My 3 piece collection.

My current 3 piece collection.

The BB58 was my first attainable target, grail even. Was supposed to get a BB41 red bezel for our wedding but timing and life it just didn’t work out. Waited a few years and 58 came out. At the time I lived in Texas and a new AD in Glasgow Scotland just became a Tudor AD, and the Scottish Watches podcast mentioned a young lad started working there and they got one in if anyone was interested. I messaged them and a week later it was on my wrist. I later messaged them to order up a bracelet and he said they got a slap from corporate that they should have sold it mailed across country lines. 😂. My silly grail is a Rolex 6538, but I like living in a house, and this is a wonderful compromise.

Next came the Doxa 300T, and this was heavily influenced by The Grey Nato boys. I love how they worked with Rolex and codeveloped the HEV valve and beat them to market. I would have gone 300, but it’s dome crystal is too domed for me, and the dial to case sizing is better on the T. I also enjoy having a tank of a deep diver.

Lastly is my Explorer 2. The modern sub is nice, but I didn’t want to be another finance bro with one, and I wanted a GMT / dual time, but I didn’t want a GMT Master 2. The Polar EXP2 is just a delight, its so much more casual than other Rolex offerings I don’t feel threatened wearing it and it goes with everything. I got on a waitlist here in CT after the wife encouraged as I thought it would be 18 months or two years, and 6 months later I got the call. It could easily be my end all be all watch, but I enjoy the collection. I thought she was going to be big, but she wears perfectly.

Next up is a Omege Speedy Pro - hesalite. Appropriate as I work in the space industry. And possibly my last “spendy” watch as I would like to dive into the more reasonable vintage route.

(This write up originally appeared over on WatchCrunch.)

Wind Up Watch Fair - 2021

Having just moved to the east coast I was excited to me closer to the action, closer to the big city - NYC itself. Houston certainly helped to spark the intrigue but if you follow watches closely you’ll know the action is in NYC or LA. The great Hodinkee is in New York after all.

As luck would have Worn and Wound had brought back their Wind Up Watch Fair and I was itching to go! Like I’m sure many of you reading this, I’ve made more friends in the online watch world than I can shake a stick at and I was giddy to meet them in real life. So I made the short 3 hour trek into NYC for a great adventure.

While there I got to catch up with Kyle of Cantonment , they specialize in kerchiefs that function as wipe rags, camera gear and watch padding, face masks and even a carry bag. I’ve known Kyle for at least a year now, exchanging a quick comment here and there online and he’s even better in person. Then there’s the founder Jonathan of Brew Watches, he started Brew by himself and watching his company grow over the years is just fantastic. Seeing each piece evolve and get better and better every time. Go ahead and take a look at the Metric - it’s about as fun as you can get for $400. A solid meca-quartz movement and a 2 register dial. I kick myself I didn’t take a picture but I think I was having too great a time talking with Jonathan. Of note, to me at least the dial is a much more inky black than comes across in pictures, just fantastic.

I ran into a few more people but continuing to drop names gets silly after awhile, to get to the brass tax of it half the reason I love this particular community is the people. The watches are great, the deep dive and fawnNing over X piece of the week is oodles of fun, but man the community is just epic. The pseudo team / clan aspect and aruging over minutia on forums for 30 pages, its too much fun! But I digress.

A few interesting pieces that I saw - a company called Formex had a model called the Reef which you can easily remove the bezel and swap out with another of a different color. One might question how easily they could be removed on accident but I didn’t see evidence of that in person. I will say that they’re rubber strap and micro adjust clasp is suuuuper comfy, and something other brands needs to consider. Bracelets are great but there is more out there. Also the king of micro brands - Monta. This the first time I’ve seen one in the flesh and it punches significantly above it’s weight. While I took a picture of their Oceanking model it’s the Atlas that has my attention. A wonderful silver dialed GMT, with an in-house( to what degree yet to be researched) movement with a 150m WR and 42 hour power reserve. Not bad for a hair under $2k. Definitely a solid choice in the GMT field.

Overall it was a great event to attend and I’m super stoked to have made trek. Exited for another reason to skip down to NYC or gather with watch friends.

*The picture of me below was taken by @mrthomascarlo.

A Light Dive: Seiko SKX007

Backstory:

The veritable Seiko SKX007. This is it; the original entry level grail watch. The true daily beater, highly moddable, go anywhere, do anything every mans diver.

She’s descended from the Seiko 6215 in 1967, the first Seiko diver with a WR of 300m.

Of notable notes, we make a stop in 1970 with the 6105-8110/9, of “Captain Willard” in Apocalypse Now movie fame, and was indeed very popular with Vietnam serviceman and divers due to its quality and ruggedness. In 1996 we were graced with the introduction of the SKX007. Rumors suggest that she is out of production today, but easy attainability on your favorite jungle river site may suggest otherwise.

Wearing Experience:

The SKX007 is a purpose built diving watch. While it may be considered an entry level piece by some, make no mistake for its quality. Like Ian Fleming meant for 007 to use his steel sport watch, this one as well in a time of need could be used as a knuckle duster. The SKX007 is a tank, and has engaged table corners and doorknobs with fury and kept going.

She comes in at 43.5mm wide with the crown at 4 for comfort, and 22mm at the lugs but she looks bigger than she wears. Her crown at 4 really slims her down and she wears wonderfully comfortably on a nato or marine national strap which are my preferred ways. Some will always say to buy a watch on the bracelet but I say pass on the bracelet and go for the rubber this time. The end links are of the stamped variety and have a habit of blowing out for me on occasional strap changes. That said the jingle of the jubilee bracelet is particularly charming. But let's be honest, she’s a strap monster, you’ll have her on something new every day. The SKX007 also has 200 meters of water resistance so shes good for the pool to that holiday scuba trip.

Verdict:

The SKX model, of any variety is almost a right of passage for the watch collector. Comes in at a sweet price point of around $300, and I can’t imagine not having one in my collection. Only downside may be 22mm wide straps strays from the usual 20mm norm, but not a huge issue.

Pros:

-Extremely moddable

-True day to day beater

- Classic Design

Cons:

-Weight

- Super jingly bracelet

-22mm Straps