The trouble with triples.
By triples, I mean the Day, Date and Month complication watches and the trouble refers to actually being able to clearly see the three indications. Often these are small and in some instances, very small, which is a real pity as conversely the Time is easily read. And example of clarity difficulties would be this first example – The Davis –
In my opinion this is a case of the promotion outweighing the presentation and somewhat ironic.
So I’m on the lookout for a triple complication “analog” model that properly and clearly can show the three sets of data and at reasonable cost. And not as easy as you might think! As can be seen in the first example of a low to medium priced model the Davis 1730MB quartz analog, the Day and Month windows are so small that reading the data is tricky to say the least. Conversely, the Date indicator on the outer dial index with it’s centre hand pointer and red capture cup is actually good.
Another example is actually from my own collection, the Dugena Calendar model where tiny windows are an issue.
Nice watch, good Ronda Swiss quartz movement, but those Day and Month apertures are just too small for comfort, which is a real shame. And there are many others with the same issues, which is a really annoying feature, as the whole point of the model as alluded to by their respective descriptions, is that these are Day, Date and Month complication/indicator watches, but in reality a complication too far – you can’t easily read the darned things. Surely a contradiction in promotion over presentation.
I suppose the common denominator of these models is to be found in the price range. It seems that low to medium price models just don’t manage to produce the clarity required, and yet the more expensive ones often do.
Like this one – The F.P. Journe Perpetuel manages this feat quite easily. Good size apertures, clear printing and a total delight to see all the data simultaneously, but certainly at a cost? and more than I am willing to pay.
But it does show it can be done and we’re simply talking about “indications” here, not too much about complication of movement mechanics, though this does have a bearing, so one would think it surely should be possible at a sensible cost.
Then there’s the Patek Philippe model, which obviously has a much more complicated set of wheels inside, so perhaps this has merit as to expense, but goodness isn’t it good. Such clarity and possibly one of the very best.
So, my search continues amongst the many thousands of low to medium priced mechanical models that abound today (not including ana/digi types).
I also repeat when I say, today, as there were quite a few Calendar watches in what you would call “vintage” that are actually better then most modern offerings.
But as to modern affordable, this seems to be a rare item indeed, but that’s what I’m looking for and it is not that easy to find.
My search continues.
Watch space 