It still works. That is all. Okay, there is a bit more. You know my history with watches. If you don’t, just know it’s not good. Decades of premature death and destruction. This dates back to middle school and my first watch implosion, a TAG Heuer. There have been countless others. People reach out, try this one or that one. “You suffer from magnetism and can only use ‘X’ brand,” they say. Seiko, G-Shock, Hamilton, Timex, Omega, and the list goes on and on. Others think I’m making it up. Even my wife, after being with me for three decades, decided I was making it up. She loaned me her beloved timepiece, and two hours later it was twenty minutes slow. “Give it back, you broke it,” she yelled.
I have a “thing” with watches.
The difficult part is that I love watches, so nothing will deter me from wearing one. I’m not a “carry my phone in my front pocket near my Rocky Mountain oysters, then pull it out each time I need to know the time,” guy. I was a Garmin guy for a long while. Many years, actually. But after ponying up over a grand for my last little wrist computer, only to have it break a year and a half later, I’m no longer a Garmin guy. And before you go saying, “Just buy a cheaper Garmin,” well, I’ve broken those too, which led me to the more expensive version.
I was also awarded a fancy Apple Watch for providing fifteen years of service to Blurb. It never once touched my wrist. Stolen by my wife. A thousand-dollar sleep tracker, really, so far anyway. It does show water temperature and depth, which is kinda fun, but not something I truly need. And as I said, I did the work, but the watch was never really mine. And it needs to be charged daily, which rules it out for me. I’m amazed at how many people wear these watches. I mean truly amazed, and most everyone I talk to loves their Apple Watch.
A few months ago, I purchased a Vaer C5 Tactical Field Solar in 40mm, the best-selling Vaer watch of all time. This was my second Vaer watch; the first, a lesser model, was also stolen by my wife, and it still works. My guess is she will tire of charging the Apple Watch and will return to the Vaer, especially when we hit the road on an extended international trip. When it came to the C5, I thought, “How could all these people be wrong?” “It’s gotta be good.” Simple, solar, easy to read, durable, done. This was, however, my SECOND choice. The first being a C4 Tactical Field DLC Solar in 41.5mm. This was marketed as the ultimate badass, the Chuck Norris of watches, but it was sold out. Many Vaer offerings sell out quickly. This makes me happy. I like brands that do well. Do I still want the C4? Yes, of course. I’m a greedy, modern asshole who was taught early on, “more is better.” Do I NEED it? No. But do I still want it? Yes. But only because my track record with watches is SO bad. I’m curious what happens when it lives on my wrist for an extended period.
In the past month, I’ve taken the Vaer on long gravel rides, long moto rides, and used it in both saltwater and freshwater. It’s been baked in the New Mexico sun, and it’s felt the dampness of a Maine cottage and a New York deluge. So far, so good. Do I still look down to see my heart rate? Yes. Do I still look down to check my sleep score? Yes, but these instincts are fading. The watch does two things. Time and date. That’s all. And that’s all I need.
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The Vaer looks great but I’m surprised the Seiko didn’t last Dan- I’ve had my Divers Quartz 200m for over 30 years now and it’s well scratched and scuffed but never lets me down – only downside really is the battery and re-seal every couple of years. I’ve since bought another fancier Seiko Divers for ‘High Days’ and holidays and as a bonus this one charges kinetically, and solar too – happy days!
My cheapest Apple watch did a good thing the other day. I was waiting at our usual short hike meeting spot with my daughter’s dog (90 lb. labradoodle). She called to say she was 5 minutes away. He heard her voice on the phone, thought a car arriving was hers, and took off like a shot. He pulled me like he was in the Iditarod, then my feet hit a spot of slippery grass and flew out from under me. I landed flat on my back and smacked my head on the hard ground. My watch sounded the alarm. and repeatedly called my husband. Very useful feature when you often hike alone, and are getting up in years. Luckily, though I had fallen and given my head a good smack, I was fine, and my daughter is an ICU nurse. She and the dog both assessed that I was not dead, and we carried on with our hike. Interestingly, when I had Covid the first time, the dog would not come anywhere near me, not even to check if I was alive, though he loved to snuggle on the couch.
I only wore a watch when I worked a job where I periodically travelled by plane, and NEEDED to know what time it was, preferably to the minute. Other than that, and doubly so since retirement, the clock in my head is good enough, typically knowing the time to plus or minus 15 minutes. I was at a car show on the weekend. More than 300 examples of art masquerading as a car. Each to their own, I guess. Everybody has something they love. Watches. Pens. Notebooks. Cameras. Cars. Your love seems doomed, in that the watches don’t seem to love you back. But then what’s life without some struggle. I’m sure the perfect watch is out there somewhere.
Nix to anything with batteries that have to be replaced. I kill them. And I kill the new battery faster than the one that had to be replaced. BUT for me, and this is just me, Seiko SOLAR works. So now I have six of them!!!!