Tips on Buying a Watch. “Watch Information Center: Tips and Advise on Purchasing a Watch”] Purchasing a quality watch can be a most enjoyable experience, often shared with loved ones and friends alike. It is a process which allows the buyer and or recipient a unique and special way to express themselves. To a certain degree it is a reflection of who a person is – and what they want to project outwardly.

What style watch is right for me? There are many different styles of watches to choose from such as sports watches, luxury watches, designer watches, expression watches, etc. In addition you need to consider the personality of the person who will be wearing the watch. Keep in mind, that men generally prefer muted colors; especially on for the band if it is leather and women are amenable to wearing flashier colors for the watch face and or band combined.

What material choices do I have? In most cases quality luxury watches are offered in hardened steel, gold (14kt. & 18 kt.) and platinum – and, as is many times the case, these metals can be combined in the watch case itself and or in the bracelet band. If purchasing a sports watch that will really be used in rugged or demanding surroundings keep in mind that gold, especially 18 kt gold is much softer that steel or titanium and could scratch. That being said, gold is still preferred over steel when purchasing a luxury timepiece; even a sports watch in many circumstances.

Quartz or Mechanical Timepieces – What’s the Difference? There are dizzying amounts of style choices, but when it comes to technology in watches – there are only two choices: Quartz or Mechanical.

Mechanical Watches: A mechanical watch historically represents all of what the “classic” timepiece is all about, real craftsmanship. There are some watch collectors who consider mechanical watches the only real watches. The first mechanical wristwatch was invented by a watch repairer from the Isle of Man (British Isles) named John Harwood in 1923 and seven years later the design was improved by Rolex and it was named the Oyster Perpetual.

There are two main types of mechanical watches – self winding and manual winding. An automatic or self-winding watch is a mechanical watch, whose mainspring (rotor) is automatically wound by the natural motion of the arm of the person wearing the watch, so to make it unnecessary wind the watch manually or with a watch-winder. These days most mechanical watches sold are self-winding (automatic).

Quartz Watches: In Quartz watches, a specially designed battery activates a Quartz crystal inside the movement that vibrates very rapidly; dozens of times per second. These vibrations are then translated into impulses by a miniature computer chip that drives an electronic motor, which moves the watch's hands.

Mechanical vs. Quartz – Which is Better? There is no real answer to that, except to say that mechanical watches, either self winding or manual are more closely linked to classical watch history and true craftsmanship, such names as Rolex and Patek Philippe; and these watches do require more maintenance and upkeep and furthermore often can lose up to 2-3 seconds per day. Quartz watches are generally thought of as modern watches and can last a couple of years on a battery, and do not require as much maintenance. In the end, speak to your watchmaker or retailer and discuss the matter with him or her – or simply buy what you like.

Watch Features – What do I Really Need? There are functionality choices when making a decision of purchasing a new watch such as: Chronographs; which measure continuous or discontinuous time; Water Resistant; which means the watch, when tested, will not develop internal humidity or damage; Perpetual Calendars; which track of the day and or month on a continuous basis; Dual or Multi Time Zone; watch will simultaneously show time zones from two or more cities; Moon Phases; Alarms; Low Battery Indicators or inter-changeable bands.