Second Opinions: What Is A Beater, Anyway?
By James Stacey
“It’s my beater.”
you, me, probably that guy over there
This is a statement I’ve heard echo through the watch community for years, applied to timepieces ranging from $15 Casios to $9,000 divers. The term has gotten so drenched in subjectivity that means everything and nothing. Is “beater” pejorative? Is it synonymous with “disposable”? Should you be proud of your beater? Do you need a beater?
Basically – why is beater?
I think this nebulous term should mean something specific and play a particular role in a watch collection. Not a watch that I don’t care about, but rather one that doesn’t need to be cared for.
Fun and easy to wear. Special but not precious.
In my book, “beater” is a simple shorthand for a casually endearing watch that manages some measure of enthusiast credibility without any additional baggage. Beaters function as a unit of my watch enthusiasm while also giving me a break from the concerns that come with wearing watches that are subjectively precious, fussy, or otherwise demand protection, even from life’s most casual hazards.
To some, this ethos will represent most or even all of their watches. Maybe you prefer to exclusively wear watches that can take a beating. Maybe you don’t feel the need to baby your watches at all. This is a perspective that I admire, but not one that I share.
In my continued efforts to grow my appreciation of watches, I now own a good handful of watches that simply aren’t up to the task of day-to-day life on my wrist. I’m not about to jump off a dock in a gold chronograph from the ’40s, or complete some driveway maintenance on my Jeep while wearing my great grandfather’s Bulova. Those watches are for special occasions – like when I’m calmly sitting on the couch and want to wear a good calm-couch-sitting watch.
For collectors who share my disposition, the idea of a beater means freedom from that anxiety (be it admittedly low-level and entirely self-induced). Freedom from the knocks, dings, humidity, moisture, and tile floors of the world. For those of you who grew up in the ’90s, wearing a beater makes you Bob Wiley – escaping the crushing weight of your worries via a vacation from your problems. Or, you know, “problems.”
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