We are into watch collecting in my workplace, the interest is catching on so when one of our group discussions was overheard, one of the guys wanted to bring in his biscuit tin of old watches, we more than happy to take a look at what he had.

As soon as I started looking through the tin, the vintage Omega Constellation immediately jumped out to me. This was the only timepiece I could see. One of my colleagues is really into Seiko, so he went for that while I looked over the Constellation. From what I could gather, it appeared to be a mid 1960s release, possibly from 1963 – 66. I never popped the back off to inspect the movement, it appeared to be a 561 automatic calibre. Amazingly, the powerplant still worked, the movement would only need a service and not an overhaul.

The crystal was badly scratched, that would require replacement as I don’t think they could be polished out. Then again, some of the scratches come out so I would like to see their reasoning. I put him in contact with the watchmaker that I go to, they do an excellent job. The plan was to restore the timepiece and return to his stepfather, a noble pursuit. I was happy to put him in contact with the watchmaker I use, they do a good job and I see their fees as reasonable. This will be an excellent gesture to Mick’s stepfather, I am sure he will appreciate this.

I am a big believer in stealth wealth, I have no issue with successful people, I respect self-made people, a positive mental attitude and finally their work ethic.

High net worth individuals who are self-made generally don’t all drive Rolls Royce automobiles, they mostly don’t have servants waiting on them nor are they dithering fools as some make them out to be. They do enjoy quality possessions; sure, you can’t take them with you but I see no issue with enjoying your wealth in this life. Life is about experiences, so I am not into big houses, latest model cars, I drive a 20 year old vehicle and I am happy doing so.

My interest in watch collecting is partly born from my belief in stealth wealth, the mechanics of mechanical movements and associated engineering, and the style of a luxury timepiece. As a diver, I also have a range of dive computers collected over the years. I love nothing more than getting around on weekends unshaved, dressing casually but sporting a pretty decent timepiece on my wrist. Even better, the average person has no idea what I am wearing this weekend, or during the week for that matter.

Only people with an interest in horology notice, then we can discuss timepieces when they comment; then we can discuss heritage, engineering and style. I find it interesting chatting to watch people as we all have differing tastes, budgets and access to vintage watches. I will certainly not bring up the discussion if they don’t remark; they generally notice because they have an interest themselves in this hobby. Because if we both have an interest in this activity, the discussion is robust and stimulating.

You only have to wander around any restaurant precinct, shopping complex or entertainment area to see that designer clothes and accessories are so popular with not only the young set but an older and arguably more refined clientele too. They tend to be a little more reserved in showing off money, they are not out to flaunt it, the old adage of fake it until you make doesn’t apply to them, they purchase quality for the sake of quality.

It’s not hard to like Ray Ban aviator sunglasses when trendsetters like the ageless Jennifer Aniston is seen out and about in them.

Naturally, Jennifer pretty much looks good in anything but you can’t help feeling they will sell because of her. At almost fifty years of age, Jennifer appeals to a wide variety of women since she starred in New York orientated sitcom Friends. Aniston has also appeared in numerous movies introducing herself to a newer and younger audience. The Ray Ban RB3025 Aviator series is a classic style of sunglasses and I can understand people wanting to look like her.

Before you even consider heading out into the countryside, European cities off the traveler so much – there are just so many choices.

Starting with the major centres of London, Paris, Rome and Berlin; these are the great cities of the world. If you want to stay in Germany then Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne and Dresden are a great start. If France is your destination the Versailles just south of Paris is amazing with Lyon, Marseilles, Nice, Antibes, and Cannes as a pretty decent itinerary. Italy has Milan, Florence, Venice and Naples as a starting point with other brilliant options available.

The United Kingdom has Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford and Cambridge as starting points to explore further. Then there is Cardiff in Wales and the trip north to Scotland, there are major cities that are interesting to visit. There are so many interesting cities west of the UK from Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki that I am yet to visit.

At this point we haven’t even considered heading further south to Barcelona, Madrid and Lisbon. Further to the north is the capitals of Brussels, Amsterdam and Luxembourg City with so many options for the smaller centres of Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp and Liège in Belgium, Rotterdam and The Hague in the Netherlands.

The rail network is extensive so Zurich is easy to reach along with Warsaw before heading further east. Everyone raves about Prague although after visiting Budapest, I know which city I prefer. There is Vienna and Bratislava on the route and I would love to visit Bucharest at some stage. After tours of the cities then there is the countryside to visit – great.

I am so glad I made the decision to return to private enterprise, I feel my time in the public sector wasn’t a total washout as I made some reasonable career decisions.

I used this time to engage in tertiary education, I began at diploma level, that earned me first year advanced standing allowing me to begin in second year university saving myself a third of tuition fees. The training and development degree didn’t pay off in the government; that’s for sure but I was able to leverage that knowledge in the private sector and continue to do so. However, with my return to the private sector paid immediate dividends.

Actually, the knowledge gained helped land me to not only land the job but to excel in the role. I also undertook every possible opportunity and role in my former job to learn the job ground up from multiple perspectives. I am a firm believer in informal learning, throughout my part-time study I used actual work experiences to develop assignments and case studies. This on-the-job knowledge learnt through practical application is deeply embedded and easily recalled in pressure situations such as a panel interview.

Moving onto a business degree was a fantastic personal learning experience, once again totally worthless in the public sector as they don’t utilise contemporary leadership and management practices. My move back to the private sector saw immediate application of leadership, project management, organisational behaviour, operations and general management learning. It was exactly as I had been trained, these were required skills.

So before the game we head over to The River Room at Optus Stadium. The River Room has sweeping views of the Swan River and East Perth. We get to the stadium early for some pre-game drinks, my father grabs a meal overlooking the river.

The food is of a vastly different quality than that served down in the general Stadium. I once grabbed some food from the general Stadium food outlets and I regretted it immediately. Not so immediate was the two days of acid reflux. We can purchase bottled wine in the River Room, we drink from wine glasses and full strength beer is available. We don’t have the yobbo contingent getting drunk and disorderly, instead people are enjoying a few drinks before the game.

There is a function of sorts pre-game, a special guest makes a brief speech and injured players are interviewed asking for views on club direction, injuries, current form and their views on the game. This is a great pre-match function and I look forward to attending. at Perth’s Optus Stadium. This is part of the game day experience, we get there early, as soon as the gates open so we get the maximum time in the facilities, post-game the facilities are open for 45 minutes, this is great as the stadium is cleared and the trains are empty when we go to leave.

It was a Tuesday night, I had just finished writing a post and went out the front to water my lawn. It was half an hour to midnight, I like to water my lawn by hand at night as the water soaks in overnight and it allows me to think as I hold the hose.

A man was walking across the street, I viewed him as he crossed the road before he decided to turn around and come back to me. He wanted to buy a cigarette from me, I replied that I don’t smoke but that didn’t seem to be enough for him. He wouldn’t take no for an answer so I turned the hose off so he could hear me clearly. I told him again that I do not smoke, I do not have any cigarettes and that is because I have never smoked. He then tried to be smart and ask why I was watering the lawn when it was green, I replied that this is exactly the reason it is green.

He became angry because he thought I replied with whatever, I started to reply but then I thought, hang on, I don’t need to explain myself to this guy. He kept standing but I wasn’t engaging this guy and turned my nozzle back on and returned to watering duties. He then rattled on that I would love to hose him down, he threatened me to not hose him down as he stood there. I just ignored this guy as this was going nowhere, I made sure that I kept an eye on him just in case he became violent and lunged at me.

He wanted to engage in stupid conversation but I was interested. He then asked me if I was angry and began asking that question repeatedly, he then started to taunt me calling me angry. He engaged in taunting, I could not tell if he was drunk, on drugs or just a simpleton. He didn’t appear to be to be slurring his words so I guess it wasn’t alcohol, I am pretty sure he was a simpleton and mixed with the drugs he most likely took made him especially difficult to deal with. So as he tired of me and storming off calling me angry over and over, I could go back to watering my lawn without the interruptions.

I’m not normally one for matching clothes, matching eyewear or matching motor vehicles. But owing to my partner’s liking of my Longines Conquest sports watch, I decided to purchase her the ladies version. In other words – I did as I was told.

Mine is the larger L3.677.4.58.6 reference with a 41 mm case and black lacquered dial, hers is the smaller 34 mm case sitting well on her smaller wrist with the white matt finish contrasting her skin tone. Mine is the ETA L633 automatic movement while she decided on the L3.377.4.16.6 reference with ETA L156 quartz movement.

Her quartz movement is highly accurate and the maintenance is relatively low compared to an automatic movement. Both watches are water resistant to 30 atmospheres which is equal to 300 metres depth; both have a screw-in crown and both are fitted with the screw-in case-back with the Longines winged hourglass laser etched on the cover.

The sapphire crystal ensures the dial remains visible as it is virtually scratch resistant, the beveled stainless steel bezel isn’t scratch resistant though and both of us are lucky we haven’t developed any scratches on the bezel. Both timepieces come with the three piece H-link bracelet with double folding clasp and push type release mechanism.

The dial is numbered in Arabic style with numbers at the 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock position and indexes at hourly intervals. The date window is positioned at 3 o’clock and hence no numeral at that position although I think a numeral at the 9 o’clock position would improve dial aesthetics. I hop she gains plenty of attention from her timepiece, it is now her everyday watch and looks great on her.

Every week, same bullshit. Why cannot Transperth match a bus to their train service? The purpose of scheduling is to align services, this is efficiency.

Same old, same old for me, the bus arrives late, the driver drives below the speed limit and the bus arrives just as the train is pulling away. This is the 11:15 bus on a Friday night for the 11:30 train to Perth. Then I sit on the train, the conductor comes up to me demanding proof of payment for a service that is not only late but an inconvenience. Next time they ask me for payment, I won’t refuse but I will offer my payment receipt late, let’s see how that goes down.

I should have been giving my proof of payment on the earlier train, maybe we need to push the point. Why can a carrier offer such a lousy service on such a frequent basis? Unfortunately they have a monopoly so I have to keep using this system. We need competition in transport, this is a government service so you can’t expect much, sometimes I do, this is really my fault. 

The DateJust is the entry-level Rolex timepiece and some would argue the quintessential Rolex timepiece. If you head into a Rolex boutique, good luck trying to get yourself a Submariner, a Daytona or even an Explorer.

The shop is filled with DateJust and maybe a few Day-Date, I had the opportunity to once purchase an Air King. But forget about a Milgauss, Yachtmaster or Yachtmaster Il, unless it is a favoured boutique, it just isn’t happening. The artificial scarcity that Rolex has created ensures a waiting list of up to a couple of years. So, for many, the opportunity to strap a famed Rolex on their wrist begins with the DateJust.

Respect to the Rolex marketing department, they have created a product that people are willing to wait years to actually purchase. The marketing of the Rolex brand is what business school case studies are about. It could be argued a Rolex is an old man\’s watch, fair enough, it takes the average person till at least forty to build the wealth to afford one. In this respect, it is a status symbol as wealth generally comes in middle age.

If you see a twenty year old sporting a Rolex on their wrist, you immediately deduct (rightly or wrongly) that they are rich kids. There is a fair chance they never earned the wealth, they either inherited it or live off the family trust. They are connected nevertheless, they may have earned their money through information technology, a start up or through investment – good for then I say.