I’ve had an interest in wristwatches pretty much all my life. One of my earliest memories is looking at a Rolex GMT Master II in a jewellers shop window with my late grandfather - way back in the 60’s. I remember this because of the extremely gaudy bezel colour - which really made it stand out from the other watches in the display and the ‘waterdrop’ on the face which strangely remained over the date - well that’s what I thought at the time anyway.
I’ve had a few really nice watches in my collections over the years - admittedly nothing like the Rolex but some nice ones nonetheless - list follows (of those I can remember):-
Citizen Skyhawk ti - Casio G-Shock 7900 - Casio G-Shock ???? - Sony Smartwatch 3 - Avia Dailytime - Seiko Orange Monster - Seiko Black Monster - Seiko Spirit - Omega Geneve f300 - Citizen Promaster (Ray Mears) - Citizen 2100 Chronograph - Casio Protrek - Marcello C Nettuno 3 - Omega Seamaster - Seiko Bellmatic - my God - I didn’t realise I had so many - and I know this isn’t all of them.
One thing that you can perhaps see from the list is that I don’t tend to favour automatics over quartz - nor do I favour one particular style of watch - I’ve had divers, chronographs, dress, military, high-tech and vintage. I loved them all and I regret selling every single one I’ve ever sold.
The Galaxy Gear S3 Frontier (from now on it’s getting referred to as the ‘Frontier’) was purchased pretty much on a whim. I’d watched quite a few YouTube videos on the watch and was basically impressed.
I’ve got to be honest - I’ve been wearing it pretty much since getting it. I’m a truck driver - delivering steel products and as you can imagine, the watch gets pretty seriously battered around, certainly more so than any of the other watches in my collection except perhaps my old G-Shock which definitely shows signs of serious abuse.
The black-coated metal on my Frontier isn’t showing a single scratch - not a mark. Even the Duratect case on my Ray Mears Citizen Promaster showed minor signs of wear - and I was in a desk job when I owned that watch. Likewise the bezel and crystal are completely scratch free. This is nothing short of incredible - and something of a surprise for me.
Amongst the things I like and use the watch for include:
Free watch faces - Controlling my music player on my phone (works great on wireless headphones that lack volume controls) - step counter - quickly checking texts and emails without having to get out my phone - Legibility (especially at night) - the list goes on.
The watch recently received an update - it’s now running Samsung’s One UI OS and it looks a little nicer for it - nothing spectacular but a welcome update anyway. I’m wearing the watch in an inexpensive Milanese steel bracelet withagnetic closure and this allows me to make tiny adjustments to its size which is very handy at work. I tend to get a good couple of days use before having to recharge and I’ve never yet had the battery run out on me.
Perhaps the only thing that stops this being considered my ultimate watch is the lack of significant water resistance. Whilst it can be safely rained on or briefly dunked in water - it’s not really suitable for swimming or bathing - which is a shame.
I still have a strong interest in watches and am always looking for the next purchase. The truth is though that I haven't really given any of the other watches in my collection much of a look in since getting the Frontier.