Extra Time with the Paulin Neo B

Okay, so I grabbed the Paulin New B back while Wendy's back was turned earlier this week and can now "put a bow on this one".

In terms of performance, this is a solid time machine. The finish of the case, crown and buckle are smooth and pleasant not just to look at, but gentle to the touch.

While the hands might not be a universally appealing feature, I dig 'em. I am a real fan of the font, and the subtle (yet noticeable) interplay of color (or as they might say - colour). Is the dial finish work perfect? Well as the upper part of the date window will tell you, no, not perfect.

But in truth, you would have to get down to ridiculous levels of fussiness to be bothered by it. It is something 99% of the folks buying or seeing the watch in normal, everyday life will never notice, and something that I would like to think only .05% would be bothered by.

Are you a BIG watch fan (that referring to the size of the watch vs. the size of your passion)? If so, you will find this too small. Go buy yourself a big diver and get it over with ; )

One last thing in terms of performance - I managed to drop my Neo B from a height of approximately 4 feet (metric fans, you'll have to do your own conversion) and it landed smack on the crystal. And my whole life flashed before my eyes and I was transported back to those not-so-happy days of childhood where I would manage to break or damage just about any nice thing I had. But as fortune would have it, not a mark on the crystal, and I am assuming (happily) that no damage was done, as this was nearly a week ago and it has kept perfect time since then.

My only two complaints -

1. The crown absolutely sucks. I am sorry, but I have to be honest here. I appreciate the desire to keep to certain aesthetic standard, but it is way too small and not terribly tactile. 
2. The use of universal "double digits" on the date wheel. I realize that younger eyes might do better with it, but it is actually a bit challenging when you see 02 in such a small space. I also suspect that it is something you get used to over time.

My big - I LOVE YOU points?

1. The color! Enough said.
2. The watch face itself - I absolutely love the interplay of the numbers and indices, as well as the subtle, yet pleasantly noticeable use of different colors.
3. The hands - just quirky enough.
4. The size - this one is definitely a Goldilocks size watch - "Just Right".
5. Price - More than fair, even for those who have to stump up the VAT.

Now as a reminder, I am not writing this review as someone who was sent a sample, but rather someone who dug into their wallet and paid their own money to buy this. At £395.00 - that's $532 in US funds, it is a fair price for a fun mechanical watch. And the price for those of us outside of the European zone is even better once the VAT is removed. I did opt for a strap upgrade and will say that the cordovan strap which represented a slightly higher price was well worth the extra cost.

As I had mentioned, I immediately fell in love with the Neo B at first sight. It was as if someone grabbed that SWATCH Yamaha Racer that I had missed out on as Northern Youth and built it into a grown-up watch. And that love is still strong after the past month or so. There were a few things that were disappointing, and those would really connect to the human-touch points:

• The communication from Paulin was simply not good. Now the one argument you could make is: "Hey, don't know if you noticed, but we're in the middle of a pandemic, pal!" And were I going into a High Street shop I would absolutely agree with you. But the truth of the matter is that when you are a web-based business, you have to communicate a bit better.
• Order fulfillment and receipt - I am again of 2 minds here. On the one hand, I did get my watch in the end. On the other hand, I had to reach out to Paulin more than once to find out if/when the watch was going to ship as the "start ship" date had already come and gone with no information from Glasgow in my in-box. I never got a definitive answer, more of a "it will probably ship..."
• Priority of "who got what when" - As I was waiting to hear if/when my watch would ship as the ship date start had passed with no word, I saw a review from Robert-Jan at Fratello Watches on, you guessed it, the Paulin Neo B. And to be clear, this irritated me. Not as someone who writes about watches and potential reviewer, but rather as a customer. On a side note, I have a lot of respect for Robert-Jan and I don't begrudge him Paulin's decision making paradigm. But as a customer who was receiving no information from the brand about his purchase, this took a little bloom off of the bud.

So probably the only question that really matters - "Would you buy this watch again?"

Hell's Yes! 

This watch is, to quote the young boys and girls camping out overnight to buy the latest Nike drop at Bodega -

"Sooooo Drip!"  (that's good).

Per the Urban Dictionary -

Drip

adjective to describe your outfit similar to swag, sauce, steez, swank

dripmane - "mane my outfit is dripping right now"

friend - "your outfit wet asf"

via giphy

by splashtonkutcher October 08, 2018

And apparently I am not the only one, it seems that the second run has already sold out as well!  Should you be ready to put your marker down, here are the pertinents -

Movement: 

Seiko NH35A (Automatic)

Lens: 

Hesalite box section PVC

Water resistance: 

5ATM

Case: 

316L stainless steel

Case diameter: 

38mm

Case thickness: 

11.6mm

Strap width: 

18mm

Warranty: 

24 months

It's Gotta Be The Shoes! The Feel-Good, Triumphant Return of ilmia!

     Christian Gafner, Co-founder / CEO (is the handsome one on the left)

I am a sneaker-head.  There, I've said it.  It would be easy to assume that this the result of my time at the University of Oregon where Nike was in many ways born and raised.  But in fact it goes deeper.  Picture a small college town in northern Ohio back 1976.  Students coming to town from all over the country, and in fact the world.  And with the students came some worldly classmates at Prospect elementary school, who actually VISITED England, France... even Germany!  The rest of us wore Keds, or if we were really cool (which I was definitively, NOT) you might have Converse.  These kids came back wearing Adidas and Puma sneakers.  And not shoes made of canvas, but actual leather!  

As reported in an earlier Tempus Fugit missive, I begged Santa Clause (i.e. Mom and Dad) for a pair of leather Adidas.  There were a few small obstacles standing between me and Christmas happiness:
  
1.  While some kids in Oberlin had Adidas shoes on their feet, no retail stores within hailing distance sold them.

2.  The stores that sold them were so far away that you had heard of these cities on the local news, but they might as well have been in East Germany.  The roads that connected my small hometown and the metro Cleveland area were not, shall we say, advanced or well coordinated.

3.  I had what were considered at that time, seriously undersized feet for my age.  Meaning that while Adidas and Puma might make shoes in my size, those were not the sizes that specialty sports stores in Northern Ohio (or really anywhere else in the US) would likely be ordering for their stores.

Spoiler alert - somehow (hand to God, to this day I don't know exactly how), Mom came through and under the tree were a pair of size 1 Adidas Cadets. 

Shamelessly borrowed from the worldwide info web

I wore those shoes until they literally fell off of my then 9 year old feet.  And I have been devoted to sneakers ever since, but in all honesty, I had not had that same visceral, Christmas morning thrill until many, many years later when I first met Christian Gafner and bought a couple of pairs of ilmias back in 2013.  

Curious to relate, just like that 8 year old kid in Ohio, there was a whole country of kids (East Germany) young and old who loved and wanted sneakers.  And ilmia was the brand.  The Berlin Wall came down, Germany was re-unified, and ilmia tucked in for a long nap that would have been the envy of sleeping beauty, until they were awoken by a few princes, and a princess.

Which brings us nearly up-to date.  I started coming to BaselWorld as a journalist in 2011.
At the time, ilmias were a well-kept secret, and had I not seen them featured at the ochs und junior shop in Lucerne I would not have known about them.  And that is when I first met Christian and put my money on the table and put a pair of ilmias on my feet.

For those of you not aware, Christian is the designer behind the first MIH watch -

Courtesy of Embassy & MIH

He also has done design work for Eterna and Porsche Design among others.  But these days he is firmly behind the re-boot of ilmia.

So one week ago, I found myself fresh off the train from Zurich to meet him and see the new batch. And so to one of my "other offices", Caffè Spettacolo just opposite the Biel/Bienne train station, where I got to see what is up next for ilmia.  And a friendly travel tip from your old pal Henki - next time you're in-between connections at the Biel/Bienne station, or you need an easy to find rally point?  I highly recommend the Caffè Spettacolo.

And I got the hook-up, and put my marker down for a pair of "samples". 

And as any good sneaker-head would, I got my pair signed -

1 / INFINITY.  I like that ; )

And while I got a chance to look at the new, I also got a brief re-wind through the old -

Have no doubt, ilmia made some serious athletic shoes back in the day.

And if you were a kid on what we used to think of as the "wrong side" of the Berlin Wall, and you couldn't get your hands on the Adidas Rom or the Puma Roma?  ilmia had you covered -

Now I can't speak to how the "old school" ilmia kicks fit and feel, but my pair fits well, super soft and comfy.  And to quote the youngsters hanging out at Bodega in Boston, they are:

"So drip!"

Per the Urban Dictionary:
Drip

adjective to describe your outfit similar to swag, sauce, steez, swank

dripmane - "mane my outfit is dripping right now"

by splashtonkutcher October 08, 2018

Biel/Bienne was my first stop on an horological wander that took me Switzerland and France.  The story starts with -

A Love Letter to Besançon - part 1

Stay tuned!

Bodega / G-Shock Drop - Full Video

Here it is, raw and not-too-refined ; )

G-Shock Bodega Drop

So yesterday found me up early, channeling my inner Tinker Hatfield, and heading on down to Bodega in Boston.  For those of you unacquainted, Bodega is a legendary sneaker (and clothing) store here in Boston, but also with a branch in LA.  People travel from around the world to visit, and line up outside for the latest limited edition sneaker and clothing collaborations.  You can check them out digitally here - 

                                                                  Bodega


And in the interest of trying new things, I thought we might add some video elements.  So please forgive the shaky camera work ; )

More to come later this evening!