Editor’s Note: On this week’s edition of The Three Watch Collection for $5,000, reader Bryan Elsley gives a fabulous all around selection of watches that will offer plenty of flexibility and style. No hype, just a solid everyday practical rotation with loads of personality.
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These are all relatively uncomplicated keepers with well rehearsed movements which will not cost the earth to fix or service. But they all punch above their price point in quality. They are fun, with a good range of colours to choose from, and they are all in a small way, design standouts in a sea of uniformity. Swiss brand heritage; Scottish artisan flair; USA audacity. These are my choices. I might pass them to my children but probably not, because they don’t understand either what a watch is, or that their Dad might carry a little style.
The smaller Captain Cook is unobtrusively stylish and fits the meagre wrists of both girls and boys without angst. It’s tough, thin, Swiss, accurate and the ceramic bezel is unscratchable. The 80 hour Powermatic movement is bang up to date and will sit all weekend on a bedside table and be ready for Monday morning. This is the ideal, go anywhere, do anything beater watch for anyone who doesn’t actually require 300m of water resistance (that’s all of us).
You will have to wait while they make a batch. But now in 39mm the brilliant Model 2 will astonish you with its range of enamel Fume dial colours. Solid Sellita hand wound movement is on the money, but the best thing about anOrdain is the fabulous customer service. Personal touches abound; handwritten notes on sales and service invoices, problems instantly resolved, and a person you can chat to. (He’s called Erland). They are the pride of Glasgow Scotland and frankly, not charging enough. That may not continue forever.
I mean, come on. The Metric is a banger. It’s fun, it’s cheap, It’s well made, it’s meca quartz, it will time an espresso (ok, nobody cares about that one apart from over-stimulated New Yorkers). Could anybody actively dislike this? It will probably be the only watch in a collection which ordinary mortals might actually notice on your wrist and ask about. And really that’s what we dream of isn’t it?: That somebody, anybody will notice. Is it too much to ask?
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