6 Tips to Evaluate a Watch

By: Aaron Brooks

The world of watches is exciting and fascinating. Watches are like perfumes objects of desire and it is hard to say whether the asking price is right or exorbitant. This problem of price occurs only when you want to buy a rare, antique, or limited edition watch. If you are just buying a model mass manufactured by wrist watch giants then the maximum retail price is always given in catalogue and on company web sites.

How does one know the worth of a watch? It is hard to value a watch from pictures placed online. What is important is to check the condition of the watch including its movement. It is hard to judge a valuable watch from pictures on the World Wide Web. Sadly people randomly label things as antiques or valuable but in actuality the watch is one of thousands. Just because it is “old” does not mean it has a high value.

Today people all over the world collect watches for functionality, aesthetic value, and vintage value. Evaluating a watch must include aspects like: quality, craftsmanship, availability, history, reputation, uniqueness, and more.

1. Consider carefully the “quality” of the watch. Find out about the design and construction. Examine the case, dial, and movement. Important factors are functionality, accuracy in keeping time, reliability of manufacture, and longevity. To become a “collectible” a watch must bring with it a piece of history.

2. Find out the minute details of construction. Aspects that play a role are innovativeness, complexity of movements, and the mechanical functions. Sometimes a watch gains value as it represent a change in way watches work say for example the first digital or automatic watch.

3. Determine its value based on how many are flooding the market. The fewer the numbers the more “collectible” a watch is. Or if it belonged to a great personality like “Einstein” or if it participated in “making history,” was worn when someone climbed the highest mountain for the first time or flew around the world.

4. Consider the demand for the watch. Some watches are popular among collectors not because they are rare but because they are funky or “different,” they have great curiosity value. A watch may gain import because of their brand name for example many like to posses a “gold Rolex.”

5. Weigh the pros and cons of reputation. Many watches sell just because x,y, or z made them. Very often a manufacturer sourced watches from others and sold them with his “label.” And these watches are renowned because of a “brand name.”

6. Know what the watch will fetch in the market by doing a survey. Ask whether the owner will
furnish an independent evaluation by a watch expert.

Brands that are popular are: Rolex, Breitling, Heuer, Omega, Patek Phillippe, IWC, and Girard Perregaux among others.

World over collectors and connoisseurs consider: the age of a watch, uniqueness, the manufacturer, date of issue, rarity, mechanics, movement, and repair. Another possibly important factor is ownership.

Learn about watches through the World Wide Web, from auctions, and watch exhibits. If you get a chance view famed collections. Make notes and weigh the pros and cons of collecting. Decide do I want to collect by mechanics or use. Or am I interested in who wore the watch when. Find your own niche and level and “keep a watch on the watches.”

* Aaron Brooks is a freelance writer for http://www.1866watches.com, the premier website to find Luxury Watches including topics on designer watch, jewelry watch, diamond watch, wrist watch with discount prices, wrist watches for Men’s, Ladies, and children, cheap wrist watches and more. He also freelances for the premier Fashion Style Article Submission Directory Site http://www.1888articles.com/fashion-style-articles-199_22.html

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How to Choose Wrist Watch Correctly

By: Alex Temin

In today's world watches are not simply a mechanism rhythmically counting minute by minute. A watch is a symbol of prestige and taste, a symbol of belonging to a particular community, therefore you should approach to choice of this accessory enough seriously.

Choosing the watch you need clearly understand what you need them for. If for everyday wearing the classical watch is suit excellent, if for publication then jewelry or designer watch, for recreation or sports - sports watch (for underwater sports - special watch for diving). If you choose the watch for woman, it is better to do this with her participation: watch for woman is part of her wardrobe and they should be in harmony with her attire. If it is a childrens' watch, they must meet ecological requirements, should be bright and interesting, and watch for teens should be stylish in first place.

Whatever your goals, choosing watch, please draw attention to the following details:

1. Mechanism - The mechanism perhaps the most important part of any watch, because of its reliability depends accuracy and durability of the device. Undisputed leaders on the market of watch mechanisms are Japanese (Miyota and Seiko) and Swiss (Ronda, Eta - represents the largest range of mechanisms), whose products have traditionally differed high quality, reliability and diversity. Among the companies that produce mechanisms for watches with digital display the Japanese company Casio stands out.

2. Material of watch case - There are five types of materials that are differ by degrees of strength and price range. The best materials are stainless steel and brass. These materials are used for manufacturing of watches of most prestigious brands. Plastics is stands rank below. It can be used for expensive quality watches (for example, the Japanese Casio), as well as cheap forgeries. Therefore acquiring watch made of plastics, pay attention to manufacturers. If it is a well established company on watch market you can safely buy. For manufacturing of low-cost and short-lived watches aluminium alloys are used. Titanium alloys are well-proven but assortment is not very wide. Purchasing the clock in the titanium case, again pay attention to manufacturers and... the weight of watch. Generally, the easier watch the more composed of titanium alloy. The use of some additives makes cases fragile to external influences: they can easily to scratch and even deformed.

3. Bracelet - You may approach to choosing of the bracelet from different perspectives. You can proceed from the design (especially true for womens' and designer hours) or from the material. Typically, leather bracelets absorb moisture well (except in cases where they are ingrained with a special water solution) and have a high elasticity. At the same time life of the leather bracelets much lower than metal. Metal bracelets come in two types: of all-metal chains (more expensive) and of rolled metal.

4. Watch Coatings - All coatings have nasty fact that, over time, they are obliterated. This is less related to ceramics and steel coatings, and more to coatings made of gold. The most bad option is the lacquered coating, that is readily used by Chinese manufacturers. That is why the best coverage is its absence, on the stipulation that watch is made of stainless steel, titanium alloy or brass.

5. Glass - The glass protects clock-face and arrows against damage. Glasses come in three types: plexiglass (plastic) - it is the cheapest material. It is different of weak resistance to scratching but usually not splitted; crystal (or tempered glass) - this material is resistant to scratching but is more fragile than the plexiglass; artificial sapphire - the most expensive and most wearproof material.

6. Shockproofness - The resistance of mechanism to drop on hard wooden surface from a height of 1 m. As a rule, all sports watches have high shockproof qualities.

7. Watertightness - The mechanism of watertight watch is protected by special pads from ingress of moisture. Conventional waterproof watches withstand minor ingress moisture (rain, spray), but they are unsuitable for use in the basin, shower or bath. This does not apply to sports watches and especially to diving watches - they stand watertight at depth of 100 meters.

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How And Why Wrist Watches Were First Created

By: Gregg Hall

The first watches were pocket watches used by rich men. A popular fashion item among gentry they were kept in the top pocket of a long waistcoat.

The first wristwatches were worn by women as fashion accessories. They were small and designed to look delicate on a female’s wrist. As many new fashion statements are they were very expensive and worn primarily by society women in order to show off their wealth.
Surprisingly they were not considered practical and rather just a fad that people would soon get bored with. Of course this was not the case. Wristwatches really started to be used as a practical item during the Boer war and even then it could be claimed that it was accident. What they actually did was strap their pocket watches around their wrists in order to be able to tell the time quickly. These were found so practical on the battlefield that it became mandatory to wear them on the wrist.

It was not until 1915 when Rolex decided it the right time to introduce them into the market. These wristwatches came with leather straps and much like the watches today they had a buckle to fasten them. These proved a success and the age the wristwatch was born.

The real turn around for watches again was the war. Heroes were returning from the Great War sporting wristwatches and an item deemed originally to be for women suddenly had masculine connotations. Again it was Rolex that took the initiative and introduced a line of wristwatches solely for men. It soon became apparent that wristwatches were far more practical than pocket watches and they quickly took over the market place.

The next significant change was Quartz watches in the 1970s. With the computer age looming these watches seems incredibly futuristic. Initially they were expensive, but the more popular they became the more the price came down and before long every hip youngster had one.

The popularity in digital watches increased as new features were developed for them. Over the years they have had games, alarms, stopwatches, calculators and world time.

Nowadays everyone has owned a wristwatch, as much for fashion as telling the time. The straps are easy to fix on and they come in a variety of styles to suit everyone's taste.

It seems though he age of the wristwatch is disappearing. Everyone now owns mobile phones and they have all the features of a digital watch and more. Perhaps one day mobiles themselves will be worn on wrists. It does seem like it could evolve that way.

* Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Beach, Florida. Find more about this as well as fine watches at http://www.watchesplusmore.com/

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