In April this year 2024, Decorum Bangkok held a Trunk Show by Ascot Chang. My intention for this year was to focus more on the Bespoke and MTM piece rather than the RTW items.
Therefore I decided to commission a dress shirt with Ascot Chang with some preferences in mind as follow:
A Dress/Formal Shirt
Vintage cloth in Ascot Chang archives
Spread Collar with a wider and pointer shape
Snugged barrel cuff which I prefer my right cuff a bit wider for my wrist watch
Initial embroidery
After measurement and cloth/details selection about 1.5 month, I got the 1st fitting in June with a completely finished shirt. Even though the program that I commissioned was called MTM Program but the way the AC staff measured my body is very much a Bespoke processand from the 1st fitting I can definitely say that this is a Bespoke Shirt (also a staff at Decorum supported my idea).
From my 1st fitting, there were some adjustments on my shoulder and on my back to make the shirt a cleaner look (to eliminate the excess fabric). The rest of the shirt i.e. the length of the sleeve, the fit around my neck, cuff, chest were perfect!!
Then the final shirt arrived in the beginning of September (after about 4 months). My experience with this shirt was so impressive as you guys can guess from the title. I would like to summarized as below:
Collar: the shape is perfect as I expected and the most important thing is that it’s very soft but it beautifully roll and maintain its shape all day long for both buttoned with tie all day long and an open collar look.
Cuff: as my preference that I like a snugged fit and I wanted my right cuff a bit wider to make room for my wrist watch, it turned out perfectly without any crease or discomfort which I experience from other tailor.
Fitting: my really love the silhouette of this shirt which hardly to explain why. What I can say is that it make me look slim and very elegant. And it’s very comfortable for both when I stay still and moving especially when I raise my arms the shirt still stay tucked in nicely.
Fabric: I chose a pale blue with a white micro stripe which has a subtle detail on the white strip like a stitching or some kind of weaving technique when you look closely it’s really elevate the look of the shirt
Details: Every detail of this shirt is very delicate and when to see and touch it reflects a high craftsmanship i.e. buttons, button holes, all stitching, side seams and even the initial embroidery is very crisp.
All in all I am so impressed with this shirt and if I have a chance, I wouldn’t think twice to commission more.
In someday, we might want to wear a very nice shirt for rewarding ourself for what we have achieved or make us feel more confident for a special day.Ascot Chang shirt is that kind of shirt for that kind of days.
Nomos has been my favorite watch brand from Glashütte Germany with its heritage, manufacturing almost 100% in-house, and Bauhaus design language.
My love at first sight with Nomos is their Sport Collection; “Club” and their Contemporary Collection; “Orion” and “Zürich” instead of their Classic Collection; “Tangente” and “Lugwig” which contains all of the Nomos signature design element i.e. straight & slim lug, perfect circle case, original fonts, etc.
However, because of its famous “long lug” that always stopped me to get one into my collection.
Just recently, I had a chance to see and touch Tangente in the metal for the first time. I told myself that it’s very outstanding from the others siblings. Once I put it on my wrist, all the feeling that I afraid of the lug, the boring round case, and a very simple dial was disappeared.
This watch put a big smile on my face and I knew in the sudden this is the Nomos that I’ve been searching for a long long time. Sometime boring and simple designs are not the bad things and you have to really see the watch up close in the metal and put it on your wrist to really understand and to know exactly what you feel with that watch. The same way that I experienced with this Nomos Tangente 38mm.
0552 ใช้สำหรับกองทัพเรือ (Royal Navy) แต่มีส่วนหนึ่งเป็นจำนวนไม่มากที่ใช้รหัส 0555 สำหรับ Royal Marines และ/หรือ Royal Navy)
6BB ใช้สำหรับกองทัพอากาศ (Royal Air Force – RAF)
ในช่วงปลายของทศวรรษที่ 1970s ทาง Hamilton ได้รับผลกระทบจากวิกฤต Quartz Crisis ไม่ต่างจากบริษัทผลิตนาฬิกาอื่นๆ และสุดท้ายต้องถูกยกเลิกจากการผลิตนาฬิกาให้กับทางกองทัพฯ
จุดกำเนิด CWC W10
อย่างไรก็ดี ยังมีผู้บริหารของ Hamilton ที่เป็นคนสัญชาติอังกฤษชื่อ Mr. Ray Mellor มองเห็นลู่ทางว่ายังมีความต้องการนาฬิกาทหาร จากทาง Ministry of Defense (MoD) ดังนั้นในช่างเวลาดังกล่าว Mr. Ray Mellor ได้ก่อตั้งบริษัท Cabot Watch Company (CWC) เพื่อสานต่อการผลิตนาฬิกาให้กับทางกองทัพต่อจาก Hamilton
WWW Watch หรือที่เรียกชื่อเล่นกันว่า “Dirty Dozen” เรือนนี้ผลิตโดย Grana (Source: www.hodinkee.com)
จะเห็นได้ว่า ด้วยหลักการออกแบบทั้ง 3 ข้อด้านบนนั้น แทบจะเป็นหลักการพื้นฐานในการออกแบบนาฬิกาทุกเรือนที่เราใช้กันอยู่ทุกวันนี้ และด้วยการยึดหลักการออกแบบเดังกล่าวจึงไม่ผิดนักที่จะพูดว่า นาฬิกาทหารนั้น เป็นนาฬิกาเพื่อการใช้งานอย่างแท้จริง (Tool Watch) โดยไม่คำนึงถึงความสวยงาม และตัดงานออกแบบที่ไม่มีความจำเป็นออกไป (Form Follow Function หรือจะเรียกว่า Form is Function ก็ยังได้)
ก่อนหน้าที่ผมจะเขียนบทความนี้ ผมบอกกับตัวเองมาตลอดว่า เราจะต้องสกัดความชอบ และอารมณ์ อย่าให้มาอยู่เหนือเหตุผลในการตัดสินใจเลือกซื้อนาฬิกาซักเรือน จนผมได้เข้าไปดูยูทูปคลิป Watchbox’s collector conversation with Mark Cho ที่คุณ Mark Cho (IG: @markchodotcom หนึ่งในผู้ก่อตั้งร้าน The Armoury และ Drake’s ซึ่งคุณ Mark ก็เป็นนักสะสมนาฬิกา ที่มีนาฬิกาในคอลเล็คชั่นที่น่าสนใจมากๆ ด้วย) ให้สัมภาษณ์กับ คุณ Tim Mosso (IG: @tim_mosso Director of Media & Watch Specialist ของเว็บไซต์นาฬิกาชื่อดัง Watchbox) ได้อย่างน่าสนใจมากๆ
Have you ever ask yourself about how are you collecting your watches? Does it base on your collecting philosophy or it’s just emotional impulsive?
If the answer is “Yes”, you are not alone and probably in the right place because I’m about to tell you how I am living together with these two schools of thought.
Collecting Philosophy
This is like a logical side of our brain. I think it’s quite a normal function of our brain to try to rationalize the way we think when we are trying to acquire any new watch or build up our collection. Our brain can start to set up some ground rules such as how many type, some might looking ‘only iconic watches’, some are hunting for only ‘watches with complication functions’, in opposite, some are searching for ‘time only’ watches, and the list goes on.
I also found some benefits of having this rational thinking as follow:
(Source: www.marketing91.com)
Strategic Thinking
I think it’s good to have a frame work otherwise our brain will go all over places. And once we have a set of rules that means we have some kind of goal that we are looking for.
Courtesy of Christie’s
Meaningful Watch Journey
As we all know, collecting watches takes time which is part of the fun. Establishing a set of rules for ourselves along the way will help to create stories of how hard or how challenging before you can own watches that you really want. The harder/longer, the more meaningful of that watch journey.
Developing your taste
As I mentioned so many times already, watch collecting is very personal. It depends on the taste of individual and it can change overtime. Therefore, it’s okay that your rules might change in the future. It might be from ourselves that we get older or it might come from other factors such as getting new careers, having a new born child, etc. When your rules changed overtime that means your taste has been developed too.
Emotional Impulse
This is more like a emotional side of our brain. For me, sometime I need a little push to have a courage before I can actually jump. My emotional impulse is that ‘push’. I also totally agree with Mark Cho (IG: @markchodotcom); co-Founder of The Armoury and Drake’s, he’s also a watch collector and his collection is very amazing, when he gave an interview with Tim Mosso (IG: @tim_mosso); Director of Media & Watch Specialist for Watchbox in Watchbox’s collector conversation with Mark Cho.
He was saying that “You have to ‘own something’ for a little bit. It’s okay to spend the money. Buy and do it and get sense for it. Because just reading a review or just seeing it in a shop is not enough. You have to handle it and live with it and see how it fits into you life. Because watches are personal things and it needs to fit into your life.”
I couldn’t agree with him more. After I listened to him a couple of times, I noted it down and then tried to understand it, I changed my way of thinking.
(Source: equestasia.com.au)
From only follow my ground rules and prevent my emotional to interfere, I rather to embrace it and allow some flexibilities and mistakes to happen which is a part of developing my taste as well.
My Final Thought
At the end of the day, collecting watch should be a fun journey. We don’t have to put ourselves too seriously. We should make it meaningful and develop our taste along the way as part of my “Personal Style Journey”.
What do you think? Please feel free to drop your comments below. Any opinion and suggestion are very welcome. It’d be much appreciated if you consider to visit & follow my IG account @mickyjicky and @my.six.point.five.inch.wrist
For anyone who follows my Instagram @mickyjicky and @my.six.point.five.inch.wrist , you may find out that I’m really into a ‘smaller watch’ recently. Therefore, in this post, I would like to talk about ‘watch size’ that why now I prefer smaller diameter watches and I think you should consider as well.
Here are my 4 main reasons!!
Wearability
Seiko Prospex Ref.SBDC053 42.5mm in diameter and 50mm Lug-to-LugPanerai Luminor Marina PAM111 44mm in diameter and 52mm Lug-to-Lug
When we talk about wearability, it depends on a wrist size of a wearer. My wrist is 6.5 inches (16.5cm) in circumference. In the past, I used to wear a big watch same as others during the glory days of Panerai when every man & woman wearing 44mm watches as a normal size. It was NOT comfortable at all. How uncomfortable? I have to take it off several times during the day because it hurts my wrist. BUT I kept wearing it because I wanted to follow the fashion trend at that time.
Rolex Explorer Ref.14270 36mm in diameter 43.6mm lug-to-lug and thickness 11.5mm. It is a perfect size for me.
Until I got a chance to wear a smaller watch at around 36-37mm in diameter. Then I understand how comfortable it is. Because a smaller watches come with a thinner and lighter case. So I can wear them all the day without taking them off and even sometime I forgot that I’m wearing one.
When you read at this point, you may think if you have a bigger wrist than mine, let says 7 inches and above, you can wear larger watches comfortably. The answer is Yes and No.
Rolex Submariner Ref.1680 40mm in diameter and 47.7mm lug-to-lug thickness 15mm which I put a leather strap on. It rests nicely on my 6.5″ wrist.
Yes, a bigger wrist can wear a bigger watch BUT that doesn’t mean you cannot wear a smaller watch. In my opinion, “anyone can wear small watches but not everyone can pull off a larger watch” or in other words “Small watches are fine on big wrists, but big watches don’t look good on small wrists”.
Tasteful & Elegant
Rolex Daytona Ref.6265 “Big Red” 37mm in diameter and 44.8mm lug-to-lug Thickness 13mm. This is the most comfortable Chronograph watch that I’ve ever worn.
This is a matter of aesthetic taste. We are talking about a proportion between watch case and your wrist area. A proper watch case can sit on your wrist while allow some wrist presence which has a well proportional look.
It goes the same way as our clothing especially when we are talking about ‘Classic Menswear’.We normally go with a proper size to fit our body (not too big and not too tight) which will make an overall look more appropriate. With a smaller watch, it allows strap or bracelet to has more presence and curve beautifully on your wrist(for a taper strap or bracelet even more beautiful) which is more elegant and tasteful than a bigger watch that shows ONLY a watch dial on your wrist.
Muhammad Ali shadow boxing in his Cartier Tank (Source: montrespubliques.com)Muhammad Ali and his Cartier Tank (Source: montrespubliques.com)
Like I mentioned above, when I see a person with big wrists wearing a small watch, I have nothing but respect for him. I think that person knows his/her own style and definitely with taste.
Has anyone notice that the left one has a bigger diameter? (Source: timeandtidewatches.com)
At this point, it is important to know a “Lug-to-Lug” or some call “Watch Length” which is a distance from lug tip to lug tip (see pictures above).This is another key dimension that can determine how big and small of that watch rather than its diameter. Some watches have a small diameter BUT have a long lug-to-lug for example Nomos and some military inspired watches.
Nomos Orion 38mm case with 48mm lug-to-lugLongines Heritage Tuxedo 38.5mm case with a super long lug-to-lug
Price
Normally, smaller watches are less expensive than bigger watch(when comparing in the same brand and model). We are talking about retail price (go to Rolex, IWC, Omega‘s website) and also secondary market price especially luxury watches made with precious metals and precious stones.
So this is another benefit of wearing smaller watches because you can save more money (for another watch, may be ^_^).
Timeless
As we all know, vintage watches are normally in the range of 33-36mm in diameter (they are still look very beautiful until today) and 37-38mm were considered as oversized watches. In modern days, most of the watches are in 40-42mm in diameter and some brands even consider 36mm and smaller watches are for women.
Kurono Tokyo 34mm is vintage inspired with modern quality (Source: kuronotokyo.com) 34mm looks very elegant on the wrist (Source: HODINKEE.com)
While people around me are picking 40-42mm when they look for their new watch and there are tons of available models & brands in the current market. I’m looking for 36-37mm watches. May be because I love the vintage style watches and may be because I wear classic menswear clothing. But above all, I believe that smaller watches will stand through a test of time. That’s why Rolex still keep the 36mm size in their Date Just, Explorer, Oyster Perpetual, and recently Day Date.
Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Ref.3940G 36mm in diameter with 43.3mm lug-to-lug and thickness 8.8mm. This is my Grail Watch (Source: bazamu.com)
I also like the fact that it is more challenging to find the right watch for me and I prefer not to go to the same route as everyone goes.
My Final Thought
I hope that what I explained above can turn your attention toward a smaller watch in some ways. However, there are more other factors that I didn’t mentioned above such as the Shapes of watch i.e. Rectangular, Tonneau, etc., Thickness, and Colors of dial. These also can impact our perception on how big or small of the watch on our wrist as well.(I can write more about this in the future post).
What I wrote above doesn’t mean that I force myself to look ONLY for 36-37mm watches. For me, I feel comfortable to wear 40mm as the biggest size that I can go. I think 38-40mm watches are the suitable size for my secondary watches i.e. my Dive watch, Sporty watch for my active days.
Lastly, as the trend starts to show that smaller watches are coming back, I’m looking forward to see more Brands offer their famous model in smaller size. Also I think in the near future there should be ‘no gender’ in any brand catalogue and we as a customer will have more options of neutral gender watch designs.
What do you think? Please feel free to drop your comments below. Any opinion and suggestion are very welcome. It’d be much appreciated if you consider to visit & follow my IG account @mickyjicky and @my.six.point.five.inch.wrist
