
Mark Twain’s Quest to Bring Affordable Watches to the Masses - bryanrasmussen
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/mark-twains-quest-bring-affordable-watches-masses-180972813/
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hristov
Everyone that wants to get into tech investing should read about Mark Twains
misadventures in investing. Current stories about tech investing and investing
in general are greatly affected by survivor bias. If you are not a successful
investor you do not become famous your story does not get told, so many more
people get to make the same mistakes you did.

Mark Twain on the other hand was famous for a completely different reason, and
he is a great story teller to top it off. So his stories did get told. And
they are very illuminating about how difficult technology investing really is.

He was very lucky in this watch investment story. I am sure he was able to get
most of his money back mostly because he was famous and he threatened to
expose the watchmakers about their shady dealings. The ordinary person in his
place would have suffered more losses.

Another very illuminating story is his investment in automatic type setting
machines. Here one would think he had all the advantages. He had worked as a
type setter as a kid and as a journalist later on. As a writer he worked with
many publishers. He was very familiar with the printing and news paper
industries. He knew very well that an automatic type setting machine was
sorely needed and would make much money. And he was right, an automatic
typesetting machine did make lots of money, but not the one he invested in.
The company he invested in failed.

So yeah ... tech investing is not easy.

~~~
Phillipharryt
The fantastic coincidence being the man who created the typesetting machine he
invested in, had the last name Paige. I love aptonyms.

And here's an interesting read if you want to follow up about the machine.

[http://www.twainquotes.com/paige.html](http://www.twainquotes.com/paige.html)

~~~
neighbour
The library investigator's name is actually Bookman? That's amazing. That's
like an ice cream man named "Cone."

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vinay427
Thanks to better technology, quartz watches are now cheaper, easier to
maintain, almost always more accurate, and often more robust to shocks and
damage. Even the cheapest quartz watches are often more accurate than a $500
(or more) mechanical watch today, and more expensive digital watches are
certainly more accurate than anything mechanical no matter the price.

For functionality, then, it seems to me like affordability of watches has been
significantly progressed or even attained.

~~~
digikazi
That's very true. My two quartz watches, a Seiko and a Timex are both
reasonably cheap, accurate and save for the odd battery change maintenance-
free. My mechanical Seiko on the other hand.... it's beautiful but it seems to
have a mind of its own. In the 8 months that I had it it started gaining about
5min a week. I understand automatics do gain or lose a couple of minutes a
week, but even so. After being spoiled by the accuracy of quartz, that bugs
me.

~~~
craigsmansion
Just give them a couple of decades. Chances are your quartz watches will no
longer work, whereas your mechanical watch will happily tick along, and can
still be repaired if it ever breaks down.

But 42 seconds a day is quite a lot. You could try to have it regulated (or do
it yourself if you're feeling adventurous).

~~~
vinay427
All of my sub-$30 digital quartz watches are still working and are within a
few seconds of the current time around 10 years after being purchased and set.
A mechanical watch would likely need much more maintenance in that period,
perhaps even to keep it running.

I still have an automatic mechanical watch, for what it's worth, and in theory
it should last longer when maintained but will likely cost far more every year
than one of my digital quartz watches would cost to replace even every few
years.

~~~
chris11
I'd say a major quality problem in cheap watches is water resistance. Before I
knew much about diving, I tried snorkeling with a couple really cheap watches.
They both died. There are some good cheap dive watches, like the Casio
MDV106-1A. But in general I wouldn't want to get a cheap watch wet. 30m WR
just won't cut it.

~~~
kennywinker
Hackaday story on waterproofing (700m) the casio f91w by hand... does not look
difficult at all!
[https://hackaday.com/tag/casio-f-91w/](https://hackaday.com/tag/casio-f-91w/)

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bigie35
A Seiko 5 is a great entry level automatic watch for anyone looking to get
their first watch. Cheap, reliable, good looking.

~~~
gattilorenz
Yep. Or, perhaps cheaper, a Vostok Amphibia, but the quality control went down
over the years, so it might not be as amphibious as the name suggest (I've got
a very rusty Amphibia, now).

~~~
billfruit
Or perhaps even the 10$ or so Chinese Tevise automatics.

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AwesomeFaic
As a recovering watch collector (~30 down to 5 in recent months), there's a
special feeling I get when I wear a nice mechanical watch, especially with an
exhibition case (crystal on the wrist-facing side to view the movement). The
intricate and precise manufacturing and assembly of these tiny objects is
astounding and tell so much history of not just the brand but horology in
general. Quartz watches are certainly cheaper and more accurate, but they
still lack the character found in mechanical pieces (for a while I collected
Seiko 7A28s, the first analog quartz chronograph). Analogous to a pristine
vinyl record vs its CD equivalent, I guess. Not saying quartz is bad, but if
you find yourself developing an emotional attachment to timepieces, explore
some affordable mechanical options. A great option is the Seagull 1963, a
mechanical chronograph with an exhibition case and a lot of character for like
300 bucks.

Right now I wear an Oris 65 daily and I have two Bulovas (Lunar Pilot &
Accutron Spaceview) for different occasions/outfits.

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Yuval_Halevi
When it comes to pricing the product watches and glasses are similar in many
ways.

Companies can definitely reduce the price but the price is a status quo in
those products.

~~~
sdrothrock
> Companies can definitely reduce the price but the price is a status quo in
> those products.

This is why I always advise glasses-wearing friends and families to buy
glasses whenever they come visit Japan; prices are MUCH lower than in the US
without the Luxottica tax.

~~~
DrStalker
I buy glasses online from Zenni optical, who make them in China. (there are
other companies that do this, but Zenni is the one Iv'e used) They start at $6
for frames and prescription lenses, and they have multiple styles under $20
that match the shape and look I prefer in my glasses.

It's really nice to have glasses cheap enough that I've got spare sets at
home, at work and in the car; and not "my old set with the badly scratched up
lenses" spares but "slightly different style frames" spares. It's hard to
explain to someone that doesn't wear glasses just how much peace of mind you
get from that.

~~~
Qworg
An in-between is Warby Parker - I like being able to try on the glasses in
store (or shipped to door). Roughly $100-$150.

~~~
aidenn0
In on the fence with my warby parker glasses. They seem to scratch far easier
than my previous lenses. After 18 months I can't wear them in the dark anymore
as they are so scratched that off axis light causes terrible glare.

On the other hand, I can buy new glasses five times as often, and I usually
will break or lose my glasses due to misfortune within 7 years, so it's still
cheaper.

~~~
ctordtor
I tend to be ridiculously un-careful with my specs except with how I clean
them, my current glasses are regular plastic with no coatings and they haven't
scratched yet. I wash them under warm water with dish detergent and my fingers
and them hit them with compressed air or a micro fiber cloth to dry. I wonder
how you are cleaning yours as my current pair are over a year old and I can't
find a single scratch.

~~~
mrob
Mine are also regular uncoated ADC plastic, and I wash them with warm water +
dish detergent + microfiber cloth. I then rinse under a thin stream of running
water, slow enough that it has laminar flow, and I angle the glasses so the
water hits the lens close to parallel to the surface. The water sheets off the
lens without splashing and leaves it visually flawless. I always rinse the
microfiber cloth before use to remove any grit or abrasive dust, and I avoid
touching the lenses with anything but the wet microfiber cloth.

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rbobby
That is perhaps the best picture of Mark Twain I've ever seen.

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godelmachine
Coincidental that I read this exactly 5 min after I broke glasses of my
wristwatch, which was gifted to me by someone close.

Wondering how to fix my watch now.

~~~
ctordtor
The glass face of a watch is often called a crystal for reasons unclear to me.

~~~
peteri
I assume that it's because the better ones are made of sapphire.

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DHPersonal
It’s interesting that the brand became Timex, because I came to the same
conclusion as Mark Twain: Timex watches have all the features I want but
aren’t priced extremely high. I want a timekeeping device, not a fashion
statement, and Timex watched excel at that.

