Wondering what complication you own that you find is the most useful?

For me, in the past I would have said the alarm without a doubt. My JLC Master Compressor Memovox was my travel watch for many years, and I would use the alarm function to wake me up in the morning, rather then rely on things like wake up calls (which often didn't happen on time), or the crappy alarm clocks in hotel rooms.

Plenty loud enough to wake me up:

It could also be used for reminders during the day, so overall a great complication.

I don't travel for business nearly as much as I used to, so with the work I do now, the complication I find most useful is the chronograph. It's the main reason why I wear my Speedmaster most days, and when I don't have it on, I do miss it for work. When servicing a watch there are several things that require timing, such as the length of time that specific parts are being treated with elpiame:



It's also used to time the drying of the parts after, and the same goes for treating reversing wheels with V105 and timing how long they must dry for:



When I'm performing high pressure wet testing, the first stages are done without the movement in the case, and during these tests the chronograph works well to time the various stages of the testing:



The one that the chronograph works very well for is the damping test. This is a test of the condition and cleanliness of the ball bearing on the oscillating weight of an automatic watch. The test is done by mounting the weight on peg wood, and supporting it so it can swing - I use two movement holders for this. The weight is moved to a position that is 90 degrees from the hanging position, and when I let it go with one hand, I press the start button on the chronograph with the other:



The weight is left to swing until it stops, and at the end the oscillations are very small - you observe them with a loupe:



When the oscillations stop, I press the stop button and check the duration of the swinging:



The time that is acceptable varies depending on the weight. In this case the minimum required is 45 seconds, and here I have 58, so it's good. The bearing is then oiled, and the test is repeated, and the duration of the swinging should not drop more than 5 seconds, and in any case must still be above 45.

So for me personally, this is a complication I use daily in my work, and is by far the most useful.

How about everyone else?

Cheers, Al

 

I'm still trying to figure out what the 3 hands on my constellation are for.

 

Chronograph for me as well. I don't have specific tasks that I time frequently, but when I'm wearing a chronograph, I often find ways to use it.

In principle, the date function should also be useful for me, since for some reason I'm not good at remembering the date and I always need to think about it. However, since I try to rotate through my collection, I've become too lazy to set the date in the morning.

 

For me, it’s having a date window. I have four Omegas without it (Speedy Pro, two Constellations and a Geneve) and two with it (Globemaster and SMPc). The SMPc is my daily wearer because it has the date window, a stainless steel bracelet and it’s waterproof. Those three features make it the most utilitarian watch in my Omega collection. And it looks great too!

 

For me it's the chronograph for timing long exposures in large format photography. I found my Speedmaster to be a great tool for this as I would hold the cable release in my left hand and simultaneously hit the pusher and the release together (if it was really dark I would use a small penlight to see the dial with my back turned away from the camera standing behind it). When I was bracketing exposures of 6/12/24/48 seconds- this is where it really shined. When you get into minutes/hours long exposures (yes I have done a 4 hour exposure in the AZ desert of the night sky- the advantage of film- digital cameras can't keep their shutters open for that long without the camera quitting) , the critical timing to seconds doesn't matter as much- any watch will work fine for that.

 

Awesome, @Archer - another example of the few and proud whose watch complications actually play a roll in their daily lives.

While I’m looking to purchase an alarm watch, as you know @Archer I find the GMT/dual time most useful in my daily life. I travel a lot, and also communicate with people around the world on an almost daily basis. So while the GMT/dual time doesn’t solve for all problems, it does provide me an at-a-glance useful complication that I find myself using daily (sometimes dozens of times a day).

That’s more than I can say of any of my chronos, so again, glad to see such a thorough post describing someone who finds another complication as useful.

Now I follow this thread for someone who (hopefully) chimes in with an equally compelling case for a minute repeater (genuinely, I’ll be fascinated!)

Cheers,
Coleson

 

Date for me. I seem to reference it alot. I don't usually trust my memory when putting a date on a form, etc. I do miss it when I wear my Seamaster DeVille.

 

I’m also really dependent on the date complication. Gotta label everything in the lab with the correct date (and yes, I check the date multiple times per day because my memory is rather sieve-like).

 

I’m with @Dan S on this one: if all my watches kept their date current all on their own, it’s be a useful thing; but when rotating through watches, the increasing headache of setting the date (which I almost always do) I think outweighs the utility of the date itself.

After-all, as forgetful as I am of the date, once I look it up in the morning in order to set the watch, I tend to then remember the date for the remainder of that day.

If I kept on one watch more regularly, I can see the date being pre-set as a fairly useful thing.

 

Actually, I like a hacking function.

 

My late 1940's Vulcain Cricket delights people, especially watch nerds, when the alarm triggers. It's a wonderful watch and the alarm is a very useful complication.

 

GMT has always been the most practical for me, but I travel less than I used to.

I use a dive bezel or chronograph to time things when I'm cooking if I happen to be wearing a watch that has one of those features, but I just use my phone if my watch is time-only and I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

I can recall the date just fine without the date window, and in recent years I've started preferring no-date watches for aesthetic reasons.

I find the day/night indicator on my Omega 1040s helpful to set the date a little more easily, but again, I don't really even need the date complication.

I think function-wise, all I need is a reliable three-hander. I do appreciate complications for both the engineering that goes into them as well as the complexity and character they add to a dial.

I had that same watch years ago, and the alarm was not only loud, but the vibration on the wrist was plenty to wake you up. I didn't actually use it often because it would startle me so much!

 

Date is certainly the complication that I use the most.
Hacking and GMT tie for second.

 

very nice example you got there. According to an online article I read, the cricket is "the watch of presidents" since many USA presidents were given and wore them.

 

I expected that the date would be cited as the most useful for many here. For me, not so much, and setting it can be a pain as some have mentioned. This is particularly an issue with watches that do not have quick set dates, and you can't even use the back and forth through midnight to advance....looking at you Rolex Cal. 1575...



Really terrible date execution on these.

I've owned some pretty useless complications - moon phase for example. I'm not a werewolf (that I know of! ) so tracking the phases of the moon isn't really needed, but it sure looked cool on my JLC Master Moon.



My GO PanoReserve has a power reserve indicator that I suppose has some utility to know if I've remembered to wind it.



The big date is nice - easy to read! But I actually think a power reserve on an automatic could be more useful, to tell you if the watch is winding properly or not when on your wrist...

 

Even for a 'Deafboy'?

 

Looking around some time ago, I read that moon phase were considered useful to those needing to track tides? Sailors, fishermen, beach combers?

I’m such a dunce about tides/open waters that I can’t even decipher whether that was ever actually useful (or if there’s anyone who may still use the feature)?

 

For a daily wear it is definitely the date function that i use the most. Therefore i tend to wear 1 watch most of the time and dont need to set the date.
For timing things i prefer using the bezel (i do wish it was bi-directional though), since i can set for "elapsed time" and "time left".
However the most usefull feature beside the date and bezel is the Lume! I often wake up during the night and like to check the time at a glance.
Thus my most worn watch at the moment is the Seamaster 2254.

 

Date window, first and foremost.

Quick set time adjustment (hour hand), not a complication per say, is super useful when traveling... and so is the second time zone.

And count-down on my G-Shock or X-33 for workouts... but this surely doesn’t count.

 

As much as I wish my life were interesting enough to need a stopwatch, GMT, circular sliderule bezel, or anything else, a simple date is more than enough to get me through.