Fascination with mechanics and precision

[7enderbender]

I was just clicking around here a bit and signed up recently since I finally went and hunted down the 16600 Sea Dweller I always wanted to go with my Omega Moonwatch Automatic that has been with me for 30 years now almost daily.
Not that the list of watches I eventually want to get is complete and there are some other really cool watches in the family that will eventually go to my son (a 50s Omega, a Blancpain, a Reverso, a late 19th century Lange pocket watch...)

And I’m not surprised to find this subsection here about pens. I’ve been enjoying a Montblanc 149 for years now, same with some Meisterstück and Pelikan ball pens.

What sums up the fascination with these things that are very connected in my mind (some may call it stubborn clinging to an idealized past or snobbery)?
Who else likes or is fascinated by these things? And what do they have in common? Mechanical watches, pens, cars with manual transmission (not giving up on those yet and willing to switch brands to whomever still makes them), guns, pocket knives, Italian bicycles, guitars, tube amplifiers, vinyl record players...

[Bisquitlips]

Originally Posted by 7enderbender

I was just clicking around here a bit and signed up recently since I finally went and hunted down the 16600 Sea Dweller I always wanted to go with my Omega Moonwatch Automatic that has been with me for 30 years now almost daily.
Not that the list of watches I eventually want to get is complete and there are some other really cool watches in the family that will eventually go to my son (a 50s Omega, a Blancpain, a Reverso, a late 19th century Lange pocket watch...)

And I’m not surprised to find this subsection here about pens. I’ve been enjoying a Montblanc 149 for years now, same with some Meisterstück and Pelikan ball pens.

What sums up the fascination with these things that are very connected in my mind (some may call it stubborn clinging to an idealized past or snobbery)?
Who else likes or is fascinated by these things? And what do they have in common? Mechanical watches, pens, cars with manual transmission (not giving up on those yet and willing to switch brands to whomever still makes them), guns, pocket knives, Italian bicycles, guitars, tube amplifiers, vinyl record players...

I totally agree! All the moving parts in a Rolex and yet it is COSC! Amazing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COSC

With pens it is not so much the mechanics, but the aesthetics. Especially the Urushi and Maki-e Japanese pens. They are a true work of art!

[Dave455]

I don’t think it’s a stubborn clinging to an idealised past, the watches you quoted are among the very best of their class, and the fact that they have been for many years, reinforces that position, rather than detracts from it!

I think that a fascination with all things mechanical is definitely at the root of it. I can remember, as a child, being fascinated by locks and keys. Later it was pocket knives. Not the big bladed ones, but the multi bladed - the more ‘complications’ the better. Pens also, from an early age. Then cameras. Then watches.

I’m not a ‘brand snob’, and the names, as such, mean little to me. I wish I could be satisfied with less expensive watches. But, like a HiFi enthusiast with a developed ‘ear’, the substandard and clumsy just don’t do it for me!

Tube amps and vinyl record players? Aged 18 I didn’t get them either. I couldn’t hear the difference, though my Father could. Now, when I play digital versions of some of my favourite music it sounds awful. Even CD’s, though ‘crisp’, are not perfect. I have to use analogue to enjoy it to the max - and that old valve amp of Dad’s now sounds awesome!

[utc66]

Reviving a month old thread. I love my IBM Selectric III typewriter, with over 2,800 mechanical parts and weighs close to 35 pounds. It’s an amazing and well-built machine. I was just using it the other day to fill out some forms.

Also any Yard-o-led mechanical pencil holding well a yard (3 feet) of pencil led inside the shaft. So well built and beautiful.

[Bisquitlips]

Originally Posted by utc66

Reviving a month old thread. I love my IBM Selectric III typewriter, with over 2,800 mechanical parts and weighs close to 35 pounds. It’s an amazing and well-built machine. I was just using it the other day to fill out some forms.

Also any Yard-o-led mechanical pencil holding well a yard (3 feet) of pencil led inside the shaft. So well built and beautiful.

Well said!