Doubling the collection: mr. Senator, meet mr. Shark.

A little over a month ago, I took my first real step into the world of watches. After some intense online and live browsing I settled on the Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase (see here ). Still intensely happy with it, it’s a real thing of beauty, inside and out.

But I’m not too keen to wear this gem to the beach, outdoor activities or on holiday. So I went looking for a sturdy little diver, which wouldn’t mind being banged around a bit and of course would be properly waterproofed. My shortlist included the Christopher Ward C60 Trident Pro 300, the Doxa Sub 200, the Squale 1545 and the Mido Ocean Star 200. All great value-for-money, good looking, functional watches from solid brands.  And from a previous post I know you all have your specific favourites (see here ). Thanks for all your feedback.

In the end, I went with the Squale. To be honest, it was all fairly even, I would have been very happy with the Mido (which I was able to try on live), CW or Doxa as well. Two deciding factors: one aesthetic in nature and one very pragmatic.  The aesthetic one: I just fell in love with the blue/grey dial of the Squale. The others are more straightforward blue (or black, in case of the Mido OS titanium). And I feel Squale has done enough with the new 1545 to make it stand out from the Submariner (besides the price…): different hands, markings, crown, colouring…all in their own style. Now for the pragmatic reason: the CW, Mido and Doxa all retail for around 1k. I was able to pick up a brand new Squale 1545 for half that - 500 euros. That clinched it :-) 

I won’t be comparing the GO Senator and the Squale (= shark), the latter costing less than 5% of the former. So, just focussing on the newcomer, mr. Shark:

It comes in a nice box and leather-like case. 

The 1545 measures 40mm in diameter, has 20mm lug width and 30 atm water resistance. It has a screw-in crown and is powered by a Sellita SW 200-1, with a reserve of 38 hours. Nothing spectacular there, but fit-for-purpose. The Squale comes with a grey rubber strap (I really do not like metal bracelets) which complements the dial nicely and wears very comfortably. 

So, happy camper with this new addition. GO during the workweek, and now the Squale for weekends & holiday. Let's see for how long I can keep the collection to two 😂.

PS: just noticed I hadn't removed the little blue protective cover on the crown of the Squale yet in the first picture - it's regular polished stainless steel underneath!