Watch Gang-2nd Watch, and my Dislike of Digital Watches-Filippo Loreti

    I never really liked digital watches, though I in fact own quite a few. Back in the early 70's, digital watches were very expensive, but the price dropped rapidly and by the 80s most were pretty cheap. Either way, I never wanted one. I liked being able to tell time, I liked watching the second hand on my watch and checking my resting pulse (often in the low 40s in high school-I was in great shape and was very much a distance swimmer. Even checking my resting pulse right now, it's still in the low 50s. If only my blood pressure weren't so high...) during dull high school classes. 

    Nerds and rich kids had digital watches. In the early 80s Casio made watches with calculators, but that was for Math people, not me. I stuck with my analogue watches.

    Until the late 80s, and I started training for the San Francisco Marathon. I'm not really a runner, though I've logged five marathons, and many 1/2 marathons, 10Ks and 5ks over the years. When I was training for that first one in '91, I really didn't know much about what I was doing. The friend I was going to run with suggested a system of run ten minutes and walk one, and in order to do that effectively, a digital watch was necessary, especially with a timer. I could set the time for 11 minutes, and when the alarm sounded, I'd walk for the first minute and run the next ten. Even now, I can run a long way using that system.

    I looked around some, and settled on the Timex Ironman. With the Ironman, I could time my runs as well as use the run 10, walk 1 system. I was also doing triathlons (slowly) during that time period, and the Ironman could track each split of my race. And most importantly, they were cheap.

My 2nd and 3rd Ironman

Fellow Ironman Wearer, Bill Clinton

 

    I only wore it for running or triathlons, and the one I like the best is the classic Ironman. Over the years, I've picked them up where I could-the problem is that most people used them when they had them, and old ones are pretty beat up. Apparently I wasn't the only one who liked the classic Ironman-while watching that Hulu documentary on Hillary Clinton, I noticed her husband Bill wore one all through his Presidency. I wasn't a big Clinton fan, and that might have been a deal breaker for me had I been aware. No matter-my Ironman (Ironmen?) watches are tools that I often use-they're great for timing splits in swimming, and the watch is easier to use than many stop watches.

 

 I bought two or three Ironman watches in the late 80s-early 90s, and then picked up two more on eBay in the last six years to have more colors. What I like about the original is that the Start/Stop button is on one side of the face, and the Split/Reset button is on the other. I think it makes it easy to get relay splits, and my other digital watches-even from Timex, have the features set up on different buttons.

When Freestyle Shark watches came out in the late 90s, I really liked the colors. But they were digital, and I don't buy digital watches...until I saw this red one on sale at Urban Outfitters two or three years ago. I initially didn't like it because it was hard to read, but then discovered that the battery was worn out when I got it, and when I put in a new battery, reading it was much easier.

The Redsand watch I bought at Pacific Sunwear about 10 years
ago. Even though the movement is like an analog watch, since there are words and not hands, it's a digital watch also. I thought it looked pretty cool, and though it wasn't on sale, it wasn't too expensive, so I bought it on a whim.

   

 

 

 

 

 I love almost all things Apple, but I do not have an Apple Watch. Though talking into my watch like Dick Tracey

has a certain appeal, everything I've read says what the Apple Watch does best is.....be a watch. And yes, I know that you can set it to mimic an analog watch, but then why not just wear an analogue watch?

I think these are actually all my digital watches. The last one I bought at a thrift store, and use it for yard work.

And now, what most people are waiting for-the unveiling of my second Watch Gang watch....

  

The watch was delivered in a plain white envelope that contained the box on the right inside the box on the left. The illustration of the chronograph got me excited-I like a good chronograph, even though I don't really use all the dials. It just makes the watch seem more important.

I opened the box, and saw the above watch in a rather nice package. Interestingly, it was running when I opened it, and set to Ventura time. It was a Filippo Loreti, a brand that I had not heard of. Before Googling the watch, I took a good look at it.

Stainless steel, a solid build, screw down case back, and kind of thick, all things that I like. But....

It's very monochromatic, and I like my watches to have a bit of pop. This is all shades of silver. I checked the spec page of their website. The Odyssey comes in eight different colors, ranging in list price from $197 to $262, and every other one I prefer to this color. It is a good wrist size, but just like my first Watch Gang watch, the Aeromat, the monochromatic nature doesn't thrill me. It has a Seiko movement, which is okay, and is supposed to be water resistant. It has a cheap crystal, and it isn't very luminous.

So, the short version is I'm not really thrilled. Two watches, two strikes. Let's see what next month brings.