Greetings to all! I'm still relatively new here. I've managed to acquire a couple of pieces from OF members, and have inquiries on a couple more. Anyhow, I've been reading about on the forum and have seen mentions of a tool watch. What exactly is a tool watch, or what makes a watch a tool watch? Sorry for the newbie question, but aren't all watches tools for telling time? Thanks for your time (no pun ) & patience.
My understanding of the term "tool watch" is this: a watch that measures time for a purpose like determining speed or distance. It's sort of a relative term. It's in opposition to the more decorative nature of a "dress watch".
I've always taken it as a watch that has a function other than time/day/date and is used for that purpose whether it be gentle or aggressively. This could refer to chronos/Tachymeter/Telemeter/pulsations, divers/time elapsed bezels etc.
Like said above, I guess the term applies perfectly to vintage watches that were used by professionals in certains situations, that were the "tool" used to accomplish something: wether it is a Heuer chrono used in racing to time laps or distances, tachymeters used back in the day of road racing where the measure was the average speed over a certain amount of km, divers obviously, military "telemeter" watches used in trenches during the war to measure how far away the enemy was... I guess there is a charm attached to this notion today, since watches have become more a "fashion" accessory than anything else, or when a watch is used as a tool, I guess 99% of the time a GSHOCK is chosen for the task... I'm really into toolwatches btw
I imagine the term "tool watch" could also be used to describe watches like hour angle watches used in aerial navigation as well as GMT and slide rule watches. Military watches with their stripped down functionality might be included in the definition especially if they incorporate a chronograph.
My definition is a little more liberal. The early Rolex explorers IMO were tool watches to some. To me it's a watch that serves a rugged purpose and chosen for its virtues.. Water resistance..... Anti-magnetic properties or even Basic time keeping Time measurement as mentioned above. The other end of this the spectrum are fashion watches to me. For many, modern Rolexes and Omegas have become fashion watches of status regardless of if they are dive watches or chronographs. For some, they actually take their watches diving or hiking /camping .... don't mind getting a ding or 3...a scratch or 20 on them. Many watches designed with tool watch capabilities are sadly safe queens. Again, this is just IMHO.
Thanks to everyone for the help in clearing up the meaning of a tool watch! And for the levity as well!
This happily graces my wrist a few times throughout the week: definitely not a safe queen, and looking forward to what it will look like when I pass it on to the future generation:
If you use it, it's a tool watch I use the tachymeter on my venerable Speedmaster Reduced but-Not-Diminished almost every day in manufacturing. Invaluable function (directly reads parts produced per hour).
A true tool watch is a watch that can withstand the horrors of the "dark side"...which is Starbucks. The tool watches pictured below withstanding the horrors of the "dark side" are my almighty Seiko 6309-7049 and my almighty Seiko SRP777K1.
Dive watch. Tachymeter watch. Dive watches are the epitome of tool watches they are thicker for the wr and have the dive Bezel to determine time spent underwater, plus the lume and easy to read aspects inherent in the ISO requirements. Sure the sub pushed it into fashion but at the end of the day they are tools. The SKX and Seamaster professional show this. The Navitimer with the slide rule is the quintessential pilots watch allowing pilots to do calculations on the fly. Fliegers also have specific flight based requirements for flight. Speedmasters and Daytonas have features for rally timing that cross over into manufacturing timing. Basically tool watches give away fashion trends to be useful as a tool for specific uses.