It’s all about the dial.
I remember watching Marc from Long Island Watch (LIW) showing his new mini turtles on YouTube and it resulted in an immediate purchase. I’m usually the type that tend to over analyze everything but in this case there were two things that me take the plunge.
Firstly, I’ve been looking at the mini turtle for quite some time. The reason I didn’t buy one was because Seiko just decided to make them very hard to find and I was not enthusiast by the crown position that looked wrong to me for a turtle, and the other reason was the presence of a magnifier on the dial. Therefore I was already primed for a purchase.
The other reason for this purchase was, well.. just look at the dial, come on!
This Great Wave off Kanagawa dial was, and still is, irresistible for me. I still like the way that LIW decided to maximize the effect by removing all indices and date window. It does mean that reading the time can be a bit tricky and that the 12Hr bezel must be kept aligned and could therefore be fixed for all practical purposes.
But all this pale when realizing that it’s also a fully lumed dial that create a great show at night.
Evidently, nothing is perfect and sometime I wish that the dial had greater contrasting colors. Or that the case was a bit thinner. Or that the bracelet and clasp didn’t weight like a boat’s anchor. Or that it used a true date-less NH38 instead of the day/date NH36 that’s inside.
The ISL-68 isn’t the most versatile or logical watch to wear but for me this really doesn’t matter because I wear it mostly on sunny weekends and in the role of a leisure summer watch it’s pretty much close to being perfect – at least for me.
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.
I love these. Sadly, I just won’t love them enough to overcome my need of telling the time easily. I want to enjoy pieces like these, but my brain won’t allow it. Best compromise I do with myself is a playful strap occasionally.
I love these. Sadly, I just won’t love them enough to overcome my need of telling the time easily. I want to enjoy pieces like these, but my brain won’t allow it. Best compromise I do with myself is a playful strap occasionally.
Well that's why it's a weekend's watch. I just need a quick glance and the hand's position and angle tells me that it's sometime close to 07:45, which really is enough to know for me when I don't have anything else scheduled until lunch.
Dial is everything. If I like the dial, I don't care if the hands go backwards. I don't care if the hands are frozen at 10:10, or if it was quartz or automatic movement. There are a few watches where the dial is so sharp I wouldn't care if there was No Movement At All.