08-24-2021, 04:46 PM
If there's one thing that summarises the nightmare of the modern era, it's the smartwatch. Already,. notifications on my phone give me a range of pavlovian reactions ranging from 'Oh Fuck off' to 'Wait, someone actually knows I exist and Said Something to Me'
Anyway.
I've picked up a couple of 'old fashioned' stupid watches - just to give me a chance to escape from them.
The first is Soviet-era Racketa. Probably once belonged to a Soviet submariner -- the outer ring lets you track your watchstanding times. It's not water resistant - I suppose, if you got water in your submarine, keeping good time would'nt be a problem you'd need to worry about for very long. Good in that you can patch it up -- I've replaced the crystal on it already.
![[Image: RmThwcal.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/RmThwcal.jpg)
Anyway. It has problems. Most of which relate to it being a relic of a fallen civilisation which has never been properly maintained. It's clearly dying slowly. (At least until I can put the guts into a decent solvent to clear the old oils out of it)
To complement it, (And so I can tell what time it is when I'm swimming) this just arrived from the Chistopol watch factory. A hundred quid - and I've fitted a new bezel to get a second time-zone on it, strap and anti-magnetic back to it. It'll go down to 200 meters and run for ten years, with an automatic winder.
It's not a Rolex - but it's not exactly the typical 'cheap and awful' either. It's cheap and clever- using good design and engineering to save money and achieve the same results as more expensive watches. Even if it struggles to be accurate to within 20 seconds a day..... it's reliable, but not precise. (It's also a completely in-house movement which is something watch nerds care about) . I've managed to tweak it to get it running within a second every 2 hours which isn't bad.
![[Image: b11GC6hl.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/b11GC6hl.jpg)
Both of these irritate the watch-nerds I know.
Anyway.
I've picked up a couple of 'old fashioned' stupid watches - just to give me a chance to escape from them.
The first is Soviet-era Racketa. Probably once belonged to a Soviet submariner -- the outer ring lets you track your watchstanding times. It's not water resistant - I suppose, if you got water in your submarine, keeping good time would'nt be a problem you'd need to worry about for very long. Good in that you can patch it up -- I've replaced the crystal on it already.
Anyway. It has problems. Most of which relate to it being a relic of a fallen civilisation which has never been properly maintained. It's clearly dying slowly. (At least until I can put the guts into a decent solvent to clear the old oils out of it)
To complement it, (And so I can tell what time it is when I'm swimming) this just arrived from the Chistopol watch factory. A hundred quid - and I've fitted a new bezel to get a second time-zone on it, strap and anti-magnetic back to it. It'll go down to 200 meters and run for ten years, with an automatic winder.
It's not a Rolex - but it's not exactly the typical 'cheap and awful' either. It's cheap and clever- using good design and engineering to save money and achieve the same results as more expensive watches. Even if it struggles to be accurate to within 20 seconds a day..... it's reliable, but not precise. (It's also a completely in-house movement which is something watch nerds care about) . I've managed to tweak it to get it running within a second every 2 hours which isn't bad.
Both of these irritate the watch-nerds I know.