The Seizenn was my 14th watch and marks somehow an entry into a new era of my collecting journey. With this watch I ventured away from micro brands and got a bit more experimental with Ali Express and cheap Quartz watches, as well as eventually moving into entry level luxury. It was the first watch that I ordered from a Chinese factory brand. Seizenn is a sister brand from the same factory as Merkur. For being a Chinese factory brand they make some of the more interesting pieces you can find from that part of the world. They’re also known for their small batches, so even if a model isn’t a limited edition it might not be available forever. If you see a Merkur you like, buy it before it’s gone. They’re affordable and well built and often sport a strong retro style.
The G-series Master Retro is obviously based on the case of Timex Q. But they’ve added just enough original details that it doesn’t feel like a complete rip-off. It’s an automatic diver of sorts with 200m water resistance. Screw down crown, NH36 powered day date complication and a 12 hour bezel which is unidirectional oddly enough.
I love this 1970s inspired design. The case (kudos to Timex), the generously domed mineral crystal, the blue shade chosen for the watch face and the cross hair and square printed markers work really, really well together. I wish they would’ve found a different blue for the bezel. Something that works better with the subdued blue of the face. Same goes for the blue on the hands. Not quite the right shade on them either. But part from that, and lume so bad I don’t see why they even bothered, this is a great little watch.
Seizenn G-series Master Retro on the wrist
It’s only 38mm in diameter and I was slightly concerned it would be too small. But as soon as it came on my wrist it only took a few hours to adjust to the smaller size from my regular 40 – 42mm watches. The bracelet is nothing special but suits the watch well and has stayed on as the best choice, even if the 20mm lugs allows for plenty of strap options.
The Seizenn G-series Master Retro has great summer vibes and definitely sees more wrist time in the summer months. It’s a fun watch and wasn’t more than £120 including shipping. It’s hard to find nowadays as well so I’m happy I got it while it was available.
Last year marked the 10-year anniversary of an icon no-one seems to be talking about anymore. And so, maybe it didn’t come as a surprise that the 10-year anniversary coincided with the announcement of Tudor retiring one of their models that once helped to reignite excitement in the Rolex’s dying sister brand. The job was done, and it had worked. But ten years down the line, trends and expectations of the brand have moved on: what felt spot on in 2013 would now face the risk of being an ugly duckling, not quite fitting in with the rest of Tudor’s line-up, but without the potential of turning into a swan.
So the watch was removed from production and will never be produced again. And as much as I adore this watch I do think it was the right decision. And it’s not the end. Because just as with our dearest characters in popular TV dramas that can die just to make a come-back seasons later, so have consumer brands a way of creating demand in their products by discontinuing legendary products only to bring them back in new, fresh packaging. Or shall we say recycled vintage packaging? One only has to glance at the automotive industry to see what’s going on. Look at the new Defender, the new Land Cruiser, the new Bronco. Or the Mini and Fiat 500 before that. And then look at the new releases from any Swiss watch brand from the last ten years. It’s all reissues from their back catalogue. Ok, maybe not all, but at least 50%.
Guess which watch was at the forefront of that trend?
Tudor Heritage Chrono
When you make a reissue of a 1972 chronograph you know you’re going to get polarising reactions. The 60s and 70s gave birth to some of the most interesting watch designs we’ve ever seen. Sometimes designs were a result of innovative necessity: a solution to a very real problem, as with the Omega Ploprof, designed to allow saturation divers to tell time at 1200 m depth. But often it wasn’t function before form: style meant everything, and both the 60s and 70s had heaps of it. Classics like the Heuer Monaco, Zenith El Primero and Seiko’s 6139 ‘Pogue’ all came out of the 70s or late 60s. What’s interesting is that these are all chronographs. If the 50s into the 60s was the era of dive watches galore, the batten must’ve undoubtedly be handed over to watches for motorsport and racing as the 70s was rolling in. And what do you need for tracking lap time? A chronograph complication.
Trying on for size at an AD in 2018.Dressed up for a wedding.On the beach with a blue nato.
Tudor’s original 1972 chrono, lovingly referred to as ‘Monte Carlo’ because of its resemblance to a roulette wheel fits right into the 70s ethos with its stark use of blue and orange. This is a watch that wants to be seen. Tudor was always seen as Rolex’s kid brother, or ‘poor man’s Rolex’. But with the Monte Carlo Tudor showed that it had an identity of its own, and quite fittingly this was then the model that was chosen to be reissued and announced at the 2010 Basel World, initially in black or grey. It would take another three years before the iconic blue version was released – the same year Tudor was reintroduced to the American market after a long hiatus. Tudor’s success since then can’t single handedly be given to the Heritage Chrono. In recent years it’s obvious that the dive-oriented Black Bay is the real star of the show, and Tudor has also done smart choices with their brand advocates in order to appeal to a younger audience. But the Monte Carlo is still the watch that grabbed me in 2013 and never let go, and given the praise this watch has received all around the watch community it’s easy to assume I’m not alone in having this sentiment.
Living with the ‘Monte Carlo’
Let’s just get a few niggles out of the way. This watch is not perfect. It’s a reissue but it’s not an exact copy. As such, Tudor decided to make some contemporary design decisions that ten years later are starting to feel questionable. Such as painting the Tudor emblem on the crown blue. Or using knurling for the bezel, crown and pushers, which gives off a utilitarian vibe that doesn’t quite match the otherwise so fun and playful design. The date window at six a clock is too small and barely legible, and the small sizing problem is again noticeable when you try and unscrew the pushers to use the chronograph. There are some sharp edges to the case and bracelet, which work well with the overall aesthetics but your wrist suffers from it from time to time.
And then there’s the size. At 42 mm width and a 50 mm lug-to-lug length, the Heritage Chrono had perfect dimensions in 2013 when large watches was all the rage. But preferences change, and in 2024 it’s more common to see releases around 39mm. It makes a big difference in wearability and comfort. The lume is far from great and reading the minute track on the chronograph sub-dial makes me wish I still had the eyesight of my youth (yes, I do use the chronograph daily – mainly for timing my coffee brew time and rest time between gym sets).
That might be a long list of nitpicking, because in the end I still love this watch. It’s not daily wear for me due to the reasons I mentioned, but it’s a watch I wear on a city break, on a night out or matched with smart casual outfit. There’s more to the Heritage Chrono than meets the eye: I love that despite being a reissue it has a story of its own, and helped Tudor regain its position in the US and the rest of the world. I love that it’s a bit left field and that I’ve never seen anyone wearing it, and that makes me stand out from the Submariners, the Seamasters and the Speedys. I love that it reminds me to live life now and not wait for ‘the right moment’ that may never come.
The Heritage Chrono is discontinued and production has stopped. But it’s not the end. The Monte Carlo will appear again when the world is ready for it, and I will keep wearing and loving mine until then.
When Naoki and his Gruppo Gamma announced the Venturo Skindiver he immediately had my attention. As you might recall from previous posts, Gruppo Gamma was one of earliest experiences with mechanical watches and the Divemaster had left a big impression. Venturo is the sister brand, and actually reads ‘Venturo by Gruppo Gamma’. The two brands have a lot in common.
The Skindiver jumped on the, well – skindiver – trend which was so prevalent around 2020. I’m a big fan of the skindiver look and had already acquired two of them from Wolbrook the same year. A skindiver from Gruppo Gamma sounded like a dream to me since I’d given up the Divemaster much due to its size.
The Skindiver was a much more versatile 40mm body / 41mm bezel with 22mm lugs. The watch indeed felt very sleek on wrist with a curved body and short lugs. I got the fitted bracelet to go with it, but for a reason I can’t remember I mostly wore it on various straps as you can see in the pictures. I wonder why though, since the bracelet was fine quality and certainly looked good with the watch. I think it might’ve been the simple fact that it was a 22mm non-tapering bracelet and it just felt a bit too chunky for the watch..
Falling out of love with the Venturo Skindiver
Unfortunately, it didn’t take me too long to realise that I wasn’t perfectly happy with the watch. You don’t buy a watch just to be satisfied with it – you buy a watch to love it to bits, at least that’s my philosophy. My collection is large as it is and if I’m not in love with a watch then it doesn’t belong in my collection.
Why I didn’t love the Skindiver came down to a combination of factors, I believe. On the plus side it came from a brand I like and respect, it had a beautiful, unique case shape and great dimensions, a boxed crystal and the matt bezel material is something I’d love to see on more watches. But this wasn’t enough to outweigh the downsides:
The bezel was very stiff to turn. Too stiff for my liking
The date window was too small, almost unusable to tell the date
The face, and this is what it really came down to, felt toy-like
Yes. Toy-like is the best way I can describe it. Some watches are meant to be playful, even toy-like, but the Skindiver’s ethos was not that. I wanted a rugged tool watch. It was the sum of the white chapter ring, the plastic feel to the second hand and the neon yellow colouring of the lumed bits. This all together simply didn’t gel with me.And I really tried to make it work, because I really wanted to like this watch.
So I sold my Venturo Skindiver
It honestly felt like a failure, like I had let the watch down, when I finally decided to sell it. It was for sale over a year I think, and while it was for sale I would wear it and think ‘maybe i should keep it, it is a nice watch’ but always come to the same conclusion; that I can’t keep a watch unless I love it, for its perfections and imperfections. The imperfections of this watch bugged me. While I sometimes regret selling the Divemaster I don’t regret selling the Skindiver. This watch wasn’t for me.
Let’s just say that if the Skindiver would’ve replaced the yellow tints for white, gotten rid of the white chapter ring and used a metallic finish on the second hand, it would still be in my collection, and probably cherished and worn a lot.
Whether you like it or not, AliExpress offers some of the best value for money watches you can buy today. The Chinese factories have stepped up their watch game and created a big following in recent years. Most models to come out of Shenzhen are still copycats imitating the famous Swiss designs, but more and more we’re starting to see some original designs joining the virtual shop windows on AliExpress.
Here are some of my latest finds from spending too much time browsing watches this month. I don’t think any of these will make it to the Xmas tree for me, but maybe you find some inspiration for your or your partner’s stocking.
ADDIESDIVE AD2033
Addiesdive’s new AD2033 slogan reads ‘Exploring the unknown and stealing bravely’. Indeed they’ve explored the not so unknown Tudor catalogue and stolen the Ranger’s face. But instead of staying true to the original field watch, they’ve upgraded it to a diver and added a Seiko bezel. I quite like the look, especially with the BOR bracelet. Fair price at £89 and good dimensions to boot. Unfortunately the bezel isn’t lumed, not even the 12 hour pip. C’mon AddiesDIVE.
Addiesdive panda dial Type 20 chronograph
Powered by a Seiko VK64 is this stunning little Type 20 inspired panda chrono. Not a copycat per se, but also not very original. It’s a beautiful looking piece nonetheless at a good early bird price at £67. The case is very skin diver-esque and has screw-down crown for good water resistance, but the pushers are just made to look like screw-down. And this one has a lumed bezel! I’ll definitely consider this one during one of the sales.
Boderry VOYAGER
Boderry looks identical to Bertucci, which is the real deal here. But nevertheless, Boderry’s version comes with a titanium case, an automatic NH35 movement, 100m WR and a range of toned down but funky colours. It’s just a good deal.
MINUTETIME vintage Rolex Submariner
I’m not a Rolex guy. The brand and what it has become doesn’t speak to me. But I do have a weak spot for the vintage 5513 Submariner. Submariners have been cloned countless times, but this vintage design is seen less and the original Rolex is also more or less impossible to acquire for the average collector. So it’s cool to see the 5513 offered instead of the run of the mill modern Submariner. But what really caught my eye was the bubble boxed crystal. That is mouth watering.
Yes, what we got here is one of my personal favourites. The amount of wrist time it gets would not suggest this, but I can assure you every time I wear it and look down on my wrist I get a good feeling.
This watch was a substitute. Not a conscious one, but when I browsed my large library of screen grabs of nice watches across the web and saw the watch that inspired the Venturo purchase there was no question about it. This watch was the Leoncino with accents in rose gold by Magrette.
The Leoncino, as lovely as it is, was a bit outside my budget. That was in 2018. In 2020 Gruppo Gamma, a brand I have much respect for, put their Venturo Field II on sale. I had seen this watch before but never given it too much thought. This time however, with a discounted price to incentivise me, I gave it a good look and realised that the blue sunburst dial was rather stunning.
As mentioned, I didn’t see the resemblance with the Magrette back then, but given that I put the Venturo on a blue seatbelt nato strap I think it’s pretty obvious what I was going for.
It needs to be said though that this watch is not a substitute anymore. The Leoncino, now available in 40mm is mouth watering, but the Venturo Field 2 is gorgeous and holds its own. The 42mm case is based on an old Rolex field watch and its distinct look makes it, as someone on a watch forum put it, ‘a watch worn by people in the know’.
The watch goes well with most straps you throw at it. You can dress it up or down and the 200m WR makes it versatile to bring on any adventure you have in mind. Inside sits an NH35. Mine runs at -5s/day.
I don’t wear this watch as much as some of my other watches. As a daily I prefer to have at least a date function, and ideally a chronograph. But what it lacks in functionality it makes up for in charm and style. I don’t see it leaving the collection.
Wolbrook went live with their Kickstarter campaign sometime during or just before the pandemic hit. Their campaign was mega successful and they delivered gallantly (in contrast to others).
And no wonder they were successful. The original offering was a gorgeous looking re-edition of a skin diver from the 60s, right when skin divers were the hottest trend in the watch world. As the campaign progressed they launched more and more stretch goals and variants, so in the end I was too tempted by two quite different looking pieces and ordered both of them with additional bead of rice bracelets.
The rebirth of a brand
Wolbrook is the main brand, based out of France. Douglas was a sister brand they decided to revive also, and dedicate that strand to the ‘professional’ line sporting a gorgeous hesalite crystal. They decided to revive the brand and push strongly on the tool watch angle. The whole Kickstarter campaign made a massive deal out of the fact that Neil Armstrong has owned a Wolbrook back in the pre-moon days.
Some people, me included found that a bit cringe and forced but it didn’t stop us from order a very good looking watch from them. Unrelated back story aside, the watch is a solid offering and since then the brand is pushing on hard, releasing new models and creating a new brand story for themselves.
The watches – Wolbrook and Douglas
Both watches uses the same body and face. The differences lie in colour variations and crystal. The Wolbrooks uses a sapphire crystal with protruding cyclops for the date window, whereas Douglas Worldtimers have a hesalite crystal with integrated cyclops.
I love acrylic and especially on a vintage design like the Worldtimers. I also thought the PVD version looked too good to resist, and this was only available for the Douglas. On the other side of the spectrum I had a rose gold two-tone Wolbrook, and when a two-tone BOR bracelet was announced I could not resist.
Both watches are 40 x 48mm with 20mm lugs and wear really well on the wrist. Inside is a Miyota 8215 automatic movement that has received an upgrade since the launch. Both watches run well however, within +6s/day and the rotor noise has never bothered me.
Living with two of the same watch
Although the Wolbrook and Douglas are the same watch more or less I find the differences large enough to find use for both of them. Douglas became my ‘adventure’ watch and Wolbrook became more of a daily and dressy watch. Over time I used the Douglas less as I found the PVD coated style less versatile than I had originally anticipated. Indeed, the Douglas is now for sale if you’re interested, while I’m holding on to my Wolbrook for now at least.
Is that what I will tell my fellow watch enthusiasts in a few weeks time when I proudly wear my grail watch on my left wrist? Probably not. Sure, the grail is a grail because it’s been a barrier to acquire, and as such bear a level of desirability. But it’s desirable to me, not anyone else.
In fact, I’ve never seen my grail on the wrist of anyone else, ever. It made a big bang at Baselworld 10 years ago, yet I’ve never seen it in the flesh (other than when I tried it on in 2018). And for me that’s a good thing. I like the unbeaten path and going against the grain. I like standing out a bit. If my grail was a Submariner I’d have to sit down and have a serious talk with myself.
Instead I’ve got a soft spot for 1970’s chronographs and dive watches. Funky, odd and tool-like – that’s my melody.
A grail watch wouldn’t be a grail unless it’s hard to acquire, maybe even unattainable. But my watch aspirations are modest. My mind is realistic and settles for the attainable (without compromising, mind you, but think Cayman instead of 911 GT3). I think it’s fair to say that it’s grail nonetheless. While other models have charmed me temporarily, this is the one watch my desire has been loyal to pretty much since its release in 2013. This particular grail watch is entry-level luxury from a brand that resonates well with me.
I’m not a fan-boy, but it certainly helps if the brand feels aligned with my own values. For instance, I’m definitely not Rolex. I’m not Breitling either and Omega just feels so vanilla. I’m not feeling Hublot nor TAG. I do feel Fortis, Oris and Sinn.
And I feel Tudor.
So it will be with a certain feeling of pride that I will wear my Tudor Heritage Chrono.
Why now?
I’ve been struggling with the idea of buying a luxury watch for a long time. I don’t like the idea of putting that much money into something as superficial and unnecessary as a watch. Besides, I like to wear my watches without too much caution. They are there to be used and abused. I’m not sure I’d be that carefree with a luxury watch.
Despite this, as with many collectors I’m sure, the idea of owning luxury watches, and in particular my grail watch has become more and more acceptable to me. I always thought I’d take the plunge in association with a big life event. A celebration or milestone. But this isn’t the case. I’ve got nothing going on in my life that I can tie this purchase to. The only post -realisation I’ve come up with is that it’s the watch’s 10 year anniversary – so maybe it’s celebration of the watch itself!
In reality though, Tudor is discontinuing the model this year and I think I rushed to acquire one before prices would go up, as they could easily do for discontinued iconic models like this one. That combined with a good deal found on Reddit, me not getting any younger and the realisation that money comes and goes so we might as well enjoy it (I’ve been working on letting go of my frugal mindset recently) sealed the deal in my mind.
And then what (life after acquiring a grail watch)?
What happens after one achieves a goal? Satisfaction? Emptiness? It’s not like I’ve ben savings up for this watch for years and finally get to reward myself. I’ve been holding back for other reasons mentioned above. But now’s the best time to do anything and I’m curious. Maybe I love it, maybe I’m too cautious to wear it and it ends up collecting dust.
One of my main concerns was that it will clash with my other pieces and I will somehow feel obliged to wear the Tudor more often as it’s now a main piece in my collection. But sop what? Who cares, if I want to wear it i wear it. I’m over that concern and most likely I’ll treat it just like any other watch I’ve got – wear it on a daily whim and to match the attire and occasion. It’s a summery watch though and I might wear it less in the autumn and winter.
I’m not done yet. Now when I’ve opened up the door to luxury watches it might not take long before I add the Sinn 103 ST – my other grail. With those two in my collection I’m not sure what would come next, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy the journey to come.
There comes a point in one’s watch collecting journey where you might ask yourself – Is this an addiction? Why am I spending time and money on a seemingly meaningless activity?
We collect watches because we enjoy it, that is pretty obvious. And as with anything one enjoys, it’s all peachy as long as there’s balance. As long as there’s not too much of it. What is too much of something is normally defined by the context. Too much food is when we gain undesired weight, too much sun is when we get a burn, too much work is when we start to neglect our health and family.
When is too much too much?
Too much watch collecting is a more subjective threshold. For me it’s when I feel guilty because I spend resources that could’ve gone towards improving and investing in my life in some way, be it health, relationships, knowledge or something else. And I do feel this from time to time. Time, yes, indeed time is ironically the resource I feel most guilty about putting into my watch collection.
Luckily I don’t hoard watches, and I enjoy cheap watches just as much as expensive ones so it’s not an expensive hobby either. It’s mainly the time that goes into browsing watches online. But also the cognitive dissonance from growing a collection of items that I don’t need. I hate waste and try to keep in my life only things I need and use regularly. A more sensible collection of watches, where each watch has a distinct function, would be in the range of two to five.
But am I addicted? Addiction would imply that I cannot control my desires and luckily it hasn’t gone that far. For people with hundreds of watches I have to wonder though. Can they stop if they wanted to? What’s missing in their life that they’re trying to fill with all these watches?
I have periods when I browse watches online for hours every day. Then I have periods when I hardly even think about watches at all. Those periods are usually filled with something else, like recently when I started wakeboarding and don’t think about anything but the next trick I’ll try on the cable.
Filling the void
I believe we collect objects as a substitute for something more meaningful. We lack something in our life and we look the other way and bombard out senses with ‘stuff’ to not have to face this fact.
So regardless of what you’re collecting, and even if it’s far from an addiction, ask yourself this – what’s my collection a substitute for? What’s missing in my life?
I used my skx007 loads. I did really enjoy it, especially on the Strapcode jubilee. But it was a second hand watch and ran an awful lot behind, somewhere around 30 seconds a day. So in a clumsy attempt to adjust it I accidentally touched something I shouldn’t have in the movement and the watch stopped working.
As a result I sold it and looked for a new one (it was probably easy enough to fix but I just wanted to leave it behind and move on). Prices for the discontinued skx had gone up however, and instead of buying an original one I ended up getting a part aftermarket one from Philippines. They can be a bit hit or miss, but if you’re ok with aftermarket they are way cheaper. I got the “009” for around £100, but of course it wasn’t a true 009. The bezel was aftermarket and you can tell from the colours. Also the face is most likely aftermarket, sporting the yellow text instead of the orange. That could be from discolouring after many hours in the sun but most likely it isn’t.
The watch worked fine and was in honesty very close to my previously owned 007 in terms of looks. But somehow it wasn’t right. I think it was mainly the colour of the bezel that didn’t do it for me. The bezel of the real 009 uses a darker blue and looks great. This felt like a cheap imitation – which I guess it was.
So the so called 009 didn’t stay long in my collection. I already had dive style beater watches that I preferred, and as I’ve said many times – one should only keep watches you truly love and can’t part with.
I still like the skx case and from time to time I’m checking out mods, copy cats on Aliexpress and the 2nd hand market. But since I got my turtle now I’m less inclined to get a discontinued and overpriced skx.
No. There are so many better things you can do with your time.
But.
Watch collecting, or any type of collecting for that matter, is quite a nice activity. It’s a short lived pleasure however, just like watching sitcoms or having sex with people you don’t know.
So I just threw watch collecting into the same bag as one-night-stands? Yes I did that.
For a fulfilled life (forget about pursuing happiness, it doesn’t work) you want long lasting effects. Invest in relationships, invest in your purpose, invest in developing yourself. Collect experiences and memories.
That’s the simple formula. And watches aren’t part of it. But that doesn’t have to stop us from acquiring a new one every now and then. Pleasure is important (be it watches or one-night-stands) but it shouldn’t be at the expense of that other stuff mentioned above.
Trying on a grail on a trip to Dubai.
What’s the danger with watch collecting?
There’s a reason ‘watch porn’ is a term. One can get obsessed with watches, browse Instagram feeds for hours, ebay for days. That’s not healthy. And it might actually be a sign of procrastination and avoiding something you should be doing but don’t want to deal with.
And because watches are relatively harmless there is little stigma in obsessive watch collecting. It’s easy to find like-minded people in various online forums that will happily echo your sentiment in order to confirm and support their own skewed view on what brings value to their lives. 200 watches sitting in neat rows in a dozen boxes in their dresser don’t. They might think they do but then they don’t get life.
Of course I’m projecting a bit here, because my philosophy is ‘one watch per occasion’, but I cringe so hard when I read about people brining five watches on a weekend trip or collectors changing watch three times a day just to rotate their collecting.
Hey collector, collect whatever you want to collect. Do it your way and own it proudly. It’s your life, and if watch obsession isn’t a waste of time in your eyes then it isn’t.
And if you have 199 watches and looking for that #200, maybe a cushion shaped bamboo watch is exactly what’s missing in your collection.
