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1. Don’t forget the Casio G-Shock solar powered watches!

   I have one for six-years now and going strong, nice to have one or two when IT hits the fan!

   1. 1) I concur re the G-Shock , although I think lithium batteries have a 10 year shelf life and maybe 5 years usable life after that. I have not been able to determine if the rechargeable batteries in the Solar models will last longer.
      2) The LCD displays on the Gshocks are more resistant to shock than the analog hands on either automatic or quartz watchs. The G-shock only gains 30 seconds per month and does so consistently if the temperature stays roughly the same –if you set it by shortwave, you can determine real time to within 4 seconds two months later if you adjust for the elapsed days.
      3) The real time accuracy means you can use a G-shock to do celestial navigation across the oceans ( or across the continent a la Lewis and Clark) whereas automatic watches are useless.
      4) If the shortwave time stations are out, you can still determine the real time at departure if you are at a location with with known lat-long coordinates and know the calendar date. With a long term almanac, you can determine when one of the navigational stars (or sun) will cross the local meridian and hence determine the precise time. I.e if you know the precise time you can determine your location and if you know your precise location you can instead determine the precise time.
      5) Expensive automatic watches are supposedly “certified” to only be off around plus or minus 6 seconds per day but they can easily be thrown off by 20 seconds within an hour if subjected to shocks. Two months after they are set, they may be off by as much as 15 minutes — and every 4 seconds of error in time results in 1 mile error in location.
      5) My brother in law has an expensive automatic watch and laughed when I tried to argue the G-shock is the best watch made. A few months later I saw him on the golf course and he was wearing a quartz watch with a LCD display. I stared at it and he grinned ruefully. Automatics don’t like golf swings.
      6) But they do have collectible appeal — supposedly you can bribe your way out of jail in South America with a Rolex. I don’t think that works with a G-shock.

2. Re: bank accounts.
   The law at present gives the bank ownership of your money.
   Once you deposit money into your account, it actually belongs to the bank, not you.

3. Re: bank accounts

   As goes Europe, so goes the USA. Be afraid, be very afraid.

4. I picked up one of the Seiko automatics for $58.00 – simple and straightforward timepiece. Copy and paste in “Seiko Men’s SNK809 Seiko 5 Automatic Stainless Steel Watch with Black Canvas Strap.” Good backup watch to wear while my 27 year old Rolex is in “the shop” for a 5 year overhaul. Will probably pick another 1 or 2 for barter.

   1. 1) If you search for “watch” in this blogs search box, you will find 6 to 10 articles in the past discussing survival watches.
      2) One reader noted that watch repairmen often don’t work on Seiko movements. That was also my experience with an old Seiko 5 watch my wife wanted repaired (sentimental reasons — belonged to dead father.)
      3) One excellent suggestion was to take a basic watch maintenance/repair course that includes a basic ETA 2824 movement and case and which teaches you how to disassemble and lubricate the movement for lifetime use. Such maintenance is needed by many automatics about every 5 years.

      While I prefer G-shocks over automatics, that person’s reco was the only way I see of having automatic level timekeeping over a course of 50 years after a disaster. My impression is that most batteries –including the solar rechargeables — would not last more than 15-20 years after date of manufacture.
      4) However, the ETA 2824 wouldn’t work for celestial navigation and most other timekeeping functions could be done as well with a large sundial (plus church bell to ring the hourly time for the surrounding area) and hourglasses.
      However, the ETA 2824 would be an excellent substitute for the sundial on cloudy days and could be reset to accurate time each day with sextant sights on the sun from a location with known, precise latitude/longitude.

      1. PS forget to mention — the watch repair/lube/maintenance course is available online as are necessary tools and watch parts including ETA movements and watch housing.

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