Posts Tagged ‘Tropical Dial’
Tropical 1016 Rolex Explorer
No watch is more fit for purpose than a 1016. That purpose is adventure, it has been from the very start. So when you come across an example whose dial has clearly been used well and hard, well, this may be the reference’s ultimate expression. It’s kind of like seeing a Le Mans winning Porsche…
Read MoreTropical, Pulsations ‘Ed White’ 105.003-65 Omega Speedmaster
We all know 90% dark chocolate is best. Anything less is for children. Anything more is for people who want to prove to you how much they like chocolate, it’s overpowering. This, I know, is the same reductive argument than anyone driving more slowly than you must be an idiot and anyone driving faster than…
Read MoreTropical ‘Ed White’ 105.003-65 Omega Speedmaster
The Speedmaster is a perfectly executed chronograph with one of the most storied narrative arcs of any watch. But it’s a bit clinical in its precision. Utilitarian. Often, even a bit cold. I think through all the 861 Speedmasters of the early 90s with Luminova and solid backs. Each is an excellent watch. But I…
Read MoreTropical Meters First 5513 Rolex Submariner
Like Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, wabi-sabi has a hold on me. I think what appeals to me so strongly in a tropical dial is that it’s a massive middle finger to the idea of putting a watch in a safe and waiting for appreciation. This is appreciation through love, which to my sensibility is…
Read MoreTropical 1680/8 Rolex Submariner
For decades, a gold Sub has always been the universal standard ‘F-you money’ watch. In much the same way that Rolls Phantom wafts past in total opulence, the 1680/8 wears with similar imperious grandeur. People know what it is, people know what it means. This one, though, it’s a bit different. One of the primary…
Read MoreTropical, Gilt Dial 1675 Rolex GMT-Master
At a collector meetup last year, I encountered a very tan, thin, well-dressed Italian man. He had the kind of skin that let you know he’d spent every day of summer strolling around outside Capri. His glasses were Tom Ford. The calfskin boots he wore had been on foot at least ten years. He spoke…
Read MoreMeters First, Tropical Mk3 1680 Rolex Red Submariner
The path to learning is through making mistakes. Rolex are often said to never make mistakes. That’s not quite true. There’s the double 9 Air King, 16710 ‘Error’ Dial, Patrizzi Daytona, Fuchsia GMT, Cream Explorer, I could go on. There’s a trend here: do you see it? Rolex do make mistakes, but when they do,…
Read MoreTropical Dial Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Mid-Size
The midsized neo-vintage RO known as the 14790 looks better to me today than it ever has. The tide of neo-vintage is rising anyway, but this ship has a hydrofoil on it or something. But they don’t all look like this. After introduction taking over from the first ref. 4100 in 1992, it remained in…
Read MoreTropical 6262 Rolex Daytona
If there is a god, I like to imagine that tropical dials are his way of saying, ‘wear your damn watches’. The sun is a ball of nuclear chaos 8.3 light minutes away from Earth. But its effects are not always this attractive. Consider for example the female residents of Florida between the ages of…
Read MoreTropical Gilt PCG 7928 Tudor Submariner
Of all the many adjectives one could throw at this 7928 including tropical, ghost, gilt, and PCG, I believe the most interesting may be antifragile. That word has more depth than the etymology alone may suggest. Nassim Taleb, a Lebanese author and risk analyst, has a book on the topic. In it, he defines antifragile…
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