Horology

If you came here thinking this post’s title “Horology” was a XXX lesson, shame on you!  Horology refers to the art and science of timekeeping.  Now, there are a number of things that you need for landscape photography in addition to the obvious camera, lens and tripod – if nothing else, this may be good justification, to the higher authority, (read wife).  One such important piece of gear is a good outdoor photography watch. I thought though, that this would be a good time to get a real understanding of watches, since most only understand Rolex and Timex – and to that they only know one is more expensive.

We can generally divide watches into two major categories – mechanical and quartz (eg Rolex and Timex).  Now, as a parallel, one could assume that mechanical would be like a typewriter and quartz would be like a computer with word processing.  But life doesn’t always work in parallel.  Quartz watches, although generally more accurate, are also generally junk – with some exceptions which we’ll discuss.  No offense, but there are very few, high quality quartz watches.  They are substantially cheaper and outside of a very few manufacturers show up as one time productions to meet the Christmas rush.  Even so called name branded watches are just the same old cheap watches that others sell without the brand.  I didn’t mean to pop any bubbles there but once I get into the specifics of what comprises a good watch, you’ll understand.  Now, if you’re thinking “I can buy five Yugos for the price of one Mercedes” – you’re missing the point and need to go to the back of the line……

mechanical movement

A mechanical watch is essentially the same spring and gear mechanism which was invented reportedly as early as 1250  – only with better materials, processing and other innovations.  The guts of the watch – the part with springs and gears – is know as the movement.  To many who appreciate watches, this is the most important element.  Patek Phillippe, whose watches are totally hand made, are some of the most prized movements available and actually appreciate in value.  Now a mechanical watch can be manually wound or automatically wound.  Most are automatics which mean that they have a balance level on the movement which winds the watch through the movement of your wrist.

Let me discuss some of the features of a watch:

The transparent cover or crystal on the watch is normally made of plastic, glass or synthetic crystal. Obviously this is the range of cheaper to better.  The synthetic crystals can be mineral crystal or sapphire crystal, sapphire being very close in hardness to diamonds. This is another of the distinguishing features of why a good watch costs more.

The crown or winding mechanism is use to wind and set the watch and will actually screw into the case of the watch to provide water proofing.

The case can be made of any number of materials from plastic, stainless steel to gold and platinum.  Within any of the metal the finish may be smooth or satin. This becomes a personal preference, but to me, the brushed or satin finishes look better and doesn’t scratch quite as easily. In cheaper quartz watches, the metals used are often plated and deteriorate quickly – again, another reason good watches cost more.

The strap can also be made of various materials, again from rubber to leather and from stainless steel to gold or platinum.  In addition to an obvious price spread, the practicality of the various bands need to be considered.  Leather may look good but tends to absorb body moisture,  stretches and needs to be replaced often. For outdoor use, gold and platinum are out of place both because of price and because it looks weird to run around outdoors photographing in gold and platinum – I don’t know, your call…  Rubber and stainless steel are best for sports use, with rubber taking an edge because of it’s lighter weight and resistance to scratching.

The buckle on the strap needs to be understood.  The typical tang buckle which involves a pin (the tang) and buckle work great with rubber straps.  It will however, quickly destroy a leather band and a far more practical deployant clasp should be considered for leather and other straps.

One of the other feature, critically important for outdoor use is visibility. Watch faces look great in the store or during the day.  Much of landscape photography is done in low light conditions and without proper luminosity are worthless. Additionally, since you usually travel to shoot landscapes, a watch which can be seen in the night is extremely useful. Very few watches have enough innate light to be truly useful.

Putting this all together, I highly recommend two watches for outdoors photography. The first is a Luminox Navy Seal 3001 which has a carbon reinforced case with Mineral Crystal, security gasket crown, rubber silicon strap a Swiss Quartz movement and great luminosity.  For around $180 on the Internet, it’s hard to beat this watch.

Luminox Navy Seal

Ball Fireman II

The second watch costs more at around $1,000 is all stainless steel with sapphire crystal, an ETA mechanical automatic movement, screw down waterproof crown and unbeatable luminosity – the Ball Fireman II.

Both watches are available on the Internet (although the Ball is more difficult to find) and are really best in class for the purpose of landscape photography.

The watch you get should be selected much like your camera and lens – with a specific purpose in mind.  If you want a dress watch, you would obviously use a different selection process.  For landscape photography however, you want water proof, durable and ease of reading during low light.  These two watches can certainly double for sport or even some dress wear and they represent a range of value for inexpensive to moderately expensive.  Your interests may vary and there are a wide range of watches available all the way to collectibles but it’s hard to beat these two recommendations.