Another summer day
Summer watches are tricky.
We are barely at the start of June and already got hit yesterday by a +43 °C heat wave. Today the temperatures are supposed to drop by 13 °C, which brings us from unbearable to just annoying.
Summer is here and it announced its arrival with a loud bang. Thank God for YTONG autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) blocks, and somebody please find the guy who invented central air conditioning because there should be a Nobel prize award waiting for him somewhere.
The Islander ISL-68 is (almost) a perfect watch (for me) to spend a summer Saturday weekend. Its dial is blessedly free from indices and date window, which let me interpret the time according to some loose conventions that are mostly based on the position of the sun in the sky and the reservation at the restaurant.
The Great Wave motif is cool to look at and a real treat once the sun sets down. The movement is a NH whatever from Seiko which proved itself to be trouble free and relatively accurate so far. It has a 200m WR, it's decently build and look cool enough to be worn for summer's activities but not expensive enough to be an issue if anything disastrous happens to it.
It's almost the perfect summer watch, with only two issues preventing it from being worn more frequently and they are its weight and thickness.
The watch itself is 15mm thick from the bottom of the case to the top of the very curved dome sapphire. and its also a heavy bastard even when not taking into account the bracelet's clasp which is uncommonly thick and heavy.
The combined weight and bulkiness is the reason why I only wear the ISL-68 occasionally and preferably during the summer when I don't have to worry about getting it under a cuff.
Otherwise it's a great watch from a great brand with impeccable customer service.
Another day, another watch.
I'm a big fan of watches that are interesting because they are either unique, have interesting features, well designed or simply offer a great value for their price.
It's a cool watch but with the date window and indices it's also able to tell you what the time is exactly, so it's not a great summer weekend watch for me.
It's a cool watch but with the date window and indices it's also able to tell you what the time is exactly, so it's not a great summer weekend watch for me.
To be honest if I were to purchase this watch again I would have gone with the No logo version. Don't mind the date window. My rationalization to buy this watch, was as a size test to decide If I wanted a Willard.
To be honest if I were to purchase this watch again I would have gone with the No logo version. Don't mind the date window. My rationalization to buy this watch, was as a size test to decide If I wanted a Willard.
Ah well, mine is more like a variation on the mini turtle theme from Seiko. I wanted one but they were difficult to find and once I realized that they also had a cyclops my interest in the original went away in one big "poof" and got the Islander instead.
just not a fan of Seiko cyclops As you know I have them removed.
just not a fan of Seiko cyclops As you know I have them removed.
With extreme prejudice, I hope?
With extreme prejudice, I hope?
I keep them in a little bag as trophies
If we are doing this, lets go all the way.
If we are doing this, lets go all the way.
This is great, lucky for me that we are not holding a contest because your watch is a clear winner.
I tend towards metal bracelets, rubber or nylon in the warm weather. It's isn't good to be sweating up your nice leather straps.
I tend towards metal bracelets, rubber or nylon in the warm weather. It's isn't good to be sweating up your nice leather straps.
I'm not against bracelets, although it's not my favorite choice, but the one on the ISL-68 is really over engineered to the point of being too large and heavy.
I keep them in a little bag as trophies
I keep going back and forth on whether to remove the one on my Airman DC-4, but ultimately I can't bring myself to damage the watch.