A Sennight of Pondering Chronographs…

I have lots of the same types of watches. I have my rectangular or square 1940’s dress watches. I have more than a few from the 1950’s with dagger indices and dauphine hands. I have elegant three-handers from the 1960’s that are studies in minimalism. I still have a few from the more experimental 1970’s. Of the styles that I like, I have my bases covered. There really isn’t an itch that needs scratching, except perhaps one.

I only have one chronograph. In the past I have had as many as three, all sporty inexpensive watches in steel, all with quartz movements and mineral crystals. There is just something appealing about the perception of extra function, even if it is mostly for show. For a while now I have allowed myself to consider mechanical chronographs. And I have been searching.

(Made for the vaunted Chinese Air Force, famous for their…being an air force.)

I have a preference for vintage or vintage styled watches. That is my cosplay. I could easily and affordably put my hands on a Seagull 1963 Chronograph in a variety of sizes, case materials, and quality. The 1963 doesn’t inspire me, however. Maybe it is too common on forums and boards. Maybe it is too much discussed among enthusiasts (no, I have never seen one in situ). I don’t even have worries about the Seagull movement based on an eighty-year-old design. I think that it may just look too much like my other watches, except with a bit more color and two sub-dials. Sugess sells many pretty watches using the same movement, but they are inspired more by the 1970’s than my preferred era. Also, the name. Imagine if Chinese companies used real place names, from anywhere, on their dials. I might be inclined towards a La Venta, Yerevan, or Cahokia (just a few names from the city states found in Civilization V).

(A borrowed design, but made affordable.)

I really thought by now I would have purchased an Excelsior Park from a previous post. Firstly, my kids, pets, and cars have been more expensive than expected, but more importantly, tariffs have raised the price significantly on many brands. I have no interest in paying more in taxes than I absolutely need to for anything. Making a watch one third more expensive will give one pause.

(La Venta, before they built the Wendy’s.)

With a love of vintage styling, it makes sense to look at vintage chronographs. This is one of the few bright line rules of buying vintage that I have never crossed (avoid vintage chronographs unless you are made of money). Mechanical chronograph movements are more fragile than ordinary mechanical movements. There is more than can go wrong. I pride myself in finding diamonds in the rough in the vintage market. Those diamonds do not include chronographs. The Swiss manufactured cheap chronographs in the 1950’s and 1960’s to sell to vacationing tourists. They have not aged well. Even a Pierce, Alpha, Wakmann, or some other better brand is still a huge gamble. The anticipated service cost for a vintage chronograph is about equal or more to the purchase price of many of these watches. That assumes that you can find someone who has the skills to work on one. Once you begin to spend that much, it is better to go new and secure a warranty.

I have not been able to pull the trigger on any vintage mechanical chronograph. I have four watches now at my watchmaker. That would be a fifth and more expensive to repair than the others combined. I can’t justify that for a glorified stopwatch. It may be in the near future that I will purchase another two-register quartz chronograph. Why only two? The 24-hour sub-dial does not have any purpose unless you live in a cave or at Antarctic sub-station. Two will suffice. It balances the dial if you are overly concerned about such things. It is in this style of watch that quartz makes the most sense. It allows watches to remain reasonably small and inexpensive. Oh, and more reliable and accurate, did I mention that? I am still in the thinking phase. If past is prologue, the buying phase is not too distant.

*The top picture is of Cahokia. When it was in its heyday it was larger than London at the same time and even had a bigger Ferris Wheel.