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The place for discussing 1930-1985 Heuer wristwatches, chronographs and dash-mounted timepieces. Online since May 2003.
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Hand-Wound (versus Automatic)
In Response To: Review of Review ()

Interesting question, re my use of the phrase "hand wound" . . . I am flattered that you were still reading by the end of the article!!

I was only trying to contrast the source of power for the watches (winding tiny springs by hand) with the source of power for the racecars (burning fuel under compression), and to contrast the endurance and reliability of the little watches, which last for decades, versus the explosions that may destroy the engines in a few seconds. We see this same contrast, whether the watch is manually wound or automatic.

Jeff

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

: Jeff-you did a terrific job describing the interplay between racing
: and Heuers. The book's images are powerful on their own, but I
: hadn't given a lot of thought to the supremacy of the watches
: until your review. In a recent issue of the Atlantic, there is a
: great article, "Is Google making us Stoopid," that
: notes how the invention of the clock changed people's thought
: patterns, as the internet is doing today. I think the pure
: connection between timing and racing back then created a
: comparatively short window--less than a generation--when a
: family of chronographs were manufactured that struck a perfect
: balance between legibility, functionality, and aesthetics.

: As others have pointed out, the only negative about Arno's tour de
: force, is that it leaves us wanting more--more models, more
: details, more history. Who made the cases? Who were the
: designers? How were different variations of the same model
: worked out? What happened during the quartz overlap era?

: After seeing an ad in the current GQ for a Speedmaster, I noted
: that Omega is still producing the watch virtually unchanged. The
: subdials, hands, and markers on the Speedie look almost
: identical to Heuers, which suggests that the original
: manufactureres are still around and producing these components.
: The new Monaco aside (what on earth is wrong with fluted
: pushers?!! Don't they realize that god is in the details??), it
: is strange that TAG-Heuer can't get the formula right and have a
: classics line.

: As you know, I hope that the collecive knowledge of the Forum can
: take Arno's and your work to date and push forward to create a
: collecters reference manual that could be published as an open
: source document and updated frequently. We must have some CAD
: experts out there who have ideas about collaborating on a
: template that could be used for the MOAT reference models.

: I did want to ask whether you deliberately wanted to note
: "hand-wound" towards he end of the article in contrast
: to the automatics.

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