Watches, Pens, and the Craft of Analog Living
The first time I saw a moonphase watch complication in person, I was at a small estate sale in Portland. A Patek Philippe Calatrava sat inside a scratched display case, its little crescent moon peeking out from the dial like it had somewhere important to be. I didn’t buy it — the price was firmly … Read more
The first time I crossed four time zones in a single week, I was wearing a beautiful dress watch with exactly one hand problem: it only told one time. I kept doing mental arithmetic in hotel lobbies, miscalculating call times, and showing up mentally twelve hours off from everyone I was supposed to meet. That … Read more
The first time someone handed me a chronograph and said “just press the button,” I pressed the wrong one. The hands flew in the wrong direction, the seconds reset unexpectedly, and I stood there genuinely confused in front of a very patient watchmaker. That memory still makes me cringe. If you’ve ever stared at a … Read more
The automatic vs hand-wind watch movement debate has followed me for a decade. I hear it at every watch meet, read it in every forum thread, and honestly? Most of the answers I’ve seen miss the point entirely. People treat it like a binary — like one is objectively better — when the real answer … Read more
Seven years ago, I convinced myself that a watch winder was essential. I’d just picked up a 1970 Omega Seamaster—a beautiful bi-directional automatic—and I wasn’t wearing it daily. A watch winder, I reasoned, would keep it wound, accurate, and ready. So I bought a $25 Amazon special with a brushed aluminum case and what the … Read more