Mechanical = "Has Soul"

[scottjc]

While I'm certainly not anti-quartz, the most expensive watch I own is a quartz Tag Heuer Kirium, I love the fact that I have to set my watches each time I wear them.
I love the fact that, as Jeannie said, they rely on my involvement to run.
Mechanical movements have moving parts that certainly seem more soulful than a quartz movement where you can't see anything moving.
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 1020 using Tapatalk

[Martin]

Isn't this a bit like the soullessness of digital music media. Some people swear by these:

[ilitig8]

Isn't this a bit like the soullessness of digital music media. Some people swear by these:

That's an interesting analog... (pun intended).

[CFR]

What exactly is the content or substance of this nostalgia?

Maybe we're all à la recherche du temps perdu...?

Edit: This sounds a bit snob...

[CFR]

Isn't this a bit like the soullessness of digital music media. Some people swear by these:

Fortunately for all of us, this is not a Hi-Fi forum; it would start a war!

[Jeannie]

I'm not a mechanical snob, but I do prefer them. I read a lot of urban fantasy and one of my favorite series is The Dresden Files. The wizard, Harry Dresden wears rings on all his fingers as well as a bracelet. They store the extra magic he generates as he goes about his business and then he is able to access it when he needs to in order to supplement his normal reserves.

That's what mechanical watches remind me of. They store our personal kinetic energy and release it back in careful increments in order to track our lives. It feels very much like magic to me and yes, I find it more interesting than tracking time with an oscillating quartz, though I realize not everyone does.

Jeannie

[jsw41]

For me the soul in mechanical watches is the movement of the hairspring for thousands of times between winding, when you watch it it seems like a heart beating. Then, every 5 years or so a watchmaker disassembles it, cleans, oils and adjusts it for the next 5 years. And if there is a part that cannot be found to replace one that is worn out, he meticulously and patiently makes a replacement part. Many soulful acts in that process. Especially for a 60 yr. old timepiece that is still within minutes per day compared to the behemoth atomic clock establishments.

John

[Rdenney]

I once wrote (about bicycles, for Triathlete magazine) that any designed thing reflects the creativity of its designer. And that for those who know what to look for, that creativity is visible. Creativity reflects a whole range of values and personality, which I will call soul. Some products ruthlessly filter out all apparent design personality, but watches are high on the list of everyday machines that don't.

Quartz watches reflect this, too. But we usually can't see it--the creative parts are microscopic, encased in Bakelite or epoxy, and often expressed in binary code.

I can study a mechanical watch and see how the mainspring barrel drives the great wheel, which in turn drives the third wheel, which in turn drives the fourth wheel, and then the escape wheel. I can use a loupe and see the pallet fork rocking back and forth releasing the escape wheel on tooth at a time. I can sees the balance wheel oscillating, and the hairspring breathing as it does so. I can see the mechanism of a chronograph as I push the buttons. I can show them doing so to others. All the mechanical creativity of the designers can be studied in three dimensions.

With a quartz watch, mostly the only thing there is to see is the seconds hand jumping every second. Or, maybe, play with various electronic features. There is just as much creativity in the design, perhaps, but it just isn't as visible, and therefore it's not as interesting to me.

As an engineer, I have experienced the enjoyment of flashes of creative brilliance that unraveled the tangle of conflicting requirements to release an elegant design. I have also doggedly pursued refinement of design until confusion and irrelevance was finally whittled away, leaving clarity and transparent simplicity. Software-driven devices make it easier to be sloppy, in my observation, but I admire those projects that overcome that temptation in pursuit of excellence.

In the three-dimensional world, such lack of clarity is most obvious. It masks the elegance and obscures the personalities of the designers. The trained eye can see and appreciate the difference. I do not believe that appreciation is mere nostalgia.

Rick "it's not the machine that has the soul, but it can surely reflect it" Denney

[drunken monkey]

I prefer to say it has more character.
I find it hard to prescribe "soul" to a thing that has no mystery as to how it works.

[OhDark30]

Fascinating that we are only able to convene to discuss the soul/non soul of our archaic mechanical watches via the arguably soulless digital medium of the internet
:-)