We all agree to say that watches aren’t necessary anymore. I’m not even wearing one as I’m writing these few lines. You are more likely to check the time on your smartphone instead of your watch. And yet, we keep buying and wearing some.
A watch can be two distinctive things as it can be two things at the same time.
It’s a tool to measure time. Its precision is what will guide its continued improvement. A mechanical movement being less precise than a quartz or an atomic one, it will have to be left behind. What must interest and occupy engineers, is the search for the miniaturization of an atomic clock to mutate it into a wristwatch.
It’s a fashion accessory. In that view, the precision quest is put aside to let the appearance be the attractive point. Diamonds, baguettes, engine-turning, stippling, and mirror polish are now on stage. Mostly devoid of purpose useful to the functioning, it contributes to the expression of a personality and mastery of an expertise.
Now that we have thought about it, when we look at the watch market in general, we see that there is no more innovation. The technical development generates the appearance of new materials, but there is no innovation to evolve what the watch is.
If technology is evolving each year creating new products with even more new functionalities, watchmaking is, on the other hand, stagnating.
But does it have to evolve?