Watches in the Wild (Caught in the Act, Volume 22)

Disclaimer: Last time I'll get to wear this for the next week!

This is the twenty 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 and you can click through for  part 17part 18part 19part 20, and part 21.

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.

Another somewhat quieter watch spotting week for me, though not without its highlights.  A bit of Eco-Drive, a bit of Detroit, some micro brand goodness and some high horology for your review.

Oh and a story. I was trying to spot a watch while walking to lunch near my office earlier this week.  I thought it might have been something cool like a old Tag Heuer professional or a Breitling Galactic and so made a closer pass.

Image

But instead it was something closer to this.

Image

Disappointing but whatever.  But when I saw him next (like a block away) he had clearly taken of his watch and was staring at me as though I was about to snatch his watch and make a run for it. 

If you're on here, sorry!  Didn't mean to freak you out.  Just a weirdo who spots watches in his spare time.  

I'm almost certainly off next week as I will be traveling to Old Blighty to see some friends I haven't seen in person since the beginning of Covid.  I anticipate some good beer, a few excellent meals, and hopefully some excellent watch spotting along the way.

Citizen Chandler

Image
Image

Seen on the elevator on the way up to my office.  No conversation.

One of the funniest things about writing this column (is it a column now?  I suppose 20+ weeks qualifies) is how I find my prejudices on watches tossed back into my face when I see them on other people's wrists.

Perhaps this is the idealist in me but I want to believe that everyone who is thoughtful enough to put on a watch that day probably gave some thought as to whether or not that watch looked good on their wrist.

This is too much of a stretch of course but I am on the record as maligning Citizen's designs and the more I encounter them, the more I wonder if I was merely mistaken.  First the Nighthawk (an excellent pilot's watch), then the Arezzo (a great ballon bleu homage) and now this Citizen Chandler.

The Chandler possesses the same toolish elegance of the Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical, with a streak of flieger DNA to liven things up

Image

They also made a bunch of pretty big improvements on the formula

1. Better hands.  I don't mind the syringe hands of the KFM but the slightly skeletonized watch hands of the Chandler are more attractive and more visible day or night.

2. Look at that lume!  The Citizen just blows away the Hammy.

Image
Image

3. Functional water resistance.  The Chandler has 100m of WR, perfectly adequate for a sports watch and good enough to survive rolling around in the mud with.  The designers of the KFM saw fit to offer it the same dress watch water resistance (50m) as my JLC Master Geographic. Apparently fields don't get wet.

The only real shortcoming here is the mineral glass instead of sapphire which would have amped up the toolishness just that little bit more (and I guess quartz instead of automatic, but with the application I actually tend to like eco-drive more).

I still think Citizens are boring, mind you (the Ray Mears and the underwhelming Tsuyosa still loom large in my opinion) but maybe, just maybe, I've been a little harsh.

Shinola Runwell Automatic 39.5mm

Image
Image

Worn by a friend, a native Michigander who proudly reps his home state brands.  He's not a watch nerd at all but his house has a Shinola sweeping quartz clock in the wall and his wife wears a Shinola two tone dress watch.

It's fashionable in the watch world to bag on Shinola, including by many of my watch friends.  

1. "Well, they make such a big deal about being made in Detroit and I know for a fact that their parts are shipped in from Ronda, the cases from China and they only assemble in Detroit."

This honestly makes them more a vertically integrated manufacture than most micro brands (including many beloved ones), many of whom operate entirely as design houses and outsource their manufacturing to one of 3 or 4 factories in China.

Design wise, these are fairly unusual cases with uncommon hands.  This is no microbrand diver that was assembled entirely out of the catalog.

2. "They're overpriced for what they are." 

Yep.  Them and every other luxury (and most non luxury) watch out there.  The Rolex you so proudly wear probably has a 10x markup from cost of goods sold.  Hell, the G shock you wear probably isn't too far off that sort of markup either.  I am increasingly of the opinion that it is nearly impossible to evaluate any wrist watch based on its perceived value (rather we can only determine what we are willing to pay for the feelings it gives us).

I would probably not buy one at the retail price but I also wouldn't pay full retail for a Breitling or an Omega either.  At an authorized dealer, you can always ask for a lower price and there are always discount codes and other things to sniff out.  For this watch (and any other), I always find it helpful to see if I like the watch first AND THEN look at the price.  

To betray my Californian-ness, an In-And-Out burger should not be the same price as a prime Chateaubriand.  But that doesn't mean an In-And-Out burger isn't fantastic.

3. "But you know, Fossil group blah blah blah."

And there it is, that ugly strain of snobbery that haunts our hobby.  I'll never understand why people feel they need to put down someone else's watch because its provenance (or supposed provenance) is deemed inadequate.  It's the same old prejudice that caused people to look down on Japanese watches and German watches in favor of Swiss.  Look at how dumb those attitudes seem in retrospect.

Honestly, my biggest complaint with Shinola is their crazy brand name (of all things, shoe polish.....)

But the watches themselves are great.  The Runwell itself is a beautiful rendition of a trench style watch with a competent SW-200 powering the internals.  The finishing is solid and Shinola's leather straps are excellent. I even love the enameled midnight blue dial and the gently curved eucalyptus leaf shaped hands.

The size of this reference is excellent, 40mm x 12mm height and a nice compact lug to lug (43mm-44mm?  Just a guess on my part).  It honestly has some of the deceptive fit of a Seiko Turtle, where the case diameter is not representative of how it wears.  I even wonder if the 45mm references might actually be more appropriate to my 7.25in wrist given that lug to lug.

I was honestly impressed with the watchmaking chops that Shinola showed here and wonder if there's actually room for them to expand the catalog into more interesting and complicated watches.

Patek Phillipe Calatrava 5119

Image

Seen on the wrist of an attorney that works on the floor below mine while riding up an elevator.  I'm no Patek expert and my identification is definitely a 90% thing but I did ask about it and he shrugged and said his wife had gotten it for him.  I'd honestly like to meet this woman because the guilloche turned hobnail bezel is a super specific look. 

I frankly haven't spent a ton of time in the north of $20k high horology dress watch segment (and who among us has, really?).  I try things on, I mull them over, and until now I frankly have had a really tough time finding a good reason to spend $20kish on a dress watch that I might wear four times a year.  But then again, I do have my eyes on a Lange 1815 Up/Down so maybe my thoughts are evolving.

Let it be said, however, the "entry level" high horology dress watch segment has a surprising breadth of options.  Vacheron has the Patrimony and the more modern 56 line.  Lange has the Saxonia and the 1815.  The new AP 11:59 line competes there as well.  And oldest school of all, the Patek Calatrava and this specific reference.

I don't know how I feel about this watch.  It is beautiful and incredibly finely made.  The bezel pattern feels nearly impossible to replicate.  And yet, I find everything from the thin lugs on the case (reminiscent of the welded lugs on trench watches) to the leaf hands to the hobnail bezel distinctly early 20th century even though I believe this was a production model at least as recently as 2017.

I'd contrast this to the exceptional timelessness of a JLC Master Ultra Thin or the A Lange und Sohne Saxonia Thin.  Their designs share a lightness and agelessness that could as easily be from the 1920s as the 2020s.  

Heck, the first hobnail bezel watch that Patek ever made (the 96D in 1934) which this watch was clearly inspired by feels more ageless than the 5119.

Image

Patek, of course, knows what it's doing much more than I do.  I'm just some moron on the internet  But this just feels like retrograde evolution.

Different strokes I suppose.

Halios seaforth IV (pink)

Image

Seen on the wrist of a watch friend who might have been travelling the day of the release and asked his wife to get in line (online) to snag him one.  I am told there was a very nice present purchased for Christmas as thanks.  That's true love folks.

Being the sort of person that I am and having the hobbies that I have, I often wonder if it is possible to identify a watch nerd by their watch.  There are considerably more Rolex owners who are rich normies as opposed to watch nerds.  Grand Seiko skews in the opposite direction but I've talked to Grand Seiko owners who bought their watches just because they were shiny.

I used to think that the greatest single signifier of a watch nerd is the presence of a 12 hr bezel.  After all, a normal person looks at a 12 hr and wonders why a watch needs a second set of hour hands.  A watch nerd looks and sees a bargain GMT.

But if you spot a Halios wearer, I suspect you're in the same sort of crazy watch nerd company, because of the difficulty of obtaining this piece.  Halios has an odd folk hero status among watch collectors for the amount of value they pack into every watch.

And to be fair, I think the Seaforth is a very beautiful and well made watch.  It is wonderfully finished and has a ton of cool features (choice of bezel and bezel materials and a very cool no tool micro adjustment clasp like the one on the IWC mark Xviii)  This pink one is very playful.  It's also a bit overrated.

Indeed, I'd argue that when these emerged on the scene about 7 years ago, they rightly deserved all the accolades in the world.  I don't know if others remember this period but it was the beginning of the emergence of the microbrand and watch companies would set up on Kickstarter or on forums to sell as of yet unmade products.  And to be honest?  Most of those products were awful with mediocre designs, bad QC and unregulated movements.

Halios stood out for having a genuine watch nerd at the helm and an eye for all the details that watch nerds love to see (12 hr bezels, micro adjustments, excellent proportions, great QC and the like), all at a reasonable price for a Miyota powered watch.

The problem is, competition has increased dramatically in the 500-1000 USD price range with design forward micro brands like Zelos, Orion, Direnzo, and others introducing new and different movements and complications into the mix along with the requisite exceptional finishing and QC.

In some respects, it feels like Halios lacks design ambition (particularly since we are now on the fourth iteration of the Seaforth with no end in sight).  I'd love to see them experiment with new movements and form factors (perhaps something with the new 9075 GMT movement).  

I think this grande dame of the microbrand space could offer so much more.  Come on Halios!  Shake it up a bit!

What cool watches did you see this week?

Reply
·

The first Patek Philippe Calatrava was nearly a perfect watch. It may be a perfect watch. It then got larger, thicker, thinner, it obtained unnecessary Roman numerals, and generally became less perfect. But they, and their customers, don't care what I think.

I saved this picture for this purpose, my only spotting:

Image

An attorney in my building has started wearing this that she received from her grandfather. The picture does not do it justice. She recently had it repaired. The scratches on the dial are what can happen when you fall and shatter an old glass crystal.

I tried to find the date and reference number online and in my Shugart book. Shugart had it, but only the 2017 price. I think that it dates from the mid-40's but either you know Rolex or you don't, and I don't. This even number configuration was popular in the 1950's, but Rolex had some from the 1930's with a similar display. Some criticize Rolex for its conservative design, but historically they kind of marched to their own drum. They made many watches that stand outside of the typical design timeline. This is one. One last note: it is extremely heavy. Gold is extremely heavy.

Keep up the column. It is an anticipated read every week.

·
Aurelian

The first Patek Philippe Calatrava was nearly a perfect watch. It may be a perfect watch. It then got larger, thicker, thinner, it obtained unnecessary Roman numerals, and generally became less perfect. But they, and their customers, don't care what I think.

I saved this picture for this purpose, my only spotting:

Image

An attorney in my building has started wearing this that she received from her grandfather. The picture does not do it justice. She recently had it repaired. The scratches on the dial are what can happen when you fall and shatter an old glass crystal.

I tried to find the date and reference number online and in my Shugart book. Shugart had it, but only the 2017 price. I think that it dates from the mid-40's but either you know Rolex or you don't, and I don't. This even number configuration was popular in the 1950's, but Rolex had some from the 1930's with a similar display. Some criticize Rolex for its conservative design, but historically they kind of marched to their own drum. They made many watches that stand outside of the typical design timeline. This is one. One last note: it is extremely heavy. Gold is extremely heavy.

Keep up the column. It is an anticipated read every week.

I obviously agree on the first Patek being nearly perfect. Being a modern watch wearer, I'd of course prefer somethinga touch bigger (3-5mm) but as a dress watch it is proportionally and shapewise perfect. It's frankly why I fixate on Lange and JLC so much. They understand the dial proportions well, but have upsized the case just a bit for us bigger wristed folks

If and when I see Patek's Hamilton homage, you're going hear me complain about it: high, loud, and repeatedly.

Image

That's a beautiful Rolex, in excellent overall condition given the gold case and shattered crystal.

Keep up the column. It is an anticipated read every week.

I'm pretty incorrigible. I'll stop writing when I stop having watches to write about.

·

Bummer! all i see are Citizens and smartwatches. Other than mine I have not seen a mech watch in my area.

·

Love your column, man! If you ever decide to stop being a fund manager, you might have a career as a watch journalist - in other words, making ~$40k / year, living off ramen and rice and beans.

I have yet to see these watches, but I called up my mechanic yesterday to say, "Hey man, thanks a million for getting me squared away with the dealership. They fixed everything without giving me any guff whatsoever." Then I said, "By the way... are you a watch dork? How the hell did you know that I had a GS on my wrist?"

We then spent 10 minutes geeking out over watches!

Apparently, here's what he's got in his collection:

Image
Image

Along with a number of Seikos!

And, now, he's thinking of getting a GS! So, I told him that I would bring by all my GS for him to try out. Gotta spread the gospel of GS!

·
OldSnafu

Bummer! all i see are Citizens and smartwatches. Other than mine I have not seen a mech watch in my area.

In truth, 70% of what I see are smartwatches and maybe 20% are G-Shocks (interesting in their own right but I couldn't write 2000 words on the twenty GW-5000s I saw this week!).

I'm warming to Citizen, both the mechanicals and eco drives. I still think the majority of them are pretty anonymous but maybe I've just not paid close enough attention.

I think I'm mostly advantaged by being in a place that is pretty warm during the winter. An outdoor table at a cafe near a busy boardwalk pretty much fills this column, week after week. That and a nice tight community of watch nerd friends.

I couldn't imagine being in a place where folks wore coats all the time.

·

Love your column, man! If you ever decide to stop being a fund manager, you might have a career as a watch journalist - in other words, making ~$40k / year, living off ramen and rice and beans.

What a nasty thing to say. You take that back! 😂

It's very kind of you to think that I have anywhere close to the level of integrity and knowledge required to be a journalist. What folks like @celinesimon do is incredibly difficult. I couldn't imagine writing the way I do when a brand can cut access or advertising off because they're angry at what you write. I'm free to be an ass on the internet because nothing I write matters at all. No content treadmill, just enjoying putting my stream of consciousness to paper.

Your mechanic story is kind of the best thing in the world and everything I love about just talking to people about watches. You get awkward moments, its true, but you also get make new friends. Sometimes the friendships you have get deeper!

It warms my cold, dead heart so much.

·

Brilliant write up as always - I love it when these pop up.

My only very amateur watch spotting this week was an Omega Seamaster Diver 300M circa 2017 and a Grand Seiko - possibly a SBGP007 - but I was too far away to identify exactly. Nothing too exotic yet.

·
mikemike

Brilliant write up as always - I love it when these pop up.

My only very amateur watch spotting this week was an Omega Seamaster Diver 300M circa 2017 and a Grand Seiko - possibly a SBGP007 - but I was too far away to identify exactly. Nothing too exotic yet.

Always happy to oblige!

Two awesome spots, nothing pedestrian about them! I am always incredibly excited when I see a mechanical watch out there that's not a Rolex. Radically increases the chance of talking to another enthusiast.

·

I saw one! I saw one! I saw a watch this week and have a story!!!!!

It was at 2am in an operating room doing a bronch and trach on a very sick patient - and the surgeon had a blue 2 tone sub 😃🤯 my first legit watch spot!

So excited I snuck a pic of the actual watch :

Image
Image

At around 4am we were leaving and when he was sorta free I quickly engaged :

Me: hey! 2 tone sub! Sweet watch!

Him: yup, it’s Ok.

Me: (noticing it’s beat to hell) is it older?

Him: only a year or so, but I was at the shop where I got it and told guy it was running poorly and it needed service and sales guy said in a pretentious tone “we don’t work on vintage pieces” so I tore a strip off him!!…

… then the patient started to crash and convo was over , wished I’d had a chance to find out more. My gut told me ‘not a watch guy, just a Rolex guy’ but I might be wrong. He didn’t notice the GS 413 on my wrist, boo! 🤷‍♂

Great column today as always. Yup, better writing than most watch websites.

I confess to not seeing any magic in that dull looking banker patek. I’d choose the shinola or halios over it. I’m really not a dress watch person.

Regarding watch nerd bonafides - I’ve no watches with second time bezels (big preference for timing bezels), but I bought a Kurono that involved clicking madly on a mouse at 6am to obtain and buying sight unseen. So reckon I qualify for watch nerd-dom via that bit of crazy

Image
·
Mr.Dee.Bater

Love your column, man! If you ever decide to stop being a fund manager, you might have a career as a watch journalist - in other words, making ~$40k / year, living off ramen and rice and beans.

I have yet to see these watches, but I called up my mechanic yesterday to say, "Hey man, thanks a million for getting me squared away with the dealership. They fixed everything without giving me any guff whatsoever." Then I said, "By the way... are you a watch dork? How the hell did you know that I had a GS on my wrist?"

We then spent 10 minutes geeking out over watches!

Apparently, here's what he's got in his collection:

Image
Image

Along with a number of Seikos!

And, now, he's thinking of getting a GS! So, I told him that I would bring by all my GS for him to try out. Gotta spread the gospel of GS!

Small world! That sub you talked about, is the one single watch I saw in person last week! Sorry, no shade Rolex people, but not a great looking watch IMHO 😷

·

I was on the way to pick up my kid from pre-school and sat beside me was an elderly couple with two-tone rose gold Rolex DJ, in the bus.

Saw a co-worker wearing a Rolex Milgauss blue… that thing UGLY 😂

Saw a GS Snowflake while waiting in line in Donki (don quijote).

This week i saw more Cartiers than ever, tanks, santos, vintage santos..

·

it is nearly impossible to evaluate any wrist watch based on its perceived value (rather we can only determine what we are willing to pay for the feelings it gives us)

Pastor Edge preaching some truth!

·
Fieldwalker

I saw one! I saw one! I saw a watch this week and have a story!!!!!

It was at 2am in an operating room doing a bronch and trach on a very sick patient - and the surgeon had a blue 2 tone sub 😃🤯 my first legit watch spot!

So excited I snuck a pic of the actual watch :

Image
Image

At around 4am we were leaving and when he was sorta free I quickly engaged :

Me: hey! 2 tone sub! Sweet watch!

Him: yup, it’s Ok.

Me: (noticing it’s beat to hell) is it older?

Him: only a year or so, but I was at the shop where I got it and told guy it was running poorly and it needed service and sales guy said in a pretentious tone “we don’t work on vintage pieces” so I tore a strip off him!!…

… then the patient started to crash and convo was over , wished I’d had a chance to find out more. My gut told me ‘not a watch guy, just a Rolex guy’ but I might be wrong. He didn’t notice the GS 413 on my wrist, boo! 🤷‍♂

Great column today as always. Yup, better writing than most watch websites.

I confess to not seeing any magic in that dull looking banker patek. I’d choose the shinola or halios over it. I’m really not a dress watch person.

Regarding watch nerd bonafides - I’ve no watches with second time bezels (big preference for timing bezels), but I bought a Kurono that involved clicking madly on a mouse at 6am to obtain and buying sight unseen. So reckon I qualify for watch nerd-dom via that bit of crazy

Image

Rolex owners are generally not watch nerds. It's too penetrated in the mass consciousness.

I do enjoy the two tones (especially the Bluesy) a lot so them's fighting words!

I mean, if I saw a Kurono on someone's wrist I'd almost certainly walk up and talk to them. It just overflows with watch dork pheromones.

·

I don't hate the TAG. It's not my cup of tea but it's definitely a super cool watch. Maybe it reminds me too much of high school and university which were thoroughly mediocre times in my life.

The Halios is 100% a fantastic watch. It looks great, feels great, and is clearly designed by someone who knows what watch dorks like and value.

It's also the same watch that it was 7 years ago (except maybe the push button micro adjust which is very swish).

I think when you have someone who understands nerds as much as Jason Lim does, you feel it's a little of a shame that they don't branch out more. I'd be super curious to see what he could do with an enamel dial or a GMT or some such.

·
M.addd

I was on the way to pick up my kid from pre-school and sat beside me was an elderly couple with two-tone rose gold Rolex DJ, in the bus.

Saw a co-worker wearing a Rolex Milgauss blue… that thing UGLY 😂

Saw a GS Snowflake while waiting in line in Donki (don quijote).

This week i saw more Cartiers than ever, tanks, santos, vintage santos..

Great spots all around!

The Milgauss is very ugly but also very not Rolex! The lightning bolt seconds hand makes me giggle.

I'd kill to see more Cartier, modern or vintage. I feel like they're not popular here.

·
Edge168n

Maybe a little less preacher and a little more Lord Darlington of "a cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing" fame.

I do think there is a bit of value oriented idolatry that I'm reacting to here. I still see arguments (less here but still) that basically revolve around trying to reduce a watch to its constituent parts (sapphire crystal, 316L stainless steel, power reserve, etc). And, as often as not, someone who is trying to score fake internet points basically tries to win an argument by talking about how the watch in question can be bested by another watch with a similar or better set of specifications.

I always find these arguments completely bewildering because it's like the folks who talk about how I could move from the Bay Area to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and buy a house that's 3x the size for the same money.

Now I've been to UP many times and I actually like it a lot! But I don't really want to live there because it means I'd be far away from my family and my community and all the things I truly care about more than a bigger house.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't live in UP. If you love living in UP, I congratulate you on your lower cost of living and your pro-happiness decisions! But it is just not for me. So all the perceived value I'd be getting doesn't mean anything.

If we are trying to value maximize I wrist watches, we'd never buy any watches.

100% agree. Can’t stand the “yeah Nomos are cool but the power reserve isn’t worth the cost” arguments about specs.

Just like housing and cars.. pick what’s right for YOU. Nothing is perfect for everyone and if $3k for a GS quartz vs a TAG Ti Solargraft vs a Nomos Automatic is your jam, then make a sandwich baby.

·
DeeperBlue

Awesome column as always. 👏

I love the conversations you digress into.

I saw a Tag this week. No idea what. A saw a flash of the logo before it disappeared under the cuff. I'll still take the win 👍😁

Too bad! Always love seeing a different Tag!

Speaking of digressions, I'm going to digress more 😉

There's no monetization or effective social media engagement in digression. If I were optimizing for likes and views, I would be much more effective in making incendiary posts about Rolex or wait lists or posting polls or asking other people about their favorite strap or their opinion about what watch I should buy next. Some of that stuff is fine, but it's definitely not me.

I sometimes think about how my writing style has evolved over the past 5ish months since I did the first one of these.

The first was just a list of crazy watches I saw at a wedding one afternoon. But I think the thing that actually resonated with me was the story of how my friend sold his Bond Seamaster to buy his wife a ring and his wife, unprompted, bought him the NTTD Titanium Seamaster because she loved him and wanted to accept all of him.

It's made me realize that the point of my watch spotting isn't seeing pictures of watches. Hodinkee/W&W/Time and Tide will always be much better at that than I ever will be not the least because I don't like taking pictures of people's watches. But pictures don't animate my imagination, the individual stories and threads of design and philosophy do.

And I write this stuff for me (and maybe you lovely folks who don't mind coming along for the ride).

·

Oh man, I totally forgot about that one. It wasn't a great success was it? I seem to recall that the GMT hand felt a bit stubby and hard to tell the time with.

Maybe I just want a different line or another take on the Halios design language.

·

The TAG S/EL was my cousin's grail watch, back in high school. I remember him talking about TAG, and how much he wanted that watch. I was repulsed. Not so much because of the watch, but because of the price tag.

"Who in their right mind would spend $X hundred for a watch???"

My cousin was into body building and wore gold chains around his neck and wrist.

"What kind of man wears jewelry???"

Me now...

Image
·

I saw this one at a pool party the other week. I know the person and he has more. Stay tuned for a post!

Image
·
Mr.Dee.Bater

The TAG S/EL was my cousin's grail watch, back in high school. I remember him talking about TAG, and how much he wanted that watch. I was repulsed. Not so much because of the watch, but because of the price tag.

"Who in their right mind would spend $X hundred for a watch???"

My cousin was into body building and wore gold chains around his neck and wrist.

"What kind of man wears jewelry???"

Me now...

Image
Image
·
rowiphi

I saw this one at a pool party the other week. I know the person and he has more. Stay tuned for a post!

Image

I am super excited to hear this story! Whenever Richard mille shows up in a story, I know it's going to be a good one

·
Edge168n

Maybe a little less preacher and a little more Lord Darlington of "a cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing" fame.

I do think there is a bit of value oriented idolatry that I'm reacting to here. I still see arguments (less here but still) that basically revolve around trying to reduce a watch to its constituent parts (sapphire crystal, 316L stainless steel, power reserve, etc). And, as often as not, someone who is trying to score fake internet points basically tries to win an argument by talking about how the watch in question can be bested by another watch with a similar or better set of specifications.

I always find these arguments completely bewildering because it's like the folks who talk about how I could move from the Bay Area to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and buy a house that's 3x the size for the same money.

Now I've been to UP many times and I actually like it a lot! But I don't really want to live there because it means I'd be far away from my family and my community and all the things I truly care about more than a bigger house.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't live in UP. If you love living in UP, I congratulate you on your lower cost of living and your pro-happiness decisions! But it is just not for me. So all the perceived value I'd be getting doesn't mean anything.

If we are trying to value maximize I wrist watches, we'd never buy any watches.

100% with you on this - we live in a stupid expensive part of Vancouver, close to family, short bike commute, big trees all around, safe hood for kids to play outside, walk to beach/groceries/ restaurants

So our 2 bed TH costs same as a very distant /car drive everywhere nice new full size house with a hellish commute.

At least for us, the priority was neighborhood over house size and quality. We all got to choose!

·
Mr.Dee.Bater

Dude! No!

The Milgauss Z-Blue is my favorite Rolex!

Look at that! It's gorgeous!

Image

😂😂 Too much steel, too little watch, Proportions are a lil skewed.. imo anyways haha.

·
Aurelian

The first Patek Philippe Calatrava was nearly a perfect watch. It may be a perfect watch. It then got larger, thicker, thinner, it obtained unnecessary Roman numerals, and generally became less perfect. But they, and their customers, don't care what I think.

I saved this picture for this purpose, my only spotting:

Image

An attorney in my building has started wearing this that she received from her grandfather. The picture does not do it justice. She recently had it repaired. The scratches on the dial are what can happen when you fall and shatter an old glass crystal.

I tried to find the date and reference number online and in my Shugart book. Shugart had it, but only the 2017 price. I think that it dates from the mid-40's but either you know Rolex or you don't, and I don't. This even number configuration was popular in the 1950's, but Rolex had some from the 1930's with a similar display. Some criticize Rolex for its conservative design, but historically they kind of marched to their own drum. They made many watches that stand outside of the typical design timeline. This is one. One last note: it is extremely heavy. Gold is extremely heavy.

Keep up the column. It is an anticipated read every week.

Love it! I can't quite yet determine the model or time period but have seen that distinct look before. That is a very nice example of a Rolex Oyster "Bubbleback" which carries a distinction in Rolex history. From an Analog Shift post:

"...Rolex attached an auto-winding mechanism to an existing manual movement, and the thickness that this arrangement added necessitated a bulging case back, the distinct feature that earned the Bubbleback moniker. Many of Rolex's competitors used automatic movements built from the ground up, yet this proved to be a poor approach for two important reasons. Firstly, the Rolex movements could be wound manually from the crown unlike the competing models - a feature that was popular with customers who didn’t yet trust the new invention. Secondly, the manually-wound base was easily recognizable by watchmakers who were often hesitant to work on the new-fangled automatic movements."

·
Rolexahoma

Love it! I can't quite yet determine the model or time period but have seen that distinct look before. That is a very nice example of a Rolex Oyster "Bubbleback" which carries a distinction in Rolex history. From an Analog Shift post:

"...Rolex attached an auto-winding mechanism to an existing manual movement, and the thickness that this arrangement added necessitated a bulging case back, the distinct feature that earned the Bubbleback moniker. Many of Rolex's competitors used automatic movements built from the ground up, yet this proved to be a poor approach for two important reasons. Firstly, the Rolex movements could be wound manually from the crown unlike the competing models - a feature that was popular with customers who didn’t yet trust the new invention. Secondly, the manually-wound base was easily recognizable by watchmakers who were often hesitant to work on the new-fangled automatic movements."

Update: @Aurelian it took me another 15 minutes to find what I believe to be the same model: Ref. 3130, circa 1946! See this listing for on Chrono24: Rolex Bubble Back for $7,232 for sale from a Private Seller on Chrono24

·

It’s funny how this all works as I saw my first Halios in the wild. I could tell what it was, but not the model. Anyway, I was at an informal dinner with a group from work and a consultancy we use for outsourcing design. It’s pretty symbiotic, they recommend us for installation of tricky projects and we recommend them for advanced modelling. Plus, I can’t design everything that comes across my desk, I’ll go grey. I’m chatting with one of their engineers who will be Cat-3 checking a scheme for me in the coming week, and I’m clocking his watch and he’s clocking mine (1991-issue CWC G10).

It’s a Laguna.

We try them on… tables gone quiet. We ask standard questions, we talk shop, table goes back to normal and leaves us to it. We are now ostracised from the group.

He likes dive watches and microbrands, and his pride and joy is a blue Squale 1521.

The Laguna is a chunky customer, but the case shape reminds me a little of my Bvlgari Ergon with the way it gently curves around the wrist. A slight touch of elegance to a masculine persona, it’s the watch-equivalent to being made breakfast in bed after a night of solid lovemaking. Superb finish, really, it’s a solid piece of kit. I did well spotting a Halios, I get points point points this week.

·
Porthole

It’s funny how this all works as I saw my first Halios in the wild. I could tell what it was, but not the model. Anyway, I was at an informal dinner with a group from work and a consultancy we use for outsourcing design. It’s pretty symbiotic, they recommend us for installation of tricky projects and we recommend them for advanced modelling. Plus, I can’t design everything that comes across my desk, I’ll go grey. I’m chatting with one of their engineers who will be Cat-3 checking a scheme for me in the coming week, and I’m clocking his watch and he’s clocking mine (1991-issue CWC G10).

It’s a Laguna.

We try them on… tables gone quiet. We ask standard questions, we talk shop, table goes back to normal and leaves us to it. We are now ostracised from the group.

He likes dive watches and microbrands, and his pride and joy is a blue Squale 1521.

The Laguna is a chunky customer, but the case shape reminds me a little of my Bvlgari Ergon with the way it gently curves around the wrist. A slight touch of elegance to a masculine persona, it’s the watch-equivalent to being made breakfast in bed after a night of solid lovemaking. Superb finish, really, it’s a solid piece of kit. I did well spotting a Halios, I get points point points this week.

Halios Laguna! I'd totally forgotten that watch existed. That's a unicorn right there, I'm pretty convinced fewer than one hundred were ever made.

A slight touch of elegance to a masculine persona, it’s the watch-equivalent to being made breakfast in bed after a night of solid lovemaking

This, of course, is the best line I've read all week. I may purloin it 😉

·

I’m loving this thread, I will admit to paying attention to what watches are around, try and spot any fellow watch nerds hahahaha

Most I’ve seen have been some Rolexes at a cousin’s wedding, but if I see anything good I’ll post here!

·
benbot517

I’m loving this thread, I will admit to paying attention to what watches are around, try and spot any fellow watch nerds hahahaha

Most I’ve seen have been some Rolexes at a cousin’s wedding, but if I see anything good I’ll post here!

Welcome to the ongoing madness of my watch spotting life! I try to post weekly ish, so just follow the hashtag #watchesinthewild and get all the most recent posts!