Episode. #8: Quartz Watches, Water Resistance, ToxicNATOs, and Gateways to Watch Collecting
Kaz and Mike talk about Quartz watches, their value, precision, durability, and why they make people angry in the pants. Our first quartz watches and what they mean to us as collectors today. Mike’s wife interrupts the watch snobs. We also talk about water resistance, how it’s marketed, and share some cool new straps from ToxicNATOs. Kaz eats toxic candy.
Show Notes:
The Secret Life of Machines – The Quartz Watch
Part 1: https://youtu.be/vCEQ5J97pO4
Part 2: https://youtu.be/8HGCzKsSSRA
Part 3: https://youtu.be/OW844rJHGi0
Watch Stories | Ted Gushue, Editorial Director of Petrolicious
Terry’s awesome Citizen Eco Drive Promaster Diver
First time listener, possibly long time fan! I love that “snob” is the exact antithesis of what the show and your tea fuelled discussions are about!
I’ve found that every collector community has these middle aged, sandal wearing gate keepers, that rather than welcome newbies to the fam, bar the door with scanitmony and snobbery. You guys seem the polar opposite, which is a refreshing take. Like I’m sure the Hodinkee guys are fanatstic people and I’m a big fan of their work, but any time I hear someone say they recieved their first Rolex as a high school graduation gift, I have an automatic ‘fuck you’ reflex thats impossible to stop.
I particularly liked the quartz discussion because its one thats so often comes up with the watch snob community and is so frustarting because its so counter intuiative to what should be the main aim, getting more people interested in wearing and maybe collecting wristwatches.
So my two cents on why quartz draws as much derision as it does from the snobbery, has less to do with the movement or mechanics or even the romance of a mechancal peice but rather the fact that quartz democratized wristwatches. Quartz made it possible for the every man to own and appreciate an accurate wristwatch, and people fucking hate that.
They hate that somone who doesnt know the difference between a tourbillon and a valjoux can strap on a homage looking watch and be blissfully statisfied with it. I suppose its a little like me, having collected comic books since I was knee high to an Ant-man, getting pissed off when thirteen-year olds in Thor t-shirts lecture me about why Cap makes a way better leader than Stark does. (he doesnt, and fuck Batman while we’re at it)
So in making watches easy for everybody, I think collectors feel a sense of injustice about it. A sense of, man I’ve put all this time and effort and money into educating myself about this thing I’m into and look at this fucking fuck smiling about his Seiko/Casio/Fossil/DanielWellington or whatever.
But even as someone just newly interested in horology (even that sounds pouncey to say) I’ve quickly realised that all that matters is what you’re happy looking down at your wrist at. And you guys are right, everybody probably has a lot of growing up to do.
Keep up the great work
Kavir
Ps. I’ll put one last thought to you, its something I ask anyone pissing on quartz and its often something that at the very least gives them a moment to pause. Drawing on a comic book metaphor, lets suppose an alternate universe exists where quartz crystal is extremely rare. Like fucking vibranium from Wakanda rare. And consquently super fucking expensive, making quatrz watches, that harness those super rare crystal powers to keep the most accurate time, equally super rare and super expensive. Would watch snobs still turn their noses up at it? Or in that verse do quartz watches become the holy grail for watch nerds to drool over every year at Baselcon? My moneys on the crystal.