More Watches for Winter Sports

More Watches for Winter Sports

Looks like we're in for lots more winter, so here are some more suggestions about watches to wear while winter-sporting. You may be up to your ears in snow, but that's no reason to keep that diver's timepiece put away.

Heading up to the ski slopes this season? Get that Seiko Mens Divers Automatic 200M out of the drawer and back around your wrist. Sure, this Seiko's depth-tested to 200 meters but it's just as perfect at a 10,000' elevation. The bright yellow face is stylish and the black rubber wrist strap won't get icy cold like a steel band will. The Hardlex crystal, screw-in case back and screw-down crown are built to hold together under pressure and keep perfect time, even while schussing down the steepest slopes.

Another excellent watch for winter sports is the Luminox Ultimate Field Chronograph. This watch has a scratch resistant, anti-reflective sapphire glass crystal that won't fog up, even in the coldest winter weather. This wonderful watch comes with your choice of matte black, creme white or sunray-blue dial and a steel or leather wrist strap. Luminox watches are durable, easy to read and look right at home on the slopes or relaxing fireside in the lodge.

Not up for anything quite so fancy? In that case, consider a Nike sports watch. Affordable and made to last, Nike sports watches come along for the ride no matter what winter sport you're into. As long as you're already here, click on over to Watches Giant and see all the wonderful winter watches we offer.
 posted by Watches Giant   

Watch Parts: Bezels and Regulators and Jewels-- Oh My!

Watch Parts: Bezels and Regulators and Jewels-- Oh My!

Ever taken an old watch apart? Hint: Don't do it, unless you either a)know exactly how to reassemble it or b)intend to make funky costume jewelry from the bits and pieces. Still, it's fascinating to know what's inside a watch and you may as well know what everything's named. Suppose for a minute that you're visiting your local watchmaker's bench and she asks you to please pass her a balance staff. You wouldn't want to hand the girl a bezel instead now, would you?

Let's begin with watch parts that you can see while the timepiece is still intact. The first thing we see is the watch face, or dial. Dials are usually a simple metal disk but can be made of other stuff as well. Some beautiful watch dials are made of thin slices of mother-of-pearl or semi-precious gemstones. Hours and minutes are shown via the display. Watches that indicate the time with hands, most watches have three- are called analog display, while watches that show the time with electronic numbers are called digital display.

The clear cover over the watch face is called the crystal and can be made of mineral glass or other transparent synthetic material. The purpose of the crystal is obvious: It simply protects the dial and keeps the watch parts inside where they belong. The crystal is attached to the watch body with a bezel. How about an aperture? Actually, an aperture is where there is nothing. See, an aperture is a tiny window on the dial, through which you view an indicator such as month or date. And a crown? Easy-- the crown is the little knurled stem-like gadget on the side that you pull out to wind or set your watch.

All in all, a watch looks fairly simple. If you dare open it --please see paragraph one again-- you will find a myriad of tiny wheels, gears, levers and springs that comprise the escapement. In a nutshell, the escapement is a set of watch parts that converts the rotary motion of the gear-train into the to-and-fro action necessary to run the watch. Confusing? It is! How amazing that the first mechanical clock was invented in the early 1300s; before this, time was measured by primitive means, like sundials. Hard to tell the time at night before Galileo, an Italian scientist, discovered the pendulum in 1581. The pendulum was an enormous improvement in timekeeping.

Yes, watches are a complicated deal. The first known wristwatch was invented by one Jacquet-Droz of Switzerland around 1790. It was, more or less, a small clock fixed to a bracelet. Over the next hundred years, the bracelet-watch evolved from a curious piece of jewelry to a wearable, somewhat dependable timepiece. The earliest known example belonged to Empress Josephine and was encrusted with emeralds and pearls. It now resides in a Paris museum.

So, if you really need to know what's inside your watch, do a Google search and see for yourself, without viewing your complicated watch parts in a pile.
 posted by Watches Giant   

Seiko Watches: Still A Classic

Seiko Watches: Still A Classic

It was 1881 when Kintaro Hattori opened the first modern clock shop in Tokyo, Japan. He was a meticulous craftsman, building the clocks he branded Seikosha with precision and care. He crafted his clocks one at a time and they became so popular that he hired ten apprentices and opened a small clock factory --the direct ancestor of today's Seiko Corporation. It took some two months to produce one dozen clocks and in 1885 they began to manufacture pocket watches.

Over the next four decades, the Seikosha company came up with one innovative idea after another, making alarm clocks, table clocks and the first musical clocks in Japan. By 1912, Hattori was toying with the notion of making the first Japanese wristwatch and in 1924, he renamed his company Seiko. Forty-three years of precision clock-making had inspired Hattori to invent and build the first classic Seiko wristwatch.

Seiko has continued to be a creative watch company, inventing the first self-winding watch in 1956 and the first quartz chronometer in 1964. That was also the year that Seiko became the official timekeeper of the Olympic Summer Games held in Tokyo. Since that time, Seiko has been the official timekeeper for several Olympic Games and other competitions where precise time-keeping is a must. Seiko is a classic, well-respected company that keeps coming up with new, exciting ideas in timekeeping. In 1969, Seiko introduced the first quartz wristwatch. Sure, quartz is fine, but why stop there? 1969 was the year that Tiffany & Company began selling the 18-karat, solid gold Seiko Astron 35SQ in New York City.

Seiko remains a fine, classic watchmaker and continues to release firsts to the world of watches. They introduced the first multi-function digital wristwatch, with stopwatch, calendar and timer features, as well as the first LCD quartz watch with a six-digit display of hours, minutes and seconds. LCD, by the way, stands for Liquid Crystal Display and is a dial that displays information with liquid crystal cells in an applied electric field.

Seiko is a classic, any way you look at it. The watches they sell in the USA come with a remarkable, three-year guarantee so you know you're getting a classic, quality timepiece. It will surely be fascinating to see what they come up with next.
 posted by Watches Giant   

Get Your RipCurl Watch Wet

Get Your RipCurl Watch Wet

With names like 'RipCurl Misbehavin', 'Baja Road' and 'Rollergirl', RipCurl watches are just asking for it. RipCurl Sports watches aren't the kind of wristwatch that you take off and leave atop your dresser at home while you go out sportin' --these babies are designed and built to come along for the ride, no matter what adventures you have in mind. Tested all the way down to one-hundred meters, RipCurl Sport Watches can take it. And, as far as RipCurl watches are concerned, the wetter, the better.

So, how do you like to get wet? Whether your favorite moistener is beach combing, surfing or cranberry picking, RipCurl has a watch that's the perfect timekeeper for the moment. RipCurl watches are water-tested all the way down to one hundred meters and come with batteries that last over two years -- an especially wonderful feature when you're that sporty sort of person who'd much rather be wearin' his RipCurl and participating in the game than winding wristwatches or paying attention to batteries.

RipCurl sports watches come in dozens of styles, from funky to biz-like, for women and men. These are quality timepieces designed for years of accuracy and enjoyment. And talk about your stylish wristwatch-- RipCurl watches are cool for school, look good at work and provide you with the correct time whenever you're sporting around. Collect a different color and style RipCurl for every day of the week. And then get every one of your RipCurl watches wet. They like it!
 posted by Watches Giant   

Great Surfing Locations To Take Your Casio G Shock Tough Solar Watch

Great Surfing Locations To Take Your Casio G Shock Tough Solar Watch

So you're all decked out in your Casio G Shock Tough Solar Watch and surf's up. Where to go? Local surfers are generally tight-lipped when it comes to secret, sacred surf spots. Part of surfing's appeal is the wild-flavored solitude that a day in the waves presents. Underwater, your hearing takes on an other-worldly echo and you can --at last-- hear yourself think. But even in a surreal daydream zone like this, you will eventually find yourself needing to know what time it is. One glance at your wrist and reality begins to break through.. --It is precisely Eleven-oh-Four Pee Em. Just enough time for two more sets at Swami's and then it's time to paddle back in, squeak out of the wet suit, rack the boards and grab a bag of tacos on the way home. Old-school surfers remember when getting to Swami's -behind and below the oceanside ashram in Encinitas, California- wasn't so easy. 1970s-era wooden steps were burnt down regularly by local 'surf-nazis' --These days there are simple, easily navigable concrete stairs all the way down to the beach. Sure, it's increased the crowds, but the tubular waves of Swami's remain.

Good thing you wear a Casio G-Shock Tough Solar Watch-- You can always depend on your Casio G-Shock to save your alarms with precise accuracy, and give you the correct time, every time. Casio G Shock Tough Solar Watches are brave enough to accompany you to any surf break, even on your quest to become the newest Boomer Beach Blood Donor. Boomers Beach is just south of and around the corner from the La Jolla Cove. If you've ever shredded at Boomers -or Boomers has shredded you- you understand just how much brutality your Casio G-Shock can take! Wipe out and bang your Casio G-Shock on a mussel-covered rock and it still comes out tick-tick-ticking!

If La Jolla's just a little bit too bleach-blonde for you, paddle six hours up the coast or jump in your Jeep and head north twenty minutes or so up I-5 to San Clemente. Be sure to notice how beautiful your Casio G-Shock Tough Solar Watch is when that golden Pacific sun glints off it. Turn west at the Christianitos turnoff, park in the lot next to (not at) Carl's Junior, lock your car tightly and follow the single line of surfers hurrying along the one-mile trail to Trestles beach. Yes, it's a far hike and entirely worth it. Have some patience and catch the most righteous lefts you've ever had in your life! Take a Casio G-Shock on your next surfin' safari and always know what time it is. It's time to catch some waves. Cowabunga!
 posted by Watches Giant