Field watches. Something about them now is just too earthy-crunchy for me. I don't own any fleece wear and I hate camping and hiking. I look down at my Hamilton Khaki now and think, "why are you on my wrist today?"

I know it's sacrilegious to say right now, and with apologies to @AndrewMorgan , I just find Tudors sort of clunky and busy (and I sold mine in pretty short order). And the snowflake hands have--what is the opposite of grown on me?--oh, yeah. Don't like them.

I do like the Lorier, but I find the hour hand's short-tapered stem ending in a large arrow, um, displeasingly provocative.

I like the Baltic and the Yema, and don't have the same objections that others above do. I have the Yema Navygraf MN, and it makes me pretty happy, although it's not the vintage homage that these are.

My own pick is the Seiko Mas, but you'd miss out on your pointy hands.

Agreed with all points above, and loved this episode as well. Hope they will take all of this feedback (lots online/YT) and keep going in this direction with real people who have built their collections in interesting ways.

I don't mind admitting that this made me misty several times over (this does not include extra mist when I realized how much classical philosophy I've forgotten and your sweet shout-out to me as a fellow self-indulger. Also, how you forgot your Roadster box and papers? Full on tears, dude.)

All lives, as far as I can tell, swing from crisis to crisis. And end, of course, in arguably the biggest crisis. But it is knowing this that lets us revel in the interstices. Do. That.

The stories of these watches are those stories. Of being aware of what you truly love (ironically, given this context, not watches): connected to that, present in that. The watches become tangible reminders, but in the face of what means the most (your family; your work and all the ripple effects it has; your community and philanthropy), they are only that.

And yet more than that, as you say. Real joy in the leisurely (or obsessive) pondering over, choosing, handling of a little object and in the Self who is doing all of that. An interstitial moment where one can forget the last crisis, and the next one.

I'm on the same page about not wanting to flaunt your things (I am also unarguably the worst photographer in the US and likely the world, and your post proves that you are not.) But it's hard to tell your stories in this watch-sized world of ours without them sometimes, and these were so great. An enviably pared-down bunch that I can only think of as muscular, in the most wonderful way (you are making me question my Rollie aversion, no mean feat).

But the best thing about them is how they reflect you, as you've laid it out in writing that is so damn good it makes me want to shriek with joy and probably envy (not probably).

Detached? Not from the things that really matter. Digitize your kids' birth certificates, so that you don't waste a moment's time if there is no time to waste. And then focus on the non-crises--the others will, inevitably, take care of themselves.

I got the white one, and returned it—too bland. For a variety of reasons, I didn’t re-order in another color. But all that to say—if you pull the trigger, go for one of the other dials, or the gold. Those all pop

Aww, thanks!

My photos are so bad that they make me weep with shame. But my goal is to overcome that.

What was your one watch? Yes, that’s a game I’m playing when I reach into the watchbox, too….And I still don’t have the answer, so I guess I haven’t hit on the right one yet.

I live in Podunkadunkaville, so I drove an hour to Podunkaville where they have two actual watch shops. Just a little field trip for me to see the lay of the land and touch some watches that were not my own.

AD in shop number one asked right off the bat if I’d like a Rolex. I did not, and was not in the mood to pretend I did in order to see what might be avails (bunch of OPs in the case, don’t recall what else). But interesting—and likely a function of being in such a (lovely and weird) backwater.

I scurried on to the other AD (ummm, next door), and spent the rest of my time drooling over the Omegas.

Get the Aqua Terra. Specs are better, and it’s a classic in the flesh already. Def on my short list for a big buy next year.

And congrats on the GS—you have good taste and smarts.