A Perfect 3 Watch Collection- Seiko's Greatest Diver, A Casio G-Shock Killer & Germany's Best Value

Three chaps walk into a bar. A grey market dealer, a watch influencer, and a watch journalist. The bartender says, what is this? Some kind of joke? So recently I shared three watches that I've worn the most so far for 2025. Put it on Instagram, check it out if you missed it. And it got me thinking because a decade ago when I started on YouTube, I would have never imagined this was my rotation. These are watches that, I gotta be honest, I didn't really like that much. What has changed? Why these three? Let's roll the intro. Okay, hi guys and welcome to the show. No wristwatch check necessary today because I'm actually wearing one of the watches in question. There's something about a three-piece watch collection. Here we have a land, sea and air, German, Japanese and Swiss made, or dress, diver and pilot watch lineup. With a trio, there's typically less overlap. It's easy to travel with and most corners are covered in terms of functionality and sartorial or situational compatibility. It's also a fun little game I love to play in my mind, easily swapping out pieces to create other hypothetical killer trilogies from my own wider collection. And each time with entirely different and interesting dichotomies in how they both serve collectively and individually. But ultimately it also reveals so much about us as enthusiasts. So share your most worn trio this year in the comments. Let's have some fun, shall we? How about this trio right here? Pure class, right? I think this certainly represents me. Or we could go with something like this. And this is why it's so difficult because if we're going to cull the herd to three only, which is something I'm considering when I'm 50 selling it all and having just three, maybe just three Grails, incidentally. That's interesting. I've had three Grails in my collecting lifetime. Coincidence? Fine. I got rid of the Submariner and I only have two of my Grails, the Hanhart 417ES and the Breguet. Perhaps the ultimate trio is three Grail watches. Maybe that is the ultimate collection. Maybe I should get rid of everything and have just three watches. I'm in my early 40s right now. I've still got nine, eight years left. So when I'm 50, I think I'm going to do that. More profoundly, there's always the biblical symbolism of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that for me is just inculcated from birth. But beyond my own denomination, many of us subconsciously recognise it via Mother Nature's obsession with threes absolutely everywhere. In Fibonaccian patterns identified by the antecedents of all great ancient cultures via some form of mathematics, the primary colours of red, blue, yellow, the three act structure to a story, the parts of an atom, protons, neutrons, electrons, the stages of matter with solid, liquid and gas, birth, life and death, etc. There's countless examples. 1245 restate my assumptions. One, mathematics is the language of nature. Two, everything around us can be represented and understood through numbers. Three, if you graph the numbers of any system, patterns emerge. Therefore, there are patterns everywhere in nature. But don't worry, I'm not going to get all Darren Aronofsky existential on you and take an electric drill to my head like his underrated movie Pi. Although, Watch as Anne Wonders is around the corner, and along with all the derivative reactions, predictions and bore-lakingly boring content that follows it, maybe a lobotomy with a power drill might be a good idea. But I digress, let's focus on Watch as that we can own and enjoy right now. His brain had obviously been reduced to pate. So this is the reference SPB238 aka the grey birch for obvious reasons, but in my opinion encapsulates the story better than any other diver from Seiko. How they went from a late bloomer in this diving genre to absolutely dominating it. Immortalised in the cinematic hellacious psychotropic Capo Lavoro, Apocalypse Now, it's no accident that the movie's main antagonist, the genocidal villain Colonel Kurtz, wore the Swiss antithesis of a Seiko, a Rolex. The Willard's power and enduring allure is in part due to a combination of subtle design elements on the dial, documented in more detail in my review, but above all firstly, it's down to that not-so-subtle ultra-curvaceous case design. Like a naturally well-endowed Instagram model who's done plenty of squats, it's utterly beguiling, and also pleasing to touch. I'm talking about the watch, that is. This tastefully done BBL was unlike almost every other diver out there at the time. Seiko did this in an effort to create a lugless case, partly to suit all-sized wrists, but primarily to avoid snagging on scuba gear while still protecting the crown and guiding fingers to the bezel for ultimate ergonomic efficacy. My long and demanding cold winter jogs with tactical gloves on can attest to it, as I can for the aerospace. More on that shortly. I highly recommend this book, you can find it on eBay. It is mostly in Japanese, but the dates and the vital references is in English. 1965, their very first diver, quite late to the game, and there we go, the 6105. Now the year is very important because, of course, this ran until 1972. In 69, Seiko launched the world's first quartz watch, then they started implementing it throughout the 70s and into the 90s, well, well into the 90s, into their quartz watches. We had the Arnie, there you go, there's some of the earliest diving computers. You've got four generations that preceded this, or rather the ancestor of this, and in many ways this is the culmination of them perfecting mechanical divers in the 60s, having a slice of that evolution. This modern prospect's reinterpretation may not be the king of value as Seiko once was, or as the vomit-inducing compromised fake watch media love to call, a value proposition. But undeniably, it's a true icon, with an ineffable coolness only equal to Martin Sheen's character, it's namesake. And that, my dear gentry, you can't put a price on. I mean, how many other workhorse, pro-level capable, highly respected icons are there for under a grand? It's also free of the dated 7S26 that plagued the SKX, and thus forcing you to do the Seiko shuffle, like some kind of obscene gesture due to the lack of manual wind back in the day. That might actually get you inadvertently punched in the face if you do it in public. Here, with the contemporary 6R35, on the other hand, it has all the upgrades, while still inherently as tough as nails and easy to maintain. Watchmakers love Seiko movements, if you didn't know. This willard is also just as ISO-professionally proficient, with that gloriously glowing lumibrite great for my aging eyes. There's always the temptation to go with the period-correct Apocalypse Now era vintage original. However, aside from paying out the nose due to its obvious rarity, let's be honest, it would have the best of us babying it due to vintage fragility. Which, in my mind, kind of goes against what these type of Seiko divers are all about. There is something missing in my willard that keeps it from being perfect, and the SKX had. I put this one down to the naivety of youth, presuming things are just always going to be around forever. Who would have thought the SKX would have been discontinued? And shout out to Jeff at Watchmakers4. That was customization, like a bespoke suit. It's unique to me, right? I'm gonna mod this, I think, to make it like no other. Is it full metal jacket? I'll do a cutaway. This is my rifle, there is none like it. To fix all the issues or the negatives from my review, like the crown, the missed opportunity to have lock engraved on the side like the originals. Devilish little details that just complete a watch. I've never been a fan of this particular bezel, I have to say. The faux patina, the alignment issue that I complained about. It's not a Seiko without an alignment issue. The finishing, I could have the Cerakoting, that gun treatment that they put on, or have it be blasted. So I'm gonna reach out to Jeff. He is the absolute modding master maestro of Seikos. Yeah, it's been too long. But the thing is, inevitably, we get bored. The vast majority of us watch obsessors are horologically licentious. Timepiece polyamorous, if you will. We start desiring the next piece, even when we're still honeymooning the last one. And I'm still talking about watches. Like the great oh holy wise one Jeff McMahon teaches us, there's no getting off this hamster wheel of crazy. And why not? There's no risk of a costly divorce, or worst case scenario, getting cut like John Wayne Bobbitt. Because very few of us operate in that almost mythical Bondian or Fleming-esque one hero watch to rule them all level of watch nirvana. Or perhaps it's watch purgatory. I'm not a one dimensional character. Few people are. Hence why it's urban and gentry. Nel mio cuore mi sento molto molto italiano. Era mia prima lingua. In my heart I feel very very Italian. It was my first language, the first food I ate, my first memories. But at the same time I feel extremely British. My two families are stereotypes. The most extreme stereotypes. One half is basically the Italian Sopranos and the other half is Downton Abbey. I mean it really is like that. When I was younger I used to think one corrupted or diluted the other and it's not like that. The wisdom that comes with age I've realized that it's a little bit like a martini. Alcohol on top of alcohol. Much stronger than all the other cocktails because of it. It's not a weakness. It's a strength. I only wish I knew that earlier. When I'm with her I'm reminded of the virtues of the English. But isn't she American? Exactly. Even today they put up their nose at us like we're peasants. Take it easy. I'm gonna take action here. Yeah talk about diametrically two opposed worlds. And I guess that's why I am so happy in New York because it's kind of middle ground so to speak. I can be the oddity that I am comfortably. Think of it this way. What makes Caravaggio great for example is darkness contrasted by light. Without it the power of chiaroscuro would not exist and thus his legacy. And talking of things completely different but yet absolutely relevant let's look at my second watch of this holy threesome. Now tastes and preferences evolve and nowhere is this more evident than the Gio Panomatic Luna. Now I unboxed this only a month ago so excuse the brevity but check out that video if you missed it and why I sold a Rolex Sub to buy it. But this is perhaps the most interesting to analyze as it's a post grail watch purchase. As in a more affordable bit of haute horology that I can actually wear daily without too much worry. Unlike the once in a lifetime big boy Breguet reserved for very special occasions. This watch is also a testament to just how messed up the used luxury watch market is. Well for the brands and dealers that is. For us true enthusiasts who don't care about value retention or investment BS it's a buyer's paradise. I'll even be vulgar for a moment and divulge the price. I got this in basically brand new condition for around 40% off retail. Which is especially crazy when you consider it was already exceptional value in the first place. For this level of hand decoration, build quality, brand prestige and unmistakable styling indicative of the heartland of fine German watchmaking. This truly is the rich man's Elange and Sonne. Because of course you save so much money buying this over the compromised ALS brand. But you still get the look, the feel and those who know, they know. So I've had the Aerospace since November. Biggest negative is something I didn't expect and that is it's taking time away from my beloved G Shocks. My happy place watch especially the Casio. One of the most important videos, again I'll leave a link to that one, most important videos I did last year and I urge you to watch it. Takes my time away from them which every time I wear my Casio's and my G Shocks I end up feeling guilty that I'm not wearing this which I've spent so much money on. Which is something I did not expect to happen. Anyway I'm gonna finish my job. I've always coveted the Aerospace but not to keep, more akin to a horological objective. Kind of like what alleged normal people list on things you got to try before you die. Which is surprisingly unimaginative if you've ever googled it. Something to own, to get to know and get out of my system. It's an unabashed tooltastic cyclopean retro instrument that serves in a paradoxical luxury beta capacity. Somehow doing that almost seemingly impossible thing of being strangely refined while still there to chew bubblegum and kick ass like the unapologetic G Shock it essentially replaces. And speaking of Casio, another similarity is it also evokes all the same ain't it cool notes of nostalgia. Like binge watching X-Files, playing Duke Nukem 3D and Age of Empires until the sun rises, putting on Massive Attack, Nirvana, Mobb Deep or Goldie via compact disc then pressing repeat. Remember the 90s anyone? There's an undeniable learning curve here that reveals a slow release charm, drawing you in like some kind of timekeeping Tamagotchi. The way you interface with it via a single but deeply pleasing crown slash pusher while you scroll and beep away is both genius, intuitive but also occasionally frustrating. The same way a Windows 95 start button was after years of clumsy 3.1 navigation. The Aerospace here is what I consider the ultimate dumb watch and what do I mean by that? Well it packs a similar albeit very rudimentary form of functionality as your typical smartwatch but without all the insidious risks of being tracked, hacked and all the rest of it that I've warned people about for absolutely donkey's years and other people waking up to it. Another little thing I've noticed is I love the parkerised finish of the titanium. It adds this kind of macho, it's actually a little bit like bronze, my previous bronze watches I added. The way it patinas and scratches it just ends up looking more gnarly. There's a charm to it when it's used a bit. It wakes me up with the alarm, times cardio, keeps track of loved ones or business interests in other time zones, all with a thermo-compensated ruthless accuracy that few movements outside of radio-controlled atomic timekeeping can compete with. There's also none of that degeneracy, sorry I mean dependency, on updates that comes with being connected. Maybe I do mean degeneracy. There's no inbuilt conspiratorially planned obsolescence that curses most of the so-called smart tech. Every time I wear it I feel like I'm on some kind of secret mission, and the words of the ever-quotable golden-voiced Matt Berry echoes in my mind, telling me The last few years saw a crucially massive shift in Casio's releases, with them actively adopting smartwatch complications in their most affordable and retroliciously trendy models. Not trying to outsmart the smartwatch, but cleverly offering some of the most useful tech at a fraction of the price. You know the kind of thing I'm talking about step trackers and bluetooth synchronisation. With this level of performance at such a low cost, it further drives home the point of just how an almost 3 grand used aerospace as a tool watch is, well, kind of ridiculous even for me. So is any mechanical watch, let alone the haughty tauty fancy pants stuff. But yet we still buy them, for the feelings they evoke, sartorial or personal expression, the fun of ownership via collecting, the sybarite desires of refinement, maybe their sentimental meaning, historical significance, a legacy of design, or objects of art and so on. In closing, the aerospace actually does a lot of this, but perhaps in the most contrarian fashion of being, in essence, a 3 grand luxury quartz beta watch. And that's the key word here, contrarian. In a world of manufactured hype by industry plant shilltubers, where superficiality seems to rule over substance by weak hearts of darkness, here we have my ultimate trio of contrarian icons, as a rebellious two fingers up to it all. Ciao.