Horological Meandering

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My review of the PPro ABR

Dear Purists,

It's more than eight months I'm the proud owner of our Community watch (mine is #167) and it's time to write a review and post some pictures. Please forgive me if I don’t show you a perfectly cleaned watch…

The very first impressions were about the aesthetic of the watch:

- the first impact was with the watch box: it is absolutely distinctive, but I'd appreciated a PuristSPro logo on it.

- the watch looks absolutely fascinating, unique, powerful, twisty and with a strong personality; I think it's better in the real life than in pictures.

- I've immediately appreciated the case finishing: its PVD-treatment is very smooth, almost silky.

- the hour indexes seem to float on the carbon fiber dial, almost like they were white tiny discs on a dark lake.

- the stainless steel hands don't look so good to me: I'd preferred them to be painted white, like the original St. Gallens, or even black.

- I've read on the Forum about the misalignment of the dial indexes with the bezel ones; well, I was fortunate: my piece is perfect!

- I prefer the ABR by far with the red strap: the black one is too boring and serious; maybe, in some occasions this under-the-radar look may be better. The black strap smells more that the red one, I wonder why.

- the flat crystal looks perfect in this context: I think a domed one would have looked wrong.

- I haven't understood how does the metallic ”support” – found inside the box – works and I haven't found information on what kind of disinfectants I should use. Maybe the big hole in the tail of the strap is connected to the disinfecting procedure?

Ok, it's time to put on the red strap and the metallic buckle (sufficiently easily) and try the feeling on the wrist:

- it's not a small watch, nor a shy one, but it's correctly proportioned and its dark look makes it appear to be just perfect on my wrist, that measures 17,5 cm. It's not a light watch, yet it is comfortably, because it sits correctly on the wrist (mainly thanks to the lugs shape) and despite the crown inevitably hurts the back of the hand (after a pair of days of continuous use I have a visible sign on it). As with other thick&large watches of mine, it isn’t exactly the right choice when I’m wearing tight-fitting sporty jackets.

- the buckle, on a first impression, was not so comfortable because it hurts the wrist, but in a few days I've got used to it.

- I always use to attach the strap to the watch with the buckle at 6 and the tail at 12, but with this configuration the ABR is really hard to dress, so I've chosen the standard installation; in a few days I've learned to strap the watch on the wrist quite rapidly (but not much securely – please see the notes below).

Now, let's talk about my daily use impressions.

- the accuracy is getting good: during the first months the watch had a daily delay of 10-15 seconds, while now this delay is stabilized on 5-10 seconds.

- the lume should be stronger, I'd say it's barely sufficient for a sport watch. During the first months the luminescence on the seconds hands appeared to be more visible than the others. Fortunately, the brilliance is increasing as the time goes by.

- the crown is easy and very pleasant to operate, thanks to the good size and shape.

- depending on where the hands are positioned, the date cannot be seen.

- the way the buckle is secured on the strap isn’t so firm and reliable: I’ve experienced for three times the thrilling of seeing the watch falling down after having catched something; fortunately, I was always able to avoid it, but sooner or later I know I’ll have a very bad surprise. Maybe the new kind of strap I've seen on the internet, proposed by St.Gallen, is more reliable?

- in only a few weeks of use the PVD treatment suffered some scratches on the lugs edges and on the buckle.

- Lastly I have to write about what a weakness of my ABR: the winding efficiency is the worst I've ever experienced in an automatic watch. This means that I cannot just wear it and go, even using it every day, living a normal, not too inactive life: it needs every morning to be manually wound, with at least one hundred of crown turning! During the first months it was even worst: if I forgot to manually wind the watch at the right time and it stopped, it wasn't sufficient to manually wind it or shake it: it did started running only after having moved the hands! That was quite disappointing.

I’m very happy with my PPro ABR: every time a stare at it I’d like to thank this wonderful forum for the very high quality time I spend with it, reading about amazing stories written by true gentlemens from all over the world. Yes: if PuristSPro has a spirit, I think it’s well embodied in the All Black Rescue Watch.

Thank you for reading, ciao,

Elio Pascucci

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