Dan K

@zdp189.bsky.social

801 Followers 304 Following

Film Photography, Printing, Small Aeroplanes and Tinkercad

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Chinese watch manufacturing is going through a revolution. The Japanese making NH and 9000 series movements harder to get has pushed Chinese brands to turn to Swiss movements and Chinese clone movements, which are improving with increased demand. This has driven up the end-product price and case and clasp finishing has jumped to justify that premium, pushing Chinese watch brands into closer competition with Japanese watches, entry-level Swiss and Western microbrands.
If I could raise my hand higher and chime the hour, I'd be a town clock. I told myself id nevwr buy another Solar watch after so many bad experiences with watches I'd wrongly stored in a box, so hopefully I'll keep this one alive.
Her poster from a recent camera fair.
*The most dangerous knife to its user was the original North Star bushcraft knife. It was like if you designed a knife out of spite.
It's heavy. Rolex Sea Dweller heavy. With 4 links removed for my 8.25" wrist, it comes in at 149g. If you often swap watches, you'll feel it constantly throughout the day.
A beautiful watch, with facets as opposed to curves. I chose the black bezel over the orange and blue options because those are really iconic flashes of the Omega Planet Ocean. In black it is less identifiable as a clone. Bezel action is better than most.
It's not a Seamaster 300 and it won't scratch thr itch if you want one of those. But it's hyper-practical and handsome.
It's a double hander. The long white seconds hand tells the stopwatch seconds, the red tells stopwatch minutes.
Omega De Ville GMT on an "Armadillo" bracelet. The watch cost me £450 on the black leather strap, but expect to pay £1,000+ for this combo. Still not Rolex money, though.
It has some wrist presence. It draws the eyes of admirers but not thieves. In case you're wondering, it cost $179, with free shipping and the NH35A movement alone costs $45 these days. It's affordable by most.
The FEHD rat poison traps seem to be getting more pigeons than rats.
A Rolex Sub at 41mm is great; it's ideal on me for a luxury watch. The Tudor Pelagos in 42mm is big, but on the small end of ideal with a wet suit. The BB58 at 38mm feels casual. This BB54 at 37mm is fine in a vintage sports/diver or dress watch, but I wouldn't want something tool-like. I find I can wear even smaller like 33mm in a vintage dress watch, or up to 45mm over a wetsuit.
Bolos
Wonton (餛飩) misspelled wanton.
It's meaningful to me because I've been injured a bunch in the Philippines in the past doing extreme sports (including two shoulder dislocations) and yet here I am, safely on my way home again. I'm not superstitious and religious, or this would be an omen and a warning from God not to board my flight.
Next dive right after entry, he goes "I recovered your camera!" "Then why's the line cut?" "You must have snagged it". Kaching! 💵
The design is low drag, originally for efficient paddling, but it also makes the most out of a small motor.
One thing that surprised me is nobody was calculating pressure groups anymore. It's been 13 years since I last dived and dive computers have taken over, but not everyone was wearing a dive computer and some weren't wearing watches instead. People just trust others in the group with computers will know what safe. Not my way. Next time I'll double up.
I was told not to smoke till we were done diving.
At this point, I was an Equity Research Analyst and it was just a couple of years before I got married and started a family. That was probably the closest I had come to a moustache and beard.
A grown-ass woman, she just graduated college.
I don't look like this. My physique is more like Bobby Trippe these days, but the wetsuit only fits me, I have no musical talent and I don't have a purdy mouth (opinions vary depending on levels of sponsorship) and that limits me to playing Lewis Medlock.
It's hard to push one lever down and release a valve with one hand. Normally I don't record video. A little air came out of the Helium escape valve but I'm probably OK. I'll run a condensation test on it later.
Keith Hui, a commercial painter specialising in pinstriping and automotive work. Image credit: Mark Chung, commercial photographer. Contact details available by DM.
I'll probably never wear it again in public.
Even my wedding ring matches the tones of this watch.
Looks OK face on
Looks better on the wrist than on a stand.
OK so you were an investment banker in the 90s but spent your bonuses on stuff other than watches (like me)? You like the No Date Sub but fantasize about doing saturation diving when you'll never go deeper than 40m on Trimix (like me)? Want a proper professional watch and not the fat eye catching case and shiny ceramic bezel? THIS is the watch. Yeah, I'll probably keep this. They normally go for about USD11,000 but I'll probably only need to pay the trade price of HKD50,000 (USD6,300). Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the Helium escape valve on the side. Not sorry about the bezel being set to a minute to midnight. 😜
Looks OK, right?
I'll admit I like the idea of a brown watch. I'll tell you what, this is a surprisingly light watch, even for one with a Grade 2 Titanium case. It's because the mesh bracelet is Titanium too. 😲