Dr. N.
Those of us who are beginners with their watchmaking passion will surely be filled with doubts. Having owned battery-operated watches of various types since his youth. A Casio, a Swatch, an Invicta sooner or later passed on the wrist of anyone who was twenty in the eighties or after. Then we grow up and the desire to buy a mechanical wristwatch arrives which, as our readers know, is designed for the future.
In short, it is a sign of transition to adulthood to wear a mechanical timepiece, because we pass from the carefree disposable extemporaneousness of quartz, to the awareness and projection towards the future of the mechanic.
How to orient yourself in this situation full of opportunities and risks? Find out with us at Chronosect!
Knowing to understand
The first rule of buying your first watch - and the next ones too - is to know the watch you want to buy. Knowing the watch and knowing your needs, will you be able to find the ideal watch? No. That is never found. But you will buy a watch that you will not regret having purchased, and that will remain in your collection for a long time, alongside very prestigious and expensive models that you will add gradually.
It is therefore necessary to be aware of what characteristics the watch has, and what it can offer the user. A mechanical watch today will generally have a self-winding movement - this is a choice we feel we recommend for your first mechanical watch, as it allows you to wind the watch without operating the crown. An inexperienced user could in fact damage the winding crown or barrel by forcing the twist, a common mistake among beginners; in addition, dust, dirt or water could enter the movement if the watch is charged with a wet or uncleaned watch.
What are my needs?
On what occasions do you intend to use a mechanical watch? To work in an elegant and formal environment? To do activities like walking or swimming? A little bit of everything?
The most versatile watch is certainly the self-winding diving watch. Today it is socially accepted in almost every context, with the exception of the most refined, but it is not necessarily the choice for you: for example, a woman with a thin wrist may find the large diameters of fashion today too bulky and want to opt for a thinner and more elegant watch, perhaps even manually wound, if you wear it only on special occasions.
In short, in addition to knowing the watch you intend to buy, it is very important to know yourself and your needs.
Who can help me in the choice?
If you're completely new to it, the funniest way to get an idea is to rely on chance. Yes, that's right, completely to chance. Take a ride in our online showcase and try to figure out which type of watch is most aesthetically pleasing to you. Do you prefer chronographs, solotempo, divers, complicated…?
Once you have clarified what your aesthetic preference is, whether it be for the essential and elegant evening timepiece, or for more massive military watches or in any case large diameter watches, you can orient yourself on the choice that best suits your concrete needs, opting for an automatic winding or manual, for a diver or a non-waterproof, etc. The choice available today is truly vast.
And you, which watch did you put on your wrist the first time you wore a mechanical timepiece? What criteria guided you in your choice? Or are you still looking for the first mechanical watch? Did this article help you? Tell us in the comments!
