Feedback – The Most Overlooked Element In Watchmaking
Watch & Bullion
21 November 2016 | 2 min readOf the many key ingredients that make up a high-end watch, the feedback it gives is the one which usually gets the least amount of spotlight. In a review the goal is to transfer as much as possible of the feeling of the watch to the reader, challenging you to paint a picture with your words.
The most attention hence goes to the most dominant element to the watch, that is its visual appearance. What is substantially more difficult to put into words however is the haptic feedback. The sensation we get from „touching“ a timepiece is rarely discussed in reviews, yet it makes up a substantial element of the experience.
The design wizards at Apple understand the importance of haptic feedback, building an engine specifically designed for this end
Now this is not to say that watch reviewers do not try to describe this element of the watch. An easy was to spot this is when a review starts talking about just how great a watch feels in terms of wrist presence.
You yourself have probably had already come into contact with the element of feedback in watches more than you might be aware. It is this magical aura of perfection and the feeling that all the elements of the watch are in the space that they are meant to be in.
What would the Rolex Submariner be without its crisp bezel click?
Feedback also plays a big role when looking at the prices of luxury watches. The material costs only making up a fraction of the price, one has to recall that most of the effort goes into figuring out how this material is to work together to feel amazing on your wrist. Furthermore, it is my personal number one indicator of whether a watch is genuine or not. An easy way to spot a fake is to keep in mind that in a genuine piece everything should feel perfect and just right.
Feedback is and will probably always remain to be a difficult aspect in watch reviews, yet its presence is undeniable. It is the weight of a solid gold watch, the winding noise of a manual movement, and the satisfying click of a chronograph all at the same time.