(2023-04-25) I wore an automatic watch for 30 days
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In March 2023, I became an owner of Invicta 8926OB. Unlike the vast majority
of the watches in my collection, this one is mechanical, moreover, it's
automatic so it's pretty thick for its 40mm diameter (not to mention the
fact this diameter is hard to find in the lineup of this brand at all). But,
like most other watches in my collection, it also has a Japanese heart,
which is Seiko NH35A movement in this case. I put it on a NATO strap to make
it not so heavy overall, started my measurement by setting the exact time at
08:20 March 26, and fixed the deviation at 08:20 April 25. And it turned out
to be +69 seconds. This means 2.3 s/day which is not at all a bad result for
a mechanical watch that I never took off for overnight positional adjustment
(because I almost never take off my watches for the entire period I wear
them) and for ~$115 I paid for it. In fact, $120 is the maximum price any
watch this inaccurate should cost in a healthy society, regardless of who
made it and with which technologies and materials.
So, what can I say as a result of this testing? Can I live with it? Well, if
this were the only option I had, certainly. It performs much better than
most autos, even much more expensive ones. However, with all the arsenal of
longwave/BLE-synchronized mostly-solar-powered quartz masterpieces I have, I
don't really want to stick to something where I have to manually adjust the
time every month and the date every two months, because it obviously has no
auto-calendar, and fiddle around with manual hand setting every time we have
the DST change. Sweeping second hand? I don't give a single F because I got
used to the jumping one too, and on top of that, some of my favorite
analogue watches (like Casio GMB2100BD) don't have it at all, resorting to
mini-displays to show seconds instead. And even the simplest display already
allows to greatly enhance the functionality without having to resort to
various trickery pure-analogue models usually have. Although I actually have
used the rotating bezel in this Invicta several times for timing things, at
the end of the day, I'd much more prefer the timer I have in every ana-digi
and almost every pure-digital Casio (and where there ain't a timer, there
surely is a simple alarm).
As a conclusion, while I think this 8926OB is outstanding in its class, I'd
rather have it stashed in the collection for the time no electronics can
work anymore. Until then, I'll stick to my Casios and Citizens and will be
confident in their readings every time I look at them, and in their power
reserve too, unlike any "smartwatches" which are mostly smarter than their
average buyer. In fact, besides the calculators I already talked about,
these solar-powered radio/BLE-controlled watches are the most useful pieces
of LPC hardware that anyone can find and use in real life. Now, will any of
them live as long as the fx-3400P calculator did, for instance? Only time
will tell if they still will tell the time in 30 years.
