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Friday, February 2, 2007

All About Watches

All about watches

Quartz watches, the most common type of watches, offer accuracy and stability. A small piece of quartz oscillates at more than 32,000 vibrations per second to ensure accurate timekeeping, which explains why quartz watches only lose about 10 seconds of time per month. Plus, quartz watches do not require winding and you only need to replace the battery once every one or two years. Quartz watch faces also come in several styles: analog, digital, and anidigi.

Analog quartz watches: Analog watch faces have numbers, Roman numerals, or tick marks indicating intervals of time while digital faces provide an exact readout in hours and minutes.

Digital quartz watches: Digital watches often have extra features such as depth sensors, Global Positioning System (GPS), altimeters, calculators, phone books, and compasses.

Anidigi quartz watches: Anidigi watch faces include the numeric elements of an analog watch face as well as a digital display.


Evaluate Watch Features

When you look at watches, find out if they come with extra features you may want.

Watches with calendars: Day date watches display the date and day of the week. Full calendar watches display the date, day of the week, and month.

Chronograph watches: Chronographs act as a stopwatch or use a meter to measure elapsed time. Chronographs can also come in split seconds format to measure two time segments simultaneously or consecutively.

Water resistant watches: Usually described on the dial or back of the case, a watch's water resistance is measured in feet, meters, or atmospheres (ATM). Watches that are water resistant up to 30 meters are splash-proof. Water resistance up to 50 meters indicates that you can wear the watch in the shower. A water resistance rating of 100 meters indicates that you can wear a watch swimming. Watches with a water resistance rating of 200 meters can be worn scuba diving.

Watches with repeaters: Watches with a repeater announce the time through a series of chimes when you press a button.

World time watches: Watches with a world time feature indicate time in all time zones around the world. You can often choose the name of a major city in a certain time zone to see the time in that time zone.


Maintaining Your Watch

Watch the temperature: Never leave your watch in extreme hot or cold temperatures.

Stay away from magnets: Do not expose quartz watches to magnets.

Keep your watch clean: Clean your watch regularly to remove sweat, dirt, and oil. Wipe the crystal, case, and band with a soft cloth. Leather bands benefit from skin oil, but you still want to remove excess dirt. Clean metal bands with soap, water, and a soft brush if needed.

Take your mechanical watch to the pros: Take your mechanical watch to a professional when gears need cleaning and for regular gear maintenance every three to five years.

And of course, careful using will be the most important.


*Source from ebay