Stargazer's Garage

To the average person, the Omega Speedmaster Professional looks like any other wristwatch. It doesn't attract a lot of attention and that's one of the main reasons why I enjoy wearing it. One time someone looked at the Speedmaster on my wrist and told me that the second hand was broken. I just smiled noncommittally and didn't bother to explain. There are things about this iconic watch that I appreciate and I don't care if other people know it or not. While my particular Speedmaster has not been on the moon, it has a heritage and a place in space history that holds special interest to me. I like that it is manual wind and it gets life from its user. The main reason I enjoy this watch so much is that I didn't buy it for myself. A few years before my 5-year-old son was born, I decided to buy something that was worthy of passing down and the Omega Speedmaster Professional was what I picked. So I'm borrowing it for now and giving it good use until the time is right ...

I used to be obsessed with the accuracy on my mechanical wristwatches. I kept records and measured time and it bothered me if a watch as plus or minus more than a few seconds per day, until I came to the realization that none of them would ever be as accurate as any of the solar-powered atomic watches I had. That's when I accepted that every watch had a specific purpose and role in my collection and that my everyday survival did not depend on up-to-the-second accuracy. The solar atomics are soulless robots that serve well, by my mechanical timepieces are living machines given life through movement. The time I spend winding and adjusting and listening to each one is a little night time ritual that gives me much pleasure.

I recently acquired a Garmin fenix GPS watch (pictured in the center in the above photo). It's a very capable sports watch that has the ability to track and monitor a variety of data as well as help you navigate wherever you want to go in your outdoor adventures. My previous ABC (altimeter, barometer, compass) watch was a titanium solar atomic Casio ProTrek, pictured on the left. The third digital sports watch in my collection, pictured on the right is a Casio G-Shock Mudman.  The Garmin fenix has a built-in rechargeable battery that charges through a specially designed USB docking station. When you plug the docking station into a computer you can access the fenix as USB mass storage and backup or transfer files. Garmin says with the GPS on you should be able to get about 50 hours of use. With the GPS off and used only as a watch, the battery should last around 6 months. Timekeeping with the GPS on is very accurate because it synchronizes with satellites, but with the GPS of...

I recently acquired a Garmin fenix Outdoor GPS Watch through an air miles reward program. This awesome watch uses GPS and a variety of sensors so that you can track, navigate and gather all sorts of trip information whenever you are out and about. You can also upload your tracking data to a smartphone or tablet through Bluetooth to view your progress or review your journey. What's even more awesome is having enough loyalty points the get Garmin fenix including shipping and taxes without having to pay anything extra! The Garmin fēnix comes with a variety of user-programmable Profiles that tailors the data shown on the watch to the particular activity you are doing, such as Hiking, Running, Cycling, and Geocaching. However, I encountered a problem where some of the profiles shown to me in the setup wizard were deleted once I started to use the watch. The ones I was interested in were: Mountain Biking, Hunting, Military, and Off Road--not because I was going to be participating i...