Comment by hbosch | Hacker News Reader

Comment by hbosch | Hacker News Reader

>I really can’t think of any other watch products which are so innovate at these prices save for smartwatches. And most smartwatches aren’t nearly as dependable and good-looking as your average G-Shock these days.

When I got my first tech job I became a victim to wristwatches and Swiss timepieces. I spent a couple grand on a present to myself with my first check and really loved the thing, but it was precious and needed to be wound and adjusted for daylight savings... over time, my G-Shock prevailed. I sold my watch last year for some other equipment related to another budding hobby/interest, and I don't see any reason to go beyond a Casio anymore. There are literally videos on YouTube of people smashing these things on anvils with sledgehammers and they don't even blink. I am astounded at what a good value they are.

And for those that want a little bling, well... they have you covered still: https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/solid-18-karat-gold-g-shoc...

Some people like it, but I personally find the G-Shock (exterior) design intolerable. At least, they should remove some of the spurious writings on their higher end watches. I currently have an old Casio Protrek PRG-550BD that seems to be indestructible, too, but if it ever stops working I will probably go for a Seiko or a Hamilton Field watch.

There is an interesting story about Seiko I once read. Apparently they built two factories in the 60s whose main purpose was to compete with each other to break new precision records for their quartz watches. They almost destroyed the Swiss watch business.

Agreed. The area around the LCD doesn’t need to be an advertisement for all its features. My current Timex Ironman has labels for what the buttons do on the screen instead of around it, which means that there’s less useless writing on the face. But it still has to mention its “10 LAP TIMER” near the bottom, which is annoying.

Also this bloated ruggedness is mostly an aesthetic feature. I mean there are no moving parts in a digital watch. Why would you need such excessive casing. And what's the benefit of a watch that can sustain a blow with a sledgehammer when there's no wrist left to wear a watch.

Anyway - Seiko manufactures everything from the caliber to the casing which makes them in my opinion superior to most Swiss watch makers as those just design a casing and put an ETA in there. Also the value for price ratio of a Seiko automatic is unbeatable. Plus they revolutionized the wrist watch technologies and have lots of history to show for.

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