Thursday, January 06, 2011

Buying a wristwatch

This may seem like one of those tales that starts but I just want a ... which then goes on to find fault with all those items offered because they're not mother-of-pearl with encrusted diamonds, hand-crafted by Tibetan monks. However I, at least, think my demands aren't out of this world.

As the title suggests I'm looking for a new watch my initial thoughts on this were as follows:

1) Analogue, not digital
2) Displays the date
3) Leather strap...
4) ...in brown


I hope you agree hardly extraordinary. I popped over to Amazon just to browse the selection and get an idea of what was about as a result I needed to add the following:

5) Automatic, that is a self-wind rather than a manual wind or a quartz battery. The former I would forget to wind and the latter... well every time the battery is changed it appears to a) invalidate the water resistance and b) stop working a brief-ish time after.

From point 5 I also added

6) Water resistant.

The next point I thought would be obvious but looking at some on offer I find it needed to be made

7) Legible dial i.e. the ability to use the watch to tell the time.

With all that in mind I finally found one that matched everything which created point 8

8) Costs less than £300

The sticking point was point 2 my requirement for the date. I could find plenty around the £25 mark that matched all the other points bar that one. On the other hand I could also find plenty that matched that, but failed on points 3 and 4 what with it being a metal or resin strap.

So what gives? This seems to me such a basic point that I can't recall any past watch I've owned not featuring the date. I'll check out some stores more aligned to watch selling, but I was just so surprised by this.

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