The word smartwatch is on everybody´s lips. So far so good, but a smartwatch must not necessarily be a high-tech watch, it can also be a high-mech watch …
The traditional watch manufacturers are of course challenged by the new smartwatches. As long the Germans and Swiss are able to conceive and manufacture such mechanical smartwatches no one needs to be scared. Just in case you were looking for an alternative for Christmas and you are looking for a very special present my little selection could be useful for you …
The six watches are shown in alphabetical order, so this is not a ranking!
Glashütte Original Senator Cosmopolite
This miraculous watch can show 37 different zone-times and also display Daylight Saving Time. The setting of the Cosmopolite is pretty easy and it looks good.
In white gold it is sold for 38.000 Euro including 19 % VAT
Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Compressor Extreme W-Alarm
The zone-time of the 24 major timezones, a mechanical alarm and waterproof up to 100 meters. Not bad at all!
15.200 Euro including 19 % VAT
Oris Aquis Depth Gauge
Oris product engineers were the first to apply the Boyle-Mariotte Law into the top crystal of a watch by milling a small channel into the side of a sapphire crystal. When descending with the Oris Aquis Depth Gauge, water enters into the milled channel through the inlet at 12 o’clock of the sapphire crystal. The increasing water pressure compresses the air inside the channel. The water causes the color of the channel to become dark grey. The edge between dark grey (water) and light grey (compressed air) marks the depth on the yellow meter scale on the inside of the sapphire crystal.
2900 Euro including 19 % VAT.
Oris Aquis Depth Gauge
The same watch with a tungsten bezel is sold for 3150 Euro including 19 % VAT.
Oris Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter (indicating the altitude in feet)
A mechanical wristwatch with a built-in mechanical altimeter/barometer. The latter is manufactured by Thommen the Swiss specialist for aircraft instruments.
3500 Euro including 19 % VAT.
Oris Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter (indicating the altitude in meters)
3500 Euro including 19 % VAT.
Vulcain 50s Presidents’ Watch Steel
A mechanical wristwatch with built-in mechanical alarm.
5200 Euro including 19 % VAT
Zenith Pilot DoubleMatic
The zone-time of the 24 major timezones, a mechanical alarm, a chronograph and a big date.
All together for 13.900 Euro including 19 % VAT.
I don’t see these as smart watches but modestly advanced mechanical watches and I suspect that in time mechanical watches will die as a product category except for those who can afford to pay exceptionally high prices for brilliant pieces of mechanical design and engineering. I also suspect that watches will be worn less and less by future generations. My son, daughter and my four adult granddaughters are not interested in wearing a watch because of their smartphones and this does not bid well for the watch industry because they reflect the increasing views of two generations of people not interested in wearing watches. I know that they do not make up a statistical cohort but I have read many times of surveys showing much the same. On the other hand a few days ago I met a 70-year-old man (the only person I have talked to about an Apple watch although I have seen a few people wearing them)who was wearing an Apple watch and I asked him whether he liked and used it and was happy with it. He said yes, that it was more convenient than he thought it would be, and that he used his iPhone less than he did before he bought the watch. Personally, I am not a candidate for a smart watch and wear a Rolex Day Date that I have worn for over 30 years now as my daily watch. It is also a piece of jewelry, the only jewelry I wear so it is an expensive indulgence. However, when I want truly accurate time I go to my radio-controlled titanium Citizen ($400 duty free six years ago) which in the past six years has gained 2 seconds … not perfection but more precise than I ever need. If I were 21 years old and in the market for a new watch I would not buy the Rolex but would likely buy an Apple watch because I enjoy using high technology devices. From a marketing standpoint, my experience tells me that smart watches will likely dominate whatever watch market exists in future years. It may not be the Apple watch but they are among the smartest marketers in the world and I would not bet against them.
El reloj Mecanico es el arte de la relojeria, es el arte de la mecanica en su maxima expresion.
El reloj Mecanico es la mayor expresion de la interaccion de creatividad y ciencia mecanica
El reloj de High Tech ofrece muchos mas servicios, pero su vida util sera tan larga como lo sean sus baterias.
El reloj High Mech es para siempre !!!
Alberto, Argentina
as far as I know , the mechanical watch is the best present for Christmas to your child . You may fix this watch after hundred years still . I-phone will issue a new model and the oldest one you will throw away. The mechanical watch will stay forever.
WIth all smart watches, phones and time on your computer, mechanical watches have become outdated and most likely watches aren’t on people Christas wish list any more.
Maybe this is true for those that just want a watch for telling time but not for those of us that appreciate a fine mechanical watch that one can admire.
I agree with you about fine mechanical watches. I have been an industrial engineer for most of my working life and I have found nothing in the world of mechanical engineering that can even hold a match to the complicated design and fine craftsmanship of a good mechanical watch. I own an antique automatic mechanical watch that I got for nothing, but if I could afford it I would start a collection of high complication watches.
Really? An electronic circuit with its planned obsolescence (one component goes, the whole thing has to be thrown away)vs a mechanical movement which will last generations and if any part does get worn out it can be replaced and the movement keeps going? I’m not sure if Christmas lists are the best way to judge the intrinsic value of items…unless you are eight years old? OMG I want an iPhone 7. It will make me whole. Oh wait. There’s an iPhone 8 planned. Really?