Sunday, June 28, 2015

Watch Pictures - Pulsar Diver-Style Watch Pictures

It's time for a dose of watch porn. O.K. low budget amateur
watch porn.   Today I'd like to share some pictures of my Pulsar PS9319 diver-style dress watch.  It remains one of my favorites for wear each week.

Pulsar PS9319 Diver-Style Watch
It has the looks for sailing or for the pool.  Of course, this blog doesn't have the budget for poolside hot bikini models or beefcake hunks.  For that, we'll have to wait for the Invicta watch shows on TV.

Pulsar Diver-Style Watch
It continues to look great at the drive thru window at Wendy's.  I've pictured salads in the background so that everyone will think I eat healthy.


However, you'll most typically find this watch worn to Five Guys.  They make a danged good burger.


Perhaps being worn out and about is the true test of any watch.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun

Have you ever noticed how time can fly when you are active and working on a deadline?  It seems like you can glance at your watch and huge chunks of time will have flown by.  Yet, when you are waiting for something important, time can take what seems like forever.

I don't think this notion of relativity is something that can be explained by physicists.  It is probably something that can be more easily explained by psychologists.  In fact, according to an article in medical news today, psychologists have studied this phenomenon and there is something to it.  Time flies when you are pursuing goals.

By Infrogmation of New Orleans (Flickr: Old Mantle Clock) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

I think some clocks can actually slow down time as well.  For example, we received a nice clock as a wedding present.  It was much like the clock in my grandparents' house and it chimed every hour.  We soon cut the wires to the speaker because the chimes were associated with the extreme boredom I would sometimes feel at their house on a long summer day as a kid.


Today, there are watches that can alter the way you perceive time.  For example, you can get a one handed watch like the slow Jo 15 that only measures hours.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Removing Moisture or Fog from under a Watch Crystal

Today, on my way to work, I noticed that there was a trace amount of fog under the bezel of my Invicta vintage aviator-style watch.

I did a quick internet search and found this article on fixing the problem:


I popped home at lunch time and set my watch in a sunny window sill on a wash cloth.  The fog seemed to clear up.  But, on the very next morning commute, the cold AC of the car brought back the fog.

Swiss Fog Above Lake Geneva - photo by Markus Bernet, 2005-01-16, CCSSA 20
 It. was time for plan B.  My wife had collected a number of dessicant packets from shoe boxes that she threw out.  I pulled open the winding stem of the watch and sealed the watch and the dessicant packets in a plastic lunch bag.
About four days later, I wore the watch to work.  In the morning commute with cold AC blowing onto my wrist, I was fog free.  

Was I fog free?  Nope.  By early afternoon, I had my faint fogging back under the crystal.

My next step?  I'll try to get the caseback off and put the watch in with the silica packets.  We'll see how that works.  Any ideas?

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Wristwatch Review: Casio Tough Solar Ana-Digital Watch

I have a new, rugged, wristwatch in my life.  It's called the Casio Tough Solar and it will be perfect for when I go mountain climbing, swamping, parachuting. and desert exploring.  It also goes well with khaki pants on business casual days.

Casio Tough Solar Ana-Digital Watch

Design.  The design of the Casio is hard core military.  It's brown.  It's made to blend into a wooded environment.  It's also muscular with a pumped up plastic case that can take hard knocks.   It looks rugged enough to be a G Shock alternative.

The design features white batons to mark each hour.  They angle down and in on the sloped channel ring.  White numbers denote 12, 3. and 9 o'clock.  The numbers and hands have lume.  A small digital watch read out dominates the six o'clock position.  Only the digital clock is backlit when the A button (at two o'clock is pressed).



Construction.  The Casio Tough Solar is tough.  A raised plastic bezel protects the watch crystal.  It has a stainless steel caseback that is secured with four tiny Phillips Head screws.  The watch has 100 meters or 10 BAR water resistance.



Dimensions.  This watch is only a tad bulky.  It's dimensions are fairly normal.  The case diameter is 46 millimeters and the case is 12 millimeters thick.  The band is 27 millimeters wide.

If this watch has trouble fitting under a dress shirt cuff, it's because it isn't a dress watch.  It has lots of buttons and textured surfaces to prevent it from easily sliding under a sleeve.



Features.  According to Amazon.com, Casio Men's AQS810W-3AVCF Solar Watch with Green Band features "solar power, LED light with afterglow, world time (48 cities), multi-lingual day-of-the-week display, 5 alarms, 1/100-second stopwatch, 2 countdown timers (up to 10 intervals each), and 12/24-hour formats." 


Drawbacks.  This watch is green. If you aren't a little green army man, you might want it in another color.  It is also available in black.  This watch is not set via a conventional winding stem.  Instead, you set the digital watch and the hands automatically adjust to follow.  It looks cool in action, but you have to read the directions.  This watch has no second hands.  You have to rely on the digital functions to see the seconds tick by.  Finally, this watch does stay powered as long in the dark as a Citizen Ecodrive.  It will probably run for days, but certainly not weeks.



Overall, I like the Casio Tough Solar very much.  It's a step up from the venerable Casio Forester.  Most importantly, it's a great watch for adventuring and banging around.