Pagani Design Speedmaster

I'd eye'd this off for a while and finally decided that I would spring for the Mark iii version. I'm attracted to it because 

1. I've always loved the look of the classic Speedmaster
2. I'm quite a fan of Seiko movements (and this has a VK63 mechaquartz movement)

So its like a fusion of two great houses

I'm not fond of the supplied straps so I put it onto a grey (ex) NATO I had hanging around.

Its smart, well made and frankly I was pretty impressed with the fit and finish. Much ado is made about not having AR coatings (which scratch) but in the days wearing I've found it no harder to read than every other watch I've had in the last 40 years. NOTE: I've since found that it does have AR coating on the inside surface of the crystal (see this post).

As there are plenty of YouTube videos about it I'll only add here some things which are often neglected, such as for instance that it has two holes for spring-bars which allows a NATO to sit more nicely.

Which I thought was a nice touch.

When compared to my SRPE65k1 Seiko 5 its actually not much bigger 

I created an overlay of these two in photoshop and while they do not match up perfectly I did center them on the axis of the hands (the issues pertain to my failure to perfectly align for rotation as well as the lens distortions and perspective distortions of phone cameras and their wide angle lenses).

So this has helped me adjust to the Seiko always feeling bigger than I'd like soon after wearing the Pagani ;-)

Also we can see that the PD is not much thicker than the Seiko and would indeed be the same thickness if it had a flat crystal (something I'm entertaining. not least because of the way a convex crystal really exacerbates the reflections, but may not be worth the effort).

Its also worth noting that the springbar is lower on the PD helping it sit nicely on the wrist too. It is however not as comfortable as the Seiko. The Pagani however, worn for a whole day of activity, is tiring and has actually hurt the back of my hand when doing serious labour. This is due to the way the Pagani (and probably Omega) watch isn't sculptured to fit a wrist. Some quick and dirty images to compare these two again.

and the backs:

So the "footprint" is significantly smaller at the back of the Seiko. This is most important when you are actually doing things and your hand is not straight with your arm (like picking things up, supporting your weight, using a screwdriver or a spanner ...) as it is in a brochure picture of a well dressed Gentlman with big wrists. To me this means that the Omega isn't a daily wear watch for anyone except an office worker.

Interestingly on the Apollo missions they wore these watches on the outside of their jump suits, not against their skin. So the PD has become the watch I wear for smart casual or when driving the car for a longer journey. Here it often sits better in a place of visibility and I do like timing things (like a section of a route). Measuring elapsed time is what this watch is really all about.

Interestingly at 65.8g its not much heavier than the Seiko (6g heavier).

I found it very legible (reflections not withstanding) and didn't feel "bigger on the wrist" than my Seiko.

So the basics are:

• Seiko Mechaquartz (with around 20 seconds a month accuracy)
• Sapphire crystal (meh, I'd be ok with acrylic)
• apparently very good build quality

and given that it cost me less than US$75 I find that outstanding value for money. Heck the Seiko VK63 movement alone is nearly half that (unless buying wholesale).

Some points which have emerged after a day or so that I've not seen in any reviews:

• finishing of the machined surface edges is not really excellent, leaving them looking good, but feeling sharp. The same goes with the crown at the end of it where it touches you. I took some silicon carbide paper and very carefully (with a small strip of it to control it) took the edge off around the base of the watch and on the lugs too.
• despite being large, the flatness of the back really helps it sit nicely in place with my small 6.5" wrist.
• the positioning of the straps in different holes (as pictured above) makes a substantial difference
• Hands, even on the subdials are nicely aligned 

I believe I now have a new daily driver. I might even sell a few watches (probably for more each than this cost) to "fund it". I'll be keeping the SRPE65k1 though, its already got too many marks on it for most watch buyers.

Lastly a point on the philosophy

People react strongly about watches which are copies (to be blunt) or homages (to be pretending its something else). Setting aside the fully hand made watch by a craftsman in his workshop, pretty much all modern watches are "reproductions". When seen from the view that; they are designed in CAD, then a machine produces the parts from a file (and in some cases does a lot of the assembly too). From this perspective  a maker (say) Rolex just reproduces watches from a design.

I'm looking at my PD-1701 and seeing that others have (by measurement) done a reproduction of this but at a price which can be purchased by anyone who loves the look and design. The real thing that differentiates it is the logo and copyright.

While the PD-1701 is not finished to the microscopic examination of the case and the mechaquartz movement is not a hand made highly complex mechanical one. Most owners of the Omega would probably not know that you had swapped out their mechanical movement until they went to wind it, for they don't actually see the movement in daily life with the watch. Few if any owners would have taken the case back off in the 1960's to see.

Thus these Homages or reproductions are really just enriching our lives (those of us who aren't uber wealthy or willing to make sacrifices to get the originals) with being able to enjoy the essential parts of the watch - how it looks and how it functions - at a much more affordable price. I suspect this desire to be 'exclusive' (meaning exclude you from my club) is what's really hurt in people when they find out "its a copy"

Pagani ... Pagan ... mmmm I think I'm going to proceed with this Mod ...

The watch is not without fault, but for under US$80 its a lot of watch.

Lastly another strap

Lastly while I was happy with this strap I genuinely don't find it worth the extra money of the eBay leather ones which have exactly the same hardware and equal in leather quality. Still it was only 20% dearer.

LP records, cleaning and playing (at the same time)

People love to spend money on things, sometimes they work.

To me the most obvious thing to clean a record with is something that it encounters quite often, and something designed to actually be used with the record: The Stylus

The Stylus (with a little help from some friends) is perfect and if you're worried about damaging your LP by playing it then you really do need to be thinking of optical ... and maybe even CD?

Anyway I digress

I started years ago (like in the 80's) playing my LP's "damp". Not so wet that water flings off, but not dry either. I'd add a small amount of plain fragrance free, uncoloured and unscented detergent to de-mineralised water (like 5ml to 150ml of water) and then carefully gently spray the LP (taking care not to spray the label to get a smooth surface coating on the LP but that doesn't pond.

I would do this with the LP on the platter and the platter turning. It became pretty obvious if there was too little or too much.

Then begin playing normally.

You'll also need a small soft but stiff bristle brush to gently wipe down the stylus because if you watch during this process you'll be stunned just how much comes out of the tracks and gathers on the stylus.

Lift the stylus up, move it away from the LP, gently in a rolling action designed to bring the bristles (side on) down the stylus as to wipe the gunk off the stylus.

I found on first plays of this with older LP's which were not always mine from new that this must be done a few times per side.

Added Benefits

Since there is moisture on the LP this brings another agent in contact with the stylus, which given its speed through the groove (about 20 inches per second at the outside and decreasing) and the pressure in PSI of the stylus on the vinyl (something like 50psi) some heat  is inevitable ... so the water also acts as a cooling agent.

I have found that this method has greatly reduced the sound quality losses of my records over years of playing and indeed reduces the snap crackle and pop of playing.

HTH