Francis Urquhart

It is horribly tacky. As an Oxford graduate I might wear a college tie but never a university one. University stuff is only for freshers or tourists.

'Timeless' seems a rather contradictory compliment to pay to a timepiece.

Cleaned, yes. But not polished.

That is a lot more than I would spend on a holiday beater. I would be thinking Seiko SKX or Orient Mako. But if that is your budget, this Steinhart is rather jolly, and offers a gmt hand and 300m.

Blackdial version is still available. And nice.

At work I have to record time in tenths of an hour, so that 30 minutes is five chargeable units. To that end I'd like a face showing normal hours but with markers at 6, 12, 18, 24 minutes etc. Is there such a thing?

What Wrench said. Also in black. At only Euro 285 you could have them both.

GMT every time. Harder to get hold of, or at least they were when I was looking, but nicer.

If you buy a Boldr watch, they throw quite a nice on in for nothing.

Oops. Sorry Roy. I would like to blame autocorrect on my phone. But I fear it is user error.

Thanks to Ray and this splendid forum I recently found the postman bringing me the Boldr raffle prize. And here it is. In the flesh it is rather nice and very lightweight - almost disconcertingly so, like my wrist was bare. The lume was awesome. And a nice watch roll was an unexpected bonus. If I had to pick fault I found it rather washed out, appearing grey rather than black. And the name looks like a spelling mistake. But that would be churlish so I just say thank you and good luck to the brand.

Just noticed that my date seems to be shifting at noon. Bugger.

The Ploprof always looks like a child's toy to me. So if they are your only two choices, Milgauss But I'd have a look in some of the other cabinets myself.

I'd say don't buy two at the same time - you are bound to favour one over the other once you have got them home, particularly if they are essentially the same thing (two stainless steel divers). You'll regret wasting a chunk of cash on the second one. Decide which you want most and get just that one, without penny pinching on the price. Of the three you've shortlisted I'd go for the Tudor. But you could also get a pre-loved Submariner for the sort of money you are looking at.

I'd stick to the sock route and then stuff the sock into a shoe for a hard case. But then again I'd probably wear the nicer watch to travel in and only be shoving a beater into the luggage.