Here's a new triple review of three watches by three of the writers of Hodinkee. (
http://www.hodinkee.com/features/thr...al-dress-watch)
It's not important whether one will ever buy one of these watches, or even a similar watch. There are many really good things about these reviews.
- They speak of important practical aspects that affect living with and using any watch.
- The pics illustrate how well a dress watch dresses down.
- The present comparative alternatives and the tradeoffs one makes to choose one or the other of those alternatives.
- They show that a watch doesn't need to be large to be the "right size."
- They highlight the fact that purely empirical evaluations have little to no bearing a watch's enjoyability.
- They address the concept of distinctive competence.
Of the three, my preference is the VC, and yet, I probably wouldn't buy it because I don't care for the minute marker ring around the outer edge of the dial.
I was very glad to learn of the very specialized tools and skills needed to service the FPJ and ALS, and those aspects all but ensure I won't choose either anytime soon. That was probably the one thing that mattered more to me than anything else the writers said.
The Saxonia was the second watch down on my purchase plan. It's now going to be much longer before I buy one. That would have happened anyway as I always bother to find out if a local repairman can handle basic maintenance on manufacture watches I plan to buy, but the sooner one finds out stuff like that, the better.
It's especially good to know concerning simple, uncomplicated watches which I at least generally expect any skilled repairman can handle. As Mr. Clymer presumed, I tend to send my watches to the maker for a fix, but it's still a big plus to know that I have options on how I want to handle servicing, especially if/when the watchmaker ceases to exist for some reason. I think too that that sort of thing is pretty relevant if one is of mind to bequeath a watch to someone else.
All the best.