This is fascinating stuff, no question, and a wonderfully clear writeup of the many issues involved. FWIW I'm delighted that at least some watchmakers are still pursuing enhanced accuracy (and precision) in mechanical watches, even though personally, when I'm interested in the last word in timekeeping per se, I turn--heresy!--to a radio-controlled or GPS-linked quartz watch. But hey, pursuit of the highest possible achievement in any endeavor, seems to me, is almost always worthwhile, even if sometimes it does carry a whiff of angels dancing on the heads of pins. So to answer the headline question, in this case I'd say it's neither a great leap forward--'cause it's just not THAT big a deal, is it?--nor smoke and mirrors, because there is some true advancement going on here, however small its everyday impact may be, and after so many decades of mechanical watch development, that's pretty damn cool.
Sorry to drop this here so awkwardly but I thought you might find this article about the main person in charge of Ukraine's national timekeeping interesting:
If I want accuracy, I grab one of my quartz watches (my Seiko Astron is my go to, but i also have an old Aqua Terra quartz). For mechanical, I simply do not care. Mechanical watch movements were obsolete over half a century ago. I am not so daft as to have internalized ridiculous Swiss corporate marketing about "high technology" watch movements whose accuracy at best would equal the quartz watch included in an early 1980's breakfast cereal toy.
Do not get me wrong, I love mechanical watch movements. Some day I hope to own a beautifully decorated JLC or Lange, but I will not care if it is +2 or +20, because I am not buying it for its accuracy. These are rube Goldberg devices that we wear on our wrists as art. I think Seiko has it down just right (accurate quartz, crappy automatics until one starts spending money). I find myself only buying microbrands such as Formex these days because the big brand marketing is so dreadfully manipulative, well beyond dishonest, promoting "hi-tech" BS that goes above and beyond anything close to decency. I just cannot do it. It does not help that quartz options are lost. I just feel angry, angry at brands I used to love and identify with. At least there are cool British brands such as Fears, Christopher Ward and Farer to mess around with, but man would I love to upgrade my Aqua Terra with new model in quartz, but I will not hold my breathe. Instead they will offer ever more absurd mechanical quackery that is effectively the equivalent of selling a new Lexus with a truck full of coal and a steam engine that goes 30 mph, pollutes more than a forest fire and sounds louder than a busy loading dock outside of a factory, and having it marketed as the "highest tech steam engine technology ever in automotive." I still cannot understand how so many people fall for this BS. I guess watchmaking is converging with fashion. I see that as an entirely bad thing, with zero upside for anyone excluding Swatch and/or Richemont shareholders. I get the feeling that Biver won too much, and the industry is going too far overboard, excluding quartz models, moving lockstep up the price ladder, taking too large margins. An adjustment must be coming. An adjustment we thought occurred 25 years ago, but no, everyone had to go upmarket. Everyone had to have an inhouse movement, and nature hates a vacuum. I suspect many of those brands who attempted to grow in volume and in margins will get weeded out. The worst thing will be how unnecessary it will be. No one needed to listen to the management consultants, but they all did. It really says something that the two least offensive corporate brands I can think of are Seiko and Citizen, but it is true. Neither sell chronometers, thank the Gods.
This is fascinating stuff, no question, and a wonderfully clear writeup of the many issues involved. FWIW I'm delighted that at least some watchmakers are still pursuing enhanced accuracy (and precision) in mechanical watches, even though personally, when I'm interested in the last word in timekeeping per se, I turn--heresy!--to a radio-controlled or GPS-linked quartz watch. But hey, pursuit of the highest possible achievement in any endeavor, seems to me, is almost always worthwhile, even if sometimes it does carry a whiff of angels dancing on the heads of pins. So to answer the headline question, in this case I'd say it's neither a great leap forward--'cause it's just not THAT big a deal, is it?--nor smoke and mirrors, because there is some true advancement going on here, however small its everyday impact may be, and after so many decades of mechanical watch development, that's pretty damn cool.
Fascinating. Thank you, Jack.
Sorry to drop this here so awkwardly but I thought you might find this article about the main person in charge of Ukraine's national timekeeping interesting:
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2024/09/ukraine-timekeeper-kharkiv-clocks-standards/679923/?gift=SCW85gc1G_hLQNK3dqOZj_sK6Ommp_6lfxHC24Adl68&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
If I want accuracy, I grab one of my quartz watches (my Seiko Astron is my go to, but i also have an old Aqua Terra quartz). For mechanical, I simply do not care. Mechanical watch movements were obsolete over half a century ago. I am not so daft as to have internalized ridiculous Swiss corporate marketing about "high technology" watch movements whose accuracy at best would equal the quartz watch included in an early 1980's breakfast cereal toy.
Do not get me wrong, I love mechanical watch movements. Some day I hope to own a beautifully decorated JLC or Lange, but I will not care if it is +2 or +20, because I am not buying it for its accuracy. These are rube Goldberg devices that we wear on our wrists as art. I think Seiko has it down just right (accurate quartz, crappy automatics until one starts spending money). I find myself only buying microbrands such as Formex these days because the big brand marketing is so dreadfully manipulative, well beyond dishonest, promoting "hi-tech" BS that goes above and beyond anything close to decency. I just cannot do it. It does not help that quartz options are lost. I just feel angry, angry at brands I used to love and identify with. At least there are cool British brands such as Fears, Christopher Ward and Farer to mess around with, but man would I love to upgrade my Aqua Terra with new model in quartz, but I will not hold my breathe. Instead they will offer ever more absurd mechanical quackery that is effectively the equivalent of selling a new Lexus with a truck full of coal and a steam engine that goes 30 mph, pollutes more than a forest fire and sounds louder than a busy loading dock outside of a factory, and having it marketed as the "highest tech steam engine technology ever in automotive." I still cannot understand how so many people fall for this BS. I guess watchmaking is converging with fashion. I see that as an entirely bad thing, with zero upside for anyone excluding Swatch and/or Richemont shareholders. I get the feeling that Biver won too much, and the industry is going too far overboard, excluding quartz models, moving lockstep up the price ladder, taking too large margins. An adjustment must be coming. An adjustment we thought occurred 25 years ago, but no, everyone had to go upmarket. Everyone had to have an inhouse movement, and nature hates a vacuum. I suspect many of those brands who attempted to grow in volume and in margins will get weeded out. The worst thing will be how unnecessary it will be. No one needed to listen to the management consultants, but they all did. It really says something that the two least offensive corporate brands I can think of are Seiko and Citizen, but it is true. Neither sell chronometers, thank the Gods.