Watch the Birdie!

This post is dedicated to CR, a lady-SM, and to BDG BB – all of whom caught the “horology fever” soon after I got somewhat cured of (the first wave of) mine.

So I thought I’d post here their choices.

My buddy, CR, purchased the IWC Pilot Chronograph Automatic, 42 mm (issued, if Chronos is to be believed, in November 2006), at what I believe to be the most reasonable price of the three watches I show here – approximately Php150,000 (or US$3,000). Check out the classy alligator skin bracelet, the new red second-hand in smaller dial on the left (its predecessor had this hand in white), and the classic look of the numerals.My lady-friend SM, on the other hand, bought an Omega Constellation at approximately Php75,000:Not bad, you say? A bit too girly for me, I think. And too commercial. Silver lining for me is, apart from Cindy Crawford, my idol, Martina Hingis, once endorsed this watch.

BDG BB is in a class all his own. He bought a Panerai – on a whim, I hear, because he had haggled for a discount on CR’s IWC with Chronos (on behalf of CR) and, not content with simply sharing CR’s joy vicariously, caught and fed the envy bug on a recent trip to HK (and he had to outdo CR, too! – in price terms at least):

I don’t know the price tag on this thing (but it’s at least US$5,000 for the 40 mm and BDG BB’s is, I believe, a 44 mm), or indeed if this is the model he bought (Don't you just love the patented crown protector of the Panerai?). I just always thought this is the classiest and most classic (albeit classified as “contemporary”) Panerai – the Luminor Marina Automatic. I know though that BDG BB bought his in a tan strap. Personally, I prefer the strap in black:

BDG BB is the clear winner, you might say. But my pal, CR, got a freakin’ good looking and highly respectable watch – at a price that didn’t cause his blood pressure to rise.

What is all this to me, you ask?

Ahh … ye of little vision. In this, a new year, I mean to catch the fever again. And this time, after having already bought my “starter kit” and seeing a whole new range of options (even as of this writing, I am considering a gentleman’s watch, thanks to BDG BB), I can be more imaginative, unconcerned about getting over “the basics,” tinker with the unusual and the extraordinary, and play….

Imagine the possibilities!!!