Review of the STOWA Flieger Classic

Dear readers, at long last I am back in the watch scene! I know, it has just been so long since I've posted a watch review, but it has been a hectic time for me since going out to the working world after university. It was a big period of transition and sadly I lost my passion for quite a few pursuits since entering the workforce. Also, my mental health hasn't been in the best shape so things like buying watches and writing reviews really took the backseat for the past one year. Yup, I really miss school life. But through it all, here we are again, back with a new watch review, so I'm glad to say that this little horological passion of mine has withstood the test of time. This is all rather exciting news, which is befitting for the situation given the watch we're reviewing today; the STOWA Flieger Classic - No Logo.

A brief history lesson is necessary to provide an appreciation for the piece of history you hold in your hands when you own a STOWA watch. STOWA is a company steeped in tradition, and have done much since they established in 1927. I find one of the most interesting things to be the fact that they were one of the five original manufacturers (the other four being A. Lange & Söhne, Wempe, Laco and IWC) for the B-Uhren, the watch upon which all Flieger watches are based upon, including the STOWA Flieger Classic.

Now let's move onto the the watch itself. Measuring in at 40mm in diameter, the Flieger Classic might be considered somewhat small by contemporary standards. I've always been a fan of the 42mm club myself, but found that the Flieger Classic is sized just right at 40mm since it wears big. The case itself has a brushed finishing, with the crown being bead blasted. I actually much appreciate the onion crown over the diamond crown as it's more aesthetically pleasing to me, although this is largely a 'different strokes for different folks' matter. The crown is covered in grooves faithful to the pattern found on the B-Uhren and they are very functional as well in keeping the crown easy to handle. It is not a screw-down crown, as should be expected since this isn't a dive watch. Crown action has been similar to my other watches with the 2824-2 movement, producing a somewhat grainy feel when handwinding. On a side note, you probably do not want to bring this watch into contact with water whatsoever besides perhaps washing your hands as it is rated merely 5ATM and STOWA recommends never completely submerging this watch in water.

Overall, the quality of the case is on point, I think the case is machined and finished to a high standard. However I think beyond a certain point the improvements in case quality and finishing is indiscernible by the human eye and touch. As such if I were to judge the STOWA purely based on case quality as a metric then there are certainly brands which are cheaper than STOWA.

Depending on whether you opted for it, the left side of the watch may be adorned with the letters 'FI23883', which are the exact same characters that appear on the B-Uhren back in 1935. This engraving will set you back 79 EUR, a little bit on the steep side for me but it is a nice touch if you want your Flieger to be more faithful to the original.

When it comes to the dial, there are quite a few options you can go with. Basically it boils down to whether you want the STOWA logo as well as having a date function on your Flieger or not. Oddly, the no logo variant is more expensive than the with logo variant, even though it probably takes more effort to make a dial with the logo. I guess the no logo variant is probably the most popular version and this is reflected in the price. The available options for the dial configurations are as follow:

With logo with date

With logo no date

No logo with date

No logo no date

They offer the Flieger with the Baumuster B dial as well but you can only go with no logo and no date for the Baumuster B variant.

Radioactive

 Lume on this watch is a particular point of interest to me, since it features Super-LumiNova C3. As you may or may not know, Super-LumiNova themselves came up with this chart that claims C3 is their brightest lume. The STOWA Flieger Classic truly doesn't disappoint, with dive watch level lume. It's been awhile since I've been able to observe lume glowing in the daytime under certain situations such as when entering indoor areas. The last watch that had this 'daytime lume' effect was the Seiko SKX007.

Dat Hands Tho

STOWA is quite famous for using heat-treated hands in their watches. These hands have a extraordinary love affair with light, ranging from nearly black when viewed head-on to a shade of intense, sapphire blue when viewed from an angle. They provide the Flieger Classic with a lot of character and I think this is one of the biggest highlights of the watch.

The Flieger Classic features an ever so slightly domed sapphire crystal with underside AR coating. No complaints here, the sapphire does it's job of keeping itself free from scratches well.

Going over to the back, we can see the display back and all the components in its full glory. There's a lot to cover here. Firstly, the crystal on the display back is sapphire with inside AR coating as well, which is a very nice touch by STOWA. There's always a solid caseback if you're not a fan of display backs. The display back is secured by six screws and there are various engravings along the perimeter which indicate some of the technical specifications.

Next up is the movement. This is a very pretty movement, to say the least. The rotor is custom made by STOWA and has several laser engravings that indicate the brand, serial number, movement, make and Jorg Schauer's name. There are several choices of movement grades you can choose in your Flieger, mine was the TOP grade which will set you back a rather hefty 80 EUR. This is mostly an aesthetic decision; if you are constantly admiring the movement through the caseback you might like to invest in the TOP grade movement as it comes finished with perlage. For another 50 EUR you can get blued screws too. Personally, I have to say that is a hefty price tag for a couple of special screws.

Accuracy is guaranteed by STOWA themselves to be plus-minus ten seconds a day and my own Flieger Classic has been somewhere around faster by five seconds a day so I think STOWA has done a very good job in regulating their movements.

The strap that comes with the Flieger Classic is the signature double-riveted strap, reminiscent of the one on the B-Uhren. It's a fairly nice strap, which comes with one floating keeper, one fixed keeper and one metal keeper. I personally didn't like how the sides of the strap was finished though, they were coated in some rubbery material which reminded me of the leather straps that come with Parnis watches. That's a shame because the leather seems to be of quite a good quality. I'd prefer to see raw or burnished edges on the straps.

The buckle is laser engraved with the STOWA characters and logo and it's a nice stainless steel thumbnail buckle.

In ending, STOWA has really hit a home run with the Flieger Classic. It's everything good about the B-Uhren with a contemporary touch. STOWA took no compromises on the construction of their Fliegers, with a high quality case, dial and hands, movement and a beautiful strap to wrap up the package. Undoubtedly, we've left the realm of what I consider affordable, with the base model starting at 781 EUR, and the way I've configured it will actually set you back 940 EUR in regions without VAT. However, considering the heritage behind this brand and also the fact that you are getting a product with top notch components in nearly every aspect, I'd say the pricing is fair. If you are in the market for a Flieger-styled watch, you would be hard-pressed to find something better than what STOWA has to offer. The next step up (IWC and A. Lange & Söhne) might just cost you your whole house.

Review of the Helikon-Tex RACCOON Backpack

PICTURES WILL BE UPLOADED SOON

Good day, readers of The Watch Post. It's been some time since the last post and in the time between, something happened; I took delivery of the Helikon-Tex RACCOON backpack.

Some one week back, I came by a military gear web store which was having an anniversary sale and was having a storewide promotion of 30% off. Quickly, I placed an order for the Helikon-Tex RACCOON, for a price of 32 EUR, inclusive of shipping, which I think is a great price compared to the next best price I could find. Before we get to my findings however, let's take a look at the specs to be found on this pack.

100% Polyester construction

20L capacity

Main compartment dimensions 43x23x14cm

1270 g

Adjustable shoulder straps and webbing hip belt

Hydration bladder compartment

Admin pouch on front

Quick release shoulder straps

MOLLE/PALS compatible

So there we have the specs, and it's quite a full featured pack in spite of the rather small size of it, such as the hip belt that is inclusive of the package, and the rather hefty weight of it overall.

Let's dive right into the construction of the bag. First off, I should disclose that the RACCOON is quite a fair bit easier on the wallet than your typical 5.11 Tactical or Maxpedition bag and it would therefore be an apples to oranges comparison as the RACCOON and another pack such as the RUSH 12 belong in different leagues. Still, the RUSH 12 is the one other tactical EDC bag that I've owned and I shall therefore be drawing quite a few comparisons between the two.

On the tag, we can see that the RACCOON is made in China, featuring polyester construction. The fabric does feel rather like nylon, in that it has that smooth, technical finish and texture to it. It isn't made from the thickest material and the fabric on the 5.11 Tactical RUSH 12 does feel quite a bit more substantial than the RACCOON. For the loads that I'll be subjecting it to (jackets, water bottles, EDC) however, I believe the RACCOON will hold up just fine. I wouldn't however place enough faith in the RACCOON however to go rucking with it, unless I had the A-TACS version which is constructed from 500D Cordura.

The price also meant that this bag couldn't have top-of-the-line hardware such as YKK zippers and Duraflex buckles. The RACCOON comes with SBS zippers instead. One gripe that I had with these zippers were that they kept catching onto the fabric of the bag while in operation which is a little irritating to say the least. While I can't ascertain the longevity of the zippers right now having not spent a substantial enough time utilizing them yet, I'll definitely report back here should there be any issues. Overall, the RACCOON is relatively well built for the price, with clean stitching and a good consistency in the fabric, although the fabric is a little towards the thin side. It shouldn't however be much of a problem unless you are intending to carry heavy loads, in which case you should be looking at other packs. This bag is a 20L bag meant for EDC and not bricks. The difference in price versus the RUSH 12 shows, with a cheaper fabric, buckles and zippers being used. That said, the RACCOON is decently constructed and I was pleasantly surprised at what I was getting for 32 EUR.

Design wise, this bag definitely draws inspiration from the RUSH 12. The carry handle, flanked by the openings for your hydration tube, is an almost exact copy of how the one on the RUSH 12 looks. Not that it's a bad thing however, the RUSH 12 has tube opening ergonomics down to a science and the same design appearing on the RACCOON means I get to enjoy the same ergonomics. If originality was a concern for you though, don't worry as the rest of the RACCOON has a look distinct enough to differentiate it from the RUSH series. Sadly, we start with a negative; the main compartment isn't clamshell style, a feature I miss sorely from my time with the RUSH 12. Having got used to the clamshell on the RUSH 12, you'll feel major pains whenever you get back to using a non-clamshell style pack as it makes organizing the contents of the compartment a much more troublesome affair. Simply put, once you've experienced using a clamshell style backpack there's no going back.

The main compartment features a few smaller compartments. A see-through compartment like the ones on the RUSH series as well as two zippered compartments on the other side. One of these compartments is really only good for flat objects since it doesn't have much depth to it. In my usage, I've found that a notebook or writing materials would fit well here. The other compartment plays host to the HDPE back stiffener, which is of course a must in any decent backpack. This one does its job just fine, being just as stiff as the one on the RUSH 12. You'll find no problems with being poked by irregularly shaped or pointy objects in your bag.

The other compartment that the RACCOON has would be the admin pouch on the front. It has quite a few compartments, all of which are secured by a velcro on top of each to prevent the contents from spilling out as well as to serve as a separator if you choose to put smaller items. The admin pouch isn't as well thought out as the one on the RUSH series, with there being no zipped compartments and most of these compartments were somewhat lacking in depth and width. That is of course a limitation imposed by the size of the pack. A smaller pack, a smaller admin pouch area.

I would've liked an additional compartment to be present on the RACCOON. Right now, the RACCOON features just two compartments, both of which are major compartments. A smaller compartment independent of the main ones would've been nice, to store small items such as coins, sunglasses and other small items conveniently.

Another peeve I had with the RACCOON was the strap management. Compared to the RUSH 12, which had keepers for every strap and made managing them such a breeze, the RACCOON offered no such experience. Helikon-Tex has opted for velcro keepers which fundamentally don't work very well as they are severely limited in the length they are able to manage. I had to find alternative means to roll up the excess and it just isn't all that good of a system.

One of the major advantages this pack holds over the RUSH series however is the presence of air mesh on the back. This is perhaps the biggest reason I could not continue using the RUSH 12, it was just too hot given the weather conditions in Singapore. The RACCOON on the other hand, with air mesh on the back and the straps as well, manages to keep temperatures manageable. It's not as good as not wearing a backpack at all of course, but air mesh is a significant improvement in keeping your back cool. I can carry this backpack with both straps on in Singapore weather (that being 30 degree Celsius and at least 60% humidity all year round) without soaking the back of my shirt. Helikon-Tex has done a great job in this aspect on the RACCOON. The pack is rather tall and thin as well, a welcome departure from the RUSH 12 for me as that was one of the gripes I had with it.

The RACCOON has shock cord on the front of the pack, which although I don't frequently utilize, can see it having its uses such as stuffing a thin jacket outside for easy access or dirty clothing so that it won't dirty the contents. I also found another use for it; to hang a ring off the end of the cord, which I really liked as I felt it really helps personalize your backpack.

The whole pack is covered in MOLLE, making modularity a possibility and also giving the pack a tacticool look. I'd very much see myself adding a water bottle pouch in the future so it's good that I can do that thanks to MOLLE.

In closing, while this pack seems to lack some things such as premium materials and several shortcomings in the design aspect, the price for which I acquired the RACCOON is just half of what I paid for the RUSH 12. The RACCOON doesn't have YKK zippers, Duraflex buckles or Cordura construction and that's OK, because lacking those it is still a very decent, usable backpack. The RACCOON is growing on me by day honestly and I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for a small and well-priced daypack. So that's it for the review of the Helikon-Tex RACCOON, thank you for reading and have a good day!

EDIT: Took the pack out for a 13km trek today (23rd May 2015), and I'm glad to announce that the pack fared supremely well throughout the trek. The mesh back did wonders in keeping my back at a comfortable temperature, and the straps were very comfortable. Sometimes, I felt like I wasn't even carrying a backpack, as long as the straps were configured to the right length.

My Next EDC Bag - Helikon-Tex RACCOON

Greetings readers, six months ago I shared with you some of the shortcomings I faced in using the 5.11 Rush 12 backpack. In the same post, I surmised that the solution to the problem was a bag that Helikon-Tex had just released back then; the Direct Action Dragon Egg. Well, six months later, I still haven't acquired the Dragon Egg, and now I don't think I will. Why? Straight up, the Dragon Egg isn't the cheapest bag. It'll set me back by at least $150, which I didn't think was worth it considering the Rush 12 still serves me decently. Second, and also the main reason behind this post is that I've found something else.

The Helikon-Tex RACCOON backpack.

Now, why was I dissuaded from going with the Dragon Egg?

Picture credit of KICKAss Tactical

I came across several pictures of the Dragon Egg in actual use and it simply seemed to large for my purposes. Understandably, I did mention that I wanted a larger bag than the Rush 12 in the aforementioned post. I've now graduated from college though and gone are the days where I have to pack my textbooks along with my gym shoes and a shaker bottle. I have begun to find even the Rush 12 a little larger than I'd like it to be. Therefore, the next EDC bag I go for would have to smaller than the Rush 12. I was faced with another choice, competing for attention with the RACCOON however.

The Direct Action Dust is the Dragon Egg's little brother, sporting similar features, construction materials, but being five litres smaller in capacity (same as the RACCOON at 20L). It would also ideally by my EDC bag of choice. Here's the thing though, the lowest price I could find for the Dust backpack was 82 EUR while the RACCOON was just half of that at 41 EUR. Of course, there's a trade-off; the RACCOON is made from polyester and doesn't feature Duraflex buckles like the Direct Action line does, which is also made from 500D Cordura.


 

Still, the RACCOON sports the meshed ventilation on its back, one of the things I needed most but the Rush 12 didn't have. The RACCOON is relatively cheap, seems to be decent and it looks great to me. And for that, the RACCOON shall be my next EDC bag purchase. Expect to see a review of the RACCOON in a couple weeks time. Thank you for reading and stay tuned!

Review of the Archules Bronx Hill II Double Monk Straps

Greetings readers of The Watch Post, I have good news to share with all. After close to three very lousy months spent job seeking, I have finally secured employment. And thus, my first steps in the corporate world are about to begin, which means it's time to put those sneakers aside for the weekends. During the weekdays I'll be all about Oxfords, Derbies and of course, monk straps.

With that, let's move on to review the Archules Bronx Hill II monk straps in tan which I bought sometime back. Let's go through some of the specs on this particular offering from them. 

• Constructed with cowhide leather
• Lambskin lining
• Cemented construction
• Rubber soles 

The Archules Bronx Hill II series goes for SGD $115. While I'd like the shoe to feature Goodyear welt construction, that would be most unreasonable to ask for at this price point. The Bronx Hill II comes with cemented construction which is understandable, however that also means there's nothing special to comment on in this aspect. One should be reminded that shoes with cemented construction are unlikely to be reconstructable and once the sole has worn out, that will likely spell the end of the shoe's life. Meermin would be a good direction if you require Goodyear welt on your shoe as a minimum.

Moving on, the shoe uppers are constructed from cowhide. The quality of the leather is very decent indeed, once again considering the price point at which this shoe is going for. The leather has some spots here and there, but these are just minor quibbles and won't detract from the overall aesthetic of the shoe, especially when you view them from a distance such as on your feet. The interior is lined with leather as well which is a nice touch for something at this price point, as I wasn't expecting any sort of lining.

The Bronx Hill II features a cap toe, with a chisel toe profile. It also comes with some sort of premade patination on the toe cap area which I think is really well done. While I don't have any Allen Edmonds or Alden shoes to compare with, the lasting on the Bronx Hill II is fairly slim and overall I'd say it makes for quite an attractive silhouette. Obviously, a definite improvement from square-toed shoes that I've been using in the past.

One point of contention I've had with this pair of shoes so far is the buckles used to tighten the shoes. The silver-colored buckles are a little to thin for the straps to be going through them. As a result, threading the straps through the buckles has been quite a frustrating experience for me. The stitching between the lining and the leather uppers often get caught on the buckles as I'm trying to do the buckles. I foresee the straps which go through the buckles becoming quite creased and deformed as this shoe is used for longer periods.

This shoe is surprisingly comfortable, even as I wore it out for the first time. Break-in time for the Bronx Hill II is nigh non-existent; I didn't suffer any blisters even when I wore this shoe out for the first time and the shoe was already relatively flexible. The cushioning system that Archules features seems to work well, and standing for extended periods won't be too much of a pain to your feet. The soles on the Bronx Hill II are rubber, which has provided me with good grip right out the box. I haven't got to test the grip in a wet environment but there is no reason so far to suspect that these soles will not rise up to the challenge.

Overall, the shoe has been satisfactory on most fronts. The construction, from leather quality to the profile and silhouette of the shoe have all been executed pretty well in my opinion. The comfort has been quite good indeed, with the cushioning system doing it's job well and there being little to no break-in time necessary. About the only gripe with the Bronx Hill II, considering it's price would be the buckles used to secure the straps. I think leaving the straps unlined or using buckles with a wider opening would have made the somewhat frustrating experience when doing up the straps a much better experience.

Archules does include an accessory pack which contains the following: plastic shoe horn, a tin of Kangaroo neutral shoe polish (I believe they will give you the relevant color of polish based on the shoe you bought) and a shoe brush (can't tell if the bristles are synthetic or natural, but it is of a pretty nice quality), all of which are contained in a small velvet drawstring pouch. Other things that are included in the purchase of the shoes include two drawstring pouches (one for each shoe) and a logoed zipper bag which contains the shoebox. All in all, I consider the package to be a rather good.

Archules does home delivery as long as you're living in Singapore and delivery is free. There is an express delivery which comes with an extra charge if you need that. They will bring two sizes for you to try on and you may select the size which better fits you. The second pair however can only differ in size from the first pair by either one size up or down, subject to availability. I personally found this service to be excellent, as I'm a size 41 in some brands and 42 in others. They also have a returns and exchange policy which seems rather friendly although I haven't had any personal experience with it.

The service standards from Archules are commendable to say the least. Singapore isn't exactly known for the best customer service or consumer protection laws. Archules has realized this and capitalized on this by providing better service and I guess you could say it paid off; I am a happy customer. The two size delivery policy will save quite a lot of sizing worries and overall I'd like to applaud Archules on providing a quality of service and product which has been pretty good.

So that's it folks, thanks for reading this review of the Archules Bronx Hill II double monk straps and I think as I start receiving my paychecks, I'll slowly be able to dabble into higher levels of footwear. I think I'll go with a Meermin next, and hopefully one day I'll be reviewing shoes from the big leagues such as John Lobb and Edward Green. Be sure to keep checking The Watch Post for when that happens, thank you and have a good day!

Review of Crumpler Dederang Heist

Good day, readers of The Watch Post. Today, I shall be reviewing the Crumpler Dederang Heist laptop bag after having used it for about two weeks. As with other reviews on The Watch Post, let's take a look at the technical specifications on this bag:

- Width: 40 cm
- Height: 29 cm
- Depth: 8 cm
- Volume: 10 Litres
- Empty Weight: 0.65 kg

- Neoprene padded carry handles and shoulder strap

- YKK water resistant zippers

- Wing design for structural strength

- 900D/300D Nylon ripstop construction for exterior

- 150D Ripstop lining, flamed polypropylene webbing

- Bonded nylon thread with bar tack stitching on all stress points

Now, the main reason I was attracted to this bag were its looks. It seemed as though someone mated the average laptop bag and a tote bag, resulting in the sleek, futuristic look which I simply think looks great. Let's continue digging within though, to see if Crumpler has managed to make form meet function.

Let's begin with the construction of the bag. I won't say that I'm the leading authority when it comes to nylon, as I've only one other nylon bag which is the 5.11 Tactical Rush 12. However, for the environment that this bag is likely to be used in (e.g. office environments), 900D is very much sufficient. Thread denier alone is of course, not a good indicator of durability or quality if the manufacturer does not know how to make a proper bag in the first place.

Rest assured then, that the Dederang Heist is really a solid bag, with sound contruction all over. The many stitches that reinforce stress points should put one at ease from knowing this bag is unlikely to fall apart even if you cram it with piles of documents as well as jam a laptop inside. I am of the opinion that this bag will easily last me at least five years of daily use, unless I start carrying this bag into the jungle.

My Dell XPS 15 rested snugly inside, it being a 15.6" laptop. I felt really safe when my laptop was in this bag thanks to the internal padding present in this bag, which is colored a nice bright orange so that you may easily discern the contents of the bag with a glance.

Apart from the laptop compartment, there is another pocket that runs the length of the bag which I've used to put my documents, a 650ml water bottle and an umbrella. There are also four smaller pockets which one can use to put smaller items in the main compartment. This bag will fit a surprising amount of stuff. I did find the lack of penholder pockets a little disappointing, this being a bag designed for office use. Putting a pen in one of the four smaller pockets is not the best solution since you might have to fish for your pens quite a bit.

On top of the aforementioned compartments, there is a seperate compartment which can be accessed by another zip. As well, I'd like to have seen some organization pockets here since being the big plain compartment that it is now made me have to fish for my items on occasion.

The zips are YKK zippers all-around, and are rubberized to make it harder for water to pass through. There is a little bit of a trade-off in that these zippers require a little more force than normal zippers to operate but I appreciate the amount of effort Crumpler made in keeping this bag water resistant.

The handles feel sturdy, more than enough to support the weight of the bag and any contents you may have inside. They are padded with neoprene on the bottom so that they'll go easy on your hands. I've carried this bag for extended periods by the carry handles and the neoprene does a great job indeed at keeping the handles comfortable to hold, even with a considerable load.

Likewise, the strap that comes with the bag has a portion which is padded with neoprene that keeps things comfortable. It has a rubberized Crumpler logo on the strap which keeps it grippy while on your shoulder. The strap does it's job of transferring the load onto your shoulders well.

To end off, I think the Crumpler Dederang Heist is a great-looking bag with good construction and materials. It'll contain laptops up to 15.6" and protect them very well indeed. I felt that content management could have been a little better though. The addition of pockets for pens and notebooks would be good in reducing the amount of effort needed to fish things out of the bag. Still, if you're fine with the plain compartments this bag has, the Dederang Heist is a laptop bag which I will wholeheartedly recommend. Crumpler seems to have long discontinued this particular bag but there seem to be a couple of online retailers which you can still buy this bag from.

So that's it for today's post, thank you for reading and in the next post, I shall be reviewing the Bronx Hill II double monk strap shoes from Archules!

Muh Driving License

Notice: I posted this exact same post in my other blog, Hangouts of Singapore as I felt the content of this post didn't fit into The Watch Post well. Still, I'm changing my mind now as I feel that I want to share this with all readers of The Watch Post. Enjoy the read!

Ladies and gentlemen, let me start off the post with an announcement that I am immensely happy to make; I have just acquired my driving license and am now qualified to drive on the open roads of Singapore. This is a buildup that has begun since the start of 2012, where I had driving lessons for a short period and then stopped as I wasn't fueled by the urge to drive back then. When I resumed lessons again, it would already be at the start of 2014. Talk about procrastination.

I made a terrible mistake of going over the stop line during a right turn at a junction which had a red arrow. That was the story of my first attempt. The second attempt saw me having the jitters, and I could barely control the clutch and accelerator which resulted in me striking the kerb twice, along with numerous other mistakes which stemmed from a lack of confidence. Somewhat deterred by the two failures, I booked the my third attempt at the practical driving test.

So the day of the third test eventually came. With the pressure of a three-month wait and close to $300 of test fee mounted on my shoulders, I went ahead with it anyway. Sitting in the room awaiting for the my assigned tester to read out my name was perhaps the worst part. This room has never failed to bring out some nervousness in me, in spite of this being my third attempt. This time however, I was not going to let it get the better of me. I whipped out my phone and played several games of 2048 which really took my mind off the fact that I was going to have a driving test and away with that went my nervousness.

Eventually I heard my name being called. An instructor who went by the name of Choo Cheng Sang was assigned to me. Went through the circuit relatively smooth, only abit of rolling backwards on the ramp. Outside, I thought it went pretty good as well, with just a short drive to a junction to do a U-turn, followed by changing lanes to do a right turn back to CDC. I followed my tester up to the results release room and he called me in and I was thinking, 'Damn it, failed again!'. This stems from something I've read on forums, where the instructors won't bother calling you into the room if you passed and will instead ask you to wait outside while they print your result slip. Knowing that, I had a heavy heart as I stepped into the room and reluctantly took a seat. He was collating the results and took quite a long while, during which I was praying hard that being brought into the room still meant a chance of passing.

Eventually, the tester came and sat infront of me. He started chiding me on how it was my third attempt yet I couldn't move off the ramp properly, and how my overtaking skills were causing an inconvenience to other road users. He was holding the result slip in his hand which gave me no chance to look at it, but based on the things he were saying, things were not looking the best. I was bracing myself to go for a fourth attempt already when he changed his grip on the result slip, allowing me to take a glance at it. I managed to make out the word "PASSED". From that point, I couldn't give a shit how badly he scolded me. I had PASSED! FINALLY!

Mr Choo Cheng Sang, you ain't so bad in my books after all. I'm loving this tough love thing you've got going on actually. This slip of paper is a result 36 months in the making and some $3000. Slow I hear you say? WHATEVER! I'm overjoyed at the achievement of attaining a Class 3 driving license and I'm not taking shit from anyone.

So, to bus service 854, trips to ComfortDelGro Driving Centre and to Mr. Chua Ah Huat, I bid you farewell for you are now a thing of the past. Alright, I've got to newfound swag to be handling people, thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!

The Year 2015, and the Incoming of Double Monk Straps

What's up readers of The Watch Post! First off, I have to apologize as you may have realized that I never got about to making a post to sum the year of 2014 up. I'll make no excuses here, I was just plain lazy to do a write-up. So let's skip ahead a little, what can you (the reader) expect from The Watch Post this year?

Well, ironically watches will no longer be take the spotlight in The Watch Post in 2015. Why? That's because the Casio G-Shock DW5600E-1V is pretty much my only go-to watch now. I've flipped most of my other watches away and am left with only the Casio G-Shock and a MDV106. There might of course be some watch related content sometimes but the focus of this blog in 2015 shall be on these few topics; office wear, shoes and EDC. Regarding the new interest in office and footwear, this naturally stems from the fact that I'm about to enter the workforce and my preferences in clothing and footwear is now influenced by what's presentable at work. So, following up from the previous post, I present a pair double monk strap shoes from Archules, the Bronx Hill II in Oak.

Of course, stay tuned for the review which I will post up as soon as I receive these babies. This pair costed me SGD $115 so I'm definitely not expecting these to be in the same league as Crockett & Jones or Edward Green. Still, they seem to have received quite a good amount of feedback on their Facebook page so I hope that these shoes will serve me well. Now, as for EDC, I always had a strong interest in it and 2015 will be a year where you readers can expect to see much more content relating to EDC.

For starters, I'm looking into getting my first multi-tool and my heart is set on the Leatherman Skeletool for now.

Now that's a sweet bit of kit. As well, you may have seen my post here on my gripes with the 5.11 Rush 12 backpack and I'm hoping to replace it with the Helikon-Tex Dragon Egg.

So today's post shall come to an end here. In the next post, you can expect a review of the Crumpler Dederang Heist which I bought to use as a bag for work. A quick impression of it so far; great. Thanks for reading and have a great day folks!