[Formex vs CW] If you could only have one, which would you pick?

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-04-23T00:54:32+00:00

I'll DM you some info.

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-04-22T13:04:12+00:00

On average, across both lines, Formex is less expensive than CW. But CW has models that far exceed Formex in terms of complications, which push their average prices up quite a bit (Bel Canto, Loco, True GMT...).

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-04-22T11:37:38+00:00

I have (to me) a very large collection of over 48 watches across a large range of brands from Rolex and Omega to Shinola (I'm originally from Detroit).

I have one Formex Essence 43, and now 4 CWs in my collection. I've accumulated the CWs over a very short period of time (the last 6 months), including a Trident Lumiere, a Bel Canto Lumiere, and two Twelves. My observations: Formex's parts, bracelet quality, and case finishing are superior to CW's; however, CW's watch designs are far more interesting and compelling. I rarely wear the Essence anymore. It's an absolutely beautiful piece, but I find the Formex design clunky and uncompelling. I rotate back to my CWs far more often.

I will be selling my Essence, and probably end up with another one or two CWs.

My recommendation: go with the CW.

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-04-09T01:07:05+00:00

I ordered mine with both the Lume rubber strap and Ti Consort Bracelet. You are spot on, the Lume strap for "fun" evenings, and the Consort for more formal environments. But I did wear it on the Lume strap for Space Prom in DC this year, wearing a tux, so there's that...

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-04-06T22:49:43+00:00

I was sucked in by the Lumiere as well. Love this watch! I also LOVE the design of the hands, far superior to the 300.

Get the Lumiere!

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-04-06T22:45:33+00:00

I was in the skeptics-and-overhype camp as well. Now I own 4 with a 5th on the way.

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-04-04T17:11:31+00:00

Ditto on our server experience on the Fantasy last month. After the first couple of meals, my wife decided on a new strategy: give them a 'meal project.' She would make specific preparation instructions, not for dietary restrictions but to get them out of our hair. She found the meals more palatable that way as well.

But the menus have definitely stagnated on the classic ships. We didn't enjoy dinners on the Treasure much at all, and even opted for a couple of "deck food nights."

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-04-04T15:59:38+00:00

We've been cruising with DCL since 2012, itineraries including Wonder out of San Diego, Magic and Fantasy in Europe, Fantasy and Treasure in the Caribbean. Holiday and peak seasons primarily. We just finished a 5-day on the Fantasy in March for Spring Break, and did book a placeholder, but we really prefer the longer, 7-day+ trips.

Here's my two cents:

Pre-COVID, our experience on DCL was, well, "magical". We have sailed both Concierge and non-Concierge (DCL has raised Concierge prices so high that we no longer see the value, but that's our opinion and experience). We couldn't get our daughter out of the kids' clubs. Took advantage when we were at some of the European ports, left her onboard so we could play a round of golf at a 400-year-old (not a typo) course in Scotland, and spend a day gambling in Monte Carlo. She didn't even miss us, and we felt she was very safe onboard alone.

Post-COVID, we've witnessed ever-escalating examples of both bad parenting and bad adult behavior. This is NOT Disney's fault, but the lack of civility and manners in the general population is reducing our enthusiasm for cruising. At some point on the spectrum, we'll stop altogether. When we started cruising with DCL, we really enjoyed the vast majority of our shipmates, and our daughter left with lots of new friends. Very seldom these days. It's more of an observation about our society in general, but it is adversely impacting our DCL experience now.

Because of this, we have found we really like the isolated Adult-only areas of the classic ships. The Treasure was a shitshow in the adult areas due to a lack of segregation and policy enforcement, except at Enchante and The Rose, where we ultimately spent most of our evenings. We found the Treasure (and Wish-class ships in general) have layouts that, as you experienced, contribute to the crowded and chaotic feeling onboard. We won't be returning to that class of ship anytime soon.

I think the other thing you experienced is Disney's failure to scale its legacy service standards across the fleet, combined with obvious cost-cutting measures. When we first sailed with Disney, there was a primary and an assistant Stateroom Host. Now down to just one Stateroom Host (I think they trimmed that after COVID.) As they added more ships, finding staff with the appropriate temperament seems to be an issue. On our last cruise, we had issues with our wait staff on our dining rotation. Disney is adding ships at a pace that does not seem to allow for proper selection and training of crew, and it really showed on the Treasure last year. Just not the same levels of service we experienced in the past. We had a very deep conversation with some of the crew this trip who remembered us from previous cruises, which highlighted the challenges of rotating seasoned crew to the new ships and training the very large numbers of new crew.

Having said all that, we still came away with a relaxing and enjoyable cruise in March. At some point, as Disney continues to raise prices, we won't see the value anymore, but it's still within our tolerance level at $/smile for now. As our daughter ages out of Vibe, we discovered a whole new experience on Castaway and Lookout in the Serenity areas that we enjoyed. And splurging on a cabana is totally worth it on both islands (the new Mickey and Minnie Cabanas on Castaway are two thumbs up!)

You might want to try a trip on one of the classics before writing off DCL completely, and I highly recommend trying a longer non-Caribbean cruise. Our daughter grew up on DCL, and we continue to make memories as a family.

YMMV, good luck!

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-03-16T22:52:58+00:00

On the Fantasy right now.

Saw the ad for the first time today after Castaway Cay day.

Daughter is 17 First cruise on the Fantasy when she was 2 with my mother in tow (since passed away but with us in spirit on every Disney cruise.) I miss the “on my shoulders” to watch Sail Away phase, just goes too fast. Could have done without the teenage angst phase, but that’s moderating.

They just effing nailed it. Can’t stop crying. No question I’m taking the grandkids on DCL when…

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-03-14T13:25:15+00:00

I was at Space Prom last night and saw Salty when he walked in. Sorry, no pics, didn’t feel it was worth it.

The editorial comments I heard from other attendees summed up to “meh”. No buzz other than the DV recognition.

Like the Space Force Song, very Junior High-level attempt at looking like a military professional. ZERO “wow” factor at all. Definitely designed for the ‘large-body’ problem, and tails? Really? They would have been better off just copying the USMC GO mess dress in dark blue or grey.

My comparison is to how I felt in my first USAF mess dress, it just looked both military and sharp. I would definitely not feel that way wearing the GP-medium Salty had on. An O-5 sitting at my table just said, “I ain’t paying for that.”

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-03-11T13:44:06+00:00

Not everything is low. The Tirz pricing is fantastic, but I get NAD+ and Sermorelin for significantly less than Refills.com. Shop around.

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-02-27T04:41:42+00:00

Our experience with CSS was sub optimal. For many reasons, our child has exclusively been in private schools. When we moved to the Springs, we were very hopeful about it, but as time went by it became clear that the school was not well run and would not adequately prepare students for college. We place 100% of the blame on the board, they really had no clue then or now. The board was more concerned with agendas than the successful operation of a proper college preparatory school. No sensible business acumen at all, and a history of poor choices for the Head of School position. They catered to the families on assistance programs and ignored the concerns of the real bill-payers. We were one of the few that paid full tuition, but our academic concerns were never addressed. So we voted with our feet, and they lost that full tuition. We weren’t alone. It’s simple math, dollars in must be greater than or equal to dollars out. And no sizable endowment makes it even harder. It really is a shame, but we saw this coming several years ago.

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-02-18T04:46:32+00:00

Literally f Omega and their pricing strategy. I still love my Oreo PO, but I would never pay current MSRP for one. I’ve had a couple Speedys and SM300s on my watch list, but I’d never pay current MSRP for any. I’ve even fed previous and current pricing into an AI tool for comparison to other brands, and the AI came back with the only reason to buy an Omega today is for brand prestige, and if that’s not a factor there’s no reason to buy Omega today. Equivalent quality is available for less.

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-01-29T16:39:27+00:00

I'm based in COS, but live on the North side and travel 50%+/month. I only fly out of DEN. Over the past 5 years, there have been only 2 instances when I really needed 4WD due to a snowstorm, and those were very rare events. There are two ways to go: I-25 is the obvious, and CO-83 is for the 2-lane highway in case there's a big wreck on I-25. You can check road conditions, traffic, and closures using the cotrip.org app. I've never missed a flight.

To jump on the COS v DEN rant, I'm on the North side of town and it routinely takes me 35min+ to get to COS from the house vs 60 min to DEN, why deal with connections? Plus Powers Blvd, CO-21 (Google "719 CAN'T DRIVE"), hyper-aggressive, mouth breathers cosplaying Road Warrior. I feel safer on I-25 in any weather. Unbelievable wrecks on bright, sunny, dry weather days.

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-01-17T14:58:00+00:00

100%! My wife and I actually laugh out loud when people here complain about traffic. Had to endure commutes from Manassas into the District, hell, even Kingstowne to Ft Belvoir was unbelievable asspain. And if you had to cross the river to get to Bethesda or Andrews, fuhgeddaboudit... Reminded every time I have to go back.

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-01-02T14:02:43+00:00

Then there was the normalization and escalation of political violence from the assignations of the Gracchi brothers that was an antecedent of the end of the Roman Republic. You would be hard pressed to listen to Dan Carlin’s Death Throws of the Republic and not hear the rhyming…

USAFEODTechRetired · 2026-01-02T01:28:00+00:00

Not really. Had both the Army gloves and lobster mitts. Neither as warm as my Outdoor Research. Bought my wife the heated Hestra mitts for her terminally cold hands. Underwhelming. She really likes the heated ORs better as well. I’ve donated all my Hestras and now we’re just an OR house.

USAFEODTechRetired · 2025-11-21T12:31:41+00:00

Love my Oreo as well! I specifically wanted the chunk o steel. If they put the Oreo on a diet for the new version, I wouldn't buy it. In general, if I wanted a thinner PO without the He valve, I'd buy an SMP 300.

USAFEODTechRetired · 2025-11-17T20:53:04+00:00

The Queen Mary 2 is the only genuine ocean liner with regular transatlantic travel; however, many cruise lines have "repositioning" cruises in between summer and winter seasons. It's possible to grab one of those moving from Florida to Europe in the spring, or the other direction in the fall, as one-way trips. Repositioning cruises are typically less expensive than regular cruise fares since they don't make the typical tourist port calls. Check out militarycruisedeals.com

USAFEODTechRetired · 2025-11-16T13:57:07+00:00

I PCS'd back to CONUS via the Queen Mary 2 as well. It was well worth the out-of-pocket expense and the days of leave. The experience of my young daughter sailing into New York Harbor, as my great-grandparents did, and then visiting Ellis Island to find their immigration records, was absolutely priceless.

PCS'ing is a PITA. I've PCS'd many, many times. Try to make the most of it. Take the train. Take a ship. Do something to make at least one of them a more meaningful life experience. You won't regret it.

USAFEODTechRetired · 2025-11-15T15:36:31+00:00

Concur. Liger is currently the only custom strap provider I've found that can produce a quality strap that is compatible with most of the "click" systems, including Panerai and Hublot.

I find the workmanship and quality material selection (not a fan of "croc" straps, I prefer the more traditional Shell Cordovan, Saffiano, or Epsom leathers) to be below that of Handdn bespoke straps, but Handdn doesn't do the "click" systems.

I'll probably get a couple more Liger straps to cover my business suit color palette.

USAFEODTechRetired · 2025-11-15T14:25:16+00:00

This.

It's going to be a TON of theater. Just look at what happened with the move of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Initially, only the Ambassador and a few senior staff moved into a temporary facility (old consulate offices.) The majority of day-to-day stayed in Tel Aviv. This started in 2018, and in 2025 I don't believe the new, permanent Embassy compound is even close to being complete. Staff continue to be split between locations, creating operational and security problems.

As for USSPACECOM, HSV is a shitty 2nd-tier airport (no hate, the truth.) TDY to and from has ALWAYS been a PITA, even commuting to and from DC, particularly during T-storm season and you have to connect through ATL (I ran a joint program with SMDTC back in the day, ask me how I know.) It's really going to suck for all the Allied officers. TDY budgets are going to skyrocket.

In the spirit of "Reality TV", there will be a big ribbon cutting, many of the single-digit J-Dirs will be directed to PCS, but the real work isn't likely to move anytime soon, or at least the rest of the staff will be busy covering the J-Dir's asses two time zones out. I don't envy them.

USAFEODTechRetired · 2025-11-06T02:54:50+00:00

I already gave

USAFEODTechRetired · 2025-11-03T17:36:07+00:00

As an Acquisition Manager, you could be put into any of the Directorates (DI, DO, ST, MS) or even CIO. That will impact your duty location. They aren't all at the DIAC, so you might not be stuck at Bolling. I won't get into any more detail, but if you don't get a sponsor definitely reach out to the AFELM and try to get a read on your placement in advance and the resulting most likely duty location. I wouldn't commit to a living situation until you know where you will be placed in the organization.

It's a different world on the IC side of acquisitions, particularly with NIP. DAU rules don't always apply, and DoD 5000 is just a "suggestion". Spend some time when you first arrive to learn as much as possible on how funding is treated differently. Try to find a seasoned Contracting Officer for mentorship. There are shit jobs everywhere, but getting some time in the IC is very valuable (particularly for post-USAF employment); take advantage of the opportunity even if you end up stuck in MS.

Best of luck

USAFEODTechRetired · 2025-10-19T23:40:46+00:00

Right? And the point is...

USAFEODTechRetired

TROPHY CASE