Shoes, Clothes, and All Things Sartorial

Postby **Shyster** » Fri Jun 10, 2022 9:41 pm

I continue to remain impressed by my new Grand Seiko Shunbun. I'll have had it six weeks tomorrow. I set it to my radio-controlled atomic clock when I received it at the end of April, and I haven't touched it since just to see how accurate the Spring Drive movement would be. It's now about six seconds fast. That's accuracy +/-1 second per week. There are plenty of pure quartz watches than cannot maintain that level of accuracy per day, and even a COSC-certified "chronometer" mechanical watch is only rated to -4 to +6 seconds, or up to 10 seconds per day. Seiko spent more than 20 years developing the Spring Drive, and it basically makes every regular mechanical watch movement its dodint.

I don't know who said it first, but I've seen the saying "You buy a Rolex to impress others; you buy a Grand Seiko to impress yourself" on a number of watch forums and YouTube comment sections. And damn, I'm impressed.

For those interested in the geekery, here's how the Spring Drive works and how it differs from a regular mechanical watch:

Postby **Shyster** » Fri Sep 02, 2022 1:56 am

Bought a new-to-me watch, which rounds out my "dress watch" collection. I got this Oris Big Crown Pointer Date Bronze secondhand from watchfinder.com. Oris is a Swiss company, and as the name indicates, the case and bracelet are made of bronze. The bronze will discolor and darken over time to develop a patina.

I'm in the subset of the population that likes and regularly wears brown suits/pants/sportcoats (President Obama's famous tan suit was A-OK with me), so I wanted a watch with a metal tone that does better with brown stuff than my Grand Seiko. Since I can't afford a watch that's actually made of gold, I went with bronze.

Postby **dodint** » Fri Sep 02, 2022 8:22 am

Neat.

Postby **Shyster** » Sun Oct 02, 2022 5:11 am

Bought another watch for my collection, which I firmly believe is one of the greatest bang-for-the-buck "everyday" quartz watches at any price point, period, from any brand. This is my new go-anywhere casual watch:

Yeah, it's a Casio, specifically the Casio Lineage LCW-M100TSE-1AJF, which isn't exactly a brilliant name. But the specs are brilliant. This Casio is solar powered, has a sapphire crystal, has a feathery titanium case and bracelet, has every common digital function (stopwatch, countdown timer, multiple alarms, dual time, world timers), and syncs itself to atomic radio signals in China, Japan, the US, the UK, and Germany. The hands are lumed and there's also an LED light for the dark. The case comes in at a nice 40mm size, it's pretty thin at slightly less than 10 mm, and its tasteful analog/digital combo dial wouldn't look out of place with a suit (and would be perfect for dress casual). While this watch is a Japanese domestic model, you can find it for sale on Amazon and many other places, and I paid less than $200 on Amazon.

Postby **Shyster** » Thu Nov 17, 2022 12:28 am

I have a momentous announcement: I have decided to switch from the Four-In-Hand tie knot to either the Shelby/Pratt tie knot or the Nicky tie knot, which is a variant of the Shelby. I've been trying out the Shelby for a couple weeks, and I'm now going to switch to the Nicky to see if I like it any better. You may all now release the breaths you were holding. Carry on.

What knots do you guys use whenever you wear ties?

Postby **meow** » Thu Nov 17, 2022 9:33 am

Four-in-hand is (was) my daily knot. I’d occasionally wear a half Windsor when I wanted to be a pompous ass. Not a fan of a Nicky knot. Too thin for my liking.

Postby **count2infinity** » Thu Nov 17, 2022 10:07 am

I don’t wear a tie. Easy peasy.

Postby **LITT** » Thu Nov 17, 2022 10:10 am

COVID killed the tie. i've worn a tie less than 10 times in the last 2.5 years. in the ten years before that, probably didn't wear a tie less than ten times.

Postby **count2infinity** » Thu Nov 17, 2022 10:12 am

I will say when I was teaching and wore a tie almost daily, four in hand was my go to.

Postby **Shyster** » Mon Nov 21, 2022 10:47 pm

Four-in-hand is (was) my daily knot. I’d occasionally wear a half Windsor when I wanted to be a pompous ass. Not a fan of a Nicky knot. Too thin for my liking.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but I can't say I've found the Nicky or Shelby/Pratt to be too thin. Both of them for me produce a fairly wide and substantial knot that is mostly triangular and highly symmetrical. It's a smaller knot than the half Windsor, but a bigger knot than the Four-In-Hand. Although, the ties I've been buying recently have been on the thicker side, so that might explain our difference in experiences. To be clear, these are the two knots I'm referring to, both of which start with the tie upside down:

Bought an interesting little book on this subject titled The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie. The authors are scientists who calculated that, given the length of standard ties, there are 85 ways of tying a necktie using the conventional method of wrapping the wide end of the tie around the narrow end, although the authors believe that only 13 of those methods produce knots that would be aesthetically pleasing (many of the 85 methods produce knots that are highly lopsided, for example). Those 13 knots are—by increasing size and complexity—the: Small Knot (aka Oriental); Four-In-Hand; Kelvin; Nicky; Victoria; Half-Windsor; St. Andrew; Plattsburgh; Cavendish; Windsor; Grantchester; Hanover; and Balthus. The authors count the Shelby/Pratt as a variant of the Nicky.

Postby **LITT** » Mon Dec 12, 2022 8:14 am

i have been very anti-johnston and murphy for quite a while due quality control issues and their customer service representatives being dicks to me. i must give credit where credit is due and i purchased a pair on black friday and have worn them probably ten times since then and they are quite comfortable

Postby **King Colby** » Mon Dec 12, 2022 8:17 am

Same, man. I had a pair years ago that sucked. Bought a pair over the summer (hotel bell hop ruined mine and all that the nearest store had was J&M) and I have been pleasantly surprised

Postby **Shyster** » Mon Dec 12, 2022 7:37 pm

Anyone have opinions on Allen Edmonds shoes? Worth the price?

I've been wearing Florsheim shoes for years, but it's clear to me that Florsheim is moving downmarket and is focusing more on casual and dress-casual shoes rather than formal business/dress shoes. Of course, given trends in how people are working these days, that's probably not a wrong trend to be following, but I'm still in the market for dress shoes, and Florsheim's selection of formal, leather-soled dress shoes has been shrinking steadily.

Postby **meow** » Mon Dec 12, 2022 9:47 pm

I had one pair of Allen Edmonds. I found the heel was narrow and it pinched my Achilles. Especially when driving.

Postby **King Colby** » Mon Dec 12, 2022 9:52 pm

For that price, Shyster, I'm a TBNY guy

Postby **Willie Kool** » Mon Dec 12, 2022 11:18 pm

Worth the price?

I've not tried these, but I've been intrigued:

https://www.bondenoshoes.com/collection ... hoes-boots

Postby **Shyster** » Tue Dec 13, 2022 1:55 am

That's a little more than I'm looking to spend, although those shoes are super sweet.

The TBNY shoes also look very nice, but it doesn't look like they offer wider shoes. I need at least a 3E width. Allen Edmonds does offer wider shoes, albeit not in all models, so that's why I'm looking at them.

Postby **LITT** » Tue Dec 13, 2022 7:30 am

im a big fan of AE. their refresh program is top notch too. up until the last 3 years i was almost exclusively AE and if i am still buying for myself, would probably buy AE but have had several pairs of magnanni gifted to me and they are quite nice. more fashionable than AE. AE is classic and will stand the test of time.

Postby **Shyster** » Tue Dec 13, 2022 6:56 pm

Thanks, LITT. "Classic" shoes are exactly what I'm looking for.

Postby **LITT** » Wed Dec 14, 2022 8:48 am

and they are extremely well constructed. i will have had a pair 9 years come july and have sent them for refresh twice and the look great (minus a wretched hand sanitizer stain)

Postby **Shyster** » Wed Dec 14, 2022 9:30 pm

That's also what I'm looking for. I have a pair of welted Florsheims that I bought in 2006, and they've been resoled multiple times. Quality shoes that are designed to be repaired can last a very long time, especially if one takes good care of them, i.e., use cedar shoe trees to keep their shape; don't wear them two days in a row; regularly hit them with polish; etc. Yeah, welted shoes that are designed to be easily resoled also cost a lot more up front, but new soles and heels at Northway Shoe and Repair is way cheaper for me than buying a new pair of even inexpensive dress shoes, so they eventually pay for themselves on the extra cost.

Postby **LITT** » Thu Dec 15, 2022 1:38 pm

NSR 4 lyfe

Postby **MrKennethTKangaroo** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 9:42 am

I’m sitting here in some crap ass old generic falling apart white no show socks from Kohls.

What is 5af’s recommendation for slightly upgraded, non cheap but not hideously expensive comfortable socks for the summer

I have a few pairs of darn tough socks and i like them, but i cant justify paying $20 pair for something I’m going to wear to the grocery store or whatever.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 10:52 am

I bought some bamboo socks from Amazon and it honestly feels like I'm not wearing anything. Thin and light and moisture wicking so my feet aren't crockpotting. Big fan.

Postby **mac5155** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 11:05 am

I’m sitting here in some crap ass old generic falling apart white no show socks from Kohls.

What is 5af’s recommendation for slightly upgraded, non cheap but not hideously expensive comfortable socks for the summer

I have a few pairs of darn tough socks and i like them, but i cant justify paying $20 pair for something I’m going to wear to the grocery store or whatever.

Gold toe for me.