What watch you're wearing?

@Monocrom and Robert > Absolutely.

Pagani took the Ranger look and kicked it up a few notches. Especially the vintage color of the markers. And, I love that with the NH35, it runs really well, within a few SPD, and the price? I paid about $65 for it, through AliExp. All wins, in my view.

I would certainly enjoy having the Tudor, but I just wouldn't choose to pay that kind of money when this PD is so nice and so inexpensive. I'd prefer to take the price difference and buy another nice bike!

I bought two of these Pagani Rangers, as the price was so remarkable... one wears the bracelet and the other wears leather:
53851238851_d801f1360c_k.jpg
 
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Legibility has become more and more a priority as my days pass.
I agree. So many "modern" watch designs have the two hands looking pretty much identical, aside from a small difference in length. Makes it not so easy to read at a quick glance. I love it when the hour and minute hands look quite different from one another, and are quite different in length - you can read the time with just a quick glance. (Like the Ranger design ^ above. There is no way the hour or minute hand could possibly be mistaken for the other.)
 
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IMG_2317.jpeg

A 1980 Lord Quartz linen dial just arrived.
It was produced in July '79 but wasn't shown until the '80 catalog arrived with the 8243 movement in a 6000 case that by the way was only produced for the 1980 model year. It was #900. Most were 5000 cases called "tv screen" since the square shape was much like a tv of the days gone by.
IMG_2319.jpeg

The 5000 case called "tv screen"
 
New acquisition arrived yesterday from Serious Watches located in Netherlands. The owner Mark and I discussed watches (and this NTH) since before Thanksgiving. When I finally was ready to pull the trigger, Mark discounted to wholesale price. As a belated Xmas gift, his wife even Xmas wrapped it!

"Upholder" indices/markers/hands are loaded with Supernova, hard to capture the shiny borders play nice with sunlight🤙
IMG_20250112_125308088_HDR.jpg
One solid tool watch, can't wait to mount it on a tropic rubber strap 🌊
 
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L: 1980 Lord Quartz
R: 1976 King Quartz
They were hacked last week to see how accurate they are versus each other. Both said to be designed to run +/- 10 seconds per month.
The right one was clocked to be about +1 second per month so it's my reference watch. So far the one on the left has gained 5 seconds over the left one in 6 days. Not quite a second per day. Not up to factory spec anymore but still not bad after 45 years. And unlike modern quartz movements, both can be serviced like a mechanical watch can.
 
Frickin' hell.... Reached for my Citizen Eco-drive BM7080-03E a couple of times this past work week when I wanted to reach for my Ridge watch. Both have Titanium cases, but the Ridge with it's automatic movement was always dead, even when I tried to keep it (for lack of a better word) charged up. Sooo frustrating! 38 - 42 hour power reserves were what you expected a decade ago. But not anymore! Not when non-luxury brands such as Tissot are pumping out watch models with around 80 hours of power reserve. So yeah, my quartz Eco-drive Citizen got more wrist-time than expected.
 

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New (to me) Casio GWM-B5000. Gotta love the heft in a square package. I have it on a NATO strap now.

Any tips on getting cologne odor out of a resin strap? The previous owner seems to have doused the band with the stuff.
 

How spies and soldiers help keep mechanical watches relevant

One of the biggest sources of inspiration and storytelling in modern watch design, alongside diving and aviation, is the armed forces. The development of many horological innovations and formats owe their genesis to warfare: field watches, fliegers, rotating bezels… Watch enthusiasts love the romance or aesthetic of hardy timepieces you might find strapped to the wrists of strapping soldiers. Watch brands similarly love trading on the perceived glamour of espionage – usually with fictional spies like James Bond, but also (mostly implicitly) with real-world intelligence operatives.

Of course, a lot of this is just that: storytelling. Just as few professional divers use mechanical dive watches as their primary dive timers, most spies and soldiers don't wear mechanical watches. Yet, at the same time, the world's militaries and intelligence services are potentially some of the only professional fields left where there's a genuine use case for mechanical watches.

micromilspec milgraph wrist
Micromilspec Milgraph
The first reason why mechanical watches remain relevant in military and intelligence is because there's a strong security argument for them. "In many military contexts, electronics, quartz movements, and smart watches are prohibited due to concerns over traceability," Henrik Rye, CEO of Micromilspec – an independent Norwegian watchmaker that's built its business primarily as a military contractor and a maker of custom unit watches – explains.

"For example, in sensitive environments such as control rooms or classified operations, electronic devices could potentially be monitored or tracked, which compromises security. In contrast, an automatic watch, with its purely mechanical movement, does not have the same vulnerabilities and is therefore permitted," Rye says.

strava heatmap afghanistan
A US military base in Helmand Province, Afghanistan revealed by jogging routes on Strava's heatmap.
This concern is not unfounded. Back in 2017, fitness tracking app Strava publically released a global 'heatmap', visualising the exercise routes of hundreds of millions of users. However, as The Guardian reports, it also revealed the layouts, locations, staffing and routines of military bases and spy outposts around the world, including US military bases in Afghanistan. Soldiers' jogging routes, whether that was down the halls or along the fenceline of a base, were lit up for the world to see thanks to the smartwatches or fitness trackers they had strapped to their wrists. That's a serious failure of operational security…

starfish prime
The debris fireball of Starfish Prime, a 1962 high-altitude US nuclear test that caused an EMP that damaged electrical infrastructure in Hawaii, 1,450 km away from its detonation point.
Of course, you have no such concern with a mechanical watch. Another argument in favour of mechanical watches is that, unlike quartz or smart watches, mechanical watches are theoretically resistant to electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks. While non-nuclear EMP weapons remain mostly the stuff of fiction (at least for now), nuclear electromagnetic pulses and NEMP weapons are very much real. As the Washington State Department of Health relates, "a 1.4 megaton bomb launched about 250 miles above Kansas would destroy most of the electronics that were not protected in the entire Continental United States."

Rolex GMT Master II 126718GRNR
Rolex GMT-Master II ref. 126718GRNR
However, there's also a use case for wearing an expensive mechanical watch as an intelligence operative: a valuable timepiece is a handy tool for tradecraft. Watches of Espionage (WoE), a brilliant watch blog run by an anonymous former undercover officer for the CIA that's dedicated to the intersection of timepieces and spycraft, explains that a nice watch can be used to curry favour with an asset, or if poop really hits the fan, can (theoretically) be used extract yourself from a sticky situation out in the field. It's that old-fashioned mindset – a gold watch will always be at least worth its weight in gold – and just as it is for us civilians, a watch is also a great conversation starter.


"A digital tool watch like a G-Shock, Suunto, Timex, Garmin etcetera is a more effective timepiece for the average warfighter [but] for intelligence officers who focus more on building relationships, recruiting sources and working with third-country intelligence services, watches do play a role in both curating a perception as a professional and building relationships through gifts," he explains.

IWC Big Pilot
The IWC Big Pilot might not be worn by many on-duty pilots these days, but it remains popular among the intelligence community.
The classic quartz versus mechanical debate also rears its head when considering military/intelligence use too, he elaborates. "There is a debate within the intel/spec ops community about what is a better tool watch for operations between quartz and automatic, but I think it is less about security risks and more about reliability. Of course, the quartz movement is better at keeping time, but the trade-off is that it can run out of battery, which always happens at the worst time. The majority of modern military-issued watches (CWC SBS, Marathon, Elliot Brown) are actually all quartz, with the exception of maybe Sinn for the Germans."

tudor black bay 58 dgsi wristshot caseback
A Tudor Black Bay 58 unit watch of the DGSI (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Intérieure), France's primary domestic intelligence service. Never offered for public sale, this watch could only be acquired by DGSI personnel.
But what about the million-dollar question – what do spooks and soldiers actually wear these days? "There are definitely brands that mil/intel/spec ops gravitate to," WoE says. "Seiko is definitely common due to robustness, affordability and ties to our heritage, but I am seeing a lot more Christopher Ward and Bremonts due to their unit watch programs. At the higher end, Tudor and Omega are common [as well as] Breitling and IWC, particularly for aviation guys. Rolex used to be common in the '90s and 2000s… But now they are so expensive and hard to get!"

Breitling Chronomat B01 Titanium
There's a common saying in the intelligence community, too: "sketchy dudes wear Breitling".
That touches on a good point: brands with well-established unit watch programs, like the aforementioned brands or independents like Micromilspec or Bausele, will always be popular among intelligence and military personnel. Despite everything I've written so far, though, the reality is that much like it is for civilians, the choice between quartz/smart and mechanical is often an aesthetic or financial one.

Casio G Shock Mudman GW 9500 black on wrist
Casio G-Shock Mudman GW-9500
As WoE puts it: "For the most part, I would argue the current embracing of automatic watches within the military and intel world is more about culture than actual utility… Digital tool watches and now smartwatches are the most common watches worn by those in NatSec." Anecdotally, when I reached out to members of my own family serving in the Australian Defence Forces, their take was that most ADF members they know just wear G-Shocks. So perhaps this is all just storytelling too.

 

How spies and soldiers help keep mechanical watches relevant

One of the biggest sources of inspiration and storytelling in modern watch design, alongside diving and aviation, is the armed forces. The development of many horological innovations and formats owe their genesis to warfare: field watches, fliegers, rotating bezels… Watch enthusiasts love the romance or aesthetic of hardy timepieces you might find strapped to the wrists of strapping soldiers. Watch brands similarly love trading on the perceived glamour of espionage – usually with fictional spies like James Bond, but also (mostly implicitly) with real-world intelligence operatives.

Of course, a lot of this is just that: storytelling. Just as few professional divers use mechanical dive watches as their primary dive timers, most spies and soldiers don't wear mechanical watches. Yet, at the same time, the world's militaries and intelligence services are potentially some of the only professional fields left where there's a genuine use case for mechanical watches.

micromilspec milgraph wrist
Micromilspec Milgraph
The first reason why mechanical watches remain relevant in military and intelligence is because there's a strong security argument for them. "In many military contexts, electronics, quartz movements, and smart watches are prohibited due to concerns over traceability," Henrik Rye, CEO of Micromilspec – an independent Norwegian watchmaker that's built its business primarily as a military contractor and a maker of custom unit watches – explains.

"For example, in sensitive environments such as control rooms or classified operations, electronic devices could potentially be monitored or tracked, which compromises security. In contrast, an automatic watch, with its purely mechanical movement, does not have the same vulnerabilities and is therefore permitted," Rye says.

strava heatmap afghanistan
A US military base in Helmand Province, Afghanistan revealed by jogging routes on Strava's heatmap.
This concern is not unfounded. Back in 2017, fitness tracking app Strava publically released a global 'heatmap', visualising the exercise routes of hundreds of millions of users. However, as The Guardian reports, it also revealed the layouts, locations, staffing and routines of military bases and spy outposts around the world, including US military bases in Afghanistan. Soldiers' jogging routes, whether that was down the halls or along the fenceline of a base, were lit up for the world to see thanks to the smartwatches or fitness trackers they had strapped to their wrists. That's a serious failure of operational security…

starfish prime
The debris fireball of Starfish Prime, a 1962 high-altitude US nuclear test that caused an EMP that damaged electrical infrastructure in Hawaii, 1,450 km away from its detonation point.
Of course, you have no such concern with a mechanical watch. Another argument in favour of mechanical watches is that, unlike quartz or smart watches, mechanical watches are theoretically resistant to electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks. While non-nuclear EMP weapons remain mostly the stuff of fiction (at least for now), nuclear electromagnetic pulses and NEMP weapons are very much real. As the Washington State Department of Health relates, "a 1.4 megaton bomb launched about 250 miles above Kansas would destroy most of the electronics that were not protected in the entire Continental United States."

Rolex GMT Master II 126718GRNR
Rolex GMT-Master II ref. 126718GRNR
However, there's also a use case for wearing an expensive mechanical watch as an intelligence operative: a valuable timepiece is a handy tool for tradecraft. Watches of Espionage (WoE), a brilliant watch blog run by an anonymous former undercover officer for the CIA that's dedicated to the intersection of timepieces and spycraft, explains that a nice watch can be used to curry favour with an asset, or if poop really hits the fan, can (theoretically) be used extract yourself from a sticky situation out in the field. It's that old-fashioned mindset – a gold watch will always be at least worth its weight in gold – and just as it is for us civilians, a watch is also a great conversation starter.


"A digital tool watch like a G-Shock, Suunto, Timex, Garmin etcetera is a more effective timepiece for the average warfighter [but] for intelligence officers who focus more on building relationships, recruiting sources and working with third-country intelligence services, watches do play a role in both curating a perception as a professional and building relationships through gifts," he explains.

IWC Big Pilot
The IWC Big Pilot might not be worn by many on-duty pilots these days, but it remains popular among the intelligence community.
The classic quartz versus mechanical debate also rears its head when considering military/intelligence use too, he elaborates. "There is a debate within the intel/spec ops community about what is a better tool watch for operations between quartz and automatic, but I think it is less about security risks and more about reliability. Of course, the quartz movement is better at keeping time, but the trade-off is that it can run out of battery, which always happens at the worst time. The majority of modern military-issued watches (CWC SBS, Marathon, Elliot Brown) are actually all quartz, with the exception of maybe Sinn for the Germans."

tudor black bay 58 dgsi wristshot caseback
A Tudor Black Bay 58 unit watch of the DGSI (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Intérieure), France's primary domestic intelligence service. Never offered for public sale, this watch could only be acquired by DGSI personnel.
But what about the million-dollar question – what do spooks and soldiers actually wear these days? "There are definitely brands that mil/intel/spec ops gravitate to," WoE says. "Seiko is definitely common due to robustness, affordability and ties to our heritage, but I am seeing a lot more Christopher Ward and Bremonts due to their unit watch programs. At the higher end, Tudor and Omega are common [as well as] Breitling and IWC, particularly for aviation guys. Rolex used to be common in the '90s and 2000s… But now they are so expensive and hard to get!"

Breitling Chronomat B01 Titanium
There's a common saying in the intelligence community, too: "sketchy dudes wear Breitling".
That touches on a good point: brands with well-established unit watch programs, like the aforementioned brands or independents like Micromilspec or Bausele, will always be popular among intelligence and military personnel. Despite everything I've written so far, though, the reality is that much like it is for civilians, the choice between quartz/smart and mechanical is often an aesthetic or financial one.

Casio G Shock Mudman GW 9500 black on wrist
Casio G-Shock Mudman GW-9500
As WoE puts it: "For the most part, I would argue the current embracing of automatic watches within the military and intel world is more about culture than actual utility… Digital tool watches and now smartwatches are the most common watches worn by those in NatSec." Anecdotally, when I reached out to members of my own family serving in the Australian Defence Forces, their take was that most ADF members they know just wear G-Shocks. So perhaps this is all just storytelling too.

An enjoyable read. Thanks for posting that.
 

How spies and soldiers help keep mechanical watches relevant

One of the biggest sources of inspiration and storytelling in modern watch design, alongside diving and aviation, is the armed forces. The development of many horological innovations and formats owe their genesis to warfare: field watches, fliegers, rotating bezels… Watch enthusiasts love the romance or aesthetic of hardy timepieces you might find strapped to the wrists of strapping soldiers. Watch brands similarly love trading on the perceived glamour of espionage – usually with fictional spies like James Bond, but also (mostly implicitly) with real-world intelligence operatives.

Of course, a lot of this is just that: storytelling. Just as few professional divers use mechanical dive watches as their primary dive timers, most spies and soldiers don't wear mechanical watches. Yet, at the same time, the world's militaries and intelligence services are potentially some of the only professional fields left where there's a genuine use case for mechanical watches.

micromilspec milgraph wrist
Micromilspec Milgraph
The first reason why mechanical watches remain relevant in military and intelligence is because there's a strong security argument for them. "In many military contexts, electronics, quartz movements, and smart watches are prohibited due to concerns over traceability," Henrik Rye, CEO of Micromilspec – an independent Norwegian watchmaker that's built its business primarily as a military contractor and a maker of custom unit watches – explains.

"For example, in sensitive environments such as control rooms or classified operations, electronic devices could potentially be monitored or tracked, which compromises security. In contrast, an automatic watch, with its purely mechanical movement, does not have the same vulnerabilities and is therefore permitted," Rye says.

strava heatmap afghanistan
A US military base in Helmand Province, Afghanistan revealed by jogging routes on Strava's heatmap.
This concern is not unfounded. Back in 2017, fitness tracking app Strava publically released a global 'heatmap', visualising the exercise routes of hundreds of millions of users. However, as The Guardian reports, it also revealed the layouts, locations, staffing and routines of military bases and spy outposts around the world, including US military bases in Afghanistan. Soldiers' jogging routes, whether that was down the halls or along the fenceline of a base, were lit up for the world to see thanks to the smartwatches or fitness trackers they had strapped to their wrists. That's a serious failure of operational security…

starfish prime
The debris fireball of Starfish Prime, a 1962 high-altitude US nuclear test that caused an EMP that damaged electrical infrastructure in Hawaii, 1,450 km away from its detonation point.
Of course, you have no such concern with a mechanical watch. Another argument in favour of mechanical watches is that, unlike quartz or smart watches, mechanical watches are theoretically resistant to electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks. While non-nuclear EMP weapons remain mostly the stuff of fiction (at least for now), nuclear electromagnetic pulses and NEMP weapons are very much real. As the Washington State Department of Health relates, "a 1.4 megaton bomb launched about 250 miles above Kansas would destroy most of the electronics that were not protected in the entire Continental United States."

Rolex GMT Master II 126718GRNR
Rolex GMT-Master II ref. 126718GRNR
However, there's also a use case for wearing an expensive mechanical watch as an intelligence operative: a valuable timepiece is a handy tool for tradecraft. Watches of Espionage (WoE), a brilliant watch blog run by an anonymous former undercover officer for the CIA that's dedicated to the intersection of timepieces and spycraft, explains that a nice watch can be used to curry favour with an asset, or if poop really hits the fan, can (theoretically) be used extract yourself from a sticky situation out in the field. It's that old-fashioned mindset – a gold watch will always be at least worth its weight in gold – and just as it is for us civilians, a watch is also a great conversation starter.


"A digital tool watch like a G-Shock, Suunto, Timex, Garmin etcetera is a more effective timepiece for the average warfighter [but] for intelligence officers who focus more on building relationships, recruiting sources and working with third-country intelligence services, watches do play a role in both curating a perception as a professional and building relationships through gifts," he explains.

IWC Big Pilot
The IWC Big Pilot might not be worn by many on-duty pilots these days, but it remains popular among the intelligence community.
The classic quartz versus mechanical debate also rears its head when considering military/intelligence use too, he elaborates. "There is a debate within the intel/spec ops community about what is a better tool watch for operations between quartz and automatic, but I think it is less about security risks and more about reliability. Of course, the quartz movement is better at keeping time, but the trade-off is that it can run out of battery, which always happens at the worst time. The majority of modern military-issued watches (CWC SBS, Marathon, Elliot Brown) are actually all quartz, with the exception of maybe Sinn for the Germans."

tudor black bay 58 dgsi wristshot caseback
A Tudor Black Bay 58 unit watch of the DGSI (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Intérieure), France's primary domestic intelligence service. Never offered for public sale, this watch could only be acquired by DGSI personnel.
But what about the million-dollar question – what do spooks and soldiers actually wear these days? "There are definitely brands that mil/intel/spec ops gravitate to," WoE says. "Seiko is definitely common due to robustness, affordability and ties to our heritage, but I am seeing a lot more Christopher Ward and Bremonts due to their unit watch programs. At the higher end, Tudor and Omega are common [as well as] Breitling and IWC, particularly for aviation guys. Rolex used to be common in the '90s and 2000s… But now they are so expensive and hard to get!"

Breitling Chronomat B01 Titanium
There's a common saying in the intelligence community, too: "sketchy dudes wear Breitling".
That touches on a good point: brands with well-established unit watch programs, like the aforementioned brands or independents like Micromilspec or Bausele, will always be popular among intelligence and military personnel. Despite everything I've written so far, though, the reality is that much like it is for civilians, the choice between quartz/smart and mechanical is often an aesthetic or financial one.

Casio G Shock Mudman GW 9500 black on wrist
Casio G-Shock Mudman GW-9500
As WoE puts it: "For the most part, I would argue the current embracing of automatic watches within the military and intel world is more about culture than actual utility… Digital tool watches and now smartwatches are the most common watches worn by those in NatSec." Anecdotally, when I reached out to members of my own family serving in the Australian Defence Forces, their take was that most ADF members they know just wear G-Shocks. So perhaps this is all just storytelling too.

Thanks for the very nice post. BTW, I presume that those who are concerned about traceability get rid of their smart phones but I wonder if they drive vintage cars.
 
IMG_2539.jpeg

1966 Seiko Sportmatic cross hair dial back from the repair shop.
It was in a helluva mess but now runs about a 1/2 minute fast per day. It still needs some parts to be water tight again but at least it runs proper now. A really nice old watch with all of the lume intact and glowing

IMG_2543.jpeg
 
Speaking of watches that are quite readable with just a quick glance... what I'm wearing today comes from Germany with an SW200-1 movement. Case finish Black DLC. (Strava can't track my stealth movements with this watch!) :cool:

53953686497_e23f5efa1e_k.jpg
Nice! Just curious.... How is that DLC coating holding up?
 
Thanks for the very nice post. BTW, I presume that those who are concerned about traceability get rid of their smart phones but I wonder if they drive vintage cars.
Well, you'd pretty much have too! Cars nowadays are basically computers on wheels. Even though GM with On*Star makes it blatantly obvious that your vehicle is easily tracked (and BTW, you pay for that privilege of being spied on), other car brands like to pretend they're not doing that.
 
The g shock has replaced the F91w. I was bouncing back and forth for a few weeks, but the F91w has been dropped into my backpack to save the day at some point if I forget this watch.
My man! I think you and I have very similar tastes.

I had to get a watch for work, so I got an F91W. I forgot how much I love these things (I haven't worn a watch in maybe a decade), so I got two different green ones and a G-shock for bicycling, haha.
 
Well, you'd pretty much have too! Cars nowadays are basically computers on wheels. Even though GM with On*Star makes it blatantly obvious that your vehicle is easily tracked (and BTW, you pay for that privilege of being spied on), other car brands like to pretend they're not doing that.
This is exactly why I bought a 1986 Toyota Land Cruiser with 640.000 Kms (about 400.000 miles) under its belt in 2021. After some overhaul and some mods, I used it as my daily driver for about a year. It was great fun but I had to revert back to modernity due to reliability problems. It required too much maintenance and was not a reasonable excuse for missing appointments and scheduled events. If I didn't have to open space in my garage for my new ride, I would keep it for recreational and emergency use. Now, my daily driver also spies on me, in addition to my G-Shock, my iPhone and who knows what else. In the meantime, I amuse myself with the fact that my mechanical time pieces do not spy on me and require less time and effort (for watch setting) than maintaining a 1986 daily driver.
 
Nice! Just curious.... How is that DLC coating holding up?
Black DLC is an exceptionally hard, durable finish. I've had a couple of pistols with that finish and it is the toughest black finish I know of. Difficult to scratch. As for the Dekla watch with black DLC... finish remains flawless. I would hesitate to buy a watch with a black finish that is not DLC.
 
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