Tissot Seastar Automatic Watch

Diving to extreme depths is a high risk occupation. The high pressure can cause irreparable damage to a person. Having the right equipment is of the essence if a diver is to survive a deep dive in tact. One of the techniques that is used when doing long dives is to take breaks at certain intervals coming up and going down in order to allow your body and equipment to fully adjust to the pressure at that level.

Having timing equipment that can be relied upon to produce accurate results is essential if this process is to work. Most divers will have at least two different pieces of equipment that record time. Often a watch that they wear and other timekeeping devices connected to dive computers. Tissot Seastar watches are designed to facilitate low depth, high pressure dives. In order for the watch to be able to deal with the pressure that is exerted on it by the weight of the water it needs to have additional technology.

Tissot have developed a helium escape valve for their 300m water resistance watches. When professional divers are working at low depths they often spend many days in a diving bell. They breathe a mixture of gases that contain a lot of helium. The helium is used to remove toxic air that is produced by low depths. Helium molecules are very small, and they enter a watch through its seals meaning that the air pressure inside the watch equals that of the diving bell. When they have finished their work they are then raised to the surface and begin the process of decompression. A watch has to decompress at the same speed as the diving bell. This can cause problems in watches, if the helium leaves the watch too fast it can cause damage to the watch including having the crystal pop off.

Tissot have a clever invention has been created to stop this from happening; the helium escape valve. This one way valve provides an exit point for the helium that is trapped inside the watch which will occur when the watch reaches a critical pressure level. On Tissot Seastar watches this is automatically activated when the right conditions occur.

This is a significant addition to high water resistant watches showing that Tissot Seastar automatic watches are right at the cutting edge of dive technology.  Tissot watches are all developed with the same commitment to new technology.

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Secret Wars are the most exciting live art battles in the world. The art battles, sponsored by Casio G-Shock watches, have gained momentum as the months have rolled by. The concept was born in 2006, inspired by legendary cult films ‘The Warriors’ and ‘Fight Club’. In, often undisclosed, locations two teams of artists are pitted against one another to determine who can create the most inspired artwork in 90 mins using nothing but black paint and white walls (no sketches or pencils allowed). The artists from opposing teams work side by side divided by nothing but an invisible line. The winner is chosen by the votes of three judges, two independent experts and the crowd whose support is measured with a decibel reader.

Secret Wars has created a stir in the underground art movement. It started in London and other major U.K. Cities but the momentum has pushed it to new heights. The event is promoted through word of mouth only, so you have to be in the know to know. Despite and perhaps because of the low key advertising the event has spiralled into new dimensions. Last year the organisers announced a Euro league capitalising on the artistic diversity of many more culturally ambitious cities. Secret Wars battles can now be found in Amsterdam, Paris, Warsaw, Berlin, Malmo, Dublin, Copenhagen, Lisbon and Hamburg. The list of cities is always growing as dynamic artists put forward their home towns to be added into the mix.

2009 was a great year for Street Wars, the competition climaxed in New York with a week long tour sponsored by Kanye West. It is almost inevitable that we can expect a Secret Wars Champions league in the near future. The artists are pushing for it as they want to prove themselves on the biggest stage possible.

Secret Wars is sponsored by Casio G-Shock watches. Casio watches have been associated over the years with many dynamic music events like the G-Shock the World parties as well as high calibre art events including the Secret Wars battles. G-Shock watches are designed to live up to any situation and come out on top. Created to endure and make and the impossible possible G-shock Casio watches are likely to continue to be running with these dynamic underground scenes for the foreseeable future.

The next round of events takes place on the 24th of June so check the fixtures list and go down and show your support.

If you want to see our whole range of Casio G-Shocks follow any of the links.

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Wristwatches are powered and tell the time in a number of ways, each way has different advantages and disadvantages. The standard of technology is high for contemporary watches and you are unlikely to encounter powering issues, but you may find that a certain type of watch power will facilitate the way that you use a watch.

Mechanical Watches

The first wristwatches were mechanical. The power comes from energy that is stored in a spring, which was used to turn a number of weighted wheels, gears, to move the hands. This technology came from spring-powered clocks that were around as early as the 1400’s; it began to be used for smaller watches in the 1600’s. To keep a mechanical watch going it must be wound regularly, often every day. Having to remember to wind mechanical watches is seen by many to be an inconvenience so they are often regarded as collectors or nostalgic items.

Kinetic or Automatic Watches

Automatic watches are the modern incarnation of the mechanical watch. Automatic watches are similar inside to a mechanical watch but they rely on the movement of the wearer to power the spring. There is a greater likelihood that an automatic watch will lose time than some of the other powered watches, it can be as much as a few seconds every day. Designer and high quality watch brands such as Police and Seiko have automatic watches as signature pieces in their collections. This is partly because they have the expertise to ensure accuracy. Plus automatic watches never need to have a battery change, which is eco-friendly and advantageous for preserving water resistance ratings. The moving parts inside the watch also are often visable through a transparent case.

Quartz Watches

Quartz watches became available in 1969. Quartz has special properties so when it is shaped in a certain way and subject to an electrical field it will bend. When the field is taken away the quartz generates an electrical field of its own as it moves back to its original shape. This is known as piezoelectricity. Due to this property quartz crystals can be used to regulate the movement of an electronic oscillator. This energy and movement powers and controls the hands of the watch. This revolutionary technology is now the most common form of power in wristwatches. It is also the most reliable timekeeping method which also comes at a low price.

Atomic Timekeeping

Atomic time is measured through the radioactive changes in an atom. It is the most precise measurement of time known to man. An atomic clock deviates by around a second every million years! Many performance wristwatches for example Casio’s WaveCeptor range utilise this technology. A network of radio transmitters emit time signals that are received by the radio controlled watches. When the watch receives the signal it will set itself to the correct time.

Types of Watch Batteries

Other watches are generally powered by one of three types of battery. The most common is the silver oxide battery. This kind of battery is used in watches because they have a high energy to weight ratio. This means that they should last for a significant amount of time. Silver is a costly precious metal so although silver oxide batteries are extremely efficient you are unlikely to see them being used in larger objects.

Lithium batteries are long-life and also relatively expensive. They are used primarily in watches that have lights or other energy draining features.

Solar cells are becoming more common in wristwatches. Advanced battery cells are fuelled by the light that reaches them through the face of the watch. The result of this is that the battery will never need to be changed and the integrity of the watch should be preserved for longer. Citizen’s Eco-Drive range has set the standard for the practical application of this technology. As an additional ecological bonus the batteries do not contain any of the harmful chemicals found in regular batteries.

Sports watches come in all shapes and sizes. Watches have loads of different functions all designed to enhance sporting excellence and to facilitate greater enjoyment of sport. Watches have the ability to record lap times and split times, they come with countdown timers and stopwatches, there are also high-tech watches that include barometers, altimeters and pedometers. Sports watches can be both analogue, digital or a combination of the two. The ones with digital displays will often have memory so they can record your progress over a number of weeks.

There are a number of things to consider before you buy a sports watch, firstly you need to consider your sport and the things that you need your watch to do. Take into account the weight of the watch, its water resistance rating, its functions and its style (a big watch would not be appropriate for cycling for example.)

Chronograph watches

A chronograph watch is a watch with a number, normally two or three, of sub dials. The functions of the sub dials vary, but commonly include a stopwatch and a breakdown of the second, minute and hour functions into their own dials. These watches are designed predominately for use in sports, although there are many models that use the chronograph function as a stylistic feature. Chronograph watches come in a wide range of styles and have different levels of practical use. The most advanced come with the ability to record multiple split and lap times, with stop watches that are accurate to 1/100^th of a second.

 Water Resistant Watches

Having a watch that has a suitable water resistance rating for the activity you are undertaking is essential. A watch with a 3 or 5 atm rating is not suitable for jumping into water. Although it can be worn whilst swimming. 100m watches are the ideal standard for most water sports. The rating determines how much pressure can be placed upon the watch rather than the depth to which it can go down. Specialised divers watches are essential kit for divers and there are a number of watches that are specifically designed to be able to resist the pressure of great depths. Other sports may not appear to need such high levels of water resistance, but if a watch is being used as a tool for sports it is probably worth having one that has at least 3 or 5m water resistance.

Materials

Functions are not the only attributes that you should think about if you are buying a sports watch. The material that the watch is made from will determine how practical it is. Titanium watches are always light weight so they are often a favourite for sports enthusiasts. Rubber straps are also popular as they are easy to clean and are likely to last a long time even if they are used in the water. For much the same reason stainless steel bracelets are also popular. It is worth remembering that they are heavier than rubber straps but that they are also more durable.

Best Selling Sports Watches

Casio have a lot of watches that are designed for sports.  Most of the Casio watches are digital so they can have memory in which data can be stored, the digital set up also allows for switching between different functions with ease.  The Casio G-Shock range is designed for adrenalin fueled sports.  This global best selling range is designed to be shock proof so they are perfect for extreme sports.  

Citizen and Seiko both make high end sports watches, designed with the sporting professional in mind.  They look great and are packed full of functions to enable maximum benefit from sports. Citizen’s Promaster and Skyhawk rangesand Seiko’s Sportura Collection  demonstrate the immense capabilities of sports watches. 

Citizen Skyhawk

Perpetual calendar watches are designed to combat the intricacies and inconsistencies in our calendar and to show the date accurately at all times. The invention of the complex perpetual calendar mechanism that first achieved this is credited to Abrahain-Louis Breguet, a renowned watchmaker and horologist, at the beginning of the 1800’s.

For the last 500 years we have used the Gregorian calendar,which poses a number of technical difficulties to the watchmaker when making a perpetual calendar watch.  The problems are the uneven amount of days in each month and a leap year every 4 years, which adds a day to the end of February. Each deviation from the 31 day month requires a special function to remain accurate. If you consider that each one must be achieved by fundamentally a system involving little more than cogs and levers you can appreciate how difficult a task this is, especially when you consider that it must also be small and light enough to be worn as a wristwatch!

The amount of time that it actually takes the sun to orbit around the earth is 365.2422 days. A normal simple calendar watch counts a year as 372 days, 31 days for each month. This means that the date will have to be adjusted 6 or 7 days throughout the year to remain accurate. A perpetual calendar watch measures a year as 365.25 days. There is a small discrepancy between that and the real measurement but it is so small that a perpetual calendar watch will only have to be adjusted 3 times in every 400 years, which is pretty good going.

Those who require perpetual accuracy from their watch often want to wear a watch of the highest calibre. Citizen Skyhawk watches are a prime example of this. They are high-end watches that deliver on every aspect of watch technology, they are solar powered and radio controlled with a myriad of other practical functions. This range of watches are designed for those with an active lifestyle that demand quality and accuracy from every part of their watch.

Perpetual calendars can most frequently be found in luxury watches as the mechanism needed to sustain this accuracy is extremely complex. But now there are a number of products available which can provide this useful and impressive feature at a fraction of the price you may have previously expected to pay. For example the Pulsar Perpetual Calendar watch is available from Find Watches for half its RRP at only £67.41 including shipping. We frequently get new perpetual calendar watches in, but those at this kind of price seem to fly off the shelves!

A Guide To Watch Bracelets and Straps

Watches come in all different shapes, colours and sizes but they are generally made from only a small amount of different materials.  I have compiled this list of the materials commonly used in watch manufacture so that you can quickly and easily tell which materials suit your needs best.

Gold Watches

Gold is used for luxury watches. There are two main reasons for this; firstly that gold is an expensive material, secondly that it is an extremely soft metal. Gold watches are dress watches, normally purchased for special occasions and are not typically suitable for everyday wear.

Gold Plated Watches

If you fancy a gold watch but want something more practical than a solid gold watch you can opt for a watch with a leather strap and gold case or a gold plated watch. Gold plated watches have the same lustrous colour as gold but come at a fraction of the price. New technology in this field means that instead of layering the gold on top of a base metal it can now be infused into it (by a process known as Physical Vapour Deposition or P.V.D.). This results in a more even spread of colour and longer lasting cover which is what you get with this beautiful ladies Rotary watch.

Silver Watches

Silver is not as expensive or as soft as gold but is still a malleable substance which is why it is used so frequently in jewellery. Silver watches are more durable than gold watches but are more prone to tarnishing. Although this can be rectified by regular cleaning.

Titanium Watches

Titanium is a lightweight and exceptionally durable material. It has the highest strength to weight ratio of any metal. Anything that is worn on the wrist is likely to take a lot of damage over it’s life, so titanium is an ideal material to make a watch out of. The downside is that it is an expensive material compared to stainless steel, so the cost is often considered prohibitive by watch makers. Although of course we have got some great deals on titanium watches! Check out this half-price gents sports chronograph from Sekonda.

Stainless Steel Watches

Stainless steel is the most common of all metals used in the construction of watches. It is strong, resistant to most forms of corrosion and does not easily stain. This combined with its distinctive bright colouring make it an ideal metal to use in watch making. It is commonly used for watch cases whatever the strap type and is a great value for money.

Rubber/Resin Watches

Watches with resin straps are normally designed for serious outdoor use. They are really tough and have the advantage of being both lightweight and water resistant, protecting the delicate workings of the watch. Many children’s watches will have a strap made from resin for much the same reasons! 

Leather Strap Watches

Leather is used to make watch straps because it is inexpensive, compared to the other products. It also allows for endless customisation. Leather can be dyed any colour. Due to the predominant use of buckles as a fastening, leather straps can be made one length and easily adjusted to fit a number of different sized wrists. The downside is that they are nowhere near as long lasting as metal straps and they can get stained fairly easily. Leather straps have an extra advantage of being made from a soft natural fabric, so most people find that they are comfortable to wear. Imitation leather is also available although these straps tend to be cheaper and less durable.

Webbing Strap Watches

Webbing straps are generally the cheapest of the straps on the market. They are commonly made from nylon. They are fairly durable and normally water resistant. They are often used for watches that are designed specifically for outdoor pursuits such as the Sekonda Expose range or for children’s watches.

All About Automatic Watches

Automatic watches are a modern take on traditional mechanical watches. These new developments stem from an established horological tradition dating back as far as 1400. Automatic watches work by converting the energy of the wearers wrist into potential energy that is then stored within a spring. This energy is gradually used to move a number of weighted wheels, or gears as they are also known, that turn the hands.

When they were first invented mechanical watches were extremely unreliable with the best losing or gaining up to 15 minutes every day! Nowadays the variance is a couple of seconds a day at most. Seiko developed a new kinetic technology in the 1980’s which was able to transform this energy into electrical energy, this development meant that now mechanical watches could be regulated by quartz precision.  The other bad thing about the originals was that they had to be wound every day at the same time. Nowadays a premier automatic watch like the Seiko Direct Drive Velatura will last for more than one month when fully charged and the cheapest models will last at least a couple of days. Once stopped they will reactivate with only a small amount of movement, thankfully no winding necessary. 

Automatic watches have always been a luxury item so you may be surprised to hear that there are now great value automatics such as the Sekonda Two Tone Gents Automatic watch which we are currently selling at just £23.12.   

Automatics have also made a comeback through certain designers ranges such as Police and Seiko. The inner workings are often made a feature by being visible through the case back, so you can see how your watch works. The Police Portland range has this stylistic feature.  

Reliability combined with the ecological and practical benefits of owning an automatic watch have resulted in a revival in popularity for these watches in recent years.   But the best thing about automatic watches is that you never have to change the battery. As an added bonus not removing the back of the watch to do a battery change preserves the integrity of the inner workings for longer. No battery changes also means that you save money and time and do a little bit extra to save the environment as well.

Water Resistance

The issue of water resistance is a particularly important one when considering which watch to buy. Watches always have their water resistance rating on the case, on Find Watches we always put this information in the product specifications.

Some watches have only minimal water resistance, for example the Seksy range by Sekonda. These watches are designed with fashion in mind. They should be fine if accidentally splashed but they are not intended to be more than beautiful accessories. So no washing up or showering whilst wearing them!

The next common rating of water resistance is 50m or 5 atmosphere. This is where it gets a little more complicated because the depth ‘50m’ does not refer to the depth that the watch can go down to but is representative of how much pressure the watch can withstand. Therefore 50m watches are suitable for swimming, but not for diving as the pressure at the moment of impact with the water would exceed 5 atmosphere. Many of the watches in the Kahuna range are of this rating; perfect for the beach but not designed for water sports.

If you want to do more than just swim you need a 100m or 10 atmosphere rating. These watches, such as the majority of the Caterpillar range stocked on Find Watches, are perfect for water sports including snorkeling.

Divers watches vary in their capabilities. Some watches marked as having 200m water resistance are not suitable for diving, such as the Casio Blue G-Shock. This is a durable watch, but is not specifically designed for diving. Unlike the Citizen Gents divers watch, which is made for divers and as such complies with international standards for divers watches. It is imperative to always check the specific details before using a watch for diving.

Watches with higher ratings than 200m are generally suitable for diving and generally their durability increases as the pressure rating goes up, such as the Citizen Aqualand Titanium Professional Divers Watch which has a 300m water resistance rating.

As always there are exceptions to the rules; Rotary have created a range of ‘Dolphin Standard’ watches. Due to a unique way of screwing in the button these dress watches can be used for swimming, water sports and even in saunas.

Eco-Drive : Unstoppable

“It’s unstoppable. Just like the people who wear it”

 

We’ve had a lot of enquiries regarding the technology on Citizen’s Eco-Drive watches, because it seems just too good to be true! So here are the facts: Citizen’s innovative Eco-Drive watches contain a more advanced version of the solar batteries we are all familiar with from calculators. Citizen describes the battery as “a microns thin disc of amorphous Silicon under the dial to convert light energy into electrical energy through the photovoltaic process.” What this means is special energy storage cells in Eco-Drive watches save the energy converted from any kind of light to power the watch.

Eco-Drive watches keep running for an average of 6 months when fully charged even if left in the dark. Some models can run for up to three years after only a few hours charging time. There is little need to worry about your watch getting enough exposure to light because even limited exposure to indoor light will keep it charged. Citizen have even built in a low-power alert; on most models the second hand jumps two seconds at a time whilst still showing an accurate time to warn you that it needs some light.

Powered solely by light the watch batteries should last a lifetime and the lengthy five-year guarantee Citizen offer as standard is proof of their faith in this amazing technology.

Eco-Drive watches are not only hassle free but come with the added benefit of being ecologically friendly; the batteries contain none of the harmful chemicals found in regular batteries.

And best of all, this ingenious power source is compact and reliable enough to be contained in all kinds of watches, from the ultra-slim stiletto range to high-performance Citizen divers watches. So you don’t have to compromise on style to take advantage of Citizen’s Eco-Drive technology.

Seiko Velatura with Sapphire Crystal

When adding a watch to our online store at Find Watches, we add various technical details to the description to help customers answer questions that they may have. One of the headings we have is “glass” where descriptions such as “Mineral Crystal” and “Sapphire Crystal” appear. For some customers this is valuable details but for others it is just confusing, so we thought that we’d do a blog post explaining the difference.

The “glass” or sometimes “the crystal” is the transparent cover over the face of a watch that protects the hands and face. This is generally made of one of three common materials depending on the nature, make and quality of each particular watch. Each material has it’s own advantages and disadvantages, so it is worth understanding the differences.

Acrylic Crystal

Acrylic crystal is made from a tough, flexible and transparent plastic. Acrylic is the least expensive type of crystal and as such is common on cheaper watches. It is also though both light and flexible, making it less likely to shatter on impact. These properties make it an attractive choice for watches prone to a knock or two, such as children’s and some sports watches. The main disadvantage of acrylic crystal is that it does scratch easier than other types.

Mineral Crystal

Mineral crystals are the most common amongst the ranges of watches we stock. Mineral crystal is glass that has been treated by either heat or chemical processes making it more scratch resistant than acrylic, although more prone to shatter than it’s plastic counterpart.

Mineral crystal is one of the most popular and common materials used for watch cystals and can be found on brands such as Breil, Police and Casio watches.

Sapphire Crystal

Sapphire crystal is a synthetic material made by crystallizing aluminium oxide at very high temperatures. Synthetic sapphire has the same chemical composition as the natural sapphire used in jewellery, but without the colouring agents that give the stone its various colours. Sapphire is one of the hardest substances on earth. Sapphire crystal is durable, shatter proof & scratch resistant making for an excellent crystal. The main drawback of sapphire crystal is the cost involved in manufacturing it. For this reason you will mostly find it on our premiere brands such as Citizen and Seiko.