The main reason that I didn't make it to the Iron Heart party this year was because I got myself a dog. This is Disco, he's a Peruvian Inca Orchid.
He's currently about four months old, and probably about the size of a Whippet. Like his owner, he's also completely bald.
The Aurora Australis was visible from outside my house this evening.
I've still got the Mountain Parka, and occasionally wear it. Here it is being modelled with Flash, who I was walking at the Greyhound Adoption Programme on Saturday.
@neph93 I'm glad to hear that the men in white coats have come for you Norwegian health care system is taking care of you.
Incidentally, ADHD means that you're neurodivergent, though I suspect that you'll prefer the appellation that a friend came up with: Neurodeviant.
(But he read way too much Nemesis the Warlock at an impressionable age...)
As someone whose brain is also not running the standard wiring, I would agree that knowing the underlying causes will help in managing it, and also finding coping strategies.
It's Watches and Wonders this week, which is the biggest show in the horological calendar. Naturally, there are new pieces, and here are a few of them.
Rolex haven't done much with their sports line this year, except to slap a black and grey bezel on the GMT.
Tudor have launched a Black Bay 58 GMT, which is a smaller and slimmer package than their existing GMT. It's also Master Chronometer certified, which I think is Rolex's way of saying, "Our cheap product meets Omega's fancy standard."
Patek has launched a very pretty perpetual calendar with a salmon dial.
Zenith has revived the Defy Diver with a very orange bezel.
Grand Seiko has a new Birch Bark with an equally new 5 Hz hand wound movement.
And, lastly, the LUC XPS Qualitie Fleurier is very, very pretty.
This is Topper, formerly known as Mystify Kick. He's a retired racing dog, you can find his career stats online.
I've got him for a month to help with socialisation and learning manners, but I think that he's learning bad habits instead. He does have excellent taste in blankets, though.
Michael Cerny in Germany makes Newsboy Caps out of deerskin from Gerberei Kolesch, who also supply the hides for the Big Buck shirts. I haven't handled one, but they look lovely.
I was in Melbourne a week ago, and I saw the Vacheron Constantin Historiques 222 in steel. It's a very pretty watch. I still haven't managed to get a look at the Patek Cubitus, because you need to jump through hoops for the local dealer to show it to you, but it was about 15% cheaper and a far nicer piece of design.
The only shortcoming was that it's a boutique only piece, and the one in Melbourne already had three hundred expressions of interest.
Across the road, I saw a Montblanc 1858 "The Unveiled Secret" Minerva Monopusher Chronograph. The movement has been flipped, so that its back becomes the watch's face. The case back is solid, with an engraving of the old Minerva workshop on it. Again, it's a lovely piece.
There was also a Zenith Defy Tourbillon, which is based around a variant of the El Primero 5 Hz movement.
On a more accessible front, the Longines boutique had the new, carbon Ultra-Chron. The bezel is fixed, unlike the original steel version, which got the desk divers in Hodinkee's comments section ranting!
Zenith is offering a platinum bracelet for the GFJ, if you've got more money than the average Doctor Evil meme references.
@mclaincausey it's probably my favourite Alpine Eagle, even without a bracelet, but the open worked model is a close second.
@louisbosco I don't know how much clout Ben Clymer has these days, but that Patek seems to be on a lot of best of lists. Mere mortals like us will probably not get one.
Dante from Pixar's Coco and my dog Disco bear a striking resemblance.
Dante is a Xoloitzcuintli whilst Disco is a Peruvian Hairless or Peruvian Inca Orchid.
I have a thing for the Omega Aqua Terra Ultra Light, and this year Chopard and Ulysee Nardin have replaced conceptually similar pieces.
Chopard has put the Alpine Eagle on a diet, replacing its movement's plates with ceramicised titanium, much like Omega did with the Ultra Light, to create the Alpine Eagle 41 SL Cadence 8HF.
I've been a fan of Chopard's 8HF series, from the original LUC model onwards, and I really like the look of this watch. I wish they had the option of a bracelet, which is an opinion that I share with the Hodinkee journalist who covered it, although that would probably blunt its mission statement.
Ulysee Nardin has skipped the Ozempic and gone straight onto weight loss surgery for the Diver [AIR], which weighs 52 g on its strap. They have removed a large part of the movement's backplate, then built the watch out of titanium and recycled IMOCA offshore racing boats. Again, Hodinkee has more.
@louisbosco said in Watches - another OCD problem:
damn the Calatrava with the salmon dial looks brilliant!!
If you can stomach Ben Clymer's overwrought prose, Hodinkee has just posted a hands-on with the 6196P, which he calls "the best Calatrava in a generation."
@ARNC the GFJ dial looks too fussy, with too many different materials and textures. Zenith could have simplified it, and it would have looked better.
@ARNC my favourite Patek release is the Calatrava 6196P. It's a simple hand wound watch in platinum. I'd get one over the Cubitus, if I had a spare CHF 40K lying around. (The Cubitus is CHF 35K, so slightly cheaper, and far less lovely.)
Zenith announced the GFJ which is similar (a platinum case, hand wound movement), but a slightly larger case. It's actually more expensive, at CHF 49K.
What's really interesting about it is Zenith have resurrected a vintage chronometer movement, the Calibre 135, which they've given a few contemporary twists. It's got a 72-hour power reserve, up from 40 hours, and it's regulated to -2 to +2 sec per day, which is the same as Rolex's Superlative Chronometer rating.
@RobeOfTheMagi I don't think that buyers will be cross shopping the Zenith and the Patek either!
The trouble that I have with the Land-Dweller is the price. It's $16K (US) or $24K (Australian). That's about the same as a Glashütte Original SeaQ Panorama Date in steel and gold, or an entry level Fifty Fathoms.
Like @JDelage, I don't think that it's an ugly watch. It feels a bit derivative. The Tissot PRX looks like a version of the Vacheron Constantin 222, and the Land-Dweller seems to be a copy of these with Rolex garnishes.
I'm curious where the movement will turn up next. A titanium Explorer fitted with it would be lovely.
Meanwhile, Grand Seiko laughs in Rolex's face when it comes to accuracy. The new Spring Drive UFA is accurate to within 20 seconds per year, and it's $6K cheaper at around $10K.
More at Hodinkee.
Rolex has just announced the Land-Dweller, which has been pretty heavily leaked over the last few days.
It's an integrated bracelet watch, which they haven't done for some years, but the big news is the movement. It has a new silicon natural escarpment, which they've dubbed the Dynapulse, it runs at 5 Hz, rather than 4 Hz, and is thinner than the existing movements.
Rolex claims it's more accurate, but it's still certified to their -2/+2 seconds per day Superlative Chronometer standard. I thought that they might have chased Omega's 0/+2 seconds claim for the Spirate system.
