Watch collecting - an expensive hobby

So watch collecting is becoming an expensive hobby, fortunately for me it remains within the bounds of my finances. I think for now though, it is time to not buy anything new unless an opportunity too good to pass up comes along.

As a watch enthusiast, I am still able to research and try on timepieces when I am out researching individual pieces. I don't do this much in Perth since competition and ranges are limited, also I prefer to research away from home where people don't know me and I can walk out of the shop anytime.

Naturally, not too many people get to collect  A. Lange & Söhne, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin or Audemars Piguet and I am one of those people. Still, I can admire robust engineering and magnificent styling without owning one.

I have found watch enthusiasts also tend to be car enthusiasts, motorsport and race timekeeping tend to merge together. This accounts for so many automotive series from the Speedmaster, Carrera, Monza, Silverstone and Daytona series.

Since I’m more into yachting, brands such as Rolex and Omega tend to support these activities although the Seamaster range is more aligned to diving these days. Is the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak a dive watch or a marine timepiece? So too with the Patek Philippe Nautilus.

Dive watches, where to start? The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, the Rolex Submariner and Omega Seamaster are leading brands but every manufacturer from Ulysse Nardin, Breitling, Tudor, Officine Panerai, TAG Heuer, Bremont, Mühle-Glashütte, Tissot, Oris and Jaeger-LeCoultre have dive watches.

Aviation is well supported with IWC, Breitling, Bremont, Bell and Ross and Omega. Rolex came out with a GMT for dual timezones for international travelers and business people, apparently after a specific request from Pam-Am. Cartier is credited with creating the first aviator timepiece with the Santos in 1904.

Then there is out and out style, A. Lange & Söhne, Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe, Breguet, Glashütte Original, Zenith, Cartier, Girard-Perregaux,  and Chopard are leading examples of how style meets functionality. Even the Rolex Cellini cracks a mention here; then there is Piaget, Mountblanc, Rado, Baume and Mercier, Jaeger-LeCoultre  and IWC.

You are not really supposed to be seen in a dinner suit in a chronograph, dive or aviator watch; that's where the low profile and elegant timepiece is desired. Your timepiece is supposed to sit under your shirt cuff.

I love researching timepieces, trying them on and writing about features, styling, functionality, value and finally wrist feel. I collect manufacturer catalogs from retail outlets, download specifications and read as many reviews as I can handle. Yeah, it's fun and yeah, it's expensive but who cares as you only live once.

Pressure to meet quotas

Whilst understood, there isn’t too many businesses I have been involved with that doesn’t place timeframes on employees. There is an argument that tight schedules increases productivity but naturally increases stress at work, this is only feasible for short term projects as it tends to burn people out over the longer term.

So where does that leave us? I work in the engineering maintenance department on a copper and cobalt mine and our project based maintenance work requires tight timeframes and budgets. You need to find creative solutions to solve problems within budgetary frameworks and tight schedules.

Now I understand that I am viewing this from my own perspective and I would like to work in a job where I had neither financial or time constraints - but I don't. I would like to know who does and how they are able to produce a service or product in a business without any of these factors - now that would be a good job.

Flying the A380

I love flying on the Airbus A380, I know airlines are looking to downsize to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, but as a passenger, I find the A380 far superior for long haul travel. I understand Airbus is having trouble selling new aircraft and the A380 production may cease - that's a shame.

I had a longhaul flight from Perth to Dubai on a 777-200 and I can’t say it was a great experience. The aircraft was operated by Emirates, a pretty decent airline but I still felt uncomfortable and cramped. Even with a aisle seat, I was able to stretch my legs but was bumped into by staff moving up and down the aisles.

The entertainment system didn’t work, the movie kept losing sound, the screen froze or I had issues loading programs. Maybe that just added to my annoyance, I gave the entertainment system away and used my own tablet to pass the time instead. I understand this is just an annoyance and not indicative of the aircraft design.

From Dubai to Frankfurt, the A-380 was a totally different experience, it was easy to get up and move around. I was four rows back from the front of the aircraft, people were standing in clear spaces chatting, walking around and generally looking relaxed.

I felt the atmosphere was vastly improved, people genuinely looked better and appeared happier. My choice is definitely the A-380 even though the 787 has been promoted to ultra long-haul travel from point-to-point instead of the current hub-and-spoke model.

Semi-retired in my 40s

Was I semi-retired in my 40s? I would argue the time spent working in the recreational dive industry in my late 20s and early 30s was semi-retired. Although I received a salary, I felt like I was getting paid to have fun and it felt like I was saving money by not paying for diving experiences.

I was becoming a little concerned, I was now mid 30s and had to make a decision, do I continue in the low wage diving industry or do I return to a career? I chose to start a new career in training and education; this was really an extension of being a diving instructor with better pay, conditions, leave entitlements, job security and the all important retirement benefits.

During my dive instructor working period, I made some superannuation payments along with employer contributions on my behalf, but this was grossly under what I should have been putting away. I wasn't salary sacrificing as I paid the bills but funds were tight, overseas holidays evaporated but most weeks were like a holiday as I led tours within Western Australia anyway.

But, during my mid 30s I was accepted into state government employment. I now had a pretty decent salary, eight weeks paid leave, one day per week working from home and I was accruing long service leave entitlements. Sure I was back in full-time employment but it was Monday to Friday with one day per week working from home.

Even better, I joined the Government Employees Superannuation Board (GESB) where my employer contributions were deposited into my account without the mandatory 15% contributions tax deducted. I was now accruing a decent retirement benefit with all the fantastic conditions attached to state government employment.

The eight weeks paid leave was the selling point, that's two months off per year where I traveled overseas, dived the South East Asian region from Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. There were also trips to Europe and the United States, no point getting all these holidays and sitting around home trying to save money.

Sure, I didn't get paid to take people scuba diving anymore but my now more than generous salary easily covered that. I was still working as a part-time instructor at a number of dive centres as a part-time employee as well part ownership of a dive business for a while.

I also renewed all my diving equipment, untook renovations on my property, updated my car, made extra contributions to my retirement account, got myself a university education and then there was the travel both in the state, interstate and international.

These days I don't work part-time in diving anymore although I keep my membership current for possible future references. My summer Saturdays are spent at the Royal Perth Yacht Club as a crew member racing a S97 cruiser. Whilst my dingy days are over, the Saturday afternoon race is a highlight of the week.

The club also has mid-week races with Saturday being very competitive, Thursday evening is the twilight race that really isn't a race, this is a cruise with no spinnaker for down-wind legs, mostly inexperienced crews enjoying time on the Swan River. We generally refer to this race (of sorts) as a booze cruise with further drinks and BBQ up the club afterwards.

Hot coffee all over me

I am an idiot, I should have known better. Why would I request a coffee on an aircraft when we are experiencing turbulence?

Not only that, it was a full cup and it was going everywhere, it started by spilling out of the cup and onto the tray table. I’m scrambling for a napkin or some other absorbent material to clean it up before it spills over the edge. I'm too slow and unfortunately the closest absorbent material is my trousers, now I have two wet legs - great.

It is not so much the burning, sure the coffee is black but it isn't that hot, I'm just annoyed with the large stain on my leg. This is the first leg of the flight with a stopover in Dubai, I have a the next flight after that and want to look reasonable and presentable as I will be catching trains and other local transport on my arrival in Frankfurt - damn.

The dreaded performance review

Is the performance review dreaded, or is it really an opportunity to state your case? If you have a poor manager, an overbearing manager, a micro manager or just plain old incompetent manager - here is your chance.

I look forward to a performance review but in all reality I don't get many opportunities in the workplace I am employed as they just don't perform performance reviews. Now they should as it is the state government that pays my salary and it is mandated in the public service code of conduct that a performance review is to be performed at least annually - it isn't.

In the nine years I have been employed in the job, I have received just one performance review and although it was supposed to last an hour, I turned it into a two-hour meeting much to my manager's discomfort. The role of the performance is to naturally review your performance but it shouldn't descend into a chance for your manager to just direct criticism at you - this is generally what happens though.

The purpose of the performance review is to see how your job can be performed more efficiently, what your manager can do so you can increase your productivity, what problems they can sort out, what training you need and what systems can be improved. With the exceptions of the best managers, this generally doesn't happen, if this was indeed the case, the performance review wouldn't be dreaded.

Fitting the stereotype

Back in 2015 I wrote a post about why talent leaves and non-performers remain, the inspiration for this post was about a woman whom I wished to remain anonymous. I admired her self belief, her inner confidence and her courage to take a huge risk with her career to back herself in to a senior role.

I always knew she was talented, hard working and resourceful; she had leadership potential and all she needed was the right people to notice. I reposted this on my Facebook page as she had moved on again to a higher position and I wanted to remind her that I recognised her talent back then.

I have also changed roles, so naturally my former colleagues saw this as a slight on themselves and I was back on the most hated list. I care little of their small-minded narrow views; had they even taken the time to read the post they would have worked out the publishing date was four years ago.

Attention to obvious detail, limited research skills and a small degree of comprehension would have informed this bunch of egotists this post wasn't written about them. Instead they would rather sit around the office gossiping about something they know nothing about.

What really made me laugh was I checked the analytics and there was a single redirection of this post from my Facebook page from that geographical location. I could count the page views from Australia so I knew they hadn't even read the post themselves.

It is true, I do lack respect for my former colleagues, I find little redeeming qualities in them. Maybe they need to go back to watching YouTube videos all day and stop gossiping about topics where they are clearly out of their depth.

I might not have written the post about them but clearly they believe they fit the stereotypical government employee - for once, they may actually be right.