Robin Page

A Japan domestic market exclusive from Citizen, the eloquently named NB1060 (it really rolls off the tongue, doesnt it?) has become a forum darling and absolute heavyweight in the sporty-dress watch category. With a balance of competent case finishing, great specs and an absolute powerhouse of a dial, it's a suprisingly versatile watch.

At the specs level, the high beat Miyota 9 series movement (Miyota is owned by Citizen so that makes it inhouse!) is a slim, reliable performer. The steel case features an elegant mix of brushing and polishing to give it some sparkle. I find the angular case design reminiscent of some Grand Seiko Sport models (the Evo9 series comes to mind) but at a much more accessible price. The overall shape is versatile, meaning in my collection it gets a lot more wear time than similarly positioned models such as Seiko's cocktail time series (the nearest direct big brand competitor). A 19mm lug width is annoying but visually balanced, so thankfully the included strap and deployant are pretty good. They do stick to a more sober aesthetic mind you, but swapping to a plain leather strap or even a sailcloth or textile strap really opens this watch up to casual wear. 

The dial is where the money is at, however. Made of silver leaf dyed blue and coated in lacquer, it's a stunner. It shifts and sparkles from different angles, and is complemented by simple but well executed polished silver markers and a set of dual finished dauphine style hands. While each dial will be slightly different based on the patterning of silver leaf used, I've yet to see one that was a let down. The technique used here is becoming quite popular in some of the more dress oriented microbrands recently, but Citizen did it first!

I really like this watch. I purchased mine on a trip to Japan for my birthday, so I may be biased by the memories attached to my particular example, but I think for the asking price it's a genuinely gorgeous, well spec'd watch. I've heard some people call it "Grand Seiko on a budget" and I'm inclined to agree. I like mine so much I recently sold my similar sized Seiko Cocktail Time because, in the dress watch realm, I was just never reaching for it over my Citizen. Add that it can be dressed down and sporty with just a strap change? Winner.

With a long history of military issued dive watches, it's no surprise that the french Marine National turned to Tudor when designing a watch for their troops. What is a surprise is how focussed the resulting tool watch ended up being, with the Pelagos FXD showing what you get when you build for purpose rather than modifying an existing model to fit a marketting brief. 

The basic formula for a tool diver is there: big, blocky hands and indices, a lack of a date complication to maximise lume area and legibility, and a fully graduated bezel for timing. But beyond that? This is a purpose built watch and while not for everyone, that just makes it cooler in my opinion. After handling this watch, I have some thoughts on what this approach means for us as collectors, so let's dive into that.

Let's take the bezel, for example. Unlike most dive watches, it uses a countdown bezel that rotates in both directions rather than a unidirectional upwards counting timer bezel. Why? Well, in the real world, divers don't use mechanical watches to time their dives, they use digital dive computers with built in depth sensors. They're much more precise and will automatically calculate decompression intervals instead of the diver having to use dive tables at the surface. So why bother carrying a mechanical dive watch at all then? When underwater with no visual references to rely on, divers navigate by using a compass and estimating how far they've swum by timing themselves; deep under water there's no GPS signal, using chronograph pushers for timing tends to encourage water ingress and destroy the watch, and swimming to the surface to look around is counter to the whole "using divers to covertly infiltrate enemy occupied space" thing. So, a countdown bezel is really useful for calculating waypoints and navigating underwater. Not as good for timing your eggs in the morning, but great for infiltrating enemy territory. Having tried my hand at under water dive navigation before, I can see the appeal. As I said, built for purpose.

Then we get to the case. The "FXD" in the name stands for "fixed," as in this case has fixed, solid lugs and doesnt use spring bars. If you're the type of person that won't buy a watch without a bracelet, you're out of luck with the FXD because it's pass thtough straps only here. Tudor does include 2 straps with purchase to soften the blow and lack of ability to use your extensive 2 piece strap collection, but some may not like this design feature. Why did they go down this route? Fixed lugs mean no spring bars to fail when the watch gets bashed about, increasing durability. Simple as that. It's a design decision anchored in increasing functionality. Personally, I think it looks awesome and helps the watch stand out in a sea of same same dive watches.

The case itself is titanium, chosen for light weight and corosion resistance. For a true tool watch, that makes complete sense. Another underrated feature of this watch is how close the dial sits to the crystal; it seems to reduce glare and shows off the tight tolerances Tudor are able to work with. It's something you dont see often but a feature I always appreciate.

No timer bezel, incompatible with your strap collection, no date complication, only available in black or blue... why would you buy one of these to daily? Because they're awesome, that's why. If we're truly honest with ourselves, most of our watch buying is more about cosplay than capability. Most of us don't take our chronographs to race at Le Man, or to time burns on our rocket ship to the moon. We don't actually dive with our dive watches. Our pilot watches will likely never see the inside of a cockpit. But they're cool little machines and we love the stories and design decisions that come with them. The Tudor Pelagos FXD has an awesome story that can be read through careful examination of its design, and for that reason alone I plan, funds permitting, to add one to the collection someday. Awesome watch.

As the current horological hot property that they are, the sophomore release from Studio Underd0g had to do something interesting. To follow on from the brightly coloured series 1 chronographs, it couldn't be any old 3 hander to make the cut. 

What we got was definitely innovative, with a series of full lumed dials with a disc of sapphire crystal sitting on top that features the indices and branding. This dial design is undeniably the calling card of this line of watches, and the main reason why you would consider buying this watch. 

I spent a little bit of time handling the "Pink Lem0nade" variant, with its gradient yellow to pink dial that somehow still glows a single even hue once the lights go out. A domed crystal, hand wound Selitta movement and caseback engraving of a jellyfish complete the package. 

This is a piece I seriously considered purchasing when it was first released, but ultimately decided against after spending some time handling it. This was primarily for 2 reasons, which I will discuss as follows.

The first is that I felt most of the money had been put into the dial, and fair enough! It is the main feature of this watch, after all... but for the asking price, I feel they could have done a bit more with the case finishing, and an easilly scratched fully polished bezel seems a bit at odds with something that pitches itself as a field watch.

The second point is that I found the 37mm size a little too compact for my personal tastes (38 to 39mm is my personal sweet spot for 3 handers). The 18mm lug pairing also limits strap swatch options while feeling a little too skinny for the watch; I personally feel a 19mm spacing would have worked better (I mean, if you're not going to choose the ubiquitous 20mm spacing you may as well go all out right?). But thats just, like, my opinion man, and Studio Underd0g certainly haven't had trouble selling these by the hundreds...

If you're after something a bit different that genuinely innovates and pushes forward what can be done with watch design, this might be the right watch for you! Just make sure you're happy with the smaller wearing dimensions and polished bezel and you'll have one heck of a conversation starter on your wrist!