Worn several mechanicals (SNK805, SRPE07, vintage Raketa, Vostok Amphibia) to the shooting range without any issues afterwards. Shooting experience included 5,45x39, 7,62x39, 30-06 bolt action, 12K pump action, and even 454 Casull. The recoil shock is compensated by human hand (Marc mentions this in the video).
Remember until the 1970's all watches were mechanical. They went to war, the beach, work, and play. All before modern materials. Thanks, Marc for your time and video.
very true, but I think also back then besides the railroad-approved watches they weren't required to be cosc accurate. plus I'm guessing watchmakers were more available and servicing happened more often instead of being expensive and long waits like now.
Absolutely. I recall in small, remote villages, the general store would often carry a small display card, by either/or Ingersoll or Timex mechanical watches. If you needed an inexpensive watch, you could simply select the model you liked, from those available, remove it from the card and pay for it along with your other purchases.
I own many types of watches/movements, yet the wonder of a mechanical watch and it’s inner workings is like a childhood fantasy I get to experience time and time again 😉
My granddad always wore a mechanical watch. He used power tools, went swimming regularly, played football. Did his watch survive? Yes it did, because whenever he did anything rough he would take off the watch and set it down until he’d finished whatever he was doing. Not heard anyone mention this but I think a lot of guys used to take off their mechanical watches for physical stuff.
Yeah I was thinking that. I remember it was common for people to take off their watch for any kind of rough activity and this continued even into the quartz era.
In early 1969 my dad gave me a mechanical wrist watch. An Omega Speedmaster Professional, which in those days cost a little over $100 USD. I was fourteen at the time a crazy teenager with no sense of the value it would come to have. I rode bicycles, two-stroke motorcycles, went skin diving and did all sorts of crazy stuff with it on. I wore it through high school, college, my wedding, different jobs, including house framing , and for the past forty years doing missionary work in South America. Somehow it has managed to survive all that thanks to two main spring replacements during its 54 yr life. Hey, the Speedy passed all the NASA tortures for the space program so I guess it was tough enough for someone like me. It’s still with me, keeping excellent time. Yes, a well built mechanical watch can handle a lot.
As a mountain biker, golfer, and all-around outdoor recreation enthusiast, this was very reassuring information. I worried a bit while hitting golf balls at the range with a mechanical watch on my wrist last fall. Thank you, Bill. I am a native Utahn myself.
I think golf is a bit risky, since the impact of the golf swings is really close to our wrist. I was warned a couple of times when buying mechanical watches by the seller not to take if golfing.
@@islandwatch i used to golf and agree. When you hit the ball wrong you can feel it. Maybe test the watch on a baseball player and football player just to see what happens because this is a very very interesting topic!
I grew up in the 1950s when all there were, was Mechanical Watches including Automatics - all used during WWII, Korea, and Vietnam Wars - and just going through daily life was a lot rougher than life of today, and your typical watch lasted years & even decades. In fact one of the 'viral' catchphrases of the 50's was :*"It takes a beating and keeps on ticking."* It came from a TV Ad for the 'lowly' Timex Watches. [btw, The 1st watch I ever got was when I was about 12yrs old, it was a Longines Wittnaur Automatic (IIRC?) for 8th Grade Graduation Present.
I own/run a campground, and my first season I wore my SKX009 as my every day watch. Up to my elbows in mud, working on the pool, digging holes, fixing equipment. I thought it could take anything. One day I was doing some very hard digging and I killed it😢. I loved the watch so much that I treated it to a sapphire crystal and an NH36A movement. Now I wear a G shock when I’m working😂.
As a hunter, fisherman, and farmer, it is good to know when I am wearing my Islander watch and doing chores or wrangling pigs, hunting deer or squirrel, or fishing for catfish or bass, I am glad to know that my watch can handle it. Thanks for sharing Marc. Hope all is well!
When I used to be a deckhand I wore a Hamilton Khaki Field King every single day of the week, 12 hours a day, for about 2 months straight doing very laborious work. The polished bezel got absolutely destroyed but the rest of the watch was great. There were so many instances where I straight up slammed the watch against the hard ship steel, and many other things, but that didn't do a single thing to the sapphire or movement as it still kept accurate time. Mechanical watches are tougher than you may think, and I wore a dressier type of watch as a beater watch.
I recently purchased one of your Islander watches (ISL15) and right out of the box I dropped it onto a concrete floor. With my heart in my throat I picked it up dreading to see how much it was damaged but to my surprise not a scratch on it. After a month on the wrist it’s working flawlessly.
I like to ride mountain bike trails in winter and the ice on walking trails is insanely rutted from foot traffic. My arms are vibrating for an hours straight - I only wear autos and have never had a problem 👍👍
Love that you’re so honest about the fact that the shock protection isn’t unique to the Islander. Awesome content. Love your style. I’m not a huge Monster fan but your Islander Monster here is really pretty.
What type of blue collar job though? Are you chopping wood, using a jackhammer, swinging a sledgehammer, running a chainsaw, using lawnmowers, hammering nails, pick axing etc?
I work in a production facility that manufactures injection molded rubber parts and custom built metal reinforcements for them. The environment in which I work is a trial for the durability of any mechanical watch. As an avid collector of watches I own many that have either the Seiko 7S26 or the Seiko NH35a movement. I also own watches with the Miyota 8215 movement. My work involves constant hand and wrist movements and occassional exposure to water as well. I have never had any problems with any of them. Mechanical watches if properly built and designed are far more durable than you can imagine. I am never afraid of wearing any of them to work.
It's just so cool how you tell it like it is, without spin. You could plug how awesome your product is, instead you tell the truth as a subject matter expert. That is called integrity. Thank you.
Hey Mark and Bill, as a budding watch maker and motorcyclest, super interesting content. It's amazing what a modern mechanical will withstand. Thanks for taking the time to do the experiment.
Always learn something from your videos Marc, thank you. While most mechanical watches are tougher than most think, I always switch to a G-Shock before doing work or engaging in activities which are prone to intense vibration and potential hard knocks. Just feel uncomfortable subjecting a mechanical gadget to these conditions specially my expensive mechanical watches 🙂
Same here! I use my casio on scuba diving and snorkeling trips but never using my mechanical like my Grand Seikos although I do want to test them out to see how much abuse they can take! I wear no watch when I mountain bike although I would love to wear a mechanical watch!
Interesting video Marc! Awesome content as usual! I have an Islander Seiko automatic, the design convinced me. Rest of my wearing collection was quartz watches. The Islander had been accurate within a few seconds a day until the watch slid off a shelf falling a few feet onto a hard surface. It still looks and runs but is now fast or slow a few minutes per day, so less functional, still a handsome piece, when accuracy is not critical. I knew the Seiko automatic movement would be more delicate than a quartz and especially a G-Shock but didn't realize that a short fall would impact the watch as much as it did. SO I wanted to alert others that sudden shocks may cause problems. Its awesome this individual watch had no such problems, but I am more careful with mine now.
Awesome stuff Marc. I usually wear my tissot quartz to the gym but a few weeks ago just kept a seiko diver on. Metal bracelet so I took it off at some point and of course it ended up dropping off a spinning bike onto the gym floor. Spent days obsessing over how slow (-30 sec/day) it was running and worrying about what I'd done... then I realised that I was always running late whenever I relied on that watch anyway. Don't think the drop actually did anything.
This is encouraging anecdotal evidence. My SCUBA instructor wrecked his Rolex Sub chopping wood. What about shooting a handgun chambered in a cartridge that produces tremendous recoil? A .454 Casull or S&W 500 Mag will do. Even .40S&W would be interesting. The .22LR needs to be included as well. The watch needs to be on the dominant hand. I believe a follow up is in order. Keep us posted, Marc. Thanks.
One caveat, when you get into watches with screw link bracelets, they can sometimes work themselves free while doing high impact activities like golf or tennis. I’ve had my Explorer II AND my SMP 300 FALL OFF my wrist due to this, and now I do these activities in either my Seiko or Hamilton watches. But the movements themselves are so durable and bulletproof, I haven’t had any issues doing these activities. Great video, love the new Titanium watches I may have to grab one soon!
Man, what a great vid! I have a 38 mm ISL 73 (?) and I target shoot hand guns (mostly .22 & .38 special) and have been wondering which watch in my collection would be up to the percussive forces generated by shooting. Now I know. Thanks Marc!
Thank you Mark, Thank you Bill for the information I am also new to mechanical watches. Mark I found your site from The Urban Gentry videos that you have done. I am now also watching your videos and will be your customer soon. Thank you.
The mechanical watch I've been the roughest with is my Phoibos Leviathan (NH35). In the course of a couple years, it fell on the floor once and I've done a bunch of cycling with it. I had to regulate it after it fell and it doesn't look as pretty on the timegrapher anymore, but it's still operating well within acceptable limits. It's quite a robust movement, and relatively inexpensive movements like this can easily be replaced rather than properly servicing them (though they are quite serviceable!). You (or your watchmaker) would simply transfer over any parts that were customized by the watch manufacturer (date wheel, engraved rotor, etc.). Personally I like to have one mechanical watch that is designated for rougher treatment, and NH3x are a great choice for that IMO.
It was a fantastic video! I love the idea of the extensive real world testing! I have been wearing an Islander as a work watch for a couple of years and had no problem with it. I am a mechanical engineer working with cnc lathes, mills, lasers, press brakes… (installation, application, operation, service etc) the only time I take mine off is when I have to work on machines with linear drive systems to avoid magnetisation.
Was gardening last summer, busting up clods with a shovel and the spring bar on my Islander ISL112 Flieger gave way. The watch hit the ground. No problem. Got a new spring bar and it is working like it worked when I got it. Great products. I would have like to hear a bit more about the shock protection built into a mechanical watch. Just interested. Mark - Springfield, MO
Great video, one of my automatic watches comes to work with me every day, it gets subjected to me hammering, using air tools bangs And knocks and it’s still ticks away as accurate as the day I bought it, although I did have to demagnetise it after working on a EV
I wiped out on my dirt bike on some hard ass ground with my vintage exp2 takin the hit and had no problems, besides bending the clasp. Mechanical watches are real tough. People just are overprotective and don't understand what they've been built to withstand. They'll survive if you do too.
I was always wondering as well, on how shock resistant a mechanical watch is. Thanks Bill & Marc for testing this out, very interesting! Now i'm feeling more confident to wear any of my divers when doing more wild outdoor activities.
Thanks for the info once again Mark. Always leave your vids feeling like it was time well spent. I've always wondered if I was damaging my own watches while riding my motorcycle and did damage an eta 2824-2 in a victorinox when I knocked it off my nightstand.
hi, o am a huge fan of you asspecialy when it comes to seiko. My SARP 57K1 saved my life, when i lost my balance with glass in hand, the clasp protected my vein and saved me. i gave it to my father because i bought myself fitness tracker to lose some weight (: my dream watch is Sla 023 and i already have a half saved up!
Another great watch and learn! I love this series. And I appreciate the transparency in your videos. Rather than using this strictly as a platform to promote your own watch brand you seem genuinely more interested to share your passion of watches in general. In this case going on to explain that the shock absorption isn't just with your Islander watches, but built into the third party movement itself. Very cool! I also work in engineering, as a designer (engineering school drop-out here lol). Ive been looking for my next watch to commemorate another year in my career and really giving some serious consideration to getting an Islander watch - a couple models in particular Ive had my eye on! The fact you were an engineer who gave all that up to follow your passion and have since gone on to be fairly successful doing so is such an inspiration! I would be proud to have a watch like that on my wrist that represents such an accomplishment and a good reminder to follow your dreams. Keep up the hard work!
wore my Speedy a few times through varying length trips, never an issue, other than once it had lost 4 whole minutes on a 10 min commute to work. but no long lasting damage at all.
My father and me where plasterers and our watches went trough a lot but worked. They needed a cleaning from time to time because of the dust. That was 40 etc years ago.
I wore my ISL-82 Mitchel (NH35 movement) every day during my last year working in automotive repair with tools that vibrate a **lot**. Took daily shop use on my non-dominant wrist like a champ. That said, I was always careful how I was using my hands to avoid injury or avoid the watch scratching up against a vehicle. I did tinker with the regulation early on, brought down the initial beat error and got it down to +5/-0 seconds per week based on my wearing habits. Stayed there through to me leaving Automotive.
Great video. I have never worn any of my mid-priced automatic Dive watches (Islander, Mido, Orient & Seiko) for outdoor activities, but seeing these test results I will probably start taking them to the golf course in place of my lower priced Quartz Seiko's & Wenger's.
It's so cool that you did this!!! I've always wondered the same thing and tend you wear my G-shock casioak while golfing/outdoorsing instead of a sports watch. Nice to know I can beat on it a little more!
Great video, this is reassuring 👍. I agree, mechanical movements can be tough, but shocks will show up any flaws in the movement. I cycled for about 3 hours off road in a mechanical watch (not Seiko, but it had shock protection) and afterwards the rate was way off and looked like a snake on the timegrapher! I swapped the balance assembly and it's OK now, but I wear quartz cycling now just in case.
What a fantastic video, so thank you for putting this up for everyone to see. It just highlights the amazing engineering behind current 'mechanical' automatic watch movements and Islander watches specifically. I just love your channels content and in particular your honesty, yes quartz watches have far less moving parts to sustain any damage then I'd bet/get a quartz/G-Shock movement, BUT then that's their specific design criteria, well all said and done?!
What would be really helpful is if a brand came up with a rating system that could one day be standardized. Your background Marc would be perfect. Like from NA - No Active use suggested, LA, Light activity only is suggested, all the way up to a RFA rating meaning Ready for Apocalypse level watch. Marc, this would really help all of us. Divers have ratings and most divers don't even make it to a swimming pool. Sports, exercise and more now that is a rating that would actually impact watch owners. Just a thought. I think whoever put a rating system together and had some standard tests even if started with one model only, it could offer a competitive advantage for the company as well as peace of mind for active watch lovers. Just a thought. Not sure you will even see this. If so and you like the idea, I would love to see you put it to use. You can do a video and ask customers if they would like to see an activity rating on watches and if they found it helpful. Take care.
And yet I've broken 2 mechanical watch movements while mountain biking - both Seiko divers - and one through impact at work which had an STP1-11 movement. Switched to quartz for all my daily wear and outdoor adventures and never looked back. Bonus, they're more accurate, lighter, thinner and cheaper as well! The Swiss really did a magic smoke and mirrors job on the watch enthusiast world.
@@islandwatch There are some great quartz watches out there. Are you REALLY a watch enthusiast if you don't have a few quartz pieces in your collection? I have a Citizen...I think it is the chandler? Sort of a plain-Jane field chronograph as my beater. However, I have been enjoying the crap out of my Islander ISL-10 for every-day wear when I'm not swinging from ladders and theatrical rigging around white-hot spotlights! lol
Most of the time I wear my Citizen Eco Drive tough (uk only) and the Casio 5610 when doing outdoor things. But I wear them more and more when doing my daily stuff. I've asked myself do I really need another NH, Miyota or Selitta 200. Servicing is a waste of money and time. Money and time better spend on my classic car and holidays.
I wear an automatic to work every day, and it gets absolutely beat to crap. It's close to 3 years old now, and while it's battered and scratched, it has only lost 25 seconds over 2 weeks! Seiko neo sports with a 4r inside.
Islander Watches are my new go to watch. I have high end Swiss watches, but end up everyday with my Islander. Seriously, reasonable prices. Great watches available US made movement or others up to Swiss.
Great saga, really enjoyed hearing about the torture test. Watches are amazingly tough, especially the mechanicals with that tiny hair spring. Nothing like a real life test! . Thanks!
I always leave my watch on while I shoot but I don’t shoot as much as I’d like to. I definitely switch to something quartz when using power tools, lawn mowers, etc.
So, I didn't bring up shooting because he didn't do it, and also because it's sensitive to most folks. But I'll revert to another comment left. . . infantry prior to the 80's wore only mechanicals, cheap ones at that, and they faired fine. You have to remember that just because your hand is firing a gun, a very small portion of the shock/recoil goes to the watch.
I always had my platinum Lange strapped to my wrist when I went shooting. Handled .45 ACP just fine. As is said in the video, the flesh on your wrist is a great shock absorber. Also, as luck would have it, I also had the chance to send the watch in for a routine service (it was running fine; I was just following routine service guidelines), and nothing weird came up during servicing, essentially proving that the shooting had not negatively affected the movement.
i've been wearing my ISL-05 for years now (bought it soon after it was released) and it has survived literally everything i've thrown at it, including several hard knocks at work, i think the little knocks and scratches on the case give it character! despite it all the crystal and ceramic bezel still look as good as day one too, cheers mark!
When my Swiss Army watch stopped running, I took it to my local watch repair shop. The first question the shop owner ask me was "what kind of bike I rode".
I wear my mechanical watches all the time. Lawn care, power tools, auto repair, operating my drill rig drilling wells, kayaking, fishing, hiking, golf and everything else. Still going strong.
Thanks for relaying a real world test 👍! I’m not sure all “dive style” watch movements would hold as well as the Seiko movement did, for some reason Orient states in their owners manual not to wear them when riding a motorcycle 🤔!? Now for a bit of my own experience 😉; I spent 30 years working in and around electrical transmission and distribution substations, early on I found the only mechanical watches that would hold up and maintain accuracy do to the “static charge” of being in the stations long term were ISO rated dive watches. (PS: I couldn’t afford a Milgauss🤪!)
For a couple years I only wore mechanical watches. I was in a skateboard accident and the watch was fine, but my wrist underneath was sprained for two weeks amongst other things, just generally got beat up
I like Certina with the reintroduction of their 1950's original DS concept. There you have additional shock protection between the case and movement, much like the module is protected in a G-shock.
I have several watches for just about any occasion. When I hunt I wear my ISL42 with DLC. I wear it on a black rubber strap. When I was working( building Ford trucks) I wore my Casio Duro with a marine nationale elastic strap. When I split wood I've worn many Seiko divers, none of my watches fail. I'm hard on everything I own, clothes, jewelry, watches, etc but all are fine.
My first wristwatch was a 1971 mechanical chronograph, which I used for timing my run workouts for several years until it starting running fast and the watchmaker quoted $250 to fix an $80 watch. Into a drawer it went. Quartz watches after that until 2019 when I bought an Orient Ray II. I have gotten so used to wearing Timex Ironman or Casio chronographs for athletic activities, that any watch over 50-60 grams seems obtrusive. Since my automatics are generally more expensive than my quartz watches, I switch to one of my digital quartz watches or my Citizen Promaster Tough for vigorous or dirty activities. I don’t coddle my five Islanders, but I want to keep them looking nice.
Great video on a great topic. I do have to say though, it sounds like Bill put in a hell of a lot of effort to provide a lot of video only to have about 10 seconds of his footage actually shown here. How about a longer compilation of his video? It'd be a good ad for Islander.
@gavinbaker2010 Hey Gavin- I have some videos posted on RUclips at BCCMorgan. All the posted videos were filmed east of Ogden, UT. The tough part is that for little guys, RUclips does not allow access to the servers that can handle higher speed, so the videos can be blurry. My GoPro footage is crystal clear.
I own Fossil ME 3124 with Miyota movement i think. 5 yrs ago i forgot to remove the watch when i do 5 meter jump to the sea and i jump a few times with it (I have the video). The watch is still in good condiiton now.
I'm really sorry for telling you this, but I have already dropped by mistake, on my house's floor, my skx, a fortis, a Sea-Gull and my marina militare Citizen. All the above are automatic watches and they're mine. They all stopped immediately working and had to revive them somehow. All of this just by falling only from a 1.5m height. My gshock was run over by a truck. The exterior broke, but was still working!!
While I'm not that intense, I've mtn biked (crashed), gone hiking in snow (crashed), forded rivers, gone rock climbing, swam in alpine lakes and my Tudor still runs +/- 2sec. Could it break? Sure, but so could my arm
The main reason I wear quartz (Casio Duro) is magnetic resistance. I study electrical engineering and work in all sorts of magnetic fields, and an omega is with a silicon balance spring is out of my price range.
Would love to know how some of the more powerful hand dryers affect mechanical watches. I always keep my left hand lower to be less affacted but maybe I'm being overcautious.
Hey Marc nice one 🕜 Islander brand is engineer certified right? What I challenge you to is put them up to extreme heat and cold, the summer window, watch face against the glass for hours, Stick it in the freezer for an hour to simulate the snow fields. I did it with my Citizen Eco solar divers watch and it passed each time.
Mark, when are the Islanders with the NH34 coming? I can't wait to see what that skx case and sapphire pepsi bezel (maybe with a blue sunray dial!) looks like. Nice video!
What about wearing one to the shooting range? Great video and love the watch!
This watch was at the range for a couple hours. Glock 43x. I'll head out once the weather clears and let you know the results. Bill
There he is!!!! Thanks Bill!!!!
@@bccmorgan984 abuse this shit out of it because we are all curious to know what the limit is!
I go to the range once every 3 months. I do not wear my autos to the range. I wear a G-shock, because that's it's job. 😂
Worn several mechanicals (SNK805, SRPE07, vintage Raketa, Vostok Amphibia) to the shooting range without any issues afterwards. Shooting experience included 5,45x39, 7,62x39, 30-06 bolt action, 12K pump action, and even 454 Casull. The recoil shock is compensated by human hand (Marc mentions this in the video).
Remember until the 1970's all watches were mechanical. They went to war, the beach, work, and play. All before modern materials. Thanks, Marc for your time and video.
Very true, good point.
very true, but I think also back then besides the railroad-approved watches they weren't required to be cosc accurate. plus I'm guessing watchmakers were more available and servicing happened more often instead of being expensive and long waits like now.
And then Casio made the G-Shock because those mechanical watches kept breaking
@@notreallydaedalus God Tier
Absolutely. I recall in small, remote villages, the general store would often carry a small display card, by either/or Ingersoll or Timex mechanical watches. If you needed an inexpensive watch, you could simply select the model you liked, from those available, remove it from the card and pay for it along with your other purchases.
I own many types of watches/movements, yet the wonder of a mechanical watch and it’s inner workings is like a childhood fantasy I get to experience time and time again 😉
True!
The engineer in you trusts the test of reality. 6 months is a solid test!
Thank you Bill!
True!
This was an absolute blast and Marc made it possible! It was easy to abuse a donated watch. Glad to have it back! Bill
My granddad always wore a mechanical watch. He used power tools, went swimming regularly, played football. Did his watch survive? Yes it did, because whenever he did anything rough he would take off the watch and set it down until he’d finished whatever he was doing.
Not heard anyone mention this but I think a lot of guys used to take off their mechanical watches for physical stuff.
Yeah I was thinking that. I remember it was common for people to take off their watch for any kind of rough activity and this continued even into the quartz era.
In early 1969 my dad gave me a mechanical wrist watch. An Omega Speedmaster Professional, which in those days cost a little over $100 USD. I was fourteen at the time a crazy teenager with no sense of the value it would come to have. I rode bicycles, two-stroke motorcycles, went skin diving and did all sorts of crazy stuff with it on. I wore it through high school, college, my wedding, different jobs, including house framing , and for the past forty years doing missionary work in South America. Somehow it has managed to survive all that thanks to two main spring replacements during its 54 yr life. Hey, the Speedy passed all the NASA tortures for the space program so I guess it was tough enough for someone like me. It’s still with me, keeping excellent time. Yes, a well built mechanical watch can handle a lot.
That’s so cool, you’ve had a full life it sounds like!
As a mountain biker, golfer, and all-around outdoor recreation enthusiast, this was very reassuring information. I worried a bit while hitting golf balls at the range with a mechanical watch on my wrist last fall. Thank you, Bill. I am a native Utahn myself.
Just a heads up, I've broken several mechanical movements when mountain biking! Mechanicals are fragile. Trust in quartz.
I think golf is a bit risky, since the impact of the golf swings is really close to our wrist. I was warned a couple of times when buying mechanical watches by the seller not to take if golfing.
Golfing really depends on how much you chunk the grass, and how much you sweet spot it. Very different shock profiles.
@@islandwatch I wouldn’t know. I am not a golfer. Hahaha.
@@islandwatch i used to golf and agree. When you hit the ball wrong you can feel it. Maybe test the watch on a baseball player and football player just to see what happens because this is a very very interesting topic!
I grew up in the 1950s when all there were, was Mechanical Watches including Automatics - all used during WWII, Korea, and Vietnam Wars - and just going through daily life was a lot rougher than life of today, and your typical watch lasted years & even decades. In fact one of the 'viral' catchphrases of the 50's was :*"It takes a beating and keeps on ticking."* It came from a TV Ad for the 'lowly' Timex Watches. [btw, The 1st watch I ever got was when I was about 12yrs old, it was a Longines Wittnaur Automatic (IIRC?) for 8th Grade Graduation Present.
The marketing slogan was: "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking".
I own/run a campground, and my first season I wore my SKX009 as my every day watch. Up to my elbows in mud, working on the pool, digging holes, fixing equipment. I thought it could take anything. One day I was doing some very hard digging and I killed it😢. I loved the watch so much that I treated it to a sapphire crystal and an NH36A movement.
Now I wear a G shock when I’m working😂.
Good idea.
As a hunter, fisherman, and farmer, it is good to know when I am wearing my Islander watch and doing chores or wrangling pigs, hunting deer or squirrel, or fishing for catfish or bass, I am glad to know that my watch can handle it. Thanks for sharing Marc. Hope all is well!
Thanks Cal!
When I used to be a deckhand I wore a Hamilton Khaki Field King every single day of the week, 12 hours a day, for about 2 months straight doing very laborious work. The polished bezel got absolutely destroyed but the rest of the watch was great. There were so many instances where I straight up slammed the watch against the hard ship steel, and many other things, but that didn't do a single thing to the sapphire or movement as it still kept accurate time. Mechanical watches are tougher than you may think, and I wore a dressier type of watch as a beater watch.
Thanks for commenting and watching.
What a great video! BIG thank you to BILL! I like to think Bill ended up getting all the different monster colors after this.
You bet!
I recently purchased one of your Islander watches (ISL15) and right out of the box I dropped it onto a concrete floor. With my heart in my throat I picked it up dreading to see how much it was damaged but to my surprise not a scratch on it. After a month on the wrist it’s working flawlessly.
Phew!!!!
I like to ride mountain bike trails in winter and the ice on walking trails is insanely rutted from foot traffic. My arms are vibrating for an hours straight - I only wear autos and have never had a problem 👍👍
Love that you’re so honest about the fact that the shock protection isn’t unique to the Islander. Awesome content. Love your style. I’m not a huge Monster fan but your Islander Monster here is really pretty.
Wearing my ISL-02 everyday for 2 years ish. Blue collar job, the watch is still running immaculately.
Perfect, thank you.
What type of blue collar job though? Are you chopping wood, using a jackhammer, swinging a sledgehammer, running a chainsaw, using lawnmowers, hammering nails, pick axing etc?
I work in a production facility that manufactures injection molded rubber parts and custom built metal reinforcements for them. The environment in which I work is a trial for the durability of any mechanical watch. As an avid collector of watches I own many that have either the Seiko 7S26 or the Seiko NH35a movement. I also own watches with the Miyota 8215 movement. My work involves constant hand and wrist movements and occassional exposure to water as well. I have never had any problems with any of them. Mechanical watches if properly built and designed are far more durable than you can imagine. I am never afraid of wearing any of them to work.
Haven’t watched a ‘watch and learn’ for a while. Love them all.
Thanks!
❤ your content! Mechanical watches are almost a miracle. They are works of art.
Couldn't agree more!
True. When you drop one on the floor and it's still ticking it feels like a miracle.
It's just so cool how you tell it like it is, without spin. You could plug how awesome your product is, instead you tell the truth as a subject matter expert. That is called integrity. Thank you.
Once my SKX009 bracelet failed while riding on a road bike and it fell on concrete while doing around 25 mph. It's still going strong 6 years later.
Hey Mark and Bill, as a budding watch maker and motorcyclest, super interesting content. It's amazing what a modern mechanical will withstand. Thanks for taking the time to do the experiment.
Amazing. The experiment was eye opening and thank you and Bill for proving the exceptional toughness of mechanical watches.
Glad you enjoyed it!
i've been waiting for this. i've been looking for this kind of video since 2018.
I wear a Seiko alpinist while hitting rocks with hammers in the field, never had an issue over a few years of heavy use.
Perfect, great to hear.
*I’m glad that you sent the timepiece back to the gentleman for a keepsake. That’s the epitome of reciprocity.*
He did so much!
*Right on!!!*
Dropped my Oris Aquis 400 cal 2 weeks ago on tiles in bathroom, from 1.5 m mby a bit more hight, and it works perfectly. Such a rugged watch, love it.
Always learn something from your videos Marc, thank you.
While most mechanical watches are tougher than most think, I always switch to a G-Shock before doing work or engaging in activities which are prone to intense vibration and potential hard knocks. Just feel uncomfortable subjecting a mechanical gadget to these conditions specially my expensive mechanical watches 🙂
*YEAH BUDDDYYY!!!*
Well said!
Same here! I use my casio on scuba diving and snorkeling trips but never using my mechanical like my Grand Seikos although I do want to test them out to see how much abuse they can take! I wear no watch when I mountain bike although I would love to wear a mechanical watch!
@Vk Travel log No, not the Grand Seiko please 🙂 Have fun and be safe.
I have a bit more than a few islanders and they are tough and spot on... well priced well built. Good stuff for sure.
Great!
You continue to keep followers and draw new people to the fold with your out right honesty.
Interesting video Marc! Awesome content as usual! I have an Islander Seiko automatic, the design convinced me. Rest of my wearing collection was quartz watches. The Islander had been accurate within a few seconds a day until the watch slid off a shelf falling a few feet onto a hard surface. It still looks and runs but is now fast or slow a few minutes per day, so less functional, still a handsome piece, when accuracy is not critical. I knew the Seiko automatic movement would be more delicate than a quartz and especially a G-Shock but didn't realize that a short fall would impact the watch as much as it did. SO I wanted to alert others that sudden shocks may cause problems. Its awesome this individual watch had no such problems, but I am more careful with mine now.
Awesome stuff Marc. I usually wear my tissot quartz to the gym but a few weeks ago just kept a seiko diver on. Metal bracelet so I took it off at some point and of course it ended up dropping off a spinning bike onto the gym floor. Spent days obsessing over how slow (-30 sec/day) it was running and worrying about what I'd done... then I realised that I was always running late whenever I relied on that watch anyway. Don't think the drop actually did anything.
Could just have been coincidence. Maybe get it regulated.
This is encouraging anecdotal evidence. My SCUBA instructor wrecked his Rolex Sub chopping wood. What about shooting a handgun chambered in a cartridge that produces tremendous recoil? A .454 Casull or S&W 500 Mag will do. Even .40S&W would be interesting. The .22LR needs to be included as well. The watch needs to be on the dominant hand. I believe a follow up is in order. Keep us posted, Marc. Thanks.
Super cool! Bill knocked it out of the park with his documentation and torture testing.
Sure did!
Great experiment! You are the only guy I can imagine deliberately putting their brand through such paces and with such humility
Victorinox, Casio, Citizen etc.
One caveat, when you get into watches with screw link bracelets, they can sometimes work themselves free while doing high impact activities like golf or tennis. I’ve had my Explorer II AND my SMP 300 FALL OFF my wrist due to this, and now I do these activities in either my Seiko or Hamilton watches. But the movements themselves are so durable and bulletproof, I haven’t had any issues doing these activities. Great video, love the new Titanium watches I may have to grab one soon!
Thanks for the feedback; good point!
I have my first “real” swiss watch and i just got it sized at the jeweler and they applied loctite. I feel confident in it.
A little Loctite will do the trick.
I suppose in those situations that would mean contacting Rolex and Omega for spare screws, right?
@@eyeheartsushi2212 I used a screw from a spare link that I had taken out when sizing. Came in clutch
Man, what a great vid! I have a 38 mm ISL 73 (?) and I target shoot hand guns (mostly .22 & .38 special) and have been wondering which watch in my collection would be up to the percussive forces generated by shooting. Now I know. Thanks Marc!
Solid. Love your content. Your collaboration with TGV is the best. Drama free.
Thanks !!!!
Thank you Mark, Thank you Bill for the information I am also new to mechanical watches. Mark I found your site from The Urban Gentry videos that you have done. I am now also watching your videos and will be your customer soon. Thank you.
Thanks Tim!
The mechanical watch I've been the roughest with is my Phoibos Leviathan (NH35). In the course of a couple years, it fell on the floor once and I've done a bunch of cycling with it. I had to regulate it after it fell and it doesn't look as pretty on the timegrapher anymore, but it's still operating well within acceptable limits. It's quite a robust movement, and relatively inexpensive movements like this can easily be replaced rather than properly servicing them (though they are quite serviceable!). You (or your watchmaker) would simply transfer over any parts that were customized by the watch manufacturer (date wheel, engraved rotor, etc.). Personally I like to have one mechanical watch that is designated for rougher treatment, and NH3x are a great choice for that IMO.
Thanks for this video, it’s very informative. I ride dual sports several times a week and I haven’t had any problems with my NH38 watch
It was a fantastic video! I love the idea of the extensive real world testing! I have been wearing an Islander as a work watch for a couple of years and had no problem with it. I am a mechanical engineer working with cnc lathes, mills, lasers, press brakes… (installation, application, operation, service etc) the only time I take mine off is when I have to work on machines with linear drive systems to avoid magnetisation.
Was gardening last summer, busting up clods with a shovel and the spring bar on my Islander ISL112 Flieger gave way. The watch hit the ground. No problem. Got a new spring bar and it is working like it worked when I got it. Great products. I would have like to hear a bit more about the shock protection built into a mechanical watch. Just interested. Mark - Springfield, MO
Marc i love you doing videos like these. Real life tests are worth the most !! I would love to see your divewatches tested in real life situations.
Great video, one of my automatic watches comes to work with me every day, it gets subjected to me hammering, using air tools bangs And knocks and it’s still ticks away as accurate as the day I bought it, although I did have to demagnetise it after working on a EV
I wiped out on my dirt bike on some hard ass ground with my vintage exp2 takin the hit and had no problems, besides bending the clasp. Mechanical watches are real tough. People just are overprotective and don't understand what they've been built to withstand. They'll survive if you do too.
Good way to look at it.
Been doing pretty much the same thing to a Pagani design dive watch with a nh 35 for the last 2 years still runs great.
awesome!
I was always wondering as well, on how shock resistant a mechanical watch is.
Thanks Bill & Marc for testing this out, very interesting!
Now i'm feeling more confident to wear any of my divers when doing more wild outdoor activities.
Doing the experiment. Love it. More testing please.
Nice, same watch I'm wearing right now. Lume Monster FTW!
Still wearing a G-Shock at work though.
Thanks for the info once again Mark. Always leave your vids feeling like it was time well spent. I've always wondered if I was damaging my own watches while riding my motorcycle and did damage an eta 2824-2 in a victorinox when I knocked it off my nightstand.
Thanks Bill! Drops generally aren't good.
hi, o am a huge fan of you asspecialy when it comes to seiko. My SARP 57K1 saved my life, when i lost my balance with glass in hand, the clasp protected my vein and saved me. i gave it to my father because i bought myself fitness tracker to lose some weight (: my dream watch is Sla 023 and i already have a half saved up!
No way man! I used my seiko 5 to drive nails on my construction site and that POS failed after two nails! Trying my Gshock next 😎
Another great watch and learn! I love this series. And I appreciate the transparency in your videos. Rather than using this strictly as a platform to promote your own watch brand you seem genuinely more interested to share your passion of watches in general. In this case going on to explain that the shock absorption isn't just with your Islander watches, but built into the third party movement itself. Very cool!
I also work in engineering, as a designer (engineering school drop-out here lol). Ive been looking for my next watch to commemorate another year in my career and really giving some serious consideration to getting an Islander watch - a couple models in particular Ive had my eye on! The fact you were an engineer who gave all that up to follow your passion and have since gone on to be fairly successful doing so is such an inspiration! I would be proud to have a watch like that on my wrist that represents such an accomplishment and a good reminder to follow your dreams. Keep up the hard work!
Love these watch and learn series
Thanks, love making them!
This was very interesting. Thanks to you, Marc, and, Bill, for doing all the testing. Makes me feel a bit more comfortable using my own watches.
wore my Speedy a few times through varying length trips, never an issue, other than once it had lost 4 whole minutes on a 10 min commute to work. but no long lasting damage at all.
Thanks Bill!! and Marc... this was awesome!
thanks!
Thanks for watching! Bill
My father and me where plasterers and our watches went trough a lot but worked. They needed a cleaning from time to time because of the dust. That was 40 etc years ago.
I wore my ISL-82 Mitchel (NH35 movement) every day during my last year working in automotive repair with tools that vibrate a **lot**. Took daily shop use on my non-dominant wrist like a champ. That said, I was always careful how I was using my hands to avoid injury or avoid the watch scratching up against a vehicle. I did tinker with the regulation early on, brought down the initial beat error and got it down to +5/-0 seconds per week based on my wearing habits. Stayed there through to me leaving Automotive.
Great video. I have never worn any of my mid-priced automatic Dive watches (Islander, Mido, Orient & Seiko) for outdoor activities, but seeing these test results I will probably start taking them to the golf course in place of my lower priced Quartz Seiko's & Wenger's.
It's so cool that you did this!!! I've always wondered the same thing and tend you wear my G-shock casioak while golfing/outdoorsing instead of a sports watch. Nice to know I can beat on it a little more!
I recommend quartz for these kinds of activities. Unless you want an early watch service, but hey, it's your money 😉
Great video, this is reassuring 👍. I agree, mechanical movements can be tough, but shocks will show up any flaws in the movement. I cycled for about 3 hours off road in a mechanical watch (not Seiko, but it had shock protection) and afterwards the rate was way off and looked like a snake on the timegrapher! I swapped the balance assembly and it's OK now, but I wear quartz cycling now just in case.
Good plan.
Honestly, thank you for this! Fantastic idea and results!
What a fantastic video, so thank you for putting this up for everyone to see. It just highlights the amazing engineering behind current 'mechanical' automatic watch movements and Islander watches specifically.
I just love your channels content and in particular your honesty, yes quartz watches have far less moving parts to sustain any damage then I'd bet/get a quartz/G-Shock movement, BUT then that's their specific design criteria, well all said and done?!
What would be really helpful is if a brand came up with a rating system that could one day be standardized. Your background Marc would be perfect. Like from NA - No Active use suggested, LA, Light activity only is suggested, all the way up to a RFA rating meaning Ready for Apocalypse level watch. Marc, this would really help all of us. Divers have ratings and most divers don't even make it to a swimming pool. Sports, exercise and more now that is a rating that would actually impact watch owners. Just a thought. I think whoever put a rating system together and had some standard tests even if started with one model only, it could offer a competitive advantage for the company as well as peace of mind for active watch lovers. Just a thought. Not sure you will even see this. If so and you like the idea, I would love to see you put it to use. You can do a video and ask customers if they would like to see an activity rating on watches and if they found it helpful. Take care.
Edmund Hillary climbed Mount Everest wearing a Rolex. That's pretty good evidence for the toughness of a mechanical watch.
Great video and very helpful information! Curious which movement is in this watch? I tried looking online and couldn't find the model. Thanks again!
And yet I've broken 2 mechanical watch movements while mountain biking - both Seiko divers - and one through impact at work which had an STP1-11 movement. Switched to quartz for all my daily wear and outdoor adventures and never looked back. Bonus, they're more accurate, lighter, thinner and cheaper as well! The Swiss really did a magic smoke and mirrors job on the watch enthusiast world.
I totally agree. It's a world-wide scam.
Quartz will always be more reliable. For less moving parts.
@@islandwatch There are some great quartz watches out there. Are you REALLY a watch enthusiast if you don't have a few quartz pieces in your collection? I have a Citizen...I think it is the chandler? Sort of a plain-Jane field chronograph as my beater. However, I have been enjoying the crap out of my Islander ISL-10 for every-day wear when I'm not swinging from ladders and theatrical rigging around white-hot spotlights! lol
Most of the time I wear my Citizen Eco Drive tough (uk only) and the Casio 5610 when doing outdoor things. But I wear them more and more when doing my daily stuff. I've asked myself do I really need another NH, Miyota or Selitta 200. Servicing is a waste of money and time. Money and time better spend on my classic car and holidays.
I wear an automatic to work every day, and it gets absolutely beat to crap. It's close to 3 years old now, and while it's battered and scratched, it has only lost 25 seconds over 2 weeks! Seiko neo sports with a 4r inside.
Awesome
Islander Watches are my new go to watch. I have high end Swiss watches, but end up everyday with my Islander. Seriously, reasonable prices. Great watches available US made movement or others up to Swiss.
Thank you!
Great saga, really enjoyed hearing about the torture test. Watches are amazingly tough, especially the mechanicals with that tiny hair spring. Nothing like a real life test! . Thanks!
Hey Mark, what about high intensity activities like shooting? I imagine the shockwaves and vibration to be more intense and localized than biking
I always leave my watch on while I shoot but I don’t shoot as much as I’d like to. I definitely switch to something quartz when using power tools, lawn mowers, etc.
So, I didn't bring up shooting because he didn't do it, and also because it's sensitive to most folks. But I'll revert to another comment left. . . infantry prior to the 80's wore only mechanicals, cheap ones at that, and they faired fine. You have to remember that just because your hand is firing a gun, a very small portion of the shock/recoil goes to the watch.
I always had my platinum Lange strapped to my wrist when I went shooting. Handled .45 ACP just fine. As is said in the video, the flesh on your wrist is a great shock absorber. Also, as luck would have it, I also had the chance to send the watch in for a routine service (it was running fine; I was just following routine service guidelines), and nothing weird came up during servicing, essentially proving that the shooting had not negatively affected the movement.
@@islandwatch now do motorcyles
It'll be fine, mechanical watches went through two world wars,Korea and Vietnam
i've been wearing my ISL-05 for years now (bought it soon after it was released) and it has survived literally everything i've thrown at it, including several hard knocks at work, i think the little knocks and scratches on the case give it character!
despite it all the crystal and ceramic bezel still look as good as day one too, cheers mark!
Great to hear, thank you.
Here I was about to buy a Richard mille because it can withstand Phil Mickelson's golf swing. That was a close one.
LOL
@@islandwatch but seriously, the day date is still square! I'm impressed. That's usually what I do see fail from shock in a watch.
Wow I really loved this video loved the review more people should send reviews like this it was so much fun to look at any way over all good video.
Thanks!
When my Swiss Army watch stopped running, I took it to my local watch repair shop. The first question the shop owner ask me was "what kind of bike I rode".
I wear my mechanical watches all the time. Lawn care, power tools, auto repair, operating my drill rig drilling wells, kayaking, fishing, hiking, golf and everything else. Still going strong.
Thanks for relaying a real world test 👍! I’m not sure all “dive style” watch movements would hold as well as the Seiko movement did, for some reason Orient states in their owners manual not to wear them when riding a motorcycle 🤔!? Now for a bit of my own experience 😉; I spent 30 years working in and around electrical transmission and distribution substations, early on I found the only mechanical watches that would hold up and maintain accuracy do to the “static charge” of being in the stations long term were ISO rated dive watches. (PS: I couldn’t afford a Milgauss🤪!)
That's just Orient's way of lawyering out of any situation!
Great video Mark, sometimes you get so many conflicting opinions on you tube with how you should treat auto watches, so it was good to see this.👍
For a couple years I only wore mechanical watches. I was in a skateboard accident and the watch was fine, but my wrist underneath was sprained for two weeks amongst other things, just generally got beat up
I like Certina with the reintroduction of their 1950's original DS concept. There you have additional shock protection between the case and movement, much like the module is protected in a G-shock.
I have several watches for just about any occasion. When I hunt I wear my ISL42 with DLC. I wear it on a black rubber strap. When I was working( building Ford trucks) I wore my Casio Duro with a marine nationale elastic strap. When I split wood I've worn many Seiko divers, none of my watches fail. I'm hard on everything I own, clothes, jewelry, watches, etc but all are fine.
My first wristwatch was a 1971 mechanical chronograph, which I used for timing my run workouts for several years until it starting running fast and the watchmaker quoted $250 to fix an $80 watch. Into a drawer it went. Quartz watches after that until 2019 when I bought an Orient Ray II. I have gotten so used to wearing Timex Ironman or Casio chronographs for athletic activities, that any watch over 50-60 grams seems obtrusive. Since my automatics are generally more expensive than my quartz watches, I switch to one of my digital quartz watches or my Citizen Promaster Tough for vigorous or dirty activities. I don’t coddle my five Islanders, but I want to keep them looking nice.
Thanks for sharing.
Great video! Thanks, Marc!
Great video on a great topic. I do have to say though, it sounds like Bill put in a hell of a lot of effort to provide a lot of video only to have about 10 seconds of his footage actually shown here. How about a longer compilation of his video? It'd be a good ad for Islander.
@gavinbaker2010 Hey Gavin- I have some videos posted on RUclips at BCCMorgan. All the posted videos were filmed east of Ogden, UT. The tough part is that for little guys, RUclips does not allow access to the servers that can handle higher speed, so the videos can be blurry. My GoPro footage is crystal clear.
I own Fossil ME 3124 with Miyota movement i think. 5 yrs ago i forgot to remove the watch when i do 5 meter jump to the sea and i jump a few times with it (I have the video). The watch is still in good condiiton now.
GREAT VIDEO!! I can attest to the quality of my personal Islanders.
I'm really sorry for telling you this, but I have already dropped by mistake, on my house's floor, my skx, a fortis, a Sea-Gull and my marina militare Citizen. All the above are automatic watches and they're mine. They all stopped immediately working and had to revive them somehow. All of this just by falling only from a 1.5m height. My gshock was run over by a truck. The exterior broke, but was still working!!
Yup, shock is the worst.
Great video. There’s a scratch or something on the wall behind you, just above the clock, that is setting off my ocd like crazy! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
This is an awesome episode! 👍
Good video. Very informative. Today's wrist check seemed to be absent.
While I'm not that intense, I've mtn biked (crashed), gone hiking in snow (crashed), forded rivers, gone rock climbing, swam in alpine lakes and my Tudor still runs +/- 2sec. Could it break? Sure, but so could my arm
True words
The main reason I wear quartz (Casio Duro) is magnetic resistance. I study electrical engineering and work in all sorts of magnetic fields, and an omega is with a silicon balance spring is out of my price range.
Would love to know how some of the more powerful hand dryers affect mechanical watches. I always keep my left hand lower to be less affacted but maybe I'm being overcautious.
Hey Marc nice one 🕜 Islander brand is engineer certified right? What I challenge you to is put them up to extreme heat and cold, the summer window, watch face against the glass for hours, Stick it in the freezer for an hour to simulate the snow fields. I did it with my Citizen Eco solar divers watch and it passed each time.
Love your watches Mark that's my favorite watch and the first Islander that's on my wishlist
Thanks for watching!
So happy for this video!!
Thanks!
Mark, when are the Islanders with the NH34 coming? I can't wait to see what that skx case and sapphire pepsi bezel (maybe with a blue sunray dial!) looks like. Nice video!
I enjoyed the video. Great info to know.