Thanks Berks. I like this one a lot.
It’s a good Looking homage.

Thank you very much. I was after a watch like this for a really long time. And I still cannot believe my family did it make happen as it was (still is) much too expensive for me. But now I am really happy and keep it like a treasure... I do think it is spectacular and grandiose...

Watches - one of those things some people get really excited about that just leave me cold. Sure I can appreciate the craftmanship that goes into a quality watch, Mrs W recently acquired a Grand Seiko, they are bit like what Lexus are to Toyota … a luxury brand division of the company. I have to admit that it feels nice when you pick it up and I can see that there would be pleasure in wearing it, in much the same way that I enjoy fondling and wearing my Alden loafers, but would I want one? No … let alone pay out the sort of sums that are paid for Rolexes. So many people where I live seem to be wearing them that I tend to think that the brand’s cache has been somewhat devalued. Certainly wearing one doesn’t seem to imbue the wearer with style or class, not in my eyes anyway. It seems to be a form of attention seeking and can attract the wrong sort of attention as there are muggers who can spot a Submariner at fifty paces. I have an old Eterna automatic that does me fine, it only has  a 34mm dial which is about as big as I like to go with my thin wrists. Just like cars watches have got bigger and bigger in recent years, 44mm seems to quite typical, some are bigger. Like wearing Big Ben on your wrist and verging on impractical in my opinion.

Rolex are being very clever, there are waiting lists of up to 2 years for Submariners, GMT Masters & Sea Dwellers and as for Daytona's forget it. On the second hand market they're fetching silly money (a bit like 2nd hand cars are). I have a very understated Datejust which is 17 years old and never let me down, I've been an admirer of the brand for over 40 years and always wanted one. So when I decided to take voluntary redundancy I blew a small portion of the money on one. I looked at it this way, 21 years of blood, sweat and tears for a job I ended up hating.

Wearing a luxury brand watch that you were given for your 21st, bought to mark some life event or previously belonged to your dad is quite different to the majority which are being bought as a display of wealth (or good credit rating). Often it doesn’t stop at one such watch either. A chap we knew went down this road and declared himself to be ‘into watches’; before long he had half a dozen Rolexes and Tudors and had to buy a little machine to keep them all wound up. All of this was quite out of keeping with the way he dressed and the rest of his lifestyle. It was as though each time he got another one he was trying to recreate the buzz he got when he bought his first expensive watch, an Omega which was quietly abandoned when the first Rolex appeared.

You're most likely to see vulgar Russians wearing Richard Mille.