Hey ya’ll! I’ll be celebrating my 40th birthday this year (as well as my 10 year wedding anniversary, amongst other milestones this year…2026 is a BIG year for me) and would like to purchase a special piece to commemorate the occasions and would like some input from y’all! Here’s my “wants and needs” list: - Budget: $4,000 - Movement: Mechanical/Automatic - Black dial - Stainless Steel Case - Good quality SS bracelet - Versatile, true GADA where I can dress up or down, something like looks great in t-shirt and jeans as well as for an office job.  - Durable, I will alternate this as my part of my EDC, would like it to last at least my lifetime - Ideally with exhibition case back but not a deal breaker - Because I am an architect and interested in design, would like something simple not too over the top Here are some top contenders I’ve been considering: - Tudor Black Bay 54 or 58: over budget (BB54 is under $4k at JS) - Sinn 556i RS: I would have to purchase site unseen, well under budget - Longines Hydroconquest 39mm: is this too generic? well under budget - Beaubleu La Piece no2 Black: very unique, maybe too unique? Fish scale bracelet not link - NOMOS Glashutte Neomatik 41 Update: no black dial, over budget, no bracelet, but the design appeals to me - Junghans max bill Chronoscope Bauhaus: no bracelet, PVD black case, another one that design appeals to me, under budget What do y'all think? Any feedback or other options would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

For Feild watch Friday I have grabbed Bob out the box for today. It is a Feild watch for the divers out there. I do love this one, the classic Batman colourway, the comfortable rubber strap and the superb price.

Throwback Thursday means Big Red comes out. This was my first even Automatic watch. Bought in n a cruise in April 2023. It is Big, it is Bold and it is Beautiful. It is BIG RED

The new Strap Habit strap came today. Looks a lot better than the previous as it sits against the case so much nicer. Snoopster is looking Perfect now.

So with the final day of 2025 here in Australia I have completed the first year of watch tracking. And the Winner who had a full 12 months to shine is none other than my Trusty Erebus Origin GMT “Wade Wilson”. Then tied for second are The Seiko Speedtimer SSC913P “Clark Kent” and my favourite watch right now, who had less than three and a half months worth of ownership, The Tudor Royal 41. Having started properly tracking in May, you can see that June was when I was trying to wear as many different watches as possible, that’s why 4 watches got 4 wears each. The months before May I went back through the Watch Lovers and RMRS forums to see what I had logged for wearing. The watches in Red in the totals are watches that were moved on to other members of these forums, the ones in Orange are probably on the outer soon, heading to a more appreciative person. As for my favourite 2025 release, it’s got to be the Tudor Black Bay 58 with the Burgundy dial. If someone handed me one I’d probably do a very unseemly backwards stumble while grinning like a kid who just found the secret watch box. Buying it myself would definitely be pure indulgence as I’ve already got some lovely divers. Cruelly, it also lacks the date complication I secretly love to guilt‑check every morning.