FeaturePicking your first luxury watch

Buying your first luxury watch is a special experience. A watch is an accessory unlike any other, you wear it on your wrist everyday and after a while it just becomes a part of you. Superior precision mechanical watches originally served a serious need in accurate timekeeping required to facilitate different activities. This has however changed.

Your watch now, is that little window you wear on your wrist that through just one glance allows a peek into your character and personality. Knowing the basic aspects of a watch in order to purchase one that resonates with your personality, lifestyle and taste is thus so very important.

Here we delve into a few important points to keep in mind while buying a watch that best matches YOU!

Choose your style

A watch is an investment, an heirloom that will stay with you, on your wrist ticking away forever. The best advice that we could possibly give you would be to stay true to your style. Pick a design that fits into your wardrobe and lifestyle. Be careful while choosing the size of your watch. People often fall prey to the latest fads and end up picking watches that do not sit well on their wrists or are too large for regular wear. Here are the broad categories regarding watch design that one can look into.

Classic watches – with a plain and thin case , unassuming bezel, gold material and bold markings these watches are timeless. Your classic will easily take you through formal days at work to casual dinners and parties later. This kind of watch is the safest to begin your collection with.

Dress watches – Unlike the stereotypes associated with dress watches, we believe quite the opposite. With the fashion brigade widening its horizons and relaxing its views on what is formal, the dress watch now has a whole new meaning. Gone are the days where you would lock up one of these and wait for that next BIG occasion. A dress watch today can easily be worn everyday, teemed with a bit of attitude of course!

Sport watches – These watches are usually large in size with prominent markings on the bezel. They are normally water resistant and nearly always have thick luminous hands and markings. An ideal choice for those who are fans of all things sporty and love the outdoors. Majority of these watches are heavily inspired by deep sea diving, aviation, race car driving, golf, equestrian sports, tennis – if you consider one of these do take the time to look into the wide range of exciting functionalities that each watch offers according to the sport that it is inspired by. Pick according to your sporting requirements!

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Pick your brand

The watch industry boasts of brands with rich and varied histories, each, with a long-standing devotion to quality. Take time to research different brands, their heritage and the different things that inspire them to decide the brand that you relate to.

For example if you’re a keen diver then you may want to study the history of diver’s watches. Omega has always been the official timekeeper for the Olympic games. On the other hand Breguet crafted one of the oldest watches in the history of timekeeping with celebrated clients like Louis XVI, his queen Marie-Antoinette and the queen of Naples.

A movement that suits you

Also known as a ‘calibre’ , the movement is the engine of a watch. This internal mechanism is the powerhouse of the watch that enables the movement of the hands and powers complications such as chronograph, annual calendar etc. There are numerous movements that are created by watch manufactures however each of these movements fits into one of the 2 categories – Quartz or Mechanical

Quartz – Quartz is a popular timekeeping technology. These watches are battery powered and are usually lower on the cost side as they have few moving parts. Easy to maintain, this is an extremely reliable movement that loses only a few seconds every month.
Although the quartz movement isn’t as popular as the mechanical movement among watch enthusiasts, one may still lean towards this movement for reasons of convenience, affordability and fewer time adjustments. Leading Swiss brands do create watches with this movement with extremely strict quality standards.

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Mechanical – The mainspring, which must be wound to store energy, is the most important element of a mechanical movement. When this spring unwinds, it releases energy to move the gears that further power the timepiece. This movement, created by expert watchmakers contains an intricate series of tiny components that work together the way every watch did before the age of the battery powered watch.

Although a mechanical movement is not as accurate as a quartz movement, technology today allows far more precision than ever before. Mechanical movements further filter down into manual and automatic. Manual hand-wound movements are for the traditionalists with the beautiful display of the watch that can be seen through the case-back, Automatic movements are more popular since they are self-winding and harness energy through the natural motion of your wrist.

With so many variations and complications available today, every mechanical movement is a work of excellent craftsmanship. A well built one will last several generations. An ideal choice for those who appreciate the European tradition of constructing beautiful and intricate timekeeping instruments.

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