Perusing Instagram the other day, an ad popped up for a very pretty watch, and before I thought better of it, I clicked the link. Normally I’m smarter than this and I use the old two-finger click to take a picture of the ad, then follow that up separately in a web browser, but I must have been high on Christmas candy. The watches themselves are very nice, and live at the top edge of my budget for a discretionary purchase: Redwood offers a range of military-style watches in designs I like, especially this pilot model. It’s a 40mm case, which is correct for the style but would be a bit large on my wrist. I do like the fact that it’s a solar model—I’ve got a Vaer dive watch with a solar face, and I like it very much.

Having clicked that link, The Algorithm suddenly decided I needed to see all of the watch ads, and my feed was then swamped with them. Many were for brands that were too expensive or for watches that were hideously ugly, but another brand popped up that I found interesting, a Japanese manufacturer offering military reproduction designs that closely mirror what was made in the 40’s through the 60’s. One design definitely caught my eye, a night/day 24-hour watch with a split face. It’s hard to tell how big the case is—the measurements given don’t follow normal specifications—but I’m going to follow up with my watch connection to ask about the manufacturer and see if he recommends taking a chance on this one.

Now I’m off to see if there’s a way to cleanse my Instagram algorithm.