Comfortably bored

Explorer styled watches are boring. They were meant to be simple and legible and this led to a design that is as exciting as watching paint dry on a wall.

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But that's fine because sometime all I want is a simple watch with a legible dial that is also comfortable to wear, and this why I prefer old style Explorer's dials with their matte finish and painted dials. It's also why I think that the later attempts to prettify them just ended with tarting up an otherwise perfectly usable watch.

It's only my opinion and yours may differ because everyone is different, you can't argue with taste, YMMV, etcetera. Whatever. I still think that they are boring and should remain boring.

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But it's all about proportions. My Mathey-Tissot MT369 is just about 34.5mm wide, meaning that it's very compact and that there was not enough space on the dial to go crazy with text, and this is also a good thing.

The MT369 is clean, simple and also - not an Explorer 1016 clone, despite the impression that may linger after a first look.

A look at its profile reveals the unusual flaring bezel, which is also the reason why it may also measure sometime as 35 instead of 34.5mm. This MT369 is the result of a cooperation between Asia Mechanical Watches Group (AMWG) and Mathey-Tissot to re-create an older and abandoned model from the 50's, namely the 5500 Explorer, aka the Air King Explorer. There are other differences but the bezel is a dead giveaway.

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Also these aren't the Mercedes hands you're looking for.

The design on the hour's hand is the entwined M and T of the Mathey-Tissot logo instead of the pointed three stars usually found on Explorer's hands. Another nice touch.

Which is basically why I wear it Today. It's a nice watch to wear, that's all there is to it.

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Another day, another watch until the contest goes away.

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Stimulation is overrated.