(no subject)

[solipsistnation]

More unreadable art watches! Yay!

Although I'm actually holding out for a late-90's Swatch Irony Body & Soul (a surprisingly cheap skeleton watch, exhibition back, pretty nice-looking, and typically about 200 bucks on eBay) or a Swatch Jellyfish (older, plastic and totally clear). And eyeing Russian mechanical watches (which are a good combination of cheap and pretty classy-looking).

If I still think all this stuff is cool come, say, February of next year, I will finally go ahead and sign up for Time Zone Watch School, which isn't an accredited program and is aimed at aspiring amateurs who want to see if this is something they can actually do. This might be another passing obsession, although it's hung around for a good six months now. Either I'll get bored soon or it'll turn into one of those things that I find interesting basically forever. I've looked around, and I'm kind of disappointed that there aren't any full-time accredited watchmaking schools around here-- it's surprising, actually. The closest to Massachusetts is in New Jersey. If I were to drop everything and move someplace to go to watchmaking school, I sure wouldn't move to New Jersey to do it-- I'd be MUCH more likely to go to Seattle, where the North Seattle Community College 2-year program is WOSTEP-accredited and apparantly highly-regarded. There's the first part of a writeup here (that's part one-- the other parts are also on that site).

Of course, watchmaking requires cleanliness, attention to detail, and a steady hand, none of which have exactly been my forte in years past. Maybe it's a good excuse to get some discipline. If nothing else, at the end of the TZ Watch School thing, you end up with a nice watch...

Comments

[ninjarat.livejournal.com]

Over the years the Sovietski Collection has had a variety of mechanical watches and pocket watches. Some are quite nice and not horribly expensive though most of them are cheap junk.
http://www.sovietski.com/

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've been following their catalog as well, ever since I bought a bunch of knives and space-program commemorative pins from them a couple of years ago. They seem overpriced to me, although they do occasionally have good deals.

[jehanna.livejournal.com]

I think I still have my clear Swatch from when I was in the eighth grade somewhere. Let me know if you're interested and I can attempt to dig it out next time I'm in VA.

I think watchmaking is really really cool. You'd probably be very good at it, given your other affinity for machinery with tiny parts. Given that you've messed with and etched your own circuit boards, I bet you'd be fine with wee gears and such.

Also you should really come down here and meet Todd, as I think Ari mentioned last time this came up. Maybe he'd let you look on while he's working?

[delicarose.livejournal.com]

How very neat! I've always loved analog watches and clocks so much!

[kaypoisson.livejournal.com]

do they make clocks like that too? it seems like watches are less needed with the increasing amount of cell phone use.

[jehanna.livejournal.com]

My friend here who works with them pretty much repairs antique watches and clocks.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Yep, they do. If it's a clock you wind up, it's mechanical.

Cell phones actually are cutting into watch-wearing, I've read... Plus, most watches these days use quartz movements (with batteries and stuff) which, while they still need servicing every so often (if they last very long, anyway), are significantly cheaper and simpler.

It's an anachronistic interest (ha ha, I am a punster), but it's still fascinating...

[kaypoisson.livejournal.com]

I was thinking 'bout those nooka watches, if they made clocks like them. But everything is happy nifty pretty yay words

[stophittinyrslf.livejournal.com]

YAY WORDS

[kaypoisson.livejournal.com]

damnit woman. When can I read that shitty book of yours?

[stophittinyrslf.livejournal.com]

when you get in the kitchen and cook me some dinner, or when you cease your infernal yap!

or whenever i'm done it. it'll be done soon. really.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Oooooh, yeah.

I dunno. They might. If they do, I'd guess ThinkGeek would have them, or something like them. Or other wanky design sites or something...

[friode.livejournal.com]

The traditional mechanical watches were already basically unneeded 20 years ago. You can buy a new digital watch for $20. A repair on a mechanical watch invariably costs way more than that.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Traditional analog synthesizers were already basically unneeded 20 years ago. You can buy a new digital synthesizer plugin for $20. A repair on an analog synthesizer invariably costs way more than that. 8)

[friode.livejournal.com]

Well, the point I was really trying to make, I think, was that cell phones aren't a meaningful threat to mechanical watches, because the digital watch already has given anyone who doesn't specifically really want a mechanical watch a cheap alternative, and the cell phone is really nothing new in that regard.

But I can see where I worded this poorly for getting my message across, and also where it makes me realize that I have a lot more love for analog synths than mechanical watches (although I can certainly understand why someone else would love mechanical watches).

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay. I wasn't offended or anything, just offering up a parallel.

You're right, too-- if somebody wants a mechanical watch, it's not because they want a cheap watch, it's because they want something mechanical, with everything that implies. There are actually lots of parallels between synthesizers and watches, I think, as much as there are to any other technology that has changed drastically in the past few decades... There are aficionados and collectors, and people who can work on and repair the older technology are revered for their abilities even as the world works to make them obsolete.

Watches have the advantage that rich people like to buy fancy timepieces as status symbols, meaning that as long as there are rich people there will be a place for people to build and repair status-symbol watches.

[friode.livejournal.com]

I was under the impression that, at least at one point in time, movie composers saw modular synths costing tens of thousands of dollars as being status symbols, too. I'm not sure whether that's still the case, though.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

It's entirely possible... I know who you're thinking of, and I'm pretty sure he still has the roomful of Moog...

[friode.livejournal.com]

I actually wasn't thinking of anyone in particular.

Actually, having a roomful of Moog might really be a stupid status symbol at this point, since I'm not at all convinced that keeping Moog and only Moog stuff around is either the most cost effective approach to having a modular synth or the most musically flexible approach to having a modular synth. For example, Doepfer has some modules that do some things that aren't really directly doable with pure Moog stuff, I believe (some of the audio filters, for example).

[stophittinyrslf.livejournal.com]

even if you become a crazy watch making guy, i'll probably still like you. just so you know.

[slarti.livejournal.com]

Of course, if you get into watchmaking, next thing you know you're involved in some high-energy physics program and happenstance will trap you in the chamber where they're experimenting with removing the Intrinsic Field from stuff and oh noes.

Or something. heh.