Watches in the Wild (A Summer Watch, Volume 39)

Disclaimer: A new watch from Wise in my endless quest for a new diver.  Worn to a July 4th Parade and you better believe that the watch was a key part of the ensemble.

This is the thirty ninth in a semi-regular digest of cool watches I happened to see this week.

Past posts in this series have been hashtagged to #watchesinthewild .

As always, my general policy is that I never ask for wrist shots (because approaching strangers and distant acquaintances to talk about watches is already weird enough) so all pictures below are sourced from the internet. People are mostly cool, I try not to annoy them.

The heat wave that has been crippling the rest of the country finally hit us this past weekend and we got our first dose of real deal summer weather.  My days, while still deep in baby haze, have been spent shuttling two older girls from the pool to the zoo to air conditioned museums in an attempt to keep cooler.

Admittedly, given how dreary the Northern California summer has been, I've enjoyed a bit of heat here and, perhaps fittingly, it's brought out a passel of summer watches from G-Shock to Seiko to Rolex.  

Not all of these really count (vintage Rolex for all its merits has no water resistance) but all of them were worn jauntily (which is the predominant attitude I take towards summer).

Oh, for my fellow Americans, Happy Fourth of July! Regardless of our differences, we can jointly celebrate the day when we evicted the Brits with fireworks, alcohol, and copious amounts of grilled meats.  I have a pork belly going on the smoker tonight which I have very high hopes for.

I hope you enjoy!

Casio G-shock GA110 Hyper neon

Seen at the swimming pool.  This watch hurt my eyes but I have to admit, it worked pretty well as a dive toy.

Rolex Explorer 124270

Seen at a burger joint.  No conversation.

No comment on this watch that hasn't been said before but it is emblematic of my modern annoyances with Rolex.  Chunkier case, thiccer lugs, bulkier dimensions and 19mm lug widths vs the 20mm of its immediate predecessor.  It's a better watch than the 114270 (particularly in movement and lume) but also a worse one in many ways.

I know many a watch nerd that treasures this watch but man do I find it just vexations stacked on more vexations.

Seiko 5 Rowing Blazers limited edition in Pink (i.e. the Ronny Chieng Special)

Seen on the wrist of my newly watch obsessed cousin-in-law.  Oh hell yes. That's a little more like it.

I take no small amount of pride in being patient zero among my friend and acquaintances for the watch affliction.  Said cousin is an corporate attorney by trade but takes pride in the fact that he's been fired several white shoe firms before finding his place as an in house contracts lawyer of no mean ability all the while never having had to professionally wear a suit in his life.

It is perhaps fitting then, that his foray into watch land was as follows: he is the happy  owner of a Vero (a picture of which I can find nowhere on the internet) and a black dial Seiko Quartz (SUR361).  I may have had a hand in helping him sell some watches gifted to him by his stepfather in law from Watch Gang.  He's what I would call "watch curious.". I get the occasional Teddy Baldsssare video from him...he came up with the idea for last edition's Seiko Metronome.  But he's nowhere near my level of depravity.

I do detect some bricks in the facade however, as this is the first watch I think I've seen him specifically go out of his way to buy a watch, to the point where he stalked it on eBay for weeks.  

I wasn't the biggest fan of this watch picture wise but  I gotta say, the Pepto Bismol dial and bold Rowing Blazers text fit the archetype of a summer beater watch perfectly.

Datejust 6605

Seen while at the grocery store.  No conversation but recognized because of the unusual (for Rolex) lumed dauphin hands and OEM Rolex ardillon buckle and alligator strap.

I am told that this is an extremely rare reference with just three years of production from the 50s but in truth I know very very little aside from the fact that one of my dad's friends owned one hence the ID.

Sinn 556i on the H-link bracelet

Seen at the zoo  on July 3rd on the wrist of a Dad with two kids in two (both sub 6).  We chatted briefly about kids being interested in anything but the actual live animals.  It never felt right to chat to him about watches (also being outnumbered by children that day), but if you happen to be on WatchCrunch, know that I think your watch is awesome.

The 556 is a funny watch.  It's clearly not designed solely to be a pilots watch.  It's a little small, the visibility is good but not exceptional.  I doubt even the most analog instrument leaning pilot would find this the best tool for the job. But overall, there are remarkably few compromises in the function from its heritage while looking darned good (compared to say a Oris Pro Pilot X which is very good looking watch that is almost completely illegible in the daylight).

  It is this specific aesthetic that I think of when I think of Sinn, the ability to be functional and decorative at the same time.  And it is this reference of the 556 that I think hews most closely to the modern vision of Sinn: toolish, stylish, and versatile.

The stick markers would probably be best replaced with Arabic numerals for maximum visibility but if I'm honest, I think they wouldn't look as good.  In any case, they are more than compensated for by the bright white flieger hands, which are nostalgic in shape but modern in execution, with no border.

It's a great great watch which is let down by Sinn's repeated insistence that its bracelet clasp is adequate for a modern GADA watch. At least Seiko clasps look good while being flimsy.

Ronde Solo de Cartier 42mm on a leather strap

Seen at the playground in the sand pit.  No conversation (sleep deprivation means I lack much of my rhetorical arsenal) but you know...wished I had.

I always appreciate it when watch makers try to go outside their lane and create something that would normally not be in their DNA.  Sometimes this works really well (JLC is very dress watchy but the Polaris series of divers and sports chronographs are pretty much as good as sportswatches get).  Sometimes it doesn't (Cellini, we hardly knew ye).  

Cartier itself has a bit of this.  The Maison is know for it's thin and stylized dress watches.  But the Calibre de Cartier was an exceptionally capable diver (thinnest 300m diver at the time if I recall), the Santos is a dress watch that turned into a rightly celebrated sportswatch, and my beloved Roadster is a bulky and unapologetic driver's watch.  

And so too, the Ronde Solo to me feels like a Cartier designed field watch.  And before you laugh me out of the room, bear in mind the following.

1. 42mm size...no dress watch designed by Louis's house would be that large.

2. Chemin de fer. That railroad track screams trench watch to me

3. 24 hour marks for the definitely high importance military operations that will be turned on a Ronde Solo.

4. Stainless steel and sapphire.  Ruggedness embodied.

Now, you might complain about the lack of lume or the low water resistance.  I only point you to the Hamilton Khaki Field....and I rest my case!

I'm mostly kidding of course, though I do like the oddness of the dial layout interposed with the formality of a Roman numeral layout.  

I also think it wears pretty well.  If you haven't done it before, I'd suggest going to your friendly AD to try it on.  It isn't exactly a super thin watch but at 8.5mm, it's not too far off either, though if it were up to me, I might go for the 36mm.  The thin bezel means it looks larger than its size.

The Ronde Solo is an odd watch to be frank.  Too informal, too cluttered to be a dress watch (especially one that bears the name Cartier).  And probably just a bit too much Cartier to be a field watch of any repute. 

What cool watches did you see this week?