Check out the caseback on the Seiko Presage Studio Ghibli Castle in The Sky. What is that? A crude, barely discernible depiction of the movie’s floating castle obscuring Seiko’s not-at-all-glamorous caliber 6R31 automatic movement. The Brits have an expression for this sort of thing; a dog’s breakfast. Seiko is hardly the only watchmaker guilty of a sticker-based creative caseback fail . . .
TRIWA stands for “Transforming the Watch Industry.” The Swedish watch brand trading under that name sells watches that are “modern statement symbols instead of traditional status symbols.” Timepieces that “highlight important issues of our time.” No Rolex? No woman, no cry! Think watch as virtue signaling, rather than ego projection. If you’re looking to signal your support for gun control, the $249 TRIWA Time for Peace watch is your huckleberry. Here’s the pitch . . .
I’m not a huge fan of huge watches. Panerais in particular. The Swiss-masquerading-as-Italian brand’s willingness to stray from dive watch design does nothing to flick my BIC. Panerai’s anything goes product development strategy reached its nadir with the Submersible EcoPangaea™ Tourbillon GMT. (Imagine Rolex making a Submariner Tourbillon GMT.) All that said, the Panerai Radiomir Eilean floats my boat . . .
When we left off in Part 2 last week month, it was unknown whether I’d seriously damaged the Rotate Watches “make it yourself” movement. Good news: nope, it’s fine. Bad news: I’m still SOL. Minimal progress and another impasse! Nonetheless, this all took gobs of time and effort. Gather round to hear of my foibles. If you’re not careful, you may learn something before it’s done . . .
“[The] collaboration between a Swiss luxury watchmaker and the world’s most famous fictional plumber might seem totally irrational at first glance,” ablogtowatch.com opines. That’s Sean Lorentzen’s way of saying the TAG Heuer Connected x Super Mario is dumb. A brand defiling joke that makes the Audemars Piguet Black Panther Marvel watch seem positively demure. At second glance . . .
