On Wed, 15 Feb 2006 07:45:22 -0800, the renowned Grant Erwin
wrote:
I used Japanese multi-featured watches for years until I got tired of the watch
band lugs breaking off. I decided to go back to a metal watch. I decided to look
for one with a sapphire non-scratch crystal (like is used on supermarket
checkout lines) and stainless body and quartz crystal oscillator. I wound up
spending about $600 on a nice watch with blue face from Tag Heuer, seven years
later it still looks brand new. It isn't atomic clock controlled, but I only
have to adjust the time a couple of times a year when daylight time swaps, also
we have several atomic wall clocks in our house so if accuracy of 3 sec error
is important I can look at one of those. In addition, I wonder if those atomic
watches work overseas. Anyway, that's what I did, it was a dollarectomy compared
to the Casio Databanks I used to buy at Sears but I've loved this watch ever since.
GWE
I like my Breitling a lot. The sapphire crystal with AR coating (on
both sides) is great, as is the titanium case, and the functions are
intuitive. Sure, it cost more than any of the watches in the drawer
full of Casios and Seikos that I don't use any more, but it holds up a
heck of a lot better. Feel the heft of these things-- you could
probably pound nails in with them-- these are no namby-pamby dress
watches. Anything over about USD $500 should have a sapphire crystal,
but check. Sam's Club and Costco sell the Tag Heuer for relatively
reasonable prices, IIRC. Funny thing is, I set out to buy a
replacement for a unique metal-case Seiko that a visitor from Japan
had given me as a gift many years ago (not available outside of Japan)
and that was functionally the closest I could find, with cost no
consideration. Ten years on, it's still great. If you really want to
look like a pilot (or a wannabe-pilot dork with money to burn) you can
get the one with the 121.5 MHz emergency beacon.
http://www.breitling.com/en/models/p...nal/emergency/
Although it's not this class of watch (in accuracy or durability), one
day I'll have to get the old Bulova Accutron going again. A piece of
history there.
Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
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