As some of you know, for quite a while now I have been in search of the perfect daily wearer. Despite at points having quite a few watches, I am really not someone who likes to have a big collection. I like the simplicity of picking my watch off the nightstand to put on every day – the same watch that I wore yesterday, the same watch that I will wear tomorrow. Really, for me, the perfect watch collection does not include more than a few nice go-to watches, and maybe a few fun "beaters". I was close to that collection, but I really found myself only wearing two watches.

My craving for artistic expression, contemporary design, and ultra haute horology is satisfied with this one:




I also have my perfect cheaper casual watch in my '67 Speedmaster:




But neither quite work as my go-to daily watch. For that, I have a few criteria:

1)Must be on a bracelet. For various reasons, this is both my comfort and my aesthetic preference for an every day watch.
2)Must have a date. I am very bad with remembering the date.
3)Must be nice enough to wear under any circumstances – a business meeting, a nice dinner, an event, whatever may come up.
4)Preferably automatic. If it is going to be worn often, I'd rather not worry about winding it every day.
5)Preferably a long power reserve. Since I do wear the HM2 and others often, I would rather not have to reset the daily wearer after a day or two.
6)Preferably an easily legible, luminous dial.

Sounds straightforward, but I found out that these criteria are not that easy to satisfy. I looked seriously into getting a Nautilus, but I did not like how light and flimsy feeling they are. Also the bracelet pinches my arm hair. I looked at the Royal Oak, but the standard ones do not really interest me much and the perpetual is a pain to reset if it is not worn for a few days.

The bracelet really ended up being the most difficult thing to find. It is shocking how few companies make a nice bracelet. This brought me back to a similar decision I made years ago. When I was looking to buy myself my first nice watch about 7 years ago, I had many of the same criteria. After hours and hours of research, I found a watch that I had previously never heard of: the Blancpain Flyback. This watch was a bit above my price range, but at that point was the most amazing watch I had ever seen. I was assured that the movement was something special (I had no idea at that point). The case was beautifully finished and the overall aesthetics of the case and dial immediately resonated with me. And the bracelet, OH MY GOD! The X71 bracelet was out of this world. So well made, so solid, just beautiful. And so began a long journey of buying watches "slightly above my budget" This was the first nice watch I bought myself:





Followed closely by this one:




Eventually I moved on to other brands, other complications, and other interests, but I always had a soft spot for Blancpain and that X71 bracelet. So recently, I was shocked to learn about a watch that I never even knew existed. It is on a great bracelet. It has a date. It is nice enough to wear anywhere. It is automatic. It has an EIGHT DAY power reserve. It has a very legible, luminous military dial. Oh yeah, and did I mention it also has a FLYING TOURBILLON! Well without futher ado, here is my new daily wearer:











And for those of you who, like me, love the little details, look how they engraved and finished the top side of the rotor because it shows through the tourbillon whole while it swings around:




Thank you for reading!!

 

You get rid of your GP?

 

I still think this is one of the best looking steel watches on the market.



Congrats Steve.

 

The Flyback just hits the spot for me. So classic and timeless. (bad irony pun non intended!)

 

shoot I'm a dummy and put this in the classifieds. Can a moderator move it for me?

 

That's an awesome piece, Steve! Congrats man! Any chance you could make a quick video of the tourb spinning?

 

nice piece, use it well

 

Nice pick up Steve. Wear it in good health.

 

I did.

Thanks for the kind words guys. I really like this one.

 

Great piece Steve. I'm curious what size it is, it looks to be the smallest I would/could wear without feeling silly. It is gorgeous though, congrats.