From a ¥5,000 Casio to a Patek Philippe: Shunsuke Ishikawa on Choosing a Watch as Fashion

Is that watch of yours actually stylish? You put care into your clothes, but the watch is an afterthought — or the opposite, you go too deep into the geeky end. Or, no, a watch is about status after all. But people may well be looking at exactly those things — the most important fashion accessory for men: the wristwatch. What should you wear to land within the fashion context? As a designer, I've made picks across budgets from ¥5,000 to ¥2 million. Even those of you who think a smartwatch is plenty will want to see this — please watch to the end. Hello everyone, I'm fashion designer Shunsuke Ishikawa.

Yes, Ishikawa-san. — Yes. — They're all lined up. — I lined them up. — Yes. — Eddie-san, what kind of watch do you want, anything like that? — What kind of watch — well, there is, but I probably don't have the sense to pick watches, I think, so — I don't really even know the types of watches to begin with, and I don't want to mess up, so I can't settle on one. — Right. — You don't really need sense — or rather, you don't need much knowledge, I think. — Really? — You don't need to go too far in some geeky direction; wearing something fairly normal is best, I'd say.

When you think about it from within the fashion industry, the fashion world, getting too elaborate with a watch actually puts you a bit off the mark. Within the fashion industry there's a kind of tacit knowledge of “these watches around here are good,” something that's been upheld all along, watches everyone has worn, and surprisingly, a lot of those aren't far off the mark at all. Within the range of watches you already know, Eddie-san, that's plenty, so I think you just pick the one you like from among those. And so, how do fashion-industry people think about watches? I'll talk about that today too, and make recommendations to you along the lines of “isn't this kind of watch good,” is what I'm hoping to do.

As for my personal opinion, I too now think a smartwatch is plenty. — True. — Which is why, right now Eddie-san is wearing an Apple Watch too, and I do feel an Apple Watch is plenty, but that said, thinking about men's accessories, I'm not that fond of piling on a lot of jangly stuff, and in that sense I think of it as roughly the last accessory left to men, so I'd like to look at the wristwatch in that light today, is what I mean.

One reason I said fashion-industry people don't go for all sorts of geeky watches — fashion-industry people have to spend money on clothes, so maybe the budget left over for watches is small, maybe. — True, I see. — Right — there's quite a lot you have to buy, so when that's the case, you don't end up going all obsessive and geeky about watches too, I suppose. So keeping it around the brands that come up today feels just about right, is how I feel, I'd say.

So, in the end, what kind of watch is good? As I've been saying — first, you don't need to reach for overly geeky, minor brands — that's the first point. Watches that watch-lovers consider major within the watch industry can, from a fashion sensibility, fashion standpoint, be pretty minor, quite a few of them, so you don't really need to reach for those. Second, an overly busy, cluttered design isn't what you want now, right? — or rather, it doesn't really match current fashion, I think. The flashy, blingy era was fine in its time, but you can set that aside for now, I think. And third — as I said earlier — sticking to watches that fit the fashion context is, for the fashion-lovers watching this channel now, probably the better call, I think.

On that point, Japan has had this magazine-and-select-shop culture, so those people have a track record of curating over the years, and going with something that fits that context is probably better. Also, you're better off keeping a few to match your clothes. If your everyday is a smartwatch, then a watch you wear as a dressier accessory when going out, and a watch for formal occasions — about three like that is plenty, I think. And even then, if you really can't decide, just going Apple Watch and nothing else is fine, I think.

So, let's get to concrete examples, shall we? — Ready? — Yes, let's go. Today, gently, let's start from around the ¥5,000 budget, is my plan.

For the ¥5,000 budget — well, watches under ¥10,000 that even select shops quite often carry — the very first that comes up now would be cheap Casio, I'd say. I've picked one from among those: the Casio AE-1200WHD-1AJF, nicknamed the Casio Royale. Right now it's going for ¥7,700. It's a watch you can buy really cheaply, but it's packed with proper functions, and that you can get this for ¥7,700 is wonderful.

What it is — here there's a world map, you see — it's a watch that can display the time in 48 cities around the world. And of those you preset four cities, and pressing here cycles the time through those four cities each press, round and round. I looked at what four cities it's preset to, and it's Tokyo, New York, London, Paris — how much West-worship is left here, what era is this selection from, is the feeling that lingers strongly — but with that selection, the cities are displayed as it comes.

This watch is nicknamed the Casio Royale, but it's not the 007 Casino Royale — in Octopussy, the Bond played by Roger Moore was actually wearing a Seiko at the time, apparently — a Seiko digital watch — and since the design resembles this, “007 Casino Royale, Casio” — quite a stretch, but that's how it got the nickname, that kind of watch.

Also — an old Casio like this, in the old days, going to Southeast Asia and such, and recently in Peru too — a little Japanese item makes a welcome gift, they say — even a ballpoint pen would do, was the idea, so giving a watch like this makes a great, welcome souvenir. I mean, ¥7,700 — Did you say ¥7,000? — ¥7,700 — at that, sure, you can take it along in a souvenir sort of spirit, right, so — of course the build is what it is, but it has plenty of function and it's a fun watch, I think.

For the record, “cheap Casio” — there's the A159WA-N1JH from ¥4,400, and cheap Casios like this have been trendy these last few years — they've started to look cute, right? That Shōwa-era feel is nice, I think.

Now, the ¥10,000 budget — at this point, you can't leave out this watch, right? The Casio G-SHOCK DW-5600UE-1JF, Original Square, ¥14,300. Casio's model numbers are long. For a watch you can buy at around the ¥10,000 budget, this is the top pick. From the '80s into the '90s, when it comes to Japanese street style, it's this watch — the G-SHOCK. And among them, the earliest type, the very first DW-5000C, was announced in 1983, and this retains that flavor most strongly, and this smallness is nice, right? I'm really in a mood of not wanting a big watch these days, so in that sense, this small size — at this point it's an “I'm not even conscious of the watch” kind of feel, which makes it very good to wear too. And with its '80s–'90s heyday, wearing this with a suit had become totally normal, right? Nobody finds it odd at all now, so in that sense too, it's a good watch, a Japanese standard.

And so — this was announced in 1983; that commercial where they whacked it with an ice-hockey stick, smack — that ad really shocked me and I wanted it so badly, so I bought a G-SHOCK right away, is what happened. Can I reminisce a bit? Back in 1983, Japan was still sparkling — the Famicom was born this very year. — Is that so. — Kids were absolutely delirious with joy, truly, the kids were wild with joy that year. And a bit earlier the Walkman had come out, so heading into town with headphones on, a new era dawning around then — it's one of the watches that symbolizes a truly sparkling time for Japan, I think.

This year, 1983, is a hugely important year for watches — it'll come up again later — Swatch was also launched in 1983, you see. So in the watch world, the G-SHOCK and Swatch came out the same year — an epoch-making year. — Yeah. — So, really, with Japan — Seiko and Casio too — having made quartz watches, they swept across the world in the '70s, seizing markets worldwide, and the Swiss watch industry fell into a truly critical state — the 1,600 Swiss watch makers that existed shrank to about 600. — Seriously? — Switzerland ran on what's called horizontal division of labor, with lots of separate companies for each process, and then someone who'd consulted for Omega, Longines, and the like said this won't do, we're going to vertically integrate the watch industry, build it all up, make companies that can do everything from making movements to selling, and did it — and saying Switzerland has to put out a cheap watch too, what they made was Swatch, you see. And from there the Swiss watch industry — with the money gained by selling those in huge numbers — pushed expensive watches higher and higher — that's roughly the trigger for the birth of today's Swiss luxury watches.

But come to think of it, this story is exactly the same as the fashion industry. Japan has lots of small, horizontally-divided textile companies, and with China's arrival, work was taken away, bang bang bang, and it shrank dramatically, and for about the last ten years I've been telling everyone we have to vertically integrate, the people in the production regions — there's a precedent for it in the watch industry, is the feeling, I'd say. Ah, it became what it was bound to become — Japan's textile industry has to go this way too, that sort of thing, and then, in the future, maybe we can become like the Swiss watch industry — that's what I want to work toward, is what I think. That was that story.

Let's move on — I get long-winded. Yes. The ¥10,000 budget, one more — this one's geeky, or rather, at around the ¥10,000 budget it's fine to have fun, isn't it? — that kind of watch, let me introduce one. It kept popping up on social media and I ended up buying one: the Laphont Square Melting Watch, Small, Silver, ¥17,300. As a slightly off-kilter, playful watch, isn't this cute? — It's cute. — You know the reference, right? It's a watch in the vein of a certain French “C” brand, and that certain “C” brand, in 1967, put out the Crash watch — the Crash watch, the Crash watch — which is super cool, and I used to search for it, and that's how these watches started showing up, I think.

What social media says is: a car — an automobile accident left a watch all warped and crushed, and they recreated that — a watch that's distorted like a Dalí clock, super cool. And that one, a little while back, went over ¥100 million, apparently — over ¥100 million. “Paris” is written on it — the dial says Paris, and one says London, London I think — it topped ¥100 million. This is a watch made as an homage to that. They make about two types here too — they make a type close to that “C” brand's Crash watch as well, but this one is the Tank-style one, distorted — isn't it cute? — Yeah, cute. — And this is the so-called Small, so it's about a women's size, but if you're wearing it as an accessory, these days a size like this is cute for men to wear too, so I bought one. It's gold plating, I think, but there's a gold case too. So this is completely an accessory that also happens to tell the time — wearing it in that spirit is cute, I think, that kind of watch. And it's cheap. — Yeah. — Even if something happens to it, it's in the ¥10,000s, right. — Right, you can get it for the ¥10,000s, so it's good.

Next, the ¥10,000 budget, the third one, shall we? Let's go smartwatch: the Xiaomi Redmi Watch 6, ¥11,980. A watch released at the end of May, brand-new. It's quite light — lighter than the Apple Watch, much lighter than the Apple Watch, so it's comfortable to wear all the time, and the biggest difference from the Apple Watch is of course the price — cheap, about a tenth. As for battery, the Apple Watch has to be charged every day, but this lasts over a week — with normal use, over a week. — Over a week? — I've only had it a few days so far, but I haven't charged it once, three or four days, and the battery's still over half. Amazing.

And isn't this a really important thing for a smartwatch, I feel. Ideally you'd keep it on while sleeping, right, definitely, to log your sleep — and this has quite full health-care features too. And another thing — on business trips this happens a lot — forgetting the Apple Watch charger, and, ugh, “I can't use it for three days starting tomorrow” — that kind of thing happens with the Apple Watch. With this, for a week-long business trip you can go the whole time with no charger — there's that kind of upside, so quality-wise it's become plenty good, so this totally works, and just swapping the strap, swapping the band, changes the look quite a bit, so it's good, I think. Though personally I'd have liked one size smaller, is how I feel. — True. — Is it a bit bigger than the Apple Watch? A bit bigger, maybe — I don't know the current big Apple Watch. This one I have is only 42mm, so this is a bit on the big side, I'd say. There are probably battery-capacity reasons. That's the thing — it's cheap, around here.

Next, the ¥20,000 budget. Around here let me introduce a few more watches that bring in a bit of fashion character. And, honestly, watches you can buy at this price now are quite few — there used to be a bit more variety — and given that, the one I'll introduce is Braun. The BN0021 Leather, ¥26,400 — you can buy this watch. It's based on Dieter Rams's design philosophy, so to speak — originally a watch they'd designed, reworked and remade a bit. And the movement inside is Japanese-made — it has a Japanese movement. And it's a touch thick, so if this were a bit thinner it'd be an even better watch, I feel.

And what's the distinctive feature of this watch — the so-called lugs — the part here where the strap is held, where the spring-bar pins attach — it doesn't have those, that's the big feature. It's like a wall clock turned directly into a wristwatch, that kind of design — a symbol of so-called German minimalism. Bauhaus — actually, Dieter Rams isn't directly connected to Bauhaus, but it's a watch made firmly under that kind of philosophical influence, right. And the trend wave of German minimalism coming from Bauhaus, and then American minimalism in the later art world, has come around, and we're just about at the tail end of that trend now, so casually wearing something like this now is a way to enjoy roughly the last window for it, which I think is fine, and it's a watch that pairs perfectly with the likes of Jil Sander, right? — I see. — That kind of watch.

Next — the ¥20,000 budget has gotten quite thin, so let's go to the ¥30,000 budget. In the range of about ¥27,000 to ¥39,999, the one I'd like to introduce is the Timex Harborside Coast Automatic, TX-TW2V72100, ¥29,700 — the model number's way too long. — Long. — Well, honestly a Timex was supposed to come in at the ¥10,000 or ¥20,000 budget, but prices have risen quite a bit, and that's gotten hard, so it's come up to about the ¥30,000 budget now, that's the feeling.

It's a watch maker from Connecticut, USA — over 170 years, so they've made watches since the pocket-watch era, a brand with a long history. And one of the things that originally made Timex watches popular was the “torture test” ads in the 1950s, which made them popular. What that was — they whacked the watch with a baseball bat, wrapped it around a boat's propeller, apparently — I felt like I'd heard that somewhere, and — ah, they did that in ads in the 1980s — that was this, which might be sort of the source material for the G-SHOCK — in terms of the ads, I mean.

And in the men's fashion world the most widely-known one — originally a disposable military watch, throwaway plastic — that's the most famous, and that one couldn't even have its battery changed; when it's done you toss it — with a 12-hour scale on the outside and, inside, a 13-to-24-hour display.

And this one — as for this, why I chose it — first, it's automatic. Shake it and it runs mechanically, a watch you can get at this budget, which is nice, and this so-called “Pepsi”-feel design,

though — it's just barely wearable, and the slight cheapness is conversely interesting, I thought, so I chose it as that kind of watch. And they've been thoughtful — the back lets you see the movement too, with that automatic-movement bit of fun, so for a first mechanical watch, something around here or a Seiko is good, I'd say — that's how I chose it.

And this — it's a diver, right, completely, any way you look at it it's a diver — but it's 5-ATM water resistant, so think of it as "fine if it gets wet washing your hands," which is why the name is Harborside — don't go into the water — Harborside, take it to mean "a little splash is as far as you should go," I think. That kind of watch. A stylish name, a nice, witty touch, right. That's the watch.

And also — honestly, the quartz version of my single favorite watch can be had at this budget: the Benrus Type II Silver, ¥34,300. I own the real thing — originally what it was: a watch made for US special forces and the like around the Vietnam War era. Later I'll introduce this properly, but I've loved it forever and wore it all the time, but it's gone missing — it's wandered off somewhere and I can't find it, searched and it didn't turn up. I loved it too much, and it had stopped running, and it's a hugely fiddly watch to repair, so I left it without sending it in, and then I lost track of where it went,

so it's a watch I need to properly search for again. And originally, this watch — there was a company called Benrus, and the rights have shifted at one point — an American lawyer, a big watch-lover, a lawyer who handles license management and such, bought it and is now working to revive it, that's the maker. What I like is the Benrus Type I class, that kind of watch — there's a Type I and a Type II by dial difference, and I like the Type I more, and I had that one. This watch, originally, in 1970, right during the Vietnam War, there was a mil-spec called MIL-W-50717, a watch mil-spec, a diver's-watch mil-spec, and Benrus made this watch to that standard. And it was sold only to the military, to military personnel, so the Green Berets and people like that wore it, and since I love Vietnam War history and Vietnam War fashion, for someone like me it's the ultimate watch. It has this slightly matte look —

this is stainless steel, and a polished surface would glint, so it's all sandblasted matte, and the dial is super simple and incredibly cool, and the asymmetric case is really cool, that kind of watch. I think of it as the greatest diver's watch ever, and we used to make one too — teaming with a Japanese watch maker; we had to change the design a bit or it'd infringe the registered design, so we changed it. So longtime fans might possibly own it — the Benrus-like watch we used to make — that's how much I love this watch. Truly rugged yet beautiful, I think. Well-balanced, on the smaller side, and cool. Yes,

that's that budget. Next, let's go to the ¥50,000 budget — from around ¥40,000 to ¥49,999, roughly that range. And here's one that made waves a while back: the Bioceramic MoonSwatch Mission to the Moon, SO33M100. ¥41,800 is the official Japanese price, an Omega × Swatch collaboration. Basically it recreates the Speedmaster Moonwatch, 42mm, in a bioceramic case — a bio-based ceramic — in quartz, so it comes out much lighter than the actual Speedmaster, and it has this velcro-type band, with "Speedmaster" written on it. And this collaboration is no mystery at all — as I said at the start, it's within the same group, the Swatch Group, so it's just a within-group collaboration, that's the feel. And people who buy this then, in the future, come to want an Omega, want a Speedmaster — it's made with that funnel in mind. And a bit — am I reminiscing too much lately? Am I okay? — Reminisce away, it's talk we rarely get to hear,

— really? — so, this is very nostalgic. Earlier there was that bit about Swatch being born in 1983, right? And Swatch, since it took off back then, that's why Swatch appeared — "a Swiss-made thing like this, a watch like this came out, a cheap one," people said, and what we fashion-oriented folks were most aware of was the Keith Haring collaboration. It came out in 1986 and was just sold at places like BEAMS, and then the price later exploded — skyrocketed — a premium attached to Swatch. Until then, freshly-sold items didn't get that kind of premium, not to that degree, and the forerunner of today's premium prices, "pre-values," and the secondary market — I think it's in Swatch, is what I think. Why — because after Keith Haring came out, Swatch then released the Scuba and the Chrono — basically a chronograph, in poppier, flashier colors — it sold like crazy, and that's where what we'd now call resellers sprang up, going abroad at the time to buy them and selling them in Japan at premium prices — lots of that

sprang up. And right around when we started buying sneakers — that too, now, is basically reselling, right? — the period right before we started buying sneakers was Swatch, and there were lots of kids working that scene. And once we started doing sneakers and began digging them out, they said "that's interesting," and those kids rushed into the sneaker world and it got overrun all at once, so we quit — sneakers, that is. After that, some of those people, in what we'd now call the later Ura-Hara scene, opened sneaker shops — so I was reminded that at the very headwaters feeding into today's sneaker boom, there was Swatch, that's the feeling. — Yeah. — And that current keeps accelerating and growing even now, I'd say. About 30, 35 years have passed since then, I suppose. And I think this is probably the first time I've bought a Swatch since then — so I tried buying it, the Omega × Swatch collaboration. Well, it's light and good, isn't it — and you can say you're wearing an Omega, and it does say Speedmaster, though — on this side it's Omega, on the inside it's Omega, and the side that shows on the outside is Swatch, right. Maybe it'd be fine reversed — not that that matters, and I don't have that much Omega love, so — yes,

that kind of watch. And honestly, next, another one — the biggest talk of the recent watch world — do you remember the huge lines in mid-May? — Don't know it. — You don't? Huge lines everywhere, worldwide. — Don't know it. — You don't? The Swatch × Audemars Piguet Royal Pop, about ¥57,000 — now probably ¥300,000-something at premium. Seriously, Swatch and Audemars — huge lines everywhere. What this is — Audemars Piguet itself has lately, in fashion circles too — it's long had this image of a watch that was super trendy around the '80s, and lately people wearing it in that scene have started appearing again — so it's a collaboration with them, meaning this is a collaboration teamed with a company outside the Omega/Swatch Group. And it's, you know, the Royal Pop — it's not even a wristwatch, basically it looks like a stopwatch, one of those old P.E.-class stopwatches the teacher used to time you with, gone flashy, that kind of feel,

sorry for the sharp tongue — and it's now ¥300,000-something. But what you have to watch out for is that Swatch has not called it a limited product — they haven't called it limited. — They haven't? — No — so although they launched it simultaneously everywhere, they say they'll keep dropping it into various stores guerrilla-style. They do say a few months, but even though it's ¥300,000-something now, there's every chance you can still buy it new, that's the feel. And I went abroad — I bought this abroad — and at the store over there it was all lined up out front, — was it for sale? — Not for sale now. — Which is it? — Now on sale? — That was just display stock. But they'd said more would come in — you'd best be careful, I think. But the shop staff said they have no idea at all when it'll come in. On top of that, you don't really need a watch you hang around your neck, do you? — That defeats the whole point. — No, no, no — really, if you're going to hang one around your neck, wouldn't this be better, so — let's recall the 1980s once more, with a photo of Flavor Flav dropped in now, and this is the originator of hanging one around your neck, right. — Yes. — Ishikawa-san liked him, didn't you? — Loved him. I actually saw Paul Weller live in Japan. — Seriously? — Of course, of course, loved him. Paul Weller, a nostalgic feeling. Yes. Next, likewise right at the edge of the ¥50,000 budget,

and I'll introduce this with a photo again: the Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical, 38mm, hand-wound, H69439933, ¥75,700. Honestly, when you dress casually, is there any watch that suits it better than this? — that kind of Hamilton watch, a so-called military watch. And it's a hand-wound watch — and a hand-wound watch is nice for setting the rhythm of your day, isn't it — winding it up in the morning, tick-tick-tick — and this, among hand-wound watches, is excellent, with an 80-hour power reserve, so one wind lasts about 80 hours, which means even when you say "I'll wear this on the weekend," it's still running come Monday, still going, Hamilton-style, which is nice, right. That kind of thing. A huge staple, the staple of staples, and even though it's gotten pricier, you can still buy it under ¥100,000, which is lovely, so you buy a Hamilton and can afford things around here, totally — around here, and here, you can afford — and for ¥100,000, I mean, if you have ¥100,000 — so I'd like to put it up as a recommended watch. Next,

let's go to the ¥100,000 budget, ¥80,000 to ¥179,999. As for how far this budget goes, there's really only one choice, I'd say — the Apple Watch. It's got to be this. There aren't really any "just-right" watches you can buy for around ¥100,000, and this — a bit later this will fall in a different price zone, but — it's the Hermès one. For example, 42mm — I think smaller is good right now, 42mm is the best — and putting this, the titanium one, with a so-called mineral loop or one of those silver-ish loops, it comes to about ¥122,800. Swap the strap a little and, well, it's landed in roughly the ¥100,000s now, so it's about that budget. But when you ask what a wristwatch's role is — it's a wrist-worn information terminal — when you consider that, doesn't it end up like this? — that's probably the answer, I think. And with this, the times you pull out your phone decrease, and you can do all sorts of things,

and a really important point now — a great many people wear this as a health-care device. I too, just once — did I say this before — went to Peru, backpack stuffed with a drone, a DSLR, a 70-200 lens, packed in tight, two cameras, out shooting, and while going around the cotton fields, the desert cotton fields, for the first time the Apple Watch notified me, saying something like "dangerous heart rate," and I was totally woozy, so in that sense, it alerts you to your own emergency — in that sense too it's very good, and I want it to get blood-glucose reading soon, though that seems quite hard, but if it gets that, it'll increasingly become a watch that makes the whole middle-aged generation delirious with joy, the middle-aged going wild with joy, is what I think. That kind of watch. And

the ¥100,000 budget has gotten really hard for watches you can buy now, so — again, extreme, if you will, having told you not to go minor, I'm going to go minor — let me introduce one watch. What it is: the YEMA Superman Heritage — it's called Superman, and the one I own is a slightly older model, so now there's a different diver's-watch line, and around here there's a series called Superman that often goes on sale — constantly on sale, and at that you can get it for ¥150,000–160,000 at the sale price. I bought this in 2021 or '22, fairly recently, and I think I got it for about ¥60,000 on sale. And what is this — at a glance it's not bad, right, from a distance — a bit Explorer II-like, or Submariner-ish, a watch with a slightly small case. And what's YEMA — originally the biggest watch maker in France. It's shrunk quite a bit now,

but it's a brand that develops and makes its own movements in-house. And in the old days Seiko invested and they were joined together, apparently — that kind of company, in the area called Morteau, and what's Morteau — it's right on the edge of Switzerland, roughly between Geneva and Basel, really, so it sits about midway through the holy land of watchmaking, on the French side, and they make watches in that area. It ends up being places with clean water, after all — with just a border line drawn, it's an area where you almost can't tell if it's France or Switzerland — that's where they're made. And originally they're strong in motorsport-type watches, so they supplied the French military, and French astronauts used them too — that sort of thing — and racing people use them, that kind of watch. There are a lot of watches that pilots use, that the air force uses, I suppose. And one more — is this official — originally, the now-super-expensive watch Richard Mille, you know it? That blingy, insane watch, Richard Mille — before starting his own brand, before that he was YEMA's overseas sales rep, apparently, that kind of company.

And so, that maker's sports-watch flagship is this Superman — the bezel ring is insane, nice, right? The model I own is not really available now, but this is a GMT — a GMT diver, a diver's watch, and it's 300m water resistant, you see. Proper 300m water resistance — truly, the same standard as the so-called Submariner, made for strapping on a tank and diving hard — built to that, and I got it for ¥60,000, isn't that amazing? A GMT built in, bought for about ¥60,000. Why I bought it — going on overseas business trips, the Apple Watch and such are — I'll talk about that a bit later — the Apple Watch and such are good too, but a GMT has parts that are more convenient, so in that sense it's good, and I can use it hard, it's tough, and it's fine in the water — and at about ¥60,000, if worst comes to worst and I leave it behind, I can still accept it, whereas at hundreds of thousands — over a million — there's no way I could ever give it up, right, and there's the danger of getting robbed, so "this one I'll be fine with" — that's why I bought it.

And the GMT watch I just mentioned — may I talk about it a little? It's my absolute favorite, my favorite — of watches, GMT is what I like best. What's a GMT — basically, think of it as a watch with four hands. What that means — there's the so-called short hand, the hour hand, and the minute hand, the long hand, and there's always a second hand — three hands is about standard, and on top of that there's one more, the GMT hand, and what's this GMT hand — this hand makes one full turn in 24 hours, and it points to a different time than the hour hand is pointing to —

a second time. So how do you use this — for example, when you go on an overseas business trip, set this GMT hand to Japan time. And set the ordinary hour hand to the local time. If you do that, since it's 24-hour, you can tell at a glance whether it's day or night in Japan — what hour of the day or night — and you know the local time.

And, for example, this watch I'll introduce later — this one won't do, but the Explorer II or such — with those you point to two times, plus the surrounding bezel is a 24-hour display, so by rotating this you can display the time in three countries, that kind of watch. Originally developed for pilots and such, but for people who travel abroad for business it's super convenient. Why — for example, the Apple Watch, you can probably change the time by fiddling with the phone, but the time won't change until you arrive locally, right — until the local phone picks up the time. And radio-controlled watches are common lately, receiving the exact time by radio, and those too don't change until you go to the place and a little time passes — but with this you can set the GMT hand in advance, you see. And what that lets you do is get into the local time's headspace from the moment you're on the plane, and, wow,

This is hugely important as jet-lag prevention. So when you land, for example, even if it's night in Japan time, if it's noon locally you decide to be in a noon mindset, stay up and get active: reading, watching movies, eating, drinking coffee hard, that sort of way of spending it. In that sense it's good. And once you're there, "I need to contact Japan, what time is it now," and you can tell at a glance, so in that sense too it's a very convenient watch. Travel is the theme of my life, so in that sense I love GMT watches. And this, I bought this too as a GMT for that purpose, and this one is also a GMT, in the sense of showing world time zones.

And here I've placed one "what even is that" watch. It's basically a G-SHOCK, G-SHOCK in size. Because it's stainless steel it's super heavy. — Is it the biggest today? — The biggest today, without question, the biggest of all the watches I own, super heavy. What it is: the SEIKO Prospex, accurately the Prospex, I think, the Kinetic GMT Diver, an overseas-market model. This is the SUN019P1. Basically it's Kinetic, like automatic winding, it generates power for the quartz, that kind of watch, a so-called diver. This is 200 meters, I think, 200m water resistant, and it looks all-out diver, right, but it has a GMT hand. The GMT's a bit hard to see right now, but it has GMT too, so it can do two-zone time display, that kind of watch.

And before this I had one, and I say I pick watches so I won't regret it too much if I leave them behind abroad, but I completely leave them abroad. I left that one, the previous model, at a hotel in San Francisco, left it behind. So I figure I'll definitely forget them, and I have to wear that kind of watch, and at times like that, and I go to pretty remote places, odd places, a watch I can use with peace of mind at those times, that's why I bought it. That was GMT.

So, let's go to the ¥200,000 budget. The watch you should buy at the ¥200,000 budget, let me make it the Apple Watch yet again. Around the ¥100,000-to-¥200,000 budget, watches worth buying have really dried up; it's an awkward price. There are, of course, watch brands and the like, but if I'm going to reach for those, I'd sooner just go with this, is what I end up thinking, so a cycle of replacing the Apple Watch about once every two years is fine, I think.

And this is Hermès. And what's different about Hermès, this is an awful thing to say, but really, really it's just that the dial faces you can display are nicer, that, and the box is fancy, and that there's quite a price gap for that is awful, but well, you can set the dial to a Hermès face like this, right, that's the thing. And as for the strap, you can attach either, but this is a Hermès strap. And even at a Hermès shop there's a proper Apple Watch corner, so you can buy it at a Hermès store too. And right now I'm doing this gold leather strap and black, and honestly there's one more I want, but right now it's a bit unavailable, and I'm wondering if I can buy it online, but a strap is ¥120,000, you know. I hate it, but if you buy that too, it ends up like a ¥300,000 budget, right. — True. — That's how it ends up.

And this 42mm size is nice now, isn't it. A man wearing it, I saw it and thought it looked good. But you have to watch out for the strap when I gain weight. — Does the wrist get thicker? — It does. Mine used to be super thin, and, obvious, I know, I realized the wrist really does get that much thicker. My wrist's gotten pretty thick; old watches are snug now. In the old days the veins here bulged out visibly, and nurses would tell me my arm was hard to inject, or easy to inject, but look closely and the veins aren't visible at all now, so the wrist has thickened accordingly, I feel. So you have to be careful: quite a few straps don't fit, some 40mm ones I can't even wrap around, so watch out for that. But the 42mm size, that kind of smaller watch is good now, I'd say.

Next, let's go to the ¥300,000 budget. As I said earlier, the strap here with the studs costs ¥120,000-something, so combined you could call it a ¥300,000 watch, but here too, honestly, the prices have gotten a bit outrageous now, I think. So the Benrus Type 1 Mil-Spec I mentioned earlier, ¥321,752, is a good pick, I think. The Benrus Type 1. As I said earlier, around the Vietnam War era it was a watch issued to the military, the US military. And special forces, Green Berets, Navy SEALs, wore it. And why I like the Type 1: it renders the dial not with numerals but with dots, circles, so it's simple. And in fact the Green Beret and Navy SEAL guys also preferred the Type 1, it's said.

And now they're making it again with the renewed company. It's 370m water resistant, so you can use it as a serious diver's watch, and the movement is Swiss-made automatic. And this is from that Swatch/Omega group I keep mentioning, the Omega group's movement company, ETA. The ETA 2892 movement is used, which is a movement that Omega, Cartier, everyone uses, a reassuring, stable, sturdy movement, apparently, so you can feel secure on that front too, that's the feel. And my genuine one, normally a watch opens from the back, right, but it has to be opened from the dial side, which needs a special tool, so it's quite hard to repair, but this one should be properly easier to repair, so on the maintenance front too it's reassuring. And for the men's-fashion crowd, jungle fatigues and such, everyone's started making them lately, various brands are putting them out, and if you're going to wear jungle fatigues, then wear a Benrus, is the feeling, I'd say. That kind of — right, exactly — that kind of watch.

Next, the ¥500,000 budget. At this point you can just barely buy a watch that people actually covet, but even in this price zone, a brand-new Swiss watch has become nearly impossible, so let's search used, that's the price. And around there, the brand watches that fashion-oriented people wear, what are they? Well, there are broadly two: one is watch makers, one is accessory brands, I'd say, and one of those, Cartier. This is the Tank Divan, 32mm. The gold one's gotten a bit pricier now and is out of reach at the ¥500,000 budget, but the silver type of this you can buy used at around the ¥500,000 budget, that kind of thing.

Cartier as a brand is a luxury jeweler, but among such accessory makers, when it comes to seriously buying a watch, this is the one, I'd say. And in terms of watches that are truly well-regarded, the beauty of the design, the elegant feel, Cartier really is the representative, right. Of course there's Hermès and various other brands, for women's, Chanel is popular too, and there's Hermès and so on, but if you're spending the same money, for a watch Cartier is better, isn't it? That's the feeling I get, right. That's the thing. Earlier I said pick the staples, you don't need to pick oddly geeky things, and one such staple brand like Cartier is good, I think, and while saying that, I'm introducing a Tank with a slightly twisted design. This is already discontinued.

Divan means "long chair," apparently, and it's a horizontally elongated watch. Why I like this watch, if you try it on you'll get it, I hope: with the thickness of the watch itself and the thickness of the strap, doesn't it look like you're wearing a bangle? That accessory feel, like a leather bangle. And whereas a watch around here can be worn even at formal occasions, doesn't this give off a slight rock vibe? That's what I love. — True, it really has a fashion feel. — So this, peeking out from a suit cuff, is nice, and with a T-shirt, wearing this with a black T-shirt, just this one on, isn't that incredibly cool? That kind of watch. If it's the silver-ish one, I think you can still find it used for around ¥500,000, so it's a highly recommended watch. Of course a regular Tank is nice too, but if you're buying, that's about the price.

One more: I don't much like watches with busy, cluttered dials, but as a staple watch that tons of people in the fashion industry wear too, the Omega Speedmaster, this "Mark 40," a model made to commemorate the 40th anniversary. Now it's over ¥1 million new, but this is from 1990. The Speedmaster was announced in 19... 1957, and 40 years on from there, so they went with a slightly poppy coloring, right. And around here you can still buy it used with a ¥500,000 budget, so you don't have to shell out a million-something. There are plenty around, I think, so how about buying something like this, is the feeling. The case size is very small too. Now they've gotten a bit bigger, right, the Speedmaster, so having it in a small size is just right, right.

Though nobody actually properly uses the chrono function, surely. Measuring speed and such, in broad terms, is measuring how many seconds it takes to cover a set distance, measuring speed that way, and nobody ever does that, right? Or measuring how many units you can make in an hour, that sort of thing. You could use it that way too, but you don't do that either, so you don't need it, I end up thinking. What else would you measure? And if you're timing instant ramen, a timer is better, so then a timer's better, right? You definitely use a timer a lot, but you don't really use a stopwatch, right? — Ah, that's true. — Yeah. A timer, even my stretches are over 30 seconds, so I always set a timer, but anyway.

Yes. Next, the ¥500,000 budget, one more. Honestly I'd like to introduce this with a photo too: the Grand Seiko SBGM221, ¥671,000, a Grand Seiko GMT watch. I've been wanting this, and one reason is that Mr. Hirota, the editor-in-chief of a watch magazine called Chronos, called it a "reverse rip-off watch" on YouTube. — Reverse rip-off, is that used in the watch industry? — I'd never heard it, but it was introduced as a watch that's a tremendous bargain, and what he said in it was that when he went to some overseas watch fair, a couple of the overseas watch people were wearing it. And it is cool, and I want this watch too, or no, should I go and buy an Explorer II after all? It's one of the watches I agonize over.

Yes. Next, let's go to the ¥1,000,000 budget. Here too, for a brand-new watch, buying a domestic top-tier watch is the way to go, I feel, and otherwise, for used watches, not limited to Swiss ones, it becomes a matter of hunting for something good used. Think of it that way. And one of the domestic top-tier watches is the Grand Seiko SLGH005 White Birch. This is ¥1,276,000. The build, compared even to Rolex, the ones around here are old ones so it's not quite fair, but even compared, this is far better. In terms of the technically impressive part, Grand Seiko, in 2022, 2020, gave the watch world quite a shock, apparently. I said don't go into geeky territory, but let me touch lightly on that: as a caliber, completed as a watch, the way this stainless is polished is really beautiful, and the balance between the hairline and the polished areas is good, and the dial has this White Birch feel. It feels like something that symbolizes Japan, so here it's completely a matter of taste, but it's a good watch, as it were. So, I keep saying it, when you want to buy a good Japanese-made watch, this is one of the first options that comes in, I think.

Yes. And at the ¥1,000,000 budget, this is a watch I meant to buy and forgot to, so, sorry. It's sold fairly cheaply abroad, several of them, when in Japan it's a bit pricier, and since it looked totally buyable within ¥1,000,000, I'd meant to buy one and introduce it to you all, my beloved watch, yet somehow, always meaning to buy it, I never did. That kind of thing you have to buy early, right. I introduce it with that regret: the Rolex Explorer II 16570, the third generation.

What kind of watch the Explorer II is: originally, there's the Explorer I I'll introduce later, a watch for explorers, and being drawn in by "explorer" is my weakness, but it's a beloved word I longed for in childhood. A watch for explorers, a sports watch, and this is the II of that. And people wore the I climbing Everest and so on, but for people going to the polar regions, the Arctic, Antarctic, it becomes the midnight sun and you can't tell what time it is, whether it's day or night. That was the Explorer's problem: first, there's no date, and being 12-hour you can't tell whether it's day or night. To solve that problem they added a GMT hand and a date, that's the watch. And it's also good for people who have to explore in dark places, so it's sold as being for cave exploration and the like, that kind of watch.

That said, it might be the least popular of Rolex's sports line, though I love it design-wise. The ones around here are close to that feel, that kind of watch. And this: first gen, second gen, and the third gen is this, the 16570 model, and this one was made over a long period and is well-balanced design-wise. After this the dial got bigger and so on, so it's a watch I like very much. And since it's a GMT, it's convenient for overseas business trips too, that kind of watch, though in some countries you can't really wear it, that's the feeling.

So, let's go above ¥1,000,000. The thing is, Rolex sports watches that you could once comfortably buy for around ¥400,000 have now reached about this price, so around here it's now become the ¥2,000,000 budget, I'd say. First: the Rolex Explorer. This is ref. 1016, a so-called four-digit reference, a slightly older model. From the '80s, the top of the watches fashion-oriented people wore, "what's the pinnacle," was the Explorer, that's the feeling. Truly small and cool, simple, a design that pursues the minimal of stainless-steel watches, which is incredibly cool, and on top of that, a masterpiece with tons of story packed into it, that kind of watch. Along the lines of "pick something basic," this is the sort of watch, I'd say. It feels like the price has hit the ceiling for now, but I don't think it'll drop much either, so in terms of asset value there's still a little room to rise. It's an old thing whose numbers keep dwindling, so holding onto one wouldn't be a bad idea, that kind of watch, I'd say.

And at the ¥2,000,000 budget, one whose price shot up dramatically, from a few years ago, not quite ten years, a few years, ten years, maybe, from about ten years ago the price rose explosively, a watch that arrived late at the end. This was cheap too, watches around here. And that's the Rolex GMT-Master, this the four-digit reference 1675 model, right. In the old days, this and the Submariner diver's watch, those too are around ¥2,000,000 now, I think, and whether to own the Submariner or the other was a kind of tradition in the Japanese fashion industry. Me, I'm not so much on that side, the Submariner. I don't dive, I'm scared of water, so I don't dive, and since travel is my theme, if anything, the watch I'd pick would be a GMT, so I went with the GMT-Master. And these were pretty cheap, the so-called Pepsi blue-and-red, the two colors. I used this in Japan and used it a good long while, that kind of watch. And these too have now reached about ¥2,000,000, coming to a bit over ¥2,000,000, that kind of watch, so owning one of these isn't half bad, I feel, as it were.

And moving to a slightly higher budget still: as I said at the very start, why not own about three types of watch? One you'd also wear casually, a smartwatch, and a watch you can properly use at ceremonial occasions, formal settings. And for that, it comes down to this, right, the staple of staples: the Patek Philippe Calatrava, this the 7119J-010 model. Why this watch is so highly regarded: of course I don't understand the mechanics, but there's something mechanically superb about it, and above all it's the original that shaped the form of the modern wristwatch, so to speak. Originally called the Ref. 96, a watch Patek Philippe announced in the 19—

-30s — it was so highly perfected and beautiful, and in the shift from pocket watches to wristwatches, this very thinness and this superb wearing feel made it a worldwide wristwatch masterpiece. And around the 1980s — "Calatrava" was originally the nickname, apparently, and Calatrava is the name of a Spanish knightly order, apparently — and Patek itself adopted it officially, and now it's become synonymous with luxury watches, that kind of watch. This too — the matter of size —

let me talk about it: this 31mm case size — isn't this small size kind of cool? — Cool. — Elegant, isn't it nice? This — including this delicate, narrow strap width, it's cool, nice, right. And in slightly formal settings, having a watch around here peek out from your cuff is cool, I think.

So, this plus a sports-watch type — even a cheap one, something around here is fine, I think — something like this and an Apple Watch, about three like that, or — the sports-watch type or casual ones, cheap ones like this are fine too — owning about three like that is good, I'd say. And besides these, of course, there are tons of watch makers, luxury watch makers — the likes of, these days, Vacheron — Vacheron Constantin, was it? — the pronunciation, just call it Vacheron Constantin, I think, but the name's changed before you know it, and that's the same as whether it's "Birkenshtock" or "Birkenstock," you know, and there's all sorts, but you don't really need to reach for those, I'd say.

And that's the watch special we've introduced. Yes — I don't know if it was helpful, but picking one from among these for your next watch is, in fashion-context terms, just about right, I think. Yes. — Wrapped up, it's wrapped up — today's summary just finished, didn't it. — It wrapped itself up. — Well, I did throw in a few slightly minor brands, but basically I settled it with the major names, I think — "settled" is a bad way to put it, though.

Yes — watching lots of YouTube, there haven't really been many videos that discuss it in a fashion context up to now, I feel. — Right. — It inevitably ends up watch-centric, and the reason I spoke watch-centrically today — the most important point is that wearing a watch nonchalantly is the coolest, right? Having too much statement there is somehow off, I feel, whether you're wearing it nonchalantly as an accessory, or "a watch just needs to tell the time" and casually wearing a good watch — about that level is the cool one, I can't help feeling, is what I feel. There's a lot that's kind of mismatched, isn't there. — I get it. — Yeah, I'd want to avoid that, I feel. — Yeah.

— Man, that was long — talked way too long, Ishikawa-san. Amazing — how can you talk so much? — No, I can't, really — I don't understand movements and such. Watch-lovers are all about that, right — everyone's "never mind the looks, tell us about that stuff," and "tell us about the virtuoso craftsmanship," that direction, I think — "aren't you even going to introduce a tourbillon," that becomes the thing, I think — I'm not so into that; more than that, whether it looks cute in a fashion sense, or has a slightly interesting story, is better, I think.

But really, this Cartier is really great, I think. — Ooh, that's the one I thought was coolest. — Yeah, it on the wrist is really cool, right. — Eddie-san, are you buying it? — This gold one is probably about — I think around ¥1,2-300,000, I think you can buy it for — that's like buying two MacBook Pros, two MacBook Pros, about 118 gigs of MacBook. — Yes, cute, right. — Yeah. — That kind of thing, so great. — Yeah. — And while saying that, I'm basically smitten — basically 365 days — well, I was using a Pixel Watch the other day, but — 363 out of 365 days I'm wearing this, and the other two I'm not, is roughly where I'm at now — just forgetting to put it on, that kind of thing.

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