The Passage Of Time Moves Too Quickly

Most luxury watches will be traditional mechanical watches. This is because many people find it satisfying to know that, rather than a battery fed circuit board, they are actually wearing a piece of machinery that has the dedicated attention of a master watch maker, building 130 parts with precision planning and careful attention to the minute detail that takes it from being a basic timekeeper to a luxury watch.

The components of a luxury watch comprise three main groups: the energy source, the display and the regulating parts. The amount of parts will increase dramatically for those luxury watches with dates and moon phases etc but for the purpose of this article we will discuss what goes into a simple watch.

The internal mechanism of the watch, the movement, takes at least sixty parts, all working in conjunction with each other. The spring will be wound either by wrist movement (Quartz watch) or by manual winder (self winding watch) and this releases a steady flow of power to regulate the movement of the hands.

The mainspring provides the power in a watch. The gear train transmits this power and the escapement distributes it. The oscillating balance wheel and hairspring make the division of time and a dial train activates the watch hands. This is a very simplified version of how a watch works and would probably horrify watchmakers the world over but most of us aren't horologists, therefore we need an easy explanation.

It was thought that quartz watches, where the mechanism is wound by the movement of the wrist, would eventually mean that the ones that are manually wound by the wearer would be obsolete. However, this hasn't turned out to be the fact. Self winders are still very popular, particularly in the luxury watch market.

You will often see people absent-mindedly winding their wristwatch and idle moments, or even when concentrating on something. There are also people that make watch winding part of their daily ritual - either when putting it on or taking it off.

The winding of a wristwatch is something that reminds us of the passing of time and often can remind us to make the most of it. It has to be said that very few of us make the most of our time and it's not until something drastic happens that we sit up and take notice of the fact that it is disappearing at an increasing rate of knots.

Of course, time always flies when you're having fun, not literally but that's how it feels. It also appears to drag when you're bored or doing something you don't enjoy. Time will travel at the same speed regardless of what is going on in our lives but our perception of it changes, depending on our current activity. For me, it never goes so slow as when I'm ironing!

Office workers are notorious clock watchers. This is as fruitful as watching a kettle boil, or paint dry - it won't happen any quicker! It is vital that we make the most of our time as there is precious little of it.

So, next time you take off that watch when you go to bed, take a few minutes while you are winding it up and think about how you made those precious hours and minutes pass today. Were they constructive? Were they wasted? Could you use them better tomorrow? If you don't consider these things and the changes you could make, you can guarantee that the day will come when you wish you had the chance.

Shaun Parker is a leading horological expert with many years of experience in the watchmaking industry. Find out more about luxury watches at www.chronolux.com/catalog/

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