u/bpgluckman

Picked this up through the recent sale on the Shop app, as I've always loved photos of the dial, and how the color seemed to shift in the light from grey to green to black, with the hashing adding some really unique texture. Plus, having a small wrist, the specs suggested a large dial that maximized its space in a compact case, ensuring it would work a dressier piece on my 6.4" wrist.

On these points, the Canton doesn't miss. It also does a really nice job dampening the LJP G101 rotor noise.

What is a total cock-up is the bracelet. The OTF clasp has a large range of adjustability; unfortunately, if your wrist is below 6.5", you're going to need to remove all the links on both sides of the bracelet and start using that OTF adjustability to get a comfortable fit. But if you do that, you end up with the bracelet biasing more links on the 6 side than the 12, which is just wrong -- it means the clasp isn't balanced on the back of the wrist.

This is annoying -- I've run into this issue exactly once before (on a Watchdives); the rest of my watches I own or have owned got this right.

tl;dr: if you're thinking about Jack Mason and have a small wrist, you'll want to pass if you want to wear it on the bracelet.

My new Phorocydes PH-2 arrived, and figured it didn't have enough lume, so it needed a Zuludiver lumed strap to go with it.

Last week I posted about looking at purple watches, and that I was looking at the Farer Discovery which was being retired. Then someone in the comments offered me a virtually unworn Lissom. Being indecisive, I ended up getting both.

I'm actually glad I did, because they're surprisingly different pieces. The Lissom is more versatile -- It looks good on the purple strap I have around but also looks good on blue and would also work on white or pink, too. I have noticed wearing it today that the way the lugs are designed, they have a fairly deep downward curve to them, so I find myself wanting to micro-adjust the strap like I would a bracelet, and I think I might invest in a Fitwell buckle for this.

The Discovery is really the pure purple watch I was looking for, and a huge step up from the San Martin I had (and which clearly took inspiration from the Discovery, though it's not a straight homage). Shipping from the UK was superfast and without hassle. I also appreciate that the stock Farer strap fits smaller wrists without my having the punch holes in it. One thing I have noticed: it turns out the LJP-G101 shares the Miyota 9XXX's rotor noise. It's LOUD.

I've now gone from having never handled a Farer to owning two, and overall, I'm impressed.

Lured this dude into the trap with the irresistible force of wet food in June for TNR, since he was too feral to go into the foster system. He's been coming back for more of the good stuff ever since, and tonight, he actually let me get within 10' of him while putting out his FOURTH can for the evening. Still a ways to go, but I'll gladly take the solid progress we're making. He's pretty young -- maybe 18 months or less -- so hoping by fall, he'll be ready to learn to love the great indoors and find a forever home.

Finally arrived today, and already had the Uncle scales bracelet and a diver's clasp from Tactical Frog ready to go. This thing is neat! Definitely will upgrade the crystal when those come back in stock. I don't know if it's really waterproof to 666 feet, but took it for 2,300 yard swim tonight, and it handled that just fine, and it's super easy to read while doing laps.

Thinking of pulling the trigger on this before Farer phases it out. Any other purple watches to consider? I'm not looking for a diver, because I already have a meteorite purple Henry Archer, and I'm not looking at a purple non-diver Henry Archer, either. But open to other ideas. Or just tell me this is the one to get!

I've wanted one of these for a while, but they've been sold out of the original silver 2HAPPY case (they do have some 2LAZY with the black case, and 2BUSY, which is more art deco in style). I finally found one in Sweden, and brought it over, which was surprisingly easy.

It's THICC, but some of that is an optical illusion; it's maybe only 2mm taller than my Sinn. It's a watch you either absolutely love or you completely LOATHE, but either way, you'll have an opinion.

Arrived late last week and today is the first day of wearing it.

I know this thing at times brings out Studio Underd0g levels of controversy, but woo-booy, is this it good. Bezel action is absolutely incredible, the micro-adjust clasp is the only one I own truly on par with Tudor's, the bracelet is both supremely comfortable on my very small wrist and feels truly premium. The lume is so bright you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a C60 Lumiere. There are even some impressive small details, like how the bracelet tapers so gracefully, they ended using different size screw links to make it work.

Also, communication with "John" at Ginault was fantastic -- timelines were clearly spelled out and all fully realized, and there was no issue whatsoever in asking that the finished watch be held a week for shipping while I was out of town at a funeral.

The only even slightly negative thing I can think to say about it is I think I'm about to be out another $1,800 this year when I order an Ocean Rover II.

Last week, the folks at Belhamel posted a thread about using real photos rather than renders in marketing that grabbed a lot of discussion. They also announced that they had the Contra A39 on sale. I'd been looking at this watch back when it was in pre-order stage, having wanted to add a fun white dial diver to the mix for summer, but was on the fence and was thinking I might want to get the Baltic Aquascaphe instead. Then a bunch of crap in my life happened and I was on the road nonstop, and I forgot about it. I did get to handle the Baltic in person and wasn't blown away, so when this came up for $427.50 shipped, I said YOLO and got it.

​

Overall, I'm glad I did, though it's not perfect.

​

On the plus side there's a lot to like: apparent build quality is generally very good: nothing fancy, but the bracelet endlinks fit flush to the case, everything lines up well on the dial, and there's nothing jangly like some pieces at this price. The Miyota rotor noise is well dampened -- I can't hear it -- and the bezel gets a special callout for its smooth action. If you've ever handled something like a Serica or a Longines, it's on par with that. Also, the packaging is ridiculously nice, including quick release spring bars for a NATO strap (which isn't included), and two screws whose purpose is a mystery to me.

​

Size-wise, the case fits well on my small wrist (passing the mirror test) and this thing works well on a lot of different color FKM straps, which fit very flush to the lugs and get a finished look as a result. And the bracelet has quick-release tabs, making it a cinch for putting on a strap. Lume is good, too.

​

Complaints? The bracelet is huge -- it barely works on my 6.4" wrist with all the links removed and the OTF adjust set to the smallest setting. Also, the screws were a bit hard to deal with, like there was loctite in place, except I'm pretty sure there is not. Also -- and this is because I am anal-retentive about details like this -- I do not understand why there are two spaces between CONTRA and A39 on the dial.

​

Oh, and yes: the real world photos the Belhamel folks posted match the real thing.

If this watch were any more French, it would come with a beret and a pack of Gauloises. The bidirectional bezel is designed to ensure you perfectly cook any egg, anytime, anywhere.

Egg Master II Watch – MAT watches

A few months back I posted here about Big Red, the once Ghost Pepper Chili level spicy boy who'd calmed down to a mild jalapeno. At the time, he was *so close* to being ready for the indoor life, that all that was needed was a foster ready with room and a little time to tame the last bit of hot sauce out of him.

Then the worst happened: he showed up on our back step clearly injured, limping and with a crick in his tail. We tried to lure him close, but he then disappeared entirely.

But! This story has a happy ending. A few weeks ago, he started showing up again, still injured, but clearly on the mend. The group we work with, Rat City Rescue, pulled a spot for Big in their vet clinic, so all that was needed was the cat. Luckily, in addition to us, Big had also become a regular visitor at another house two blocks over, and they had no trouble scooping him up and getting him to the vet, where he was infinitely more cooperative than the last time.

The vet thinks Big tangled with a coyote, but I promised you a happy ending: he's going to make a full recovery. Better still, the other family has taken him in as a foster, where Big immediately took to such critical activities as following his new foster parents around, rubbing their legs, cuddling with their two other cats, and sleeping on pillows. And so, we now expect he's to make the best kind of failure: a foster fail. His new parents are so smitten, they've been sending us pictures of Big living the life he was always meant to live.

Enter stage right: Boots. Boots started showing up right around the time Big got injured, a very scared cat lured by the promise of the free food we leave our. This week, we decided to trap him, and an hour after putting out the trap, he was caught. Pauly, please take notes.

RCR reports he's a VERY spicy young boy, so he'll likely be released back to our yard Friday once he's snipped and healed. And so, the taming process begins anew.

Got this roughly 38 years ago when I was 12. Runs a little fast, but still ticks and the color wheel still turns. Just got a new strap for it last year at one of the stores in Vegas.

Picked up this used Oak & Oscar Olmstead 38 a few weeks ago on r/Watchexchange. Discovered when it got to me that the crown was wobbly when setting it; my watch guy suggested reaching out to them since the crown is signed to see if they could fix it.

Oak & Oscar couldn't have been nicer or more helpful -- they got me set up quickly to send it to them, and when it got there, they told me it was an issue with some early builds, so they ended up repairing it for free, which I totally did not expect. Only cost to me was the $27 to ship it to them! Fantastic customer service -- would definitely buy from them again.

Got the Sillage Hakama Suede Four -- these things are the boldest pants I've got, and I've got some floral pants from Mr. Turk. From head to toe:

• Glasses: Rigards
• Chore Coat: Kapital
• Sweater: Huckberry
• Pants: Sillage
• Shoes: Spingle

I've been in NYC this week seeing shows and visiting clients, and took last night and this morning to hit up some watch concierges and shops. Here's what I saw.

Horage: met the concierge at a coworking space in NoMad, and he brought a selection of pieces to see, though I'm most interested in the Decaflux, which uses a silicone escapement of Horage's own design to give it 30 times the anti-magnetism of a Rolex Milgauss. These are really cool pieces with some serious horology behind them that justifies the price. There's not really a strong design language behind the brand, but the quality is outstanding, with some really cool complications, like the Lensman 2 which has a dial to help camera nerds set the right ISO and f-stop. Will definitely be adding a Decaflux in either Sunray Blue or white to the collection this summer.

Baltic: Kind of...meh, TBH. Maybe it's just changing tastes or my expectations have increased, but the watches don't feel substantial enough to justify the price. The Hermetique is fun in sort a Swatch-like way. I thought I'd walk out with a new Aquascaphe in warm silver and didn't. I tried the new jump hour and frankly, the crown is terrible, the case is thick, and it's hard to read the time at a glance. The mesh bracelet on the prismatic dials doesn't fit at all on smaller wrists Also, the store wasn't particularly welcoming. The Aquascaphe Bronze is the only one I'd consider from the brand now.

Fears: One of several watches I tried on at Time & Tide. Frankly, kind of disappointing. It's a nice watch, but it costs almost as much as the Horage and while it feels nice, it doesn't feel "Tudor Ranger on the grey market" nice. Also, the crown is absurdly large.

Beaucroft: Got to meet the guys behind the brand since they're in town to introduce that new "The Sun Never Sets on Time & Tide" edition of the Contour GMT. Cool guys, excellent watches that punch above their weight in terms of quality and wrist feel. I was tempted by Time & Tide edition -- limited to 200 pieces -- but I think I'm going to go for an Element in Temper Red when it restocks.

Nomos: Not a micro, but an independent so hey. The Worldtimer is super cool, though it's right at the limit of what passes the size check for me in a mirror test. Might work better on a strap, especially a Nato. Exceptionally well-made pieces with very cool horology behind them; I just wish they were a tad bit smaller.

Christopher Ward: They have a showroom on the same block as Baltic, Nomos and Time & Tide, so I had this C60 Lumiere I bought last month shipped here for sizing. Worth the stop in if you're in the neighborhood.

Monta: I tried on two Montas, the Oceanking and the Noble. The Oceanking was sort of...meh, but the Noble is just fantastic. Pictures on their website do not do the dial justice. It's got a lovely shimmer to it, and the case is perfectly sized. Also, the bracelet is absolutely incredible -- it feels like my Tudor with better finishing. Another one I see picking up this year.

Wren: This seafoam green diver caught my eye, and I bought it. Brought it back to the hotel and... it's now not working. So that's frustrating. Ask me how that's going for me right now. So I guess I'm going back to Time & Tide in the morning to deal with that.

Picked these up last month at their store in Tokyo. Not my first pair of asymmetrical frames, but my most immediately obvious. Great brand that has a lot of interesting designs that stand out if you're looking for something bold.