Complications - a personal view

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Amor Vincit Omnia
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Complications - a personal view

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

I used to be anti complications, then for a while I was all over them. Nowadays I have drifted, along with my general taste in watches, to a state where I am pretty much happy with most things. I think that for me complications fall into three categories: basic essentials; non-essential but nice things to have; and the exotic ones that I can admire, struggle to see the relevance of and probably could never afford anyway.

What exactly is a complication? I came across several definitions in researching this topic, but I’m going to go with my own feeling. To me it is an indication or function that displays information other than the current time. To me an automatic winding mechanism and a tourbillon are not complications, but a dive bezel or 24h bezel is, albeit a non-mechanical one. Feel free to contradict me on that.

Dates and calendars

The simplest and most ubiquitous complication, if we don’t count the seconds hand. Like many middle-aged (medieval) people I struggle to see most dates without reading glasses, so I am happy with or without. Occasionally it’s useful, but my computer, phone or iPad is usually there to remind me, along with desk and wall calendars.

Day-date? Fun but I usually know the day. I have found myself wondering on holidays, especially at Christmas when a Wednesday can feel like a Sunday, to paraphrase John Wyndham. Being a linguist I find the different languages fun and keep my Makos on Spanish days. Portuguese ones are great because you can have SEX every Friday (Sexta Feira)!
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Triple date calendars can be lovely, especially on vintage watches, but you can start to get dial crowding if you’re not careful. I once lusted after a triple date moon phase chronograph...boy, was that a crowded dial!
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Annual calendars where you don’t have to change the date at the end of a short month seem quite a good idea. And then we have the perpetual calendars, a superb example of horological art and innovation, especially those that advertise the fact that you won’t have to change the date for the next 1.7 million years or whatever. I’m sure you would find that very reassuring if you were happy to pay house prices for a watch.

Recorders of natural phenomena

The most common here being the moon phase indication. These, of course, go back hundreds of years and were very common on longcase clocks. Originally an expensive and esoteric complication on watches, they have recently become more common and it seems that everyone now makes one, or several. I thought about it seriously but decided it was a pleasant and whimsical complication I didn’t need. If I did, the Christopher Ward version is the nicest of what I consider the affordable ones.
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But...I have a problem with moon phase indications. Once you get beyond a slender crescent the moon doesn’t look like that. An anatomically correct representation is only possible with a 3D indication like van der Klaauw's Real Moon, and they are expensive.
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Night sky planispheres, astrolabe dials, Sun elevation, zodiac, equation of time, tide indicators, planetarium dials (CvdK again)...all wonderful demonstrations of the art, beautiful yet a bit crazy and very expensive. I have made a decision only to acquire complications I am going to use, hence...

Chronographs

My favourite complication! This may well be because it’s the one I use most; I’m always giving the inmates timed tasks at work, and if I know I am going to do that I will wear a chronograph. I don't use it much outside of work, though it is sometimes useful to know how long something takes, such as timing a cooking process or visiting the tumble dryer in the garage! Two things are paramount for me on a chronograph - legibility and ease of use. I like plenty of numerical indices around the dials and a rapid reset. My two mechanicals, the Speedy and the vintage Leonidas, are paramount in this respect, really easy to read and with an instantaneous snap reset. Least user-friendly is the blue C3 Mk3, because of the relative lack of visibility and the slow reset.
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I have never tried a true flyback or rattrapante but I don't expect I would have a great deal of use for those features.

Multiple time zones

I always claimed I didn't need one because I never went more than 2 hours from UK time and I could do that in my head. However, with retirement beginning to loom larger in the window I am certainly intending to travel more, and further afield, health and funds permitting. Hence, as regular readers will know, my quest for an all-in travel watch. I ended up going for the smart GMT diver option with the C600 GMT I acquired just this week. Deep down I have long felt the need for just the one watch on holiday and this ticks all the boxes - swimming, travelling, nice restaurants &c., with the bonus that I only have to worry about one watch and it is on the wrist 24/7.
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I did look at various world timers, including my favourite vintage Tissot, but that one is not as practical for obvious reasons. I will be interested to see the new world timer CW have hinted at in their latest magazine. I probably won’t get it, as I have the GMT, but I will be interested.

Tissot World Timer
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Please remember this is just a personal view. I know there are other complications I haven't mentioned. I'm fascinated by all of them, but they sure do add to the RRP of a watch in most cases! For myself, I have decided that for the foreseeable future I'm going to stick to the ones that I am actually going to use, and eschew the purely ornamental. Oh dear, what is happening to me!? :shock:

Thanks for reading.
Steve
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Re: Complications - a personal view

Post by Thermexman »

Enjoyable read Steve. Thanks. The only complications I can boast would be the day/dates on a couple of Seikos. The dates on various others and my favourite comp being my one and only chronograph, the lovely Sinn 103. I briefly owned a Steinhart gmt but it’s more for novelty value as whenever I’ve been on hols I’v never needed to know the time anywhere else and as you said, that can be done dans le bonce. Is that a language? :thumbup:
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Re: Complications - a personal view

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

^^^It's a French place name.
Steve
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Re: Complications - a personal view

Post by timor54 »

I think often there can be a fair degree of emotion rather than need involved in complications.

My first proper watch, which I owned for 20 years or so, was a Heuer Autavia GMT. I eventually sold it to a dealer to fund an Omega Seamaster.

It left me with an irrational 'need' for another GMT watch which I've just satisfied with my first CW, a Trident GMT. Do I need it and will I use it? Probably not a great deal but every so often I twiddle with the GMT hand and it's pleasing to know I've got one.

All that's left is an itch for a good mechanical chrono... :?
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Re: Complications - a personal view

Post by jkbarnes »

Great post. I love your take on complications, especially your view of need for a complication being paramount in choosing a watch with a complication. I do just enough traveling and have just enough friends overseas that it makes some sense to have a GMT complication. And the Trident GMT is the one I want. But I can't help but wonder if the added GMT complication takes away from the purity of a dive watch, especially with the 24-hr bezel as opposed to a 60 minute bezel.
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Re: Complications - a personal view

Post by Thermexman »

Thermexman wrote:as you said, that can be done dans le bonce. Is that a language? :thumbup:
Amor Vincit Omnia wrote:^^^It's a French place name.
I take it you don’t suffer fools then?
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Re: Complications - a personal view

Post by FloridaPhil »

That was a very enjoyable read Steve. Thanks.

One complication I enjoy, for no rational reason because it's not really needed, is the power reserve. I only have one watch with it but find myself looking at it almost more than I look at the time. Silly but true.

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Re: Complications - a personal view

Post by missF »

that was a great read thanks :thumbup:

i think i'm finding my way to a balance between what i need a watch to do, and what i like a watch to look like....

i absolutely love triple date calendar watches - when i see close-up pictures of them. i love the fact that so much information is displayed on the various subdials. i love it when a watch tells you what day, month and year it it. but in real life they're too busy, and not so aesthetically pleasing.

likewise with moonphases - i'm delighted by moonphases. i love the fact that a mechanical wrist machine can keep track of a very different way of marking the passing of time. i love being in tune with the moon...... but i owned a beautiful moonwatch once, and practically it didn't work for me. unless it's a 'one'watch' i found it too finicky to keep resetting the date and correct moonphase. practically i didn't get the full enjoyment of what was a gorgeous watch.

aside from that, i'm really enjoying my gmt - simply because i love the look of the dial! definitely an example where the balance is in favour of what the watch looks like over what it does! (or perhaps i relate to the watch, because i always feel like i'm operating in a different time zone to the rest of the world!)

i wouldn't buy a watch without a date - i need reminded too much. and having a day function is also cool - helps me stay orientated in the world 8)
watching you fail in your quest for a “one watch” has been great entertainment
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Re: Complications - a personal view

Post by Richard D »

As always a good read. Arguably the chronograph which can accurately dice time into fractions of hours, minutes and seconds remains the most notable of all complications.
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Re: Complications - a personal view

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

Thermexman wrote: I take it you don’t suffer fools then?
No, but I suffer FROM them! :D
Steve
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Re: Complications - a personal view

Post by Lavaine »

A good read AVO, but you overlooked my favourite complication. The 'reminder of time', aka the alarm. My only mechanical alarm is a lovely inexpensive vintage Memostar, although I also own a C4 (analogue, but an electronic alarm). The alarm function does not get used often, but it always brings a smile to my face. That buzzing on the wrist is just so different, and very unexpected if you have never experienced one before. As a bonus, because it vibrates the case, rather than ringing a gong like the Bellmatic or Memvox, it doesn't wake my wife, but the sensation is strong enough to always wake me.
It took me a while to figure out why I liked this complication so much. I think it is a combination of a few things: One is the relative rarity of alarm watches. Second of course is the complexity of it, combined with a simple user interface (not unlike a chronograph). The biggest reason I find myself attracted to the alarm though, is nostalgia. As a child I had a clock in my bedroom. It didn't have a chronograph, moonphase, or even a day/date. What it did have was a mechanical alarm. My first wristwatches were simple time-only pieces, so the mechanical alarm, while in a clock, not a watch, was my first real complication.
A Memovox remains on my 'someday' watch list, and I'll buy a Bellmatic if the right one comes along at the right time, but in the meantime, I will treasure my Memostar as a somewhat unique reminder of my childhood, and a fun bit of the watchmakers art.
Not my watch, but the same model:
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Re: Complications - a personal view

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

Sorry, Chris. :oops:

Thank you for the reminder. New topic: Audible Complications? Alarms, striking, repeaters, Grande & Petite Sonnerie?
Steve
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Re: Complications - a personal view

Post by Wis »

Enjoyable read. I find complications fascinating, but have also increasingly come to appreciate simple time only watches.

But as the topic is complications: those that let you interact with the watch gives me a visceral pleasure. The alarm, the chronograph and the GMT with time zone/city display. I really enjoy the ability of the JLC Master Geographic to visualize the 24 major time zones, and being able to choose a zone by simply twisting the crown at ten.

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