NEW RAYMOND WEIL RW SPORT MENS WATCH 8520-STR-05207

…and while that name does sound like a mouthful, I’m sorry to say that the watch is known by no other name, perhaps a model number, but what would you prefer to say?

If you don’t care about watches, and like the way this watch looks than get it, I’m not going to stop you, but my personal opinion is that if you want a watch that is truly special, this is as far from that as you can possibly get.

Someone once said that a rose by any other name isn’t something or other… I forget the expression, but my point is that for a truly great watch to be great it has to have a special name, like “Speedmaster,” “Submariner,” or, “Daytona,” to simply name a watch based on what characteristics it has is like naming my dog, “White-haired poop Machine Which Sometimes Has the Ability to Lick Its Own Butt “  It just shows that the watchmakers weren’t really caring, but that’s largely due to the fact the watch company isn’t anything really special.

You see while many watch companies, even the lesser known ones, have been around for more than 100 years, Raymond Weil has been around only since 1972, which means that even stains in my apartment are older than that.  What’s more is that this company bombards us with commercials and advertising, but it’s watches are really as mediocre as a 6 inches on a ruler. Raymond Weil watches are primarily mid-market graduation presents for students who did poorly in school.

Take this watch for example, just look at it, it’s a conflicting and ridiculous mess.  I’ll start with the bezel, it looks like it comes from an Omega Speedmaster and the bracelet looks like it comes from one of those wacky Zeniths.  It has sporty features like a good water resistance and a screw down crown, yet it has features you’d find on a jewelry watches such as a butterfly clasp and the big date.  The big date, furthermore, which are two number wheels showing the date, is split in half by the chronograph hand.  Whether or not it was done intentionally or not I’m not sure of, but it looks ugly, it looks stupid.

What’s more is that the numbers o nthe dial make no sense at all, it’s like the watchmaker ate some alphabet soup and sneezed.

So to sum up, I’d pass on this watch, get something else!

So here’s one:

Zodiac Zo2244 Sea Dragon Ladies Watch

Yup it’s the, um…, it’s the Zodiac Sea Dragon.  It’s $150.00 give or take, and as a looker I think it looks alright.  The fact that its midsized means that a girl or boy can wear it, it’s a quartz and it’s got a date and a bezel, and what’s more is that this series of watches I’m told is literally INFUSED with a light vanilla scent.  So if the smell of rubber of leather makes you vomit, it’s nice to know you have a healthy alternative.

So if you are a woman and don’t care about the brand, the pathetic water resistance, and the fact that all Zodiac watch wearers are serial killers, than by all means buy it!

I, however, find this watch to be passionless junk, the Toyota Yaris of the watch world.  Kinda funky, but primarily designed to just get the job done.

That’s why I bought one of these:

Tissot PRC200 T-Sport Mens Watch T17.1.586.42

You see life is about living, and time is to precious to be measured on a basic watch.  Forget the Zodiacs, the Timex, and the Casio, get one of these!

Tissot T-Tactile T-Touch Screen Men’s Watch Stainless Steel Black Dial T33158851

…and that’s just a gimmicky gadget more for computer nerds rather than those serious about quality watches.

The further you go up in the price spectrum, the worse it becomes I’m afraid.

Take for example the Breitling Aerospace Advantage (which is Swiss for all you watch idiots out there):

Breitling Aerospace Avantage Digital Mens Watch E7936210/M513

This watch is pretty expensive, but on the plus side it is a quartz watch that can track a second time zone, has a countdown timer, has an alarm, and also has a a chronograph.

That’s all good stuff, but wait!!!

This Citizen watch (which is of course Japanese), has got pretty much all that same stuff too:

Citizen Jy0010-50e Eco Drive Mens Watch

On top of that it can track the time in 43 world cities, is solar powered, syncs up with an atomic clock for infinitely precise time, and it’s got a perpetual calendar to boot.  Zounds!

Did I also mention that this, even factoring in any discounts likely to be had with the Breitling, costs $2,000 less as well?

Well if you’ve ever compared Japanese cars against European cars, I’m sure this won’t come as any surprise, but this is yet another arena in which the Japanese have got the Europeans finger licked.

The Japanese quartz watches being offered by companies like Citizen, Seiko, and Casio, offer much better value than anything the Swiss could hope for, and besides that, whereas the Swiss still struggle with basic multifunction quartz watches, the Japanese offer quartz watches that operate with solar power (or kinetic power), sync up with atomic clocks, and offer complex functions such as a perpetual calendar and minute repeater.

In other words, they are light years ahead, and when it comes to mechanical movements they have not only made mechanical watches with better value, but they have meshed old mechanical watch technology with all the benefits of quartz-watch accuracy as well.

Sure there are many good Swiss quartz movements out there in the entry-level watches you’d find out of Tag Heuer, Omega, and Rolex (made by ETA no less), but besides keeping just the basic functionality of time and date, and maybe  a chronograph, they don’t do squat.

And for me, it is seriously difficult to find a single Swiss, quartz-powered watch that goes beyond the same boring functionality that I had in my digital watches 20 years ago.

Quite frankly, when it comes to the quartz watch, I can’t entirely blame them.  I mean the Japanese did invent the quartz watch so they must be better with the stuff, and with so many people eating up the old school mechanical incarnations of the Swiss, why even bother?

I say let the Japanese do what they do best, and let the Swiss do what they do best!

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!

For all practical purposes you may think 100 dollars is too much for a Fossil and too much to spend on a watch altogether. You have that philistine thought, “Why buy a watch when my mobile phone keeps perfect time?” (You peasant you!) You look at yourself with a grimace and acknowledge that none of the rather pedestrian brands there really float your boat. You are about to leave when suddenly, in the corner of the display case, bathed with fancy lights and stood up with fancy watch stands, you see a brand of watches called MOVADO.

You may notice that the price tag is significantly higher, the watches presented there are fewer in number and greater in presence, and that when you ask to see one the salesperson is slightly reluctant to hand it over. It is indeed sad, but for many of us in these United States, this is our grail watch, the watch of which we may think, “Hmm… if I ever make some money in the world, this is what I’ll buy.”

Why is that you ask?

Because short of Rolex this is the only other luxury watch brand most of us know. The name Movado is pummeled into us as a prestige watch brand because out of almost every display case we see selling Seiko, Citizen, and various other “cheap” brands, Movado always stands out as being the Rolls Royce of the bunch.

I’ll lay it to you straight…

I do not like Movado watches. Most of them are just fashion accessories and they don’t represent anything I like about watchmaking. Most watch enthusiasts like me largely ignore them, but I will admit that despite their complete lack of practical things such as a seconds hand, date window, or even some simple hour markers, the Movado Museum Collection is a beautiful thing.

Movado Men’s Valor Tungsten Carbide Watch #0604773

Does this face look familiar? The answer is YES!

Most Movado watches have the EXACT same dial as this Movado Military. There may be several variations in color and case material, but few things have changed since the introduction of this famous face. Go near any middle to upper middle class area and you’ll see watches like these floating EVERYWHERE.

The name Movado, in the ever-pretentious language of Latin means “always in motion.” That may be true, but without a seconds hand it’s really hard to tell isn’t it? Personally, I like the Movado Museum Valor. You heard me, I LIKE the Movado Museum.  It kind of understands that in the modern world we don’t really need something as old school as the seconds hand.

It’s not as though anyone you know is going to tell you, “I need you down here in 2 minutes and 20 seconds,” and when was the last time you had someone ask you to time something so intricate that it even required a minute hand.  I also like the way it’s not afraid to be flashy.  This is truly a watch for the 20th century when just a general understanding of time is required, but if you need more, there’s always your Blackberry.