Watches are the Rube Goldberg machines of timekeeping. Energy starts in the mainspring, rushes to the escapement, teeters back-and-forth to impulse the pallet fork, and finally, circles through the gear train, the counting organ of a movement. This journey, when completed six times, will equal a single second. Though this process remains constant in most...

It’s Friday morning and you’re buttoning your cufflinks when you begin to answer an almost-insoluble question: Which watch will you wear today? After long deliberation, you decide your Seamaster Aqua Terra deserves more wrist time, and you buckle its deployant with pride. It serves you well, ticking away the final minutes of your work week.    Saturday morning brings a new question to mind, as the summer days...