The Splurge: Victorinox Infantry Vintage in Black or Brown & Green – $399.90 ($925)
This price is through the flash sale site Rue La La. Amazon has
Some people might think a hand-wound watch is one step too far back in the past, but you’d be surprised how oddly satisfying winding a watch can be. Much better (and faster) than standing there swinging a self wind auto back and forth to charge it up. And there’s none of the hypocrisy of taking off your automatic, only to drop it on a plug-in watch winder. Winding the crown until you feel a bit of resistance is kinda like popping bubble wrap. Only one of these will look a lot better on your wrist than packing material. But you’ll pay for that satisfaction. Quite a bit in fact.
Sapphire crystal, 100m water resistance, exhibition case back, 44mm but wears smaller.
$400 – $500 seems to be what this Victorinox model goes for. Hamilton has a much smaller (38mm) mechanical casual, also Swiss Made, for $255
And then of course there’s ditching the hand wind thing and sticking with a tried and true automatic like a Hamilton’s Khaki King
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You can pick up a solid Chinese hand wind for $70 if you’re curious. I agree its satisfying to manually wind yourself but between my 3 automatic/mechanical watches I always have to reset the time every day I change.
“Much better (and faster) than standing there swinging a self wind auto back and forth to charge it up.”
Or, you know, just put it on…
Also, I’ve never understood the “hypocrisy” comment regarding watch winders. I don’t have a hand-wound watch, but if I got one it would be because of the movement, not some primal urge to wind it myself.
I used to be a huge watch guy back in the 90s. Now, I don’t even own a watch. I should get back on the wagon… But this watch isn’t the one to do it for me. I can get a halfway decent suit for that price with tailoring…
What engine is that?
Any well made automatic watch (except Japanese and Chinese, for strange design reasons) can be wound by hand the exact same way as a manual. I own six beautiful automatics, but no watch winder. Instead, I take the time to wind each of them every night. Believe me, winding them is the kind of commitment and attention to detail that makes shining your favorite shoes so enjoyable.
I think it’s a decent price for a mechanical from Victorinox – their quartz watches seem fairly good.
I just don’t like the face and 44mm is monstrous, regardless of how small it wears.
I’m lucky enough to own more autos than I should, and only one of the bunch hand winds (a cheap Chinease made Stuhrling no less.) Seiko 5 is a no. Same with my Orient Explorer.
“Or, you know, just put it on…” I don’t think I move enough in my sleep to charge it up. Not quite sure about wearing a watch to bed either.
If you like to collect, having more than a couple autos means you’re going to have to wind em’ at the end of the day (or every other) to keep them going. And thus, the swinging back and forth thing.
I think the hypocrisy only applies to those who scoff at Quartz because of the new-fangled batteries inside, then go home and more or less run their self winding watches off electricity.
auto vs quartz doesn’t really bother me too much but I personally don’t like the numbers and would rather go for lines or roman numerals.
350 5.7L V8
That’s one way to keep your automatic watches wound.
Any Autos I’ve owned all wound manually – that’s how they got wound before winders. Only exception was a old vintage that probably needed service. Check your owners manual for instructions.
I wind and set my auto by hand before wearing. No winder needed.
The leaf springs help too.
Were they all expensive and/or Swiss? Lots of the Japanese models (Seiko and Orient, a lot of what we’re wearing around here) use movments (Seikos S726 is one of them I guess) that don’t have a combined hand-wind/self-wind option anymore. Thus, the holding between thumb and index finger and swinging thing.
I own too many autos to keep them all wound. I just pick one out in the morning and wind/set it as I drink my first cup of coffee. I find it a nice way to start my day. Some of my vintage Seikos (and Citizens) actually do handwind.
I prefer the Hamilton to the Victorinix, but that’s matter of personal taste. I don’t think you could go wrong with any of these.
Though I’d love to own one, I’ll stick to hunting the thrift stores. This price is way out of reach for most people.
Actually I don’t know any Chinese Auto movement that doesn’t hand-wind, or any modern ones that doesn’t handwind and hack. Even the lowest end movement, the ST-6D and DG-2800 does both. Actually the “Chinese versions” of Japanese non-handwind and hacking movemnets are modified to add hand-wind feature (DG-2800 and ST16).
The Japanese movements took out hand-winding feature in 1980s so that the movement can function without maintain for 10 years. Which actually give quartz a run for it’s money in places where batteries are expensive and hard to obtain. (as least for a while before quartz became ridiculously cheap and ubiquitous)
Personally, I just let the watch ran stop and just give it a quick adjustment and wind in the morning if I need to wear it. Why let the movement go through the wear and tear when you’re not using it.
I’m probably asking to be ridiculed here but I am a HUGE Invicta fan. As far as a solid watch at a can’t be beat price, for me they do it. Being a large guy also I find that most standard watch sizes feel too small and Invictas tend to run larger. The Subaqua Noma 3 I am wearing right now uses the same movement that Maurice Lacroix have and the watch was $300 vs $3,000.