Oh, the perfidy and chicanery and duplicity !

[230RN]

Kind of interesting / enraging / amusing / enlightening.

My saintly old Humvee watch with the big dial and big #s and 24 hour sub#s finally died, kaput,  after three battery changes...  a long and inseparable companion.  But the nickel or chrome or whatever finish on it had worn off one battery change ago.  I would like to bury it with full military honors and petition the Pope to elevate it to Sainthood.

I went shopping for a new watch and found one fairly suitable, for $9.95, with a ten year battery and a large enough simple face for these old eyes to not need glasses to read it.

I got it  home and set it OK, no problem, but I could not figure out how to stop and start and reset the stopwatch.  It showed 5 seconds, as shown in the pic. No fussing with the stem would affect that dial and it wasn't exactly driving me nuts, but the small "manual" was worthless and did not address the stopwatch problem.  There are no other knobs or button on it.

Kind of irked me and I looked at the back of the watch for a MFR, but there was none, just "Made in Japan" and some other irrelevancies.

Tonight I decided to check the watch for accuracy and played with the stem some more, to no avail.  A magnifying glass was nearby on my coffee table and I took a closer look at the stopwatch dial.

It and the little needle on it were cleverly just printed on the dial face!

Still worth the $9.95, and frankly, I wasn't looking for any stopwatch function since I can do twenty Mississippis with 10% accuracy, and I just assumed, "Hey, great!  I get a stopwatch, too !"

I feel slightly violated, even though I didn't need or want a stopwatch function.

But they sure did a great job of printing it on the dial face, I gotta give them that, the dirty rotten scoundrels.

Terry, 230RN

[K Frame]

Reminds me of the WW II era Hamilton watches.

[HankB]

Someone in China no doubt has a sense of humor. 

It's in the same category as costume jewelry - it's for other people to notice and admire, thinking it's something a cut above what it actually is. If it keeps good time and keeps working it's not bad for under $10.

Just be glad the other hands aren't merely printed on the face - if they were, it would only show the right time twice a day.

[Kingcreek]

I’m wearing a victorinox IIRC it was about $80 but it has lasted for years.
I have killed more expensive watches. This one and a seiko automatic have been the only ones that have endured. I killed a bullova in a week, replaced under warranty and killed the next one too.
I apparently have some kind of biovibe tech killer negative energy in my body.

[WLJ]

[Bogie]

Giant watches are VERY in vogue with the stylish bunch around here... I swear, if they'd stop buying swap meet crap, they could actually afford some of the real thing...

[WLJ]

I’m wearing a victorinox IIRC it was about $80 but it has lasted for years.
I have killed more expensive watches. This one and a seiko automatic have been the only ones that have endured. I killed a bullova in a week, replaced under warranty and killed the next one too.
I apparently have some kind of biovibe tech killer negative energy in my body.

Had people at various businesses that would kill computers almost like like clockwork even if you moved them to another cubical to rule that out. Almost enough to make one believe there's something to that. Really I think they were probably plugging something in like an unapproved heater or similar that was causing power spikes and that would hide it after the computer died. They knew nothing.

[Cliffh]

Had people at various businesses that would kill computers almost like like clockwork even if you moved them to another cubical to rule that out. Almost enough to make one believe there's something to that. Really I think they were probably plugging something in like an unapproved heater or similar that was causing power spikes and that would hide it after the computer died. They knew nothing.

I had a customer who, just by getting near a computer, would cause it to start having numerous random errors.

He and his wife dropped their Win98 computer off for a general tune-up & to see why it would randomly have errors.  Did all the normal (for Win98) cleanup, tweaking, testing, etc.  Didn't find anything serious, and it was running fine; I worked with it for a couple hours at least.  They came by to pick it up, she sat down and started putting it through it's paces - no problems.  She worked with it a good 15 minutes.  He stepped closer to the computer and it immediately had a problem.  Had him step back, restarted the computer, worked fine - until he got close to it again.  Happened at least 4 times.  He said the same thing would happen at work, to the point he'd been banned from coming near the office computers.

[Nick1911]

That's pretty funny.  I wonder how many people buy a watch as a piece of jewelry, without the intention of using it for the time.  I use to wear a watch, but let the habit go when I started carrying a cell phone full time.  I usually had a very simple watch, not unlike the one you got.  I don't think it had a stopwatch painted on though. 

[JTHunter]

You know how they say that even a broken clock is right twice a day - - - ?

[230RN]

Had people at various businesses that would kill computers almost like like clockwork even if you moved them to another cubical to rule that out. Almost enough to make one believe there's something to that. Really I think they were probably plugging something in like an unapproved heater or similar that was causing power spikes and that would hide it after the computer died. They knew nothing.

Ah, you're looking for a probably nonexistent earthly explanation.  Many objects seem to respond to a person's "outlook," or "energy." 

I know my little 1997 Subie runs better after any little attention, like changing the wiper blades.

Like women... even a casual touch on your wife's shoulder as you pass by can make her day.

Subtle effects are often lost to us.

Terry, 230RN

[Kingcreek]

True story.
I was in Chicago with a group of people. We were going to eat at a swanky downtown establishment.
Our leader approached the hostess who informed us we would have an approximately 45 minute wait for a table. She handed him the pager puck that flashes and vibrates when they’re ready. We had a comfortable lobby area to wait in. After a few minutes he excused himself to use the facilities and handed me the puck. As soon as he walked away it went off. I crossed the lobby and showed it to the hostess who gave me a funny look. She checked her computer thingy and said something was wrong, diddled some keyboard and gave me a different puck. I walked back to the group and about the time our leader came back it went off.
I walked over to the hostess again and got a really funny look. She asked me “how did you do that?”
I professed my innocence but she obviously didn’t believe me.
After consulting with another woman standing behind her they surrendered to my mysterious forces and took us to a table, less than 10 minutes after we got there.

[Kingcreek]

Back to watch topic.
Many young people can not read a traditional analog clock with hands. (nor can they read cursive writing.)

[230RN]

^

HA-HA-HAAA...

I remember when I got my first digital watch, one of those Texas Instrument things, I had difficulty going the other way.  "Huh.  Two-seventeen.  Oh, that's like quarter after two."

Great little watches, but you had to push the button to bring up a dial reading (to save the battery) and the watchband was fragile.



Right now, it's twenty after three.

Terry, 230RN

[Hawkmoon]

I can't stand digital watches. I'm perfectly happy with a replica WW2-style GI watch. But they're hard to find these days.

[230RN]

I like the fact that I can tell my watch time out of the corner of my eye.  I tried an experiment with an old analog clock movement where I had lost the minute hand and mounted it with a face that just had dots for the hour positions.  Can tell the time pretty good just from the hour hand... bearing in mind that I have no real need for precision horology any more.

Terry, 230RN

Edited to add... I didn't realize what was meant by a Hamilton watch, but in looking at WWII watches, I discovered:

   

That middle one (Hamilton) is exactly what my Humvee watch looks like except the finish is pretty much worn off of mine.

So I guess they're available.  I think I paid ~$25 for it umpteen years (three battery changes) ago.  Got it from Big5 Sporting Goods.

-T

[HeroHog]

I like a large face analog watch with a day window on it. Need to fix mine. Mine died and the band is shot. It was my father-in-law's old Timex.

[Kingcreek]

The Wenger Swiss military watch is what I wear. I mistakenly called it a victorinox

[HankB]

. . . bearing in mind that I have no real need for precision horology any more . . .

Heh.

One time in high school during lunch we were discussing timekeeping and someone used the word "horology" . . . and the eavesdropping lunchroom monitor thought it meant something else.

She began to chastise us, and only got angrier when we ignored her. 

[230RN]

^  I use the term "mensuration" fairly often, which is the art and science of measurements.  That usually gets an eyebrow lift and a minor gasp.  Using your voltmeter is an act of mensuration.

^^


Pretty good but in this model, the luminescent numbers detract from daytime visibility somewhat.  You can't beat black and white for maximum visual communication.  (I hate it when people get artsy-fartsy with fonts.  Worst I ever saw was a website where the text was in a faint brown and the background was tan.  ARGH!  You want to communicate with me, don't to it in a visual whisper.)

The wearing off of the finish on my blessed Humvee is a testament to its mechanical durability.

Terry, 230RN

[ConstitutionCowboy]

I like my M-T-M Special Ops watch. It has that Albert Einstein movement. It gives the exact time of day and the reason why. 

Actually, it is an M-T-M Special Ops Watch. It is heavy duty. The links of the band are machined from stainless steel, not the usual folded kind. It actually has small Allen head screws and barrel nuts holding the links together. Sad thing, though, is it has your typical spring loaded pins to hold the band to the watch. I've had to replace them twice over the last 17 years.

Woody

[230RN]

Must weigh a ton, too much repetitive stress on those pins.

You must be wearing it on your hammering hand.  Or... oh... uhh... Never mind.

[ConstitutionCowboy]

Must weigh a ton, too much repetitive stress on those pins.

You must be wearing it on your hammering hand.  Or... oh... uhh... Never mind.

I guess I ought to switch it over to my gun hand...........You know ............. To absorb recoil .............

Woody

[AZRedhawk44]

About a year ago I got fed up with that cell phone life and its relation to time-telling, and reintroduced my wrist to a timepiece.  Ended up going with a Casio G-shock Mud Master.  Nifty little thing, has a digital compass built into it that redirects the second hand (on a button push) to point North on demand, or you can program a bearing into it.  Also has a thermostat, but I find it tends to be buffered quite a bit by my body heat.  If it's 110 out the thermostat will read 105, if it's 80 out the thermostat will read in the 90's, due to body heating and cooling.

I went with a G-shock because I had a G-shock from the late 80's that is still ticking to this day.  I cannot find bands for it anymore, I even tried to get a replacement band for it and gave up due to minute variations that made it not quite fit right.

https://www.casio.com/us/watches/gshock/product.GG-1000-1A/



Has a stopwatch, a date display, multiple time zones, and the afore-mentioned compass feature.  Honestly, good old time of day and then the date display are the two things I really use.  Haven't yet used the stopwatch.  Haven't been on any hikes where I've been out of my regular familiar stomping grounds and needed to consult a compass.

But, it's a G-shock and if it's anything like my last one that lasted 30 something years, it'll take hundreds of door handles into the crystal and similar abuse and keep on keepin' on.

[230RN]

That's pretty readable, but it strikes me that so many functions were added on by the advertising department rather than for actual utility.  "TMI," as they say.

^ "But, it's a G-shock and if it's anything like my last one that lasted 30 something years, it'll take hundreds of door handles into the crystal and similar abuse and keep on keepin' on."

That's a funny thing about the blessed Humvee I had.  Over all that time, the crystal never got scratched, but previous watches always ended up with many scratches, notably from door handles.  I had heard of self-healing plastics, and I wonder if the  Humvee had such.  I always wear watches with the crystal on the top of my wrist.