Patek Philippe

Picked up some new shoes for the 6119R! It really changes the look of the watch. It’s amazing how a new coloured strap on your watch can make it feel like an entirely different piece!

Best wishes to you all!

The strap is a nice touch and I agree, totally changes the look. You’re going to be wrist-checking all day! Lol

And I dont normally say that for time only pieces! 🙌

I may try that with my vintage G-P Gyromatic, I'm tired

Well done!

Speaking about happy ownership, are you a happy owner of your electric car?  Just wondering if you've had any problems or issues with it.  I drive a Tesla and so far it's been fairly reliable.  No major problems.  

I had a Tesla for 3 years before the Taycan. Tesla was great but build quality was poor and the car quickly started rattling inside.

Taycan has been lovely. Proper German engineering, luxury and refinement. The only thing that’s let’s it down is the range. I get around 200 miles if I drive sensibly. This is generally OK for me as I don’t often do long distance!

So far no reliability issues with the Taycan?  Permit me to inquire, how many years and miles you've driven it?  Definitely, the Tesla Model 3 has some build quality issues.  

Tesla model 3 was over 50,000 miles, but after approx 15,000 I started noting the issues!

Regarding the Taycan, has finding charging stations been an issue? Or perhaps you haven’t needed to charge outside of home base.

My Tesla Model 3 is thankfully not too bad, although I've been shortchanged some paint in some areas. But at least my panel gaps are consistent. Here in USA, the problem we have is that Electrify America (one of the charging station networks you'd use if you didn't have a Tesla) are very unreliable. Many Electrify America stations don't work properly and this can be a nightmare if you only have a minuscule amount of range left and not enough to make it to the next Electrify America station. The Tesla Superchargers that I've visited all work and generally work reasonably well. At least in my experience.

In that regard I admit that my Tesla (Model X) experience has been consistent and great.

How old is your X? My Model 3 is 4 years old, and I've got around 50,000 miles. A great handling car. Double wishbone suspension and tight steering! Just the right amount of tire, not skimping out on tire width like Ford does with their Mustang Mach E. But my Model 3 has awful brakes! Who knew Brembo could make such an awful braking system.

going on ~6 months now, so too early to judge the bigger things. But I have my little complaints about door sensors and design choices. Also, I used to hate the fact that I can’t “feel” the car when it’s “on” and that it doesn’t make the sounds I’m used to hearing when accelerating. But that’s my weirdness I guess I’ve gotten more accustomed to it, but it’s mostly for my wife to use anyway. In contrast, I’ll bet the Model 3 or S are a different and more enjoyable experiences.

Depending on the year of your X, I'm assuming it's only 6 months old. It's a primarily Front-wheel drive machine. All S and X models since the "Raven" engines were installed in 2019 are nor predominantly FWD by software. The pre-Raven cars had an induction motor in the front axle and the post Raven cars have a permanent magnet motor in the front axle. The permanent magnet is more efficient, which is why the software tries to make the car more FWD when it senses demands are low. FWD is also more efficient than RWD, so this is also done to boost range. With any FWD and AWD car, there will be a slight vagueness in the steering when the computer is routing more power to the front wheels. The Model 3 and Y are predominantly RWD cars; they're either RWD engines (with a permanent magnet in the rear axle) and the AWD versions have an induction motor in the front axle. Overall, Tesla vehicles aren't bad cars; they're big, fast, reliable, safe, and objectively on paper very good machines. This is my first non-race car that doesn't have a spare tire and I keep a spare tire in my trunk just in case I have a problem. And as far as SUVs go, the X drives well.

I say this because our 2022 Model X did/does have me curious about a Model 3 for me. But I have been making the assumption that the Model 3 is probably similar experience to the X, just smaller…which is clearly a faulty way of thinking. I didn’t imagine the number of technical points you mentioned, which make it worth a try. I also have been wanting to try the Taycan for comparison. Lastly, it’s interesting you mention the spare tire because our X got a flat not long after purchase and I was miffed at the fact there’s no spare in the trunk (or frunk)! This is partly why I hold a little grudge against our X🤣. But I like your practical solution.

30% of the trunk space of my Tesla Model 3 is dedicated to the spare tire!  I wished they had factory spare tires!  I'm irked!  The Tesla Model 3 is actually a decent to drive machine and I would even recommend it over BMW's i4 (which I admittedly haven't driven for any meaningful distance).  Why?  The Tesla Model 3 has the following PROS: double wishbone suspension (this is really very special) in the front, tight steering, excellent suspension tuning and damping, a multi-link suspension in the rear (a Ferrari would have a double wishbone front and a multi-link rear), a very responsive gas pedal.  The biggest cons of the Tesla Model 3 are: really crappy brakes (get the performance version with the big red brakes) I have never owned a car with such awful brakes in my life, gas pedal is not hinged to the ground - race cars have even the brake and clutch pedal hinged on the ground as it allows the driver to be more precise and to not have to lift off if they have to reposition their feet, glass is not hydrophobic (but you can apply a RainX coating), and a few other things that are really personal preference (I notice everything as a flaw).  I realize I'm coming from a more extreme perspective than most.  The BMW i4 has a cheaper McPherson Strut suspension - the Double Wishbone ensures more tire contact on the road.  The Tesla is also not under-tired.  For example, Ford Mustang Mach-E models generally come with a 225 mm wide tire.  That's rather a skinny tire considering the size and weight of the vehicle.  The Tesla Model 3 is lighter and comes with a 235mm tire.  Obviously a skinnier tire gets better efficiency, but it ruins the braking and handling.  The BMW can come with a wider tire, but that's also because it has a McPherson strut can't put the full tire contact patch on the road in every situation, so you need to have wider tires.  The Tesla Model 3's double wishbone set up is superior.  The Model 3 is also 1000 pounds lighter than the BMW i4.  The i4 uses an adapted combustion engine platform, whereas the Model 3 uses a bespoke battery electric car platform.  Thus, the i4 is heavy from a lot of inefficiency and structural bracing.  The batteries on the i4 hang off the structure, whereas on the Tesla the batteries are a part of the structure.  

I've heard great things about the Taycan, and I think the Taycan might be my kind of a machine!  I just wonder if it's efficient, how much energy is lost during "standby" aka "phantom drain."  The Tesla has fairly minimal phantom drain.  And I'm told the Taycan software isn't as great as the Tesla and that reliability is mixed.  But I like the idea of a Taycan!  

I’ve not noticed too much phantom drain. I’ll keep an eye on it and report back!