Posts Tagged ‘Tropical Dial’
Tropical 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…
Read MoreTropical ‘Root Beer’ 1675 Two-Tone Rolex GMT-Master
You know that feeling when you go on holiday, come back, and just feel great? Perhaps you’ve been walking around more exploring, or at the beach out in the sun. You’ve lost a bit of weight and are sporting a light tan. You’re still you, just 10% more attractive. This ‘Root Beer’ 1675 is doing…
Read MoreTropical Mk2 1665 Rolex ‘Double Red’ Sea-Dweller
I’ve heard it said that the movement is the heart of a watch, the case its body, and the dial its soul. This analogy is tenuous at best, a bit like when you hear food critics start talking about the emotion contained within an entrée. That’s just a dinner and this is just a watch,…
Read MoreTropical 6262 Rolex Daytona
Tropical dials have a tendency to polarize watch collectors like few other topics. Godiva 1665 DRSDs, caramel 321 Speedmasters, and latte Cosmographs all have one thing in common: encompassing adoration or outright hatred. Think Patek’s green 5711 caused division? Bring a hazel-tan 3700 to your nearest watch group. I’ll warn you now, I tend to…
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