It has been kind of quiet around here recently. Normally when everyone else falls quiet I start yammering on about this or that watch that only I care about. That hasn’t happened in a while. It is not like I have been too busy to think deep watch thoughts. It is just that I haven’t. I am becoming a smooth brained collector. Pity that. Thoughts below, such as they are, no theme, nothing profound:
I used February to celebrate non-round dial month (NRDM). February is the shortest month. About 40% of my watches are rectangular cases of some sort. I just like the look. I expected to come away with some insight or another. Nope. Just that I like the look of tank watches. I like that they fit snug on the wrist. I even like that the farther away from 12, 3, 6, and 9 that you get the harder it is to know the precise minute. Time is an estimation, as it should be. I know that a man with an eight-inch wrist has a hard time with a 22mm case. More for me. No one joined me this year. It was a lonely time.
I have always been an agnostic on “homage” watches. To be “agnostic” is to be a fence sitter, a weathervane, waiting for an opinion to truly form. As I get older these in-between positions are harder to maintain. (I recently had a friend pitch me on becoming a Hospitalier, it did not sound as crazy as it would have to 20-year-old me.) I have gotten off of the fence: I don’t like them. Not for me. Sure, for you it’s ok, I wont judge. (Yes, I will.) I don’t want a San Martin that looks like a Railmaster or an Invicta designed to look like a Sub at a distance. Why a place holder, a simulacrum? Just to know if you would like an expensive watch? (Hint: you will.) There are so many original, or semi-original watches out there. No need to “imposter syndrome” yourself with the Two Buck Chuck Imitation Turtle. I won’t troll in comments, but just know that I am somewhere with my nose in the air, all smug-like.
(Often imitated, never duplicated…)
The closest thing that I have to a homage is my Nivada Grenchen Super Antarctic. It is the most versatile and reliable watch that I own. I went hiking in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park over the Easter weekend. We ran headlong into a black bear on a trail. Let’s say that my wife and daughter were startled, not to say panicked. My Super Antarctic took it in stride. The word “Antarctic” means “no bears” (compared to the Arctic that has bears). My watch was there to ward off my furry friend. We did walk back to the car at a brisk pace, or as brisk as my wife and I could muster.
(This was from the car. We didn’t get a selfie with the trail bear. It just didn’t seem like the thing to do.)
The Super Antarctic had to pull double duty because my vintage Timex Mercury just stopped. No warning, no tough winding, nothing. Just kaput. I am truly over trying to keep old pin pallets running. They will all be gone by the end of the month: gifted, donated, or sold. Just gone. I have had new Timex and old Timex. Maybe for me, the answer is no Timex.
While in Tennessee I missed the opportunity to connect with a collector who was just 20 or so miles away as the crow flies. I need to make more effort to personally connect with the watch community. I have found them to be nice, interesting people. And generous. I was recently gifted two vintage watches, nice watches, by someone downsizing. I have done that too: I would rather give them away than sell them. But I am always surprised by the willingness to give something to me. In this atomized world of impersonal emails and AI slop, it is the connection of mutual interests that is the most beneficial part of the hobby of collecting man-jewelry. There are good folks out there. I aspire to be one.
The microbrand March Madness Tournament was missed this year on WatchCrunch. I understand better than most the time commitment required for an endeavor such as that. Maybe it is time for a One Watch Challenge. Maybe starting June 1. A low key, informal affair, just among friends, that sort of thing…
Peace!
The Escapement Room 