Friday 26/8/2016 - Still Busy, Happy Birthday, Mr Connery & This Week's Wristwatches.

Sorry if you had to tilt your head to the side for that.
Can't recall doing anything extraordinary last weekend, but I wore the Rolex Submariner 5513;

Those specks of dust really bug me, because they're on the underside of the crystal. Man, I can't wait until I get this watch serviced one day. They'll put a proper crystal and bezel insert on it and service the movement. It'll look and run better than it does now. No mean feat.

Sits nicely on the wrist. Or rather, it sits nicely on my wrist. I've come to the conclusion that 40mm is a perfect size for me when it comes to sports watches. These days, though, most brands are still churning out case sizes beyond 42mm. I can carry off 42mm, but anything larger begins to look cartoony on me. 

Switched over to the Camy Club-Star midweek while I watched the first couple of episodes of "Aquarius" on DVD;

Set in 1967, this show follows L.A. police detective Sam Hodiak (David Duchovny) as he is drawn into an missing person investigation. Meanwhile, we also see the rise of the Charles Manson cult. Manson is played by Gethin Anthony (never heard of him before) and he seems to have been given more charisma than I would have thought Manson had. Artistic licence. 

It'll be interesting to see what happen when their two paths intersect at some point.

Duchovny is good as the world-weary cop and its good to see him on TV again after the long-running Californication came to an end a couple of years ago. I've only watched two episodes, but it's got me intrigued.

The Camy Club-Star, with its Speidel expanding bracelet, seemed like a nice choice this week. I'd been wearing a few of my larger watches of late, so it was good to switch back to something a little more understated. 

Yesterday (25th) was Sean Connery's 86th Birthday. His Bond belongs to another era, but will always be the blueprint for the cinematic OO7 to me. 

He has been officially retired from acting since 2007, but he left behind a varied body of work aside from his Bond films. He received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1987 for his role in Brian De Palma's The Untouchables, but I think he should have gotten one the year before for his excellent performance as Fransiscan monk Sir William of Baskerville in The Name of the Rose (Dir: Jean-Jacques Annaud), a murder mystery set in a remote abbey in 14th Century Italy. If you've never seen this film, I highly recommend it. Ron Perlman, as the deformed hunchback Salvatore, is worth the price of admission alone. 

After seeing my first Bond film at the age of nine, and then reading my first Bond book at the age of thirteen, I was fast becoming a fan of this super-spy. I soon began catching the Bond movies on TV whenever they were screened and Dr No was my first introduction to Connery's take on Bond. I was perhaps a little too young to appreciate the way he played the role, preferring the lighthearted interpretation given to me by Roger Moore. I was a kid, after all. As I got older and read through the rest of the Fleming titles, I soon realised that Connery played the role closer to the literary version of OO7, even though he too added some light touches to a character who is essentially a medium-grade secret agent who drinks too much, gambles too much, is heavily sexist towards women, racist towards foreigners, and who is prone to periods of boredom and melancholy when he's in between missions. 

It would be fair to say that, if Connery had never been Bond, I probably wouldn't have become the fan that I am.

And so, I raise a glass and wish you a Happy Birthday, sir. 

As you can see from the photo above, I switched over to the Omega Seamaster 300;

This watch has gotten a lot of wear in recent months. I think it'll be near the top of the list when I do my third annual Most Watches Worn For The Year post next January.

 

And who doesn't love a little bit of argyle?

Okay, gang, that's all for now. Quarter past nine on Friday night and fatigue is tightening its grip on me.  

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!