New Pocket Watch

2022-10-30

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I bought an Ingersoll Buck pocket watch at an estate sale yesterday. The watch is fairly basic, and it's missing the front glass that protects the clock face, but the watch was only $15--less than the cost of my own cheap Timex wristwatches.

This is the second mechanical watch I own, and the first mechanical pocket watch. I bought another pocket watch many years ago, but it was a cheap quartz piece of junk that beguiled me into buying it due to a frilly front cover.

The ticking of the watch is surprisingly loud, to the point that we need to keep it in a drawer or cupboard at night so the ticking doesn't keep us awake. No other watch I've owned ticks so loudly. I don't know if that's common among Ingersoll Bucks or it's a quirk of my unit in particular.

The first mechanical watch I bought is a self-winding watch, so this is the first mechanical watch I've owned that needs to be wound by hand. The wind goes out annoyingly quickly: I find that I almost need to rewind twice a day. I suppose shortcomings like that are to be expected with a watch this cheap, though, so I put up with it.

I find myself attracted to mechanical watches and other analog devices because of their resilience. Mechanical devices, barring physical pieces breaking, are fully autonomous and self-contained. If power goes out or a supply chain breaks down, a lack of batteries won't stop an automatic watch. Combine it with a natural calibration device such as a large sundial, and one need not ever consult an atomic clock or time server again.

That being said, while I like this watch a lot, I don't see it becoming something I carry around with me every day. Wristwatches, allowing me to see the time without having to let go of what I'm holding, are a little too convenient.

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[Last updated: 2022-12-25]