a beauty from the past

 A while ago I ummed and ahhhed about buying a particular watch, a 1965 (see PS) Seiko Sportsman, one of the first movements (or calibres) that Seiko made themselves (they were using Swiss movements for a while).

after a bit of thought I decided to buy it, but the seller had sold it some hours before. So I just went my own way.

Then they contacted me and said they buyer had returned it, so after a bit more thought (I'd already decided I wasn't really in need of another) I decided to buy it; and in so many ways I'm glad I did.

Its totally nothing like modern watches, in fact its simply beautiful for a humble price of €170.

not only it is it simple uncluttered and clear to read, but its actually amazingly thin

the body weighing under 26g ... yes, that's like half the weight of my SNK805 and thinner too (of course its NOT an automatic, so points to the SNK there for jamming in that additional mechanism.

Speaking of which...

And this seems to fit this data.

The dial size is almost exactly what modern watches are, which makes it easy to read, but the weight is simply wonderful, light on the wrist and very easy to wear.

My intention is to make this a "dress watch" for at its age its done the hard work of a functioning business watch for an executive, probably some daily wearing of some lesser paid office workers and finally left in a drawer.

So a time piece from a time before I existed (to be fair I doubt much of who is me existed in when I was one). I'm happy to be a custodian of it for a time.

PS: given the data from the back the year (only the last digit of it) is represented by one of the following serial numbers leading digits.

I'm just unsure which so given the movement, its either a '66 or a '65 as I understand things. However the top line code produces a weird result:

more as it comes to hand.

PPS

Ok, I got a reply from a Seiko enthusiast which suggests that 661990 is also written (perhaps later as their code evolved?) as 66-1990 as its movement (noted above) is a type 66 (apparently A or B are not distinguished. This clarifies that its a Feb 65 manufacture.

And it got a clean and lube recently too

works lovely now

another example of perioperative management of INR around a small procedure

I needed to have a little surgery to remove arthritis from my toe, so this being a peripheral surgery where bleeds were less likely (because of bloodless surgery possible on peripheral limbs and thus less life threatening) I perhaps took a little slacker approach on my management of  Anti Coagulation Therapy (ACT , aka warfarin).

Its just a day after hospital, so too early to talk about outcomes, but it feels like everything went well so far.

So my plan was to replicate what I did in my previous surgical procedure (which btw has a much higher risk of fatal bleeds) but perhaps act a little more conservatively on the cessation of ACT 

My procedure was slated for PM on Friday the 16th, accordingly my plan was this:

• half dose evening (regular dose time) for evening before procedure
• no dose on the evening of the procedure (after it)
• resume dose following day (evening)

Given what I found I probably should have reviewed more closely what I identified in the previous situation and gone with zero dose the evening before as well ... perhaps half the day before that.

A few more data points before the 16th would have been good, but it would seem that my INR didn't shift much (or was higher than 3 on the 14th 15th and I didn't know) as a result of the half dose and indeed rise after surgery.

Further I'd suggest that the small rise in INR despite the significant drop in dose suggests that if I had simply continued that its possible my INR may have gone higher (to perhaps 4) in the period soon after surgery. Something best avoided. So next time (I hope not, but probably there'll be) I'll monitor daily (to get data) and reduce dose to half earlier and withhold the day before the surgery.

Either way now is still a good time to have a reduced INR during post operative healing, so I'll be steering towards INR = 2 for the next week

why I'm not (quite) a watch collector

I'm one of those strange creatures who doesn't suffer badly from nostalgia. Recently this watch was posted for sale...

Its a beautiful watch and in its time ground breaking.

However there have been improvements in watches and in so many ways modern watches are actually better; I mean Seiko has not advanced as a company by making worse watches ... to me this is exemplified by the SRPE range and in my  61K1 model. It came with a NATO (perhaps to save money, I don't know) but I quickly discovered  that such straps are (in my view) best in the era of watches when they were made for slimmer, lighter, smaller watches. I know balance plays a part in wrist feel of the watch, more so than outright weight. So I thought I'd try this budget bracelet out on my 61K1, it looks great (but has some fit issues) and importantly feels great and nicely balanced now.

I see however that many people are highly fond of the 60's watches which had bubble style crystals, perhaps because it looks retro.

Well to me Retro is good when retro is better, and I can say that in my experience having grown up with bubble crystals / glass I can say that when I got a watch in the  70's (a digital) with a flat face I was 100% a convert. My Sports 100 simply would not have lasted this time if it didn't have a flat face and I can honestly say that in the vast majority of viewing angles is superior to see the time. Its actually hard to photograph (because it hard to see without orientating the watch to actually show them) what 30 years of hard use as the only watch I wore has done

In practical daily use bubbles get smacked a lot more (because they protrude more). Bubbles come from limitations in design and manufacturing capability ... so actually this technology is inferior to the flat crystals we now use.

Of course people buy watches for other reasons than practical, and the spectrum of "practical instrument to decorative jewellery", and while I lean towards the former there is of course an element of the latter.

So because of this leaning towards the practical I also know that watches will get marked in usage (as seen above), and its always the first obvious mark which attracts attention. This leads to (in my observation) anxiety in one's preshuss (jewellery) coming to harm ... which sort of obviates the goal of it being practical.

Now I have good friends who are sort of collectors as they have a selection of watches, these folk in the main work in professional inside roles (not like say a diver or a construction engineer where their watches will not come to harm) where their watches are like other items of their daily dress. Just like choosing a pair of shoes (I only have a few of them too) for the day the watch is like getting dressed.

So with that out of the way I appear to be becoming a collector of sorts with this addition to my set of watches:

From 1972, which has a bubble glass and is definitely more a dress item than a daily driver. It will however get worn.

But a collector is one who seldom puts on their watch (often having many to choose from) to go out and do stuff ... or if they do they have what is now charmingly called "a beater". I knew beater as another meaning for too long to have that displaced by this usage.

a reflection on the past

 Back in 2013 I wrote this post when testing a few lenses (old and new) on camera systems old and new. There I pondered the following:

So compared with keeping 35mm neg and micro4/3 (NB going to the Sony A7) I would

• rationalize bodies and lenses (being able to use the 35mm lenses on both systems)
• but still need to carry a 35mm film body for high contrast work

and still need to spend a bundle on the A7 (and more or less be only getting a small advantage?).

These words came back to me in recently taking this photograph with my A7 and the Samyang 35mmf2.8 lens:

I took this with my A7 (bought about 2 years back now) which at once shows the beautiful contrast capacity of modern (and well priced) optics and the still difficult limitations for those of us who like to shoot into the sun. 

Difficult because instead of seeing the sun in the sky we see  only a blown out nuclear blast effect where the sun is to our eyes. I'm reminded of this with these photographs which clearly show the disc of the sun without blowout around them:

and

Of course I moved to the A7 because:

• increasingly colour film development was becoming vexed
• my excellent Nikon film scanner used a comms technology which was becoming obsolete (and required me to keep ancient hardware going to keep it going (or VMWare))
• moving around required me to risk getting that system damaged (its pretty sensitive gear after all, with precision moving parts)

So I've had to "join the future" and give up what I once had, pretty much we all have.

Crops and Sun

Sometimes, the world is beautiful

 

well, often actually

a better look at my SRPE Seiko(s)

All this started with my (relatively) recent purchase of a Seiko 5 SNK series, but as I had trouble reading that face I found myself wanting the simplicity of Divers watch face, but didn't really want the extra bulk and bezel of the Divers. This led me to find the SRPE 61K1 (or "dress KX) and that's been a really nice step into what is essentially a new class of watch...

Hybrid of Dress and Diver

I was drawn to the Sports 100 (featured here) not just for its (still) beautiful orange face, but for its easy to read dial, which is pretty much part of the DNA of a Divers. So while I didn't want the super chunky type of Divers watches back then I was doing enough surf swimming, snorkelling and occasional diving that a light divers which looked good in a suit at work was important.

Watches are of course a type of Jewellery and so we choose something which we feel reflects something of ourselves which we'd like to communicate in our dress. So as I've always been an outdoor type a divers or similar watch follows the character of me. However at work and in my other social life I don't want to have something which is a big chunky notification (and often a bit inconvenient).

This leads me to find the SRPE series an excellent middle ground (and interestingly not dissimilar to the watch made famous by Marlin Brando in Apocalypse Now (link to Hodinkee) which (at the request of the Director) had the bezel removed to make it look less gaudy).

... of course the crown is at the Seiko classic 4O'clock not the 3O'clock of the Rolex.

For a watch which cost me far less in todays dollars than my Sports 100 did back in the 80's its  hard  to be more pleased with a watch.

As I mentioned in that video, the thickness is greater than my Sports 100. This image is my SNK Seiko 5, the SRPE then my Sports 100

Both it and the 61K1 are beautiful and while I paid more for the 61K1 the 65K1 has become my daily wear.