Dr. N.
Those like our readers who are passionate about mechanical watches know well that the opportunity to show off a beautiful timepiece doesn't come along every day. With the probable arrival of restrictive measures imposed by the authorities throughout the national territory, an unfavorable scenario looms for those who like to combine the watch, the only accessory granted to men by fashion, with their clothing: staying at home with the identical clothing every day, you will hardly want to change timepieces.
Let's see together some useful advice to keep the passion for watches alive even in times of quarantine.
Maintain habits
As far as possible, it is necessary to maintain previous habits. Even in the heaviest phases of the spring lockdown, in fact, it was not mandatory to stay indoors. It was possible to go out without time limits, even if space limits were imposed on movements. To keep your passions active you need to keep your mind and body active. Therefore, it is important to go out, obviously to the extent possible, walking with your watch on your wrist, perhaps combining it with your clothes and shoes as we always do.
Automatic or manual watches?
Quarantine can be an opportunity to rediscover your relationship with some manual winding timepieces that you may have neglected in favor of the more practical automatic ones. A sedentary lifestyle leads to the wrist moving very little, making it difficult for the rotor to maintain the charge an automatic watch. A manually wound watch, on the other hand, must be wound in the evening, introducing a moment into the day that is different from the normal routine. Something that can help mark time even physically, as well as seeing it flow on the clock face.
Cautions for use
Alcohol-based disinfectants are quite harsh on the skin. This is inevitable, as it is an agent that disinfects by killing germs through osmotic dehydration, which obviously also affects the skin surface. Ours, like that of watch straps. If it is really not possible to avoid disinfectant gels, they should at least be limited in use. A possible countermeasure - for watches, obviously: the damage remains for our skin... - is to use watches equipped with a steel bracelet.
However, the use of diving watches is not strictly necessary: timepiece with 3 atmosphere water resistance and above are easily able to withstand frequent exposure to tap water when washing hands.
A final tip: the watch is for the man, not the other way around
Remember that the passion for watches is functional to the well-being of the person who wears them. We must not be slaves to objects. It's fine to cultivate passion, but we shouldn't treat our timepieces obsessively just because we have more contact with our collection than usual. Yes, we rotate the watches in our collection so as not to get bored and use them all a bit, but no, let's not lock ourselves away believing that they, or any material object, are the fulcrum of our existence. Man is and will always be Aristotle's social animal.
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Disclaimer: We believe that our readers are intelligent enough to understand that what is on this page are reflections of a watchmaking magazine and not medical advice and that we exempt ourselves from liability for any improper or risky use of the information contained herein.
