My last post was nearly three months ago. Life is unchanging day by day, but, in hindsight, everything looks different. Winter has arrived, but it seems climate change is working wonders for the planet, as I remember it being a lot more cold and miserable last year, save for the odd cold front and weird few days of winter rainfall we had recently (for those uninitiated, my part of South Africa is supposed to be dry as a bone this time of year.) I’m still getting my rocks off, geologically speaking, and enjoying a newfound passion for all things natural, as opposed to working with numbers like I did last year. I’m also not half-bad at it either. Rocks rock.
Watches, yes. I had a draft post about an Omega Constellation that I had got for a bargain. I traded that watch for a Tudor Prince Oysterdate and some cash without even posting it. I have since sold the Tudor. I didn’t even get the time to write a post about it. I really loved both of those watches, the Tudor especially. I mean, I really loved that Tudor. It was everything my dream watch (Rolex Air-King 14010) is, bar an engine-turned bezel. I kept it for about two weeks, maybe three. I held on to the Omega for just about a month. I was evidently in a rush to sell them…
After particularly strong sales at the tail-end of 2025, I had a chunk of money to put away into a savings/investment account. I almost bought a watch with that money, a white dial Longines VHP, and the rarer 36mm “ladies” version, but I didn’t. That money, plus the sales of the Omega, Tudor, and my beloved SYM NHX 125, were enough to get me a new set of wheels, two wheels, to be exact, in the shape of a 2011 BMW R1200R Classic. Less than 27 000 kilos on the clock from new (that’s less than 17 000 miles) with added factory options like active stability control, electronic suspension adjustment and the comfort seat, which really helps with the haemorrhoids from sitting on hard wooden lecture hall benches.
A monster in the body of an angel. The force of a hammer with the precision of a scalpel.
I had to sell a lot of watches to get the bike, and I need to sell some more to cover a new set of tyres and a service. If I can change the oil of a watch, surely I can do it for an air-cooled BMW. The boxer engine design makes maintenance a breeze, but there’s a part of me who wants to take it to a BMW dealer just to play around with one of their courtesy bikes for the day. Anyway, back to watches again. Sales have been steady. I don’t like to milk my customers, so I rather price a little low to sell fast. I’m also needing to reinvest some profit into my business, because, previously, all proceeds went to the big black thing parked next to my car. I have a laundry list like you won’t believe.
A microscope, bigger ultrasonic cleaner, automatic cleaning machine, mainspring winders, heaps of microfibre cloths; I could go on. My eyes work fine, but I think it’ll make long-term work more sustainable if I have a microscope and get used to using it, the same is true for the ultrasonic cleaner and automatic cleaning machine; my current ultrasonic cleaner and hand-crank cleaning machine work great, but I could get more done by loading parts into a basket and just turning a dial once instead of breaking a sweat turning a handle ad nauseum. I also need oils… I’ve used Moebius 8000 for everything since I started. I honestly think my experience from a few years of tinkering means I’m as capable with one oil as some folks are with twenty, but the time has come for me to move on. 8000 is very thick for a watch. I can compensate for this by making sure my oiling is very very light on fast-moving wheels, but I can certainly get a few degrees of amplitude extra with the good stuff.
The last bit of news I have is rather grim, but I feel the need to mention it. A well-known strap maker and watch tinkerer, David Hamilton, went missing on 29 July. About two days ago, August 14, authorities found that he had passed away. I didn’t know David very well, I only interacted with him once or twice, and he actually gave me a watch. He was a very kind and generous guy, well known in the South African watch sphere. It seems like many people are passing away these days (it’s always been that way, I just know more people now and see it through the eyes of an adult) and it’s something I’m finding strange to process. I feel like I don’t grieve for my loss, but the loss of those hurt more. It was just the same when my cousin passed almost a year ago. I think the gap between Heaven and Earth is so vast sometimes I forget that people have left us. I almost called out to my cousin when visiting my aunt, before I realised that that silhouette was just another guest.
I don’t want to end this on a sad note, so I’ll tell a story of a historical debt I repaid. In 2023, after experiencing the kindness and encouragement of my watchmaker, I vowed to pay that deed forward: I would find a boy in high-school who wanted to be a watchmaker, just like me. I would stay with him through bent hairsprings and broken balance staffs. I found a guy like that. I know it sounds strange, because I’m only a year and change older than my soon-to-be protege, but it feels like watchmaking experience added a few years to my life. He’s got a set of screwdrivers, a donor movement or two, and a nice looking Bentley automatic in the post from me, plus the promise of future video calls for lessons.
Why should my torch shine bright if I refuse to spread its flame? Because when mine eventually dies out, who will be there to light the way?
The Buler Grand Prix that David Hamilton gifted me.
Here’s me next to some pseudo-tachylite in an abandoned quarry in Parys. The Vredefort Dome is an incredible site of geological significance, being one of the oldest and largest meteorite impact craters on the planet. You can read up on it if you’d like to cure boredom for a few hours.
That same abandoned quarry. The above photo was taken at the bottom right of the quarry. They mined granite here for just about a hundred years, but the black pseudo-tachylite inclusions grew larger and larger with depth and the market just didn’t like it. They packed up in 1997 and it sits abandoned on private land to this day, only shown off on tours.
The Escapement Room 