This probably isn’t going to be the most popular opinion ever, but I really think we need to get over this whole complications thing — at least in terms of how we assess watches by the number of complications they have. In the first place, there isn’t a universally applied standard for defining horological complications. This isn’t even about the tourbillon debate anymore — like, is it or isn’t it a complication? I’m so over that, and you should be too. (By the way, it isn’t.) There are some out there who think that the flyback function counts as a complication. That a hacking seconds counts as a complication. Fam, let us be real. And in aid of this realness, let us stop acting like the number of complications is a thing, so we can finally cut the bullshit and look at what’s actually cool about any given watch.
(Seriously, though, where’s all this coming from? You don’t see it elsewhere — no one’s going, like, “This is the best dish ever, it has 85 ingredients!” “This movie ought to win all the awards, it has 33 action sequences!” “I love this dope-ass book because it has 28 plotlines.” Logic — we have it, let’s use it.)