Why field watches are the only real tool watches left

we all know by now that any watch can be dressed up as a luxury watch a plain steel dress watch throw the movement into a gold case and boom it's luxury dive watch make it out of expensive materials use white gold plots and apply intricate dial work sports watch chronograph everything can be made luxury no matter the tool Origins but there's one type of watch where I think it's almost impossible it's the field watch let's dive in we have to start by defining what I see as a field watch it's not as easy as you might think a Chrono is instantly recognizable because of the Dual pushes and most likely some version of a techim meter divers and gmts are also easy to spot because the bezel are a dead giveaway the field watch however is far more subtle at its most simple State the field watch is basically a dress watch no complications with a highly legible dial and easy to read numerals instead of stick or plot our indicators it remains a field watch until such time that it gets a triangle at the 12:00 position when it becomes a pilot's watch yeah the base design of a field watch watch is so simple that very small changes turn it into a pilot's watch or an officers watch or a naval watch or ultimately a dress watch the field watch at its call though invites use as a tool it's rugged it's hard wearing it's the ultimate beta watch ignoring of course any kind of jamman or sunto or G-Shock that would most likely do a better job in the field than most courts or mechanical field watches then we have the options a ton of Brands make field watches some brands are because of their history associated with field watches for one reason or another CWC comes to mind and Hamilton comes to mind the Rolex Explorer and the Tudor Ranger also come to mind which to my knowledge have never been officially used in a military or field Personnel context but the idea of a watch that went somewhere in or around an expedition to Mount Everest gets included in my stter definition of a field watch from there you would be hardpressed to find a watch that has the classic field wash aesthetic that costs more than the Explorer but it is possible to find some there's the showart Lu officer which I had to include in the video simply because it's called the officer but realistically this is a watch that was worn by General that has never set foot in the trenches it's yellow gold and it those big numerals are absent patk Philip though has us covered it's the 5226 which of course isn't marketed as a field watch but look at it syringe hands like a Hamilton large legible numerals like the Hamilton time and date only like a Hamilton High Contrast dial like a Hamilton yeah it's white gold but who would know that at first glance that's our starting point a Hamilton khaki the ranger the Explorer and a pat Philipe 5226 now why is it close to impossible to make a field watch luxury I've had this working theory on how you make really good watches for a while which I call my theory of addition and subtraction it goes like this when you're making a luxury watch you start with everything that that needs to be in a luxury watch and subtract until you find the right balance when you want to make a tool watch luxury you start with the base tool design and add until it becomes luxury without losing the tool Origins you want to make an Ultra Luxury high-end sports watch what goes into a Ultra high-end luxury sports watch you need luxury materials gold Platinum ceramic you want high polish detailing you want intricate finishing you want detailed dials you can't get away with with an unadorned movement possibly you even want precious gems complications they're also an option with all I've described that's a 38 mm hublo classic fusion with pave diams see my point okay it's an ugly watch but you know it's a hublo so whatever let's try again Rolex day Turner leopard print there are tons of examples like the two I mentioned what you should have in your mind is the connection that just because you take all the parts that you associate with a luxury watch it doesn't guarantee be a goodlooking luxury watch you have to exercise restraint to build a luxury watch that is truly attractive restraint is subtraction you slowly dial it back until you get to the simplest interpretation of luxury that you can get away with too much engraving too many details and you've gone too far so you just keep dialing back this isn't to say that there aren't people out there that like fully pave gem set watches but I would make a bet that most people would choose the less gy the more restrained interpretations over the in your face and over the top models they also the restrained models are the ones that get remembered more those are the ones that turn into icons not the gemset models then there's the opposite end of the scale think of a basic tool watch a diver or a pilot's watch or a field watch what comes to mind simple case rugged finishing legibility Simplicity everything about a true tool watch at its core is about the functionality the problem with tool watches are that they're cheap but you as a watch manufacturer want to charge as much as possible and you're under pressure from the Apple watch so you have to move upm Market you have to convince people to pay more for your watch because that's where the big margins are so you have to find a way of upgrading those tool watches that's addition you take the base watch and slowly add luxury details like materials finishings and complications you can do this with a DI you can do this with a pilot's watch and of course you can do this with a field watch but most most of you will agree that at some point a tool watch that has been upgraded too much ceases to be a tool watch there's always some level of subjectivity to this I'm sure there are people out there with white gold submariners that actually still go diving with them I've got no doubt that there's likely someone out there that uses their patake travel time as their personal Pilots watch when they're flying their CIS now or potentially their Lear jet but generally speaking most of us look at a watch and say that watch has lost its tool watch origins in search of luxury that's a subjective line of course but there are some lines that I think most would agree are clear rubicons a yellow gold sub is likely for most people from a tool perspective A Bridge Too Far an IWC big Pilots watch with a perpetual calendar is cool but the complication is also going too far when considering what you're expecting from a simple legible pilot watch some people in fairness would even you know feel that paying for an IWC pilot over a Laker or a Stova is a bridge too far the IWC because of the brand and the price alone make them feel you know it's not a tool watch anymore for others it's a meteorite dial and a Rolex GMT it's cool maybe but it's not a tool anymore this is where we apply this logic to the Hamilton the ranger the Explorer and the pic the Hamilton khaki is almost the most basic interpretation of a tool style field watch consider the base 38 mm khaki field the case is fully sand blasted there isn't a polished surface anywhere on that case the dial is a simple matte White it has no Sunray effect no shunbun Grand SEO detailing the crown is big and functional the syringe hands are black I think they DLC coated there's Loom on key spots on the dial and on the hands but there's no applied Loom plots and there are no applied arm markers even the strap is NATO it doesn't get much more field watch than that you get 80 hour of power Reserve 50 m of water resistance what more could you conceivably need from a field watch it doesn't even need a compass bezel to be able to find northsouth east and west you can do that entirely without a bezel moving One Step Up we get to the Ranger from chuda you can get it on a steel bracelet now that's not technically necessary from a tool watch perspective but it's fully brushed and so it keeps its utilitarian Vibe the movement is likely a bit better than the H50 that's in the Khaki but it's behind a closed case so there's no showing off it's still acting like a tool watch it's still got a simple black dial with no special finishing it's still no applied markers the case gets a tiny bit of fing but it's not a lot the upgrades are largely not aesthetic but rather functional you get a screw down Crown you get a great bracelet you get 100 m of water resistance compared to the K key you're still getting a real tool field watch just of a overall better quality and then we get to the Explorer for reference I'm comparing it to the modern Explorers so the 40 or 36 mm or potentially the older 214270 the 39 mm this is where you start to see a true luxury field watch the case is the classic oyster case and that means the flanks have a high polish the crown is small dainty even and aesthetically it's a perfect fit for the case but it's also less functional the case upper is beveled like the Ranger and surrounding the dial is a high polish bezel and the dial applied markers make their appearance white gold no less this watch comes out of the same family of Brands as chuda but compared to the ranger they have little in common this watch is luxury now how luxury is it explain to me the major differences between this watch and an Oyster Perpetual sure the bezel is Dome differently the op is more rounded there are no numerals on the dial on the op and the op has far more colorways when it comes to dial options but basically you can boil it down to the fact that there's a 3 six and a nine on the dial and a more rounded bezel once's a Fielder watch the others a luxury starter sports watch finally there's the 5226 which I have never had the nerve to ask the ad0 to take out of the case but I've drooled over it more than once granted nobody really thinks this is a field watch but I've included it to prove a point aesthetically the 5226 has a lot in common with the rager the Kaki and the Explorer it's got a simple case time and date simple dial with clear legible numerals it's got syringe hands like the Hamilton applied numerals like a Rolex white gold of course but you know who would know it has a khy desert chucker boot kind of leather strap that could easily pass for a field watch strap but we all know the 5226 is not a field watch and the Explorer barely is either but but why all tool watches eventually lose their connection to their tool Origins like I said a yellow gold Submariner a perpetual calendar big pilot people will buy a glass suit CQ for close to $112,000 and we'll still call it a tool watch but nobody would call the pic 5226 a tool watch or a field watch a lot of people would question to which extent the Bas Explorer is still a true field style tool watch if there's one watch where enthusias go made for the old style Rolexes it's likely the Explorer and why because it comes across as more authentic it's less adorned compared to the modern versions it's a little less polished the bracelet is functional at best and the luxury elements of a 14710 are just that bit more restrained compared to the current models go even further back and you lose those applied markers and all the white gold even going for 36 mm over 40 mm makes for a watch that feels less about being seen about being luxury and more about actually having a true functional purpose and don't even get me started on the muted reception of the twoone Explorer what I've said so far are still just Impressions the key though is the nature of a field watch which boils down to two things first is Simplicity the field watch is the simplest of watches at its core it doesn't even necessarily have a date complication it's time only the consequence of this to me at least is that the margin for adaptation is very narrow take a dive watch and put on a shiny ceram bezel and it still looks like a dive watch because of that characteristic bezel but put on a sunr dial on a field watch and it doesn't look simple anymore it looks smart casual or dressy even second is the field watch's similarity to a dress watch the thing that differentiates a dress watch from a field watch is largely polish the type of leather used on the strap and markers instead of numerals which brings us back to the 5226 that's why white gold textured dial high polish most people will instantly categorize it as a dress watch over a field watch the Explorer like I said earlier in the comparison to the Oyster Perpetual the difference isn't huge one could easily replace the other the Explorer is trading such a fine line in terms of being a field Style watch over being a smart casual dress style watch even the Hamilton khaki has an example of this just think of the murf there are just small changes to that watch and it's no longer a fuel watch to most people they would call it a smart casual dress style watch to some extent the whole tool watch discussion is a bit of a stretch as somebody will likely say in the comments a cashio G-Shock gets the job done from a tool perspective your phone tells the time and quartz is more accurate for any kind of timing but setting aside that argument which I do largely agree with there is still a market for people who want a luxury watch that still feels more like a tool and less like luxury there's a reason why people are in love with the tudip pagos fxd those fixed lug scream tool even though 99% of buyers will never be in a situation with fixed lugs unnecessary people love titanium and it's not generally because we have millions of watch owners that are allergic it's because titanium tends to look more tlsh not everybody wants a shiny two-tone Submariner with a Blue Bezel and here we have the field Watch the watch that is most difficult to make luxury and still be categorized by buyers as a true to watch because it's so simple in its base form the field watch to me is a burger stick with me it'll make sense in a minute I've been to Michelin restaurants and high-end restaurants I've had high-end pasta Carbonaro with the best Guan chal and handmade pasta and the best cheese I've tried luxury interpretations of cesa salad of fish and chips of sushi and in almost all cases I've appreciated those luxury interpretations but the humble Burger fagra does not make that burger better Gold Leaf does not make it better I tried it into buy once it was a hellish experience 70-year-old stil and cheese does not make it better wagu beef is overrated in a burger the best burger is the simplest Burger the uncomplicated burger like the field watch the best version is the simplest one the uncomplicated one the unpretentious one which in a time where watch manufacturers are trying to make us spend more money is something that I find refreshing liberating even not everything has to be shiny and Polished and gold and it's cool that the humble field watch resists the urge to change which is your favorite which is your most authentic field Style watch let me know in the comments like subscribe cheers

Channel: This Watch, That Watch

Views: 188,852

Keywords: hamilton khaki, tudor ranger, rolex explorer, patek 5226, field watch, luxury field watch, rolex, tudor

Id: 9i25D1ZiPM0

Length: 14min 42sec (882 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 02 2024