Mechanical = "Has Soul"

[Mew88]

If a quartz is cold because it requires very little interaction with the wearer, woud a mechanical movement still have "soul" if it was a perpetual machine that requires zero interaction with user and yet keeps perfect atomic time ?

I view it as a romanticized view of a mechanical movement's imperfections, not only in timekeeping but also the interaction the user has with the timepiece; whether it be setting the time after a long period of disuse, powering it with his or her motion or keeping it in working condition through routine servicing. In short, a way for an archaic industry to sell us it's shortcomings as a kind of charm instead.

[CamB]

I tend to think of mechanical watches as having "old school cool". The are not necessary and we now live in a world that offers cheaper and more more accurate alternatives but to me they just are amazingly complex and they are a surviving monument to the great design and craftsmanship of yesteryear. Now if that means they have soul …….then so be it.

[dale vito]

I don't care for 'soul'.. IMHO at 2824 is not a single bit more soulful than most quartz movements..

Character on the other hand - I love the Emergency, Albatros, X-33 et cetera... quartz, but unique & full of character.

[I-B]

my mechanicals lose their soul after +/-40 hours of not wearing them, while the soul of my quartzes never stops (unless their battery is dead)...

[Der Amf]

The soul that people perceive in mechanical watches is that which they themselves have put there, either through the deliberate act of hand winding, or the delicious trick of the weighted rotor. We can fully understand the investment we have made, and are then in awe of the machine's ability, created through precision and balance, of returning this investment in a highly regulated manner.

In a quartz watch, most of us have scarcely any idea how the energy is stored in battery, how it gets transfered to the mechanism in a controlled way, how that energy gets turned into a regulated motion. Furthermore we have electronic goods that do things many many times more impressive than this, so there's no fascination. The battery costs next to nothing, so no investment there, and we have take it on trust how long it will last.

So if some one says their mechanical watch has soul, I understand them; when some one says their quartz watch has soul, I'm impressed by the capacity of their imagination, by their understanding of electronics, and by their ability to have these things coexisting in their minds.

[is that my watch]

there a vid on you tube and if you watch it it looks like a heart pulsing and is quite wonderful I wonder if I can find It to be the quartz is lifeless where the mechanical one's have rhythm and style and yes a heart beat almost

[synequano]

From my own understanding,soul in mechanical means the "beating heart" of that watch is the result of our interaction with it (winding it by the crown or by the rotor) as opposed to the piezoelectricity of the quartz (or topaz) that is powered by battery

However by that definition,Seiko's kinetic is a zombie?? LOL

I may come off as a mechanical snob,however I do respect the technological marvel of quartz too,you can leave quartz watch for several months,pick it up and wear it...can't do it with mechanical

[Martin]

That is why I refer to the gear train in my mechanicals as the....

[happyscrappyheropup]

I like the throwback feeling of a mechanical, especially a handwind. It's the reason that I drive my 43yr old truck more than my super sedans or sports cars. Crank windows and a handwind!

I tend to think of mechanical watches as having "old school cool". The are not necessary and we now live in a world that offers cheaper and more more accurate alternatives but to me they just are amazingly complex and they are a surviving monument to the great design and craftsmanship of yesteryear. Now if that means they have soul …….then so be it.

The soul that people perceive in mechanical watches is that which they themselves have put there, either through the deliberate act of hand winding, or the delicious trick of the weighted rotor. We can fully understand the investment we have made, and are then in awe of the machine's ability, created through precision and balance, of returning this investment in a highly regulated manner.

[shameless]

it seems incredulous to me that the 'soulful' ones, those that have only mechanicals and look disdainfully on all else - cannot quite understand that in the main and i would think the majority of such as those that enjoy quartz ALSO have and love their mechanical watches - we understand already the the pleasure of a fine mechanical movement - the posts by the 'soulful' ones seem to imply that quartz lovers are by definition philistine and not even able to understand the workings of quartz - quite extraodinary really