Time Piece
I've recently really gotten into watches. I've periodically owned one...but I've either broken them all or just slacked on replacing their battery or something. All of them, previously, no more expensive then like 60bucks. But in reply to my engadgement ring to Jenny, she bought me a watch. So I obsessed. I wanted something pure and timeless. I've found that i'm not really a metal band guy...mostly leather. Anyway, So I settled on a Hamilton Jazz Master. Moderately priced but very good looking and well made. I was torn between the Quartz or Automatic. Quartz supplies more acurate time, Automatic is wound by the motion of your wrist and can lose time depending on how much you wear it but looks cool with all its funky metal moving parts. Hamilton is the oldest existing american watch company (although now owned by Swatch) and evidently created the first Electronic watch.
So now I'm always on the lookout for cool watches. Not necissarily to buy (not until i make that first Mil), but to admire. Yeah, if I had the cash, i could see getting pretty into it. Anyway, I think I'm once again on the front end of a trend. 121 Time is a new website that lets you customize the complete creation of your watch. Pretty impressive. Cool Hunting just posted an interview with a guy who runs the site Watchismo. I've even found a few blogs devoted to the Watch.
You may think your cell-phone is your end-all be-all gadget, but a good watch is still damn handy.
posted by lakeside at 11:32 AM
4 Comments:
so did you go quartz or automatic?
quartz.
the watch was slightly more slim....but i've questioned my decision more then once.
all true. Swatch seems to have a strangle hold on swiss made parts and therefor a monopoly on the watch market in general (from what i was told at the shop). Although, what i bought is potentially not a true hamilton is very well made and one of the only watches in its price point that comes with a Saphire crystal face (much more durable i'm told). Thanks for clarifying the difference between electric and quartz...i was a little cloudy on that.
I have to say, true or not....i was certainly drawn to the mythology of the Hamilton name and its American heritage. But when it comes right down to it, it was also about proportion and styling...and way too many watches over do it, or are just sized strangely. Chronograph watches with all their dials and knobs seem to muddy up the aesthetic.
These days, aquired brand mythology seems to be all the rage...I would assume that many of the "retro" brands that have resurfaced are not owned and run by those who started them. But as long as the quality and style remain true, i'm not sure if it matters or not (probably a topic for discussion).
driving into work, raz, i thought more about your question of What is Brand. My simplistic reply is that brand is simply Mythology...a story and imposed public perception of what a product or entity is, many times without it being based completely on fact or proof. Some mythologies/brands are based on truth...at their conception, but evolve deeper into fiction as the entity matures and evolves.
From what I understand Levi's doesn't actually manufacture any of their own clothes anymore, they simply liscence out the styles and brand to other manufacturers. Converse Chuck Taylors are now made by Nike. Liscencing brands is now what it all seems to be about.
I promise i'll get to work now.
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