Writing watch reviews is not my thing.
For a number of reasons. First – and most obvious – I am in the
business of selling watches, so I will only review a watch I intend to
sell. There is, and there always will be, a subconscious element of
coming across as non-impartial, biased, prejudiced, or even unfair.
The second reason; I am not just a dealer but an actual watchmaker.
Watchmakers look at watches in a very different way to everyone else.
The more you know about watches, the more you see, handle and repair,
the less enthusiastic you are about branding, heritage, resale value and
the "horological boutiqueness" that makes the world of horology go
round.
The third reason. At the end of the day, even the best watch review is
useless. The most eloquent words and the most artistic photos are not a
substitute to holding a watch in your hand, examining it under the
light, strapping it on the wrist, wearing it for a year or two, and then
- and only then, judging it for what it really is. A masterpiece of
engineering, beauty and design - or just another mass produced watch.
Sometimes the best review is just a nod with a smile.
And this is my review for a Seiko Astron, the limited edition titanium,
ceramic, sapphire and rose gold, French navy blue chronograph: a nod of
the utmost admiration.
If I am to sum it up in just one word: perfection. You are looking at
the most perfectly polished, painted, coated, anodized, printed, milled,
ground and anglaged surfaces on any watch, which are the result of
decades of perfecting the art of watchmaking. You are literally looking
at a watch that can not be further refined, improved and perfected.
Timekeeping? Beyond perfection. Way beyond the accuracy you’ll ever need, or even want. It’s an Astron.
To those who love watches, precision engineering, design and
functionality: you are lucky to be around at the exciting time when
humans have reached the pinnacle of precision manufacturing and
precision timekeeping, embodied in the hundred year old form of a wrist
watch, which displays time in a six hundred year old analogue form –
with three hands showing hours, minutes and seconds. A format that has
proven itself deeply embedded in our own perception of what time is, and
what it means to us.
Yes, it’s an Astron: a watch for those who care and understand, who appreciate and respect time itself.
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