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How to Choose A
Watch
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| Style |
- Dress Watch
The most common is gold, plain, and thin. A rotating bezel, or
any bezel with markings on it, is not suitable. The dial and hands
are less important, but avoid thick markings and hands with lots
of tritium. Moreover, chronograph is not a good choice, too. If
the watch is gold, get it on a strap - you may spend less money
with better looking.
- Sports Watch
These watches are usually large, water-resistant to some degree,
and have thick, luminous hands and markings. Two important sub-categories
are Diver's Watch and Pilot's Watch. All modern Divers' watches
are inspired by the Rolex Submariner, and all Pilots' watches
are inspired by the IWC Mark XII or earlier.
Remark: Nowadays, "Diver's Watch" is a style. If you
do not want to die, make sure your Diver's Watch meets the standard
before you dive !!!
- Designer Watch
These watches are designed by someone with a worldwide reputation,
and the designer's name is publicized. These watches are more
like an art work than a watch.
If you are going to buy a watch, you should
choose a style at the beginning.
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| Case Materials |
| A watch case can be made of any solid, but some common
materials are: plastic, metal, high-tech materials (e.g., ceramic,
pulverized diamonds). The cheapest watches are made of plastic, the
most expensive watches are made of gold, white gold, platinum or some
high-tech materials.
If you are going to buy a Sports Watch, Gold
may not be a good choice. This is not because of the price, this
is because gold is much softer than stainless steel and titanium.
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| Bracelets or Straps |
| A wristwatch should have a bracelet or strap to attach
it to your wrist. If the attachment gets its flexibility from solid
parts (made of the same material as the case) that are linked together,
it's called a bracelet. If the material is inherently flexible (e.g.,
rubber, leather), it's called a strap.
A bracelet is always designed for a particular watch model, or
at least a series of models from the same manufacturer.
Straps, however, are frequently bought separately from the watch,
and for a very simple reason: They wear out frequently.
If you are going to buy a dress watch, a
leather strap will match your suits or tuxedo.
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| Water Resistance |
| Please refer to Water
Proof --- open in new window. |
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| Quartz or Mechanical |
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Most people think that mechanical watch is for rich people; however,
Seiko offers lots of choices to the world for less than US$50.
The truth is most expensive watches are Mechanical but the most
user friendly watches are Quartz. If you would like to know more,
you can go to Seiko
Spring Drive --- open in new window.
If you are going to buy a watch for daily
use or Sports, Quartz will not be wrong !
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| C.O.S.C. |
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Please refer to C.O.S.C.
--- open in new window.
Most people use -4+6 secs/day as the reference for an C.O.S.C.
Mechanical watch.
However, If you are going to buy a watch
for daily use, Quartz has much better performance: ±1 sec /
day
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| Functions and Features |
| Every watch shows the hour and minute (usually with
two hands), some show the second, date and day at the same time. Anything
beyond these basics is called a "complication".
A chronograph is a watch that acts like a stop watch; that is,
it can measure intervals of time. There are usually two pushers
on either side of the crown. The upper one starts and stops the
timer, and the lower one resets it to zero.
Two more complicated chronographs:
- A flyback is a chronograph which works as follows: first push
of the chrono button starts the seconds hand. Second push causes
the seconds hand to reset to zero and begins. The purpose of the
flyback is to begin re-timing quickly.
- A split seconds or rattrapante or doppelchrono (double chrono
in German) has two seconds hands, the first push starts both hands
together, the second push stops one hand while the other continues,
and another push allows the stopped hand to catch-up with the
moving seconds.
Some watches show multiple time zones or called GMT.
Watches that emit an audible time signal are called repeaters.
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| Brands of Watches |
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The brand affects the price of a new watch and a secondhand watch.
Rolex is an good example.
Moreover, brands tell us the quality of the after sales services.
Rolex is world wide and her after sales services have good reputation.
But some famous brands do not have qualified services; therefore,
search the web or even go to the service center before you buy an
expensive watch.
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| Where to buy |
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From an authorized retailer is a good start.
If you really want to buy from an unauthorized, or "gray-market,"
dealer, keep all transaction records / invoices in case of something
happens.
If you want to buy a watch through the Internet, only buy it from
some big big companies, such as Amazon.com.
REMEMBER: Low price may not be a bargain;
high price may not be true.
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