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Which is why, if I may, you should at least give O8 a fighting chance. . .
Apr 11, 2008,18:25 PM - (view entire thread)
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By: Jack Forster (registered) [Elite User] |  PM
Posts: 4375
"There are almost 100 of these "designs" with poor mechanical movts, but no hand operated display of rubies, but rotating discs...going for $30 a pop."

Hi Dr. Cheong. . . yes, but that is precisely the point, the thing is done very differently.  Putting a revolving disk with numbers on it on a dial in place of the hands is fun and funky but is essentially meaningless technically- you're turning a disk instead of hands, there's no mechanical innovation involved.

Arranging a whole system of gears and support pins which interact with the pixel elements so as to display the correct time on demand is, on the other hand, a fantastically complex technical achievement.  I absolutely don't dispute your complete right to dislike the watch on aesthetic grounds but to dismiss it on technical merit is just wrong IMVHO- this is as different from the cheap and cheerful vintage mechano-digital watches you're referring to as can be.  Whether the astounding mechanical ingenuity necessary to produce this effect has been ultimately deployed to good effect aesthetically and emotionally is of course a personal decision, but to compare the Opus 8 to, say, a Sicura Instalite (a charming vintage watch by the way but in no way even remotely comparable to Opus 8 mechanically) is simply misguided.  They're not even remotely comparable in complexity, fit, finish and execution.

Now again, you may quite rightly feel that the incredibly complicated mechanism necessary to implement the time display in Opus 8 is wasted effort, but let's make a critique based on meaningful comparisons.  The resemblance between Opus 8 and something like a Sicura Instalite is at least superficial, and in my opinion really completely meaningless to a real critical appraisal of the watch.

JIMVHO, of course.  Naturally like keen horologists everywhere I am absolute in my conviction that my opinion has the force of absolute truth wink

Jack

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