My Most-Worn Watches of 2025

First of all, Happy New Year! I hope 2026 has started smoothly for you. 

2025 seemed to have flown by. A few ups and downs throughout the year. The sudden loss of our beloved cat Bowie (previous post) and a major health-related incident (or rather, accident) occurring in mid-September, but more about that later. 

On to the topic at hand. My watch wearing tally varied a little since last year. Although, the top two spots were filled by watches that have been in the top three for the last few years. In a couple of years, I'll sit down and tally up the results of these yearly lists, in order to see if there are any pieces that haven't gotten any wear on the wrist at all. 

As it stands, I have a Seiko SARB033 model that hasn't been worn for over three years and is currently listed on eBay. It's a great watch, without a doubt. It's only flaw in my view is that it sports a 38.5mm diameter, which I find a little too large on my wrist, for the type of watch that it is. It's a dressy watch and I tend to prefer this type of watch in a smaller size. If it were two millimetres smaller, I'd keep it. Alas.

And so, let me begin. 

1 - Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight 

I knew this one would claim a spot near the top, but I was surprised to see it reach Number One. Worn throughout 56 days of 2025, this favourite has proven to be a reliable and accurate wristwatch (I hate the term 'timepiece'!). I bought it on Boxing Day back in 2020 and it will likely be due for servicing sometime in the next couple of years but for now, it's purring along nicely. I don't want to repeat what I've written in previous yearly watch wrap-ups, so there's not really much I can add here about this watch. 

So, I'll briefly mention the pen that's visible in the frame. And then I got the idea to include a fountain pen in every photo, so I'll quickly mention each of them, just for the hell of it. 

 

My wife and I got back from a trip to Ho Chi Minh City earlier this week. This was a much-needed break for us. We had been working flat-out (Aussie slang, meaning 'a LOT') since early 2024 and we had gotten fairly worn out. While there, I spent some time looking for something to purchase to celebrate my 60th Birthday last week. I didn't want to get another watch. As regular readers will know, I have more than a few watches in my stable. So instead, I thought about another fountain pen (got a few of those too) and decided to go for a Mont Blanc. I've avoided them over the years because of the hype that surrounds the brand, but now I figured Well, what the hell. Get something to commemorate this milestone birthday. Might as well go for a heavy-hitter.

 

I had no luck finding a 146 model with a Medium nib, so I put this purchase on hold until I got back to Melbourne. Couple of days after getting back from the trip, I headed over to the Mont Blanc boutique at a major shopping centre and, lo and behold, they didn't have a medium nib 146 in stock either. 

However, the saleslady suggested I try the fine and medium nibs on their 'tester' pens to see if I'd like the fine nib. I was a little dubious, as I find that a fine nib tends to show the defects in my handwriting a little more obviously than a medium nib.  

Anyway, I tried the fine nib and then compared it to their medium. A barely noticeable difference between the two. Surprisingly, the Mont Blanc fine nib seemed to write closer to a medium nib in some of my other pens. And so, I bought it. Done!

 

Okay, on to watch Number 2.

2 - Rolex Explorer 

Again, another watch that I suspected would land near the top. This was last year's most-worn watch and it racked up 53 days on the wrist this year. This is an understated watch, one that provides time only, but it does it very, very well. This type of watch is often referred to as a Field Watch, but I prefer to think of it as an Expedition Watch. 

A quick explanation regarding the difference between a Field watch and an Expedition watch, IMHO;

Most Field Watches tend to have all 12 numerals on the dial. They were designated Field watches due to being issued to the military. Hamilton is perhaps the most well known current producer of Field watches these days, thanks to their Khaki range. Here's an example, picture courtesy of 

hypebeast.com/2023/8/hamilton-khaki-field-full-titanium-automatic-watches-38mm-42mm-release-info;

Easy to read dial, with a 24-hour count track, clearly visible hands, and a seconds-hand to denote that the watch is running, and for those Alright, boys, synchronise your watches moments that you sometimes see in old war movies.

 

Now, this type of watch is also very similar to what you call Pilot's watches, which feature a virtually identical dial and hands layout. But that is a whole other post. Preferably by somebody else. 

 

Regarding Expedition watches, well my theory - and it is pretty much just that - is that they should only have 4 numerals on the dial, usually at the cardinal points (12, 3, 6 and 9), and this is where the Rolex Explorer comes in, representing the most famous watch with this configuration. Other notable Expedition watches include the Nivada Antarctic, which was used by members of Admiral Richard E. Byrd's crew during their Operation Deep Freeze expedition in 1955/56;

picture courtesy of https://www.hodinkee.com/Introducing The Rebirth Of Nivada Grenchen With New Versions Of The Chronomaster And Antarctic 

 

In recent years, I've come to like the sparse and no-nonsense layout of a plain Expedition watch. Sure, they often don't have a date window, but this is not a detraction in my view. It's a good memory aid to check the date in the morning and then remember it for the rest of the day. 

As this year's statistics show, this type of watch was a favourite of mine in 2025.

 

The pen - A Officine Leonardo Furore Sun Yellow, with Medium nib. This is a relatively new brand which produces some stunning pens. This one creates a smooth line on the page and makes for some effortless writing. You'll see a couple of others from this brand in this post. I thought the colours of the pens would brighten up the photos. 

Also pictured is a Matchbox 1963 Mercedes-Benz 230SL. If I ever set up a small bar in the lounge room - maybe in the next house - I'll put a few of these on display, to man the place up a little. Not so much a man-cave. Maybe more of a man-corner.

3 - Omega Seamaster Professional 300m

Perhaps the watch that I've owned for the longest time...actually, it IS the watch that I've owned for the longest time. The original skeleton hand-set began to get difficult to read in the dark, so I swapped them out for a sword hand-set. I think I already wrote about this in my 2024 Most-Worn thread, so I won't go into it all again. While nowhere near the regularity of wear that the first two watches on this list achieved, this watch spent 32 days of 2025 on the wrist. 

As for the pen, it's another Leonardo. This one is a Momento Zero in Seaweed Green, with an Elastic Fine nib. I bought this pen off eBay for a good price but it was fitted with an Extra Fine nib, which I knew I wasn't going to like. Sure enough, once I received it and filled it with ink, it produced a fragile handwriting which showed up all of the gaps in the loops of my lower-case letter a's, g's, y's and d's. So, I visited a website called Galen Leather and got a Fine nib for it. Most of my pens are either Medium or Bold nibbed, so I figured a Fine nib wouldn't hurt too much. Fitting the nib took some trial and error* (and ink-stained fingers) and I'm not 100% certain that I've done it absolutely correctly, as the ink-flow tends to take some vigorous shaking to get the pen going. But once it starts, it writes very nicely. 

*Leonardo pens switched nib manufacturers sometime in 2021. They once used nibs made by Bock and now use nibs made by JoWo. Both companies are German and the nib quality is great on both. The main difference lies in the plastic nib feed section, as their design is slightly different. This nib change-over required some hit-and-miss on my part before the ink flow was suitable. 

4 - Baltic Hermétique Tourer

Here's one that has become a favourite since I got it in 2024. Thirty-one days clipped to my wrist and it proved to be quite reliable. Baltic make some nice bang-for-buck watches, with some nice variety. The bead-of-rice bracelet makes for a very comfortable fit and offers some breathability on warm days. And the watch's 37mm diameter works nicely on my small wrist. I've gotten very selective in recent years with regard to what kinds of watches and sizes I prefer. For this type of watch (yes, it's an Expedition piece, in my view), thirty-five to thirty-seven millimetres seem to be the sweet spot for me.

As for the pen, we have another Leonardo Momento Zero, this one in a nice marbled blue barrel and cap, with a Bold nib. This pen was part of a swap that I did with my old boss and I think he got the better end of the deal. When I got this pen, it had a 1.1 Italic nib on it. It wrote okay, but had a habit of tearing into the paper when I wrote. Either the nib was too sharp or I couldn't master the art of holding the pen correctly. In the end, I replaced this annoying nib with a Bold one, which writes a nice thick line. Now it's a great pen. 

 5 - Omega Railmaster Co-Axial (36.2mm) 

Twenty-one days on the wrist. I think this watch may be well overdue for servicing and I'll get around to it this year or next, unless it stops running beforehand. Again, another Expedition watch and an absolute fave of mine. If I had to whittle the collection down to five or six watches, this one would be a stayer, without a doubt. This 2nd Generation Railmaster has become increasingly collectible in this 36.2mm diameter, as they weren't produced in this size for the same length of time as their larger 39mm and 42.2mm siblings. As such, this model currently sells for silly pricing on the pre-owned market.

Once again, a watch with simplicity of layout, making for excellent legibility. I think this watch has appeared on every one of my yearly lists, which tells you something. 

 

The pen is a Pelikan M450 Vermeil, with a medium nib. The cap and barrel end-cap are 925 Sterling Silver with a rose gold plating. As such, it does tend to get a purple tarnish over it from time to time. I've been told that regular use of the pen is one way to prevent this tarnishing from happening.  Otherwise, I just run some Brasso over it with a cotton cloth to bring it back to its original lustre. 

The images in the photo are still from a Netflix show called Love, Death + Robots, a series of self-contained episodes set in alternate futures and universes, showcasing some stunning animation. Two episodes by Alberto Mielgo are absolutely gorgeous to look at.  One is titled Jibaro and it concerns a 17th century soldier who is deaf and is therefore immune to the siren song of a water nymph who lures entire armies of men to their deaths in a large lake in a forest. The other episode is called The Witness and it centres on an exotic dancer (stripper) who witnesses a murder and is soon on the run from the killer. The animation is fantastic across almost all episodes of this two-year series but these two were standouts for me. 

 

6 - Longines Spirit (37mm)

 

Another smaller-sized watch. And it sits nicely on my wrist. Longines pitches this range along the Pilot's watch line, as the brand uses historic aviators such as Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, and  Howard Hughes in the marketing for this Spirit line of watches, which has done nicely for the brand in recent years. 

Similar to the Railmaster above, this watch spent 21 days on my wrist and it performed flawlessly. Great Watch. 

The pen is a vintage Sheaffer Imperial (I think), possible 1960s or more likely from the 1970s. Writes nicely and has a nice heft to it.  

 

6 - Seiko Prospex Solar Diver's 200m  

I got some regular wear out of this watch throughout last year. Racked up 19 days with it, and it was the watch that I took on my holiday to Ho Chi Minh City, as I wanted something with quartz reliability (and solar powered was a bonus) and easily replaced if damaged or lost. The watch served me well. I tried to ensure that the first photo of each day was one of the watch, showing the date. That way, it would be easier to recall what we did on any given day. Although, we didn't really take too many photos this trip. As far as I was concerned, this was a holiday from everything, including worrying about whether or not I'd taken photos of any particular thing. 

Water resistant enough to handle a hotel pool or shower, legible dial, quartz accuracy, adjustable bracelet clasp, to allow for swelling of the wrist on a hot day (and they were ALL hot days!) and every blast of sunlight would charge the solar cell in the watch. 

Basically, this watch represented the best of what a set-and-forget wristwatch can do.  

There was a time in my watch collecting journey when I would have scoffed at a watch like this. 

Fool that I was.  

 

The pen is a Montegrappa Privilege with Medium Nib. When I visited relatives in Italy ten years ago, they surprised me on the last day with this pen, which I thought was far too generous of them. Cap and body are Sterling Silver and it has a nice weight to it. And it writes nicely too. 

But even if it didn't, would I get rid of it?

 

And that's 2025's watches wrapped up. 

 

Other watch-related news.

 

1) 

Oh yeah, regarding the health-related incident that I mentioned in the opening paragraph. I fell off a ladder and fractured my spine back in September. No way to sugar-coat it, folks. Might as well just come out and say it. 

We have been doing some painting, in an effort to get the house looking tidier so that we can put it up for sale and move into something a little more manageable. This house has garden surrounding it on all four sides and the maintenance takes some doing. Anyway, my wife was painting the kitchen/dining area walls and I was tackling the exposed beams along the ceiling. The house dates back to 1974 and, for some ungodly reason, the original owners painted these beams with a mission brown stain. This meant that, rather than being a coat of paint that could be sanded off and re-painted in any other colour, the stain had actually soaked into the timber so that any attempt at removal of this colour would require sanding away quite a bit of timber. Screw that. That would be way too much work and mess. 

Instead, my wife consulted with the guys at the paint section of our local hardware store and they provided us with a can of white paint which has a slight grey running through it when wet and then dries to a nice subway-tile white. Two coats of this stuff should do it. 

So, I got to work. I rigged up a plank of pine between two ladders to create a short 'bridge' which would be high enough to reach the uppermost section of the beams at their apex, approximately 10-and-a-half feet high once I was on the highest point of the plank and stood to full height.

One ladder was a modern aluminium one (yes, that's how we spell aluminum in Australia. And we pronounce it as 'allooo-minny-um'). The other ladder was a vintage wooden one that I had revarnished years ago. 

Anyway, it all seemed to be working well enough. It did involve quite a bit of getting up and down this ladder bridge but I was basically done. Until I noticed a small patch that I'd missed. 

 

Right in the top corner, only about a finger's-width unpainted. I placed the two ladders up close to the spot and climbed up the wooden one. A few seconds later, I'm on all fours on the plank, about six feet off the ground and getting ready to stand up so that I can give this tiny patch of the beam a lick of paint. I noticed that this set-up suddenly felt a little rickety to me.

Last thing I recall seeing was the plank twisting quickly to the side.

Next thing I knew, I was on the kitchen floor, lying on my left side and struggling to catch a breath as I tried to yell out Oww, owww, owww! 

My back and ribs were killing me as I tried to breathe in. My wife and kids rushed in. I said my back hurt like hell, as she told the kids to clear the ladder debris while she fetched a blanket and came back to place it carefully under my head. 

Just try to get your breathing under control, Tee, she said. I took short breaths as the pain continued. She asked if I could wiggle my toes. Yes, I could. 

Where does it hurt?, she asked. 

My spine and back right-hand side were in agony.   

My breathing slowly got under control and she wiped my forehead with a cold flannel towel. 

Some time passed before I was able to gingerly get up onto all fours and they helped me up and over to the couch. 

She asked if I wanted her to call an ambulance. I don't know, I replied. 

An hour or so later, she took me to the nearby hospital. It was around 1:00pm. We went in through the Emergency door and were soon seen to by one of the staff. Very shortly afterwards, I was on a hospital bed in the Emergency Department. Over the course of the next eight or nine hours, I was given a CAT Scan, blood test, blood pressure check, blood sample taken, X-rays and told to lie still. The Doctor poked and prodded my back while I tried not to scream.

A nurse would appear every so often to ask me what day it was. Just to ensure my brain was still working as it should. Did it ever? Or maybe she was having trouble remembering what day it was?

The CAT scan and X-ray revealed a fracture of the T6 vertebra in  my upper back. I was wearing my Hamilton Khaki Field Auto when I arrived at the hospital, but soon took it off and handed it to my wife. Right now, I didn't really need to be wearing a watch;
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turned out to be a compression fracture of the vertebra. No broken ribs, but they hurt like hell on the right-hand side of my back. Had they been bruised? Every breath seemed a struggle. They gave me some over-the-counter painkillers, which took the edge off. The CAT scan also showed some cysts on my liver, to be dealt with later on. Man, what the hell!

More about that below. 

 

Not really much more they could do. They gave me some more painkillers before giving me the all-clear and basically told me to avoid any heavy lifting, twisting at the waist, or strenuous activity for the next few weeks. 

Cool. I sent a text to my boss later that night to say that I would not be at work the following week. 

I moved carefully over the next seven days. And on the following Friday night, at about 8:00pm, I sneezed and the pain started all over again. Aww, hell! 

Back to hospital a couple of hours later, when it seemed like it wouldn't subside.  

I apologised to the Doctor who saw me this time, saying I felt like an idiot, but she reassured me with the old better-safe-than-sorry line. She prodded the back of my ribs near the spine and I flinched.

Yeah, that's it!, I said through gritted teeth. 

Okay, it looks like you may have bruised the intercostal muscles that are attached to the ribs as they join up to the spine. These muscles expand when you breath. What I want you to do is take ten deep breaths every hour and cough ten times every hour. Try it now for me.

I tried taking a deep breath. No fun. 

Okay, now try coughing.  

I coughed. Once. That was even less fun. 

She gave me a referral for further X-rays, as a precautionary measure, and I went and had them done the next morning.

Here's the remains of the broken timber ladder. The Hamilton Khaki is on a different strap;

 

From what I can tell, it looked like one of the ladder's legs split at its base and down I went. It all happened so fast. 

 

Visited my GP a few days later for the results of the latest X-rays. I was hoping to see some actual X-rays but all he had was the report. He explained a little bit about compression fractures. No further damage done to my back, which was good. He wrote me out a referral for an Ultra-sound, to have the cysts checked out. I had the ultra-sound done later the following week and they turned out to be benign. Just a part of aging, as told to me by my GP at the follow up appointment a week later. He told me to ramp up my Vitamin D intake by getting out in the sun a little more. 

 

My back still felt tight and a little achy in the first two months after the fall. 

Thankfully, this has faded since then, and I pretty much feel normal now. Although, I haven't tried any heavy lifting since. 

So that's that disaster averted. It could all have been much worse. 

 

2)

I finally got around to getting my Rolex Submariner serviced. I bought the watch back in 2015 and I sent it off get worked on back in October 2024. I was told the repair would take around 5 to 6 weeks. 

It took 20 weeks and 3 days. 

Came back working smoothly, though.

They had it long enough. 

3)

My wife has a Sinn 556A. I bought it for her back in 2014 and she basically wore the hell out of it until sometime in 2021. 

This 556A ticked all the boxes regarding the type of watch she prefers;

1- Large-ish (38.5mm diameter case)

2 - Clearly readable numbers on the dial.

3 - Date

4 - Water-resistant (to 200 metres)

It is a well-built and reliable watch. And it had a certain cachét for her because it was German-made rather than Swiss. This gave it a little more point of difference. The only thing that began to bug her about it was the size of the date window, placed at the 4:30 position of the dial. It was small, and her eyesight (or mine, for that matter) isn't what it used to be. 

So, since I was working for the company at the time, I got her an Oris ProPilot Big Date, with blue dial; 

As indicated by its name, the Oris ProPilot is considered a Pilot's watch and it was a successful seller for the brand.

While she liked the overall aesthetic of the Sinn watch, the difficulty in reading the date became a deal-breaker for her. So, I got her the Oris and she's worn it ever since. It's a 40mm diameter, but she doesn't mind it. It sits well on her wrist.

The Sinn 556A was soon packed away in her bedside cabinet. 

Of course, me being me, every time I saw one of these 556A's online, I'd start thinking of getting my own. About a month ago, she saw me looking at one on my iPad. 

I have one of those, she said.

Yes, I'm thinking of getting one myself, I replied.

Don't spend your money. Have mine.

No, it's yours. I'll get my own.

Just take mine. I don't wear it anymore. The date's too small. Don't waste your money.   

We went back-and-forth for another minute. She was right, of course, but I didn't want to take her watch. 

Don't be silly. Take it.  

Regardless of my interest in wristwatches, she was right. It made sense. 

So, I added a few extra links to the bracelet and began wearing it. It has every scuff and scratch that she put on it. 
Which makes it look even more awesome. 

She wore it the way a wristwatch is meant to be worn. It's supposed to reflect the life and adventures - big or small - of the person wearing it. It's meant to scar like its owner. 

 

And that, folks, is that. No major shake-ups, but an interesting exercise for me nonetheless. We'll see how I go this year.

 

In the meantime, take care and thanks for reading! 

 

P.S. - And it looks like Blogger is now highlighting names and phrases and providing links to them. 

Hmmm.  

Goodbye to Another Wonderful Cat | Bowie. 2017 - 2025

Once again, our house feels different. 

We wake up in the morning, and he's not sitting outside our bedroom door. We come home from work, and he's not curled up asleep on a corner of the couch. We prepare dinner, and he doesn't walk in meowing as the plates are placed on the table.

April 30th. It was a Wednesday evening. I got home from work and my wife and daughter said they'd go get us some burgers for dinner. My son was out working, so it would just be the three of us. 

Off they went to a local burger joint (which ended up stuffing up their order) while I sat at the kitchen table taking some lenses off some cameras and swapping them around to see which lens would fit which camera. 

Ten minutes or so later the doorbell rang. It was a neighbour from a few houses down. He had a torch in his hand, as it was beginning to get dark.

"Hi, teeritz, it's ******, from number 4, Do you have a cat?"

I said that we did have a cat, and he explained that his wife had told him that a cat was lying on the nature strip outside their house. 

I headed out there with him and as I got closer to his house, I could see the familiar shape and colour of our cat, Bowie. 

"Oh, no, no, no", I thought to myself as I got closer. 

"Ahh, damn, Bo", I said as I crouched down to feel his chest and back. His eyes were slightly open, pupils fully dilated. He still felt warm, but didn't stir.

He was gone. 

"Oh, dammit", I said as I stood up, wondering what to do next. I thanked my neighbour and he asked if I needed any help. I told him I'd be okay and that I'd just go get a towel and be right back. He waited a minute or so for me to come back. He asked again if I needed any help. I thanked him and told him I'd be alright, as I crouched down and wrapped Bowie up in the towel. Burmese cats are known to be heavy, often described as 'bricks wrapped in silk'. He felt heavier right now as I bid my neighbour a goodnight and headed back to my house a few doors away. 

It was now around six-thirty pm on this chilly Autumn evening. My wife and daughter had been gone about 20 minutes. They should be back soon, I thought to myself as I sat down on the weight bench in our carport and looked down at this little cat in my lap, wondering how I would break the news to them. I stroked his cheek as my eyes welled up. 

"Oh, Bowie", I said as I continued patting him. I wondered if he had been hit by a car, but there were no marks or signs of trauma to his body. The tears kept coming. About ten minutes later, I got a message on my phone from my wife; "Sorry, an idiot took our order". 

That explained the fact that it was now around 30 minutes since they left. It was about twenty minutes later when I saw my wife's car turn into our street. It pulled into the driveway and as I sat on the bench, I looked up at my wife and daughter and shook my head. 

 

"What happened?", my daughter asked as she got out of the car. I explained what had occurred, but I had trouble getting it out. She said we have to take him to the vet, we have to take him to the vet. She was now understandably distraught.

I told her I'd been sitting with him now for over 30 minutes and I didn't think a vet would do any good. I took a slow deep breath and retold what had happened, my voice a little shaky. My wife was still trying to comprehend it. 

 

The above was written about a week after it occurred. I stopped writing because it was all still too raw.  I'll continue now (July 27th) and I'll see how long I last.

 

She had gotten home from work at around 5:45pm and my daughter had brought Bowie over to greet her. He seemed fine and his usual self, she told me. They then discussed dinner plans and I arrived home shortly afterwards.

We didn't see him around anywhere. He must've done his usual thing of heading out for a while before we had dinner. So, nothing unusual so far. My wife and daughter headed out to a local burger joint while I messed around with camera lenses before the doorbell rang and I got the awful news from my neighbour. 

 

Bowie was still wrapped in the towel and we got him into the car and made the short drive to a nearby animal hospital.  The girl at reception listened to our outline of events and called out a vet, who took Bo into another room. We waited about 20 minutes before the vet came out to tell us that there was nothing more that could be done. She said there was some fluid on his lungs and his front claws looked a little shredded. No evidence of impact, but it could have been a car. She based this on the condition of his claws. My wife said later that his claws were already like that and she had been meaning to trim them. We took him home and laid him out on his favourite cushion and draped his little blanket over him. 

All that was left now was to tell our son about it once he got home from work. There was no point in calling him while he was working. We didn't want to upset him. That would come later. 

Needless to say, the ladies of the household were very upset. 

 

Here he is, a few days after we first got him in 2017. He was very wary of us all and spent his first week hunkered down under our daughter's bed. Over the course of a few days, she noticed her socks were going missing. This cat had slowly hoarded a bunch of them and had arranged them in a semi-circle under her bed, like sand-bags. He'd built himself a fort. Took him quite some time to warm up to us all. My son was working nights back then, so he spent the most time with this little guy throughout the day, slowly coaxing him out from under the bed and playing with him during the day. Of course, we had Dussy, our other cat, who was older and she never really got comfortable with the idea of another cat in the house. That's putting it mildly. She hated him and would hiss whenever he came near. She did mellow a little in the last few years of her time with us. Regular readers may recall that she got ill very quickly in September 2023 and we had her put to sleep before her illness got worse.

 

Our son got home from work at around 10:30 that night and we broke the news to him. He was upset, but I think he wanted to hide it. That's okay. My wife and I did remind him that it was important to grieve in his own way and not to keep it bottled up. We told him it was unfair what had happened to Bo but it was important to deal with it. 

The next evening, my wife looked up a few pet cremation services online and found one that had gotten very good reviews. They were located on the other side of town. We made the necessary arrangements and provided a photo of Bowie - the one at the top of this post - and they were great to deal with, I have to say.  

My son brought Bowie into his room on the night that he died and placed him on the chair at his desk. This was a spot that Bo liked to sleep in during the day. 

It was a thoughtful gesture. Our son said that he didn't want Bowie left alone in the lounge room overnight. 

The next evening, we had taken Bo off the couch and placed him on his cushion. The pet cremation driver would be arriving soon. As I tilted Bo's head a little, some blood ran from his nostril. Once again, a reminder that he was truly gone. I dabbed at it with a tissue. 

My wife placed some leaves from a tree next to his head on the cushion. He liked sitting under that tree in Summer, she reminded me. 

In the coming days, I'd spend a few minutes here and there Googling info about how cats can die so suddenly, since I felt that the vet's conclusions were a little vague. 

Can Burmese cats die suddenly?, I Googled.
Yes, it turns out that they can. This breed is susceptible to heart issues. It would seem that he may have had a cardiac arrest. This didn't make me feel any better, but it did provide a possible answer to why he went so young. 

 

(August 3rd)

My wife was miserable in the days after he died. She said she just felt so sad about it, stating that he died so close to home, on a cold evening, without being with his people. 

 

We did, however, remind each other that we had all given him a nice life. 

Friday nights, my wife and I would make pizzas. The kids would be at work, so it was usually just the two of us. Bowie would appear in the dining area while we ate, and he would almost always end up with a piece of pizza crust to munch on, his little nose crinkling as he chewed.

Saturday nights were an especial treat for him. Again, the kids would be working and I would cook fish for my wife and I. 

Despite my cooking a smaller piece of salmon or barramundi for my wife, at her request, she would often not finish the entire piece, and guess who would be waiting for the leftovers?

This would later be followed by his normal 8:30-ish feed of meat. So, he was getting some surf & turf action going on Saturday nights. Living like a prince, he was. 

When I broke the news to my colleagues at work, I got some sympathetic responses from those who also own cats. One of them said; "I don't know which would be worse- a pet getting sick and dying or one that dies suddenly."

I didn't have a response at the time, but I've now had time to think about it, having experienced both outcomes. Dussy went downhill pretty quickly. She had a seizure on a Wednesday night and we saw a rapid downhill change in her health. She had trouble walking after that. The vet also said that her sight had gone. Her condition would worsen quickly. We had her put to rest the following Tuesday. It was very difficult to make the decision but it gave us time to come to terms with it. Not a lot of time, mind you, but enough for us to rally 'round and support each other while we made her as comfortable as we could in the time she had left. 

We would grieve afterwards. 

Whereas with Bowie, he was here at 6:00pm on a Wednesday evening and gone half an hour later. 

So, which would be worse, Lily? 

Losing a pet suddenly is worse. 

It's now just over three months since Bowie died. Till now, we weren't ready to look at getting another cat. However, chez Teeritz is a cat household, so it's only a matter of time. 

Since Bowie's passing, I've often thought that I could see one of our cats from the corner of my eye as I sat in the lounge room or dining area. When I've turned to look, I saw that it was a cardboard box or a shopping bag. My wife has said the same thing. So have the kids. The presence of our departed felines is still felt in this house. 

 

We visited the pet crematorium a week after they came to take Bowie away. We had the option of having his ashes posted back to us, but we didn't even entertain that idea, despite the fact that the crematorium was located way over on the other side of town. 

There was something cold and detached about Bo being sent in the mail. 

My wife and I drove out there on the Saturday morning and collected our little guy.  

We stopped off at a cafe on the way home. The little canister containing his ashes sat on the table between us. 

We soon finished our coffees and headed back to the car as the sun shone and the day warmed up. 

It was time to bring our beloved cat home. 

 

Despite the pain that one can go through when losing a pet, the joy and amusement that they provide far outweigh the grief that you experience once they're gone.  

And that's what I hold on to. 

Bowie lived half as long as our other beloved cat Dussy (still miss her), but he made a big impact on us all, and he had more of an effect on me than I thought he would. 

He will be sorely missed and always remembered in our household and we are grateful for the time that we had with him.

 

Thanks for reading.  

 

My Most-Worn Watches of 2024

Another year has flown by. I hope 2024 has been kind to you. My year was okay, with a few ups and downs, but nothing major either way.

And so, 2024's most-worn wristwatches. I looked at last year's post and I'm not sure if I'll be able to top it with regard to how much info I'll put into this post, the amount of photos I take, etc, but we'll see how we go.

So...

 

1) Rolex Explorer, Ref.: 124270 (2023)

 

Having spent 69 days of last year clipped to my wrist, I knew it would be high up on the list but I wasn't expecting it to take top spot. 

This watch has a long history within the Rolex brand and some watch nerds consider it a bit of a sleeper these days, as demand for other sports models, such as the Submariner and GMT Master, tend to dominate social media posts and dealer wait lists. For me, though, the beauty of this watch lies in its understated aesthetic and low-key vibe. 

Glossy black dial, with bold hour markers and numerals, perfect (for me) 36mm case diameter, and held together by the classic Rolex Oyster bracelet.

This bracelet design has been much copied by various brands since the late 1950s, but to the trained eye, there's no mistaking the Rolex design. It looks as good as the actual watch itself, and whenever some other brand copies the Oyster bracelet a little too closely, it always looks like it doesn't belong on the watch. 

And, tenuous as it may seem, there's the Bond Connection. I'm sure I've stated this before, but here I go again, as a refresher. Ian Fleming wrote a Rolex watch onto OO7's wrist in his second book, Live And Let Die, in 1954. He described it as a "Rolex Oyster Perpetual, with large phosphorous numerals, on an expanding metal bracelet."

My theory is that this here was the watch, the Reference 6150, from the early 1950s;

 

Reason being, as Fleming was such a stickler for details and brand names, if Bond's watch had had the word 'EXPLORER' printed on the dial, Fleming would have mentioned it. This model doesn't have the Explorer name on the dial.

Again, it's just a theory of mine. Internet watch and Bond bloggers like to go on about Bond having worn the Explorer model in the novels, as Fleming himself was known to have owned one;

 

However,  as I say, if Bond's watch had had the Explorer name across the dial, I think Fleming would have stated this. 

As 1950s Britain was still adjusting to life in the aftermath of World War II, Fleming had created a globe-trotting secret agent who had a taste for the finer things, and something as simple as a wristwatch with the word 'EXPLORER' emblazoned across the dial would have added a further tinge of adventure and exoticism to the world of OO7.

Fleming went to the trouble of describing Bond's own personal car, a 20 year-old 3-and-a-half-litre Bentley with souped-up engine, and wrote of  OO7's breakfast preference for Cooper's Vintage Oxford Marmalade and eggs that were hard-boiled for 3 minutes and 20 seconds (made using "speckled brown eggs from French Marans hens", for crying out loud).

Sure, my own little wristwatch theory is not much to go on, but this is the kind of speculating that keeps Bond/Watch nerds like myself awake at night. 

Regardless, whatever Bond wore, the current model Rolex Explorer is a formidable timepiece (hated phrase, that) and is one that fully deserves its iconic status. It's robust, understated, and very, very accurate. Mine runs consistently at - 2 seconds per day, which is perhaps the most accurate watch I've ever owned. Sure, I'd prefer it if my watches gained time rather than lost, but it's a very small quibble, and I can have it adjusted when the time comes to have the watch serviced in about five or six years. 

 

Bond fans are forever.

 

2) Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight, Ref,: 79030N (2020)

My 1982 model Rolex Submariner 5513 (archive pic below)...

...is currently being serviced by Rolex and I should have it back sometime in the next few weeks. As such, it didn't spend much time on my wrist last year. Once I get it back, I'll see how I feel about it. At the moment, I'm in a 50/50 state of mind regarding whether to keep it or not. 

Either way, I've had the Tudor BB58 for just over four years and, IMHO, it represents the kind of dive watch that Rolex used to make. 

As such, this Tudor wound up taking 2nd place to the Explorer, clocking up 59 days on my wrist throughout 2024. Sure, it doesn't possess the iconic status of the Submariner, but that's not the reason why I buy watches to begin with, even though I do have a few classic watches in the collection. In my view, the Black Bay 58 was an instant classic the day it was first released in 2018 and it continues to be a strong seller for the Tudor brand. Detractors would argue that the Black Bay range is Tudor's one-trick-pony, but the brand has other product families that provide some nice and dressy alternatives to the sportier Black Bay series. It's just that the Black Bay models managed to hit the ground running upon their first release back in 2012 and they have never looked back. 

I'm wearing my Black Bay 58 as I write this portion of this post and this watch still impresses me as much now - if not more so -  as it did the day I got it. There is a lot to like about the BB58. The simplicity of the dial layout, which makes for easy legibility. The perfectly sized 39mm diameter of the case, which works on various wrist sizes. The accuracy of the movement and its 70 hour power reserve.

Again the detractors have their list of gripes about this watch and I suppose I can go through what I think about about it all while I'm here. From what I've read on various watch forums over the years, here are some objections to this watch;

 

1) The design borrows/steals too heavily from Rolex.

       Well, Rolex still makes the Submariner and it is a beautifully made wristwatch. I handle them on an almost daily basis when they come in for servicing and I always take a few seconds longer than required to admire them. However, on my skinny little 6.5 inch wrist, the current model Sub just looks too large on me. The case lugs are wider than they used to be and it makes the entire watch dominate the top of my wrist. The Tudor BB58 sits nicer on me. 

Naysayers will then go on about the dial design and layout, stating that it's a poor blend of a Rolex Submariner dial that clashes with Tudor Submariner* snowflake hands. This don't bother me in the slightest. I fully accept that this is a watch whose design delves into Tudor's archives while also giving a nod to its parent company Rolex. Besides, I like the round hour markers, as they are a reminder of Tudor dive models of the past.

*The Tudor Submariner was produced throughout the late 1950s till the mid-1990s. The 1970s model that began using the snowflake hand-set design - in an effort to distinguish it a little more from the same-era Rolex Submariner's classic 'Mercedes' hour-hand design - looked like this;

 

Picture lifted from; https://www.analogshift.com | Tudor Submariner MN

 

This watch was issued to divers of the French Navy, officially referred to as the Marine Nationale, but also known as La Royale. These watches had case-back engravings to designate them as official navy-issue items. This particular model has a crisp and bold 'M.N.79' engraved across the case-back to signify its issue to French navy divers, and to show how bad-ass it is. 

And, that snowflake hour hand holds a lot more lume than a Mercedes hour hand - as seen on the Explorer up top. Which would be a consideration for a naval diver who might be operating in pitch-black or low-light conditions. 

You'll notice the difference between the hour markers of this watch and the Black Bay 58. The square design (again, more lume) mimics the boxy snowflake. 

So, does Tudor borrow (or steal) from Rolex? Nope, not as far as I'm concerned. Tudor had its own lineage back in those days.

When Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf decided to create a new watch brand with Rolex parts, designs and durability, his intention was to make a watch for the working man. Something more affordable than a Rolex, but with a similar durability and reliability. And so, the Tudor watch brand was born in 1946, using cases, dials, crowns, hands, etc made by Rolex, but fitted with outsourced, rather than in-house, movements. This is what kept prices lower for a Tudor watch.

While Tudor may have existed in Rolex's shadow for a long time, it has distanced itself a little in the last decade, with it's own range of bestsellers. 

 

2) There's too much gilt accenting on the watch.

       Gilt accents are the little touches of gold that you see on the dial, hands, and bezel insert. On this watch, I like it, as it again harks back to vintage models from the late 1950s. 

 

3) The lume on the dial and hands is fauxtina.

       Fauxtina is a made-up word. When white hands and markers age on a watch, they begin to go off-white, then pale cream, then a darker shade of cream (sometimes pumpkin orange, eeeww!), then greenish, then brown. This is referred to as patina. Much like if a yellow painted fence begins to get paler due to constant UV exposure.

When a watch brand uses off-white, cream, or sandy-beige coloured lume for the hands and markers, it is often disparagingly referred to on watch forums as fauxtina. Fake patina. 

Me? I don't mind it if it's off-white or cream. I get steamed if brands use a sandy shade of beige, as it gives me the impression that the lume is older than it really is. Makes the whole watch look decrepit, in my view. To each their own.

The cream-coloured lume complements the gilt accents of the watch. 

 

4) The bezel insert is aluminium. Makes the watch look cheap. Why couldn't they use ceramic?

       Are you kidding? I'm GLAD it's aluminium. Sure, it might scratch easier than ceramic (no noticeable scratches on any of my watches with aluminium bezels thus far), but I've seen enough watches with ceramic bezel inserts which show little chips (or worse, cracks) here and there. Nahh, give me aluminium any day of the week. 

Ceramic doesn't belong on a watch case. Ceramic, as I've said often enough, is for teacups and toilets.

And, my personal favourite/s;

5) Tudors are for people who can't afford a Rolex/Tudor is a poor man's Rolex.

       Yeah, and? What's your point, bud? This one bugs me because it comes from a place of snobbery and nastiness. There's enough of that in every corner of existence, so if we can leave it out of a discussion about wristwatches, that would be great.

I can look at any modern Rolex watch and see the DNA of Rolexes past, I can see the history behind it, the work that's gone into the production of the watch, and how it has achieved its legendary place in the world of wristwatches. I wonder if these people can. 

Or did they buy it because buying a Rolex watch is what you're meant to do when you've 'made it'?

An exclusivity brag? An Instagram flex?

A Tudor watch is wonderfully well made and extremely reliable. 

And it's not trying to compete with Rolex. 

Never was. 

I learned a long time ago not to worry so much about what other people think. As such, I have a varied collection of watches that cover a wide range of brands and models. The type of person who might gush over my 1982 Submariner would not even look twice at my Baltic Hermétic Tourer. I've spoken to my fair share of watch people over the years who have cultivated a type of 'level up' mentality, whereby they keep aiming for more expensive watches or brands as their collecting journey progresses, to the point where some of them end up with a bunch of fifteen to twenty thousand dollar pieces. Or more. Good for them, I say, but my head doesn't work the same way. I simply like wristwatches, so I can get just as enthused about a two hundred dollar Seiko as I would about a fifteen thousand dollar Rolex. 

3) Omega Seamaster Professional 300m, Ref,:2531,80.00 (1999)

       This one took me by surprise. I wore it over 49 days of 2024 and, while I suspected it might get some more time on the wrist once I'd made the hand conversion, I was still surprised to see this watch take the third spot on this list. The Seamaster Professional had a stellar run. First produced in 1993, it ended up on Pierce Brosnan's wrist in Goldeneye in 1995 (in it's quartz iteration) and soon became a juggernaut model for the Omega brand.

I wore this watch virtually every day for the fist six years that I had it, before my collection began to get larger, and it served me faithfully. 

As the years rolled by, and I got older, I began to have trouble reading the time on this watch in low-light or total darkness. Those skeleton hands don't carry much lume on them. The watch began to be worn less and less. This was a bit of a shame because it fit me very well and its case profile was quite slim, unlike a lot of dive watches nowadays that are quite thick.

So, I began to wonder if there was something that I could do about the hands.

 

I had read on forums about some folks who had been thinking along the same lines and had found a solution.

The 1960s Seamaster 300 model had a wonderful sword-shaped hand-set;

 

With a little fiddling (not to be attempted by the faint-of-heart), these sword hands could be fitted to the Seamaster Professional 300m. 

As luck would have it, the watchmaker that I work with told me that he just might have a set of these hands at home, and he'd bring them in. 

He brought them in the next day and, lo and behold, the hour hand slotted onto the central pipe without any issues but the minute hand would require some delicate broaching to make it fit. 

Basically, the hole at the end of the minute hand would need to be reamed out slightly to make it a fraction larger, so that it could fit securely onto the pipe. 

Each pipe is narrower and slightly shorter than the one inside it, a bit like an extendable transistor radio antenna. Hour hand slots onto the widest pipe, minute hand goes onto the next narrowest one, and the seconds hand goes onto the smallest. Each of these pipes rotate at different speeds, with the seconds one being the fastest, for obvious reasons. It rotates 360 degrees once every minute (60 seconds). Now, I'm no watchmaker, but I think that's how it all works. 

Anyway, the sword hands were fitted to the watch and this was the end result;

 

Yep, that worked out nicely. To the extent that I began to wear the watch a lot more than I had in a long time. 

I have given some thought to getting an after-market bracelet for the watch, just to further 'de-Bond' it a little. The classic brickwork bracelet that this watch is known for seems to have dated a little in my view. Although, who knows? I might just put the original bracelet back on. Not sure.

T'is a fickle business, this watch collecting. 

The watch tends to look good and feel quite comfortable on a nylon NATO strap, though, so I might just leave it on this or maybe switch it out to a rubber strap for the Summer months. 

Either way, I'm very happy with this conversion. Collectors will scoff, but what the hell. 

This simple conversion has rescued this classic Omega from spending more time in the watch box than it really should. Since it's perhaps the longest-owned watch that I have, it deserves to be worn. And I still have the original hands set aside, should I ever wish to reverse the process. All good. 

 

 4) Baltic Hermétique Tourer (2024)

 

I got this watch in late August and by year's end, I was surprised to find that it had made it into the Top Six. 

It racked up 33 days on the wrist in a very short time.

At a wonderful 37mm in diameter, it makes for an extremely wearable watch. Baltic is a brand that popped up on Kickstarter in 2016 and hasn't looked back since, having released over half a dozen different models of varying designs with great success since then.

I opted for the brown dial, which you could refer to as chocolate or tobacco, given the rich hue of it. I don't have any watches in brown, so I figured I'd break up the collection a little. The dealer I went to (Time + Tide, Melbourne, Australia) only had this model in stock on a brown Tropic rubber strap. Fine by me, for the time being. I asked them to place an order for the metal bracelet in the meantime. 

In saying that, the rubber strap is super-comfortable on the wrist, with a nice pliability to it. I've purchased some rubber straps of this type that were about ten bucks and were very uncomfortable to wear, leaving a deep imprint on the wrist after a day's wear. Something to avoid if possible. 

 

It's a great little watch. The dial has a couple of layers to it, with the extreme outer edge of the dial - along the minute track - having a sunken layer to the rest of the dial. 

As for the dial itself, it's a stunner despite its minimalism. The hour marker batons and four Arabic numerals at the cardinal points are made of SuperLuminova. As a result, aside from glowing nicely in the dark, these markers and numbers look like they were piped onto the dial, like lettering on a chocolate birthday cake. The syringe-shaped hands have a generous fill of lume as well. This watch looks as good in the dark as it does in daylight. 

The bracelet arrived soon enough and onto the watch it went. This Baltic has 150 metres of water-resistance, so it should handle anything that I may throw at it. 

 

A word on water-resistance 

                                      I do tend to go on and on about it, I know. And I always go for watches with more water-resistance (w/r) than I'll ever need. The most that my watches would be subjected to is a day at the beach or pool. I'm of the opinion that 100m will handle pretty much anything that a mere mortal will put their wristwatch through. Now, I've sometimes read on watch forums of people who have swum laps in a pool with their 50m w/r Omega Speedmaster Professionals (the 'Moonwatch' that...you know...went to the moon) on their wrist with no issues whatsoever. 

I have also read of somebody who got caught in a storm wearing his Moonwatch with jeans and a t-shirt and water/moisture got into the watch. 

Here's the thing; if you have the watch pressure-tested once a year before the Summer season, you should be okay. 'Should' being the operative word here. 

I know myself well enough to know that I'm not disciplined enough to pressure-test my watches once a year. 

And, some brands will say you can swim with a 50m w/r watch, while others will say it'll just handle accidental splashes or a rinse of your hands. So, to play it safe, I won't put a watch underwater unless it's 100m w/r or more.  Your methods may vary, and good for you. 

One slight gripe about this Baltic Hermétique. The winding crown sits flush against the case, hence the "hermétique' designation in the name of the watch. This makes winding the watch a bit of a challenge, but I knew this when I signed on. No biggie.

Movado used to make some fantastic pocket/purse watches in the 1920s-1960s that were called Ermeto. These were designed to be totally sealed cases and they had a crown that would sit flat against the case when not being wound or set. 

 

The two leather-clad halves of the watch could be slid together - like theatre curtains - to 'shut' the watch closed. Notice the thin crown sitting flush against the case.

Wikipedia | Photo Attribution ; By Jafd88 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

Anyway, the Baltic Hermétique Tourer's crown. Yes, it's super thin and hard to grasp, but the way around this is to give the watch a couple of turns with your fingers, difficult if your fingers are the size of hot dog franks. Then, give the watch a couple of shakes. The way I do this is to hold the by its bracelet so the that the watch protrudes from my hand and then I give it a flick, the way you might when you cast out a fishing rod. You should hear the rotor inside the movement whirring as it spins. I do this a couple of times, then I set the watch and go about my day. Pulling the crown out to set the time offers a little resistance, possible due to the rubber gaskets in the crown tube that are designed to make the watch 150m water-resistant. Like I say, no biggie. 

 

Here it is on the bracelet, a nice bead-of-rice design (due to the shape of the central links which mimic grains of rice) that makes for a very comfy fit on the wrist. The smaller the links on a watch bracelet, the more it will follow the curvature of the wrist.

Notice how the crown practically disappears into the case side. Nifty, and it gives the watch a nice old-school 1950s vibe. 

The finish on the case is wonderful,  with its blend of brushed and polished surfaces. This is indeed a watch that punches above its weight. Internally, the watch is powered by a Japanese Miyota 9039 Calibre, made by Citizen, and it keeps pretty good time. The use of this well-regarded movement helps to keep the price down below a thousand AUD, when purchased on the rubber strap. It also means that any watchmaker who knows what he's doing would be able to service it without any dramas.

All in all, it's been a great watch so far. If you were to dip a toe in mechanical watch waters, this brand would be a good place to start.

 

 5) Seiko Prospex Solar Diver's 200m, Ref.:SNE585P (2023)

 

Another surprise. I hadn't realised that I'd worn this one so much last year. Twenty-five days of 2024 saw it narrowly taking 5th place.

 

This watch is a slightly smaller diver than I'm used to but this was exactly what I was looking for. Measuring 38mm in diameter, it is a barely noticeable fraction smaller than the Tudor BB58 and it sits nicely on the wrist. 

I was after something solar-powered. I'd briefly looked at the Seiko Speedtimer Chronograph, but wasn't thrilled with the larger thickness, and I was preferring a dive watch anyway, as I thought it might make a good watch for travel. Besides, the Speedtimer was going to cost more than I was wanting to spend. 

This Solar Diver ticked more boxes for me. And it was on sale, too! 

I opted for the blue dial, to add a little difference to my stable of black-dialled dive watches. The bracelet was the standard pin and tube configuration and it felt a fragile to me, so I soon got an Uncle Straps Oyster-style bracelet for it. 

The dial of the watch is a solar panel and if you leave the watch in good sunlight for a couple of hours, it should give you about ten MONTHS running time before the watch stops. It has a battery in it, which should last about ten years, from what I've read. Nice.
 

This has quickly become my travel watch. I've only taken it overseas twice, but it has served me well. The set-and-forget nature of a battery-powered watch is a definite plus for me when traveling, as I have enough to concern myself with. Currency exchange rates, phone chargers, language barriers, etc, can occupy enough space in my head when I travel, so if I can remove a minor distraction or task, then I'm all for it. 

And, should this watch be heavily damaged or, worse yet, stolen, I won't shed too many a tear over it, as it can be replaced. 

 

I've switched it over to rubber straps and NATO bands from time to time but it seems to end up back on bracelet before too long. Fine by me. 

It also makes a good watch to wear on those (unfortunately too rare) occasions when I do a workout. Knocking this watch against dumbells, etc poses no problems at all, and it may look good with a few scuffs and scratches anyway.

 

Seiko is a favourite brand of mine, and it's because the brand makes watches like this. I did read a snippet from an interview with the Seiko CEO and he stated that the brand cannot be all things to all people, indicating that Seiko may not always make inexpensive watches such as these. Remember that this is a company that makes a $100 mechanical watch as well as the venerable Grand Seiko brand, which starts at three or four thousand AUD. 

For now, though, Seiko still produces a dependable solar-powered watch for not a lot of money. 

Such as this one.

 6) Omega Seamaster Railmaster Co-Axial, Ref.:2504.52.00 (2009)

 

I sold this watch to a customer back in 2009 and he wanted to sell it a few years later, to help fund his impending wedding, and he offered me first dibs on it. It was impossible to say 'no', since I had wanted one for a while but by 2012, this 36mm model - along with the rest of the Railmaster range - had been discontinued. 

I wore it a lot in the years after I got it but I'd always found its crappy clasp set-up to be its Achilles Heel. It's a flimsy arrangement, held together by a tiny screw. I wrote about this in last year's Most-Worn Watches post, if you'd like more info.

Aside from that, I can't fault this watch at all, as it encompasses a lot of what I like or want from a wristwatch. 

I solved the clasp issue by changing the bracelet over to a mix of two aftermarket bracelets. It was quite a fluke. I used the end-link from a Forstner Flat-link bracelet and attached it to an Uncle Straps FOIS bracelet. This combo leaves about a half-a-millimetre gap which is barely visible. AND it has a standard push-button folding clasp. Nice. And it definitely solved the problem, resulting in the watch getting a new lease on life and getting regular time on the wrist again, spending 23 days on the wrist last year.

 

Much like the Rolex Explorer, the Railmaster keeps things fairly simple with a dark dial with Arabic numerals at the cardinal points, making for clear legibility. 

Add a sapphire crystal and 150 metre water-resistance and you have a GADA watch, which in watch-nerd terminology stands for 'Go Anywhere, Do Anything'. 

I've had this watch for over a decade and it is surely due for servicing. Twenty-twenty-five is the year of maintenance for a few of my watches and this one will most likely be attended to at some point. 

And that's 2024's list done and dusted. As you may notice, it was mainly dive watches and Expedition watches. I didn't plan it that way but that's how it turned out. It gives a pretty good indication of my current tastes. 

Regarding 2025, as mentioned up above, my Submariner (Ref.: 5513) is currently being serviced - long overdue - and I'll hopefully have it back before end of January;

 

I'm undecided as to whether I'll keep it after I get it back. Part of me is thinking about moving it along and replacing it with a more modern version, one that has a sapphire crystal, such as a Reference 16610 from around 2008. Or perhaps a mid-'80s Reference 16800, which was a transitional model between my watch and the 16610. 

It had the same dial as my 5513 - with the plain white lume plots - but it was the first Submariner model to incorporate a sapphire crystal. 

On the other hand, the 16610 model made a change to the dial by surrounding the painted hour markers with a white gold ring, as seen on this 2002 model, picture courtesy of HQ Milton.com;

 

This simple upgrade vastly changed the look of the Rolex Submariner, in my humble op. Of course, it is a phenomenal watch and sold a truck-load.
The Reference 16610 was the watch that brought the Submariner out into the light. 

The watch conoscenti had always known about the Submariner's place among collectors but this model managed to work its way onto the wrists of folks who wanted a long-established, robust and reliable sports watch from a well-known brand. The Rolex marketing machine purred along smoothly throughout the 1980s and '90s, thus creating a demand for their products that was unprecedented in its history. 

This demand shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, it's quite the opposite nowadays. If you want a Rolex Submariner - or virtually any other Rolex wristwatch - you'll likely need to put you name down on a waiting list and then be prepared to wait. 

And I mean wait. Production just cannot keep up with demand, and it's been like this for almost a decade.

 

Either way, I'm not in the market for a new Submariner. I'd be happy with a model from anywhere between 1990 and 2010. For now, I'm just speculating anyway.

I'll have to give some very serious thought to whether or not my Sub stays or goes. For now, like I say, I'm 50/50 about it. 

 

Aside from that, nothing else on the horizon. I did notice that I wasn't switching watches with the same regularity as years gone by. I used to wear a different watch every day, but found myself wearing the same watch for three or four days at a time last year.

From time to time, I'd read an article about somebody who owns two or three different watches and I'd be a little envious of them. The more you wear a particular watch, the more it gets tied to your identity or personality. And of course, it accumulates more scuffs, scratches and dents over time, in the end making the watch truly yours. There's something to be said for that. 

Another thing that a small collection gives you is freedom from having to decide what watch to wear on any given day. 

As Henry Kissinger once said; The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.

Most likely, he only owned one wristwatch. 

No fool. 

Thanks for reading!