Dec 30, 2024
The Gear that Mattered to Me in 2024
Okay. Confession time. I’m not the most organized guy on the planet. Pretty much anyone in my life could confirm that for you. Pedantic, yes; OCD, diagnosed; but organized? No, not really. As somewhat befits my lifestyle and career, I like to be surrounded by things I love. I’m not a hoarder, but I’m also not a big believer in sterility. I like to be able to see my tools, my things. Open shelving is my friend, and I am very careful about how I use drawers: Drawers are where things go to die. A consequence of this is that my desk is, more often than not, coated in stuff. Pictures, books, stationary, watches, camera gear - it’s all within arms reach. In short, my desk is a pretty great representation of how my brain works. Put another way, my desk is a cacophony of seemingly disparate things connected only by a shared surface and a network of invisible threads that will only ever make sense to me. Also, there are a lot of watches. I love watches, and they take up a huge amount of my time, as well as my physical and mental real estate. But I’m not interested in watches in a vacuum, none of us are (at least not in my experience). Like any hobby, watch enthusiasm is a fluid thing, frequently intersecting and colliding with other interests, passions, and obsessions. An interest in dive watches might lead one collector to learn how to dive, while hours spent on Instagram might encourage a genuine passion for photography in another. Regardless of what parallel interest...