TimeOut

AndrewD
[HoMe Moderator]
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Engineering + Art

Hi Art,

As with many other horological creations, the mechanical chronograph, to me, is a wonderful piece of engineering with an important historical position in the lexicon of mechanical time telling.

The fact that it doesn’t have many practical uses in my daily life doesn’t bother me too much, and in fact I find myself timing things (like trips to work or bike rides with the kids) that I wouldn’t normally bother measuring.

Because my interest in mechanical watches developed out of the ‘engines’ inside, I can live with this quite happily. I still find joy and comfort in contemplating the inner workings of these watches. I don’t ‘need’ them to have that much of a practical use to enjoy them.

I also concur with your comments on the Speedmaster. We tend to overuse the word ‘iconic’, but it certainly applies to the Speedy. It was a very recognisable Omega watch from the straw poll of Purists I did a couple of months ago and was mentioned several times as a good first time serious mechanical watch in jc4111’s recent post.

It is also fun to pretend that you are Jack Swigert performing that all important 14sec burn on Apollo XIII to get home to earth. My morning coffee extraction is not quite as critical, but almost.

Regards and Happy New Year.

Andrew