Pete's Log: Watches
Entry #2664, (Random Crap)(posted when I was 46 years old.)
Mechanical watches have always intrigued me. So in late 2014, after Jamie and I had settled into the DINK life, I started looking into finally buying myself one. I knew I wanted "Swiss Made" since I had succumbed to their watchmaking mystique (or maybe just marketing) and after some research found the Longines HydroConquest L3.642.4. I liked the look of it, it had good reviews, and the price point was reasonable.
I wore it almost daily for more than five years, until the pandemic hit. A couple months ago, I decided to start wearing it again. It's got some signs of wear (or character), but it still runs well and I still love the way it looks and feels. One of my favorite features is that the second hand advances seven times a second, making its motion seem smooth, almost continuous. I love holding it to my ear to listen to the movement inside.
If I have one complaint about it, it's that the lume (the glow-in-the-dark paint) is dim to the point of not being very useful. It's a common complaint about this watch, but I don't really find myself needing it often enough to be bothered.
I know that leaving it mostly idle for several years was not the best thing to do for it, but it seems none the worse for it. I did take it in for maintenance once. After a couple years, the sound it made got noticeably louder and the winding mechanism also started to feel "off." It was still under warranty, so they took care of it for me.
After my latest reseed, YouTube decided to start showing me watch repair videos. A strange coincidence since I had just recently started wearing a mechanical watch again. These videos of course planted a seed of getting into watch repair and maintenance myself. I will resist that urge for now but as it's now been well over five years since the watch was in for maintenance, I'll try to get it in soon for cleaning and servicing by a professional.
In addition to this and my Apple Watch (which I still use during workouts), I have one other watch. A quartz Obaku that Annie and David gave me. I like the way it looks, and it's a fun contrast to the HydroConquest—white face and leather band and not nearly as chunky.
And of course, there are always thoughts of what the next watch might be. After buying the HydroConquest I discovered the Montblanc Star Legacy Moonphase and found it appealing. Now as my interest in mechanical watches is renewed, I still like the look of it and of course moonphase really speaks to me. But I've now learned that setting a moonphase watch is a bit tedious, so ideally you really want to keep it running so you don't have to keep setting it.
Like my HydroConquest, the Star Legacy Moonphase is an automatic watch (well, there's a Quartz version, but I'd want the automatic), meaning the mainspring is wound by the motion of the wrist when worn. So I feel some pride when I can keep my watch running for long periods just from wearing it. Keeping two automatic watches running at the same time gets a little trickier, since I'm not the type to wear two watches at once. I'm entertained that watch winders exist as a product, but that ultimately feels a bit silly.
In any event, it's not a near term concern. I have other priorities now (and to be clear, I love having those other priorities). My HydroConquest is a great watch for everyday wear and abuse and I anticipate it will remain so for some time.