Thanks to @ColinLack for giving me the idea for this one. It's long, but I've included a lot of footage from various watches. Thanks for sticking with it as long as you can.
A dive watch is very usefull, even when you don't ever dive. Caught in the rain on a bike? Falling in the pool? Extreme sweating in a workout? Hiking on a very wet day? In all these situations a normal watch will condensate and will stop working unless you open up the watch within a couple of hours. The bezel can be used to boil an egg, to know how many minutes are left on your parking meter etcetera.
You are discounting the whole genre of "GADA" watches, with plenty of WR and no dive bezel. Some brands (JLC and Movado, for two) explicitly say that you can take their WR rating at face value. So 30 meters WR can go down to 30 meters under water. Unlike the folks who say such a watch shouldn't be in the same room with a working faucet. For what it's worth, my 50m Timex Expedition was my daily for a dozen years, going in the water thousands of times with no problem. I never go deeper than about 5 meters myself, so that's still a 10:1 safety factor.
24hr subdials are very useful if you're either very up north or south. Where it either stays light all day or dark. Same goes for 24hr watches. I love them.
This has been a great educational video for me, but more importantly it really showed me how I can judge what I need, what I want, and most importantly what I really do with it. Thank you for this one. I will not covet what I don't need.
I know is just a small tiny help, but sometimes you get instructions on 24h format, it's just a -12 simple rest with your head to have the standard time, but it's nice to have a subdial showing you the 24h there, I work for a client on LA and our team is spread from Miami, Spain, UK and... India 🤣 there's no a single watch that really can help us with that, best thing is the mult time zone clock on our phones, great video, super entertaining to see 👌
Hi Shane, thanks for another great video! I wasn’t even aware that some watches came with telemeters. For me, complications other than date are primarily about the gee whiz factor as opposed to any actual utility. That being said, when I occasionally use a timing bezel, unlike you, I align the pip with the minute hand. Then I either wait for the hand to reach the desired time (like a timer), or read the elapsed time when some event completes (like a stopwatch). By the way, Citizen has recently added a new line of Eco-Drive 365 watches that will run without light recharge for up to a year. Also, another rare complication I didn't hear mentioned is tide (e.g., watches made by Hook & Gaff). Weirdly, that is one complication I might truly use, because I live on a tidal creek where the water level can affect my ability to get a boat in or out.
Day-Date looks kinda pretty, I guess. But in reality, I could dispense with either. I work full time, so I am intrinsically aware of day of week. Day of month? I usually know anyway, to sign checks ? Both are nice, but actually just dial candy.
I work in a heavy machinery weighted workplace., an enviroment where it's quite easy to get injured and, anything your wear might get damaged, including your watch. To have an accurate timepiece is important to me. I need to know the time, by the second or, close to it. The watches you talk about are very nice. But. They wouln't last very long in the real world. Or at least where I need to know the time. I wear a Timex digital watch. I have two of them them. Keep one in the car in case I lose one for what ever reason. They are always accurate and dependable. My dress watch is a blue face Tudor Pelagos, 2020 from new. Don't wear it very often but, it is a lovely time piece.
I really enjoyed this one, Shane! Here are a couple of my own observances: 1) I really like having a date function, preferably at 6. 2) I use a timing bezel more than I realize, to the point that I miss having it when I’m wearing a watch without one; 3) I love having a Tough Solar & Multiband G-Shock for rough jobs & to set my other watches with. I don’t wear it often, but it stays charged & on perfect time sitting on my dresser by the window; 4) I haven’t left the Eastern Time Zone since I got an “office” GMT in 2020…
After 4 years, dive bezels and date complications are the most useful to me, along with GMTs. Bezels can always be used to time things and keep track of presentations etc.
I agree - date, dive bezel and I would add timer function on my casio digital watches for when I'm cooking food. I particularly like the timer function on my gshock 5600 as I can still see the time on the display also. Practicality wins!
I survived 20 years with a two hand JLC Reverso, it was my first proper watch. I've been through the watch years, chronos, annual/triple calendars, dual time, in the end I've concluded that two hands are all you need, that and good G-Shock.
Hello! Just going to speak from my experience. The slide rule is handy for travelers even if you're not a pilot. Set it to the local currency exchange rate and you have an on-wrist device that discreetly converts a vendor's prices to your own money and they're not going to notice that you're computing it. For physicians, especially pediatricians and maybe even veterinarians, the slide rule can be used to determine drug dose ranges.
Shane, great helpful video for the general user . Thanks. About Multiband 5/6 functionality, I live in the Netherlands and get my signal from the Mainflingen radio tower complex in Germany. My reception is great. Even in my toilet in the house, it synchronised perfectly. I watched it one night doing my male business. I do understand that this great complication is useless in Australia or Africa, and Bluetooth control is the way forward. But I love the science behind it.😊
Loved the video, great as always. You didn’t mention Indiglo on Timex watches, one of my favourite complications. A nice Casio backlight too, my favourite there is the Fox Fire, with its bluey glow, named after a Japanese fungus that glows similarly. Surely they qualify as complications too. 😊
The 24 hour subdial is used to set the date complication. The date advances automatically at 24 hours, not 12 hours. So to know where the hour indicator is on a watch that stopped, you have to advance the hour till the date advances, then you know the hour hand is on midnight. You don't have to do all this, when you have a 24 hour indicator. The 24 hour indicator is also handy, when you fly around the world and don't have a GMT complication. At least you know if it is day or night where you came from.
Besides, one should bear in mind that setting the watch between circa 9 PM - 3 AM may be detrimental to the watch movement, to avert which a 24-hour subdial turns out being extremely useful
I started my watch collection during the height of the pandemic, so I tend to overvalue a day/date complication because there was a very real danger of forgetting which day of the week you were on. I continue to love them because a 12:00 day and 6:00 date adds a beautiful symmetry to the watch in a way that the Seiko Setup never could.
A simple, decent looking Citizen Eco Drive watch is damn accurate. No messing about and no bullshit expensive automatic watch services. No extra features, divers, GMT...etc, not needed. Eco Drive is brilliant tbh.
Exactly! Citizen Eco Drive watches are superb. There are some great looking ones, had one for 13 years and it still flies and is really accurate @@RelativeTime
Amazing video, Sir! Comprehensive and objective run down on almost all complications out there. Definitely a reference video in RU-vid's horolosphere. Thanks for doing this and sharing.
Great video, well explained. One of the complications I actually never used, is the side rule bezel on the citizen promaster skyhawk, it's an internal one, very hard to read, but it's there. Multiband 6, tough solar, eco drive are great things. The compass and barometer are frequently used on my casio mudmaster. I prefer the quartz movements, I have some orient automatic ones but they are not very accurate, going fast almost 30 second a day. The other one is slower, minus 20 sec a day. I know it's normal for this kind of movements, but I like accurate time on my wrist.
The Vacheron Constantin 57260 has a few more complications, but do you need an alarm power reserve indicator or a Hebrew perpetual calendar (although Petite Sonnerie would be nice).
Great video, and explanations. The one complication that bugs me is that GMT hand. For me it ruins the look of a great watch. Example GS. I have mostly divers with minute timers. Use them daily for lunch time , other things. Useful . Chronographs, style, some function. Fun to watch. Have a SRQ seiko mechanical with a white vintage dial. Stunner, useful thick😮 watch. Have a few qts also. Citizen bullheads are cool, cheap. Day date? Jdm with kanji is the bomb! Other wise....meh. For me the watches I have mostly fit my current life style. I am a farmer. Divers, all from a old Seiko ,to an omega planet ocean. Tools. Wear my seiko SLA divers to work. Tough field, or 3 handers work also. Don't have any gshocks, or other digital watches. No apples. Yuck, not for me. GMT is the same. No use to me. I have the silver dial Bulova like yours. Fantastic accurate watch. Cool to watch the sweep. The GS spring drive is a different animal. Most of the newer ones run about .5 sec plus a day. Bought an older one. Sbga111. Runs at 0 . Really fun watching the sweep on the green hand on my 429. Thanks for the great video
Now you have Oceanus, The Citizen, and Grand Seiko. Congrats! It’s like owing Mikusa no Kamudakara, The Three Sacred Treasures of the imperial legitimacy of Japan😊
Ah, another great installation from Professor Shane. I’m a pretty simple guy. I’m Date Only Guy, and that’s all I really like. Although I do like GMT’s. My oldest daughter lives in the Midwest (I’m in California) so I have my GMT set to two hours ahead. Although being Asian, I’m pretty good at math, and I can add “2” to any number and almost always get it right! Thanks for the great video! Oh and I like Casios of course.
I’ve had two Ana-digi watches. I had an Arnie SNJ025, didn’t find it that useful and gravitated much more towards my basic analogue divers. The other is a Casio Ana-digi, which is much more useful, as with my GMTs, I have one (on the Casio it’s the digital display, on my GMTs, it’s the GMT hand) set to London time, the other (analogue hands on Casio, main hands on my GMTs) set to my local time zone :)
Mechaquartz: Seiko VK chronographs, sure. But I've reas about Miyota 6S21, that it has mechanical action with the possibility of readjustment with pushers, like pure quartz does. I think that's gonna be my next chronograph.
Great Video!. I am new to collecting (about 2 years) and beginning to expand my GMT collection. I love that complication. Also, my price point has gone up as well. I have been looking at the Ball GMTs (Tritium). This video gave me a better understanding of that particular aspect of the Ball brand. Should I pay more for a GMT with Tritium, or less for a solid movement, good lume, and the same great design? Always an education. Thanks again.
A coupe of comments; both dealing with dive watches oddly. First, while timing bezels definitely exist (see the Ares Mission Timer) dive watches have bezels intended to be elapsed timers, like the stop watch you mention later in the video. Align the pip to the minute hand when the dive begins and mentally record the elapsed time when you leave the bottom. The way you describe using it does not seem correct. If i align the minute hand with the five minute mark it won't reach the pip for 55min. You can you your dive watch like you describe but unfortunately there is a bit of 'rithmetic in the way. Since you included features I was shocked that you missed the most, statistically, useless feature of the helium escape valve. And that comes from a retired USN hard hat diver and Omega dive watch lover.
For those of us that communicate real-time internationally the GMT / UTC feature gets used often. I used to keep my single timezone analog watches set to GMT and just converted to local time. Was fun when someone tried to read my watch. But it is nice to have dual timezone when communicating internationally over the Amateur Radio Waves.
Thanks for this very informative video, Shane. I love my Arnie, but I have to admit I only use the analogue part. Maybe I’ll use the date window from time to time.
I will say this about multiband. I have a Citizen Promaster Land that has multiband, but Japan only. Solved with an app on my phone. I can't tell you how to set the watch, I just run the phone app and set the watch up to receive. So it's not as conditional as you think, but might as well be bluetooth at that point. And I like a day/date on my daily wear because I work a shifted schedule. Different strokes and all that.
The older I get the less I want on the dial. That’s a kind way of saying I can’t see as well as I used to. Date is a must and day is a bonus. Beyond that and I will just use a digital watch or my phone. Used to travel internationally a lot and a travelers GMT was a must. Then I got an Oceanus which made things really easy. Now I’ve been using a non-GPS Seiko Astron and all the others sit in the watch box.
In defence of tritium watches - if you actually want to read the time on your watch in the middle of the night it's the way to go. Regular lume is just a party trick in comparison. Very impressive for the first few minutes then trash. I have a Marathon Navigator with tritium and it's the perfect travel / camping watch. You can't always charge your phone within arms reach of your bed when travelling, so it's very nice having a watch that shines throughout the night.
The idea of full moons and more hospital visits is based on superstition and selective memory. Holidays, on the other hand, these are when ERs and nurses get busier due to increased alcohol consumption. Regardless, the moon phase is one of the many unnecessary but kinda cool complications.
My solar does the same thing though. If I leave my Citizen Promaster in the drawer for a few days, it stops and even if I leave it in the window for an afternoon, it still does the thing where it beats every two seconds. Only by wearing it all day in the sun does it get back to full operation.
When taking out the watch with depleted power reserve, the 24hour sub dial is useful to set am or pm time correctly so that the corresponding date can also be set correctly.
i love anidig. if designed correctly its a useful features for when you do want to time smt or check another timezone etc, but out of the way when not. when not in use mine is a day/date
Do you find yourself shaking and waving your hands more, just because you’re wearing..mm a rotor, basically? Haha @29:53 for example . Okay..let’s see how many times I’m going to hear “useless” on this opinionated vid… fun pictures though
Yeah... I said it a little too much. But when you make something this long you don't really realize it until you're editing it. I probably spent a little over 3 hours recording it over a couple of days.
wrt tritium, the decay is predictable, 1 f-stop about every 12 years. How many half-lives it is good for depends on the brightness you want and how much tritium you start with. For conventional lume, none of my vintage watches have any detectable glow now matter how you try to charge them. The current conventional lumes (Lumibright and Lumininova) were invented in the 1990's, so the very oldest examples are the same age as a tritium watch that's still got some life. Seiko describes their lume as "semi-permanent". Known aging factors include pigments to change the color, and humidity. For me, the purpose of lume is not to look pretty for a few minutes after a UV chargeup but to be legible if I wake up before dawn and the watch has not seen any natural light in maybe 12 hours. One tritium watch is enough for my collection, but that's the one I usually wear to bed, and take camping off grid.
Moved back to 3 handers. The Sarbs. I probably retire them and sell them before I rerire myself and switch to a titanium multiband 3 hander JDM Citizen.
I travel a lot, and a "caller" GMT is better for me. I think most people don't realize "traveler" GMTs usually don't have a set date function. You need to rotate the hands and switch day by day to get to your date. Anyone that ever used a soviet watch like a Vostok, knows what a pain that is. Either it's a caller or traveler GMT, it takes seconds to set the hour hand. They do it slightly differently but it's not complicated at all. But adjusting the date is a huge difference. If you don't have just one watch, and you constantly need to update the date on whatever watch you pick up for the day, a traveler GMT is a huge pain in the ass.
This is true, a lot of people ordered 9075s not realizing it, and then complained after Not realizing that's just how it is. Although one thing to remember, you can go backwards to set the date as well. Which can help. These days I prefer the 9075s, but I think a Callers GMT is more versatile.
I think they are cool too, but still a little harder to read. I'm still on the fence about getting an Oris Big Crown. It's a watch I keep thinking about.
So far, I won't buy a watch without a date. In fact, I think day%date is even better. Now, a month indicator is probably overkill, true. I do have one of those. A screw-in crown is also kind of a must for me, as well.
one more cool video of yours, but you have forgotten one type of watch...mechanical watches with annual calendar...much, much, much cheaper than a mechanical watch with a perpetual calendar, but with a nice practical complication...
The 24-hour subdial on an automatic is very useful so you don't set the date at the wrong time. the 24-hour subdial is very useful because it keeps you from setting the date while in the danger zone
Love the hogue in the background, not so great for self defense, but it’s really good for edc. I think cold steels over size serrated folders with their version of the Emerson wave is the best folder for self defense. Like watches there is a pocket knife for every situation or scenario I suppose and I always carry two pocket knives, one on my left front pocket for edc and one on my right front pocket for self defense. Idk, maybe I’m crazy but my father did this as well and always taught me to do the same. Love the video as always ,keep up the great work.
Every first responder who does shift work or people that work in hospitals who do shift work, most of us don't have regular schedules so we frequently don't know what day of the week it is. My life revolves around a 6-day rotation. Two days working 4 days off. I hardly ever know what day of the week it is unless I look at my watch lol.
Hi Shane.. nice review .. But I have a question.. How important is "Chronometer Certified" ?? I see some high end watches that are, and some that are not.. How important is it. or is it just a preference..
Thanks. Good question... I would say it's nice to see, but not vital. I kind of view it like ISO divers rating on a watch, as it's more of a guarantee of good performance, but doesn't necessarily mean it will outperform a watch without it. Now with that, a watch may also have better craftsmanship and a better grade movement. Yet what it really means is that it's been tested and guaranteed to be within +- 5 sec/day. However just like with water resistance... that only applies when you first get the watch. That guarantee doesn't mean it will stay that way as the years go by. It still may need to be adjusted occasionally. Part of the trick with COSC Chronometer specification is that the watch also has to be "Swiss Made", otherwise they won't certify it. Which rules out a lot of great German and Japanese watches (Grand Seiko anyone?) In fact I remember when I looked at the Ginault Ocean Rover a while ago. Many Rolex fans were annoyed they put "Chronometer" on the dial when it could never officially be one. Which on one hand I could see being a problem as it could cause confusion. But on the other, is it really fair for the Swiss to lock that term down when they won't even let anyone else try to earn it?
What model is that oceanus? Ive got g shock and some woth great complicaitonsm and also an edifice which are techy but dressy so im half way to an oceanus lol. It may be my next. Whats the exact model num?
It's very low energy, which is sort of why it was developed. So I'm not concerned. The energy coming off a phone in your pocket would be more something to think about, but it's been about 30 years since folks started doing that. So far no major issues arising.
Dive bezels typically count up though. The indicator is aligned with the minute hand and then you can read how much time has passed… from 0 to 60 minutes. Countdown timers on bezels are more uncommon.
Working from home in independent architecture work, I must have day/date. Days blend together. If it weren't for baseball MLB schedule, I wouldn't know what day it was. My Seiko SNXS-79 is one of my week re-setters.
I don't care if a watch has a date or not, but I never bother to set it. That said, I wear my watches on a rota basis, and each watch only get's worn about once a month. What I don't like is the day date function. I love a good bezel, but never use it, and the same can be said for my GMT watches. Not a fan of chronographs, and positively hate digital watches. Great video mate
I'm with you 100% on tritium (and 24 hour dials!), my 25 year old Datejust hasn't had useable lume for ten years. Great points, interesting to watch and invaluable for beginners.
For my personal use, I've found ana-digi displays useful in low-light situations where I need to be able to check the time with one hand (using the luminescent indices on my Seiko Arnie), and the digital display is useful for when I need precise timekeeping that's easily legible.
For any mechanical or automatic watch I'm all about No-date, since I don't wear the same watch everyday (unless I'm in the field, where I exclusively wear tough solars!)
Date-still practical and useful. If it doesn’t bother you design wise. Everything else, depends on personal preferences. I agree with your points, quite nailed it on each one. I appreciate solar/photovoltaic watches, I find them very practical, in a sunny region where I am at.
Casio/Ocenaus has the most amazing analog face (digital inside) of all, perpetual calendar, bluetooth, multiband 6, second hand alignment(second hand always hit the markers!), chrono, GMT, and solar. Setting it up for the first time can be a chore, but once it's done there is no need to ever adjust it again
That's not how multiband has worked in my experience. My Rangeman syncs from a relay of one of those radios, not the actual city/atomic clock. Most cities I know of have one. It also doesn't need to be anywhere near a windowsill. Also, yeah. Tritium is also tactical consideration for where needing to charge your lume might give away your position. It's not an operational consideration for most people.
I'm not sure what to tell you about multiband, maybe it's different where you live. I've never heard of cities having relays for the signal. I have heard of some devices you can buy or apps that will do that, but not on a city level. As per Casio you can see where the 6 signals are broadcast from. www.casio.com/us/watches/oceanus/technology/multiband6/ As for Tritium, you are right there is a tactical advantage with it as well. Like I said in the video, for some, in some situations, it's ideal. Yet if you're just using it to see the time when you wake up at 3am to go the bathroom, it's not exactly living up to its full potential.
@RelativeTime Yeah, I seem to have overestimated how common relay points and repeaters are. And Multiband 6 compatible ones seem even less common. The one I receive time from is at the local airport. Though, fortunately for many, the distance one can receive a sync from any of the actual stations is pretty far as well.
Great video Shane. I was already quite familiar with the various complications and have samples of most of them in my collection. I thought you did an excellent job of explaining and assessing their merits. Question, have you done a review of the Wise GMT that appears at 15:43 of the video? I’m seriously considering this watch and would love to hear your thoughts on it. Thanks.
Not yet. I'm actually working on it now. It's pretty good. Definitely a wise, and the best lume I've seen on a GMT. The only thing I'm a little mixed on is the bracelet. I wish it had more taper, it just goes down from 20 to 18.
Thanks, I look forward to seeing it when you post it. I don't own a Wise yet but they look beautiful. I'm particularly attracted to the color of the one you show in the video. I don't have anything in my collection of that color scheme. Thanks again.
Really good comprehensive review Shane. I really loved seeing all that great watch photography from so many past videos. For me, I'm happy with a simple date complication, but I don't mind a plain no date 3 hander as I usually know the date. GMT's are great as well, and one traveler GMT is enough with the rest being caller. Solar quartz is great, and multi band is cool. Your right about them sitting in the window sill!
I have a couple of pieces with a 24h dial. As someone who regularly rotates my pieces the 24h dial becomes very useful when setting a piece that has stopped. I don't have to figure out if the date will click over at the next 12 o'clock or at the one after. Far more useful than a divers bezel outside of diving.
The 24 hour subdial can be a little useful on an automatic watch with a date to help avoid the danger zone when using quickset date. Though I really mean just a little, not enough to really justify it's existence.
Great discussion . I must point out that most lume is dead in thirty minutes , My answer is one tritum night watch and one of several day watches . See, everybodey is happy . By the way, chinese T 100 tritum watches are inexpensive and no one will see you wear it so your daytime rotation is safe .
Interesting that you mention first responder & ER person in conjunction with moon-phase. For those who don't know, people often do act more weird during full moons.....as first responders & nurses can attest to.
Great video. I disagree with a few things, but everyone is going to have a complication that they like/use vs one that someone else doesn't. Tritium has changed the way I wear a watch. It's so easy to tell the time in the middle of the night when I wake up....
Watch complications are totally useless in a mechanical watch, because it adds complexity and cost to the overall package. If you want complications buy an Apple Watch.
@@RelativeTime I don’t really consider bezel a complication. I was considering a moonphase, chronograph, annual calendar, or such mechanisms complications.
