how to select the first mechanical watch

How should I choose the first mechanical watch? Lin Tsai's four suggestions will help you.

Hello everyone. I'm Lin Tsai from Lam Workshop. This time I want to share with you the things you should pay attention to before buying your first mechanical watch. I hope to find a mechanical watch that suits you and reduce the risk of regretting it afterwards (if you want to buy a mechanical watch immediately, please click Mechanical Watch ).

Everyone has different tastes and ideas, and choices vary from person to person. The following suggestions are Lin Tsai’s five-year experience sharing in the watch industry and are for reference only.

Tacs-Automatic Twin Lens TS2002B

First, try to avoid choosing a mechanical watch that is expensive relative to your Budget .

When many people choose their first mechanical watch, they will choose the most expensive watch they can buy within their ability. Especially one to two years ago, a Japanese mouthwash advertisement that was very popular on the Internet mentioned that men's watches were one-tenth of their annual income. That is, a freshman with a monthly salary of $15K should buy a $18K watch.

If you already have a good understanding of the various characteristics of mechanical watches and have done sufficient data collection on the watches you are about to buy, this approach can be reasonable and appropriate.

However, in reality, many people buy mechanical watches for the first time, and they do not have a deep understanding of watches. After someone bought a watch, they found that the mechanical watch had errors and felt uncomfortable. There are also people who don't like the frequent winding of mechanical watches and have to rely on the owner for a long time. Some people feel that the watch is bulky and unnatural when they wear it on a daily basis.

Guests of Timex (a brand that makes mostly quartz watches rather than mechanical watches) share their stories. At his first job, the customer saved a sum of money and planned to buy a better watch to reward himself, so he spent a lot of money on a Rolex Datejust. Unexpectedly, after wearing it for more than two months, I still felt that the watch did not match my style, so Datejust was banished to a corner of my home. Later, he bought many different models of quartz watches and mechanical watches , and he never picked up Datejust. If the husband bought a Seiko at that time, the cost of his repentance may not be so high.

Orient-Camera RA-AR0203Y

Second, the first mechanical watch does not need to pay too much attention to the second-hand value.

In Hong Kong, second-hand value is very important when shopping. Buy an iPhone because the recycling price of iPhones remains high, and buy Supreme because there is a second-hand market for Supreme . So when buying a watch, it is natural to think of the second-hand value of the watch.

iphone-13-pro-family-hero

The second-hand price does have its role, especially when there is an emergency! However, since it is your first time, isn’t it more interesting to choose one you like? It will only make the next owner of the watch happy. As your first mechanical watch, you wear it almost every day. Only by choosing a watch you like can you be worthy of yourself. In the future, when purchasing the second or third mechanical watch, it is not too late to consider the second-hand value.

Moreover, as your first mechanical watch, it must be worn by you day and night, and it will cause five labors and seven injuries. You wear it in your daily life, and many times the watch will not be well maintained. Therefore, don't expect too much for the second-hand price.

Lam Workshop-japanese movement vs swiss movement

Third, choose a mechanical watch with high winding efficiency.

This involves a little technical level, let's briefly explain it first. The mechanical watch provides power for the watch through automatic winding and manual winding (yes! Mechanical watches do not have batteries). Today, the power of the most common mechanical watch styles on the market can generally last from 2 to 4 days (the number of days is the power reserve ). Therefore, if the mechanical watch is not worn for a period of time, it will stop beating.

If the winding efficiency of your mechanical watch is average, no matter how long the power reserve is, you still need to readjust the time every time you pick up the watch. Therefore, chaining efficiency is very important. Because you are wearing a mechanical watch for the first time, you may not be used to winding it! Wearing it for 6 hours, and then rushing to get up to go to work the next day, the watch requires you to re-adjust the time, which will definitely make it easy for you to let go of your enthusiasm for the watch.

Generally speaking, as long as you choose a non-Chinese-made major factory movement, the winding efficiency will not be too bad. In watches priced at $2000-$6000, Japanese brand movements are more efficient than Swiss movements (Of course, each faction has its own martial arts, which cannot be generalized). Especially for the movement of Seiko , the magic lever system greatly increases the winding efficiency , also wearing it for 6 hours may bring an extra day of power to the watch. Even if the power reserve is not very long, as long as the watch is worn every other day, there is no need to readjust the time.

However, if you choose a mechanical watch, you must also be mentally prepared to know that you will often adjust the watch.

Fourth, buy licensed products!

No matter how cheap a mechanical watch is, it costs nearly 1,000 yuan. Anyone who buys something worth nearly 1,000 yuan is a normal psychological reaction to be nervous. Therefore, I suggest that the first mechanical watch must be purchased licensed. The advantage of buying a licensed watch is that it is guaranteed. Once there is a problem with the watch, it can be sent back to the original factory for repair immediately. This is the safest way. The mechanical watches sold in our Lam Workshop watch store are all licensed watches, with 1-3 years of original factory maintenance, which is a good choice for you to get started.

As for buying parallel imports or second-hand watches, you still need to accumulate experience, buy more and try more! I am Lin Tsai from Lam Workshop. I hope the article can help you. If you have other inquiries, please leave a message below. Want to buy your first mechanical watch now, please click and browse mechanical watches .

Recommended reading:

ORIENT STAR - F6, F7, F8 movements are very different

Do you want to buy an Orient watch at 10,000 points? Because it is an Orient Star AV0111L

[Mechanical watch vs quartz watch] Recognize the difference between mechanical watch and quartz watch! 5 factors teach you how to choose

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