It’s no secret that watch collecting has become a huge global hobby. Watch enthusiasts are busy soaking up as much knowledge as possible via the internet, forums, watch meet-ups and more. Some are even self-proclaimed experts. You know them, they’re the ones wearing a watch on each wrist, or wearing their most complicated mechanical watch to an event, sometimes even changing it out half way through just to show off.
Of course we love these connoisseurs and the fact that they’re buying big-ticket watches. The thing is, they leave us little room to just kick back and enjoy a good quartz watch.
Like other watch enthusiasts, before every business event I go to, I carefully examine my watches to pick just the right one to wear. Until recently, in most cases, I go to the mechanical watches first.
Why? Because the one time I wore a quartz watch to an event, I was chided. I was wearing a perfectly good rectangular-shaped quartz watch on a double-wrap orange suede strap that complemented the black dress I was wearing. Later, when at dinner, the watch lover to my right was feeling the wine and berated me for wearing a quartz watch to an event designed for true lovers of watches.
What? I love watches. I loved the watch on my wrist and I loved the mechanical Patek Philippe on his wrist. At first I felt embarrassed that I had worn a quartz watch, but the more he kept talking, expounding the virtues of mechanical over quartz, the more I got angry. There are also a host of benefits of quartz over mechanical.
And besides, since when has getting dressed come to the point of picking the accessory with the most benefits? Wearing a watch – any watch – is great. If a wine connoisseur can kick back with a cold beer every once in a while, a watch lover can don a timepiece that isn’t all mechanical bells and whistles. It’s time to get past the mechanical/quartz divide.
The bottom line is that it is okay to wear a quartz watch. There are so many great watches on the market that are powered by quartz. Let’s face it, the best brands in the business recognize the need for quartz technology and even contributed to the making of the first Swiss quartz movement.
Because I joined the industry in the early 1980’s – the era of quartz – I have some pretty great quartz watches in my lineup, from a pink Tissot Rock watch, to an early Lorus Mickey Mouse watch and a purple Andre Le Marquand and a host of others (unfortunately, some now defunct).
These days, when I get dressed, I don’t think quartz or mechanical. I think about the mood I am in, the things I will be doing that day and the colors I will be wearing. So if you see me with a quartz watch on, you can bet that I am just as proud of it as I am of the mechanical watches in my collection. You should be, too.
