The unimportance of date on a mechanical watch

Some men have several watches, but only wear one of them day in and day out. My friend Roger does this. He's about to become a father while launching his first business, in a mall on Hong Kong island. Yay Roger!

Unlike him, I prefer changing to suit the mood, which means I'll put down one watch to wear another...which means I'm always under deadline to wind it up again.

Date complication: It's the part of a watch that tells you today's date. Some watches have one, some don't.

Whilst it's handy having the date on your mechanical watch, here's what it costs you:

• When your movement winds down (the watch stops), you have an extra complication to reset, in addition to the time. This means doing that funny dance: Setting the date to yesterday's date, then cranking the hour-hand past midnight to click the date number over into today's date. BO-RING! 

                  Unless you wear the same watch every day, so that the watch never                     stops. But then...

• A date complication thickens the watch case. This space could house something better, like more power reserve, allowing the watch to unwind for longer, and need less resetting. Or a power reserve indicator, which behaves like the fuel gauge on a car's dashboard, telling you how long before the watch winds down. Or a secret compartment for storing microfiche of your deepest secrets. Or nothing at all, resulting in a thinner watch - yeyuh!

• You check the date at a fraction of the frequency at which you check the time, and seldom in the company of people. As such, your phone is enough to tell you the date (but not the time, which you check too frequently for it to be polite).

Business educators love to quote the following by Napoleon. Or is it General Douglas McArthur? The source changes with each teller. It goes, "Plans are useless, but planning is essential". So it is with mechanical watches: Date complications are useless, but watches are essential.

Be quiet. It totally has the same ring.

If you're off to sea for months without modern electronic equipment, then you've got me. Get the hugest, hardiest time-date complication you can, and never take it off during your journey. Also, congratulations on being hand-picked by Thor Heyerdahl to crew The Kon-Tiki - I've heard it's hard to get a spot these days.

My battery powered Tissot
With date

If you're within reach of civilization, and must have the date on your wrist, I suggest you wear a battery powered (quartz) watch. 

I have a Tissot (T033410B / quartz / 40mm) that only shows the wrong date every two months. It's a little too big for me, but I was young - I needed it for office work.

Here are some mechanical (and incidentally, automatic) watches that do The No-Date wonderfully. Warning: You risk looking rugged and focused wearing one.  

1) Rolex Explorer (39mm version, discontinued, second hand only)

2) Omega Speedmaster Reduced (38mm, discontinued, second hand only)

3) Tudor Black Bay 36 (36mm, still available new)

4) Junghans Max Bill Automatic (38mm, still available new)

Watchmakers of the world: Before you make more of what came before, please consider not using a date with your 38 hour movement. You'll give a more focused look, and save your fans and customers such a lot of time.