Posted on 08/14/2015 7:16:12 PM PDT by Swordmaker
No, I am not a renowned tech journalist, nor a 50,000+ followers Twitter guru or an extreme sports fitness expert. I am just a regular sales guy, happily married and blessed with two daughters of 7 weeks and 3 years old. And just so you can put this article into perspective: besides being a father of two young children, I am a business man so I constantly receive some form of communications during the day which I usually answer from either my desk or my car (handsfree of course). I am not into sports (does golf or brisk walking count?) so my fitness goals are not very ambitious. At home I use the entire Apple ecosystem, and … I happen to be a Swiss watch collector.
Starting with the latter: I am the proud owner of a duo of beautiful Swiss handmade mechanical watches. I have the renowned workhorse Rolex 16600 Sea Dweller (40 mm 2008 model, made of high grade 904L stainless steel), that can take you anywhere to 4000 feet below sealevel. And on the other side of the ‘Swiss Made’ spectrum: a beautiful and complex dress watch: my Christiaan van der Klaauw 40mm Ariadne watch with several astronomical complications including a day- and month date, a Moon Phase and a mechanical chronograph function: beautifully handcrafted by the first watchmaker ever to incorporate a full Planetarium into a 40mm size watch. (On a side note: this is strictly speaking not a Swiss Made watch because it is not fully assembled in Switzerland. It does, however, contain a Swiss Made ETA Valjoux 7751 movement so I count this as a Swiss watch.) Both of them are high end automatic watches, meaning that they will provide their own power by simply wearing the watch. They will run for 40 hours after lying still, so not wearing it will require a watchwinder or hand winding.
The ‘wrist time’ is devided between them: Rolex gets the lion’s share of about 6 days a week, used for anything from giving my 3-year old girl a bath (“daddy, can I clean your watch?”) to heavy gardening and home improvement. It collects dust yes, so rinse frequently. Christiaan van der Klaauw: about 2 times a month for Very Special Occasions (it is bi-coloured with a 18 carat gold lunette and stainless steel casing). Including the ones where you strictly are not allowed to wear a watch because of the etiquette (black tie requires a tuxedo which leads into a timeless evening … so no wristwatch allowed).
If one owns two of the most beautiful and iconic watches ever created by man, why would one take interest in an Apple Watch? Living in The Netherlands, I had the privilige of pondering this question between April 24th (launch in de US) and July 17th (launch in The Netherlands). After several weeks of meticulously reading all MDN reviews of the Apple Watch I was absolutely convinced I was no early adopter and I would wait for Apple Watch 2. That would definately bring me more functionalities, renewed design, higher speed (native apps) and an hopefully technological advancements with more versatile sensors.
Until I ran into the perfect opportunity of purchasing the watch below retail price (hey, I am still Dutch after all ;-)). I picked up the Sports version in Space Grey series 7000 aluminum, because I love the colour of this material and I figured the financial impact would be less then if I would purchase one of the stainless steel versions (the Space Black with Link bracelet would be my favorite choice). So there was no risk whatsoever for me to try it on and give it a shot. And boy, was I in for a treat …
Yesterday, on Day 21 After Purchase, I considered for the first time in 21 days to change my watch. I put on my Rolex, had breakfast with my girls, and before getting into my car, ran upstairs to change watches in favour of the Apple Watch. … Say what?! … I was genually flabbergasted… how on earth could I let down my companion-for-years-Rolex in favour of a watch that I had used for just three weeks? What did Tim Cook and his team cook up that was so enticing and all-consuming, even measured by industry standards and market leaders? Well, here’s the secret…
The Apple Watch is not a timepiece jewel like my other high end Swiss watches are. It is unfair for both to even consider comparing them or to compete against each other. Just like an old wind-up alarm clock and a Macbook both tell time, they are nowhere even close to being the same device. The only thing the Apple Watch and my Swiss Duo have in common, and that may prove to be kind of a thing: they compete for the same wrist time! As it turns out, I have more need for a Personal Life Assistant (PLA) on my wrist than just a watch, even such beautiful and reliable ones as my Swiss watches. And Apple cleverly designed the Watch in a way that your wrist just happens to be the best place for their ‘most personal device yet’. And why? What is the ‘killer app’? Well for me, there is none specific. Just like it has been written a lot on MDN, the Watch is a well thought-of combination of features you will need in your personal life.
Being able to read my WhatsApps, emails and imessages without having to adress my iPhone 6/Plus is probably the best one. Heck, that sure saves time and battery life! And Siri is just so well developed that responding to messages has never been easier.
Second best for me is the Activity App. I never thought that such simple reminders to stand up every hour, or being rewarded for achieving my daily calorie goals were so engaging. Even if the calorie count would not be quite accurate, it matters not: it is still fun and rewarding to move more!
Every other great function the Watch offers is at a combined third place. Photos from my youngest to show directly from my wrist? Great! Feeling awkward when reenacting a scene from Knight Rider when I take a phone call from my wrist at the mall? Who cares! The surprisingly fun features just kept coming these last few weeks and I still love them. And last but not least: telling time. Yes the Watch Faces are distincively Apple and I just love how Apple combines a nice Face with practical information, top of the list being able to see my next appointment in a glance.
So now what? How about The Duo? At least there must be SOME practical advantage they have over the Apple Watch? To quote our beloved Steve Jobs when adressing a stylus in the first iPhone presentation in 2007: “ … No!”.
Water resistance? Surely the Rolex will outperform the Watch? … Yes of course it does, when you go swimming or scuba diving. But for every day use I just keep on my Watch for everything I do. So by now my 3-year old has washed it almost daily (yes, fully submerged for at least 5 minutes) and I wear it every day in the shower… Dry off carefully and you are ready to go!
The battery life then? Surely an automatic watch will outlast the Apple Watch? Sure it does, but at times I do not need it. For me it does not matter that my watch keeps running when I am asleep, as long as it is ready to go when I get up. So I put on my Watch at 06:00 hrs, I put it on its charger at 23:00 hrs after medium to heavy use during the day, and it still has an average of 35% battery life left!
It is lonely at the top. By now I managed to flick a switch in my head: my beloved Swiss Watches will remain the most beautiful jewelry and the best handcrafted mechanical watches in the world, and I will regard and wear them as such with pride. But my Apple Watch with its excellent mix of build quality, design, reliability and functionality has managed to take up at least 80% of my wrist time in less then a month, and it will likely continue to do so for many more months to come. A remarkable achievement.
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If you own 2 $6000 Swiss watches, why would you want an Apple Watch?
Read the article. He explains it. . .
That Christiaan van der Klaauw is incredible. Work of art. Rolex? Meh.
If you own two $6,000 Swiss watches, why would you fess up to it in a dopey blog post. I’m glad he made it big, but he could be a bit less ostentatious about it.
In 1965 I bought an inexpensive Elgin pocket watch for $35.00. Elgins were no longer made in the US by then. It was Swiss which turned out to be just fine.
I could unscrew the back and adjust it to be faster or slower. The only way I had to check it was when the radio beeped on the hour. After around a month, I got it to where it was only gaining around a second a day. Actually it was a bit better than that, maybe 2/3 second per day.
I noticed it would gain around 2 seconds early in the day, then lose most of it later in the day as it unwound. That watch still works and I have never had it cleaned or any maintenance at all. I hardly ever wear it anymore tho.
Still it was surprisingly accurate for an inexpensive mechanical watch.
To spare damage to the 6000 dollar watches.
I already have a android phone with me at all times, why would I need a watch that does nothing my phone doesn’t and also screams “I am a sodomite” to everyone you encounter?
No Thanks.
Out of the 3, I’ll gladly take the Christian de....whatever, and y’all can have that Apple thing, and the Stainless Rolex.
Heck, I can’t read a smart phone with out glasses, and my fat fingers won’t type on one.
I’d have to wear jewelers loupes to read the Apple watch.
I've stopped wearing my Stürhling rose gold meteorite dial Tourbillon mechanical watch in favor of my Apple Watch. . . it retails for $3500. . . I haven't worn it since I got my Apple Watch at the beginning of June. It's a beautiful watch, but it only tells time.
That one looks broken. The other two agree on the time of day at least.
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Yeah. Just give me your hand-me-down Rolex and I will slink away quietly.
Of the three watches shown in the article, the easiest to read is the Apple Watch. . .
To be trendy.
Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anyone really care?
I’ll pass.
I’m thinking he either has a small wiener, a neckbeard, or both.
That one looks broken.
Maybe it’s keeping “Swiss” time. LOL :)
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