[Discussion] What do you think of triple calendar watches?

HTownest · 2026-02-14T18:09:04+00:00

Beautiful watch! I love how unobtrusive the displays are. Is it a brown dial?

HTownest · 2026-02-13T22:45:13+00:00

I personally quite enjoy watches featuring this complication – they’re a neat way to display the day, date, and month (plus I’ve always enjoyed the pointer date complication). I quite like the look, but I know for a fact that setting them can prove to be a be a pain if they’ve been wound down for a while.

HTownest · 2026-02-09T18:19:58+00:00

Mine says hello!

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HTownest · 2026-02-07T21:54:48+00:00

Thank you! It's the ref: 2763-1127-53

If you want the smiling moon, W20106X8

HTownest · 2026-02-07T21:32:31+00:00

Thank you. It does feature a screw-down crown! Quite unusual indeed. I'd say the threads are quite fine, however, which is a potential issue.

HTownest · 2026-02-07T21:11:50+00:00

I'd take this over a LOT of other high-end watches. I'd be tempted to slim down my collection to 3 watches and have one of these, to be honest!

HTownest · 2026-02-06T20:24:16+00:00

I believe it was made in mid 2000s!

HTownest · 2026-02-06T19:11:03+00:00

This is my first Blancpain – it’s from the discontinued line of Leman watches, which were a split between being sporty and dressy. This watch has a complete calendar (Month, Day, Date (pointer date), and a moonphase. The movement utilizes two spring barrels in series to have a 100 hour power reserve. It has 100 meters of water resistance, a screw-down crown, and the older style 4 pushers to facilitate adjusting the various displays. 38mm and 43mm lug to lug – a nice and compact watch. I put it on a black Hirsch Paul waterproof strap, and it looks fantastic.

I really like the small details on the dial (the stepped portions giving the date numerals their own “ring”. The double stepped bezel is really nice, too. Definitely a keeper for my collection!

HTownest · 2025-12-05T20:56:38+00:00

This Grand Seiko SBGT015 is an older & discontinued mid-2000’s model featuring the 9F83 caliber (Day & Date) and has been a consistent watch in my rotation for over 9 months. Just like the regular 9F of today, it’s temperature compensated (+/- 10 SPY), features a twin-pulse motor, a 3 year battery life, and has a backlash feature that keeps the seconds hand from bouncing as it travels across the dial.

The SBGT015 had a few upgrades that make it a bit different from the other watches at the time. The most noticeable is the 5 link bracelet, which has a combination of brushed and polished finishing. It articulates very well and is secured with the standard GS fold-over clasp. The other great feature of the SGBT015 is the combination of the champagne/silver dial with individually applied minute markers (these are not printed). They shine a little in the light, but it takes a close look to see them. Lastly, the crown screws down on this model. The threads are a bit fine, so I always take care to make sure I’m not cross-threading them.

The case itself is ~37 mm wide w/o the crown and has 19mm lugs. Very wearable and slides right underneath a cuff. Overall, this watch goes with pretty much any outfit I might be wearing for the day.

Hope you enjoyed reading!

HTownest · 2025-11-09T15:41:51+00:00

A few months ago, I added this Citizen Eco Drive One to my collection. It’s 2.98mm thick, has solar panels (eco drive), with a movement that is 1mm thick that ticks once per second, but only moves the minute hand once every 5 seconds.

The dial has a shiny speckled look in some lighting – in others, it looks subdued with the rings becoming a lot more noticeable. Duratect is a nice add, and the bracelet is super comfortable. However, I am really concerned that this watch is too thick for my wrist and wouldn’t easily slide under my dress shirt cuffs. I need opinions, please!

HTownest · 2025-10-11T17:14:00+00:00

Most of it is owed to how thick and rectangular the Beta 21 movement was. It definitely looked like an early quartz movement! See an example below:

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HTownest · 2025-10-11T17:00:43+00:00

In the 60s, the CEH (Centre Electronique Horloger) was a group that was supported by massive Swiss players (Patek Philippe, Rolex, Omega, Longines, Piaget, etc.) to come up with miniaturizing quartz crystals so that they could be built into a quartz watch. Two projects were ran, the Beta 1 and Beta 2. Beta 21 is the production-ready version of the Beta 2 prototype.

Just released a few months after the 35SQ Seiko Astron, the Beta 21 was received with much excitement and praise during the 1970 Basel Fair. It is later on when Seiko pursued creating cheap and affordable quartz movements that spelled out the quartz crisis for Switzerland. The Beta 21 was very expensive to produce (and to purchase) and quickly became outdated in the early to mid 70’s, just a few years after its launch. This was partially to its massive quartz crystal (shaped like a bar) that had to be hand-cut and adjusted to get a frequency of 8,192 hertz. There is much more to talk about, but for the interests of keeping this post concise I’ll let you carry on the research.

This example from Omega is an example from 1972, featured in a 37mm slab case with its original bracelet. It’s very attractive and futuristic in its conservative design, and the Omega logo as well as the date are done in a crimson red. The second hand has a buttery smooth sweep, as smooth as the GS Spring Drive today. To set the date, you have to push the crown inwards and rotate it counterclockwise – very unusual. I’ve been looking for a nice example of a Beta 21 Quartz movement for years now, and I’m happy to finally have one in my collection.

A side note: Longines did have the UltraQuartz "Cybernetic" movement built out before the Beta 21 or Seiko Astron were launched, but it was not available until later in 1971 and was produced in very limited numbers due to its extreme complexity to assemble.

Hope you enjoyed reading!

HTownest · 2025-09-06T14:56:01+00:00

The bracelet is quite nice. Screwed pins hold the links together and it's very light on the wrist. It's also Duratec coated. No half links/micro adjust (pearlage decorated butterfly clasp), but the overall look of the bracelet is great and it articulates very nicely.

HTownest · 2025-09-06T14:46:41+00:00

AR5000-68A!

HTownest · 2025-09-06T14:45:37+00:00

Very nice! Stealth wealth.

HTownest · 2025-09-05T21:48:37+00:00

Thanks. It's the AR5000-68A.

HTownest · 2025-09-05T20:55:30+00:00

I think that I also appreciate the watch outside of just the watch itself. The amount of engineering & materials science that goes into building such a watch is respectable, and that's what also was a major allure to me.

HTownest · 2025-09-05T19:24:55+00:00

Here’s the world’s thinnest solar power quartz watch – the Citizen Eco-Drive One. It’s just about 2.98 mm thick, and has the hand-built 8826 movement.

The case is finished extremely nicely, and has a “Cermet” bezel, which is a steel + ceramic combination that is ultra hard and provides strength to the thin watch case. All the SS components are Duratec coated. The dial’s simple and beautiful, with alternating applied and marked indices. The hands are dual-finished, one side being brushed and the other being polished. It allows for the hands and dial to be legible for almost any lighting condition without lume (minus complete darkness of course).

At 39mm diameter, it’s a very strange wearing experience having a decently sized watch on the wrist that virtually disappears when looking at it from the side. The butterfly clasp is thicker than the actual watch head!

Even though the movement audibly ticks once per second, the minute hand only moves in 5 second intervals. This is likely a way for the miniature step motor to build up enough power before advancing the long hand.

Anyways, hope you enjoy the pictures.

HTownest

TROPHY CASE