Tomorrow may be one of the most important days of my life...

Tomorrow. Er... Actually it should be this morning because it's past midnight as I'm writing this. When the sun rises, I will go to work as usual. You know, as they say, same shit, different day. But this day is different. I'm going to talk to my manager about my intention to apply for a job change within the department. If he gives me his blessing, I will be promoted.

 

A promotion. It was, to me, so distant for the past few years. I guess it was a combination of many factors. Now, there is finally a ray of hope for me to move ahead. To climb up the corporate ladder as they say. I must grab the opportunity because opportunities are few and far in between.

 

Come tomorrow, I'm going to wear my new acquisition, a Citizen Promaster to work. Hopefully it will bring me luck in my negotiation. If everything goes well, I will definitely get a Citizen Navihawk. Till then, only time will tell.  :)

A watch forum is as political as an office.

I certainly think so. That a watch forum is as political as an office. It's a gathering of people with different background, culture, habits, and pet peeves. All supposedly have the same interest and hobby but sometimes quarrel errupts. There will be opposers, supporters, haters, and people who stand on the fence. It's both funny and sad to watch. It's reminiscent of office politics that we have to endure day in a day out. The higher you climb, or the longer you stay, the more vivid it is felt.

 

It's time to get a GPS watch and go out to the world and wander. I've been thinking of getting one for a while. The Casio GPS is priced quite reasonably on the second hand market. The functions are easy to understand and use. It's really handy to have in a foreign city or back country. However, reviews say the battery only last about 2 hours per charge. That means, in order to conserve battery, one has turn it on sparingly only to confirm the position.

 

http://www.megatime.de/uhren/protrek/gps2.jpg

 

I do hope they keep on refining it. Up to a point when it became smaller, and the battery lasts longer. I've been a sucker for multi-function, digital watches recently. And that's okay, at least it keeps my mind off the office for a while.

 

 

Found a potential cherry...

In my previous post, I was mentioning about finding a bracelet with integrated magnetic compass. I was saying that the compass completes the watch. It will be my everyday, and traveling watch. 

 

Well. I think I may have to scrap the idea. It turns out that the bracelet (metal) may affect the reading of the compass. It's true. At least it's true for the bracelet of my Citizen Promaster. When testing using a handheld compass, the needle moves when the bracelet is close to the compass.  

 

Later on, a kind fellow forumer suggested this:

 

http://www.suuntowatches.com/assets/product_images/200/101941000000000.jpg

 

It is a small compass (about 30mm wide) that clips onto a watch strap. Some stores sell it together with its own velcro. Based on the description of this compass, it is no toy. It is 'jeweled'. I expect it to be useful at least for navigating in a city. I travel quite often and having a compass is handy in a foreign city.

 

Clipping it onto the bracelet will not be an option. The bracelet is too thick and the metal of the bracelet will affect reading. I would think that I will need to replace the bracelet with plastic, velcro, or other non-metal strap for this solution to work. I think this is viable. Too bad I would have to put aside the beautiful bracelet though.

 

 

Looking for a cherry to put on my icing cake.

It may sound absurd but after my recent trip, I really appreciate the usefulness of the compass. I purchased a $2 compass and it had to be the best $2 I have ever spent. I should have brought it along for my Bangkok trip last year. It would have saved me so much walking and agony while trying in vain to find a certain historical building.

 

Recently I won a Citizen Promaster watch from the bay. You can see the pictures in my previous posts. This Citizen has everything that I needed and more. I love to have a calendar with day, date, and month. It has it. I love to have two timezones. It has it too if I set the analog and digital time to different time zones. The only thing I hope it has is the compass. Yes it has a bezel compass. It works by setting the watch to a certain angle to the sun. It is not always possible to see the sky. Especially so if you are in a concrete jungle. Therefore, I really hope to have an integrated magnetic compass on the watch.

 

One option I can take is to replace the bracelet with an after-market one that has integrated compass. I do love the original bracelet. They look nice enough to me and rather comfortable to wear. But, if I can find a suitable bracelet with a functional compass that would be the cherry on my icing cake.

 

 

Am I the only one having this kind of weird reservation?

Am I the only one having this kind of weird reservation? Do you have the feeling that if you appear as doing well financially, your boss is less likely to give you a raise? Therefore, in order not to appear financially well-to-do, you try not to wear expensive clothing and accessories (watch!).

I'm definitely a victim of this thought. Maybe it's a reflection of how political our modern day office has become. Along with time, there goes my innocence, my ideals. It's a sad feeling how much time has eroded away from me.

Well. Enough whining. Here's a shot of my new acquisition on my wrist. I have only wore it once on a Saturday so far. Looking forward to wearing it next Saturday when I visit my family. :)

My new found passion in complicated quartz watches.

It used to be all about mechanical watches. Automatics, manual winds. Now, I'm totally in love with the Citizen series of complicated quartz watches. Some say real watch aficionados don't do quartz watches. Well, maybe I'm a fake but who cares! Whatever floats my boat, right?

I'm sure many of us are attracted by the sophistication in terms of look and function of the Citizen Navihawk. It has some cool functions we may never find in a mechanical watch. For example, the ability to keep time in 30 cities; the ability to switch the timezone between the digital display and the analog display instantly; three alarms that were tied to the timezone they were set for; and so on.

And the look... It is simply captivating. The dial is inspired by flight cockpit design. I have nothing to complain about the look of this watch. My only regret is that the watch has no electronic illumination. Based on what I read, the lume is really of not much help in dark situation.

This is definitely one to consider when I receive my bonus. :p

My first Citizen finally arrived!

My first Citizen finally arrived! It is time to share the joy! The model is JS1045-58E. It is a digital and analog combo watch with thermo function.

The new baby arrives in a package.

Time to open it.



The entire package.

The face of my new baby.


Close-up shot of the face.


The thermo sensor.


Lume shot.

Impulsive shopping on a sleepless night...

I had problem sleeping tonight. I think I slept for a grand total of two hours. Thanks and no thanks to the large latte I had after dinner. There were some itchiness on my thigh and I felt hungry when I woke up. I thought I might as well check on the ebay for my watchlist items that were about to end.

There were this Poljot manual wind that is ending in about less than one hour. So, I waited and when the time is almost up (about 2 minutes) I bidded on it. I was constantly outbidded by others. The time ended while I was stepping up my bid. I lost!

I still felt sleepless. I started searching for Citizen watches on ebay and found quite a number of interesting models. The JS1045-58E being one of them. I added it to my watch list. I happened to be still on the computer when it was about to end.

On an impulse, I bidded on it. Needless to say I was outbidded. So, I tried to increase my bid for two more times and finally I got it. I won the item!

I bidded on this watch without finding out the specifications and read any reviews. I have never seen this watch prior to tonight. All I knew was I wanted a nice, bigger sized watch for travelling, outdoor, or weeekends.

I hope this watch meets my expectation. I will post more info about this watch when I find out more about it. And yes, I will take some nice pictures. :)

Manual wind ETA, which watch?

After owning quartz analog, quartz digital, and automatic watch, I'm really yearning for a manual wind. I used to have a manual wind. It is an old Seiko. I sold it because it is too small and the condition is not so good.

After reading about a few manual wind movements, I came across the ETA 2804 and ETA 2801. The latter is the same as the former except for it has no date. They have a higher beat rate of 28,800. This is the same as the automatic ETA 2824/2.

I'm drawn to this movement because of its higher beat and also the easy serviceability of ETA. There are quite a number of watches using this movement.



Of these, I found the single hand MeisterSinger particularly interesting. There is only one hour hand with no minute and second hand. It is made in Germany. I like the clean, effective design.

I'm going on a trip! Which watch?

I'm so excited these days. My once in a year vacation is starting in a few days time. The vacation is really a blessing because of what happened in the past few weeks. I hope to really unwind (myself, not the watch, haha...) and forget everything about work.

I've been thinking recently, about which watch to bring. Is it my Swatch automatic? Is it my USD9 Casio digital? I have two more quartz watches and another automatic. I'm not going to consider these because I seldom wear them. The automatic is a gift and I have only worn it once or twice.





The Swatch has a leather strap. The Casio has a plastic strap. I figure the leather will stain after I ran around in tropical weather. The Casio is cheap, good, and I can afford to be very careless with it. I have travelled to many countries with this watch. So far, it held up well.

If I choose the Swatch automatic, it marked my first time travelling with an automatic. I have just worn the watch for a month. So far I have no doubt about its reliability. I'll have to catch flights, catch buses, and other mode of transport during the trip. I'm pretty confident that the Swatch will be able to help me tell the time reliably. Ironically, the clock on my cell phone (a Panasonic) is blatantly inaccurate compared to my Swatch.

It is also time to test whether a leather strap is really suitable for travelling. I guess I'll be washing the watch after I return. Till then, it is time to wind and unwind! :)