All still in working order, keeping time and showing the correct date! From left to right, these are the watches of my grandfathers, my fathers, and the ones I have worn over the years.
The first one on the left was Julie's Grandaddy's. Interestingly, it looks almost identical to the first Timex I ever had as a child. Julie loved him so much, and I was fortunate to have known him early on in our dating and marriage. I still miss going to see them in North Carolina.
Second in from the left is the computer/pilot's watch of my Grandpa on my dad's side. I remember him always wearing it and showing me how the slide ruler styled computer functions worked around the bezel (and then testing me to see if I could use it). It is a Swiss watch in the style of the WWII GI that he purchased in his travels to Europe. I even have an original owners manual and have conversed with the shop that built it in Switzerland. It has an analog stop watch feature, that still works also. I guess I got my love of nice timepieces from him!? Any watch I see with a similar face gets my attention right away. ;)
Third from the left is the most recently worn watch of my father in-law Steve. He always treated me as a son so early on in my relationship with Julie and filled the role of Dad after I lost mine. We shared many common interests including nice watches. This is a Citizen EccoDrive that charges from the sunlight. A nice simple face that did what you asked it to. I miss him as well. College football and the Buckeyes just aren't the same without him.
Fourth from the right, my dad's watch he was wearing when he died. One way or another, this is the type of watch he wore his whole life. As long as I can remember back, I would beg him to let me wear his Timex and I would play with it, change the time and date, and wear it around pretending to be a dad. There was only one rule, I needed to make sure I returned it properly set to the correct time and date. It was my dad who taught me how to call time and temperature multiple times until you heard the minute change and then you would know you had your watch set to EXACTLY the right minute and second. Might explain why all MY watches are synced to the atomic time standard, one way or another.
Then you get to my watches over the last twenty years or so. It starts with the Citizen EccoDrive fourth from the right. This was my first watch that would sync to the atomic time standard and also be solar powered. It was with me over the birth of my two boys, and my travels all over the world. It was actually quite handy for keeping track of what time it was (and even the correct day in some cases) in both my current time zone and back home so I always knew when I could catch Julie and the boys just before bed. I still wear this and the next one for old time's sake occasionally. It reminds me of becoming a daddy and combines the look, functions, and quality of those my Grandpa and my father in-law enjoyed.
Third from the right is the evolution into having everything on your wrist. This was my first sensor watch that added temperature, barometer, and altitude to the world time and solar capabilities. The Casio G-Shock Pathfinder. This one took a beating since I wore it through the entire process of renovating and moving back into my childhood home then repeating the process for my in-laws across the street! It never missed a beat, was always charged up via solar power, and also always stayed synced to the atomic time signal out of Ft. Collins Colorado.
Hang on, we are getting to the end here. For a brief time (second from the right) I wore an iPod Nano in a watch strap. It allowed me to have access to about a hundred albums and managed to serve as a decent watch and radio at the same time. You had to set the time manually, or it would sync with your computer (and thereby the atomic time standard) whenever you connected it. It took a cue from the original digital watches that were all dark faced until you pressed a button to see the time or date.
Then we arrive at present day 20200201, in this case. You see my current Apple Watch on the right. From this history lesson, you can see why I like the face I use most of the time. Analog hands with a date window, sub-dials for additional info, sync to the atomic time for 100% accuracy, altitude, temperature, barometer, and now additional data like heart rate, cardiographs, full GPS, camera remote and all the music you could ever want. Imagine that it is even a messaging, email and phone device too...!? Really quite amazing. They whole smart watch era has brought a new level of crazy to our wrists. But people often overlook the Apple Watch for it's impressive quality as a watch itself. If you can find a solid stainless, waterproof, sapphire crystal watch for less money, BUY IT. ;) I wear mine everywhere doing everything and the case and screen hold up under this abuse to an amazing level. I have sold several used ones over the years and have a tough time finding a single scratch on them... The Apple Branded accessory bands are works of jewelry art themselves. While the faces and capabilities offer so much, they do lack in the overall form factor. I've heard many people criticize them as cold and soulless compared the other types you see in this lineup. I somewhat agree, but below, you can see the evolution of the watch has always been about fitting the most capability into something you can ruggedly carry on your wrist, and in that regard the current smart watches don't disappoint.
I reserve judgement as to which was my favorite from over the years. It all depends because your perspective, needs, and the capabilities change so much along the journey of feature development and your own life.
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