I Like What I Like. No, wait...

Amen. Enjoy what you enjoy, there's no need to "back up" or justify your preferences to anyone. Life is too short to worry about what others think of your watch.

I only got rid of my personal gold aversion a few years ago. Of course with small vintage pieces, it's much less much less objectionable to me. I'd like to think I'd rock a Day-Date were I to find one on the street, but I don't think I'm worthy yet.

Absolutely agree. I can see myself starting with a golden vintage piece of a modest size and perhaps a gold colored Casio.

You got any golden favorites?

Yeah I'm like that.

I used to wear jeans.

Then I switched to sweatpants.

Now I wear nothing.

There is so much for each reader of the post to unpack since your epiphanies about clothing, automobiles, and most recently timepieces falls into the awkward topic of choice or personal freedoms. I am old enough to recall girls having to petition school authorities the option of pants daily but especially during winter months, boys were allowed a choice of baseball or soccer during spring and summer gym classes but not tennis. The macho little instructor who favoured being addressed as “Tiger”posted a note that announced tennis was an option if the interested student wore a skirt to classes. I was suspended from classes for a few days along with chums when we arrived for school dressed in tasteful outfits sourced from a thrift store. I have owned exactly two 2 tone timepieces when I first collected watches, 2 gold watches and still prefer the appearance of steel or titanium, cannot justify the dollars for a precious metal watch during modern times but would love a platiinum or white gold item.

I believe it is a common sentiment that as long as the individual’s relationship with a parent was not completely odious or harmful, we grow more and more like them as we age or become parents ourselves. My dad was a man very set in his ways not exactly a best character trait when you emigrate to a new country at almost age 40 with a very needy family of 6 to support having to learn a new language and skills beyond being an academic. Life was interesting but never more than the moment when he escorted me to a neighbourhood tailor to order some trousers to accommodate my sudden growth in height one special summer before the September classes. I was embarrassed but obligated to act as translator for my dad still not fluent in English. He insisted the frustrated tailor prepare a 5 button fly front for my modest trousers. The old school European pulled out his large bag of zippers screaming that we live in modern times. My father was adamant never yielded on that curious request until the other man finally jotted down the proper note on his info pad. It was not until my dad was very sick when I visited him daily in his hospital room as a young man that I asked him about the buttons. He said that even the best quality zipper can fail to function properly but 5 buttons properly sewn on will not all fall off at once. He would love to check out some present manufacture Italian trousers that not only have button fly fronts but they are secured with rivets!!

The topic of discussion that upsets me the most amongst watch enthusiasts lately concerns case size. On that matter it should fall entirely on choice of the wearer, there is no right and wrong perhaps a yesterday and tomorrow discussion but a frivolous gesture such as strapping on a device that tells time must be up to the individual without any rules or best conditions. I understand that to be part of any organized just community certain rules and laws must be followed but when it is the topic of our manner of dressing or choice of transportation and other matters that affect other persons not at all, I not going to follow the mob.

I really don't support the argument when every gold watch I have is an ancestral item. Ignoring pocket watches, there is a restrained midcentury round Universal Geneve and a more avant-garde Bulova Baxter with a ribbed rectangular case.

I understand the sentiment. I get the impression that you like to be rebellious, to express your sense of freedom. I am perhaps a bit more like your father, valuing tradition and, perhaps, being a bit set in my ways. Like you, I prefer to not follow the crowd, but I do so not by revolting against tradition but by trying to be even more traditional than the rest. Like, I think most people in the country I live dress poorly and sloppily, so I revolt by dressing more "proper", like most people here have not dressed in perhaps 50, 70 or a hundred years. In today's western world, chosing tradition is a form of revolt. Everything new is not good, and everything old was not bad.

Following rules is important, to aid harmony and trust in human societies. But following the mob style wise is not fun. Millions of people in sweatpants and smartwatches will not change my opinion of what styles I prefer. Some "rules" should be followed, but some can be broken. Choices have to be made, and all choices have consequences.

I think style is fun. Whatever style one chooses, I believe it should be chosen carefully and consciously. Life is about finding the shackles we like, and then embracing them. At least for as long as we enjoy them.

In the end we will all probably end up old men, set in our ways, complaining about the world and youth of today. And we will all be as right as we are wrong.

I am preparing to meet with two very young smart business clients later today, appreciate your long thoughtful response a lot! I mention the clients because they are in fact younger than both of my daughters who are not that old, there has been a tremendous amount of miscommunication between the two and me already. It is just the way things are.

I am not rebellious but arrived in Canada with my immigrant family, eventually working in a profession not accustomed to fellas from where I am from, additionally a traumatic head injury suffered as teenager left me a noticeable walking impediment the rest of my life. Senior guys used to joke that I saved the company a lot of dough because I was double visable minority. I wasn’t laughing just made certain that I made the world a bit better for others like me. I am not a young man and still wake up each morning with conviction that every small action matters, good and bad.

Wish me luck dealing with the two young desperados.

Good luck! Being visibly different than others can bring with it certain challenges. Being markedly younger or older as well. Hope the meeting goes well.