AndyThurman
196
Offshore vs. LUC 2000 sports performance-long
A few of you may remember my dilemna from two weeks ago: a week at the beach near Charleston, S.C. I allotted myself one watch; should it be the Offshore "End of Days" on the kevlar strap, or the Chopard LUC 2000 on its rubber?
I put the EOD on the kevlar and wore it for several days before I left. It went pool-swimming and did my yard work with me, which is about as active as I get anymore. The watch itself held up fine. I have read that the black finish will scratch down to the steel, but I haven't found a way to do it yet. I'm sure the watch can take anything an old fat guy like me would throw at it.
However, the band, though very durable, was unworkable. It is hot, heavy, and the design raises an already huge watch another 3 to 4 mm off the wrist. Although swimming actually made it softer and more pliable, it took forever to dry, and I needed a watch that could go from ocean to shower to fancy dinner in nothing flat. So I put the Offshore back on its leather, where it now sits happily on my wrist, and took the Chopard.
And now I really love the LUC. The watch is plently waterproof, and the band quick-drying, so it met all my requirements. It handled the ocean, High Cotton, a fine restaurent where I had the best choclate souffle I've ever eaten, and the high heat and humidity of shopping with my wife in Charleston with aplomb. A salesman at the men's store Ben Silver recognized the watch and drooled over it (he was wearing a Maurice Lacroix), and an about 5-foot hammerhead shark that I had to run off from trolling in very shallow water near my two youngest sons was sufficently impressed that he swam back out to sea without giving me a hard time.
The great strength of the watch is the dial. I have had mixed emotions about the dial, because it seems a bit fancy for a sports watch, and the dagger hands wax and wane on me. But the dial is a masterpiece. It looks like many different watches, depending on the angle and the light, but all of them are handsome and all of them are VERY legible.
The other thing I came to really like was, oddly enough, the wide, scratch-magnet bezel. It's brushed, and when it scuffs or scratches, it gets shiny, and gives the watch great character. It got some character past week. So now, in addition to being my beater, the Chopard will be my travel watch, and the EOD my weekend and casual everyday watch. What a relief to finally have that resolved!