Sub Date or Milgauss Z Blue EXIT watch - NOT your typical this or that (+ ramble)

[DateAperture]

Hello Ladies and Gents,

My name is Alan and I am really excited to start my first topic here. Firstly it is an opportunity to rectify my rude mistake of never having introduced myself. Secondly I have a severe and (without sounding pretentious) maybe unique mutation of the watch-bug that has been eating me alive such that I have become a shell of a man. It is my hope that after voicing my thoughts and bouncing ideas with you all, you may lead me onto a path of healing (*cough* enabling, ). I apologize in advance for the incoming wall of text. Pictures are included at bottom as a token of appreciation for reading.

Anyway, I am a young IT professional in New Zealand. For as long as I remember I have always been a watch guy. Some may feel awkward when they leave the house without their phones; for me I could care less (in fact, the odd time this happened, I felt quite liberated actually). However, I feel absolutely downright naked if I see that white patch on my left wrist where the watch should rightfully cover, at which point I would take the fastest way home, but I digress. Even so, I was your typical happy one-watch guy who thought a G-Shock was the coolest thing in the world, quite rightfully I might add from the perspective of gadgets.

This world shattered four years ago… Everything began so innocuously when I happened to surf upon an $80 Sekonda on a mesh that looked quite classy in my noobie eyes. It wasn’t even a mechanical. During that period many deals websites were popping up in NZ, and having warmed myself up with the aforementioned purchase, I got suckered into an “exclusive” $200ish Akribos XXIV . The silver lining was the piece was a skeleton that nicely displayed its movement, which opened the door to the world of mechanical watches for me. So I guess I could also curse it for starting the slippery slope. I quickly added an Orient Constellation and a year later a nice Seiko SARB033. These later two were lovely and faithful companions, but eventually having armed myself with years of extensive evening research (ie drooling) on Google, WUS and TRF, I decided that as a self-proclaimed watch enthusiast I must have a luxury timepiece .

Now both having decent salaries (though still pocket change compared to you lucky Americans and Silicon Valley champs), the logical thing for my partner and I was to get into the property market, bend forward, and thank the bank for being so generous to spank us with a big fat mortgage. We decided straight off we want to pay it off asap, use the house later to get a second property, and attain Financial Independence one day. As such we limited our watch funds: she got a Rado Hyperchrome and I, because I had lusted after a SubC Date, a burgundy Black Bay (still a huge jump nevertheless from a Skagen and the Seiko, respectively).

Shoutout to the resident super trusted dealer DavidSW who acquired the BB for me . At first I had actually got it as a compromise, especially given my “DateAperture” handle. But just like one might set criteria for the sort of girl he would go out with then proceed to fall head over heels for someone completely different; so similarly I fell in love with the dateless symmetry of the BB - its harmony of burgundy and gold, creamy snowflake and self-winding roses. Then there is the lume!

So what exactly is my problem? To be honest, it boils down to as simply as I love watches (important to note the plural) but watches are expensive - not only monetarily, but also often time-wise, and sometimes even emotionally. At the risk of being too assuming, my situation may sound familiar to everyone to various degrees: every evening after work my way of winding down is to go online and surf hours on watches. I am not looking to buy something, as originally the agreement between my partner and I is to have one luxury piece and then get the heck out of the mortgage trap. Worse, I am not even researching or learning since the evening typically ends up being a pointless orgy of revisiting the same wrist shots and reviews for the nth time. The coup de grace is that nasty feeling from the gut of lusting after everyone else’ shiny watch while blindly ignoring the lovely one on this side of the screen that is on my wrist. Watches were supposed to accompany me while I experience life, but now I find myself becoming a slave to what is essentially a tool instead of enjoying life. This hobby was supposed to be fun, but now I feel I have prioritized it too much, too seriously, for far too long .

I have mulled over it in my mind for a long time – to vent out these once-nebulous feelings into coalesced statements is already a good step in the right direction I think – and you know what my potential solution is? An exit watch. Yes, you have heard correct, a timepiece to end all timepieces, at least for me hehe. Before you laugh and think I am just trying to justify the next purchase in the chain of addiction (and maybe I am, haha, who knows), what I truly need is timepiece that at worst-case scenario can steel me to go cold turkey: allow me to leave TRF and Hodinkee for the foreseeable future, put my tail up and work my arse off to further the potential-filled career I should be fulfilling at my age. So why can I not do it now with the BB? I would like to add that were it a Rolex, AP, or Patek, I still cannot do it. Wearing the same watch everyday, no matter how brilliant it is, dulls the senses and makes one take it for granted. So okay, why can I not do it in conjunction with my other watches? Because I am a damn snob who can no longer wear a non-luxury watch .

What I need is an exit watch to be the Bonnie to my Clyde. And it has to be a Rolex. While I love Omega, IWC, Grand Seiko, Zenith, and hope to have at least one of each one day when I am debt-free, the exit watch needs to wear the crown, the highest level of horology I aspire to in this lifetime, something that is prestigious, robust and does not cost a liver upon servicing. At the same time, whereas my “collection” is in actuality a series of one-watches where each replaces the previous completely for wrist time, this one will have to perfectly complement the BB.

So finally the candidates: the SubC Date and the Milgauss Z Blue. The former has the date and cyclops to contrast nicely with the dateless BB, thus freeing up the bezel from date-keeping duty, but it is overall the same diver genre and design; while the latter is hypnotic blue, antimagnetic and dressy but lacks the bezel for me to play with. I truly love both pieces and their attributes, and would not complain with either were it not for the strict requirement of having to perfectly complement the BB. I don’t even know if I will get to carry out this solution, but if you were in my shoes which one would you choose? And for those who have multiple divers in your collection, how do you rotate them?

Whew, so after more than 1200 words, it boils down to these two questions (though please feel free to address any of the above). And as promised, to thank you all for reading, I conclude with some pictures below of my mountain biking trip with friends along the Timber Trail near Lake Taupo in February. One tip I learnt was to wear the watch on my right wrist otherwise the vibrations in conjunction with the tendency of the arm to flare outwards would loosen the crown. And yes, we had to go over that suspension bridge, amongst others. Cheers!

Best Regards,

Alan

[DateAperture]

Pics!

[travisb]

Sub Date. It'll handle anything and everything. The glidelock clasp will assure a perfect fit and ability to adjust on the go.

[Exhausted]

I agree that in your case it's the SubC. It's a beautiful and versatile watch that can handle almost any environment.

[kilyung]

In the time you spent writing that (and me reading that), I would have finished my routine browse through several forums and moved onto family time. Get a SubC and spend more time with your partner.

[FTX I]

Originally Posted by travisb

Sub Date. It'll handle anything and everything. The glidelock clasp will assure a perfect fit and ability to adjust on the go.

I had no patience to read but I'm sure Travis did and I'm with him on that one.

[watchwatcher]

Originally Posted by DateAperture

Wearing the same watch everyday, no matter how brilliant it is, dulls the senses and makes one take it for granted.

Alan

You've just described why your one watch exit theory won't work. So I recommend the sub as you will no doubt be adding many more to it and I think it would make the best starting place for your collection. Also it has a bezel to play with. And a date.

[DrThom]

116610LN, all day. One watch to rule them all!
Btw, your post (rant) was funny as hell!

Unfortunately, you'll soon realize there is no exit watch, nor is there a simple and effective cure for this addiction. I'm sorry to say, it is at times, terminal, you'll most likely never outgrow or overcome this affliction. The first step is admitting you have a problem. Say it with me "My name is (insert your name here) and I am a WIS"!
A possible treatment is to exercise moderation and attempt to focus at times on other tasks, responsibilities, although this is only a temporary solution. Eventually you'll find yourself browsing the forums as well as texting, emailing, talking to your contacts in the watch world that have now become your friends for support and affirmation?!
Start with the SubC, date and go from there. Best of luck?! lol

[SkyKing31]

SubC for sure, but the Milgauss is also a great watch

[DateAperture]

Originally Posted by kilyung

In the time you spent writing that (and me reading that), I would have finished my routine browse through several forums and moved onto family time. Get a SubC and spend more time with your partner.

Truth! She is very understanding of my disease, which is fortunate of me. Again, sorry I managed to spew a magna carta - being in IT I write code and don't normally get the opportunity to write opinion pieces, let alone complete sentences, so obviously went overboard. I swear I'm actually pretty to-the-point (almost terse) at work.

Originally Posted by watchwatcher

You've just described why your one watch exit theory won't work. So I recommend the sub as you will no doubt be adding many more to it and I think it would make the best starting place for your collection. Also it has a bezel to play with. And a date.

It'll only be temporarily relatively for a few years. Plus the idea is that I don't want it to be another one-watch. It should play nicely with the Black Bay and share wrist time!

Originally Posted by DrThom

116610LN, all day. One watch to rule them all!
Btw, your post (rant) was funny as hell!

Unfortunately, you'll soon realize there is no exit watch, nor is there a simple and effective cure for this addiction. I'm sorry to say, it is at times, terminal, you'll most likely never outgrow or overcome this affliction. The first step is admitting you have a problem. Say it with me "My name is (insert your name here) and I am a WIS"!
A possible treatment is to exercise moderation and attempt to focus at times on other tasks, responsibilities, although this is only a temporary solution. Eventually you'll find yourself browsing the forums as well as texting, emailing, talking to your contacts in the watch world that have now become your friends for support and affirmation?!
Start with the SubC, date and go from there. Best of luck?! lol

Hehe, thanks for enjoying my rant. It was fun to "pen". "My name is Alan and I am a hopeless WIS". Cheers for your words of support.

Thanks for the responses so far, everyone. Anyhow, it seems pretty unanimous to get the SubC. No one has discussed the other question yet: how do you differentiate and justify multiple divers? How do you rotate between your time between two divers? Do you typically end up just wearing one and leave the other in the box most of the time?

[tylerad1]

Go with the sub. The z-blue is gorgeous, but it is a bit quirky and might not stand the test of time. As far as rotating the divers...I suspect that once you get the sub, there won't be much rotating going on. The sub will dominate all

[Evo6]

Filp the Tudor and get both, trust me on this.
Just flipped my Pelagos for the no date SubC.
I also checked out the Z Blue yesterday and was very impressed.

[tkerrmd]

Originally Posted by travisb

Sub Date. It'll handle anything and everything. The glidelock clasp will assure a perfect fit and ability to adjust on the go.