You know it’s funny, but watches that seem to click with me are just found completely at random within the wild.  It doesn’t matter how much I may think I like a watch when looking at in a catalog or on the internet, the only thing that seems to jive with me is when I actually slap it on my wrist the very first time.  There is an instant gut feeling that tells me that this is going to be the start of a beautiful relationship.

Case in point, the watch my wife bought me last year for my birthday was something that completely smacked me from way out in left field.  I had never looked at Hamilton watches before, but when I slapped the Khaki King Automatic on my wrist for the very first time it was as though a surge of electricity had come over me.

God that was a good birthday:

Hamilton H64455533 Men’s Khaki King Automatic Black Dial Strap, Free Shipping

Last year I fell completely in love with the Tag Heuer Monaco, and it just came out of left field.  Thinking square watches unbalanced somehow I was really taken aback and how much that watch had affected me.  Seeing as how my Seiko Diver had just recently broke, my zen-like state with watches has been shattered.  Where I was at peace with my small but passionate watch collection, I am now at an a crucial moment in which there is no true sports watch at all within my small collection.  That is, until now…

Well ladies and gentlemen, I fell in love again, and this one is a shocker!!!

Recently I had been looking at various watch shops looking for a watch that will fill the void in my heart without much success.  Thinking feelings of ‘been there and done that’ with Omega and Rolex, my search had led me to other brands, but nothing really sparked my interest.  Thinking Breitling too large, Chopard to ornate, IWC too angular, and every other “luxury” sport watch just, “eh…” I oftentimes returned with feelings of big disappointment.

That is until one day I just happened to need some electrical tape and went down to a local mall.  This mall, not really known for being a hot spot of watch activity, I just happened upon a small jewelry store with a small watch selection that was just limited to Rado and Tissot.  Killing time during the work day I saw a very interesting watch and tried it on, and it… was… magic!!!

It was the Tissot PRC200 Chronograph:

Tissot T17158642 Men’s T-Sport PRC200 Chronograph Blue Dial, Free Shipping, Free Sizing

I’m still debating if I should get the black dial or the blue dial version, but this watch has many of the features that I appreciate about watches.  It is simple, clean, and functional.  I love the yellow hands for the chronograph features and I love how clean and simple the bracelet and the bezel are.  Yes it is a quartz, but it’s chronograph function is so not quartz-like that I just love it.  The fact that the seconds are on the 6 o’clock subdial means that the tick…tick…tick of the quartz can easily be overlooked.  Yes it also has a tacky-meter, but that can be overlooked as well.

Similar to the satisfaction a thirsty man gets after drinking a refreshing glass of orange juice, and similar to the satisfaction a cigarette smoker can get after taking that first morning puff, it seems to be the way of things that once you have had your fill, your refreshing OJ and your pack of Camel Lights are the last thing on your mind.  That is… until the next craving arrives!

Something that has happend, that was weird, was that for the last several months after I had bought a new rubber strap for my beloved Seiko Black Monster, my cravings, my need to get more watches just kind of stopped.  I was in a zen-like place where I felt at peace with my watch collection and didn’t feel the need to get more.  I didn’t drool over watches I saw in TV or in magazines, I didn’t have watch wallpapers on my computer screen anymore, and I just didn’t really care about watches anymore.  I took the position that most sane people took.  I believed that watches were simply used to tell the time.

To speak such blasphemy from an individual such as myself really surprised me, but that is genuinely what happened.

That is only until very recently…

During a basketball game with my brother and some cronies, my brother got fed up with the chunky watch bezel of my beloved Seiko Black Monster tearing off pieces of his flesh and insisted I take it off.  Overestimating its durability I tossed it aside to the grass surrounding the court and heard a very audible thump as it hit the bare ground.  Thinking it to be fine I had continued to wear it until I realized that 8 p.m. looked awfully sunny for that part of the year.  Yup the watch was running VERY fast.  The fact that the repair estimates cost more than the watch itself meant that I had to give it up and say goodbye to my beloved Black Monster.

Seiko Men’s “Black Monster” Automatic Dive Watch #SKX779K3
R.I.P Seiko Black Monster (2007-2009)

I also got a rife good lesson in the potential costs of automatic wristwatch repair, and to utter another blasphemous phrase, I believe it would make life much easier just to a quartz.

That would be all fine and well, but just the utter thought of it makes me want to throw up my lunch.  You see quartz watches have no passion to them, no soul, their hearts are like the hearts of robots whereas mechanical watches have the hearts of people within them. (not literally of course).

My zen-like state with watches being over, the absence of an automatic diver within my collection has left me feeling incomplete and inadequate as a human being.

The search begins…