I haven't checked but I assume this means there's no radio time signal station in Australia, is this true? Seems like it would be a natural thing to have in such a big place ...
I always love your articles, but this one, full of penitence about past comments on atomic (and satellite gps) watches being parasites, PLUS a reference to Hildgard! I have held on to a Citizen atomic with a smashed sapphire crystal for years, even as I moved into independent mechanical watches, simply because the look and technology have always impressed me, if the purpose of a watch is to show time precisely. Thank you, thank you!
During the past months I have been searching for a watch that has a perpetual calendar, gmt, and chronograph, in a titanium case with a sapphire crystal and at least 10 bar water resistance. My best find is the Citizen Satellite Wave Attesa series, whose chronograph measures up to twenty-four hours! The fact that its signal comes from satellites means that the time and date are perfect everywhere on Earth. I even found a video where a guy updated his at 30,000 feet on a jet airliner. I wonder why such technology doesn’t get more respect.
Great article! I notice that it has indicators for standard time or summer time...this could be redundant in North America if the Sunshine Protection Act ever gets passed by the Federal House...but that's a whole other story!
Great article, Jack. I'm a great fan of these atomic/radio controlled watches.
Whilst lacking the moonphase complication of this latest Citizen, I'm a huge fan of the Casio Oceanus OCW-S100 range - a classic, three hands and date integrated bracelet watch (how very on-trend...). This has 6-band radio syncing - it also picks up the UK MSF 60kHz time signal from Anthorn in Cumbria in the north of England. In terms of fit and finishing (and restrained good taste) it's very much a kind of "Grand Casio". If you're not aware of this watch, I'd commend you to my unboxing photos on WatchUSeek of a few years ago: https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/oceanus-ocw-s100g-7ajf-unboxing-and-first-impressions.1037377/ The edges are crisp and defined, the brushing is very even, and the polishing is very black - even on Casio's hardened titanium. The watch is nicely slim and deliciously light - silky even. Mine gets regular, and extended outings.
Great link and thanks for bringing them up, I'll have to check them out. As usual I convinced myself that I wanted what I was writing about with this article and there are it seems many choices (although I'm a sucker for a moonphase, especially one that changes direction depending on which hemisphere you're in).
Thanks Jack. You've managed to once again infect me with enthusiasm for a type of watch I would normally ignore. Quick question: do all brands collect their time signal from these same stations, or are there more?
I have two sons in college. One isn't all that interested in watches but wants to wear one and know the exact time. I gave him a G-Shock solar powered watch that uses radio signals to correct itself. He loves it and has never used a single feature of the watch aside from time and date, and probably doesn't know what the pushers are for! My other son adores watches, and like me prefers mechanical ones. I got a mechanical Seiko dive watch for him and it never leaves his wrist. Unlike his brother though, he couldn't care less what the time or date is, and never sets the watch. It is literally days off, with hands pointing in random directions unrelated to society. And he's happy. 😃
And you know what happy evidence this is that when it comes to watches there is something for almost everyone. Except my two kids, apparently. My younger son has told me repeatedly that he "just doesn't like having something on my wrist" and a few years ago when I asked my older son what he thought about what I do for a living he said, "I don't know, Dad, I find the whole luxury watch thing kind of juvenile." 😀
Mortifyingly late to the party--the perils of being old and allergic to social media--but clearly I have lots of catching up to do!
I've long been a fan of both radio-controlled and, more recently, GPS-controlled watches. They offer a completely different set of pleasures versus mechanical watches, mostly centering around their being as close to wearable functional perfection as it's possible for humans to achieve, but to me that, in its own way, is just as important and worthy of admiration as the superb finishing and ingenious complications of their mechanical cousins.
Great article as always Jack. Too bad we miss out in Australia or this would be a watch that belongs in every collection.
I haven't checked but I assume this means there's no radio time signal station in Australia, is this true? Seems like it would be a natural thing to have in such a big place ...
Yep, as far as I know. One would think logically Australia would be an obvious location
I always love your articles, but this one, full of penitence about past comments on atomic (and satellite gps) watches being parasites, PLUS a reference to Hildgard! I have held on to a Citizen atomic with a smashed sapphire crystal for years, even as I moved into independent mechanical watches, simply because the look and technology have always impressed me, if the purpose of a watch is to show time precisely. Thank you, thank you!
It's surprisingly impressive tech, I'd never been interested in radio AT time because I just assumed there wasn't much to it. How wrong I was 😀
During the past months I have been searching for a watch that has a perpetual calendar, gmt, and chronograph, in a titanium case with a sapphire crystal and at least 10 bar water resistance. My best find is the Citizen Satellite Wave Attesa series, whose chronograph measures up to twenty-four hours! The fact that its signal comes from satellites means that the time and date are perfect everywhere on Earth. I even found a video where a guy updated his at 30,000 feet on a jet airliner. I wonder why such technology doesn’t get more respect.
Great article! I notice that it has indicators for standard time or summer time...this could be redundant in North America if the Sunshine Protection Act ever gets passed by the Federal House...but that's a whole other story!
Great article, Jack. I'm a great fan of these atomic/radio controlled watches.
Whilst lacking the moonphase complication of this latest Citizen, I'm a huge fan of the Casio Oceanus OCW-S100 range - a classic, three hands and date integrated bracelet watch (how very on-trend...). This has 6-band radio syncing - it also picks up the UK MSF 60kHz time signal from Anthorn in Cumbria in the north of England. In terms of fit and finishing (and restrained good taste) it's very much a kind of "Grand Casio". If you're not aware of this watch, I'd commend you to my unboxing photos on WatchUSeek of a few years ago: https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/oceanus-ocw-s100g-7ajf-unboxing-and-first-impressions.1037377/ The edges are crisp and defined, the brushing is very even, and the polishing is very black - even on Casio's hardened titanium. The watch is nicely slim and deliciously light - silky even. Mine gets regular, and extended outings.
Great link and thanks for bringing them up, I'll have to check them out. As usual I convinced myself that I wanted what I was writing about with this article and there are it seems many choices (although I'm a sucker for a moonphase, especially one that changes direction depending on which hemisphere you're in).
Don't get me wrong, Jack - I'm also a sucker for a well executed moon phase complication. I think it must be my inner lycanthrope.
Thanks Jack. You've managed to once again infect me with enthusiasm for a type of watch I would normally ignore. Quick question: do all brands collect their time signal from these same stations, or are there more?
I have two sons in college. One isn't all that interested in watches but wants to wear one and know the exact time. I gave him a G-Shock solar powered watch that uses radio signals to correct itself. He loves it and has never used a single feature of the watch aside from time and date, and probably doesn't know what the pushers are for! My other son adores watches, and like me prefers mechanical ones. I got a mechanical Seiko dive watch for him and it never leaves his wrist. Unlike his brother though, he couldn't care less what the time or date is, and never sets the watch. It is literally days off, with hands pointing in random directions unrelated to society. And he's happy. 😃
And you know what happy evidence this is that when it comes to watches there is something for almost everyone. Except my two kids, apparently. My younger son has told me repeatedly that he "just doesn't like having something on my wrist" and a few years ago when I asked my older son what he thought about what I do for a living he said, "I don't know, Dad, I find the whole luxury watch thing kind of juvenile." 😀
Mortifyingly late to the party--the perils of being old and allergic to social media--but clearly I have lots of catching up to do!
I've long been a fan of both radio-controlled and, more recently, GPS-controlled watches. They offer a completely different set of pleasures versus mechanical watches, mostly centering around their being as close to wearable functional perfection as it's possible for humans to achieve, but to me that, in its own way, is just as important and worthy of admiration as the superb finishing and ingenious complications of their mechanical cousins.