The importance of a power reserve above 50 hours

Automatic watches are a pseudo-living thing perched on your wrist. If you leave them off long enough, they wind down and stop telling time. Yet an automatic like Seiko's SKX007 could remain operational for 15 years without maintenance, and unlike a quartz watch, never needs a new battery. So despite needing to keep them charged, we like automatic watches.

Hamilton Khaki Field 38mm
Rah-Rah

I don't have one watch that I wear daily. Changing to suit my mood, or suit the occasion is way more fun. This means that sometimes, the automatic which I rested winds down, and needs me to reset its time later - a task that has plagued people since Babylonian times. Electric watch winders try to solve this problem, but wouldn't you rather do without the extra cost and clutter? I want to just wear my watches, not set the time on them!

Tissot Powermatic 80

At home in duty free

Here's the sweet spot: If an automatic has a high enough power reserve, it might just last until after I've finished wearing another watche. Watch movements like Tissot's Powermatic 80, and Hamilton's H-10 both offer 80 hours power reserve, which is incredibly useful, but to me, their faces don't possess subtlety.

The Powermatic looks like it was made to reside in airport duty free, and Hamilton's Khaki Field 38mm suffers the same heavy-handed rah-rah sensibility that besets all Hamilton watch faces.

The market space is wide open for an established brand to release a 38mm automatic with 80 hour reserve, thickness below 11.8mm, with a face that wouldn't be amiss on your mother's wrist at an afternoon tasting at the vineyard.

Seiko SNK809
Meme by Kevin

I alternate between an SNK809 and The Alpinist. Sadly, the SNK809 winds down frequently because its 7S36 movement only lasts 38 hours (the same as most common ETA Swiss movements), but I continue to love it for what my friend Kevin calls a "perfectly balanced" face. The Alpinist goes for 50 hours, and has a fantastic hand-wind option that lets me fully recharge it in 10 seconds. Between managing these two fellows, there is no room for a third automatic watch.

Message to mechanical watch brands: Fuse your high power reserve movements to an elegant 38mm watch face, and reap the rewards of a grateful watch buying community.