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Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by fellerts on Friday June 09, 2023 @04:06AM (#36254778)
Excellent points! I'd like to add that while your Apple watch might last you 5-10 years, a mechanical watch well looked-after can last several lifetimes. I'm currently daily-driving an automatic watch from the mid-60s that still somehow looks pristine and keeps excellent time (for a mechanical, that is). I expect this watch to outlive me.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by NanoRobotGeek on Friday June 09, 2023 @04:28AM (#36254941)
I kinda screwed it up taking it apart. Didnt have any oil to add back and rusted one of the gears a bit. Goal is still longer than 5 years and probably an easy 10-20
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by fellerts on Friday June 09, 2023 @04:54AM (#36255118)
I take it you didn't want to fall into the rabbit hole that is watch servicing, cleaning and lubrication? That's a deep and expensive one, especially for automatics...

Might I suggest you reach out to Marshall @WristwatchRevival and ask if he wants to give it a proper service? I'm sure he'd be delighted by this project.

Edit: you say "I glued the movement to the dial". That sounds like the dial will never come off, making servicing night impossible, or am I misunderstanding this? Also: "in a normal watch the dial would get sandwiched between the glass and the case somehow" no, typically there are holes drilled through the mainplate with screws that grab or hold the dial feet. The movement complete with dial and hands normally floats in the case, held in place with a couple screws.

Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by snapcaster on Friday June 09, 2023 @07:23AM (#36256189)
+1 to Marshall! I watch his magic podcast but that guy fucking rocks!
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by NanoRobotGeek on Friday June 09, 2023 @08:18AM (#36256690)
Didn't really know if it would work until the end so didn't want to sink even more time and money in. That watch oil is bloody expensive.

I'm sure he would be but I think he must get lots of requests and I am not sure it is his usual victim for a repair =)

It is glued with B7000 glue commonly used for phone repairs and the same glue used on the back glass. It softens right up with some heat and isopropyl alcohol.

True, thank you for that I will change it in the write up. I was thinking mostly of these Seiko movements which to my understanding are normally just sandwiched by the case back but that is certainly not the norm across other watches.

Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by subhro on Friday June 09, 2023 @04:15AM (#36254845)
5-10 years... wishful thinking, that's all I am going to say.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by ladberg on Friday June 09, 2023 @11:06AM (#36258948)
Is it? I have a nearly 5 year old Apple Watch (series 4) on my wrist and I've never had any issues with it.

I'll probably replace it when a new watch comes out with a feature I really want (unlikely) or the battery stops lasting a full day, which might take a few more years as I don't even get close to running out unless I forget to charge it overnight.

Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by lm28469 on Friday June 09, 2023 @05:37AM (#36255441)
> Apple watch might last you 5-10 years

Tiny ass battery + daily full charge discharge = toast well before 10 years

If they actually cared about sustainability the screen and battery would be user replaceable

Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by ChuckNorris89 on Friday June 09, 2023 @07:58AM (#36256492)
The battery of a 20$ Casio F-91W alone, will outlive several Apple watches.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by reaperducer on Friday June 09, 2023 @08:36AM (#36256928)
The battery of a 20$ Casio F-91W alone, will outlive several Apple watches.

While I'm with you in spirit, I'm not sure that's strictly accurate.

The F-91W battery is rated for 10 years: https://support.casio.com/storage/en/manual/pdf/EN/009/qw593...

The calculator version (which I use) is rated for three years, assuming you only let the alarm go off for 20 seconds per day, and use the calculator function for less than one hour per day: https://support.casio.com/storage/en/manual/pdf/EN/009/qw320...

Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by ChuckNorris89 on Friday June 09, 2023 @08:51AM (#36257112)
You must be fun at parties
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by alt227 on Friday June 09, 2023 @09:51AM (#36257809)
Dude, we're all nerds. None of us are fun at parties. No need for the sarcasm!
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by moolcool on Friday June 09, 2023 @09:23AM (#36257463)
> The F-91W battery is rated for 10 years

What would you consider the average life of an Apple Watch? If it's 5 years, OP is right.

Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by reaperducer on Friday June 09, 2023 @09:25AM (#36257487)
What would you consider the average life of an Apple Watch? If it's 5 years, OP is right.

I'd say the Apple Watch is too new for anyone to know. I still use my six-year-old Apple Watch.

Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by _thisdot on Friday June 09, 2023 @09:34AM (#36257594)
Clearly the selling point of F-91W is the price. I think most owners are comfortable with roughhousing their F-91W and just buying a new one
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by JohnBooty on Friday June 09, 2023 @12:21PM (#36260155)

     use the calculator function for less than one hour per day
I really want to meet a person who is hammering away at the calculator function on their watch for more than an hour per day. That would clearly be the coolest person in the world.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by ChuckNorris89 on Saturday June 10, 2023 @04:13AM (#36268675)
I think people with calculator watches are way cooler in a sea of people with smartwatches.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by klyrs on Saturday June 10, 2023 @10:09AM (#36270600)
Me in high school...
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by bookofjoe on Friday June 09, 2023 @09:24AM (#36257479)
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by ChuckNorris89 on Friday June 09, 2023 @09:34AM (#36257593)
I know Americans enjoy the lowest consumers electronics prices in the world but in Europe it's at least 20 Euros which is more than 20 USD and even at 20 euros it's difficult to find, with most shops asking for more than that.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by bookofjoe on Friday June 09, 2023 @09:44AM (#36257709)
Indeed. €28.86 = $31.08 USD at Amazon Germany: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Casio-F91W-1-Classic-Black-Digita...

SEK 587.14 = $54.23 USD at Amazon Sweden: https://www.amazon.se/Casio-Herrar-Digitalklocka-hartsrem-F-...

Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by laurencerowe on Friday June 09, 2023 @10:25PM (#36266956)
Partly this is that Amazon isn’t as cheap in Europe. It’s £10.99 ($13.81) including 20% VAT at Argos in the UK.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by ChuckNorris89 on Saturday June 10, 2023 @04:12AM (#36268669)
That's true, but in continental Europe I definitely can't find it under 20 Eruos in any shop. UK is also an exception for low consumer prices.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by drivers99 on Friday June 09, 2023 @12:16PM (#36260090)
I remember paying $7 for mine at Walmart. It was on clearance.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by bookofjoe on Friday June 09, 2023 @12:29PM (#36260275)
Cheap at twice the price.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by ChuckNorris89 on Friday June 09, 2023 @02:15PM (#36261798)
It's crazy how much cheaper stuff is in the US compared to Europe.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by 908B64B197 on Friday June 09, 2023 @03:52PM (#36263258)
It's completely self-inflicted.

Duties, tariffs, out of control regulations and taxes to pay for underperforming civil servant's pension funds. It all adds up.

Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by mrguyorama on Friday June 09, 2023 @03:57PM (#36263325)
Also worker protections, public safety nets, and a general desire to not let corporations chew up and spit out people as if they were iron ore.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by ChuckNorris89 on Friday June 09, 2023 @04:44PM (#36263929)
Workers protections have nothing to do with consumer prices.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by laurencerowe on Friday June 09, 2023 @10:15PM (#36266880)
Remember that prices in Europe include sales tax, so the price you see is the price you pay. In the US you need to add sales tax on top, and in some places all sorts of random extra charges like ‘employee healthcare mandate’.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by devilbunny on Saturday June 10, 2023 @12:08PM (#36271725)
So buy here and take it home.

You'll quickly find that the price differences mostly reflect some combination of various laws and taxes. E.g., I recall reading (pre-Brexit) that UK law required shops to have a two-year warranty period for durable items sold. As in, you bought it from them, you could return it to them and get a new item. Or make them deal with the warranty. In the US, almost anything other than dead-on-arrival can (doesn't always, but can) require the consumer to ship it in the original packaging to the manufacturer's service center at their own cost. That is not a free service. And there may be tariffs involved.

Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by bookofjoe on Friday June 09, 2023 @03:03PM (#36262501)
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by bookofjoe on Saturday June 10, 2023 @07:29PM (#36276403)
At the moment (Saturday June 10 7:29 pm ET) it's $13.90 here: https://www.amazon.com/Casio-F91W-1-Classic-Resin-Digital/dp...
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by laurencerowe on Friday June 09, 2023 @10:21PM (#36266915)
The F-91W is the only watch I’ve owned in the past 20 years but I mostly go without since the strap breaks after a year or two.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by itissid on Friday June 09, 2023 @09:00AM (#36257203)
Apple always has had this tussle between making things repairable and sustainable vs selling more of stuff. It does not have to be this way. Don't they make a log of money from non hardware services. I heard apple pay rakes in close to 800m $
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by FredPret on Friday June 09, 2023 @10:26AM (#36258288)
According to this [0] Apple made 93 b over the past four quarters. The Apple watch is bigger than the entire Swiss watch industry [1] but still a minor part of Apple.

My point being that they’d have to sell a hell of a lot of services to outpace the iPhone, and those services are mostly popular because they integrate into the iPhone. And people want the new shiny ones.

[0] https://ultimatestockpicker.com/company-detail/AAPL/

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertanaas/2020/02/07/apple-wa...

Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by Analemma_ on Friday June 09, 2023 @11:08AM (#36258963)
Battery replacement service through Apple is $80, which is not an unreasonable amount for a once-every-four-years repair; between the parts required and the expected probability of screwing it up and damaging it, you wouldn't really be saving any money doing it yourself.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by yourusername on Friday June 09, 2023 @06:03AM (#36255637)
Did that watch survive from the 60s without service? If you need to have a vintage watch like that serviced it would cost about the same as buying a new apple watch. Some of these old watches can also become a bit of a ship of theseus. It's a 60's watch with a new crystal,mainspring and rotor.
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by fellerts on Friday June 09, 2023 @06:52AM (#36255959)
I serviced it myself a few months ago. It definitely needed a new crystal, but the movement was in very good condition. I didn't even replace the mainspring. Some pictures here: https://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/25437-first-successful...
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by hoosieree on Friday June 09, 2023 @08:35AM (#36256923)
A watch from the 60s can still be serviced today (80 years later).

An apple watch will intentionally brick itself (to preserve battery life, honest) after 8 years.

Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by fellerts on Friday June 09, 2023 @08:47AM (#36257066)
Now just can -- when disassembling a mechanical wristwatch you realize that these things were built with serviceability in mind. There's no glue, everything comes apart with ease. That's one of the main reasons for my fascination with them. How many other things in our daily lives are built like this?
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by dabluecaboose on Friday June 09, 2023 @09:15AM (#36257355)
Under relatively normal wear, the only parts that should be replaced are the crystal, mainspring, and rotor. That's 3 wear parts, not exactly a "ship of theseus".

If something is broken, sure. It might need replacing. But that's rarer, I think, than people realize, and rarely is it more than one or two parts of the movement.

I recently repaired my great-grandfather's pocket watch and the only replacement necessary was the mainspring.

Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by wazoox on Friday June 09, 2023 @09:45AM (#36257737)
I've use a 100 years-old watch as a daily driver for a few years (until it was stolen...). It was serviceable, but it was relatively expensive, so I lived with its known 2-5 minutes daily drift. I'd say that up to 10 minutes of daily drift is perfectly tolerable in my book, so it could probably go 200 years without any servicing whatsoever :)
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by NavinF on Friday June 09, 2023 @10:46AM (#36258639)
> 10 minutes of daily drift is perfectly tolerable

Heh I feel bad when I'm 10 min late to a call, but if I had your watch I'd be 20 min late!

Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by wazoox on Friday June 09, 2023 @11:28AM (#36259283)
I'd wind the watch and adjust it in the morning, and will be 2-5 minutes late in the evening. But at times I would adjust it during the day while watching time close to another, more reliable time source (like a public clock in a train station, for instance, or TV news in a shop window). After all it only takes a second to adjust: pull the crown, turn it a tiny bit, and push it back in :)
Re:Mechanical Apple Watch from Real E-Waste Apple Watch by JohnBooty on Friday June 09, 2023 @12:27PM (#36260228)
People are wincing at the idea of watch that is 5+ minutes off, but I typically intentionally set my watches roughly 5 minutes fast anyway. Helps me avoid being late for stuff. (I realize this makes no sense if you think about it too hard... shhhhhh)

If I need the precise time, I can pull out my phone or just ask another human who nearly because they will surely have a phone :)

(Note to non-watch enthusiasts: we are talking about the tolerances on very old watches; a modern $100 mechanical is usually accurate to within 5-10 seconds a day)