Kids and Watches

Watches are something that can be collected, shared with, and passed down to your children - if they are interested. But you have to get them interested first. I am working on this with my son, getting him interested in my watches. A little while back I thought he was about ready for a "nice" watch - I was looking for a mechanical watch, and found a Seiko automatic and an Armitron automatic for under $50.

I was going to go for the Seiko because of their quality and reputation when he received a gift from family overseas - a Russian-made Vostok Commander manual watch. This was perfect. It is a nicely made watch, unique and is not quartz (Note: I do like and have quartz sports watches, but prefer mechanical for dress watches). It does not have a transparent rear case so he can't see the movement but he loves it nonetheless. I let him play with my automatic watches and see how they work for this. He winds it everyday before going to school and has so far been taking good care of it.

Unfortunately this is about the only way to get your kids into watches unless they fall into it on their own later in life (like I did). I read an article over at Watches by SJX that local school children visited the Jaeger-LeCoultre Manufacture in Switzerland to learn about watchmaking and participate in some of the process. What a great field trip! It's too bad that the watch industry is practically non-existent in the US - I think this would be a great visit for anyone. Until then, get your kids involved in a great activity.



Taken from The Telegraph: Watchmaking in the 21st century