Pops got me into watches at a very young age .I wore my first watch at the early age of 1 (who the hell is making watches for that age???), and it turned into a never ending journey for me. Mickey Mouse watches, Spongebob watches, analog, digital, leather strap, rubber strap, a fairly big range of styles for a kid, because I don't think a 10 year old is going to understand how to use a chronograph.

My little collection was something that I always took for granted; I was going to always have a watch on my wrist like my dad. So when I had to move from my country, I remember grabbing my humble bag with my watches and think 'Meh, I'm probably going back soon; no need to bring any of this. My Wii can stay too'. 8 years have passed, and I still cry for my Wii ... and my watches, of course. I don't think that I would wear any of them today; I mean, they actually looked and were sized for a kid.

This is something that my father always laughs about: How I used to start my days by putting a watch on my wrist, and now I don't wear anything. Until a smartwatch struck . My dad got me a samsung galaxy watch SM-R500 in one of his trips to China,and I can't even remember my reaction to getting a new watch after 4 years without one. The only thing I remember is how disappointed I was when it stopped working after barely one year because I washed my hands with it.

After that, I despised smartwatches so much, because man, there's nothing funny about having your phone on your wrist. If you do sports, it's actually quite useful: It tracks your heart rate, you can easily record your times, and if your earbuds suck and you can't change a song just by tapping them, a smartwatch can bring you a hand with that. Let's be honest, most people barely walk 5,000 steps daily and still buy these things, and that's ok because everyone has the freedom to spend their cash however they want. For me, it's just a waste of money if you are going to be like "Oh wow, look how I can awkwardly answer my mom's message with my watch and see a youtube notification!!" SHUT UP AND GIVE ME THE TIME . Despite my hate, sometimes I find myself wondering about buying a smartband, because hell, I actually need to see my heartbeat when I'm doing cardio...

After this disappointment, it was Covid, and after Covid, it was college , and now in college I'm looking at how large the case of a watch should be for my really thin wrists and I'm asking myself if I'm going to be annoyed if I have to wind my watch every day because apparently, Seiko's Alpinist can lose an incredible amount of seconds in only one day. Once you enter this world, it is nonstop. Fortunately, thanks to my frugal life (don't have my own money), and that I live in a mid South American country, I can avoid the consumerism of pieces of jewelry with some engineering inside that tells you the time. This doesn't mean that it can stop me from making a list of watches that I can look after I find a paid intership.

It's crazy how PRICEY watches can be, and it's not only because they are the best technically speaking . A watch can be expensive for a few reasons: materials, finishing, complications and prestige. It's not the same to have a steel watch as titanium one (lighter and doesn't cause allergies), don't get me started on the gold ones. The handcrafting is something that sometimes you actually see or perceive in a watch: the case, the bracelet, the dial. Also, a watch not only tells you the time, it can tell you the actual day, the moon phase (if you are going to ever need that), the hour in another time zone, how long you have been boiling eggs!!! . Finally, the prestige. People are going to look down on your Chinese-manufactured watch even if it has a really nice quality for its price. There's a reason why watchmakers nowadays still make half of their marketing about beign "Swiss Made" and why some manufacturers from 1875 are still around. If you give someone a San Martin, first they are going to ask what the fuck is that and then why a Chinese manufacturer chose to put the name of one of the leaders of the South American independence to their watch's brand. Because of that, you can find watches for up to one MILLION DOLLARS???? ok yeah, let's ignore Richard Mille for a second. A simple Cartier tank starts in $3.600, if we talk about a Rolex, the really nice GMT-Master II is up to $13.500 in retail. This can be the "high-end" watches for us, the middle-class people, but if you get more into Rolex or look into Audemars Piguet, A. Lange & Söhne, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantini and other manufacturers you are going to see watches worth my whole tuition payment x3, and people spend all this money anyway only because of the name is written on the dial, because everybody knows what a Rolex or a Patek is and what it means: I'm rich and can spend a hideous amount of money on a watch.

These are the really expensive watches, but what about the others, the ones you can afford without breaking the bank? If you're someone that watches some baseball, Seiko is not something new for you. It's probably the brand of excellence of people that recomend as a "first entry watch" (the hell entry means?). You can say that they're "pricey", but for what they offer, having a Seiko is a great deal overall. People are going to push you an Orient Bambino in your face too, I can't argue with that. Really nice and clean watch, probably a little too dressy for someone that wants a daily watch, but man, I love the blue hands of the RA-BB0003Y. Citizen is another brand with great value for the money; a classic Citizen Eco-Drive is what, 200 dollars?. Obviously, that's with a quartz movement .

Hey, Jaeger, what's a quartz movement?
basically, it powers the watch with a battery.

But why is it cheaper than a mechanical movement?
because it is less complex and cheaper to make and maintain.

So, what's a mechanical movement?
It's a movement with a really fascinating engineering that you (probably) are never going to see, but it's 'hard' to make, and it's going to make your watch more expensive.

At the end, what's the best?
eeeeh, well, it depends. The mechanical one, as I said, makes everything pricey . The first purchase, if you need to service it, etc. You're going to have problems that you can avoid with a quartz. Hell, with a Quartz, you can service it yourself if you want. Also, it's more precise when it comes to time. Let's take as an example a Grand Seiko, the 'luxury' branch of Seiko (as Lexus is for Toyota). The GS SBGR253 is a really classy watch: black dial, date window and sapphire crystal with the 9S65 automatic movement with a rate of '+10 to -1 seconds per day' (can be 10 seconds faster or 1 second slower). Then we have the 'Snowflake' GS SBGX355 with its stunning dial and titanium bracelet; it only loses/wins 10 seconds PER YEAR(!!!!) . So yeah, if we're talking about precision, a quartz movement is what you're looking for. This nice man has a post on Reddit talking more in depth about movements, really recommended because it's not only more complete than everything that I have been talking about, but it's even shorter.

Talking about quartz, we have to talk about the king: Casio . The balance between price and quality. Just look at the F91w. It's not my favorite (not a big fan of the black resin strap), but it looks good and it lasts... and Bin Laden wore one. Don't get me started on the Casio Royale. I LOVE that watch, and the mods are even more insane. It's a shame that the case size is too big for my wrist, but it's just too cool. Cannot say the same thing for the G-shock line, not my style either, but everyone loves them, and it's the 'beater' watch of a lot of people because of its durability. We can be here all day talking about Casios. If you want something analog, look at the Casio Edifice (the EF106D-2AV screams early 2000, and it's amazing), the Pope Francisco watch or a Casio Duro. Man, if you want an analog and digital watch in one, just check out the Casio Lineage here in the right. I would DIE for one.

But yeah, Jaeger, a watch can have a lot of things, there are a lot of brands, but what are the watches you want?

A lot of watches, I want a lot of watches. At the moment I'm looking for a simple and classic Casio A158. I think I have something with the bracelet, I prefer the dial layout, and being 'made' in Japan is not enough to make me buy the A159 over the A158. Why not the A168? I don't really care for the backlight, even if it's nicer (both A159 and A158 has terrible backlights) but it is slightly bigger than the A158 and I can't bond with the big ass E l e c t r o L u m i n e s c e n c e text at the top. Actually, I like more the colors of the A168 (the A158 is more discreet) , but in the end, the A158 is cheaper HA HA HA! Unfortunaly, the only store that has the official price (because these fucking people like to charge more) doesn't have stock. I mean, a few days ago it looked like they had ONE, but it was avaliable in a store far from my home, and I felt that it was a watch that someone returned rather than a new one, and I'm not going buy a used 30 dollar watch.

Yes, big ass text talking about watches in a very superficial way. Over the last three weeks I have been doomscrolling on subreddits about watches, seeing what other people have on their wrists, learning terminology, and trying to build my own taste without actually trying any of the watches that I like because the semester just started!!! and I think that I have to restructure my whole thesis, and it's not funny. Let's end this here. I need to finish my course about Azure, damn .