Chris: New Year, let’s get something going.
What was your most worn watch of 2024. What watch would you like to wear more of in 2025, and why?
Ryan: I did the math in 2023. I’m not going to bother doing it again for 2024. We tend to have recency bias with things like this, but I know my Camy Club-Star lost the top spot to my Omega Seamaster. I bought the Seamaster in late March, which disqualifies it from recency bias in my eyes. Quartz practicality is not lost on me.
I think I’ve reached the phase in collecting where I begin to stop caring. Many days I don’t feel like winding a watch. The issue stems from having so many watches, I may wind all of my watches, but by the time I actually feel like putting a specificbone on, it will need a wind. The style and class of the Omega count in its favour too. It’s perfect for just about all of my outfits and it’s sized perfectly.
My Camy Club-Star will always be the most special watch to me. I think I just got tired of wearing it super often, seeing as I’ve owned it for over a year now. It’s still the only watch I choose for any special events or times when I feel like I need a bit of support. It reminds me of good times.
What I’m most surprised about is me not wearing my Nivada Antarctic Spider nearly as much as I thought. It’s nice, but telling the time isn’t always easy. It’s on a lovely bracelet, but I still seem hesitant to wear it. I would have thought that the watch that proved to myself (and a few others) that watchmaking/collecting was for me would see some more love, but clearly my habits prove otherwise. Maybe it’s too sporty.
The watch I want to wear more this year is (surprise surprise) my Camy Club-Star. It’s a sponge for memories and I want nothing more than to live my best life with it so that, one day, it’s next owner will have something truly special.
Sherwin: Most worn for 2024 is my 1990 Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Classique. I bought it in January and used it whenever possible, on all types of occasions. Worn it with a suit, smart casual, very underdressed casual, and even in my home uniform (which is a pair of shorts and nothing else–not even a tank top).
I bought the Reverso as a sort of fuck-you-to-the-world. I suffered some unbelievable setbacks in all aspects of my life. My career was down the toilet, I was ready to lose my job, which I did eventually in March. My financial health was flatlining. I was incredibly depressed and anxious. I was diagnosed with autism at age 48. My significant other left me because she couldn’t deal with my life. The job in Germany I thought I had didn’t happen. It was a scorched earth type of situation for me. You heard about people buying a Rolex to commemorate a career development or personal milestone like the birth of a child, I bought the at-this-moment most expensive watch in my collection to commemorate the lowest point in my life. Call it retail therapy if you like. I call it remembrance of the bad times. Almost a memento mori. No matter how great life is at the moment, it can always go bad. Sounds bleak and depressing. But, in a weird way, it comforts me everytime I wear the Reverso. Today is not as bad as when I got this, I would think looking at that watch on my wrist. So it’s been my go-to everytime I badly need a pick-me-up. Sadness transmogrified into bliss.
What I want to wear more of in 2025 is my Jaeger-LeCoultre P478 from the 40s. I love that watch and it deserves to be worn more. The less I wear the Reverso means the less I need cheering-up. At least that’s how I want 2025 to be. The P478 just fits everything. I still want a one-watch collection. I want minimalism in my life.
Chris: 2024 was a year of quarters.
The first quarter I wore a Seiko 5 Actus SS from the Gasworks Donkey Sanctuary. “Baby Blue”. It was surprising as I don’t do Seiko, but for some reason this little one just hit the right notes. I put a two-tone metal bracelet on it, and wore it to the office everyday until around April, and the dreaded 1WC. It was nice to be proven wrong, and I was sliding around the precipice of vintage King and Grand Seikos. I was even looking at sourcing 90s Grand Seiko quartz watches, because the simplicity and execution was appealing, but I managed to rein that in and just enjoy the watch.
Q2 was all about the Avia Polar Star I found which was mimicking the SeaQ. Avia is a weird one, because the later offerings were just catalogue watches riffing off more mainstream watches, but they are very collectible. I managed a decent innings this time in the challenge, before I forgot to complete a cypher challenge, which may or may not have been a double-bluff. 1WC is often an exercise in stubbornness, and as a two-time champion I am known to never back down, so it was a huge upset to see me drop out of the final 5. I bought the Matterhorn in a sulk and proceeded to batter that off-grid in Finland for a couple of weeks.
Q3 was about the SUF Helsinki Paroni. It was a milestone birthday gift, acquired at source, and was constantly in rotation with my father’s Verity Chronograph Suisse from 1972 which was the other surprise gift I received. One is a very lucky boy…
Q4 is marked by apathy… a few homages and many days without a watch; I started a new job and just lost interest in just about everything watch-related. I closed a few accounts down, and just took stock. I was wearing an Ocean Grave Yachtmaster homage for a couple of weeks, which felt like it reflected my soul with its jet black bezel and dial, and weathered skull logo. I also wore the rather weird Doidge for a few weeks as well, which I will be posting about imminently. It is a watch that is both odd and slightly troubling, but for £70 it’s quite nice to get a 9039-powered hi-beat field watch with an interesting aesthetic. I also grabbed a couple of Titanium bastards from Vaymont/TC-9, which I didn’t need but kept me going when things were bleak.
2025, and having spent Christmas and New Years (and most of the break) on my sickbed, as the hours counted down I received a Timex Atlantis 100 Forest Service direct from Japan (now sold out), just in time for the fireworks. Two weeks into the New Year, I haven’t taken it off. I’ve even bought a compass attachment so I can make it slightly more useful, but that is yet to arrive. For some reason, I seem to enjoy the simplicity, accuracy, and the low-profile. It’s comfy too, surprisingly. I think I would like a JDM 8-Lap Ironman, but I am not too fussed. I am drawn to the metal ones, but might wait for a restock at the end of January and see. I am also quite intrigued by the Praesidus Rec Spec, thanks to Instagram, and I have sourced one in Italy. Maybe I could treat myself for my birthday? This year is about purging the collection… I have too many, and whilst I have a few with some emotional attachments, I have so many more that really don’t get any wrist time, and as such, they need to be re-homed. If anyone wants dibs, call me.
Greg: My most worn for 2024 is my Wyler Lifeguard Dynawind from about 1970. I got it about this time last year. Because it has a white/silver sunburst dial it goes with any contrasting strap. Of course, it came on a silver-colored expandable band with no contrast. It also came with misaligned hands and was a very stiff wind. It spent several weeks with my watch maker before it was ready to properly debut.
Wyler is one of my lost causes in watches. They were nearly as common as Timex in the American market of my early youth. Then poof! Gone. Because Binda has their claws into them and Binda has no idea how to run a watch company, every Wyler revival has been short-lived and frustrating. A 1950’s or 1960’s Wyler was every bit the watch that a Tissot would have been, and perhaps a bit more rugged. They were never stylish or elegant. They were watches for men that wanted to know the time at a glance. They were not for enthusiasts or collectors, if such things existed 60 years ago.
I often wear this when I get home after work and on weekends. It is usually the second watch of the day. Why not? That keeps the automatic movement going. I take it on trips, usually with another strap, so that it can be anything that I want it to be.
It commemorates nothing. It symbolizes nothing. It is just a watch.
I am about to start a new job. Like for Chris, watches may take a back seat to life for a while. I did something about a month ago that I rarely do, I bought a non-running watch. In the 1940’s Bulova made radial dial watches with several names, usually in a rose gold configuration. I bought a 1947 Senator. This watch is in the queue to go to the watch maker. It will likely be very frequently worn by mid-year (assuming it can be sorted and he can straighten out the minute hand). I have been conscious of my growing preference for non-round watches. I wear a suit and tie most workdays, and I find that a slightly more formal watch is what is required. I also can dress them down when needed. All men are peacocks, even old men.
I may buy a “new job” watch. We will see. It may be more of a “finally paid down that credit card” watch.
Todd: My most worn watch of 2024 was my Seiko Tuna with 117 times in wrist. I love it. It’s just the right balance of “serious” & fun with the ISO rating, the aftermarket BOR bracelet and the penguins on the dial.
I bought *checks notes* yikes! SIX watches during the year (seven if you count the Pagani Design I returned for a loose hour marker) and only one came close to de-throning the Tuna as the champ; the Falcon. If we go by wear rate & availability, the Falcon won that pretty handily with over 50% of the wrist time since acquiring it in late July. The Falcon is a great watch for me, with the classic sizing that allows the strap to be a larger part of the wearing & time telling experience, the honeycomb Explorer homage dial & the broad arrow hand set. I really think those two are untouchable in my collection right now and will likely get the lion’s share of duty into 2025, even with 2 watches on deck for the year. One of the incoming is a dress watch, which I don’t have much need of with 4 already that can pull off legit dress watch, but it has a moonphase & a quartz movement so it will be fairly hassle free. It has a wait for it, potential delivery in June.
The other, I’m not exactly sure it’s going to happen, but I’ve talked about it so long, it kind of has to. It’s intended to be a bronze Flieger with a coin-edge bezel bright green dial with white markings & hands with a jet wings seconds hand. However, every time I try to find the case, I can never find one that looks like I am picturing in my head. But, of the two potentially entering my collection this year, the Flieger has the greatest chance of winning top marks at the end of the year.
Greg: Todd is so cool that snow won’t melt on him.
Todd: Haha, I wish…
Sherwin: Welcome Todd! These people are mad. I’m the most sane one.
Chris: I have given up trying to hang onto any of my sanity. Slightly related: I also want a Panerai. A proper Panerai. I would love something akin to the “Egiziano”, but one can dream. Call for a priest.
Todd: 60mm? That convinced me that you’re not all there Chris!
I have a 56mm microbrand that my then-girlfriend/now-wife bought me in 2011 and that’s HUGE on my 7.5″/19cm wrist. These are both TWO watches wide!
Side note: Not being familiar with the Egiziano, I searched ‘Panerai Egiziano’ and the sponsored results were a QuarantaQuattro followed by one “retailer” with 9 different versions of fake Luminors. $33k to $370. “Rose gold” case for under $400 and only 50m WR?
Greg:
“The end of all wanting,
Is all that I’m wanting”
-Purple Mountains
Chris: You don’t buy a vintage Panerai for WR, the originals were only rated for around 30m or so. They were technically waterproof, but rating was not massively high.
The GPF-2/56 was developed for the Egyptian Navy in the ‘50s, whose divers the Gruppo Gamma had trained previously. The “Egiziano” had an Angelus 240 movement and an 8-day power reserve. Only 50 are known to have been made, and only a handful have made it to auction/market.
It is an absolute beast; just before New Years I was in Selfridges with my niblings and was admiring many of the watches (sadly, no Corum anymore). They asked if I had unlimited cash what would I buy, and my immediate answer is always the “Egiziano”. They were thoroughly unimpressed.
Todd: Then that is true Grail territory right there.
My unlimited money Grail is a boring ‘buy it from retail’ Omega Moonshine Speedy.
Chris: I hate the term grail, but there are very few watches that I would allow to fall into such a category, and even then, be if interest to me as an individual. The “Egiziano” is one such watch, heading up a very, very small list. They are also unobtainable, be it via provenance and/or cost (which would be one and the same in terms of barrier) which is the very definition of a grail, to me. Even with unlimited money, it would be incredibly hard for me to get one. I, therefore, admire from afar.
I may, one day, get a later Panerai re-edition… but even then, it would be difficult to justify cost.
As an aside, I do struggle to find what might be the Panerai for me. I admire both baseline models, and my schizophrenic taste sees me switch between classic and modern at the drop of a hat. I think I want a “lefty”, but that is pretty much the only thing I am really set on. It may be that I get someone to weld some studs on the base of the dial of my faux vintage Panerai NH38 homage and switch it around, because I think that one nails the aesthetic I crave, and that might be the end of it. The Baltany Cali green I own is also pretty bang on, but i know it’s not the same.
Perhaps I need a new watch crush… maybe I’ll drop for the 60s 30mm Speedking I have been eyeing up for a loooong while.
Sherwin: My vintage pusher offered me a 1962 Speedking (30mm, Ref 6430). I just couldn’t after feeling burned by the 1959 Oysterdate that I got from her a few months earlier. It felt like buying another Rolex for the sake of buying another Rolex.
Chris: I would have – what was she offering? (If I am allowed to ask, sorry, that might be rude?)
The thing I like about the Speedking is that they discontinued them in the 1970s, and so they are full-blown vintage, and often overlooked. The car/racing heritage also appeals… you can tell that I am biased.
Sherwin: (sends the link). If you name drop me you can probably get a considerable discount. Probably. Not sure what the duty looks like for an item flying from the Philippines though.
Chris: Tempting…
In true Chris fashion, I swapped watches already. I put a new battery and strap on my Breitling/DPW Navitimer Pluton “Diavoli Rossi” over the weekend whilst confined to bed rest having put my back out (again). Have not worn it for at least a couple of years.
Todd: Such an interesting watch that “Diavoli Rossi”.
Doing a little digging into my spreadsheet for a post, It appears that I’ve become somewhat of a 1-chord collector and I’m not sure if it’s that I’m losing the joy of some of my collection or if I just wear the more “expensive” of my watches in an effort to justify the cost? Since the Falcon arrived, my 4 most worn watches have hogged over 90% of my wrist time and they are the 4 with the highest prices. My “funnest” watches get a day’s wrist time now & then, and some I thought I liked & it turns out they just never get out of the box.
Chris: It happens – you even convince yourself that the next watch will scratch the itch, or get worn, and yet… they don’t. As you allude to, some never resurface from the box.
I’ve done this already with the Timex, and I will no doubt do it with the Diavoli. I wore my Bernex Barracuda just before Christmas, and convinced myself it would be safe in the purge, and yet I’ve not worn it since and would probably sell it at a push. I’ve not worn my ATP for over a year. I have no real feelings towards most of the collection anymore.
There is no logic to this.
Todd: So like Kylo Ren, it appears that I know what I need to do, but do I possess the conviction to do so?
The Escapement Room 