Like many of you, I have a full time job, which requires me to sign off tons of paper, because let’s face it, I’m a professional desk diver! The deepest depth my LHD has ever reached in the water is in the super deep side of my swimming pool of 100CM, yup, used CM to so I can add two extra zeroes!
Which brings to the question, having a watch with a date complication is quite helpful when one is required to know the date of the month. However, watch companies often treat the date display as an afterthought, many date windows are sadly, gruesome and some are, outright atrocious. A date window executed well, brings symmetry to the watch and also provide aesthetics otherwise wouldn’t be noticed, combining functionality and beauty, icing on the cake! When treated as an afterthought…the effects can mean a loss of sale or ridiculed on the internet forums and social media.
On the other side of the spectrum, as one’s collection expands, having to set the time and also date and/or day, can become a hassle, especially if you do not have a winder for watches. To set the time in the morning before work can be a hindrance. Let’s be honest here, that extra 60 seconds of sleep in the morning feels like 2 hours of extra sleep. So having to set the time and date can be annoying. If one is a seasoned collector with a collection of vintage watches, which often doesn’t have a quick set date function, this can get old, FAST! In addition, even with the quick set date function of the modern watch, if you have quick fingers, you can move pass the current day and now have to reset again, going 31 days, lucky if you are in month of February. In addition, unless you have an annual calendar or perpetual calendar, the annoying 30 vs. 31 days or the month of February can force one to pull hairs out, even if you have a winder as you have to reset all the dates on your watches with the display
And some of us, who have a narcissistic need to post our watch photos on social media, which I am very guilty of doing and also have an OCD problem of posting the right date on the day of the post, the need to set up the dates for shots can be quite bothersome. Compared to a no date watch, such as a Speedmaster Pro, you can take the shot ahead of time, on a day off and post the picture at a later time and not worry about the date not matching the date of post!
For example, a beautiful Moser from my dear friend @watchestolove
And one I took with my Black Bay Red, the lack of date makes setting the watch easier and much better symmetry.
Now that I have given my arguments for both dates and no date watches, my vote is still for a no date watch, given my expanding collection. However, I will purchase a watch with a date display as long as it is well executed and doesn’t violate any of the things I find offensive from points made earlier. Unfortunately, some of the more well executed date windows on watches happens to be out of my price range. And with that, it’s time for some pictorial illustration, but I’ll start with the violators first.
Longines had a few releases I found with beautiful dials but ruined by the cut off numeral and on top of that, it also makes the already sub seconds dial more cluttered.
