Horological Meandering

Mostel
4360

• Show profile
• Show other posts

The Elusive Beater

I was thinking about my search for a good beater watch--the watch you honestly can wear everyday--to 90% of all the places you go including work. It's the watch that you feel bonking against a wall but you don't want to kill yourself. It's the watch that blends into your life--you allow this watch to become Ordinary to you--even though it is in no way an ordinary watch. It gets scratched but the scratches give it character--the scratches liberate the wrist to fling about wherever it may, while gesturing in a conversation near a wall.

It is about True Comfort--the Beater is not too heavy or too light, it does not dig into your wrist-skin, not float around like your daughter's plastic heart bracelet.

It may be in house, but the in-house-ness is secondary to the dependability, the design elements that speak to you, the brand whose 'toughness' or 'gentility' gives comfort throughout the day--if it is a tough brand--maybe it balances your poetic sensitivity in many matters... or if it is a brand of renowned gentility, perhaps it balances your coarse and merciless ways in business! Or represents some aspiration to a more considered  life.

But a true beater is hard to find.

The True Beater is not ultimately about impressing anyone else--though no doubt you are  impressed by this watch. You may admit to yourself--it is not in league with the watches you would wear to a collector's gathering--to show your colleagues the type of watches that speak to your highest Ideals.

But this is the watch you slip back on your wrist and go out into the Ordinary world once again...

I think this is the hardest and most elusive choice for serious collectors.

Just philosophizing....