Yes, as is more often than not, watch salesmen and others will weigh the pros and cons of one watch over the other by explaining water resistance to depths of which you’ll never go.  They’ll tell you about useless certifications and pretty much anything under the Sun God Ra to sell you that watch.

Well one thing that they might tell you is about how many “jewels” a movement has.

Sound familiar?

Well let me let you in on a little watch education.  You see every automatic watch is essentially powered by a tightly coiled spring that slowly unfurls and rewinds itself when you move around.  The “jewels” in a watch movement are really bearings and they essentially serve the same purpose as ball bearings.  They reduce friction within the moving parts of the watch and makes the friction a lot more predictable, thus improving the accuracy of the watch.

Too many times I encounter idiots at the water cooler who claim that because a watch has 27 jewels as opposed to 21 jewels, than it must be better because it is more valuable, and better because it is simply “more! more! more!”  They claim that in the end more jewels means a better watch.

Well let me say first of all you, you nut, that the “jewels” in a watch movement are not King Tut’s jewels and you can’t take them out and sell them if you’re in a pinch.  They are small synthetic sapphires, and the last time I checked, I believe they cost around 2/10 of one cent.

Secondly, it’s not about how many jewels you have in a movement, it’s how each jewel is being used.  You can a jillion jewel movement, but if they aren’t doing anything than what’s the point.  Too often I hear people base their high-end watch purchases in part because of the jewel count, and that’s totally wrong.

I agree to a point that it’s better to have more jewels than less.  Your basic movement, for example, has 17 jewels, but I think that pretty much any movement with 21 jewels or more is perfectly fine for an uncomplicated movement.  So in conclusion, just like with drinking, you’re good if you’re over 21.

The watch world has a similar type of stereotype, and it isn’t particularly harmful, but it is an element of ignorance that I wish to clarify today. That being that while watches serve the ultimate purpose of telling the time, the inner workings of the watch cannot be assumed to be the same. In other words, the way a Timex operates and the way Rolex function are very different and it’s important to know that difference if you wish to enjoy watches to their fullest.

You see the vast vast majority of watches you see on the wrists of ordinary people these days are quartz powered watches. They use a battery, they tick, they’re cheap, you can leave them in a drawer and it will still be running fine months later. Besides that they are very accurate, and they require minimal maintenance. To the layperson a quartz watch is the obvious choice, and rightfully so. They are cheap, reliable, and a breeze to maintain.

But unbeknown to the public at large there is another type of watch that, before the introduction of the quartz watch in the 1970’s, adorned the wrists of the people long before. This is the mechanical watch. As a machine it is similar to a music box. You keep it wound = it works, you don’t = it stops. The drawbacks of a mechanical watch compared to a quartz are plenty. To start a mechanical watch is much less accurate, they cost a whole lot more, they are expensive to maintain, and you need to constantly keep them wound. You can “tune” a mechanical watch to be as accurate as a quartz, but generally speaking a mechanical watch almost never has the out-of-box accuracy of a quartz watch. Whereas an average quartz watch can keep an accuracy within +-15 seconds a month, for a mechanical watch to keep an accuracy within +- 2 minutes is considered to be quite good. On top of that, while a mechanical watch doesn’t use any batteries, or any electricity for that matter, you need to constantly worry about keeping them wound and keeping all those moving parts maintained costs a whole heck of a lot more.

The introduction of the quartz by Seiko delivered a knockout punch to the Swiss watch industry. And why not? They offered a more accurate and less fussy alternative for a whole lot less.

So did the mechanical watch go the way of the dodo? Hardly…

It seems that mechanical watches enjoy a sense of prestige in that all the major high-end watches almost exclusively offer mechanical watches. Whether it be Rolex, Patek Philippe, Panerai, they largely do away with the quartz. So all of you who wish to breathe the rarefied air in the watch world can invest in one of these watches. On top of that watch enthusiasts like me find a deep sense of passion having those small machines adorn our wrists everyday. They are short on sense, but high in passion!

If you have ever uttered those words in your lifetime then you are an utter fool with more dollars than sense. (Of course if you have the uncommon Rolex Oysterquartz than I am the utter fool).

It’s sad, but while Rolex may be a fantastic watch to buy for every conceivable purpose, it also has a reputation for being a luxury item that rich people tend to buy when they should happen to have extra cash or a watch people give to loved ones on special occasions. In other words, they are not necessarily for the watch enthusiast.

What seems to happen quite often, however, is that the shiny new watch you just got for graduation, or the watch you should happen to buy yourself after that brand new promotion just ends up being a cause of frustration and large scale confusion in the very beginning, and here’s why…

Let me lay out the scenario:

1. Brandon Sausage is a frugal American law student in his 20’s who has for his whole life enjoyed the simple things in life and has never had much of an interest in watches. He has worn the same digital Casio ever since high school replacing the battery every few years.

2. Upon graduating from law school he finds that his parents have just bought him a brand new Rolex. Brandon thinks it’s really cool and wears it all day. He looks at it and the time is dead on accurate.

3. Thinking that wearing such a high dollar watch in public is a little too extravagant for everyday wear, Brandon puts the Rolex back in the box and tucks it away in a safe place.

4. Brandon is going out on a date with Sally Strange. She is smoking hot and Brandon really wants to impress her, so he breaks out the Rolex and slaps it on his wrist with the hopes that the Rolex will pave a one-way highway to her bedroom.

5. On the way to the restaurant Brandon notices that while it is night time and his Rolex is clearly moving, the time on the watch is showing as 3:10. He looks at his mobile phone as well as the clock in his car, and it is showing the time as 7:30 p.m. On top of that Brandon knows that it is the 20th of the month but the date on his watch is showing as the 10th.

6. Brandon, in a large state of confusion, meets up with Sally but finds that he cannot hold a conversation. He is in a state of dismay because he believes his brand new high dollar Rolex is broken and is frightened at the cost of possible repairs, the hassle of sending it off for service, and feels generally lousy at the thought that his parents high dollar and meaningful gift appears to be a lemon.

7. Sally, noticing that Brandon is not paying attention to her, walks out on him and poor Brandon is left alone seated at the table with a huge bill, a seemingly malfunctioning watch, and ends up the laughingstock of all the fellow diners there.

8. In a state of frustration Brandon finally sets the time and date right again and leaves the watch on his nightstand and goes to bed hoping that everything will “fix” itself overnight.

9. Wondering why his Casio can tell perfect time in an instant and why his high dollar Rolex doesn’t seem to be able to do something as simple as tell the time he falls asleep to awaken to a watch that has stopped altogether.

10. In a panic, and thinking that his Rolex works under the same principle as his cheap Casio, calls a Rolex dealer to see what the problem might be. He states that his “battery” has just died, and upon picking up the watch notices that it has started moving again.

11. Largely confused, the dealer has finally cleared things up for Brandon, and while he is pacified and while all is well with his watch, he feels an utter fool.

Here is the skinny:

Rolex watches, and most high-priced watches, operate in a COMPLETELY different way from your everyday watch that you see for sale at mall kiosks. They DO NOT use a battery and they DO NOT use a quartz movement to tell the time.

The VAST majority of watches today operate by the use of a quartz movement and a battery, but before the invention of the quartz watch by Seiko, all watches operated by the use of a springs, gears, levers, balance wheel, rotor, and other components. Today they are called mechanical watches and unlike a quartz watch they have to be constantly wound to operate.

For comparison, think about a music box. A music box has to be wound to operate. A watch like a Rolex is obviously more complicated than a music box, but the principles are basically the same.

Most Rolex watches have something called an automatic movement. This uses a rotor that uses the motions of the wearer to wind the watch. If you wear it everyday than you will never notice a problem, but if you leave it alone for a couple of days the watch will die on you because it needs to be wound again.

To relate back to the story, the reason why Brandon’s watch showed the wrong time on the way to his date is because he stored the watch and it stopped because it needed further winding. When he picked it up for his date it started up again, but because he hadn’t wore it in so long, the watch was starting from the time it last stopped and wasn’t telling the right time and date.

Similarly, the watch stopped overnight because Brandon’s movements on his date was probably not enough to wind the watch fully. It started again when he picked it up on his call to the jeweler because his motions wound it just enough to get it started again.

So there you have it, if you have just come into some Benjamins and are thinking about a Rolex, just keep it wound and you’ll be alright.