The Birth of 2025 | Watch wants.

Alvin

Jan 188 min read

Updated: 6 days ago

Happy New Year watch fans!! A bit later than planned due to a move of house and town, I can now see the sea from my lounge, it's a glimpse but it counts! Vitamin sea, very good for me...I hope. This move is a long time in the making, but this is just the beginning, lots to do. And that includes writing about watches, and maybe buying a couple or three. It has to be a sensible year, moving house costs a lot these days, and work isn't to be taken for granted. Luckily for me there are so many watches out there, watches for every wallet, for every wrist that are reasonably priced. I'm after a few of those.

I got myself a Rolex so what could be next, what could sate my watch thirst now. It will be something cool and different, more modest but still with serious watch chops. I brought my Rolex Explorer II and Tudor Black Bay with me to the seaside, I miss those I left behind, but I hope they will join me soon. I've actually been wearing the Explorer II for 4 days in a row. I brought it to keep it safe with me, my precious, but that skipped my mind a few times when I was hauling my belongings and shopping to and fro. It survived the ordeal, so far, as I may not survive the resulting trauma should any ill befall my precious.

Last year I had my eye on the bronze Oris as I wanted some colour and material variation, but the price never came down enough to justify it, which is a good sign if you want to buy I guess but it didn't work for me. This year I have the same idea, some non-precious, but exotic material would be very welcome in the collection.

I have a few things I would like to aim for in 2025, in the realms of the horolosphere, not just buying watches. The ones I buy though I would like to add different elements to the collection, varying bracelet designs, case material, styles and complications. The watches below feature beads of rice bracelet, carbon case, and pilot/aviation watch styling - none which I already have. I would like to integrate with the community much more, my brief regular stint on Watch Crunch was very enjoyable but I'm cautious of social media, as it is bloody addictive, and if there's one thing a watch bro like me is, it's an addict.

FEET ON THE GROUND

I gotta be sensible, I ain'ts gots the cashmoolah cuz I gotta getta sofa and furnitures n that. I mean sensible when spending, not when writing, this is my outlet after all, I'll write how I please! Below are a few of the sensible things I hope I can get, and to clarify, sensible for a watch bro, not for a regular person.

Doxa Sub 200t Sharkhunter 39mm Iconic 804.10.101.20

I've had my eye on Doxa for a while, the watch bros rave about it and it is history with a unique, bold design language that is right up my street. You know I love a great name, Sharkhunter is one of them, though I don't actually condone that kind of behaviour, calling a dive watch the Sharkwatcher isn't as impactful and cool.

Damage: £1490 RRP / £806 Best

*In the week or so it's taken me to write this post, the best price has gone up to £1133 - Watches of Mayfair you absolute stinkers!!!

Tissot PRX 40mm Powermatic 80 Carbon

This one might have been in the running for my black watch if it had been released in time. Everyone was getting bored of the PRX iterations that were coming out, but I was of the view, why not milk the cash cow! However, no-one was expecting this and that is part of the reason it was so well received and so cool. Not to mention, the fact that it's a stealthy sunnuvabitch, in exotic material (forged carbon) and it's under £1000.

Damage: £960 RRP / Best £768

Images: Tissot.com

Laco Aachen 39mm 861990

This is a random one, but it's a good one. A precision German engineered, purist, pilots watch with an automatic movement and a design that is classic and uncompromosing but still appeals. I love the clarity of the dual dials for hour and minute and that the hands are at those exact lengths. What I don't love is that this one is hard to find, the 40mm quartz and 42mm automatic versions are popular and prevalent, as are the blue versions but I want the black dial with green lume. I fear I may have missed the plane on this one but I will keep checking. And keep being annoyed when Google flags the wrong model, it happens a lot with the Laco's, there's a lack o' clarity there...but the appeal is clear. Oh yes!

Damage: £350 RRP / Best £340

Images: Zeitlounge.com

Proxima PX1690-369

This is my Aliexpress/Chinese pick, it's a Rolex Explorer 1 homage, with the 369 dial. I want a Oyster Perpetual 114600 369, but I won't be buying the Rolex this year unless it halves in price (currently £5500 pre-owned/discontinued), so this is it for my taste of that 369. You can get it without the unicorn logo, I think I would go for that one. I hope it's of reasonable quality and can proxy for the Rolex I have been after but will never get because I would rather have a different Rolex Milgauss.

Damage: £125

Something Something Enamel Dial

I gotta get me that enamel dial I've been lusting after for so long. It might have to be the Sugess Chronograph Pilot instead of a Seiko. I was very close to pulling the trigger on the Seiko , the Seiko SPB093J1 (below left) is my fave design wise but it's porcelain not enamel. What's the difference you ask? Well let me help you out here - porcelain is a ceramic made by firing clay, usually containing kaolinite(clay mineral) and enamel is made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate material, such as a copper disc. The most accessible and quite similar one is the Seiko Presage SPB045J1 (below right), it's in my eBay basket, a pre-owned steal...

Damage: £1700 (left) / £700 (right)

Behrens Interstellar

Behrens have been on my radar for a while, and I was meant to do a feature post on them, they have made some superb timepieces over the last few years including a collab with Konstantin Chaykin creating a version of his Joker, which was sold out and marked up appropriately. The interstellar is one of their original pieces and it's a very cool piece, in the words from the website, "the hour and minute displays are located at each end of the spaceship", well that says it all really, I want one on that bracelet, but the bracelet is $750 - excuse me!

Damage: £1750 / £1200 pre-owned.

Echo/Neutra Rivanera

What the who? I said, the Rivanera by Echo/Neutra, a Swiss made, Italian designed little beauty. This is something different, but I find it quite appealing. It's made of Dave the rapper's favourite metal, that's right, grade 5 titanium, not vibranium. It's a mini manual wind ETA movement seen through a cutesy display caseback. It's a tidy little package, though it might be a bit too classy for me, or it might elevate me to a new level of coolness. I should buy it and find out!

Damage £1279 / Best £1216 (5% off first order)

Imgs: Echo/Neutra

Nomos Club 728 Deep Pink

This is another that has been on the radar for ages, I love the crazy colour, size at 38mm, the dial numeral style, the manual wind in-house movement, and the price if I could get to around £1000. These are hard to find in stock, but I would order a deal as long the deal was good. The best price below is a 4-6 week wait (CW Sellors) but the best things come to those who do, apparently.

Damage £1400 / Best £1190

Imgs: CW Sellors.

Switzerland, Germany, Japan, China, Italy, noicely done. And just to put this in persepective before things leave the ground, the total of the watches in this section is, and this is 7 superb timepieces - one for each day of the week, £8054, and that's using RRP (and not including the Seiko on the left)! That's a hell of a collection and it makes me never want to lust after another 'expensive' watch ever, for a minute, but I'm an addict so I will continue to do so...starting now.

I LOVE YOU LONG TIME

I'm not even going to put photos in here, the watches I've wanted for ages are the;

Rolex Milgauss GV/Green glass - I just love the whole deal, but the price won't fall.
Zenith El Primero Chronograph Full open - or any chronograph variation really.
Christopher Ward Bel Canto - so pretty, so complication.
Anordain Fume/Model 3 - Enamouring, beautiful, clock-ness monsters...
JLC Duoface - twice as nice, and twice the price.
Zenith Captain Winsor Annual Calender - it's on sale again, just kill me already.
Grand Seiko SBGA413 Shunbun - it's beautiful in a way that only Japanese things can be.

HEAD IN THE CLOUDS

If I won the lottery - I must partake more often, that might help - these are three of my fave grails that I would go for amongst hundreds of others.

F.P. Journe Octa Calendrier - Ref. OQ Calibre 1300.3

Quite frankly one of the most beautiful watches I have never seen. The dial balance and artistry is second to none. It has the same hour and minute hand set up as the Laco, it is quite simple, but the finish is unapologetically FPJ. It's kooky but is very sure of itself, it quite simply oozes class and horological sophistication.

Damage: £112,000

Ludovic Ballouard Half Time

I think this guy is my favourite watchmaker by the numbers, in that the two watches he has created under his own brand are in my top 5 grails, or top 10 at the least. The Upside Down is a favourite, especially after seeing it in the flesh, it's a subtle knife. But the Half Time is shouting look at me, look at how complex and crazy beautiful I am, it's an clear-cut masterpiece. Erm, my AD has one in stock pre-owned, time call the mortgage-broker and then use the money on this bad boy!

Damage: £55,000 Hong Kong / £70,000 UK

A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwork Date.

That a non-independent brand makes it in here is quite the testament, Philip Dufour and Rexhep Rexhepi would have been next maybe. The Zeitwork is without doubt one of the coolest watches to have ever been made, and it is actually classified as a digital watch, which is a bit bonkers when you think you about what's inside or when you look at the magnificent caseback. It's just a beautifully designed and executed idea, there is nothing to equal it - it is a God tier digital watch made in Germany.

Damage: £80,000

Cartier Paris Collection Privee (CPCP)

This is the stuff right here, Cartier, show that mainstream can do sidestream low-run desire as well as the independents. CPCP are top of the line, fancy Francey, they are stunningly and unapologetically Cartier. And now that I have a taste for Cartier, my palate has been explanded into a sophisticated and haughty horology, one that is as complicated as it is simply showy. The Tortue shape is a Cartier staple, the monopusher choronograph is a horological beauty and Cartier Paris dial is a master-flex. It's all so me, and so reasonably priced for a cloud tier watch!

Damage: £35,000

Imgs: Subdial

THE BEGINNING OF THE END.

Well then, that's that. What do you think of those picks? Let me know by leaving a comment below or on socials (Youtube link above / Alvin13 on Watch Crunch). Another year of crazy lusting and likely overspending is upon us. We will be unreasonable, unpredictable, and unabashedly enthusiastic as we navigate another 365 days of wrist time, that is if we make it until the end of the year, the world is a crazy place and anything can happen. Our biological machinery can fail at anytime, count your blessings, then count your watches and make room for one more...

Be thankful for the time you have, the time you get to spend with those you care for and what you get to spend on time.

Thanks for being part of the journey.

Yours Newyearingly,

Alvin