Q&A pieces are always an interesting proposition because I never quite know what I’m going to get. It’s like a baited mystery trap that I set for myself, and I always seem to forget how fun they can be. For this installation, I’ve narrowed things down to five of the questions submitted, and while three of them are watch-related, two are decidedly not but certainly are worth answering. The goal is to have these out monthly moving forward, so if you’d like a question to be featured and answered, just send me a message and I’ll be happy to include it!
Now, onto your questions:
What’s your favorite watch material and why?
Bronze! Although the moment for bronze seems to have passed as far as mainstream watch production is concerned (remember a couple of years ago when it was THE flavor of the day?), it remains my favorite material. I like that it changes and grows with the wearer, developing patina and becoming its own unique version of itself; the idea of every bronze watch looking different is just so cool to me. I can totally see how that doesn’t make sense for every single watch out there, and probably also to the majority of people buying and wearing watches, but I love it. Same as vintage cars that are unrestored, or old leather bags that haven’t been refinished or restitched, I think there’s such a great visual appeal to something that showcases unique wear and tear. I have two bronze watches in the collection at the moment:
If there’s one thing I would love to see more out of bronze watches, it would be slimmer, smaller cases, maybe closer to a skin diver or even vintage King Seiko/Grand Seiko dimensions. Yema’s done releases with bronze in 39mm, but I continue to hear not the best things about their quality control and servicing, so I’m holding off on testing those waters for now. Baltic also has a nice bronze diver at 39, but I’m still holding out for smaller one.
“But wait Mike,” I hear you say, “Oris does a 36mm bronze!”
They do, and it’s nice, but I’m not a huge fan of the coin edge bezel sadly. If it has a regular rotating bezel with an aluminum insert, I’d be sold.
“But Mike,” you say again, “there’s a 36mm Addiesdive on AliExpre-“
Nope, gonna have to stop you there. Once you fall down that rabbit hole in AliExpress, there’s no getting out…
Favorite modern Rolex?
This is a tough one largely due to my answer(s) to the next question. I’m going to be pretty boring here and say the Explorer 36, in part because Rolex discontinued the OP Palm Dial this year #sad. I have a 14270 (36mm) Explorer that I love and wear almost every day, so in the absence of that tropical goodness, I’ll go with the modern version of what I have. The case is the perfect size, it’s not flashy or oversized, and it’s the type of watch that’s still meant to be banged around and used for just about everything.
Least favorite modern Rolex?
This is going to sound like I’m begging for attention but I promise I’m not: my least favorite modern Rolex is, well, almost all of them. It’s not because I’m one of those forum trolls who just 💩 on Rolex every chance they get, or someone who has been strung along a waitlist for too many months (or years). I’m not a hater.
No, it’s that I just genuinely don’t like the watches, and that’s makes me a bit sad actually.
I’ll start by saying as actual watch lineages, I’m a fan of the Submariner, Sea-Dweller (including Deepsea references), Daytona, Explorer, Explorer II, and GMT Master lines. I know, that’s a pretty big chunk of what Rolex has to offer, and I was a big fan of the Milgauss before it was discontinued as well as the old school Precision and Oysterdates. So where do they lose me now?
Case size and bezel material.
For case size, the sweet spot for me is really 34-40mm, but even besides the actual measurements, Rolex has been working on beefing up their watches, while I’ve been working on slimming down (both my watches and my gut). I like the old Subs before they took steroids, the less hefty Explorer II’s, and literally any vintage GMT over the beefcaked modern version (they ruined the bezel font on those too by the way). I understand how Rolex wants to make their watches perfectly engineered to last forever, as well as to have a more significant wrist presence, but that’s just not for me. Despite that, I have a soft spot for the Deepsea; it’s so over engineered to the point of being a little crazy, and I like that. However, Rolex discontinued the black dial version, and the gold brick and James Cameron versions don’t do it for me, so there we go. And as I alluded to in my previous answer, I so wanted the Palm Dial OP. Such a wacky, tropical concept that was so very much un-Rolex. But that too is now discontinued as of this year. Hello silly secondary market prices.
For bezels, it’s easy: I don’t like ceramic. I think it looks cheap, it smudges annoyingly all the time, and I lament the fact that modern Rolex watches won’t age like their predecessors, effectively robbing the next generation’s vintage watch landscape of tropical dials, patina, and love scuffs. If modern Rolex divers and GMTs had aluminum bezel inserts that would age over time like in the past, or at the very least just not be so chunky and shiny, then I could pretty easily overlook the case sizing. And I know Rolex obviously doesn’t want their watches to age and change with time, hence using ceramic, so my whole argument here is pointless in that sense. But it’s still what I think, and if anything, it’s saving me loads of aggravation from not having to get on a waitlist for anything out of the modern catalogue.
I’m pretty neutral about modern Daytonas, largely because Rolex always discontinues the ones that I like, and the newer 1908 is interesting but not really giving me anything I can’t find in a more affordable, accessible dress watch elsewhere. I guess I’ll just hold out hope for them to bring me back my Palm Dial OP.
Once and for all, why was firefly cancelled?
Poor time management.
And also fraud. Again.
Why would any United States Veteran eligible for VA healthcare not be enrolled? WTH??
There are many great things about the United States, but how our government treats our veterans is decidedly not one of them. To clarify, I’m not nor have ever been in the military, but I have several generations of family who are/have been and, though this is very much not a watch-related question, since the watch industry just loves a military/veteran-connected marketing campaign (ick), I felt we should tackle this one.
From what I have heard and seen, qualified veterans who are not enrolled in VA healthcare often miss out because of the incredibly complex, hoop-filled messaging and processes deployed (no pun intended) by the VA and its various outlets. To put my cynic hat on for a second, and without mincing words, think of it this way: the US government doesn’t want veterans to use their benefits. The more benefits utilized, the higher the cost, and if we’ve learned anything about our government in the last couple of decades, it’s that it hates to spend money on things that could genuinely help its people (healthcare, education, public transportation, infrastructure, etc.). We also have a bottleneck epidemic when it comes to veteran healthcare due to the fact that everything must funnel through one disorganized, under resourced, understaffed, and under cared for government segment. What ensues then is a system designed to not be utilized; the end result is a significant population left both under supported and under informed, often with incredibly dire life-threatening consequences. Our vets deserve better, and in this case, it starts with more direct and clear processes to ensure an easier experience enrolling in their healthcare benefits. Just something to keep in mind next time one of those “military inspired” cash grab watch collabs comes around.
And that’ll do it for this Q&A! Thanks again to everyone who submitted questions for this round. There’s a larger announcement coming out before the weekend about the future of the blog, so stay tuned for that. Appreciate you all for reading!
As always, wherever you are, and wherever you’re going, many thanks for stopping by.
Bronze reminds me of unlacquered brass faucets and handles, which I love and have in my home. I know what you mean about the Oris coin edge in bronze. Doesn’t quite work for some reason.