Q.
Dear Gonzo!
You can make out from the name this being my second mail to you. The last time and I must say here you have my hearty thanks for the priming-up session that introduced me to watch buying. I’m enjoying your choice, or suggestion – whichever way you might look at it – and now, saved previously from an imminent fall, I want to take the leap to Swiss.
Easier said than done! They boggle my mind. Get me started. What does it take to be recognized as a Swiss-made watch, say, at a single glance? I want that kind of a Swiss. Pardon my childishness, but I’ve been through some other watch guides and found them too lengthy and complex to enjoy. What will be the best Swiss for me within a grand? I do not go hunting or trekking or paragliding or flying, but I’m a bit of a social creature (perhaps a bit too-much) with the club being my fixed home on weekends since a year or so. Play, fight, drink, dance and sing are all that we do. Yes, eat and bathe (and the rest) too. I hold a 9 to 5 job where I go straight from the club on Monday mornings.
A.
You got all that the Suisse world of horology has to offer! Any Swiss you buy – even Parmigiani Fleurier – is built to withstand that much of annoyance (not to me; to the watch). However, if you are playing polo, baseball or kick-boxing, then you really need to pick carefully.
Strange as it might sound, the affordable range of Swiss watches handle all that much better than the classier Patek-s and Longines! But wait, you wanted to have a discussion about what Swiss is. We don’t need to go all that deep into the 16th century, the scarcity of jewels and the goldsmiths turning to watchmakers and flocking in to Genève; here, we will see just the current Swiss Made laws. You must note here that many of the vintage Swiss watches sometimes do not comply with them. For example, they often have just ‘Swiss’ on the dial and not ‘Swiss Made’. That’s perfectly alright. So are Suisse, Produit Suisse, Fabriqué en Suisse and Qualité Suisse. It is dubious when a new product bears those marks. That’s because the current Swiss laws (Ordonnance réglant l’utilisation du nom Suisse pour les montres) only allow the regional watchmakers to label their timepieces as Swiss Made. To get that mark, a very stringent set of rules and regulations are need to be met. But apart from those, to be a Swiss-Made, an entire movement must be built (with at least 50% of its components manufactured in Switzerland), encased and finally inspected by the manufacturer in Switzerland. However, if a Swiss-Made movement is cased outside Switzerland; the watch is labelled ‘Swiss Movt.’ only and not Swiss Made.
To answer your other question, check out the Hamilton Ventura Chrono Quartz or the Hamilton Khaki ETO Chronograph. But then again, that’s just me and I simply shared my opinion.
Watch(es) mentioned in this post are listed below. Click to see details and buy them:
