Today,
people are spending more time that ever before on outdoor sports
activities. Be it skiing, running, canoeing, fishing or hunting,
people are outside whenever they can be.
So,
sports watches are one of the best choices for their active
lifestyles. Luckily, this is the year of the sports watch.
More and more companies are designing, introducing, promoting
and selling sports watches than ever before. Sports
watches are the U.S. Army Jeep of the watch industry, if you
will - they can climb higher, dive deeper, go faster and run longer,
so they are the perfect compliment for active people. And sports
watches are not just for men. Companies are introducing these
watches for women in record numbers as well. The great thing about
sports watches is that they are refined enough to wear
to work or out to dinner, but tough enough to get down and dirty
- and you never have to worry about them, ever.
Sports
Watch Design
Sports watches are bigger than normal watches - larger,
thicker and bulkier, with good reason. They are designed and constructed
to withstand shocks, take bumps and bruises in stride, and remain
water resistant
for all kinds of sports usage. That's no problem, however, since
the trend in watches for the past few years is that bigger
is better. Some of the great sports watches on the market include
the iconic Royal Oak from Audemars
Piguet, the Nautilus from Patek
Philippe, the Hublot
Big Bang and many more.
Chronographs
The chronograph, a function that measures elapsed time, has to
be the most popular complication in the watch world, and many
sports watches feature one. Though many people don't use
their chronographs much, they do come in handy to time runs, bike
rides, swims or the time it takes to cook your egg in the morning.
The addition of a chronograph is another reason sports watches
are larger, as there has to be room on the dial for the elapsed
time counters. There were some incredible new chronographs introduced
this year, from some of the best companies in the business. Patek
Philippe transitioned its new in-house chronograph into
its regular line this year. This watch is robust and reliable,
exactly what you want in a chronograph. One of the most anticipated
introductions this year was the IWC
Da Vinci chronograph, which features a display of the chronograph
hours and minutes in a sub dial at the 12 o'clock position, at
the same time simple and intuitive.
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How
To Operate Your Chronograph
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In a
two pusher chronograph, like the Vacheron
Constantin Malte Tonneau Chronograph Special
Edition for the U.S. market, the operation is very simple.To
start your chronograph, press the top pusher once, until
you feel it click. The chronometer hand will start moving.
To stop
the chronograph, press the same pusher again until you feel
it click. The chronometer hand will stop moving. To reset
the chronograph hand, press the bottom pusher once, until
you feel it click, the chronograph hand and all the subdial
hands will return to zero.
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The
most mysterious new introduction is the Memoire 1 chronograph
from Maurice Lacroix. Billed as the first mechanical chronograph
with a memory, it is still shrouded in mystery as of the date
of this writing. Maurice Lacroix also brought its Le
Chronograph manufacture movement into its regular collection
(it was a limited edition in 2006).
TAG
Heuer introduced what might be the most complicated quartz
chronograph ever - the Caliber S, which times to 1/100th
of a second. The timekeeping is very simple as the second, hour
and minute hands perform their same functions in the chronograph
mode, making it very simple to read, and you can go back and forth
between time and chronograph mode without having to stop the chronograph.
This movement is really a mixture of a precision quartz and a
mechanical movement - with 230 parts, it's as complicated as a
mechanical movement.
For
women, Chopard
offers the Happy Sport Chronograph. The Happy Sport is
a fun watch, with the addition of a chronograph for style and
function. Ebel
has introduced the new Lady Brasilia Chronorgraph as well.
Cars
and Motorcycles
Cars have always been linked to watches, but now motorcycles seem
to be coming into the forefront. Just this year, JeanRichard
and MV Agusta announced a partnership. MV Agusta is a collector's
motorcycle, boasting the highest-priced production motorcycle
ever made (over $100,000), and collaborating with JeanRichard
on a series of MV Agusta-themed watches makes perfect sense, as
both brands are striving for well-deserved recognition in the
U.S. market.
In
other motorcycle news, Jaeger-LeCoultre
and one of the world's fastest men on a motorcycle, MotoGP
World Champion Valentino Rossi, have continued their partnership
again this year. The newest iteration is the Master Compressor
Extreme World Alarm '46,' a world time watch with a mechanical
alarm. The 46.5 mm watch is powered by the new Jaeger-LeCoultre
caliber 912, suspended in Jaeger's proprietary shock absorbing
system.
In
car news, Chopard
continues to be the sponsor of the famous Mille Miglia race, and
this year's official watch, the Mille Miglia GT XL Chrono,
is bigger and bolder than ever. Audemars
Piguet's relationship with Maserati continues, as does
Jaeger-LeCoultre with Aston Martin, Officine
Panerai and Ferrari (celebrating Ferrari's 60th anniversary
this year) and Breitling
with Bentley.
Today's
sport watches are nothing like the black plastic watches
so popular twenty years ago. The newest sports watches
are precision instruments capable of withstanding incredible shocks
and pressure. In addition, the design of sports watches
has come so far that these watches not only perform, but they
look great on your wrist as well.
