Citizen are no longer making what I think is the best value ISO dive watch anymore which makes me sad.
I have two models, one with a black dial, but my favourite is this full lume version. I really like the black outlines and the details shown against the lume.
The Vertex M100A was my absolute grail watch that I finally bought myself this summer and it's an absolute lume monster.
The dial features 3D blocks of C3 X1 grade Super-LumiNova, making it insanely legible and long lasting. A nice touch is that the metal bracelet features lume on the clasp which is what you can see in the second image.
I've posted about my MR-G110 before.
It's just had it's 28th birthday (I bought it as an import from the London G-Shock store) and at nearly 51 I'm bringing with me on my way to get my first tattoo (I figured you only live once).
This watch has been with me for both my graduations, when I proposed to my wife, our wedding day, every job interview and first day, the birth of our kids, my parents' funerals, painting, decorating, house moves and travel across 5 continents. Now it's going with me for my first tattoo.
I have other watches but for the big moments that matter I bring out old faithful, it's been with me all my adult life.
Every year I take a holiday beater watch away with me, something reliable, a bit fun, but nothing too valuable or sentimental, JIC something happens whilst I'm away.
This year is the first time I've taken two holiday watches away with me and I have to say I'm enjoying the variety.
The one on the red strap is a 41mm Timex Expedition North Field Solar. It's silent in comparison to the old Timex Expedition I had but it lacks the Indiglo that my old model had. It's 100m water resistant with a screw down crown and crown guard. It really came to life when I picked up this AliExpress FKM curved strap.
The watch on the yellow divers strap (again an AliExpress special) is a Redwood A-13 Pilot watch. It's a solar beater with a beautifully polished and smooth case (it's one of my most comfortable watches). Normally it lives on a green silicone strap but I've got it on this yellow vented rubber diver's strap for a bit of colour and fun for holiday.
I'm really digging both and have enjoyed having a choice in the morning. I think the Redwood works best on the beach, the Timex is just a shave more formal for wearing in the evening.
[Please note this isn't a detailed comparison of both watches - but if you want I'll answer specific questions - it's more a general appreciation post for Field Watches and the role both have in my collection]
I've always had a thing for utilitarian, tool watches. For ages my only watch was a Casio MRG-110, a JDM watch I imported to the UK 28 years ago, it was full metal, legible, indestructible and I did everything in it (my graduation, my first and every job interview since, when I got married, when my kids were born, decorating, petrol motor scooter accidents, travel to five continents, you name it).
Then, about 7 or 8 years ago, I bought a basic Timex Quartz Expedition with Indiglo (it had an orange second hand and orange NATO and that was good enough for me). Unfortunately it broke a few years ago but I liked it so much I bought a much more substantial Timex Expedition North Field Solar to replace it which really cemented my love affair with Field Watches and really started my interest in watch collecting.
Which brings me here today with two of my favourite watches, the Vertex M100A and the Hamilton Khaki Field Murph, both are in my collection and I love both of them for very different reasons.
The Vertex M100A is by far the most expensive watch I own, it is my first and probably only Grail Watch, I saved for it and allowed myself to use some of my bonus to buy the most expensive object I have ever bought myself outside my house and my car. Up until the point I bought it, my most expensive watch was around £500.
I like the Vertex as a practical object; it's insanely legible with huge lume markers with super low reflection on the crystal. The finishing is excellent and I love both the Vertex rubber strap and the fitted metal bracelet with micro adjustment that I also have - both are really comfortable. The finishing everywhere is lovely (apart from maybe the top of the crown) and you can tell with every touch and look that real craft has been applied to the finishing.
I also love its uniquely English Dirty Dozen heritage and the fact that Vertex has re-emerged as a family owned brand in 2016 after closing in 1972. It's a labour of love.
I didn't realise until I found it again in an old drawer earlier this year that my Grandfather wore a very similar style watch to this Vertex (a 1950s English manufactured Smiths Astral) so I guess my liking Field Watches may also be partially genetic. Somehow this link also makes my Vertex special to me.
The Hamilton Khaki Field Murph (42mm) is an entirely different proposition and I like it for very different reasons. It's a newer addition to the collection and I started out with a "homage watch" (a Militado) because I liked how it looked but couldn't justify the expense at the time, especially as I owned the Vertex.
After watching Interstellar with my eldest lad he noticed that I was wearing the Militado and he asked if he could wear it so resized it and gave it to him immediately as his first proper analogue watch. If he sticks with it, when he turns 18 I'll replace it with a real Murph so we can have proper matching watches.
Anyways, a few weeks ago I was feeling flush so I found a good deal online and bought the real Hamilton 42mm with a metal bracelet.
What can I say? Well, it's somehow become immediately comforting to wear and despite being so new, it screams heritage at me. I just can't help it, but I get a real old school vibe when I wear it and look at it.
I really like the size of it and how it sits flat on my wide but fairly skinny wrist. I guess the word presence is what most people use to describe it. The tones on the dial are lovely and I like the signed crown, I like how polished it is when it catches the light and I don't even mind how reflective the crystal is at some (most) angles even if it makes it less legible sometimes. I think it looks more formal than the Vertex and it works as both jewelry and as something that still feels functional (I think the Vertex is much more formal).
I have to say the black strap it came with didn't work for me at all, lacking both the comfort and the functional vibe I was aiming for (I know you can break them in). The official metal bracelet is better but it lacks micro adjustments and once you have those, it's hard to go back to bracelets without. So, I found this generic vintage feeling leather watch strap and applied some bee's wax/bike saddle treatment to it and now I have both the comfort and look I was going for (old man watch/heritage watch). But it's still super practical because it doesn't have a date (making it grab and go) and because it has a power reserve of over 80s hours means that I don't always have to wind or set it when I pick it up.
Sorry for rambling on, the TLDR is that I like Field Watches and these two models seem to fit into my collection brilliantly, not competing directly as "battle of the field watches" but as complements to each other and matching different moods and meanings when I want to switch between them.
I think both are absolutely lovely.
I'm having a bit of a watch purge, slimming down my collection (which was under 20 anyway) and operating a one-in-one-out policy.
A big part of this is that I can't stand the idea of something as useful as a watch not being used or appreciated. Me just sitting on a watch that I know I won't wear or that I don't love for some reason makes me really sad.
This little A158W sort of breaks my rules. It's not my cheapest beater (I have a W-59 for that) and technically it doesn't have a slot in my watch box anymore and I don't own it for sentimental reasons (it wasn't a gift or anything). So it sits in my drawer, next to my bed.
Technically I should sell it on Facebook or give it to someone but this one is just so light and comfortable and I don't want to part with it.
I'd love to be able to get a metal mod kit for it but all of the ones I look at don't have the Casio logo on it and that's part of the appeal (anyone got any tips on that).
It just reminds me of being a kid in the 1980s and so it has once again survived a purging of my collection.
Like a lot of you I have a collection of LEGO Space Minifigs. To keep them on display I hide them around the house and hidden in other LEGO builds.
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Here is a slightly modified Arcade Machine (40805) set, my kids lost the official figure for it so I thought I'd modify the sofa so two figures could sit on it and then I added an additional controller and found places to put the oxygen tanks (the other set of tanks is in the other half of the model hanging off a LEGO sword piece).
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It made me really happy to find these guys a new home.
I just got this today. It's a Glycine Combat Diver GL0261. It's my first authentic Swiss watch.
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https://www.glycinestore.eu/glycine-combat-sub-42-gl0261/
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The positive reviews online (Urban Gentry has done a few videos on the Combat Diver) are all pretty accurate: It's really slim (for a watch of its type), the case finishing is probably nicer than anything I own, the crown is really clicky but not fidget toy good like on my Citizen divers, and despite the overall size, it just comes together really well.
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I think most of all what I like about it in these first hours is the look and feel. Whilst obviously not a dress watch, it feels a bit more refined and "grown up" than many of my other watches (mostly field and dive watches).
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I like the gold numerals on the hands and the warmer red accents on the dial and date window. It's got a subdued personality, but it's all there.
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What has also surprised me is the bracelet. It's 22mm wide with no taper, but it's so comfortable and keeps the watch in place despite it being a healthy amount of "not tight on my wrist".
I have two of these Promaster Marine watches (NY0040), this full lume one and one with a black dial that I'm putting on an integrated metal bracelet (the bracelet is in the post).
The one with the black dial is designed to be my everyday, wear it sort of anywhere, tool watch. You know, functional, robust but keeping it on the DL.
This magnificent full lume beast is supposed to be my fun "party time" watch. A purposely gauche cross between a fidget toy (with the satisfying bezel action and fly arm automatic charging) and a "fashion clash" on bold yellow and orange FKM and NATO straps. I've bought like four of these straps for this exact purpose.
The problem is, is that after I put it on this much more traditional green NATO I had lying around, I'm having problems using the brighter straps I've bought for it because I also like this more traditional look. Like really really like it. I bet it will also look great on my new metal bracelet when it arrives.
This watch is much too versatile and it's infuriating me, I have one plan for it and now I have many.
Curse you Citizen and "Big Watchstrap". LOL.