Douglas Adams was wrong about this

[philmophlegm]

Late last year my watch broke. And apparently that's it - it's dead. I've had this watch since I was ten years old, so it's over a quarter of a century old. It's a Casio AX-250, like this one only black rather than blue: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360022022529&ih=023&category=31387&ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1 .

I was very attached to this watch, and now I have to say goodbye. I could buy a second-hand one, but that would also be a quarter of a century old and probably wouldn't last much longer (and because they are very collectable now, they can go for quite large sums).

I'm currently using my 'new' watch, a Gucci analogue one with a red and green face and lizard-skin strap (like this one, except for the strap: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RARE-Genuine-Mens-Gucci-Watch-needs-Repairing_W0QQitemZ120219567327QQihZ002QQcategoryZ31387QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem ).
I say 'new', but it was the watch my parents bought me when I passed my A-levels, so it's seventeen years old in its own right. I have only had four watches in my entire life.

The Gucci one is nice, but I want a digital. Because I've worn a digital for so long now, it takes me a while to work out what the time is when I look at an analogue watch.

And whereas digital watches were, for most of the last twenty years, very un-hip, all of a sudden, they're very trendy. The fashion thing obviously doesn't matter to me that much (I was after all wearing the digital watch all through that 20 year period), but it does mean that now there are lots of digital watches out there that appeal to me.

So I thought I would ask for some advice. Do any of you like any of these watches?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quiksilver-Mens-Designer-Digital-Watch/dp/B000PI0232

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nooka-ZEN-V-Unisex-Digital-Leather/dp/B000WTSQFU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=watch&qid=1202813889&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philippe-Starck-PH1082-Unisex-Digital/dp/B000KLJF4G/ref=pd_sbs_jw?ie=UTF8&qid=1202813889&sr=1-8

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Storm-4337-BK-Rubber-Digital/dp/B000X5JKUS/ref=pd_sbs_jw?ie=UTF8&qid=1202813889&sr=1-8

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Dice-BD-018-01-Digital-Leather/dp/B000KKIFW0/ref=pd_sbs_jw?ie=UTF8&qid=1202813889&sr=1-8

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Dice-BD-018-02-Digital-Leather/dp/B000KHPCJW/ref=sr_1_86?ie=UTF8&s=watch&qid=1202814566&sr=1-86

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diesel-dz7071-DZ7071-Mens-Watch/dp/B0012UOYDQ/ref=sr_1_87?ie=UTF8&s=watch&qid=1202814566&sr=1-87

http://www.zgwatches.co.uk/lambretta-monza-digital-menÂ's-watch-la2073bro-p-568.html

http://www.zgwatches.co.uk/mens-jacob-jensen-watch-digital-bangle-530-p-415.html
(I think these two look a bit like Liberator teleport bracelets!)
http://www.zgwatches.co.uk/mens-jacob-jensen-watch-digital-bangle-533-p-417.html

http://ledwatchstop.com/store/matrix-retro-watch-neoclassic-p-131.html

http://ledwatchstop.com/store/watch-galaxy-programmable-display-blue-p-196.html

http://www.shadestation.co.uk/cPath/-2_440/products_id/6681/osCsid/3648dd0b2c8d1e77fb91212a1e2c3412/product_info.php

And weirdest of all:
http://ledwatchstop.com/store/unique-watch-tokyoflash-biohazard-leather-p-252.html

Comments

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

I think they're all hideous and look too much like furniture or a prop from Wonder Woman, but I'm a girl, what do I know ;-)

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that...

Feel free to suggest an alternative (with link), but it must be digital, and it can't be thousands of pounds!

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Would that be the 70s TV series or the film being made now?

[tovaglia.livejournal.com]

I think you should get the one from Black Dice that is analogoue/digital reversible so that you can pretend to be able to tell the time ;-)

The one with blue LEDs looks quite cool and different IMO but only if you wouldn't get sick of people coming up and making comments on it.

Mind you I, like pellegrina, am a girl and do not understand men and their gadgets. eg I still to this day do not understand why lanciatore is so attached to his special Green Laser Pointer when most normal people use any old red laser pointer (I personally don't bother with laser pointers at all and just wave my arms around)

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm absolutely not gadgety, at least not if the gadget isn't noticeably better than the non-gadget alternative. I'd rather have a road atlas than satnav for example. And I absolutely refuse to have a Blackberry or a PDA, preferring an old-fashioned paper diary.

[tovaglia.livejournal.com]

Definitely agree that a road atlas is far better than satnav, even though you have to pull over and stop to read the road atlas if you suddenly get unexpectedly lost (this does happen to me quite a lot). Also agree that a paper diary wins hands-down over a PDA. There's something about the act of writing something down on paper that fixes it in my memory much better than entering data on a screen. Something to do with the way we were taught at school, I expect.

Anyway it sounds like you are actually trying to decide on the basis of fashion rather than gadgetry (ie you are not bothered by whether the watch can tell you the time in New York, solve differential equations etc, you just want it to look nice). In which case, you ought to ignore my opinion as I am not at all up on men's fashion!

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

I think it would be more accurate to say that I'm trying to decide on the basis of 'style' or even 'cool' rather than fashion. If the next watch lasts 25 years, then at some point it won't be fashionable, but hopefully will remain stylish.

[chainmailmaiden]

Are you absolutely sure it's dead? Bacchus's one died a year or so ago & he was told that was it, only to have it resurrect itself a couple of months later. So far it's still going strong.

1,2 & 4 are probably the ones I like most out of that selection, though none of them have the charm of the old style digital watches. I want this LED binary watch but I'd probably just end up being allergic to it (like every other watch I've had). I need to earn enough money to afford a platinum watch...

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Nah. I don't do binary.

[chainmailmaiden]

There are 10 types of people in the world, those that do binary & those that don't :-D

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Very good...

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Isn't that a thinkgeek t-shirt slogan?

[chainmailmaiden]

Yes, I'm not that original :-)

I do want the t-shirt though - to go with the watch when I can get a platinum version of it ;-)

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

It's a very old joke... :-D

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Doesn't mean it's not funny though!

Rather like your t-shirt that says:

C:\DOS
C:\DOS\RUN
RUN DOS RUN

I've always liked that.

Of course the kids of today have never seen a DOS prompt...

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

'sall we had when I started work. 286s, I think. And we had to back up our PCs each week, onto floppy disks.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

You are Old. Were the 286es powered by electricity, or one of those stripy dogs running in a giant treadmill...?

[bunn.livejournal.com]

... I meant to add :-p

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's okay. I don't mind. I'm used to being teased about my age. Huh!

;-)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

What do you think they employed us junior actuarial students for?

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

When I started, a spreadsheet was something you wrote out on an A3 pad of analysis paper. Even when I started at JOLF in 1997, you didn't get your own PC - there was generally one per audit team.

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

One each for Tax :-p

Plus we had a departmental laptop for people who had to go out and consort with clients and auditors :-)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

A laptop? In 1997? Wow!

[sigisgrim.livejournal.com]

I don't like any of them. They all seem to be trying to turn a watch into a naff fashion item.

I too am a digital watch fan, and for the past twenty odd years I've had a very basic Casio. Like this one, but in better condition:
http://www.thewils.net/dave/blog/images/timex.jpg
I believe that the_marquis has one of the same model. I've had one die on me, but was able to replace it fairly easily with the same model. That would have been over ten years ago. The price remained fairly consistant: just over ten quid.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I actually do want something fashionable!

I'm gonna wear this to work, so I need something that will go just as well with an Aquascutum suit and a Thomas Pink shirt as it will with a black t-shirt!

[the-marquis.livejournal.com]

Well in that case why not go the whole hog and get a waistcoat and digital fob watch?

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I have two fob watches, although neither of them is digital ...

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

"Well in that case why not go the whole hog and get a waistcoat..."

Because it's 2008, not 1908...?


(Stands back and waits for eruption from certain LJ subscribers...)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I quite like the teleport bracelets. And I like the Nooka because it make me think of Nan of the Nooks, but I suspect the quirky display might be a bit annoying.

I take it that you don't want another Casio - I noticed this looks pretty similar to the old one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Casio-Db-360N-1Aef-Mens-Digital-Watch/dp/B000LRQKFG/ref=pd_sbs_ce_img_19

[chainmailmaiden]

Thanks for posting that one, I might get it to have on standby for when Bacchus's one uses the last of its 9 lives :-)

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Close(ish) but not quite. And the databank function just adds extra bulk and is something I wouldn't use.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

You could keep an eye out on eBay for another one?

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Yeah but like I said, it would be just as old and likely as not wouldn't last long enough to justify the expense.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Whoops, sorry, I somehow missed out that bit from your original post. My eyes must be going ...

[the-marquis.livejournal.com]

Well I'm happily wearing a Casio A164W that Na'Lon bought me in Germany about 6 years ago, I had to change the battery for the first time two days ago. I picked it as it was broadly similar to the ones I've been wearing since the mid-80s so you might want to consider looking at cheap, simple but reliable (http://blogimg.goo.ne.jp/user_image/69/59/4b99e9c4a9cfe764e658090bea2c638c.jpg).

[jane-somebody.livejournal.com]

None of them particularly grab me, but again I Am A Girl(tm). My favs are the Nooka and the biohazard, except maybe not 'cos I think the quirkiness might get old fast. Similarly I sort-of like the idea of the reversible one, except that would you really ever bother to use the other side in practice? And if you don't want extra features like the databank, would you get any use out of the scrolling-message feature on the blue LED one, which does really seem to be its main selling point? So my real favourite of the ones you posted is the red dot matrix LED one. I did see one with red LEDs sort of set into the strap itself - ie the watch is all strap, no separate face - I think in the IWOOT catalogue recently that I rather liked the look of. Other than that the only real advice I have is that a black strap is more likely to go with more things than a brown one.

Oh, I do have another piece of advice, though, which is to go into a Real Shop and look at as many of your shortlist as possible. Feel the weight of them, find out how easy it is to use the buttons, do they feel 'cheap' even if the picture online looks ok, etc. If possible try them on, the feel of a leather strap is probably very different to plastic or rubber (I've found the last two can get very sweaty in summer.) I do wonder how comfortable the 'Liberator bracelets' would be in practice, for example. And a Real Shop person might be able to give you advice about things like reliability. All this is more important the longer you hope this new watch to last - if you're just going for relatively disposable fashion, having something that turns out not to be quite right is probably less important, but if you're looking for something to last you a good while, then it is worth spending the extra time and effort to get it right, I'd say.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

The fact that you are a Girl (tm) makes your opinion more important. Girls are generally better at deciding what looks stylish on men than men are. (Vice versa too to some extent.)

I must admit, I quite like the Biohazard too, but I'm thinking that it would still leave me with a watch where you couldn't tell the time just by reading it! I am really tempted by it though, just because it's so gloriously stupid.

The real shop advice is good advice. I don't know of any shops that sell these sort of watches though (certainly not the Biohazard), and it would be nice to feel the thing first. I also agree with you about straps - I'd prefer leather or metal (or for that matter lizard skin) to plastic or rubber - and you're probably right about the Liberator ones.

Dunno about strap colour though. A hell of a lot of my clothes seem to be brown or green, so brown would go!

I guess what I'm coming round to is maybe needing two new watches...

[chainmailmaiden]

I told Bacchus about the demise of your watch last night. His thoughtful & sympathetic response was "Yes! I won the watches!"...

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Pah!