Watches in the Wild (Anniversaries, Volume 52)

Disclaimer: Nodus Sector Deep Orthodox. Is this the one?

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This is the fifty second 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.

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Shameless plug:

We're running in back yo!  Donate $25 to the charity of your choice and get entered to win my SPB187!

https://www.watchcrunch.com/Edge168n/posts/running-it-back-make-a-donation-to-charity-win-a-seiko-spb187-marine-master-200-250788 

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Happy Turkey Week everyone! For the Americans in the audience, I hope your holiday travels have been stress free and that you are able to spend time with friends and family. For the non-Americans....well the same thing I suppose. Regardless, I am deeply thankful to have an online watch community like this one to share my obsessions with.

Another delayed post but worthwhile this time I think.  There is much to discuss.

Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of having lunch with the man, the myth, the legend @SpecKTator and his deep blue Monta Noble. I owed him lunch as thanks for helping mark the first ever WatchCrunch charitable raffle a big success.  

I happen to like the Noble and think it fits that wonderful niche of Datejust-y type watches beautifully.  I've handled one maybe 5 or 6 times before and I'm always shocked by how well Monta designs their cases and bracelets to work together.  It is a design philosophy that is very Rolex in orientation and Monta deserves every single one of the plaudits that it receives from watch press and owners.

But as good as the Noble is, the conversation was better.  We chatted philosophy and family, travel and adventures, collections and aspirations.  We even managed a bit of opportunistic watch spotting. A lovely time was had by all and I have a solid promise for a collection review the next time I see him.

Anyway, I've said it before and I'll say it again. The internet sucks. Spend time with other enthusiasts in person. You'll find it well worth your while.

Even without the meetup, this three week stretch has been one of the cooler watch spotting stretches I've had in some years.  

I hope you enjoy but first some spots with @SpecKTator

Rolesor Datejust on Jubilee

Glycine Combat Sub

G-shock GA700VB-1A

The Datejust was spotted on the wrist of a fashionable woman, the Combat Sub on the wrist of an older gentleman, and the G-Shock on the wrist of our waiter.

I have covered most of these watches before in prior #watchesinthewild so I won't dwell too much on them aside from the fact that we saw these over the course of an hour while having lunch.  

Watches are everywhere, just keep your eyes peeled!

Glashutte Original Senator Sixties Eye of Sauron

Seen at a Diwali party on the wrist of the gentleman, the same gentleman who wore a Panerai Flyback 4 months ago.  When I commented on it, he said that I had a sharp eye and he let me inspect it.  He said he loved it because of the fall colors and said that I should check it out in the day time.

Another gentleman (incidentally wearing a Movado Museum dial) asked if it was Swiss. I backhanded him in the face and said "How dare you peasant? This is fine German horology you speak of!"

J/k of course. The owner and I talked at length about how it was made in Glashutte and was also the home of Lange and Nomos and Muhle.  Man, we're nerds.

I might have talked to him the entire night but my kids started complaining about how they were hungry so we had to cut it short. How inconsiderate of them.

Was this a limited release?  I seem to recall this being limited but I can't find any information on the Internet about it.

I could talk about the movement (in house but somewhat less interesting given that it seems pretty comparable to an ETA 2892, though much handsomer) but this is really about the dial.  The pattern is a lot more subtle in person than in photos and while Grand Seiko has its countless micro seasons, GO has rain on a wind shield?  It works and works beautifully.

Just one more note in the dial, I can't get enough of the font of these numerals.  They do fall a touch short on visibility but man do I love how aggressive the strokes are on the 6 and 9.

I gotta find this watch in person some day.  I would like to see it again.

Parchie Pal Nap Time

Seen on the wrist of the above's wife. No conversation. 

I have considered buying this watch for my kids once or twice but I admit, I lack strong opinions on it.

Zenith Chronomaster Revival Liberty 

Seen on the wrist of a private equity executive in my offices.  We were talking shop about some potential partnerships and I initially didn't see this watch until he took off his jacket.  He styled it on a multi colored NATO and I complimented it.  We theb proceeded to talk about chronograph movements for about twenty minutes before realizing we had real work to do.  Alas.

I have all sorts of odd feelings about Zenith chronographs.  I love the El Primero movement, it being probably the finest mass produced automatic chronograph movement in production today.  I love that they have one up on Rolex, being the supplier of Daytona movements for many years.  I love the history of Zenith especially during the quartz crisis.  When management of Zenith lost confidence in mechanical watch making and ordered that the blueprints and machinery used in the production of the El Primero movement be destroyed, a rogue employee named Charles Vermot (together with his brother Maurice) hid 150 pieces of machinery along with countless tools and instructions in an attic in the Zenith factory behind a wall.  This sort of odd romanticism is everything I love about watches and Zenith oozes it from every pore.

But modern Zenith aesthetics don't really jive with me.  I find them all just either a little too anonymous (Defy Classics, Elite, and Pilot watches) or a bit too out there (Defy Skyline) for me.

The Chronomaster line is the sole exception but even there I occasionally wonder what I'm looking at.  The Chronomaster Sport is a beautiful watch that looks a lot like a Daytona.  Not that Zenith doesn't have the right to that aesthetic (and it even pleases me in a perverse way because in my mind, it's just an original automatic Daytona with the correct branding) but I feel that the really aggressive star logos on the seconds hand and the movement detract from the grace of the watch.

But I have to say, these Zenith Chronomaster Revivals are absolute 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

The first one I saw was the blacked out Revival Shadow with the matte grey Titanium case.  I loved the case shape and material choices but blacked out is such a specific aesthetic that I'd genuinely need to love everything about the watch before committing $9k to it.  The Panda Dial is very cool but I see a ton of regular panda dials.  Maybe I'm just over stimulated by black and white pandas and the Zenith version, while far from bland, is very down the middle. 

I like the tri color panda more, if only because it has a lot of Zenith DNA running through it.

But a blue panda with a red and white striped seconds hand?  Sign me up baby, because this watch is so pretty in the metal.  I think it is the combination of the angular tonneau case that almost looks like it could have fixed spring bars and the fact that the subdials feel appropriately sized to the face (versus most of the tricolor dial Zeniths which seem to crowd the face with overlapping subdials).

Yet another watch I should make a point of getting on the wrist.

Omega Constellation Globemaster

Seen on the wrist of a construction supervisor overseeing work on my work parking garage.  I stopped and stared at it, long enough for him to give me the stink eye, and then yelled over the din of a jackhammer "Is that a Globemaster?". Big old grin, but no conversation.  Work is work.

This watch is absolutely brilliant and I can't fathom why it isn't a bigger deal.  I understand that it has done quite well in Asia but for whatever reason it hasn't caught on in the states.  EMEA friends, do you see these guys around at all?

I don't mind the modern Constellation but man oh man, if you're craving some of those vintage constellation vibes in a tough modern exterior ( with picture perfect dimensions of 39mm x 46.5mm x 12.5mm), this should be your jam.  The subtle pie pan dial, the little star, and even the fluted bezel from the 1960s C-shsped Constellations (which I believe was redesigned by Genta himself) are just awesome.  

And should you find yourself in need of knuckle dusters in a gentleman's brawl, not to worry, the bezel is made of tungsten carbide.  It's about as scratch resistant as it gets.

I do have some small complaints.  Omega bracelets are very meh and, in this case, more taper and a better clasp would have been welcome.  Despite the vintage (and therefore dressier) face of the watch, it is styled as a sportswatch so some of those creature comforts are important.

But I do occasionally wonder about owning the annual calendar version of this watch in either precious metals or two tone.  It's just that good looking.

Bulova Oceanographer Devil Diver (blue)

Seen at the park worn on a NATO.  No conversation.

The Devil Diver is one of those fairly iconic watches that I think about solely from a design perspective.  Like I have no idea whether or not this watch has a history to it or if there's a particular meaning to the 666 on the dial.  I have no idea what movement is in the back (Swiss?  Japanese? Off the back of a truck?) or if they did something groundbreaking technologically with the case.

I am sure there are answers to these questions and those answers are probably even interesting.  But yours truly?  Nah.

What instead occupies my mind with this watch is why they chose to use raised sapphire glass hour markers over the lume plops?  This has been a feature of the Oceanographer line since it's beginning and I can't, for the life of me, figure out why they did it.  I'm not even criticizing the look.  It's kinda cool and rule of cool dictates that if a watch feature looks cool, then you include it.

But call me intensely curious about this incredibly trivial watch element?

What cool watches did you see this week?