Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/09/15

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Forbes article on mechanical wristwatches
From: Martin Howard <howard.390@osu.edu>
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2000 13:51:46 -0400

Bmceowen@aol.com jotted down the following:

> Boy, let me just say I disagree. I expect only one thing from a watch -- to
> be able to look at it and know what time it is. Any watch that fails to
> perform this basic task is a piece of junk -- no matter what it costs . . .

Time is a social construct.  You *cannot* buy a watch which tells what the
time is, since the current time is essentially arbitrary.  There is nothing
to say that the time my mechanical Swatch shows is any more or less accurate
in absolute terms than the most expensive atomic clock on the planet.
Consequently, certainly every watch fails that basic task and is therefore,
by your definition, a piece of junk.

Absolute statements are meaningless in a relative world.

M.

- -- 
Martin Howard                     |
Visiting Scholar, CSEL, OSU       |     "Life imitates email."
email: howard.390@osu.edu         |                -- Johnny Deadman
www: http://mvhoward.i.am/        +---------------------------------------

Replies: Reply from Mark Rabiner <mark@rabiner.cncoffice.com> (Re: [Leica] Forbes article on mechanical wristwatches)