Collaborations

My latest acquisition was the Rowing Blazers x Seiko collab…I thought the first time around had more interesting designs overall, but I really liked the black dial variant this time and couldn’t pass it up. 
 

There's a world of color on that dial and I quite like it. 

I usually don't care as much about collaborations as the overall design. If I like it, I might be interested even if I don't know anything about the collaborator. I don't know what rowing blazer is, but that's a pretty cool looking Seiko.

One of my favorite collabs ever has been the one Baltic X Revolution from 2021. Its a design that feels bold and modern despite being dressed in a very vintage-esque package. I love the strong, connected hour markers that emphasize the symmetry of the bicompax design - especially with the small detail/design decision to include a double-marker at 12. I can not express how sad I was to discover this watch well after they had sold out of the original 250 (if I recall)… originally priced at $600-700, they are now trading for 3-4 times that much. Unfortunately just one of those pieces I’ll unlikely ever get to own, but a boy can dream.

I want a Pokemon watch but there are no good ones so I'm probably gonna have to make my own. Most likely a ga2100. 

Yea, the indices actually do remind me of the various colors used on rowing blades for crew teams, which is one of the reasons I like this particular version so much. Colorful but not too in your face about it, at least imo.

Definitely agree with that. Rowing Blazers is a clothing/lifestyle brand that I honestly never heard of before, but I just liked the design and playfulness of this one.

I wanted to love Baltic but their reselling prices on the used market left me feeling sour.

Like everything There's some damn good ones and then there's dome damned awful ones,but I'm with chronoslice that rowing blazes is ace,my favourite was the orange one,love the removal of the bezel gives the watch a whole new appeal, love it. Good job it didn't come up on my feed till it had sold out or else I would have pulled the trigger and that would have lead to a blazers rowing with my other half. So yes hope these collabs continue to make some interesting and quirky designs that we can enjoy.

I’d say their reselling prices are simply an indictment of the great design and possibly the social media hype machine powering their popularity. I have no resentment towards their company, and while I wish they didn’t make this particular design a “limited” collection (thereby driving up prices), I am sure this decision was due to it being a collaboration. They’ve done a good job of making most of their catalog free of that asterisk.

https://monochrome-watches.com/introducing-the-optical-magic-of-the-zenith-defy-extreme-felipe-pantone-specs-price/
 

how about this? It’s a pity it’s such limited numbers I probably won’t even get hands on. But I think that’s some cool shxt and I’m a big fan of zenith. 

Hodinkee Fifty Fathoms.

Blancpain’s refusal to put a 40mm Fifty Fathoms in their regular catalog is frustrating.  

I can't disagree with you on this when you put it that way. 

I would buy a Baltic if they where a high quality digital movement! Not a chinese movement due to servicing issues ( I love the Seagull chronograph for instance but same deal there too )