[mediaokra]

SOTC 2022

No change from 2021. I thought I might finish at least one of the projects from last year, but, nope.

My watch goals / timeline has changed a little. My daughter's practicum has been delayed so she won't complete her master's until next December. This means my grandfather's Omega Bumpy lives with me and I wait a year to look at something like a Tissot Banana in earnest.

If I happened upon a sub $250 Yema reverse panda Rallygraf, I'd try to sell the Tissot Quickster.

The collection / rotation:

View attachment 16000679

The hide-in-the-back-of-the-drawer collection:

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The current projects:

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[mediaokra]

I may have to check-in at the end of summer and see if anyone will play nice on the best place to acquire a Vostok. I'll need a birthday gift for my son-in-law. I could mount an Amfibia on a Zissou poster in a shadow box and act offended if it is not displayed in a place of honor when I visit.

You know, I've been kind of fascinated by Russian watches since I first learned of them. But, for some reason, the price of the basic Vostok amfibia has increased somewhat steadily over the last year or two. Maybe it's a Eurozone-Rouble thing, or just the sellers I'm looking at. I don't know.
That being said, they're still only €129. But I used to see them running around €109 and then going on sale for less.

If you're seeing Amphibia's for 129, you're definitely not looking in the right place... but I'm not going to tell you where to look.🤐

Oh man. That's cruel!

I didn't realize WPAC was like that.

But now that I know it is, I'm also not telling.

Glad I loaded the latest comments, I was going to tell him too. 🤓

I know where you can get Amphibias for 53 dollars new. But this being cruel thing is fun.

 

[mediaokra]

Nice collection, Mediaokra. I like how it's varied in brands, types, complications and roles. It's not every day one sees a speedmaster right next to an accutron (even if it's just the UHF quartz version). The moonphase is also intriguing, at its design reminds of A. Lange & Sohne, but has kanji writing on it. Kudos as well for the 2021 stability ! 👍

Thank you Trias,

The moonphase is the 2011 WUS Chinese Moonphase SE Project design-by-committee watch.

 

[mediaokra]

If I happened upon a sub $250 Yema reverse panda Rallygraf, I'd try to sell the Tissot Quickster.

I'm seriously considering making this happen. My final decision probably relies less on WPAC bashing of the Yema than on whether or not I can sell the Quickster.

 

[mediaokra]

The nickname Crimson Tide originates from a 1907 football game versus Auburn University in Birmingham where, after a hard-fought game in torrential rain in which Auburn had been heavily favored to win, Alabama forced a tie. Writing about the game, one sportswriter described the offensive line as a "Crimson Tide", in reference to their jerseys, stained red from the wet dirt.

No the real story goes something like this:

Why do Bama fans shout Roll Tide?
Because they cannot spell Elephant.

 

[mediaokra]

One of my goals for the year is to replace my Tissot Quickster Chronograph with a reverse panda chronograph. The Yema Rallygraf would be the affordable front runner.

Today, Yema put this guy on sale Yema Rallygraf Asphalte II Quartz

I'm self-bashing as an academic exercise.

• More of a surfboard than a reverse panda
• Has that Meangraf/Andretti stripe
• MIYOTA OS21 instead of Seiko VK64 Mechanical-Quartz movement
• Larger case (42mm vs 39mm) and wider band (22mm vs 20mm) than the Rallygraf
• "YMCA" logo
• But is does have the real wood dials!

 

[mediaokra]

OK here is the second of three. Might have been a mistake this one... The strap is great, don't get me wrong, but it's a borderline garish pairing.

View attachment 16394730

MARDI GRAS!

 

[mediaokra]

I have a Swatch from 1984, and a Speedmaster too. I think these MoonSwatches are fun and whimsical.

This is exactly where I am. I've actually worn my Swatch a couple of times this century or loaned it to my wife when one of our school campuses did 80's day during Spirit Week.

I also find "Mars" the most interesting. But then I've been wearing a Seiko 6309 with a Mickey Mouse dial mod this last week. So I might just be having an Eighties moment. Of course my eighties brain also says the price point should just be $40.

 

[mediaokra]

One more Swatch comment:

At my school the Lead Auto Mechanics teacher has a degree in architecture. The Architecture Teacher also has a degree in architecture but she owns fifteen (15) vehicles, including various motorcycles. Neither of these people are watch people but I mentioned the MoonSwatch from a design perspective. The analogy drawn was a Harley-branded Vespa or an official Delorean Miata. I still want the Mission to Mars Swatch though.

 

[mediaokra]

Bought a watch for my youngest. Hour and minute hand are labeled. It is from a line called "Time Teacher."

 

[mediaokra]

What it does have to be is self drive. Automatically obeying speed limits, and driving safely. You just request your destination and the car takes you there. I merely associated those functions with electric cars.

I extrapolated the self drive cars into the Johnny cabs of the Total Recall movie, which is where I see it heading, eventually.

A plot point in the Amazon series Upload is whether an auto-car was set to "passenger" or "pedestrian" priority.

 

[mediaokra]

Quick update in my WPAC journey... If I can hang on for two days, I will have gone three months without purchasing a watch. I did, however, finally receive the Rubik's Cube CasiOak I preordered from Japan in January in a fit of FOMO. After three months, watch sobriety is starting to feel normal but if my substance abuse recovery has taught me anything, this is the most dangerous time.

It will be summer soon and the global pandemic is finally looking like it is approaching the endemic phase so the itch to be outside and around people is growing. The return-to-office plan at my day-job will ramp up and I have been drafted to work the two big anime and comic book conventions in July. The urge to express myself through fashion choices will increase, and with it, the urge to buy more watches. I do not have a plan to stay on the WPAC other than doing my best to submit tempting purchases here for bashing.

Stay strong, everyone. It is okay to fall off the wagon but don't make a habit of it.

I ordered some 5600 bezels, glass inserts and strap adapters to assuage my own Mission to Mars MoonSwatch FOMO. I figure about the same time Swatch turns-on online ordering, the 5600 mod parts will arrive from China and I can build a colorful plastic watch with no temptations. That said, the Paisley-Dial Casio 2100 is intriguing.

 

[mediaokra]

It is May the Fourth. I want a Citizen C3P0 Ani-digi with the talking features of a Nixon Dork Too Star Wars Edition.

 

[mediaokra]

I asked for a crazy but cheap watch for my birthday. This one says "Winner" right on the box!

I love it for what it is and will wear it with pride. But I haven't decided which indices I want to use for 12.

 

[mediaokra]

Legitimate concern. When I wear a Doxa, people frequently mistake me for Jacques Cousteau, and solicit my advice on decompression times. I like to be polite, so I tell them not to worry about it - it's all a myth.

I hate to think what happened to those people.

I walked into an ACE Hardware wearing khakis and a red polo once...

 

[mediaokra]

You can use brown socks if you wear them in sandals.

I used to buy a new pair of closed-toed leather sandals every couple of years to go with my super cool calf height green scout socks.

 

[mediaokra]

we had a chiming wall clock and once the novelty had worn off it drove us mad dinging and donging all hours of the day and night.

On family visits, I had the privilege of sleeping on the sofa in my grandparents' clock room. There was a Westminster chime grandfather clock, a grandmother clock, a mantle chimer, at least four coo coo clocks or dancing glockenspiels. None of them were set for the same time. The ten minutes or so around 2 am and 5 am seemed to be the worst. For whatever reason, my teen-aged self seemed to mostly be able to sleep though the other hours or at least return to sleep quickly.

I kept one coo coo clock from the estate. But people complain when I wind it.

My parents have gone the sensible route and have some sort of Seiko with digitally synthesized chimes that don't ding in the dark.

 

[mediaokra]

Field watch
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Babybel is so powerful it must be contained within no less than three different skins. First you have the wax, then the plastic wrapper, then the net. Clearly this cheese can only be the process of arcane and occult magicks. Therefore, I would rather suggest the Bulova Devil Diver.

Wow, I just bought the quartz-version for my vegan daughter. Or should I call this a homage?

 

[mediaokra]

Been thinking for a few days that the Junghans Max Bills always remind me of dial calipers.