09-10-2014, 08:52 AM
I mentioned this earlier, maybe a little flippantly, but...
Watches are small clocks, and they have one primary purpose- to tell time. Some like to think of them mainly as Fashion Accessories-a regrettable attitude.
Early watches, like early clocks, were pretty dreadful. And it didn't really matter that much. Good enough, barely, to time a three minute egg, was good enough.
Watch, c1560. Very Fashionable.
Two Centuries after Doggie hinted at Din-Din time, John Harrison invented a new thing- an accurate watch.
A Chronometer:
Harrison's H4
He and a few others understood how important a Chronometer could be. Not in terms of measuring the Hundred Yard Dash, or timing the Three Minute Egg, but in just knowing where in the World one was. This was very important for those who Navigated, and their new very expensive watches were called Marine Chronometers.
Tools of the Trade- Compass, Sextant, Chronometer, Chart.
Watches got smaller; some got put on wrists. Yet, strangely after a very quick development, knowing what time it was, and where one was, pretty much stayed the same for two Centuries.
Recently, Electronics happened. LORAN-C in retrospect was awful, and very expensive. But GPS got pretty good after a while, and wasn't quite as expensive.
~$800 of pretty good.
GPS enabled tablets have become very popular for Marine Navigation lately, and Apple has the market tied up. One problem with Tablets is that they are awkward to use at sea. Also, they don't float very well. Nonetheless, I'm serious about an iPad Mini with GPS, HDMI'd to a cheap 12V, ~20", LCD display in the Nav Station, simply because nobody has done it. Having something easier at hand would be nice:
~$350; iPad/iPhone not included.
Yet, a watch still just needs to be a watch at times:
Eustace
Watches are small clocks, and they have one primary purpose- to tell time. Some like to think of them mainly as Fashion Accessories-a regrettable attitude.
Early watches, like early clocks, were pretty dreadful. And it didn't really matter that much. Good enough, barely, to time a three minute egg, was good enough.
Watch, c1560. Very Fashionable.
Two Centuries after Doggie hinted at Din-Din time, John Harrison invented a new thing- an accurate watch.
A Chronometer:
Harrison's H4
He and a few others understood how important a Chronometer could be. Not in terms of measuring the Hundred Yard Dash, or timing the Three Minute Egg, but in just knowing where in the World one was. This was very important for those who Navigated, and their new very expensive watches were called Marine Chronometers.
Tools of the Trade- Compass, Sextant, Chronometer, Chart.
Watches got smaller; some got put on wrists. Yet, strangely after a very quick development, knowing what time it was, and where one was, pretty much stayed the same for two Centuries.
Recently, Electronics happened. LORAN-C in retrospect was awful, and very expensive. But GPS got pretty good after a while, and wasn't quite as expensive.
~$800 of pretty good.
GPS enabled tablets have become very popular for Marine Navigation lately, and Apple has the market tied up. One problem with Tablets is that they are awkward to use at sea. Also, they don't float very well. Nonetheless, I'm serious about an iPad Mini with GPS, HDMI'd to a cheap 12V, ~20", LCD display in the Nav Station, simply because nobody has done it. Having something easier at hand would be nice:
~$350; iPad/iPhone not included.
Yet, a watch still just needs to be a watch at times:
Eustace