Tommy Bahama and Watch Gang 8-Charles Hutton

Vintage Styling

I bought my first Tommy Bahama shirt back in the mid 90's while working at Nordstrom Glendale. It was expensive, even with my discount, and it was my go-to dress Hawaiian shirt for a long time. I still have it somewhere-I'm not all that hard on my clothes and haven't changed shirt sizes in forever.

There is no Tommy Bahama, which most people probably realize. It was dreamed up by a couple of guys who wanted to create high-end casual clothes, their vision of what a jet-setting beach bum would wear. I've got several Tommy Bahama shirts (I especially like their Christmas shirts), some glasses, house wear and a few decorative items. I also have three of their watches.

Room for engraving

I've never paid full price for a Tommy Bahama watch. It seems as though people take pretty good care of them, but don't ever want to change the battery, and so I've found many on various auction sites for prices that I'm willing to pay. They look nice, and the three that I own say that they have either Swiss or Japanese quartz movements. I've been trying to find out who made them-there aren't any on the Tommy Bahama website at the moment. My best guess is the Geneva Group, which is alluded to in an old online article. The Geneva Group makes several lifestyle brand watches.

A replacement band

Of the three I own, my favorite is the yellow faced one. I bought a nice yellow leather racer band for it, and I think the watch looks pretty sharp. It's easy to read and stands out, but not too much.

The watches seem solid enough, (though on my black faced diver some water got in and left a stain on the crystal), and are based on vintage or casual diver/sports styles, kind of like their shirts, reflecting a past that never was. Initially they sold for anywhere between $115 and $350. There's a couple of hundred on eBay right now for under $100.

Diver with a water stain

Shinola watches operate in a similar niche, a reflection of a past that never was.

Charles Hutton

The Charles Hutton came in a large box, and inside there was a leather watch carrying case, large enough for at least two watches-a nice bonus as I find that when I travel, I'm now bringing a few watches with me, for no other reason than I have many and I can. It is a nice leather pouch.

The watch inside is heavy. After removing four links from the band so that it would fit, I feel it on my arm. According to the Charles Hutton website, it's a Longbridge ($270 list) with a green face, and a case size of 42mm by a thickness of 11.5 mm. It has a Japanese quartz movement made by Hattori (used by Seiko, Lorus and Pulsar).

The brand seems to be based out of England, and is named after an English mathematician. In their story, they say that they base their designs on the "Classic British lifestyle" and specialize in chronographs and other complications. The website has a section devoted to James Bond, calling him the "Quintessential British Gentleman," and saying their watches are built for the modern man in a James Bond way. There are people who keep track of the watches worn in all James Bond films (James Bond favors Rolex and Omega, with some Seiko digitals in the 70s), and Bond seems to prefer diver watches, but I'm not going to mention that to the Charles Hutton people. 

Charles Hutton is sold at Macy's and this Longbridge is currently going for around $100 in eBay. Prices for watches on their website range from $225 to $285.

Did I mention it was heavy? Along with being heavy, there seems to be some sharp edges around the the bezel and base. Not enough to cut, but enough to be slightly uncomfortable as I type this out. As I gather more watches, the little things start to come into play, and the little bit of sharpness does matter-I imagine at the end of a long day you'd really notice it and the weight. 

I do like the pin that holds in the hands, and the day/date function is interesting, with what seems like two additional dials working on the inside of the watch. Also interesting is that the date works in a reverse clockwise way.

The look is unique and I like it. But the weight and the sharp edges probably would have kept me from buying it in another setting.  Eight Watchgang watches, and only a couple would I actually have bought. I might have to give this up-we'll see.

Next Day

I've worn this watch for the better part of two days, and the weight is as such that it starts to slide down my wrist. I can't remove more links without it being too tight to wear, so the weight does come into play as the day progresses. It does look good on my wrist, but again, as I acquire more watches the little things matter.

Austin

The memorial is in the distance

A week before Covid shut down the world in March of 2020, a small tragedy hit here in Ventura. The high school cross country team was out for a run after school. While they were running down Seaward Avenue toward the beach a truck lost control, striking one of the runners and killing him.

The runner's name was Austin, and he was a 10th grader. I was coming home later that day, and the road was closed. I could see the lights of the police cars and ambulance, but didn't think anything of it at the time beyond someone had an accident.

I received a phone call from a friend later asking if I had heard about the kid being struck, and did I know him. My son had run cross country but had graduated before this kid got to high school. My youngest was a year behind Austin and knew who he was but didn't know him. 

When my son ran cross country, it was not unusual to see him and his fellow runners running down the various streets here in Ventura. Going from the high school down Seaward was a standard run, and once in a while I would see my son and his teammates running down the sidewalk. It's downhill to the beach, and the team would get there and then run the Promenade. Though my son was never a Varsity runner, Ventura XC did instill a sense of pride and love for running, and even now, as a member of the Marine Corps, he still runs beyond what would be normal PT. I felt bad for Austin's family, of course, but also for Austin's teammates and especially for Austin's Coaches. The Cross Country Coaches were great with my son, who was essentially a space taker on a team that would win state, making him feel wanted and important. How horrible it would for a coach to send kids out running and then have one not make it back.

I guess I could look, but if I recall, drugs and alcohol were not a factor. The truck that struck Austin lost  control, jumped the curb and hit the runner. It was an accident.

Ventura is a small town, and we knew people who knew him and the family. A roadside shrine went up on the chain link fence where the accident happened, and was maintained all through the lock down. Recently a cap and gown was added to the memorial.

Austin would have graduated this year. He was by all accounts a good kid, active in his church and a Ventura County Sheriff's Office Explorer Scout. 

If Covid had shut down the world a week earlier, Austin would have been able to graduate with his class.

Shinola and another Watch Gang Watch-Earnshaw

Growing up, I often heard my father say about someone, "They don't know shit from shinola." I knew what he meant-that someone didn't know what they were talking about, but I didn't know why 'shinola.'

 Many, many years later, I was in my mother-in-law's store and saw this vintage rack where they displayed a few cans of Kiwi shoe polish, and then it all became clear. Shinola! A brand of shoe polish! Shoe polish kind of looks like poop, and you get poop on your shoes, and the person who didn't look too closely might mistake the two! As I take a quick look at Wikipedia, Shinola was specifically a boot polish, and with my Dad's many years in the military, a boot polish allusion would be totally appropriate for him. That I didn't know boot polish was irrelevant to his using the phrase. I knew what he meant, and that was all that I needed.

Moving on, about a decade ago I started reading about Shinola watches. The origin story was a good one, a group of guys wanting to restart American manufacturing by heading to one of the great manufacturing cities of the last century, Detroit, and opening up a factory for high quality goods like watches and leather products. 

If I remember correctly, initially they had only quartz watches that were vintage in styling and larger in size-a modern take on old watches. I saw them in magazines and liked the look, though I thought they were priced a little on the high side. I did want one, though, and would look at their shops in Los Angeles and the Bay area with a bit of longing. I really liked their leather goods, too, as well as their pens and bicycles.

About five years or six years ago I was at TJ Maxx looking at their watch case and came across a Filson Argonite 715. I'd never heard of Filson, but I knew the Argonite tag, and turned it over to reveal the Shinola connection. If I recall, it was around $150, and though high for something from TJ Maxx,  I knew that was a good price for a Shinola and I bought it. I later found out that Filson is an outdoor goods manufacturer in the Northwest with a solid reputation. From what I can gather plowing through the internet right now, it was somewhere between $600-900.

The leather band has picked up a nice patina over the years, with both Shinola and Filson logos. Some online research shows that both companies are owned by the same development group explaining the partnership between the two. Apparently, it didn't go as well as they would have liked, because no watches are currently shown on the Filson site.

The other Shinola I have I picked up from an online auction for $100. I didn't think I'd win, and I wasn't too sure what to make of it when I received it. I was going to change the band, but the guy who replaces my watch batteries was impressed and said I should keep it the way it is. It's comfortable on the wrist and does have a nice look to it. 

I do still think that Shinola is a bit overpriced for what it is, but if I can find them below $200, I might by another.

 

More Watchgang Watches

I've had this Earnshaw watch for a few months now, and I thought maybe I should get it out of the box. I did open it when I got it, but I really didn't have a call to wear it. It's dressy without being too dressy, but not necessarily a beater either, dwelling in a watch limbo for me. But I have a few minutes and so here we go.

I had to hunt on the website to find it, but it is a Maudslay in Scotsman Blue. According to their site, it runs $400 and as of this writing there is only one left. It's not quite a skeleton, though you can see part of the 21 Jewel Miyota Movement ticking away. The movement, by Citizen, is a solid performer, so the watch should keep good time.

The blue leather strap is interesting. It doesn't really feel like leather, but more like pleather, and I don't really like the feel on my wrist, especially compared to watchbands like the one on the Filson that I spoke about above. The band also seems long-I've got it in the third hole, and there are six more holes in it-that would be a seriously huge wrist.

The blue accents of the watch are nice, with roman numerals at 12, 3, 6 and 9. There is some lume on the hands, but not too much. The calendar being out in the open is interesting, and not unappealing but not wowing me either. 

The Earnshaw origin story says that they're named after the watchmaker that made Darwin's watch, and all their watches are named after explorers. There are a few Maudslay's listed in Wikipedia, and I'm assuming that this watch is named after Alfred Maudslay, the diplomat and explorer.

The company is based in England, though I can find no indication that the watch was made there. My best guess is that it was made in China. That's not a bad thing, and it explains why their prices are so low. 

 

I wore it for a few days, and though I really didn't care for the look or feel of the band, it wasn't terrible. I noticed that there was some lume, but it seemed to fade away rather quickly. The watch itself is a little bigger than I like them, but I'm sure that I'll wear it more.