Dave Singh
Getting to know our Master Watch Technician
Vancouver, Canada
Years of Servicing Watches:
"I’ve been working for Momentum since November 1988…nearly 30 years! When I started, Momentum was a pretty young brand, and we were still distributors for Breitling watches and designing/ producing a lot of watches for Land Rover."
Favorite New Discovery:
"My latest gig is going wireless with everything at home. Through my phone, I can control everything from lights, to the alarm system, to the thermostat…"
Your Commute to Work:
"It’s not getting shorter. I guess there are a lot more cars on the road today than there were 30 years ago! I’ve been doing it so long I don’t really pay attention to the commute. I listen to music to make the commute time pass quickly. The drive takes me 1 hour (on a good day), to as much as 2 hours, if there is a snow storm or accident. Some days, the idea of driver-less cars sounds pretty good!”
Road Trip Tactic:
“It’s a little like servicing a mechanical watch: just stay calm and patient, and take it step by step. I know at the end of the day, trying to rush it, or getting frustrated doesn’t help!”
Favorite Momentum Watch:
"My current favourite is our new Fieldwalker Automatic, I like both the regular steel version and the new, black-ion case version. The design is classic and clean. It is easy to read, with some subtle features, like the display back. It is stylish but not too dressy. Simon [Momentum's CEO & Founder] wears it a lot and I think it looks great on his wrist. I plan to pick one up for myself soon."
Favorite Watch Component:
"My favourite component is the sapphire crystal. It may look exactly the same as a regular, mineral glass, but it is really completely different: it is made from extremely pure aluminium oxide, so is chemically completely different and much harder than mineral glass. It is almost impossible to scratch. Our customers tend to wear their watches pretty hard, so a scratchproof glass is a real advantage. Very few brands in our price segment offer a sapphire option, but Momentum offers it on almost every model we make. We also do a lot of sapphire crystal upgrades in our Service Departments."
Personal Projects:
"My next project is the remodelling of my basement. It will probably take me around 1 year to complete; redoing the walls, repainting, new flooring, etc. It’s one of those things I want to do myself, even if it takes a little longer. I would love to do more travelling around the world, but maybe I should finish my basement first!”
Model with the Best Luminous:
"No question the M50 model. Customers tell me all the time how amazing the luminous is and how bright it glows. (The dial uses very expensive SuperLuminova material, from Switzerland.) In fact, one customer who had been looking for a watch with really good luminous bought an M50 recently. He called to say he was thinking about returning it because he thought the luminous dial was “too bright!” (In the end, he decided to keep it).
Job Satisfaction:
"We call our watches "Adventure Ready", and I get customers who have taken their Momentum watches almost everywhere on the planet, from the Himalayas to the Kalahari Desert to diving off Pemba in Africa. It always good to hear the stories and how customers really count on our watches in so many crazy situations. In a world where more and more products are plastic and disposable, it is great to provide the service that keeps our watches going, year after year. We see many customers who have been wearing their watches for over 20 years!”
