Andreas’s Top 4 Watches That Make You Appear Smart

Whether you are reading this because you would like to communicate your smartness more effectively or because you’d like to compensate for lack of smartness, you have arrived at exactly the right place. Here’s my rundown of the Top 4 watches for making anyone look smart.

Far too often, unfortunately, watches are worn to communicate wealth. This doesn’t do justice to our beloved timepieces. Nor does this attitude value the craftsmanship that watchmakers invested in their design and manufacturing.

Fortunately, it does not have to be this way. Watches can be appreciated for their other, truer values. Designing a watch in a way that makes you appear smart requires a lot more than a prestigious brand name on the dial. It requires a distinct design or extraordinary functionality.

This article is not about so-called smartwatches. You shall appear smart, not the watch! And try not to take this too seriously — it’s just a bit of fun.

Breitling Navitimer Ref. 806 1959 Re-edition

The Navitimer Ref. 806 1959 Reedition is Breitling‘s signature model. The Navitimer is legendary. Its design is unmistakable.

Interpreting that dial requires a college degree.

But, this undeniably impressive dial is completely overloaded. Indications fill almost every part of the dial. At least the mass of indications is evenly distributed across the dial, resulting in a balanced overall design. Reading those indications demands attention. The ability to perform calculations with the slide rule realized by the scale on the turning bezel calls for someone trained in classic engineering. Interpreting that dial requires a college degree. To prepare you for requests for explanations on how to use this tool, Robert-Jan has dug out the original manual of the Breitling Navitimer 806.

Be careful not to pronounce this watch Navytimer. This watch is not about naval forces. It is about navigation. Hence, its name is Navitimer.

To learn just everything relevant about this re-edition and to tap into a mine of passion, immerse yourself in Mike’s review.

Vulcain Nautical Seventies

The Nautical Seventies from Vulcain presents another very complex dial. Orange accents of varying hues guide you through a circular no-decompression table. What recalls a roulette wheel is a reference table for the necessary length of a decompression stop at the end of a dive.

The maximum depth reached during a dive and the duration of that dive determine how long a diver needs to stay at a certain depth for a safe ascent. During a dive, the diver’s body saturates with nitrogen from the air inhaled from their tanks. When ascending, this nitrogen is set free and needs to be exhaled by the diver. If the ascent is too fast, this nitrogen might form microbubbles that can block blood vessels, causing extreme pain, paralyzes, or even the diver’s death. Therefore the ascent needs to be slow enough (i. e. providing stops of appropriate length) to allow that nitrogen to escape from the diver’s body safely.

If you can calculate your decompression stops with this watch, you are smart.

The dial of the Nautical Seventies indicates the length of those necessary stops during a diver’s ascent depending on the depth and the duration of a dive. Divers learn to read similar tables during their training to become certified. But, the circular table on the dial of the Nautical Seventies contains a considerable amount of information in quite a compact format. Even though this representation of the underlying data is more intuitive than it is on preceding models of Vulcain’s Nautical Cricket, it requires a certain amount of experience and attention to read it correctly. If you can calculate your decompression stops with this watch, you are smart.

There is even more

This watch wouldn’t be a real Vulcain if it did not also feature an alarm that you can set via the central arrow hand. This alarm shall remind you of the scheduled time to finish your dive. It certainly can be used to remind you of anything else as well. This dive watch also includes an internal turning bezel operated via the crown at 4 o’clock.

We introduced Vulcain, including the Nautical Seventies, in this post.

Breguet Marine Tourbillon Équation Marchante 5887

The keywords Breguet, Tourbillon, and Équation, tell you that we are countenancing something pricey here. That this watch also features a perpetual calendar, which Breguet presents like a bonus. One remarkable aspect of this watch is how well all these complications are integrated into a harmonious overall design. This watch is a hell of a Grand Complication, but you don’t notice that at a glance.

The reason I included the Marine Tourbillon Équation Marchante 5887 in this selection is the almost hidden indication of true solar time. There is a second minute hand carrying a decorated ring at its tip. That’s it. This design is called a running equation of time indication (Équation Marchante).

The imperfect universe

The time our watches usually display is mean solar time. According to mean solar time, each day has the same length of 24 hours. Because not even the universe is perfect, the true length of a day varies during a year. The true length of a day is the period it takes until the sun appears in the same position over a specific place on earth. The two minute hands on this watch illustrate this difference.

If your watch also indicates true solar time and you can explain the difference, the person listening to your explanations inevitably must come to the conclusion that you are extremely smart.

Outside astronomy, there are not too many applications for true solar time. But, wearing this watch, you know what time it truly is. And, as mentioned, this watch displays an obvious proof of the imperfection of the universe. A perpetual calendar already is a smart function in a watch. If your watch also indicates true solar time and you can explain the difference, the person listening to your explanations inevitably must come to the conclusion that you are extremely smart.

Learn a lot more about this watch and the evolution of Jorg’s taste in his review.

Junghans Max Bill Automatic Bauhaus

Leaving out as much as possible is usually more challenging than adding as much as possible. Here we face a different approach to smartness. Max Bill, the famous architect, artist, and designer whose influence over the Bauhaus school of design in Dessau, Germany is still felt to this day, was a master of his trade. Among his legacy are the watches and clocks he designed for Junghans, which are available as re-editions today.

Wearing a watch with such a simplistic dial in pure Bauhaus style with minor color accents suggests a pretty smart character.

The Max Bill Automatic Bauhaus is a perfect example of Max Bill’s style. Thin lines form the indexes on the dial and create a strict symmetry. The numbers of the date and the hands provide almost subliminal red accents. A gray PVD coating prevents the case from appearing shiny. Wearing a watch with such a simplistic dial in pure Bauhaus style with minor color accents suggests a pretty smart character.

Find out a few more details about this watch in this edition of This Week In Watches.