Lately I have found myself really liking the Citizen Ray Mears. Especially on an MN-style strap.
.
- It's about the perfect size: not big, but not too small either.
- It's really light, being made of titanium.
- It has incredible legibility - I can read the time, at a glance, faster than any other watch (CWC 1983 RN diver coming 2nd)
Any suggestions for something similar, but mechanical? Doesn't need to be in the same price bracket, but ideally not astronomical.
I have the same, new style ray mears and on MN elasticated strap, very comfortable and durable.
Mechanical tool watches exist however if I was to choose any watch to be stranded/stuck out in the wilderness it would be the mears - there’s a lot more to go wrong on a mechanical watch where as the eco drive is proven to be reliable.
It’s refreshing to not have to wind and set time for once, enjoy it for what it is.
100%.. a real toolwatch today will not be mechanical.Originally Posted by rapid
I would even go so far to say that a real toolwatch of today wouldn't even have mechanically moving (handsets) parts powered by quartz or automatic.
They would simply be digital and solar. Less things to fail or break or require battery changes in the event of.
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There is a nice Sinn 556A on sales corner right now that ticks most those boxes. Stainless steel though. Weight without strap listed at 65g, so throw it on the aforementioned MN nato and you're good to go!
Couldn't disagree... my only reservation would be legibility without reading glasses .. but I suppose I'd be stuffed without the glasses in more ways than just wanting to know the time ! :D
Not really relevant, but I once went to “An Evening with Ray Mears” at the local town hall. The first hour of talk and slides was fairly interesting, but after hour three I would have gladly drunk my own piss to get out of there. If Ray was wearing a watch that night, he sure didn’t use it.
Fab!
Sinn T1 (45mm - ~£2,500 new) or T2 (41mm - if you can find one), there are blue and black dialled variants of both.
Otherwise Seiko make a fair few Ti watches, but I don't know my way around their catalogue.
That's quite nice actually, hadn't seen that model before. Has a bit of a dressy pilot's watch look about it.
The handset isn't quite as easy to differentiate as the Ray Mears, but it's not bad and generally a nice clean design. It's quite a bit bigger though and steel, so probably in the same weight category as some of my other (bigger) watches.
A steel case, not Ti, but the Archimede Outdoor ticks a lot of your boxes, but a bit more expensive than the RM.
https://www.archimede-watches.com/ou...or-39-protect/
Good shout that, especially as they added a Titanium model quite recently
Submariner ? That's what he's worn for years now.
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How durable are the non-TI?
I know the Seiko Shogun is titanium. I really like the new white one, except for the cyclops, which is unfortunate. The ruined the Alpinist the same way. I know they do some titanium Grand Seikos, such as the snowflake, but I don't know if they do anything below that level.
I would actually not mind a diver or something like one of the Sinns, in that I'd actually prefer something with a bezel. The only issue, apart from possibly cost, is size. I think about 40mm is the upper limit and I'd want to avoid anything too thick. I already have various pilot & dive watches and what they all have in common is they are quite heavy; or in many cases top-heavy even if they don't weigh that much in absolute terms. Which is fine some of the time, but I like that the Ray Mears is not that.
The Sinn EZM1 is a bit of a grail for me, but even if I were to find one, that wouldn't be suitable because what I want is a "nice beater". Which is to say something that can take a bit of a beating without being too concerned about it, but at the same time, not something I'm going to intentionally wear if I think it's going to get damaged. The Ray Mears probably falls into the "actual beater" category. If it gets beaten up a bit, it's wabi. If it gets destroyed, I can get another one. Can't treat a rare watch like the EZM1 like that, even if it is meant to be a proper tool watch.
That's an interesting one, although I'm not sure about the dial. Feels like it's trying too hard.Good shout that, especially as they added a Titanium model quite recently
Here's a different titanium option I stumbled upon today:
(https://hamtun.co/products/kraken-h3-classic)
Never heard of this brand before. I'm a bit weary of generic kickstarter microbrands, but the design actually seems decent (albeit very Seiko-ish, but good Seiko). Reviews of the last revision say the quality is meh, but alright for the price.
Anyone have any experience with them?
I’m struggling to think of a suitable alternative at a similar price point. TBH I’d just accept the non mechanical nature of the RM and buy one. I was lucky enough to pick one up from SC, with both the Kevlar strap and titanium bracelet. I wear it loads and it’s absolutely great.
As for the man himself, I had a similar experience to Tatters. He was the guest speaker at a work thing a few years ago. Now, don’t get me wrong, I was looking forward to it all day (he was the ‘rousing’ end of day send off), I’m a bit of an outdoorsie type and Chris Bonnington had done something similar previously, which was blooming brilliant. Dear god though, 2 hours later and I’d have happily resigned from the company just to get to the bar! Drinking piss? More than happily.After all, it was in London....
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I've already got one.
I'm looking for something to fill a similar role, but for when I don't feel like wearing a quartz. If I'm actually going off into the wilderness for a week, then I'll probably wear the RM, although OTOH, I'd actually probably actually wear a Mudmaster.
It doesn't need to be at the same price point, but anything in the £2k range is probably a bit much for a "nice beater". That's probably into the sphere of nice enough to be worried about damaging it. I'm not sure at exactly what point to draw that line though and I'm open to hypotheticals, for the purpose of discussion and finding out about watches I might not have known about or thought of otherwise.
This has become the theme of my collection, and is possible without ending-up with a watch that looks like it's spent time inside a cement mixer. It's the niche that Damasko (all models), Sinn (Tegimented models), Archimede (Outdoor Protect steel range), Dekla (6Steel option), Traska, Haldor, Citizen (Promaster Tough) and one or two others cover. The hardened steel of these ranges is remarkably resistant to scratching IME, and these models invariably feature sapphire crystals, good WR, great legibility etc. Mine get worn in all weathers for gardening, dog-walking, paddock work etc. I can't vouch for the rare Duratect Titanium models that Citizen produces, nor indeed the equally scarce Seiko equivalents, so this does drift off your original spec a bit, but prices vary from ~£1600 for some Sinn and Damasko models, down to several hundreds for Archimede and Dekla, £3-400 for Traska.
The new seiko 5 sports aren’t a million miles away although not titanium:
Another one for consideration, Aevig corvid field watch.
https://aevig.com/corvid-fieldwatch/
Citizen’s snappily named NY0105-81E diver is automatic, hardened titanium (highly scratch-resistant), and 200m water-resistant.
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