In my time as a watch enthusiast and somewhat ‘collector’, I’ve always known the tradeoffs at every price point. For example, the Monster to the SKX is so glaringly obvious, and the MarineMaster 300m, a huge leap above. Even an entry level Seiko diver was better, more solid, than cheap, chromed Casio analogs and I swore never to buy those. When I was gifted a Tissot for my birthday, I immediately noticed the Swiss craftsmanship and design prowess over average-priced Japanese models. It was a paradigm shift from Asian watches.
Trouble was, almost nobody in Asia wears such an ostentatiously nice watch. Nor did it fit with my daily doings and goings about. But around that time, I started searching for my personal favorite, “one watch”. I originally wanted the Orient Star Royal, about $2k back when I was a young man. I also liked the Seiko Alpinist which was 2.5kRM. I had a thing for dressy compact watches on strap -besides divers.
What I’m getting at is I discovered early what kind of watch I liked YET got waylaid by others’ opinions and recommendations. I bought, at one point, a $800 Prospex diver to replace the SKX and sorely regretted it. This when I patently knew I wasn’t sincerely into chunky watches.
Making many mistakes, I bought quite a number of watches with little purpose and less soul. Casios included. A watch’s soul is not its intended purpose / feature set / even its outward design or movement. It is the comfort with which you bond with it, whatever “it” might be for you.
The next step is refining your search. I hit gold albeit in a dead end alley with a HMT hand wind. Backtracking, I passed on pre-loved Star Classics and hot Bambinos. I didn’t give up Googling in that direction and discovered the Orient Tristar line. Budget watches for poorer people / nations. It was like discovering Shopee and Decathlon. It took me about a week of research to decide if I should spend $75 on one. Eventually I did.
The Tristar comes in IIRC 3 case shapes and about 8 dial choices. I chose the classic shape with shimmering vertical banded dial in champagne and chunky applied markers. It spoke to who I am and what I wanted others to know me as. More later…
I put it on a vintage-style honey brown Baltany strap. Like the ones with white stitching on the shoulders and end tip. This morning, I was at the flea market and my watchmaker recommended me a used Rado leather band in dark brown. It had a gold buckle to match the markers and hands, a subtle natural grain / texture. Being dark and serious, it makes the gilded bits shine more convincingly. 55RM. His first sale of the day. And it struck me, I loved my prematurely aging friend, more worried about him than my band and its imperfections.
And I had a thought that this might be the watch I wear on the day we’re redeemed.
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