I'm considering two summer watches and looking for opinions:
1. The casual "beach" watch: should have a light bracelet and a streamlined case size. Nothing chunky or "diver" styled, which seems too hot for summer day wear. In my opinion, it should reflect the sun well, and have either a blue or what dial. The main contenders that come to mind for me are the PPF v4 5711 nautilus in blue blue (or white), ZF AP 15500 in blue, and the ARF 41mm datejust in blue. With the nautilus, I think the drawback is that it could be a bit too dressy--especially with it's darker dial and the rep's thicker bezel and protruding screw, but interested if any owners feel differently. The ZF AP looks very interesting, though I know the blue dial is inferior to the black. The ARF datejust is the least discussed of the three, but I think looks like perhaps the best option. I like the jubliee bracelet (wish it was full wrap jubliee, not clasped, but whatever), the fluted bezel, and the lighter color. I can live with the thicker DW font vs. the gen. However, I don't love Rolex's and think they need to ditch the raised glass, lack of AR, cyclops, chunky case, etc.. but that's a design opinion on the gen and no fault of the rep. Curious if anyone has other suggestions? I love the mesh bracelet on IWC's but a portofino would seem too dressy, and there are still no good nomos reps.
2. The summer nights watch: This is the flex watch you breakout for rose' parties, dinner, etc.. Flashier and chunkier but still with summer-themed colors or dive inspired. I feel like there should be more options here, but the only ones that really come to mind are the AP ROO models, like the Bucherer, Lebron, etc.. but those reps are generally lower quality and have all the known issues. A franck muller V45 on a blue alligator strap could be interesting but I don't know much about them. Maybe some of the other dive models on a good strap would look better than I think but nothing comes to mind. At this point I'm leaning to a gen Hublot spirit of big bang titanium blue.
1. The casual "beach" watch: should have a light bracelet and a streamlined case size. Nothing chunky or "diver" styled, which seems too hot for summer day wear. In my opinion, it should reflect the sun well, and have either a blue or what dial. The main contenders that come to mind for me are the PPF v4 5711 nautilus in blue blue (or white), ZF AP 15500 in blue, and the ARF 41mm datejust in blue. With the nautilus, I think the drawback is that it could be a bit too dressy--especially with it's darker dial and the rep's thicker bezel and protruding screw, but interested if any owners feel differently. The ZF AP looks very interesting, though I know the blue dial is inferior to the black. The ARF datejust is the least discussed of the three, but I think looks like perhaps the best option. I like the jubliee bracelet (wish it was full wrap jubliee, not clasped, but whatever), the fluted bezel, and the lighter color. I can live with the thicker DW font vs. the gen. However, I don't love Rolex's and think they need to ditch the raised glass, lack of AR, cyclops, chunky case, etc.. but that's a design opinion on the gen and no fault of the rep. Curious if anyone has other suggestions? I love the mesh bracelet on IWC's but a portofino would seem too dressy, and there are still no good nomos reps.
2. The summer nights watch: This is the flex watch you breakout for rose' parties, dinner, etc.. Flashier and chunkier but still with summer-themed colors or dive inspired. I feel like there should be more options here, but the only ones that really come to mind are the AP ROO models, like the Bucherer, Lebron, etc.. but those reps are generally lower quality and have all the known issues. A franck muller V45 on a blue alligator strap could be interesting but I don't know much about them. Maybe some of the other dive models on a good strap would look better than I think but nothing comes to mind. At this point I'm leaning to a gen Hublot spirit of big bang titanium blue.