El Hoze

I have not smoked them all, for me the Spada Gorda is a bangin’ cigar.

Not mine, most certainly! Have never crossed paths with a Greubel Forsey before. I didn’t have the nerve to ask my friend what this thing costs. Not my cup of tea, even if I had alot more money! Figured I would post for the watch geeks here as you don’t see these in the wild often (at least in the circles I run in!).

Ibuprofen/alka seltzer/gatorade for sure. My personal odd hangover tradition is I always crave something fishy/creamy when hung over. Tuna salad sandwich, bagels lox and cream cheese, and on NY day we often do caviar and creme fraiche. I think it must be the oily stuff I crave. I also almost always smoke a Punch DC when hungover at home. Like I somehow earned it. In reality, I am rarely hung over these days. I stick to light beer. If I mix stuff (couple beers, glass of wine, scotch) I am 100% always hurting the next day no matter what I do so I avoid that almost always! Almost.

I was almost going to say MO in Munich, especially for a non-resort hotel. Having that Japanese restaurant Matsuhisa in there is also like an oasis whenever I am traveling in Germany. And being next to the Hofbrauhaus is nice.

I think what most Rolex purists find most objectionable about the Milgauss are the color schemes and the lightning bolt second hand. I personally do not like the second hand. The color schemes I find kind of cool.

My heaviest is my white gold GMT Pepsi. I love the weight, but I never wear it if I’m doing something active. I fish alot, zero shot I would wear it fishing. Too heavy. 322g is insane!

I agree, this isn’t new. Just the most blatant move yet!

That is a fair point. What I would say is a Submariner works the same as a Seadweller to 1K feet according to Rolex. That’s pretty deep as it is! It is also massively heavier and more uncomfortable on the wrist than a Sub. So why would someone buy that one? I have to imagine the vast majority are buying it simply because it costs more money than a Sub. A super car, even if I am not driving it to its full potential, is still much more fun to drive to the grocery store than a minivan. Are most guys using the GMT or chrono features on Daytonas? No, but they don’t add bulk and they come with more complicated movements. I guess the tech going into these watches is pretty cool, but in my mind the selling point here is that it is a huge watch that everyone knows you paid more money for than a Sub and somehow that is a good thing. Bad selling point for what should be a tool watch. Like driving an expensive tank around town and now it takes you longer to get to the grocery store. All about the bling. I am hardly a Rolex purist but a tool watch with a helium valve in gold is a stretch. I agree too the Milgauss and a watch meant to operate in space are not for everyone. I’d say it applies here too. Hey, if you have the money and you’re a big baller, and think it looks good! Wear what you like.

Technically a Deep Sea is a Seadweller. Seadweller now refers to the whole line. Having a watch with a helium valve in gold is a bit of an embarrassment. One would have to imagine not a single one of those watches will ever be put anywhere near the conditions they were painstakingly designed for.

That is 100% a monstrosity. Having a gold Seadweller officially moves it out of the category it was intended to be in. I see tons of guys wearing Seadwellers who don’t want to get their hair wet. Having said that, the gold and blue looks awesome. I would never wear it or pay for it but I could never pull it off.

Small world Ken, very cool! I assume the son of the owner was likely Jay. Jay’s kids go to school with my son in a small town in Florida where everybody knows everybody. When I realized Jay had a son named Julian, looked at their last name, and heard they spent alot of time in NZ I finally added it all up. I work in finance so grandpa was quite a legend in my world. I have also been to La Venencia at your previous suggestion, I am hardly a sherry expert but was very glad I checked it out! Awesome experience.

The steaks at Saga are phenomenal. If someone served you that steak at a top NYC steakhouse you would rave about it. It’s particularly impressive as you can’t exactly walk into a store in DR and buy a prime dry aged ribeye. So getting that level of steak in Santiago is worth calling out. My issue is the cost! I’m not a cheap guy but the tomohawk especially is priced at “baller” levels…which I get as getting that quality of beef into an island in the Caribbean costs money. I can cook that at home though! My favorite dish is the chivo (braised goat). It comes only surrounded by thinly sliced avocado. Awesome dish!

Fun thread, I look forward to seeing everyone’s answers. Even a top 5 for each is hard for me: -Best Hotel: Cheval Blanc in Saint Barts. Insanely nice resort on a gorgeous beach on an island I love. Heaven on Earth. -Best bar: Saga Restaurant & Cigar Club in Santiago, Dominican Republic. My wife is from Santiago so I spend a bit of time there. Santiago is a big tobacco/cigar industry hub. Saga is owned by Augusto Reyes who comes from a big tobacco family in the area, his wife is Monika Kelner Henke’s daughter. She is also in the business. You go through the restaurant into an indoor/outdoor back bar area there and everyone has a cigar in their hand and two or three lined up in their shirt pocket. Perfect ventilation. They’ll usually have sports on the TVs behind the bar. And the food is fantastic, especially for Santiago which is more limited compared to most major cities. When we are in Santiago I prefer to spend all afternoon there every day smoking cigars (I peel my CC labels off out of respect!) and eating a long lunch/dinner. I am a beer drinker, not a big cocktail guy, and like everywhere in DR if the beer was any colder it would freeze. -Best Restaurant: Sushi Yasuda, NYC. Traditional edomai style sushi. I have been going there for over 20 years. Not cheap but I also believe the value is hard to beat for high end sushi in a major city. All joking aside what motivated me to work harder when I was in my 20s was I wanted to eat there as often as I wanted and not have to worry when the bill came. I am in NYC alot and will sometimes eat there 2-3 in a week.

I was going to say something similar. I wonder if this comes with free shipping return labels for when it needs to be sent in for service every 20th time you use it.

2008 SW. Beautiful day in South Florida, house to myself, Yankees on (losing), will likely get into the good stuff today.