This is the Raymond Weil RW Sport Quartz Chronograph:

NEW RAYMOND WEIL RW SPORT MENS WATCH 8520-STR-05207

…and while that name does sound like a mouthful, I’m sorry to say that the watch is known by no other name, perhaps a model number, but what would you prefer to say?

If you don’t care about watches, and like the way this watch looks than get it, I’m not going to stop you, but my personal opinion is that if you want a watch that is truly special, this is as far from that as you can possibly get.

Someone once said that a rose by any other name isn’t something or other… I forget the expression, but my point is that for a truly great watch to be great it has to have a special name, like “Speedmaster,” “Submariner,” or, “Daytona,” to simply name a watch based on what characteristics it has is like naming my dog, “White-haired poop Machine Which Sometimes Has the Ability to Lick Its Own Butt “  It just shows that the watchmakers weren’t really caring, but that’s largely due to the fact the watch company isn’t anything really special.

You see while many watch companies, even the lesser known ones, have been around for more than 100 years, Raymond Weil has been around only since 1972, which means that even stains in my apartment are older than that.  What’s more is that this company bombards us with commercials and advertising, but it’s watches are really as mediocre as a 6 inches on a ruler. Raymond Weil watches are primarily mid-market graduation presents for students who did poorly in school.

Take this watch for example, just look at it, it’s a conflicting and ridiculous mess.  I’ll start with the bezel, it looks like it comes from an Omega Speedmaster and the bracelet looks like it comes from one of those wacky Zeniths.  It has sporty features like a good water resistance and a screw down crown, yet it has features you’d find on a jewelry watches such as a butterfly clasp and the big date.  The big date, furthermore, which are two number wheels showing the date, is split in half by the chronograph hand.  Whether or not it was done intentionally or not I’m not sure of, but it looks ugly, it looks stupid.

What’s more is that the numbers o nthe dial make no sense at all, it’s like the watchmaker ate some alphabet soup and sneezed.

So to sum up, I’d pass on this watch, get something else!

The former President of Russia wore a watch that cost as much as a luxury car.

The President of Italy wears watches that cost as much as a house.

And even the the modest President Clinton rolls around in a Panerai.

Now when I first mused about this a few weeks ago, the possibility that the President of the greatest nation in the world would roll around the greatest residence in the world with a gift shop trinket on his wrist was only a possibility, but now it is a definite reality, and I am pleased with the outcome.

Now I am not one to generalize especially with my sparse knowledge of anything remotely political, but it seems to be the trend of Presidents of late to try to relate to the common people more by wearing a cheap watch.  George W. Bush did it with his cheap Timex, and I heard that when President Clinton was in the White House he skimped on expensive watches for more basic ones.  Forget the hordes of Secret Service goons, private airplane, helicopters, and instant access to the hottest nightclubs, a President seems to think that if wears the same kind of watch as us ordinary people, then he can somehow relate to us.  Gimme a break!

Speaking of Secret Service goons, if you ever seen watch now President Barack Obama wears on his wrist and ever wondered, “what kind of watch is that?”  Well wonder no longer.

As a recent birthday present for President Obama, his Secret Service goons thought of the laziest present known to man.  They went to the Secret Service shop, bought a watch, gave it to him, and now it’s his daily wearer.

It was produced by the no name company of Jorg Gray, who basically sells cheap Chinese watches of which you can put a logo on and there you have it!

The End!

When I drive home from work I usually pass by a low-income, but safe community somewhere in the middle of my journey home.  In truth I’m not sure what they’re all about, nor do I really care, but one thing I do know is that they like to modify their cars A LOT!

Personally I think it looks really cool.  These kids have these everyday cars like Honda Civics, Toyota Corollas, etc.  and they go about fitting huge spoilers, body kits, tinted windows, and noisy exhausts to them so they look and sound like racing cars.

It all looks really good, and it all looks really professional, and it all looks really cool!

The problem is though, that every so often I get next to one of these highly-modified “racing” cars at a red light.  I then acclerate in absolute quietness and comfort while the car next to me, while looking cool and making ungodly amounts of noise, isn’t actually going any faster.  It’s all a lot of noise, but not a whole lot of performance.  In other words, it’s sh**!

Well I’m actually not going to go there with the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, because it just wouldn’t seem right, but if you look at this watch:

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Men’s Watch Automatic Chronograph Stainless Steel Black Dial 25721ST-OO-1000ST-08

You can’t tell me that it doesn’t at least LOOK like it means business!

And that’s the problem I have with this watch, and many watches like this.  It’s got the garnish of high performance toughness, such as the angular bezel, the bold numeral markings, bands made of diving watch materials such as stainless steel and rubber, and it’s got these awesome screws on the bezel which look as though they were fashioned from the rivets of a battleship.

For the price you would HOPE the watch is as tough as it looks, but it is the unfortunate case that they really are not…

Sure they aren’t going to fall apart should you happen to drop it on the carpet, but it really isn’t any different or any tougher than any other watch you’d find in this price range, or even half it’s price range for that matter.

The depth rating is pretty standard and the watch has got a butterfly/hidden clasp which, while pretty and more fluid-looking as it hides the clasp mechanism, is less secure than your standard sport’s watch clasp.

No I’m afraid that this is just another fashion accessory for the big and bold watch fans out there.

I think it’s great, who needs toughness in a watch anyway?

BMW’s are driven almost exclusively by alpha males. I’m not talking about those teenybopper 3 series that all the rich kids drive, I’m talking about those big ugly 5 and 7 Series computers-on-wheels that all the alphas drive. I’m sure you know the type. They are the type of man who doesn’t care about the fact that their cars are as ugly as a baboon’s behind, they are the type of man who doesn’t care about the environment, and most important of all, they are the type of man who couldn’t care less about what other people think.

These men are cutting edge indeed. They love their big expensive BMW’s and all the stuff in it. Their ability to control the hardness of their suspensions is the 21st century equivalent of a gorilla beating on its hairy chest. Half the stuff in their cars they don’t need, but they love that it’s there; And when an alpha male shows that stuff off, it makes all us inferior males want to crawl back in the jungle in the hopes of mating with one of the females the alphas didn’t want.

These men are the pack leaders, they are the focused, they are the Illuminati, they are the men that all the women want to sleep with, and these are the men that all men aspire to be.

The watch of an alpha male? A Breitling of Course!

Breitling Breitling for Bentley Mens Watch A2536212/B686-970A

One of Breitling’s most famous models was called the Breitling Emergency, and like no other watch before it, it transmitted a distress signal to neighboring vessels should its wearer ever be lost at sea. (yes, that ought to do the alphas quite nicely) But since that’s no longer widely available I think they will be quite satisfied with this Breitling Bentley Motors T.

Despite the irony of it being named and made for those self-conscious Bentley drivers, the alphas will gladly have it, because while wearing a watch like that is literally like hanging one’s balls out in the open, the alphas have got the stuffing in the pants to back it up. And would you just look at the thing, it is SENSATIONALLY beautiful.

There are more numbers on the dial than in all the math books ever made, there are more hands on it than on a statue of Ganesha, and it is so complicated that one would need a computer programming degree just to operate one. I’m sad to say that your humble presenter is not worthy of this watch, but if you are one of the enlightened, one of the cutting edge, and one of the worthy, you will love this watch.