Comments on: Watches and Guns: Sometimes One Hobby Isn’t Enough

By: JohnDuncan

JohnDuncan — Mon, 01 May 2023 16:45:32 +0000

In reply to Mark Signorelli. I thought I was the only one. Lol

By: Mark Signorelli

Mark Signorelli — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 20:57:41 +0000

In reply to Lucas E.

Hi Lucas,
Thank you for your comments. Yes, I agree with your thoughts about appreciating all things mechanical. Even with the wave of EVs that are coming, we find ourselves at the absolute peak of great ICE designs. Given your interests, it was probably inevitable that you would “discover” mechanical watches.
Regards,
Mark

By: Lucas E

Lucas E — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 01:40:47 +0000

Great article.
I’ve only recently discovered a love for mechanical watches, I was drawn in specifically by the mechanical design and precision of the fine movements. The exact same reasons I have an interest in guns. I have no interest in hunting or using guns for personal defence (its illegal in Australia), I just like target shooting and servicing/cleaning/working on them.

As a mechanic by trade I have a love of all things mechanical, I don’t discriminate. V8’s, rotarys, single cylinder or 3 cylinder turbo they are all amazing feats of engineering. I collect cars, I have some guns and now it looks like ill be collecting a few watches too.

By: SK

SK — Sat, 05 Sep 2020 21:12:53 +0000

A fascination with guns I can understand, but a gun as EDC? Something you need in order to leave the house? Is that because you use it as a talisman or because you feel unsafe where you live? Watches are not weapons, unless you put all those rainbow Invictas in a bag. They are not threatening to people. Yes, both watches and guns are precision instruments, but their use is vastly different. Their intended purpose is very different.
That intended purpose is, of course, part of the fascination. I love F-104 Starfighters even though (and because of) they are weapons. It’s an uneasy fascination, not least of all because that plane sent hundreds of pilots to their death. Issued watches are collected for similar reasons. We can be close to something powerful, often used against humanity, and feel a hint of danger without getting burned. The Glycine Airman, I’m pretty certain, wouldn’t as popular if it hadn’t been used during the Vietnam War. Flieger watches wouldn’t be in such high demand if the Nazis hadn’t used them.
My own attraction to products meant to harm people (or helping people to harm other people) makes me queasy. I don’t think any good comes from it, though suppressing it won’t do any good either. But guns are simply on a very different level. Not because they are worse than Starfighters, but because they are readily available. From the fathers who shot each other at a San Diego Walmart, kids killing each other because their parents didn’t lock away the firearms, to people bringing guns to protests — guns rarely help anyone. But their presence escalates dicey situations all the time.
I remember Michael talking about not wanting to see half-naked women with his daily fix of watches, because it made him feel uncomfortable at home. My dislike of guns in watch photos might be similar — their reality is perhaps a bit too naked.

By: Michael V.

Michael V. — Sat, 05 Sep 2020 17:46:19 +0000

I collect Makarov pistols as well. Which is actually how I found this article. Curious which ones you sold and kept? If you have any left that you’d like to unload. Definitely give me a holler.

By: Rajeev Patel

Rajeev Patel — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 02:26:46 +0000

Guns help me decide who I want to avoid socially. Indifference to guns is acceptable. Enthusiastic ownership is better. Hostility to guns tells me the avoid any further social contact with that person.

Slipping a gun into a watch photo, or mentioning a gun during a conversation about watches, and observing the reactions aids the process of eliminating those whom I should avoid.

But this this not guaranteed to establish social compatibility. I avoid the snobbery of the horological elite, and a watch snob who owns guns is probably a gun snob too. Both are boorish and boring.

Michael has been slipping firearms references into the podcast, so there is hope for him.

By: Mark Signorelli

Mark Signorelli — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 13:56:00 +0000

In reply to SMB. SMB, I hadn’t thought about the commonalities with bicycles but you make a good point. Thanks for the observation.

By: SMB

SMB — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 09:48:09 +0000

I’ve got an interest in history. So another thing time pieces and firearms may have in common is the development of industrial manufacturing for mass production. Both went from essentially one-off commissioned pieces to mass production with all the standardisation, quality control and supply chain management that requires. I think firearms went through this process a couple of centuries earlier than watches, but both had important roles in industrialisation and the associated increase in wealth.

Another combination I’m interested in is watches and cycling. Bikes are amazing pieces of engineering, like watches, and there are some parallels with the range of watch enthusiasts. People can be interested in vintage and retro bikes, modified bikes, weird designs, or the latest new materials and high tech, and they cost similar amounts to watches.

By: Mark Signorelli

Mark Signorelli — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 22:38:59 +0000

In reply to damon. Thanks Damon!

By: Mark Signorelli

Mark Signorelli — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 14:55:02 +0000

In reply to Andrei. Andrei, My best guess is that something overt like a barrel would get tossed. I think it may also come down to who notices the photo and if they decide to report it to the moderator.