objects in the Universe did not have an alternative, Gravity determined their shape. Watch design fortunately enjoyed more freedom. ;)
Do you really use your IWC to tell the time?
That may sound silly - of course. I do use my IWC to tell me the time - mostly. Certainly there are clocks and iPhones and PC displays that have the time in more convenient locations that require me to only move my eye a fraction of a millimeter to read.
Most of the time, I glance at my IWC because it's beautiful.
I love the Doppelchronograph - it's so cool. I appreciate it's complexity and horological "problem" it addresses - even though, I NEVER used it for anything other than my entertainment.
The same goes for "Moonphase", "Month", "Day of the Week", maybe even the DATE and Seconds hand.
Of course, the 4-digit year - why?
I love them all!!!
Why does any crazy WIS like myself need more than 1 watch?
So many IWCs have different "personalities" and "functions" that may make them special. I may only play the "utility" card to justify the "necessity" for my IWCs if I become too sensitive to a concern I am becoming "materialistic" - and then, it's time for me to sit on Norbert's couch for a while.
I welcome a retrograde display - for the seconds-hand - that may be very cool. Again, not because it's any more useful than a central, or sub-seconds hand - just because it's cool.
Did I rant?
Thank you, I understand and like your reasoning
If the watch really has character, this is a very compelling reason to buy. Suddenly I thought about the Régulateur, where comparable reasoning is in order.
Kind regards,
Paul, wearing red gold VC Portuguese
I have found that despite all the other...
reasons to buy a mechanical watch I still want it to tell time and to do so readily and easily. So, for me, after I decide I like the design of a watch it still has to be legible and it is a bonus if the lume is bright. In that way I get the visceral delight of a fine timepiece and the time, date, power reserve or whatever.
Lets face it, if all you want is the time you can look at your cell phone which, in essence, has become the modern day pocket watch.
i'm with you richard...
it's not just about time or function or complication.
it's about the piece. the package and the passion.
if a retrograde floats your boat then it's a worthwhile complication.
stephen