How many are getting an Apple watch?

[MongGrel]

Pocket watches are cool. :hmm: In fact, old things are cool. Maybe one day the Apple Watch will be cool. :biggrin:

My dad's old one I recently had repaired.

I don't even carry it that often.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiRPBCiJg2c

 

[MongGrel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t28COxEp2k

Too funny , haven't played that in a long time, the wife is pretty much almost dancing on her computer in the guest bedroom after I turned it up in here.

Yeah, we're weird.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eELH0ivexKA

 

[WelshBloke]

I just find the attitude of someone posting on a tech site full of enthusiasts about Luddite attitudes curious.

Forums for discussing tech not for discussing someones attitude.

 

[Artdeco]

Where the hell is the tech in a mechanical watch? Seriously? It's decades old, and mechanical watches will be done. In 10 years we'll be talking about the latest voice recognition algorhythm implemented by the manufacturer of the time, and bitching about battery life on our paper thin smart watches.

It's gadget natural selection.

 

[MongGrel]

Where the hell is the tech in a mechanical watch? Seriously? It's decades old, and mechanical watches will be done. We'll be talking about the latest voice recognition algorhythm implemented by the manufacturer of the time, and bitching about battery life on our paper thin smart watches.

It's gadget natural selection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iRTB-FTMdk

 

[MongGrel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeEI-hh3MG0

 

[MongGrel]

Wrong nef.

 

[openwheel]

What does that even mean?

We all get it, you're a mechanical watch guy.

Do you honestly think technology will stand still?

What hasn't been changed by technology?

Standing on your lawn shouting at kids isn't going to change the tidal wave of change, it just makes you look silly.

Hey, enjoy the iWatch. I am sure you'll make a lot of money because it has a stock ticker. Cheers.

 

[Ramses]

Where the hell is the tech in a mechanical watch? Seriously? It's decades old, and mechanical watches will be done. In 10 years we'll be talking about the latest voice recognition algorhythm implemented by the manufacturer of the time, and bitching about battery life on our paper thin smart watches.

It's gadget natural selection.

Have you ever looked at the ridiculously complicated guts and almost comically tiny part of a mechanical watch made decades and decades, if not hundreds, of years ago, by hand? This is 300 years ago or so, the product of an entire life, a series of family members lives dedicated to the sole purpose of creating timepieces.


greenshot


I'm not into watches, but I'm a technician in all things.
THAT is technology, in one of it's highest and most impressive form.

 

[Artdeco]

Hey, enjoy the iWatch. I am sure you'll make a lot of money because it has a stock ticker. Cheers.

Enjoy your lawn

 

[openwheel]

LOL I still don't get the referenfe. Are you trying to say I am old and outdated? Thats a good movie and Eastwood is still kicking ass imo.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Have you ever looked at the ridiculously complicated guts and almost comically tiny part of a mechanical watch made decades and decades, if not hundreds, of years ago, by hand? This is 300 years ago or so, the product of an entire life, a series of family members lives dedicated to the sole purpose of creating timepieces.

I'm not into watches, but I'm a technician in all things.
THAT is technology, in one of it's highest and most impressive form.

No its not. It only looks impressive because the individual parts are large enough to see with the naked eye. Its archaic enough to be assembled by hand.

Many parts in a smartwatch cannot be assembled by hand because they're simply too small or too delicate to be done by hand.

 

[Oyeve]

No its not. It only looks impressive because the individual parts are large enough to see with the naked eye. Its archaic enough to be assembled by hand.

Many parts in a smartwatch cannot be assembled by hand because they're simply too small or too delicate to be done by hand.

I bet that old mechanical watch will outlast any smartwatch. Hell, I have an old gold timex from 1967 that my grandfather bought at woolworths for 20 bucks and I still wear it occasionally and it works great.

 

[WelshBloke]

No its not. It only looks impressive because the individual parts are large enough to see with the naked eye. Its archaic enough to be assembled by hand.

Many parts in a smartwatch cannot be assembled by hand because they're simply too small or too delicate to be done by hand.

I bet that old mechanical watch will outlast any smartwatch. Hell, I have an old gold timex from 1967 that my grandfather bought at woolworths for 20 bucks and I still wear it occasionally and it works great.

I think those two posts have clarified what I felt was off about the iWatch.

Its one thing pretending to be another.
Its a gadget that's not made or supposed to last being marketed as a piece of hand crafted jewellery.

Both those things are fine, hell I'm much more of a fan of gadgets than jewellery, but objects need to be honest.

 

[openwheel]

I am not going to reflect negatively on smart watch anymore because few are super sensitive. So I'll just talk about why mechanical watches have survived and cannot be substituted by smart watches.

1. It's a man thing: man with good fashion has always been able to showcase his style with a mechanical watch. My background is Electrical Engineering but anything mechanical fascinates me, especially little marvels like a chronograph movement. Not that I am any less enthusiastic about SoC and Google Apps, I am simply able to appreciate both Worlds.

2. It's real fashion. Stallone and Statham wear big Italian Panerais. Rappers wear diamond studded gold huge watches. Presidents wear Rolex Day-Date. Astronauts wear Speedmaster and GMT Master. Ian Fleming wore an Explorer. Adam Levine wears a Daytona. People will continue to wear mechanical watches ($150 or $50,000) until end of time and still be fashionable, especially vintage mechanical watches.

more later

 

[Ramses]

No its not. It only looks impressive because the individual parts are large enough to see with the naked eye. Its archaic enough to be assembled by hand.

Many parts in a smartwatch cannot be assembled by hand because they're simply too small or too delicate to be done by hand.

Time does not diminish an accomplishment.
This is part of why we have museums, to honor great things.
Nothing in a smartwatch is revolutionary, everything in them, the assembly process, the actual parts, all of it, has existed for some time. I can have one built in China at will to my own specifications, it's just a matter of money. While they are of course an accomplishment, it's a modern thing, built tiny bit by tiny bit upon the work of countless people, at a calculated pace to best extract money from consumers more of then than not. It is not dramatic, it is not amazing, it's just another piece of modern electronics waiting to be eclipsed in a year or two by the same process repeating. And that's perfectly normal and OK, but it in no way compares to something like a centuries old mechanical watch that had no predecessor, that was a completely new thing on earth at the time of it's creation. It is doing a disservice to the legacy of the people on which ALL of this stuff we enjoy these days was founded, and recognizing that is part of what being a technician is about.

That 300 year old mechanical watch sprung forth from nothing but ideas and extreme dedication of a very few people. It is much the same as the earliest internal combustion engines in the latter part of the 1700's were dramatically bigger accomplishments than the electric motors in a Tesla today. Or that the F35 isn't nearly as impressive or important as the Wright Flyer. Don't get caught up in the marketing, and that's all it is. The wheel is only invented once. There is nothing wrong with a better wheel, it's great that we continue to make better wheels, but it's still just another wheel.

 

[poofyhairguy]

There is nothing wrong with a better wheel, it's great that we continue to make better wheels, but it's still just another wheel.

But its not a better wheel! It is a different wheel.

Mechanical Watch: Exists to tell me the time, maybe the date and other time related facts, and serves the purpose of dressing up my wrist. If its nice enough its something that can be passed down generations.

Smartwatch: Is the triage center of my mobile life, where I can check every type of notification (including time related ones), trigger new reminders, run apps, control other devices, and get more detailed information about my surroundings than what a mechanical watch can provide (like weather). Sure I can check the time, but that is one-one thousandth of the information the watch provides that I want.


When you look at just the raw functionality they aren't even in the same category. A smartwatch's lineage comes from a pager, not a watch. Like what happens in biological evolution, years of incremental changes (combined with Apple's want to get people to pay thousands for soon to be obsolete tech) have come to similar results.

 

[openwheel]

IMO the single most important "notification" in our life is: TIME. It is by far the most important, over facebook notification, stock ticker...etc. So I disagree that it is merely 1/1000th of the information.

 

[Artdeco]

And I'll be the first to admit mech watches are beautiful and hold or increase their value, smart watches will be trash in 4 years, literally.

 

[openwheel]

And I'll be the first to admit mech watches are beautiful and hold or increase their value, smart watches will be trash in 4 years, literally.

:wub: :thumbsup:

 

[poofyhairguy]

IMO the single most important "notification" in our life is: TIME. It is by far the most important, over facebook notification, stock ticker...etc. So I disagree that it is merely 1/1000th of the information.

I am not trying to discount the importance of a watch/time to many people, just pointing out that the main non-fashion function of a normal watch is a fraction of what a smartwatch does. To me that makes any comparison an Apple and Oranges kind of thing.

 

[z1ggy]

No, if I am getting one it will be MS band.

My buddy has one, he likes it. I have the Fitbit Surge and I like it a lot. Sure it's not really completely like a smart watch, but I don't really need that stuff. I use mine primarily to track fitness and sleep. I got mine used off a buddy for $150.

 

[blairharrington]

I'm starting to warm up to the idea of getting an Apple Watch. I still think version one is extremely limited, but there are times, especially when I'm out, where I'll miss phone calls or texts from being in busy and noisy environments. But $350 is way too much IMO as an entry point.

The initial Pebble Time reviews have hit the web and it looks pretty terrible IMO. Especially if you are using an iPhone. And that thing starts at $200.

I was hoping Google I/O this afternoon would announce the long rumored Android Wear iOS app but no dice.

 

[Commodus]

I think we're hung up on the notion that there must only be one kind of fashion, or that the values of one trump the other.

I say that smartwatches can be fashionable, and that a device that may be obsolete in 2-3 years makes up for that short lifespan in terms of sheer utility. A mechanical watch that lasts decades can be beautiful and carry meaning, but so can a smartwatch that just saved you from getting lost while on vacation.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I think we're hung up on the notion that there must only be one kind of fashion, or that the values of one trump the other.