RSS_Auto_Poster
Well-known member
Written by Richard Holt
Everyone knows where the car industry is heading. It will seem increasingly crazy to allow clumsy humans to drive polluting cars on public roads, and soon the day will come when we reluctantly go fully electric and hand the controls to our Silicon Valley masters. But predicting the future is not always easy. In the late Sixties, everyone was confident about the crash and burn awaiting the mechanical watch industry. Clockwork had been cutting-edge technology for centuries a cracking innings, but nobody stays in bat forever. Quartz watches were being perfected, and it was clear that in a few years nobody was going to need old-fashioned cogs and springs any more. As watchmaking eyed the scrapyard, it enjoyed some last glorious days in the sun. The Omega Speedmaster on the Moon in 1969 and the Heuer Monaco on the wrist of Steve McQueen in Le Mans filmed the following year were just two of the mechanical watches standing defiant ahead of the inevitable death of clockwork.
Date written: 28 Nov 2018
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 14172
Everyone knows where the car industry is heading. It will seem increasingly crazy to allow clumsy humans to drive polluting cars on public roads, and soon the day will come when we reluctantly go fully electric and hand the controls to our Silicon Valley masters. But predicting the future is not always easy. In the late Sixties, everyone was confident about the crash and burn awaiting the mechanical watch industry. Clockwork had been cutting-edge technology for centuries a cracking innings, but nobody stays in bat forever. Quartz watches were being perfected, and it was clear that in a few years nobody was going to need old-fashioned cogs and springs any more. As watchmaking eyed the scrapyard, it enjoyed some last glorious days in the sun. The Omega Speedmaster on the Moon in 1969 and the Heuer Monaco on the wrist of Steve McQueen in Le Mans filmed the following year were just two of the mechanical watches standing defiant ahead of the inevitable death of clockwork.
Date written: 28 Nov 2018
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 14172