Independents

This road has come to an end, but there are more roads that begin at its terminus. Which one should I follow? Below are some of my ideas:

1. Stick with Habring2. Ok, so not the Erwin. But a stock Felix does satisfy my aesthetic tastes, and it has many of the other things about Habring2 that I love. Not to mention it leaves me over 4K USD under budget, which is very nice.

2. That sweet new GS. As I mentioned in the first project post, my main gripe with GS is form factor. But the new SLGH005 is a step in the right direction, at 40mm across and 11.7mm thick. Plus it has a super fascinating high performance movement, another masterpiece of a textured dial, and conveniences like a screw down crown and drilled lugs. Date window is unfortunately still present, and the price is much higher than other GS, but it is still very tempting. Another thing that gives me pause is the possibility that GS releases a thinner, manually wound, no date version of the 9SA5, which would of course be even better.

3. Ming. They've been knocking it out of the park lately, and it looks like there is a lot of cool stuff to come in 2021. The problem is always one of time and planning. There is no calendar for releases, so I am not sure when any one thing will come out. When a release is announced, you have about a week to look at what is coming and make a decision. For someone who analyzes and premeditates on a big purchase as much as I do, it is difficult to think about your options when you don't even know what one of them well be.

4. A crazy idea. There are a lot of 'so close' watches out there for me. One of them is the JLC master ultra thin 34mm, with the caliber 849. The movement is the pinnacle of traditional lever escapement watchmaking, with some nice finishing to boot. The case is an engineering masterpiece as well. The prices of these things are incredible for what you get. Yet, it always leaves me cold. The dial and hands are just too sterile, and I just can't get excited looking at it. Everything else is utterly brilliant though. So... what if I could commission someone to create a new dial and handset? Obviously it would void any warranty the watch might have, but at this point in time I think any original warranty would have expired anyway. I can imagine that watch with a fabulous sablée textured blue dial, polished leaf hands and breguet numerals. Or perhaps a more modern design with engraved and lacquer filled stick indices. I know I just failed to get one custom idea done, but I can't help but want to try this. I don't know who would commit such a sacrilegious act on a magnificent JLC, but perhaps one of you knows a guy...

Anyway, I'd love to hear what you think of these options, or if you have any other ideas. The future holds many great possibilities!

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