Summer watches are special

With the days turning longer and hotter, even I manage to get the idea that winter is finally over and that we are heading toward summer. For me this change means setting the watches to DST and getting them ready for heat and humidity.

Getting ready for the summer means a lot of different things when dealing with watches. For some watches it will involve a change of strap, other watches will see less wrist time, while some will benefit from more attention, like the ISL-68.

This discontinued model from Long Island Watch is based on their reduced turtle platform and as such it's has a typical old school Seiko case with rounded and soft curves, a solid bracelet, and a grippy bezel. It's a thick and a heavy watch whose origins can be traced back to Seiko first divers. This is reassuring me that it won't fall apart anytime soon, but this is not what makes it a summer watch for me.

The dial does it. This fully lumed dial with its depiction of the Great Wave off Kanagawa is iconic and the ISL-68 kept it clean by eliminating the indices and the date date window. The indices that were relocated to the chapter ring and bezel to complete the dial's cleanup. This bezel is the usual diver's unidirectional 120 clicks, which means that I can theoretically use the ISL-68 to track another time zone - as long as I don't mind being a bit fuzzy about tracking the actual home time.

The ceramic bezel, together with the chapter ring and the hands are color matched to the dial. This add to the crystal with its accented curvature to direct the eyes to the center where the great wave is frozen in time with Mount Fuji in the background.

For me the ISL-68 isn't a watch that I wear to read the time. It's a watch that I wear for the pleasure of looking at its dial and for seeing it glow when the sun sets. It's perfect for taking my time with a coffee in the morning or watching the day turn to night while lounging in a beach front bar. It's a summer watch.