The best items of tech you have ever owned

[richardfinegold]

The lacquer on wire coils tends to break down over time. Also the repeated flexing of the cone must have some deleterious effect, surely?

With speakers made in the past, that was true. With improved materials, at least in the High End, most people I know have equipment that’s going strong after two decades

[Ferretfancy]

For audio, my Linn Sondek turntable bought second hand from a colleague back in 1975 and after a couple of overhauls still going strong.

Re watches, i treasure a Rolex with a history. It belonged to my late partner's father, and was bought in the 1930s before travelling with him when he managed a plantation in Malaya.

Mt partner and his mother had to be hurriedly evacuated from Singapore when the Japanese invaded, but his father stayed behind and was interned in Changi Gaol. He managed to conceal the watch. When he and his wife finally retired to Dorset the watch came with them and was eventually passed on to my partner, and then to me.

It keeps good time after nearly ninety years, and I wear it every day.

[Mal]

£11.99 for the full kit of strap, pins and tool in the case of my GW-M5610. That's from amazon.co.uk and is more like an eighth of the discount price of the watch itself.

"Man in the market" - leather strap for £2, fitted and hole punched for free. Lasted longer than a casio strap. I bought a new watch as the battery was on its last legs (after 15 years...). I did consider fitting a new battery, there are utube videos (!) But it looked a fiddle so I splashed out and bought a new F-91W.

The GW-M5610 looks good for a jet setting participant in extreme sports, but I live a very tame life so the F-91W (£8 on Amazon) is good enough for me. The Casio straps cost about £6, even from the man in the market.

[jayne lee wilson]

For audio, my Linn Sondek turntable bought second hand from a colleague back in 1975 and after a couple of overhauls still going strong.

Re watches, i treasure a Rolex with a history. It belonged to my late partner's father, and was bought in the 1930s before travelling with him when he managed a plantation in Malaya.

Mt partner and his mother had to be hurriedly evacuated from Singapore when the Japanese invaded, but his father stayed behind and was interned in Changi Gaol. He managed to conceal the watch. When he and his wife finally retired to Dorset the watch came with them and was eventually passed on to my partner, and then to me.

It keeps good time after nearly ninety years, and I wear it every day.

That chimes with me ferret.... I've always loved the Mondaine Official Swiss Railway Watch for its classic, clearly-read design. When my mother died in March, I got a new strap for her petite-sized one and now often wear it next to my larger one, either on the same wrist or one on each. And it does make me smile to see it, and touch it....

[Bryn]

"Man in the market" - leather strap for £2, fitted and hole punched for free. Lasted longer than a casio strap. I bought a new watch as the battery was on its last legs (after 15 years...). I did consider fitting a new battery, there are utube videos (!) But it looked a fiddle so I splashed out and bought a new F-91W.

The GW-M5610 looks good for a jet setting participant in extreme sports, but I live a very tame life so the F-91W (£8 on Amazon) is good enough for me. The Casio straps cost about £6, even from the man in the market.

No extreme sports. I just wanted a serviceable watch with minimal moving parts, and which did not need to have its button cell changed and was linked to the nearest atomic clock transmission for accuracy. Funnily enough I was in the local Maplin store yesterday and saw a tool which had the express role of opening watch backs. Even at its knock-down closing down sale price I decided I had no prospective use for it.

[Stunsworth]

That chimes with me ferret.... I've always loved the Mondaine Official Swiss Railway Watch for its classic, clearly-read design

That’s the watch I wear (bloke version). I chose it for exactly those reasons.

The leather strap however wasn’t very well made and fell apart within a couple of years.

[vinteuil]

.

... years ago I picked up one of these cheap - and they don't even need batteries. Fun watching all the cogs going round, too...

http://amzn.eu/70rwbtO

.

[Zucchini]

Wouldn't like to be your neighbour at a concert, with all that metal grinding, squealing and clonking ...

[vinteuil]

Wouldn't like to be your neighbour at a concert, with all that metal grinding, squealing and clonking ...

... I can guarantee the silence of this watch - indeed, the second hand does not do a tick-tick-tick as it rotates, but moves smoothly with no pauses and noiselessly...

.

[Richard Barrett]

Amazing that so many people still have watches!

[Serial_Apologist]

Amazing that so many people still have watches!

It's still nice just needing to glance down and know what time it is! But even digi watches, let alone the wind-up kind, are quite difficult to find in shops these days - ten years ago every garage forecourt was selling them for £6. The one I obtained on a year's guarantee from the Asian-owned chemists in Norwood last April died just within the year; on being returned with a new battery I was told not to take any notice of the "expected to last 9 years" because the batteries were often older than the watch itself!

I was "bequeathed" an early 19th century coaching clock that had been in the family since the 1900s and, so long as sent away for renovation every 20 years or so, never failed as long as it was faithfully wound up every two weeks. Then last summer I suddenly noticed it was no longer chiming the correct hours. The problem anywhere is in finding a qualified antique clock repairer, so I just put up with it chiming 8 at 11 o'clock, and thereafter going further and further out of sync until according to some Steve Reichian principle re-synching, and hope any visitors don't notice!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I have several watches that I use regularly: a solar powered Casio radio controlled one for normal use, a Garmin running watch, and an Avia pocket watch which useful for concert work, when anything around the wrist is annoying.

Sorry to be off-topic. I've already listed my top techie items.

[cloughie]

Amazing that so many people still have watches!

Why? Particularly now there are so few police around nowadays! I did think of not wearing one when I retired but then I do still need to know the time.

[Richard Barrett]

Why?

When my last watch stopped working, or was lost, or whatever happened to it, I took to consulting the time on my phone instead (which also has the advantage for the frequent traveller of adjusting itself when entering a new time zone). I thought almost everyone did that these days.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It's easier to carry a watch than a phone. And it doesn't need charging.