Trends in gents watches

There is no doubt that buying the man in your life a gents watch is an extra special kind of present. A man's choice of watch, or of your choice for him, can say so much about the person behind timepiece. Watch can express a personality that is sporty or sophisticated, cool and modern, trendy or traditional. Men don't have as many ways of publicly expressing themselves as ladies and there is no doubt that a carefully chosen watch says much about the man and the chooser.

The modern wristwatch can trace its evolution back 600 years to the very first clocks in the 15th Century. Since that time we have seen clocks get smaller and smaller and the main source of power change from clockwork driven springs to small batteries. Along the way watches have been attached to chains, as in the watch on a chain in the 19th century gentleman's pocket, leather fobs, and carried in pockets. The beautifully designed pocket watches with a fold open lid are as popular with collectors and timepiece enthusiasts today as they have ever been.

These days the wrist watch has become the most common type of watch for men and women. However, when they first appeared the write watch was for ladies only. The man would use a pocket watch. However that was to change in the early years of the 20th century. The first wrist watch went on sale in 1911 and was a Cartier watch. The design came about by the need to be able to look at the watch while both hands were in use. In the first instance Cartier's watch was for the aviator Alberto Santos Dumont. Later, during the first world wore the design was used to allow soldiers to see the time while holding their weapons, they were known as trench watches. You can find more about the history of watches from the very informative pages on Wikipedia.

In the 1950 the first electric watches were produced. Up until them they had all been powered by a clockwork mechanism depending on energy wound up in a spring. Electric watched used a battery and a vibrating tuning fork to keep time but these pieces, as with many electric powered watches from yesteryear and today, still used a mechanical mechanism to turn the hands.

The next big change in wristwatch technology came in 1969 when quartz watches were introduced. Using a resonating quartz crystal and digital counters this new breed of watches was able to keep time much more efficiently than the previous mechanical watches and the reduced number of moving parts made them much more resilient and less likely to be damaged if dropped or knocked. These watched also introduced the 'modern' looking LCD display using digits to show the time, dispensing with hands altogether.

Watch faces featuring hands and a digital display or even digital hands are commonplace and there are some stylish examples of this hybrid face. Initially these watched used a low frequency vibration which decreased accuracy but saved on power. This is no longer the case as battery technology has evolved and a quartz watch these days will vibrate at 32,768 Hz making it extremely accurate.

These days accuracy is probably the least important aspect of a watch for a buyer. Mechanical, spring powered mechanisms are not as accurate as quartz but they are accurate enough for everyday timekeeping. Evaluating a gent's watch by its time keeping ability is missing the point. Quartz driven watches dominate the bottom end of the market but if you're looking for a present or to make a statement on your wrist a mechanical watch is the way to go.

When looking for a watch find a quiet jewellers, a place where time slows down. A place where the ticking of watches and clocks envelopes you. A good jewellers or watchmakers will relax you, it will make you life slow down and let you exist in the moment. Look carefully and soak up the history of human ingenuity that has gone into the artefact. Layer upon layer of refinement over hundreds of year. Lifetimes of dedication and workmanship in every tiny, tiny part.

Yes, the wearer of a prestige watch will have achieved a level of income that shows he's been successful but their choice of a mechanical gents watch shows so much more than mere money. It show they hold dear values of skill and workmanship, dedication, patience, perseverance and industry. Yes, no doubt the least important feature of a watch is how well it tells the time. The real winner of a man will look at a watch and see a beautiful crafted piece of art but he'll also see beyond that, a constant reminder on his wrist of the time line from old to new , of human achievements and endeavours and what can be achieved if one is determined.