Late morning coffee with Lorier and random Christopher Ward aventurine thoughts

Just my first attempt at watch photography. It's tricky - my hat is off to the many WCers who produce such gorgeous images! I know the lighting isn't probably the best, I didn't adjust settings on my bog- standard phone camera etc. But it's a beautiful morning, and I'm in a good mood, so I wanted to capture the moment.

So a bit of a ramble: Being pretty new to the hobby, I'm still finding my way on what (and how extensive) I want my collection to look like. But I'm also fairly sure about my aesthetic preferences, which I guess carry over from my taste in clothes (such as it is), art, etc. So for my next piece, I'd like something dressy that could plausibly be for both black tie and a more casual, sportier look. I've been bitten by the Grand Seiko bug and was just floored by the ones I saw at the Watchfinder US tour - but the dials I really like are pricier than I'm comfortable with. So I've been hunting for either a bagain used GS of the shunbun, non-quartz variety (ha!) or an alternative.

When I saw the CW moonphase aventurine, I was really impressed and was tempted especially by the aventurine; but I kind of wished it had some kind of even minimal indexing or chapter ring, it was maybe a bit too full on dress-oriented for what I wanted, and the price (even though really reasonable for that complication etc) was still higher than what I wanted to spend. Then just a couple weeks later, they came out with time C63 Celest. That seems to address all my reservations about the moonphase, plus coming in a smaller case size, which I prefer. So I might have to click the buy button on that before the year is out.

Which got me thinking: If GS's calling card (besides spring drive or the crazy tourbillon thing) is case and dial finishing/design, I wonder to what extent CW can start positioning themselves as a value GS alternative? Because to me, the Twelve and now the aventurine dials are starting to speak to my desire for that extra something in a dial that's hard to describe, without emptying my wallet. Overstatement, yes - among other things, GS also has the nature-themed focus that CW doesn't - but I feel like there's something in it.

Anyway, just some partially-caffeinated thoughts on a lazy(ier than it should be) Sunday. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the day!