Cars of WatchCrunch

After learning to drive a manual while living in Portugal for a year in 2021, I knew I wanted to buy a stick when I moved back to the USA the following year. I also wanted an economical drive, fairly new and a good price. This Corolla SE is everything I could have wanted.

I wouldn’t have guessed my burgeoning interest in gear ratios would grow from car transmissions into mechanical watch movements but here I am!

I didn’t think I would go full EV but since making the decision I haven’t looked back - Jaguar I-Pace EV400 HSE

I’m clearly having a mid-life crisis

My pride and joy

Utility…….

Where do I start?

This was my 1997 BMW e38 740i (known as the “Sporty Shorty”). James Bond (Brosnan) drove the longer model “97 750iL in the 1997 Bond film, “Tomorrow Never Dies”. It was 10 years old when I purchased it in 2007 when it only had 50,000 miles on it.

I drove it another 14 years and tacked on another 201,000 miles before sending her off to that great highway in the sky.

I became very “hands on” with the car and enjoyed doing a lot of work on the car myself (kinda like I do now with modding watches). There is just something about tinkering with a car (or a watch) that makes it that much more special.

I had a great mechanic too. Same one for the 14 years I drove her. For those of you who have driven and maintained a high-performance car for a long time know that a good (and honest) mechanic is essential to the longevity of the car.

When he retired, I knew the journey wouldn’t last much longer and about a year or so later the hook came a calling.

After she gave up the ghost, I stood at the end of my driveway and watched as she was being towed away. When she was out of sight, I walked inside my house and my wife asked me:

“Are you ok?”

I said: “No honey, but I will be.” 😉😀😎

I miss detailing the car under a shade tree on a Saturday afternoon or detailing the engine bay on a Sunday morning. My mechanic used to say that you could eat a meal off that engine bay it was so clean.

(This “hook shot” was taken in October of 2021).

These days I just enjoy hydro-modding a Duro or a MRW-200h, modding a Seiko 5 SRPE53 or just messing around creating fun and different watch dials to satisfy my need to tinker. It’s still a lot of fun and doesn’t require nearly as much clean-up like after working on a car. 😀

Manuals/Stick are free and far between now. One of my favourite things to do is to heel and toe brake completely mundane hire cars/vans. There’s nothing as satisfying as a god teen match! Try it if you’ve never done it.

Probably the best of the bunch so far, right? I see jag are now planning to go 100% luxury EV..

Is that a mkI brz?

Niiiice! Daily or toy? What’s the spec?

Is it for camping or many many children?

Close - it’s a MkI GT86

Not what one might expect if you tell them you own a “Singer”.. :P

What’s the blue one?

First company car - love VW Golf’s!

Favourite Company Car - BMW 320d E92 coupe which I managed to clock hit 245kmh indicated on the autobahn = 145mph in a 2litre diesel!! (At that speed, you reallly notice corners on the Highway!)

My first and only foray into classic cars - utterly ruined me financially. But on the odd day it worked, it was spectacular. 1968 Triumph GT6 mkII. 2litre straight 6.

Current Steed - I always wanted a Landrover but they were so horrible to drive any great distance. But this thing is absolutely awesome, on road and off. (And no, no major issues…yet!)

And an old WWII car graveyard - full of American metal left by US Soldiers in Belgium when the war ended.

It doesn’t even matter…Cannon Ball Run is etched in my mind forever 😁

400bhp

I just listened to a Collecting Addicts podcast with Chris Harris - where it also got a mention.

Cool! Ye olde Morgan in England has a lot to answer for, and even more to catch up on.

Just to specify the ATV

My pride and joy.

That Datsun is a joy, what great condition

Just 46k miles in 47 years.

I don’t think we’ve ever gotten them. Maybe since Audi put out the RS6 Avante in the US we will. I would have considered the wagon if it were out now.

Needs to be red. Or maybe yellow.

Of course 😊

For all the BMW aficionados...how do we feel about BMW's most recent design philosophy of putting a big boxy grille on every one of their models?

I read, in one of the car magazines, that their current design choices are dictated largely by feedback from their buyer's market in China, which is their 2nd largest sales ground after the US.💪

The big boxy grille definitely does stand out, for better or worse.😬

More to the point, which watchmaker's aesthetic does BMW's latest evolution most resemble, if any?

I, personally, find that their newest cars remind me of Panerai very much.

It’s almost a relief to know that grills will soon disappear with the growth of EVs!

I think BMW’s designs are a real mess right now. With the giant m3 grills, the weird 7 series headlights, the M2 rear end 🤮..

There’s no cohesion. Perhaps it’s most noticeable with BMW because the kidney grills were a key design element which slowly evolved over time.. and then BOOM - bugs bunny teeth on your sportiest model.

It sucks.

Having said that, the Merc EVs now look like Toyota corollas and don’t appear to perform much better than one. Soo perhaps with the loss of ICE the Germans are facing a bit of an existential crisis with the rise of EVs massively levelling the playing field..

Dare I say.. Hublot? Looks all blingy, but has the same electric motor as the Asian offerings for 1/3rd of the price!?

Are we facing the quartz crisis of the motor industry!?