In a recent post, I mentioned ordering a new wristwatch to celebrate an important-to-me anniversary coming up on St. Patrick’s Day. The company I ordered it from said the watch wouldn’t arrive until the 12th of March, but dang if it didn’t show up on the 1st, a surprise given that it came all the way from China. Anyway, it’s here: unboxed, sized, and on my wrist. Not much point waiting until the 17th to wear it … after all, it’s a gift from me to me, and my inner Jiminy Cricket can just shut up la la la la I can’t hear you!
I detailed most of this in my earlier post, but since you hate to click links here’s a short recap: the new watch, a Pagani Design PD-1639, is an homage to the famous Rolex Submariner, a watch aging Boomers know from the early James Bond movies, worn by both Sean Connery and Roger Moore. If you’re younger, it’s the watch actor Titus Welliver wears on Amazon TV’s Bosch.
I’ve had the hots for a Submariner since 1990, when I went to Hong Kong to buy one at the Royal Navy’s China Fleet Club. Sadly, my $3,000 budget wasn’t nearly enough to seal the deal. Happily, it was enough for the Breitling I flew back to Japan with.
Now, at 77 and on a fixed income, I have to face the fact that I never will have a real Rolex, so I’m wearing a Prolex (get it?) instead. And a damn good one, I must say. Good quality, every bit as good (possibly gooder) as my more expensive Seikos, and identical to the Submariner in every respect save the logo on the dial.
About that: there are plenty of fake Rolexes out there, some of them arguably as good as the real thing, and they have their fans. I draw the line on fakes, though. A fake Rolex says Rolex on the dial and is meant to fool people. Homage watches, like the ones I have, wear their own brands and won’t fool anyone.
This is my second Pagani Design homage watch. The other one, bought for my birthday last year, is an Omega Speedmaster lookalike. The Speedy was the watch worn by Apollo-era astronauts.
Here they are: Prolex on the left, poor man’s Omega on the right.
007 wore his Rolex on a fabric NATO strap, but I’ve soured on those and plan to keep this one on its metal bracelet. The other watch also came with a metal bracelet, but I go back and forth between metal and leather on it. I think it looks better with a black leather strap, where the Prolex wouldn’t.
Oh, the upcoming important-to-me anniversary? St. Patrick’s Day will mark 17 years of sobriety, a big deal to me if no one else, but I’ll have more to say about that in a post on the day itself, so until then …
Stay fresh, cheese bags!