PSSSST . . . . 'ERE, YOU WANNA BUY A NICE WATCH THEN MATE . . . . I FEEL A BIT GUILTY AND NEGLECTFUL OF THE POOR OLD PROJECT SHOVELLER . . . . BOUGHT MYSELF A NEW WATCH DIRECT FROM JAPAN LAST WEEK . . . . IT ARRIVED TODAY IN THE POST AND I'M CHUFFED TO BITS . . . . SELF INDULGENCE, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL THING . . . . ROLEX, SHMOLEX, SWISS, NO WAY, I'M A SEIKO PSYCHO FREAKO !!!

FILE UNDER "ABSOLUTLEY FUCK ALL TO DO WITH BIKES, CARS, MUSIC, RANTS OR ANY OF THE USUAL SUBJECTS WHATSOEVER"

I'm not a watch collector by any stretch of the imagination, I've always loved cool ones though, especially the great divers models, yes, Rolex included, Omega Seamasters and the venerable family of Seiko Divers, the Model T of the personal timepiece world . . . . got my first Seiko Divers 150m in 1980, the orange face one, Quartz not automatic, wore it everyday, 24/7 for the next six years, flung it out the window of the band Tarago at 120 k's one day, no drama, gave it to a good mate when I got the next one, the original release of the Arnie Divers Duo 150m, black 'tuna' surround, digital display, alarm, donated that to my best man at my wedding in '97, about three years after getting the one on the left of my wrist in the pic, it's ceased to work currently but I'll get it repaired. Next was the one in the middle, the Kinetic 200m jigger, picked that up in 2009, one super heavyweight mofo, tragically, while jumping over a wall I thought was only three foot high when I was smash drunk a bit more than month ago, I bashed the shit out of it when the drop turned into about twelve fucking feet . . . . you can see the huge chunk of glass missing from the lens at the ten o'clock position.

The thing I've never understood about the collector/automatic/mechanical/purist brigade is why the fuck would you spend idiot amounts of money on technology that loses time from the moment you put the fucker on your wrist, it's a bit like buying a bike that you expect to have to completely retune every day, instead of once a week or a month . . . . anyway . . . . I've always been notoriously hard on the bloody things, once they're on, they never come off, sleeping, showering, swimming, riding, skating, screwing, working, sweating, whatever, had a waterproof watch on my wrist since I was nine. The damage to the Kinetic model got me figuring I want to get one more watch that will take the knocks and the abuse, be totally proofed against water, keep perfect time, so I know exactly how late I am to things, and last the rest of my life . . . . it had to be a Seiko . . . . and I knew which one, the legendary Divers 300m Professional, because clearly, I'm a pro diver . . . . not.

I've had a stiffy for what is known as the 'Tuna Can' Seiko divers for decades, they are a design classic, it's the one on the right in the pic, and a thing that rewrote the book on water resistance and robust engineering, never thought I'd own one and having owned some pretty hefty, large divers already, kinda thought it would be too fucking big . . . . then I found out how 'relatively' inexpensive they are ex Japan, so, by last Friday, I'd got me one, and now that it's on my wrist, the feeling is quite bizarre, something I've wanted for so long is now in my possession . . . . sure, it's just a 'thing' but it's a beautiful thing and I'm sure it will justify the price tag and be the last watch I'll ever buy, and yes, it's gonna get modified, or at least a beefier, uber quality bracelet, [bracelet, that is such a fucking girly word !!!] . . . . only downside is . . . . the entire process of research and deep thinking coincided with the very week I was gonna put the cash down on the Papa Clutch hardtail for the Shoveller . . . . oh well, fuck it, just save some more coin and get it before Christmas, no real rush, I've got the Purple Penis in the meantime.