I recently found myself in a city (and an airport) for the first time since early 2020, and got the chance to take a look at a few watches.
First up was one watch that I’ve been interested in since it came out - the black bay gmt. I’ve long been looking for a gmt watch (don’t care if it’s a caller or a flyer - just needs a second time zone) but I have never found the ‘right’ one. I’ve almost bought the BB GMT a few times, but was put off by the bi-colour bezel, I really dislike how garish the Rolex gmt is and really want a plain black bezel. The BB colours are a lot calmer than the Rolex and seem a lot classier, overall I liked the look of it, I suspect I’ll be getting one at some point…and the good news is mrs dtf liked it too.
Next was the black bay pro…I should add I hate the explorer 2, so a clone does nothing for me…it was a lot nicer than I expected, I didn’t get a strong ‘buy me’, but it wasn’t hideous either. I’m planning to revisit this at some point.
While we were at the airport, we took a look at the tags, they didn’t have any of the new men’s ARs, but did have a handful of ladies - these look really good, my wife was very taken with this one:
This looks great in the metal, the render doesn’t do the colours justice and the waves on the dial really pop and add interest.
Jumping forward three weeks, I found myself in Ben Bridge in Seattle, a jeweller I’ve always found to be super helpful.
Once again, they didn’t disappoint. Ben Bridge have a comprehensive TH, Hamilton, Breitling, etc display and even had 6 or so Rolex’s (in a display case for 50..), and they had the new ARs that I have been looking forward to seeing. I agree with Adam, the orange is the pick of the bunch, it really stands out in a good-not-garish way.
Of the 200m vs 300m debate, I was really surprised that I prefer the 300 - I was wrong about the ridiculous octagonal hour markers, they don’t jump out and scream at you, but the fume dial looks cheap and tacky in person, and I wasn’t sold on the baton markers compared to the ones on the way ARs. I still hate the 300m date positioning and cyclops, but I think I could look past that on the orange or night diver because overall the watches work.
The reason I went in to Ben Bridge was to try on a 36mm Explorer, I had planned to buy the 39mm explorer for my 40th in a few years, but then they discontinued it, so I have been wondering if the 36mm would work for me - I may have been slanted because I’d been wearing my 43mm WAY nightdiver for almost a month by this point, but the 36mm just looked too small. The sales advisor and I concluded that I should have just bought the 39mm, back when they were a thing and one could just buy a Rolex. The 39mm in all its perfection in 2017:
It was great getting back out into the world and actually trying on some watches - it really reinforced how you can stare at a ton of photos and renders, but until you see the watch on the wrist, you don’t have your opinion.
…then I bought something completely different that I didn’t know existed.
