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…