The Uno

For those of ya’ll still with me—yeah I know I’ve been off and on since December (and when I’m on I give ya’ll novel-length blog entries—I didn’t highlight the “Dr.” in front of Jonah’s name to be funny (see "Weekend at the Alps" if you don't NMTMBA...nmtmba?). In all seriousness, it was in admiration. I could talk about the qualifying examination he had to take going into his second year in the Ph.D. program at Stanford…but to make a long story short, it single handedly convinced me that I wasn’t gangsta enough.

Dude is doing the DAMN thang. Case in point, he pretty much was the source of the entire second half of this New York Times magazine article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/magazine/28wwln-consumed-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Uno%2C+Botta&st=nyt&oref=slogin

There’s a big newspaper/magazine/book shop in the Hauptbahnhof and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the only place where you can get the New York Times…even if it is a day late. Well, when he told me about the article back in October, I had to cop it…even if it was to the tune of 18 Euro (I’m not joking)...


A quote from the article (for those of ya’ll that are too lazy to click on the link and read)…

“Consider, for instance, the Uno, from Botta, the German watch brand. It has only one hand.”

Shortly after finishing the article, I looked up the watch online and fell in love (http://www.botta-design.de/en_uno_automatik.html). Not only was this watch different (as indicated in the article), but was designed to my liking and…it was a “German watch brand”. What better gift for myself to commemorate this overseas experience?! And it gets better…their headquarters are located just 20 mintues outside of Frankfurt. As far as I was concerned, it was a DONE-dadda. All that mattered from that point was logistics (i.e. how to get there).

I first made contact (via email) with the company in early November, and had kept in contact ever since. Well today, I finally had the car and a Friday where I had the opportunity to leave before 6pm (I was finished with all of my work and the normal 5pm Friday training session was cancelled). After a call to Klaus Botta’s cell letting him know I was on my way (yeah, I got it like that), I was on the Autobahn.

When I arrived at his design offices (not a store), he had the watches laid out for my viewing (and trying-on) pleasure. Oh yeah, the place was nice as well:


…replete with a Nespresso machine as well:


They both looked like what they looked like online:


…so the only question that remained was, white or black.

I probably contemplated this for about 30 minutes (seriously). He even left me alone to ponder (out loud) my decision.

In all truthfulness, I was immediately drawn to the black face, but the last two watches (prior to the Vizio I’m wearing now) had black faces and were reminiscent of this one (especially the big-faced Museum). The white face reminded me of the Vizio (which is a good thing in that its very clean), but it seemed like it was a bit boisterous without trying to be.

You know, actually typing this, I’m realizing this is one of those “you had to be there” type of things cause I’m sure this is very uninteresting to you all. All I can say is that I am a “watch-guy” and EVERY single one I’ve worn has gotten loads of compliments. So I took this decision very seriously (especially considering the cost and that I really would be stuck with my decision once I left).

And the winner…


Beautiful ain’t it? America ain’t ready.


Cheers.