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

Something To Look Forward To

Like probably every single person out there suffering from insomnia and therefore reading Tempus Fugit, I am tired.  Like you, I am tired of COVID and the startling way it has somehow become a political issue. Let's hope we all live through it. 

I was thinking about something that I said at the second annual (and final) gathering of the "Watch Expert's Network" at BaselWorld (the less said about that ill-fated effort, the better), where I asked the absolutely crazy question - "Do any of you actually remember why you got involved in writing about watches in the first place?"  Well, imagine a vacuum sucking all of the air out of the room at a startling rate.  More than a few feathers were ruffled, but Robert-Jan Broer, to his credit, understood that I wasn't trying to pick a fight with anyone, but I was a wee bit exasperated by the waste of an hour and a half listening to a lot of hot air during Sunday (the busiest day at BaselWorld back then).  But to Robert-Jan's credit, he understood what I was driving at - "What was the trigger."  In other words, what drove us all to be interested in something like watches in the first place?

Well, I remember my first SWATCH, the Calypso Diver. I could go into all sorts of crazy details, recount the story, but essentially I hopped into my 1978 Toyota Corona and drove to Midway Mall.  There in the May Company's jewelry case they had the Calypso Diver and the Yamaha Racer. It was back and forth between the two of them, but in the end I opted for the Calypso Diver.

Anyway, that is a long way of saying that I actually really miss those particular SWATCHs. Last week a reader forwarded me this website -

Paulin Watches

And once there, gentle reader, my eye fell on this time machine -

Courtesy of Paulin Watches

So I selected he black cordovan strap and solid case back option -

Courtesy of Paulin Watches

And I ordered!

As a side note, I do not think that they engrave case backs, but I will do that when it arrives.  I will keep you posted ; )

I am not one for hyperbole - I have not held one, worn one or spoken to anyone who has owned a Paulin Watches watch. But some things you gotta take on faith, and I am ready to place mine here.

For those of you who are curious, 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

TechnoMarine and Memories of 1985

Okay, I realize that the readership out there probably spans from Boomer, to X, to an as yet unidentified generation group.  That being said, I think I finally twigged on to why I am so fascinated by the TechnoMarine Cruise Steel that I have been wearing this past week.

For those of you who might not remember, there was a magic time not so long ago when a young man from Kutztown, PA came to New York and through his use of subway drawings made art more accessible to the urban masses - and made graffiti more accessible - and hopefully understood - to the suburban commuters!  With the commercial success of  "The Message" an emerging music trend gained traction.  And SWATCH was just starting out.  And Madonna had begun the transformation from dancer  to singer/world phenomenon.  It was the 80s.

In 1985 I was a young man, having just moved out on my own living in the northern part of Ohio.  Yes, we had hair gel and U2 tapes - but the SWATCH was a completely new and fairly foreign idea.  My two friends showed up fresh from their summer vacations - one with a SWATCH Yamaha Racer, the other with a SWATCH Calypso Diver.  Needless to say, I had to have one.  I saved up my pennies, and off I went to the May Company at the local mall (local being a 45 minute drive away) and made my purchase.  The Calypso Diver.

For those of you not familiar - Squiggly Swatch has a fantastic archive of SWATCHES:

http://www.squiggly.com/us/en/swatch/calypso-diver-gm701.htm

The sad history of my Calypso Diver is that it got, well, crushed in an unfortunate moving mishap on my way to the University of Oregon and was never quite the same...

While this is, of course, not the Calypso Diver - I have to say that this Cruise Steel has made me smile several times every day.  The counter-play of the black dial with the light blue sub-dials and inner bezel - combined with the strap take a large, solid watch and made it fun.  And most of all, I do not fear for this watch's physical health should it take an unfortunate knock.  Thank you TechnoMarine for putting a smile on my face!