I noticed Chris Costa is talking up the Ares watch on his IG account.
I noticed Chris Costa is talking up the Ares watch on his IG account.
He's got some well-known "beta testers" onboard (eg. Ken Hackathorn) as well as some testers that nobody--outside of maybe Sean--has ever heard of.
One nice touch; a handwritten thank you card and order confirmation goes out to the pre-order people:
”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB
I’ll know for sure in a couple of days, since my watch, #16, is shipping out the end of this week.
I went to the launch party on the first of Dec, and I got to meet some of Matt’s friends from his old job, a product manager from SOG, and see some of my own friends from around the west coast. Several running protos for everyone to try on. Plus, Ken Hackathorn’s old GMT.
The recent bits of news worth reporting:
They’ve been milling case parts in Seattle; there’s a pic of my personal caseback in the raw on IG right now.
Evan at Black Rifle Coffee knows Matt from past work, so they’ve done some things together. BRC is evidently printing money to the tune of 30mil a year at this point; he stepped up to help Ares out, so they’re in the black on the initial run expense.
SOG knives will be selling a limited run of the diver-1 in black PVD at some point.
The protos of the GMT version are being built, and go out to people for T&E starting the first part of March.
My sense is that Matt is giving it his best effort.
As I say, I’ve been waiting like a kid for Christmas for a new watch since wearing a proto around the brewpub Dec 1, and Matt tells me that it’s on track to be on my wrist before March hits.
I’ll post a pic or something when I get the package.
Last edited by Totem Polar; 02-20-2019 at 01:04 PM.
”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB
a few pics from the launch, poached from my buddies...
”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB
Damn that is some nice lume.
Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk
So then, I am now the proud owner of serial #16 (I chose it; could've had lower, but I like sweet 16--it's just a serial). Others--many are friends of mine--have started getting theirs. One of my buddies (retired homicide D from the west side that I have dinner with several times a year at this point) picked his up from Matt at a brew pub on Tues--the rest of us had to wait for USPS priority. It's on the wrist as I type. It's worth noting total elapsed time from Matt leaving his agency contract to a bunch of these watches on wrists is roughly 9 months. Not bad, and I'm sure it wasn't anywhere near as fun as making a regular baby.
But enough out of me, here's some pics:
”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB
I forgot a lume shot; here's my Homicide Dick's pic (say that 3 times fast)
”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB
The SOG-only black PVD iteration of the Ares D-1 is for sale at SOG knives now; very hot-looking, IMO.
https://www.sogknives.com/ares-watch.html
Number 16 hasn’t left my wrist since I got it in Feb. I set it once, and it’s been strapped to my wrist and timing clinics, lessons, gigs, competitions, workouts, and boring old life ever since. I’m surprisingly enamored of this watch at this point. Straight up: I didn’t need another watch and, as a Sinn/Omega/whatever guy, I was auto or hand wound only for the last decade+. I only bought this quartz piece because I’m friends with Graham, and wanted to support the effort, and the proposed feature set sounded cool. It’s my favorite watch now. My others have been in the safe since I unboxed it. That’s the update, for those who are interested.
”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB