The Piaget Polo reference G0A49022 is not a watch I would normally review, Piaget is not a watchmaker I typically follow, and the styling of their watches does not normally suit my sense of taste. Or some may argue lack of style, and I am ok with that.

So when I view the Polo Automatic, that is actually a timepiece I would wear, a sports style stainless steel watch with integrated bracelet. I view the Piaget brand as a jewellery maker that is also a watchmaker, now they have a stainless steel sports watch, that perception has changed. Piaget calls this a field watch, I wouldn’t have thought so, but they know their product.

I like the deep emerald green dial with horizontal stripes, SuperLumiNova® indexes and obelisk style hands with SuperLumiNova®. Where the field watch style originates is probably the second gear track with numerals at the index markers increasing in 5 second intervals. The 42 mm case is polished and brushed, the polished bezel looks great, the four internal curved angles on the bevel accentuate the dial. The interlocking polished and brushed links with double fold-over with push button release clasp.

The calibre 1110P offers a 50-hour power reserve and is finished in Côtes de Genève style finishing and bevelled bridges. The self-winding automatic is achieved by a slate grey rotor engraved with the Piaget coat of arms and viewed through an exhibition sapphire caseback that is retained by six microscrews. The movement has 25 jewels, a 4 Hz frequency beating at 28,800 vph and has blued screws on the bridges.

So the Trump and Putin meeting in Budapest is now off, this on again/off again erratic Trump communication style offers no reliability or direction. Putin knows he can easily manipulate Trump, he plays into Trump’s vicarious ego, playing him for a fool by stringing him along, telling him he is really a smart guy, whilst secretly laughing at him.

With Poland informing Moscow that Putin’s aircraft will not be allowed to enter Polish airspace on route from Moscow to Budapest, it will be forced to land and Putin will be arrested and transferred to The Hague for trial. Another direct route would take him right over Ukraine if he is brave enough, but with F-16 fighter jets patrolling the skies and ground based missile defences in place, Vladimir is really not that brave.

Even with transponders switched off and flying lights also off, keen Ukrainian radar operators will be scanning the skies. The possibly an Australian E-7 Wedgetail in the air or NATO electronic surveillance, there is no chance of sneaking through undetected. Imagine the irony, the Russian President shot down by a ground based missile system, it will not bring back the lives of those lost on Malaysian Airlines MH-17, but I am sure the families of those murdered would be having a little chuckle.

Trump is slowly starting to work out that Putin does not keep his word, he tells Trump what he wants to hear whilst stalling any chance of a negotiated settlement. Putin makes outrageous demands knowing full well Ukraine will not accept these terms, then the simplistic Trump, eager to make a deal will attempt to publicly pressure Zelensky who would not accept such demands. But Putin tries anyway in a hope that Zelensky is sufficiently pressured by Trump to accept these terms, or hoping Zelensky comes off as the guy stalling the ceasefire.

I have been following the battle of Pokrovsk in the news and getting varying reports. On some news wires Ukraine is surrounded and just about to retreat but cannot, other news reports say Russia is advancing. When I view maps, Russians have advanced and the have taken parts of the city, they are fighting street-by-street.

Is Ukraine losing? Well, not really as they are holding on and extracting a high price for any Russian advances. Under the cover of fog, the Russians advanced as the Ukrainian drones were unable to operate, this is unfortunate for Ukraine. I note that the Russians are employing new tactics, they are inserting cells in Povtrosk who then go into hiding to evade Ukrainian defenders and only appear when reinforcements arrive.

I see the Ukrainians are reinforcing the northern sector and whilst the Russians appear to be more active on the southern flank, they are keeping the corridor open. The remaining Ukrainian defenders are still operating to destroy the Russian advance, but they should be very concerned that they are surrounded, whilst the Russians are trying to apply a pincer movement, Ukrainian defences are holding – for now.

What we were able to see in the defence of Pokrovsk was elite Ukrainian forces inserted into the fight by two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters. This was a small team of 11 riflemen in each helicopter engaged in a quick insertion with Blackhawk helicopters sweeping in, touching down just long enough for the riflemen to disembark before evacuating the area whilst the commandos sought cover.

I see the reports, mostly by Russian supporters where the whole crew was wiped out by drones in a very short time period. These claims are unsubstantiated, so I do not place much reliability in these claims. The Ukrainian side denies they were eliminated, whilst I have seen counter reports, I really don’t know if these fighters are still alive. Apparently these guys opened a corridor for retreating Ukrainian fighters, so I am guessing these guys made it out, they did their job and retreated to safety with the guys they saved.

I would hazard to guess they would have some losses, but they are still operating in a forward zone. Clearly, there is operational security applied here, the Ukrainians are not going to give away information that could endanger their lives. This was a bold move by Ukraine, these were brave men who took on this mission to defend their country. Because of the drones and the air defences used by both nations, helicopters are not used all that much, this is why this is such a brazen act, this was the art of surprise.

I am pretty impressed with the Tissot Heritage 1938 Reference T142.464.16.332.00. Whilst an entry-level Swiss watchmaker in the Swatch Group, Tissot has a great back catalog based on Tissot’s long history. When you have great designs in the archive, the love of vintage designs by enthusiasts, a watchmaker needs not look far for great designs. Take a look at the success of the Visodate, the PRX, and the Telemeter 1938.

This is a 39 mm diameter 316L stainless steel case that is 11 mm in height. The case is brushed and polished, with a domed front and flat back sapphire crystal. The flat onion-style crown has a vintage Tissot T; the crown is push-in and hence 50 meters water-resistant. The strap is a grey pin and buckle type with quick release pins.

The matte salmon dial has a printed minute track with slightly raised numerals with a black finish. I really like this colouring, there is matte black on the numerals and baton hands. The vintage Tissot logo above the hand axis and chronometre marking below the hand axis with no date window offers a brilliantly clean dial.

What the Heritage 1938 is all about is the COSC certified ETA 2824-2 automatic movement beating at 28,800 vph [4 hz] with 25 jewels and a 38 hour power reserve. COSC certified accuracy ensures a Swiss mechanical movement has been tested by the independent Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres [COSC] with a verified accuracy of – 4 to + 6 seconds per day over a 15 day regime at three different temperatures.

Tissot is mostly using the Powermatic 80 in just about all of its current range of watches, so this is pretty interesting for me. However, the Powermatic 80 that offers the 80 hour power reserve works on 3 Hz [21,600 vph]. So the movement frequency has been slowed to improve the power reserve but comes at a cost of accuracy. The downside of 3 Hz is the second hand is more jerky and accuracy is reduced, but power reserve is what people want now.

The public sector in Western Australia is supposed to be relatively corruption free, well that is the intent anyway. That was all thrown into disarray when further massive misappropriation of government funds was discovered. This corruption really damaged the reputation of the public sector in Western Australia.

The Assistant Director General of the Department of Communities was formally charged by police with the theft of $25 million, not the $2.5 million that I originally thought. I thought this was a misprint, $2.5 million is a whole lot of services not going to the intended recipients. This is $25 million of public money in what appears to be one of the most serious cases of public sector corruption in the country.

There is clearly a lack of financial oversight, an inadequate tender process coupled with intentional abuse of staff. This is genuinely hard to believe, how can a state government organisation misplace sums of money that large. A habit of incompetence is clearly rife in that department with a culture of fear embedded to prevent whistleblower action. The inability to question authority and wrongdoing at multiple levels in the organisation is the unfortunate values the Department of Communities espouses.

The 29.5 mm Longines silver dial Conquest looks great on a woman’s wrist, whilst this is the older model, I think it works well. The silver dial looks dressy for a woman’s sports watch for most occasions with the exception of formal occasions. 

This is a serious sports watch with screw-in crown, screw down-in case-back with winged hourglass offering 300 metres of water resistance. The flat sapphire crystal ensures the crystal is scratch resistant with layers of anti-reflective coating. Index markers are used on the dial with numerals at the 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock positions. The Conquest comes with the parallel H-link bracelet and double-folding butterfly clasp with push-type release.

The reference L32764166 comes with the L595.2 Swiss-made automatic movement that is based on the ETA 2000-1 with 20 jewels. The 19.4 mm diameter movement arrangement is central hours, minutes and seconds with the date window at 4 o’clock and hacking seconds for the date setting. The 4 Hz movement beats at 28,800 vph has a 40 hour power reserve that is fitted with a Longines rotor.

What about the freedom of the press? This really irritates the anti-Murdoch brigade, they want a free press as long as it prints views that align to their personal views. Not every broadcaster is going to support your opinions, you have a number of sections in a newspaper from reported news to editorials/opinions. As a subscriber or daily purchaser from a news reader, you read the news aligned to quality of journalism and The Australian is a quality newsprint offered and The Australian hires quality journalists.

All the left to right bias testing [if conducted with impartiality] sees the News Corp masthead The Australian coming in as a centralist publication. Sky News is right wing, that is certainly ,not impartial and I admit I do not watch much of their content, just as The Guardian is not impartial for their left-wing perspective.

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald are both left-leaning. Interestingly, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is also surprisingly centralist based on the research. Although they have a number of left-leaning television shows, they are predominantly centralist in their views according to research. Since I reference the research, I accept the findings, I am somewhat surprised with the outcomes presented.

A broadsheet newspaper such as The Australian employs/contracts a broad range of journalists for their editorial sections. This is where opinions matter, you read their analysis and see if it aligns to your views, it doesn’t always. What you should never do is cherry pick articles that support your view.

You should read a number of alternate views that allow you to form your own perspective. You seek to find inconsistencies in their writing and views, you can then review and analyse their writing for flawed assumptions or arguments. This is what makes reading quality newsprint interesting. Do I support all the commentary views, I do not but I still ensure I read a broad cross section of their views for a balanced viewpoint.

I frequently follow Swiss watch sales, Rolex normally leads and Omega and Cartier fight for second place. In terms of luxury, it is difficult to go past Cartier as a luxury goods manufacturer, they have exquisite style.

I have only wandered into the Cartier boutique once, I am aware that Cartier and Omega fight for second and third position for Swiss watch sales, so I am naturally interested in what they have to offer. I know their major pieces from the Santos to the Tank and whilst I am appreciative of their history and horological significance, the styling just isn’t me. The styling is great; however, the style just isn’t me as I am more of a sports watch type of guy. I do have a dress watch and would love a rectangular option.

The history of the Tank is interesting, the Tank was introduced in 1917, and officially released in 1919. Inspired by the introduction of the Renault FT-17 tanks used on the WW I battlefield, the Tank was created by Louis Cartier, grandson of company founder Louis-François Cartier. The Cartier Tank is an elegant timepiece, I can see why people are drawn to this design, it is timeless. The sapphire cabochon crown is not really my style; however, I can see why people like this.

The 2017 Leeuwin Estate Prelude Cabernet Sauvignon is a pretty decent drop pitched at a reasonable price point. is an excellent choice of a Margaret River cabernet sauvignon from a major winemaker. Leeuwin Estate has an amazing selection of wines, the premium Art Series is a very refined drop, they charge a premium price for a premium product.

The Prelude Series is their second line behind the highly regarded and awarded Art Series, but priced within the reach of the majority of wine drinkers. Whilst the rest of the Margaret River was pumping out big Cab Sav, Leeuwin Estate was experimenting with softer styles and they made some pretty big sales and gained a huge reputation.