I love the new Jack Reacher book

This afternoon I finished ‘Chain Reaction’, book #31 of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series that was released yesterday, and I have to say it really hit the mark – particularly in this day and age.

Screnshot of an email from Kobo announcing the release of the new Jack Reacher book titled Chain Reaction

I’m not going to share any spoilers (obviously) but the book is all competence porn – very much what we need to see in 2026 when incompetent, self-interested assholes are running so much of the world – and, well, let’s just say that AI data centres are central to the plot :)

So that was a whole lot of fun to read.

But what came after the book was equally exciting.

Screenshot of a post-book page from the Kobo app that reads, "The Reacher universe just got bigger. Don't miss the first-even Neagley thriller from Lee Child and Yasmin Angoe". The screenshot shows the cover of a book titled Zero Margin.

Yes, you read that right: the first Neagley book is on its way! (Which I have promptly pre-ordered, of course.)

Frances Neagley has always been one my favourite characters from the Reacher books and Maria Sten does a fantastic job playing her in Neagley, the Reacher spin-off TV series on Amazon Prime Video.

Since the spin-off TV series was a success and a second season has already been green lit, I was really, really hoping this meant they’d do a spin-off book series too. I am thrilled to see that this is actually going to happen.

Oh, and it’s not just that: I now have a new author to explore! I hadn’t come across Yasmin Angoe before but you can be sure I’ll read all her books before ‘Zero Margin’ comes out on 23 March 2027!

Much happiness all around.

New music discovery: NECKBREAKERS

NECKBREAKERS is a London-based rock bank formed in 2023 by three siblings: Max, Georgie, and Ebony Palmer.

Promo photo of the band NECKBREAKERS showing the three core members in profile. (Source)

The band gained popularity on the UK festival circuit in 2025 and is, by all accounts, fantastic live.

I only discovered these folks recently and I think you should check them out too. You’ll understand why when you listen to their music. (As per the comments under one of their videos: they’re what you get when you cross U2, Heart, and INXS.)

Here’s ‘Tough Love’, one of my favourite songs from what I think is an upcoming EP. (There are two other ‘Live at Fish Factory’ songs on the band’s YouTube channel.)

The band doesn’t have a website, but I suppose that’s what Linktree is for, right?

UPDATE 22 Oct 2026: The band today announced that its EP ‘Good Grace In Carnage’ will be released on 30 October :)

Excellent talk: Men in tech #YesAllMen

If you’re a man who works in technology (or a tech-adjacent industry) you must watch this talk by Jo Franchetti.

No delay, no excuses. Just watch it.

(You can also watch this talk on the Chaos Computer Club website, fyi.)

If after watching that talk you want to deep-dive into learning about misogyny and how it works in the real world, read the excellent, ‘How to have violent, misogynistic men rule the world in five easy steps’ from the Matriarchal Blessing newsletter by Celeste Davis.

Follow-up on ebook typefaces

I should mention that I just added the following to my ‘Favourite ebook typefaces’ post from earlier this year:

Nico Verbruggen’s ebook fonts [Added 17 Oct 2026]

Nico Verbruggen, a software developed in Belgium, has taken a bunch of excellent open-source typefaces and modified them to work better on ereaders (focusing mostly on Kobo ereader devices).

You can download these modified typefaces from his ebook-fonts GitHub repository and you can see those typefaces in action (to pick your favourites) on his interactive showcase website.

Screenshot from Nico Verbruggen’s ebook fonts interactive showcase website.

So if the typefaces listed here don’t do it for you, you should definitely go there to take a look.

Big Thief Live Archive

Big Thief (website, Wikipedia) is one of my favourite indie-folk rock bands and, like many excellent bands, they are fantastic when they perform live.

Happily, they release a lot of their live performances on their YouTube channel.

But they also have the Big Thief Live Archive, which is a website with full, mixed concert recordings going all the way back to 2019.

Screenshot of the Big Thief Live Archive website showing cards spread across the desktop, one for each concert recording

To quote from their email about this:

Every show we play holds a different energy. The songs are always changing and sound different every night, and we spend so much more time on the road than in studios, and so we felt a desire to create something that captures the ever-undulating aliveness of our music through time. Around 2019, we started recording all of our shows. There are 10 shows up on the Archive right now and we will be adding new ones on the second Tuesday of every month hopefully forever. It’s all free. We made the website interactive so that you can choose tracks and make your own playlists.

So if you’re also a fan of Big Thief or you’re curious about the various ways in which a band performs its tracks live, give this live archive a listen.

Favourite book series

I love getting into a good book series so I thought I’d make a list of my favourites.

Two things about this list:

  1. I adore some duologies (and I’ll list a few at the end) but a trilogy is the minimum requirement for being considered a proper series.

  2. My list is quite long, so I’ve split some of the sections into ‘favourite’ and ‘very favourite’ series.

Here’s my list, grouped by genre and sorted alphabetically by series name.

A collage of six book covers for The Rook, All Systems Red, A Deadly Education, Rivers of London, Leviathan Wakes, and Rosemary and Rue

Speculative fiction

Very favourite

  1. Broken Earth series by NK Jemison – three novels; 2015–2017

  2. Checquy Files series by Daniel O'Malley – four novels so far; 2012–2025

  3. Expanse series by James SA Corey – nine novels and nine short stories; 2011–2021

  4. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams and later by Eoin Cofler – six novels; 1979–1992 original five, 2009 follow-up

  5. Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins – five novels so far; 2008–2010 original trilogy, 2020–2025 further novels

  6. Ghost Roads series by Seanan McGuire – three novels; 2018–2021

  7. Grishaverse series and universe by Leigh Bardugo – seven novels and multiple companion works (short stories, graphic novels, collections); 2012–2014 Shadow and Bone trilogy, 2015–2016 Six of Crows duology, 2019–2021 King of Scars duology, 2012–2017 other works

  8. Hench series by Natalie Zina Walschots – two novels so far, with a third novel planned; 2020–2026

  9. Imperial Radch series and universe by Ann Leckie – six novels and two short stories so far; 2013–2015 original trilogy, 2012–2026 other works

  10. InCryptid series by Seanan McGuire – fifteen novels and over fifty short stories so far; 2012–2026

  11. Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews – nineteen novels, two short stories, and one short story collection; 2007–2018 original ten-book series, 2015–2023 other works

  12. Left-Handed Booksellers of London series by Garth Nix – two novels so far, with a third on its way; 2020–2023, third novel scheduled November 2027

  13. Legends & Lattes series by Travis Baldree – three novels so far; 2022–2025

  14. Monk & Robot series by Becky Chambers – two novels so far, open for third novel; 2021–2022

  15. Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells – five novellas and two novels so far; 2007–2023

  16. Newsflesh series by Seanan McGuire writing as Mira Grant – three novels, one novella, and one short story; 2010–2016

  17. October Daye series by Seanan McGuire – twenty novels and over forty short stories so far; 2009–2026

  18. Old Kingdom Chronicles series by Garth Nix – six novels, one novella, and five short stories so far; 1995–2005

  19. Old Man's War series by John Scalzi – seven novels and four short stories so far; 2005–2025

  20. Percy Jackson & The Olympians series and universe by Rick Riordan – sixteen novels and multiple other works (other series, short stories, colouring books, etc); 2005–2024 seven original novels of the Olympians series, 2009–2025 other works

  21. Rama series by Arthur C Clarke and Gentry Lee – four novels, with the last three written with Gentry Lee; 1976–1993

  22. Rivers of London series and universe by Ben Aaronovitch – ten novels, five novellas, one short story collection, and twelve graphic novels so far; 2011–2025

  23. Scholomance trilogy by Naomi Novik – three novels; 2020–2022

  24. Bone Street Rumba series by Daniel José Older – three novels; 2015–2017

  25. Song of the Lioness series and Tortall universe by Tamora Pierce – four novels in this series and five other series; 1983–1988

  26. Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire – eleven novellas so far; 2016–2026

  27. Zones of Thought series by Vernor Vinge – four novels; 1983–1988

Favourite

  1. Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi duology by Shannon Chakraborty – duology so far; may continue to series

  2. Artemis Fowl series and universe by Eoin Cofler

  3. Binti trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor

  4. Brain & Brawn Ship series by Anne McCaffrey

  5. Captive's War series by James SA Corey – duology so far; will continue to series

  6. Circle of Magic series and Circle universe (two other series) by Tamora Pierce

  7. Craft Sequence series by Max Gladstone

  8. Crucible trilogy by Abigail Owen – duology so far; will continue to trilogy

  9. Dead & Breakfast Mystery series by Rosiee Thor and Kat Hillis – duology so far; will continue to series

  10. Delta-v trilogy by Daniel Suarez – duology so far; will continue to trilogy

  11. Dispatcher series by John Scalzi

  12. Dune Chronicles series and universe by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J Anserson

  13. Foundation series by Isaac Asimov

  14. Harry Potter series by JK Rowling – yes, I know: ‘It’s not too late to walk away from Harry Potter’ and ‘There is no ethical consumption of HBO’s Harry Potter series’

  15. His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman

  16. Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal

  17. Laundry Files by Charles Stross

  18. Lord of the Rings trilogy and universe by JRR Tolkien

  19. Narnia series by CS Lewis

  20. Ninth House trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

  21. Nothing is Promised series by Susan Kaye Quinn

  22. Parasitology series by Seanan McGuire writing as Mira Grant

  23. Parasol Protectorate series and universe (two other series) by Gail Carriger

  24. Rising World series by Martha Wells – duology so far; will continue to trilogy

  25. Robot series and universe (37 short stories) by Isaac Asimov

  26. Sirantha Jax series by Ann Aguirre

  27. Spellshop series by Sarah Beth Durst

  28. Tomes & Tea by Rebecca Thorne

  29. Weary Dragon Inn series by S Usher Evans

A collage of three book covers: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, Killer Instinct, and Killing Floor

Crime & Mystery

Very favourite

  1. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series by Holly Jackson – three novels and one novella; 2019–2021

  2. Charlie Fox series by Zoë Sharp – thirteen novels and one novella; 2001–2021

  3. Jack Reacher series by Lee Child and Andrew Child – thirty one novels (last six with Andrew Child) and fourteen short stories so far; 1997–2026

Favourite

  1. Detective Jude Fontaine Mysteries series by Ann Frasier

  2. Elise Sandburg Mysteries series by Ann Frasier

  3. Ellie Foreman series by Libby Fischer Hellmann

  4. Georgia Davis series by Libby Fischer Hellmann

  5. Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Christie

  6. Martin Hench series by Cory Doctorow

  7. Millennium series by Stieg Larsson, then by David Lagercrantz, and now by Karin Margareta

Adventure

  1. Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton

  2. Five Find-Outers series by Enid Blyton

Coming-of-age

  1. Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery

  2. Little House on the Prairie series and universe by Laura Ingalls Wilder

  3. Little Women series by Louisa May Alcott

  4. Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton

Series I haven't finished yet

  1. Dark is Rising Sequence series by Susan Cooper

  2. Ender’s Game series by Orson Scott Card

  3. Honorverse by David Weber

  4. Little Brother series by Cory Doctorow

  5. Locked Tomb trilogy by Tamsyn Muir

  6. Sprawl series and universe (three short stories) by William Gibson

  7. Steerswoman series by Rosemary Kirstein – currently four of a planned seven books have been released

Incomplete series

Sadly, the publisher hasn’t commissioned Seanan McGuire to write the third book in both of these series. Both series are still worth reading though.

  1. Indexing series by Seanan McGuire writing as Mira Grant

  2. Into the Drowning Deep series by Seanan McGuire writing as Mira Grant

A collage of three book covers for: The House in the Cerulean Sea, An Accident of Stars, and Iron Widow

Favourite duologies

Very favourite

  1. Cerulean Chronicles duology by TJ Klune – two novels; 2020–2024

  2. Manifold Worlds duology by Foz Meadows – two novels; 2022–2025

Favourite

  1. Blake & Byron Thrillers duology by Zoë Sharp

  2. Daemon duology by Daniel Suarez

  3. Dark Lord Davi duology by Django Wexler

  4. Eschaton duology by Charles Stross

  5. Eve Rossi duology by Stefanie Pintoff

  6. Inland Empire Mysteries duology by Ann Frasier

  7. Iron Widow duology by Xiran Jay Zhao

  8. Tales of Eshtera duology by Julie Leong [Added 20 Oct 2026]

Some stats

Since I’m a fan of statistics, I ran the numbers: 62% of my favourite series were written by women or non-binary folks while 38% were written by men.

Though if you count by unique author instead (ie the four Seanan McGuire series and four Mira Grant series all count as a single author) then 57% of my favourite-series authors are women or non-binary while 43% are men.

Over to you…

So those were my favourite book series. I’m now dying to know: what are yours?

I already have a few excellent series on my to-read list – like Earthsea, Discworld, Dragonriders of Pern, Lilith’s Brood, and Wayfarers – but I’m always happy to add more :)

Cool type pairings on the web, part 5

I’m sticking with personal blogs on today’s edition of my cool type-pairing series.

Erin Kissane

Erin Kissane’s website exclusively uses typefaces from MB Type, where “MB” is lawyer and type designer Matthew Butterick. Erin’s site uses Valkyrie for body text and Heliotrope for the logo and website microcopy (site menu, metadata, etc).

Screenshot from Erin Kissane’s website of a blog post titled, “Untangling Threads”.

Valkyrie is a modern calligraphic serif inspired partly by Palatino and Heliotrope is a semi-serif inspired partly by Albertus and Optima.

James Cridland

Where Erin used paid typefaces from Matthew Butterick on her website, James Cridland goes in the opposite direction: his website uses the free and open-source Charter (Bitstream, Matthew Carter) for body text and your browser’s default sans-serif font for headings, menus, and the footer.

Screenshot from James Cridland’s website of a blog post titled, “Radio in car: shock new figures”.

You can download a limited version of Charter from, funnily enough, Matthew Butterick’s website. If you want a fully fleshed out version of Charter you can purchase a licence to its Pro version, but I recommend you use Charis (SIL) instead. Charis is based on Charter but it has a complete character set, supports more languages, and is available for free under the SIL Open Font License.

Oh, and if you’re wondering, the heading typeface in the screenshot above is in Noto Sans (Google) since that’s my browser’s default sans-serif font (I use Firefox on MX Linux).

Dan Sinker

I love Dan Sinker’s website: its design is strong, clean, and very well done. Its layout it simple and effective as well – a feat that isn’t easy to pull off. Dan’s site uses Gelica (Dave Rowland) for body text, Cooper Std (Adobe) for titles and headings, and your browser’s default sans-serif font for the menu and footer.

Screenshot from Dan Sinker’s website of a blog post titled, “What If We Just Stopped?”.

Cooper Std is a display-only typeface and Gelica pairs beautifully with it because they both have the same vibe.

Nick Simonson

Finally we have Nick Simonson’s website. Nick is a graphic and UI designer and his site uses Def Sans (Public Type Works) for body text, Dinger (Dingbat XYZ) for headings, and Commit Mono (Eigil Nikolajsen) for tags and monospace text.

Screenshot from Nick Simonson’s website of a blog post titled, “Dolly and us”.

What’s next?

After showcasing two batches of personal blogs, in the next instalment of this series I’m going to move on to online publications and company websites.

PS. In case you missed my note from the first post in this series: all the screenshots featured here are edited and transformed to focus on just the typography used on each website – meaning almost all graphic and site-layout elements have been edited out. So don’t be surprised if you follow the website links and find something that looks a little different!

Melbourne Royal Show 2026

Nadia and I have been in Melbourne for over twenty years but today is the first time we went to the Melbourne Royal Show – an annual agricultural show that’s been running in Melbourne since 1848!

We skipped the many, many rides and games that were on offer and we didn’t watch any of the performances and displays, but we did get to pet several farm animals and Nadia got to cuddle a 12-week-old dingo puppy named Chase :)

We also ate some excellent Filipino barbecue and, later, some Dutch pancakes.

I bought some jam and chutney from the Country Women’s Association (CWA) canteen, as well as the latest edition of the CWA Victoria cooking book.

All in all, we had a good time.

I’d taken my camera with me to the show, but I didn’t take many photos. I was having more fun just wandering around and looking at things. Here are some of the photos I did take.

Petting a llama

Photo of a llama in its indoor enclosure at an agricultural show. The llama is standing at the fence surrounding its enclosure so visitors can pet it. Three young women standing in front of him are doing just that.

Petting a donkey

Photo of a donkey in its indoor enclosure at an agricultural show. The donkey is standing at the fence surrounding its enclosure so visitors can pet it. A young girl has climbed halfway up the fence and is reaching over to scritch the donkey on its nose.

Hephner the Alpaca

Photo of an alpaca in its indoor enclosure at an agricultural show. This alpaca is named Hepher and he is standing at the fence surrounding his enclosure so visitors can pet him. Two children standing on the other side of the fence are holding out some straw for Hephner to chew on.

Freshly-sheared sheep

Close-up photo of a freshly-sheared sheep in its indoor enclosure at an agricultural show. The sheep is looking straight at the photographer.

Looking up at the Ferris wheel

Black-and-white photo looking straight up at a large Ferris wheel.

Airtime Freestyle Motocross team member jumping

Photo of an Airtime FMX freestyle motocross performer at the top of his motorcycle jump between two ramps. The performer has one hand raised, and therefore off his handlebars, to celebrate his jump.

Airtime Freestyle Motocross team member landing

Photo of an Airtime FMX freestyle motocross performer landing his motorcycle on a ramp after having jumped from another ramp.

Airtime Freestyle Motocross team member braking

Photo of an Airtime FMX freestyle motocross performer braking after jumping his motorcycle between two ramps.

Ferris wheel

Selective black-and-white photo of a large Ferris wheel with only the neon pink-and-purple KIIS radio station logo on the hub having been left in full colour. This photo has been taken through the gap between three tall trees.

Nadia cuddling a dingo puppy named Chase

Photo of a woman sitting on a bench with a 12-week-old dingo puppy cradled in her lap. The two are looking directly at each other.

Cool type pairings on the web, part 4

It’s time for another instalment of my cool type-pairing series, this one featuring only personal blogs. (Yes, I know it’s been many months since I posted the last one. Sorry!)

Tara McMullin: What Works

Tara McMullin’s ‘What Works’ website has a lovely elegant-retro feel to it, and most of that feeling comes from its typography. What Works uses League Spartan (The League of Moveable Type) for body text and Behind the Nineties (Casloop Studios) for headings.

Screenshot from Tara McMullins’s website of a blog post titled, “Let’s Talk About Reach, Baby!”.

League Spartan is available on Google Fonts but Behind the Nineties you have to purchase a web licence for (though it is free for personal use).

John Jago

John Jago’s website uses a colour scheme that is similar to Tara’s, but his website is extremely minimalist. He uses Source Sans 3 (Paul D Hunt) for everything except the site title, for which he uses Pacifico (Vernon Adams and others). Oh, and when it needs to show code, this website uses your browser’s default monospace typeface.

Screenshot from John Jago’s website of a blog post titled, “Unstructured learning”.

Both Source Sans 3 and Pacifico are available on Google Fonts.

I was in two minds about sharing this website here – given John hasn’t posted anything to it since 2025 – but it made the cut because I wanted to show how much you can achieve with just a single typeface :)

Tim Brown

Tim Brown is Head of Typography at Adobe, so you would expect his website to be pretty cool – which is very much is. He uses Fern (David Jonathan Ross) for body text, Mallory (Frere-Jones Type) for headings, and Source Code Variable (Adobe) for monospace text.

Screenshot from Tim Brown’s website of a blog post titled, “Pableaux’s Cajun Cleanup”.

Richard Rutter: Clagnut

Finally, there’s Clagnut: the website of Richard Rutter. Richard is a designer so his website is pretty excellent too. He uses Literata (TypeTogether) for almost everything except incidental text, for which he uses IBM Plex Sans (Mike Abbink, Bold Monday).

Screenshot from the Richard Rutter’s Clagnut website of a blog post titled, “What’s new in web typography?”.

I love Literata so, typography-wise, this is one of my favourite personal blogs – probably equal to Rands in Repose, which I mentioned earlier on in this series.

What’s next?

I’ll stick with personal websites for my next post too. There are several really cool ones out there!

[Photo walk] Around the northern suburbs of Melbourne, part 14

It was a nice sunny day today and I had my camera and 40mm lens with me, so I stopped at a playground to walk around and take some photos.

Paver being overrun by wood mulch

Photo looking straight down at a round, grey paving stone that is surrounded by wood mulch that has started to cover the stone.

Hexagonal rope lattice at the centre of a birds-nest swing

Black-and-white photo of the hexagonal rope lattice that makes up the centre of a birds-nest swing at a children's playground.

Swing support A-frame

Photo of the top corner of a swing at a children’s playground.

Rocker and small slide at a children’s playground

Photo of two pieces of equipment in a children’s playground. The rocker and small slide shown in the photo are designed for younger children. The photo has been taken through a hand/foot hole that’s been cut into a plastic climbing wall located next to this equipment.

Hanging loop at a playground

Photo of a series of rope loops with handles affixed to them so that children can use them to cross from one side of the playground equipment to the other.

Hanging loops at a playground

Photo of a series of rope loops with handles affixed to them so that children can use them to cross from one side of the playground equipment to the other.

[Photo walk] Kangaroos at Northern Memorial Park

There’s a mob of Eastern Grey kangaroos that live among the red gums planted at the north-east corner of Melbourne’s Northern Memorial Park. I went over to check them out and take a couple of photos with my long lens.

(Of course I took some photos on the way there too.)

Toucan lawn ornament on a bird bath

Photo of a lawn ornament in the shape of a bird - probably a toucan - that’s been mounted on a bird bath in a residential garden.

Angel statue on a gravestone

Photo taken through some bushes of a small angel statue that's been affixed to the top of a marble gravestone in a cemetery.

Rare leucistic (white) kangaroo

In case you’re wondering, albinism is a congenital absence of pigmentation while leucism is a partial loss of pigmentation. Notably, in the latter condition the irises of your eyes don’t lose their pigmentation.

Photo of an white-coloured Eastern Grey kangaroo sitting in the shade of some gum trees.

Buff Eastern Grey kangaroo

Photo of a large, muscular Eastern Grey kangaroo sitting in the shade of a small tree, with several other regular-sized kangaroos nearby.

Part of the mob of Eastern Grey kangaroos that lives here

Photo of a mob of kangaroos in a nature reserve bordered by a motorway. Most of the kangaroos are looking at the photographer.

[Photo walk] Walking around the city and suburbs, part 4

I haven’t shared any photos this month, so here’s the first of three batches of photos I’m uploading today :)

This batch is from when I met a friend at Melbourne Central for lunch and then walked through the city on my way back to the office.

Looking up at Coop’s Shot Tower in Melbourne Central

Photo looking up at a narrow, 9 storey tall, red brick shot tower that was built in 1889. This historical tower is now preserved under a conical glass roof inside the Melbourne Central shopping centre.

Top of Coop’s Shot Tower at Melbourne Central

Photo looking up at to the very top of a narrow, 9 storey tall, red brick shot tower that was built in 1889. This historical tower is now preserved under a conical glass roof inside the Melbourne Central shopping centre. Text painted on the bricks at the top of this tower reads, “Lead Pipe & Shot Factory”.

People walking through Melbourne Central

Photo looking down at a several individuals and pairs of people walking across the mostly empty ground floor of a large shopping centre.

The clock at Melbourne Central

Photo of a very large, pocket-watch-shaped, golden-coloured clock affixed to the second-storey internal balcony of a large urban shopping centre.

Tourists watching the Melbourne Central clock play its hourly Waltzing Matilda

Photo of a very large, pocket-watch-shaped, golden-coloured clock affixed to the second-storey internal balcony of a large urban shopping centre. The clock plays the song Waltzing Matilda every hour and there is a whole group of tourists standing on the ground floor in front of the clock videoing this.

Statue of Patrick Bonaventure Geoghegan at St Francis’ Church in Melbourne

Photo of a grey marble statue of a priest with his arms outstretched in Welcome. The statue is situated on St Francis’ Church, the first Catholic church in Victoria, for which Fr Patrick laid the foundation stone in 1841.

Apartment building on Flinders Street in Melbourne

Photo looking at the top of a wide, multi-storey apartment block.

Avenir alternatives – follow-up

I’ve updated my ‘Avenir alternatives’ post with three typefaces that I think work better than the ones I’d originally recommended back in January this year.

What’s changed?

Recommended paid alternatives

Chesna Grotesk from Horizon Type is my new favourite paid alternative to Avenir.

Hint from Paratype and Sailec from Type Dynamic remain my other two recommended paid alternatives.

I’ve dropped Noah from Fontfabric from my list of recommendations. It wasn’t my favourite alternative anyway.

Recommended free alternatives

I’ve replaced Figtree from Eric Kennedy with Satoshi from Indian Type Foundry. Figtree is a better alternative to Frutiger than it is to Avenir. Satoshi, on the other hand, is an interesting blend of Avenir and Futura, which I really like.

I’ve replaced Poppins from Indian Type Foundry with DM Sans from Colophon Foundry. DM Sans is actually based on the Latin character set of Poppins, though with an expanded glyph set, additional weights, and accompanying serif display typefaces (DM Serif Display for larger headings and DM Serif Text for smaller headings).

Montserrat from Julieta Ulanovsky and others remains as my third recommended free alternative.

Typefaces I don’t recommend

When you look online for recommended alternatives to Avenir, you get a pretty long list. Many of the most commonly recommended alternatives are not typefaces that I would recommend, and here’s why:

  • I don’t recommend Nunito Sans and Mulish because they’re both too neutral and, therefore, don’t have the elegance of Avenir. I would classify Nunito Sans as stylish, but not necessarily as elegant.

  • Metropolis is a good Gotham alternative, not a great Avenir alternative. (Yes, I know Gotham is sometimes recommended as an Avenir substitute.)

  • Geologica, Hind, Kumbh Sans, Manrope, and Sen are all decent enough alternatives (ie they’re geometric typefaces that are somewhat elegant and humanistic) but they are limited to only upright letters (ie they don’t have italics).

  • Plus Jakarta Sans is nice, but go for that if you want to use its cool stylistic alternative characters, not if you want an alternative to Avenir.

  • Microsoft’s Segoe UI and Corbel are good Frutiger alternatives, not Avenir alternatives.

  • Adobe’s Gibson, Europa, and Objectiv are all supposed to be good paid alternatives to Avenir, but I actively avoid Adobe subscriptions so I haven’t been able to test and closely compare them.

  • TT Chocolates is a good paid alternative to Avenir, but it’s a little pricey.

What hasn’t changed?

Avenir is still one of my favourite typefaces and it remains too expensive for most people to use, so the search for a good, well-priced alternative keeps on going too :)

On repeat: new single from The War on Drugs

I can’t stop listening to “Who’s That”, the new single from The War on Drugs (ie the fantastic rock band out of Philadelphia, USA).

Not only is the song itself gorgeous, its release suggests a new studio album is on its way – which is super exciting news because the band hasn’t released one of those since 2021!

Their last release was the live album, Live Drugs Again, in late 2024 – for which YouTube gave me a ‘Top Listener’ badge in January 2025 :)

Graphic showing top-listern badges received on YouTube Music. These include badges for Elderbrook, St. Vincent, The War on Drugs, The Goo Goo Dolls, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Madonna, and Charli xcx.

Here’s hoping they release a new album soon and then come back to tour in Australia in 2027. *crosses fingers*

In the meantime, I guess I’ll just keep listening to this song over and over again!

Why the Sinn 903 and not the Breitling Navitimer?

For my fiftieth birthday I got a Sinn 903 St II chronograph (AU $5,600) instead of saving up for several years till I could afford a Breitling Navitimer B01 Chronograph 43 (AU $13,890).

(Read my previous post if you want to know why I picked that specific watch and not one of the other mechanical chronographs I’d shortlisted.)

Graphic showing the promotional photos of two wristwatches from two separate brands that look almost identical. Text below these watches reads, “Sinn 903 St II” and “Breitling Navitimer B01 Chronograph 41”.

I made that decision because the latest Sinn 903 series of watches (ie the mark-two models released from 2024 onwards) suit me better than watches from the modern Breitling Navitimer line up (ie the ones that use the B01 movement and were released from 2009 onwards).

This is for three reasons:

  1. Modern tool watch. The Sinn 903 St II watches are proper modern tool watches while current-day Breitling Navitimers have specs that are similar to modern field or dress watches. For my fiftieth birthday I wanted a practical, relatively hard-wearing tool watch and the Sinn 903 fit the bill.

  2. Cost per wear. Breitling Navitimers are blingy and expensive looking, which means I wouldn’t want to wear one all the time. Of course they don’t just look expensive, they are expensive, which means their cost-per-wear is too high for me.

  3. Brand association. Breitling has a fantastic history and the Navitimer is a historic series of watches, but Sinn has its own reputation of building seriously tough tool watches for the modern age. The Sinn 903 mark-two series is also more historically accurate in its design – meaning it looks more like the Navitimer versions I saw advertised, and subsequently fell in love with, in the 1980s. This combination of being historically accurate in terms of design but incredibly modern in terms of manufacture was a win-win for me.

Of course I’m not going to just leave it there :) Let’s talk about each of these reasons in a little more detail so I can explain why the Sinn 903 was the better watch for me.

Modern tool watch for aviators

The Breitling Navitimer was launched in 1952, and if you’ve read my previous post, you’ll know that Sinn purchased the Navitimer design from Breitling when the latter went bankrupt in 1979 due to the influx of lower-cost, but much more accurate quartz watches [1]. Sinn also bought Breitling’s Navitimer watch parts and machinery, but not the Navitimer brand name itself.

The rest of Breitling was purchased by Ernest Schneider who, over the 1980s, revised, refreshed, and rebuilt the Breitling brand.

What’s relevant to our discussion is that, from this point forwards, the Navitimer design evolved along two separate paths.

Graphic showing the promotional photos of three wristwatches. Text below these watches reads, “Sinn 903 St II (2024, 41mm case)”; “Breitling Navitimer Mk8 Ref. 806 (1968, 40.2mm case)”; and “Breitling Navitimer B01 Chronograph 41 (2011, 41mm case)”.

Breitling Navitimer: a modern luxury watch

Under Schneider’s leadership, Breitling moved from the tool watch space to the luxury watch space, and so its Navitimers were evolved into luxury watches – starting with the ‘Old Navitimer’ model launched in 1986 which had a gold bracelet option.

Here’s how the these watches evolved at Breitling:

  • Standard Navitimers dials were simplified, with the time scale – ie the inner-most scale on the original dial – removed to make the dial cleaner.

Graphic showing the cropped promotional photos of two wristwatches along with some annotations. The annotation on one watch reads, “Time scale on the Sinn 903 St II” and this points to said time scale printed on this watch’s dial. The annotation on the second watch reads, “No time scale on the Breitling Navitimer B01 Chronograph 41” and this points to a blank space on the watch dial where the time scale would have been.

  • Luxury elements were introduced. These included gold cases and bracelets; moon-phase complications; perpetual calendar movements; and collaborative special editions.

  • Standard-model cases became thinner (13.6mm vs 14.5mm for the 903s) but larger case sizes were now on offer: 43mm and 46mm in diameter, instead of just the 41mm original.

  • The water resistance rating of these watches, however, was kept at 30m. In the modern era of watchmaking, the only watches with 30-50m of water resistance are dress watches, “everyday” watches, and some lower-end field watches. Modern tool watches like dive, field, and aviation watches have at least 100m of water resistance across pretty much their entire price range.

Sinn 903: a modern tool watch

Sinn, the German watch manufacturer founded in 1961 as an aviation watch brand, has a different ethos, with a focus on “functionality, reliability, and technical prowess”. The 903 series evolved accordingly, while staying true to its 1970s-era design.

Here’s how these watches evolved (or didn’t) at Sinn:

  • Dials layouts weren’t changed from the 1970s versions (ie all the scales are still there) and cases sizes were kept at 41mm.

  • Instead of luxury elements being added, the construction of the watch was brought up to modern tool-watch manufacturing standards. The 903 II series, for example, was engineered to have a whopping 200m of water resistance! This is obviously overkill, but it is a very on-brand flex from Sinn.

Tool watch vs luxury watch

Modern Sinn 903s are tool watches, just like they were in the 1970s. Today they’re slightly anachronistic tool watches for the modern day GPS-connected, smartphone-carrying pilot, but they are very much watches that are built to modern tool-watch standards – which is what I was after. [2]

Modern Breitling Navitimers are luxury watches, though they still work as tool watches. I think these watches are fantastic, and I would love to own one, but when you’re after a robust tool watch, this isn’t the watch for you.

Cost per wear calculation

With its complex visual presence and highly-polished case, the Navitimer is a shiny, blingy, and unmistakeably expensive luxury watch. I can totally rock that look, but only on occasion. Shiny, blingy, and unmistakeably expensive isn’t my usual style, so this isn’t something I’d want to wear all the time.

The 903 on the other hand, has a combination satin/polished case (instead of an all-polished case) and that makes it look less blingy. Yes, this is a pretty thick watch – meaning it does have a certain wrist presence – but being a little less eye-catching than a Navitimer means I’m comfortable wearing it more often.

Close-up photo of a man’s wrist, on which he is wearing a mechanical watch. The man is seated at his desk at work. The watch has black dial, cream coloured hands, and three white coloured sub-dials. This watch is a chronograph so it has two pushers on the side that are used to start and reset the chronograph function.

Given all that, the cost-per-wear calculation for a Navitimer just doesn’t add up. And because a new 903 costs 40% of what new Navitimer costs, the cost-per-wear calculation for the 903s does add up.

Does this mean I’ll never buy a luxury watch because of the cost-per-wear factor? Nope. If someone was to give me twenty thousand dollars right now to spend on watches for myself, I’d buy an Omega Speedmaster first…and then I’d go buy the Sinn 903 :) A brand new Navitimer just isn’t the first luxury watch I’d buy. [3]

Brand association trade-off

While the Sinn 903 might not be as refined or historically significant as the Breitling Navitimer, it more than makes up for this by being a robust and understated (though still gorgeous) timepiece that I can see myself wearing all the time.

Meaning, as a tool-watch guy, in a head-to-head comparison, the Sinn 903 series works better for me than the current Navitimer offerings from Breitling.

Also, with its more complicated, more historically-faithful dial layout, the Sinn 903 is closer to the Navitimers I fell in love with when I saw them advertised in glossy magazines in the 1980s. Sinn’s 903s are modernised, beefed-up versions of those older watches, and so they’re the ones I wanted to go with.

Ultimately, what I’m doing is making a brand-association trade-off: a modern, seriously robust tool watch over a modern, luxury tool watch. Both are great; I just wanted the former.

To sum up

When I was presented with the choice of saving up to get a modern Navitimer in the future or to get a Sinn 903 now – a watch that’s an even tool-watch-ier version of a 1970s-era Navitimer – I chose the latter.

Having made my choice and, as the brand new owner of this most fantastic of watches, I have absolutely no regrets :)

Very close-up photo of half of a watch dial of the Sinn 903 St II.

[1] The rest of the world calls this the “quartz revolution” in watchmaking while the Swiss watch industry calls it the “quartz crisis”. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[2] If you want a truly modern tool watch for pilots, you should look at getting an aviation-focused Garmin watch, like the D2 Mach 2, D2 Air X15, or MARQ Aviator. Or you should get a Casio G-Shock GRAVITYMASTER from its ‘Master of G: Air’ line of watches.

[3] I might still buy a Breitling in the future, but it’ll be a pre-owned one and it might not be a Navitimer. Also, buying a luxury watch (whether first- or second-hand) is not something I’m even going to think about till I’m in my sixties!

A chronograph for turning 50

tl;dr After a great deal of research, for my 50th birthday I asked for and received a Sinn 903 St II wristwatch. This mechanical chronograph is a modern evolution of a 1970s-model Breitling Navitimer, but one that was developed and manufactured by the German watchmaker Sinn.

Birthdays, particularly notable birthdays, are a good time to ask for (or buy for yourself) something special that you want but don’t need. For me that special thing is wristwatches and, happily, I’ve asked for and received several over the years.

(My family and friends are awesome.)

A special watch every five years

When I turned 40 in 2016, Nadia and my friends got together and bought me a Seagull 1963 Airforce. This is a dress watch (at least by current standards) with a basic mechanical chronograph complication that was built for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force in 1963.

Close-up photo of a man wearing a relatively small, stainless steel mechanical watch on his wrist on a brown leather strap. The watch has a cream coloured dial, gold coloured applied numerals, blue-coloured hours/minutes hands, and a red-coloured chronograph seconds-hand.

To celebrate turning 45 in 2021, I wanted to get a nice dive watch that could also be a GADA watch (GADA = Go Anywhere, Do Anything). The watch I went with was the 60th Anniversary Oris Divers 65 with a black-and-blue dial. I love this watch and have worn it more than any other watch in the last five years.

Close-up photo of a man wearing a stainless steel mechanical watch on his wrist on a blue-and-black woven cloth strap. The watch has black and deep-blue coloured dial, cream coloured numerals in a retro 1960s typeface, and silver coloured hands.

Now it’s 2026 and I’m turning 50, and this year I wanted to get a nicer mechanical chronograph. This didn’t have to be a GADA watch, but I did want it to be a genuine tool watch and perhaps even a flex watch.

Deciding which chronograph to get

The only mechanical chronograph I own – the Seagull 1963 Airforce that I got for my fortieth – is one I don’t wear much these days because it’s a light-coloured dress watch and I’m usually in dark-coloured casual clothes. [1]

Also, the watch itself is quite basic. It may be shiny and pretty, but:

  • its styling isn’t particularly sophisticated;

  • its production is mass-market;

  • it’s powered by the the Chinese-made ST1901 movement, the cheapest mechanical chronograph movement available; and

  • it’s not even a particularly useful chronograph because, as a dress watch, its legibility-at-a-glance is severely limited.

What I was after now was a mechanical chronograph with:

  • a nicer, more functional, more tool-watch-ey design;

  • much nicer styling, manufacture, and finishing; and

  • a better chronograph movement, like the Japanese-made Seiko 8R48 or the Swiss-made ETA/Valjoux 7753.

So that’s what I went looking for.

Screenshot from the Time & Tide web store showing a grid of chronograph wristwatches that are available.

Creating a longlist

I started my research broadly, by looking at all the chronographs that are out there [2]. I didn’t focus on price, though I did stop looking at anything that cost more than $15k. Watches that cost more than $15k when new weren’t going to be affordable to me even on the secondary market.

All prices mentioned here are in Australian dollars, by the way.

Looking without shortlisting let me figure out what I liked, what I didn’t like, and what I’d have to settle for in a chronograph – like watches that are 14mm thick (or more) where I normally wear watches in the 10-12mm thickness range.

Through this browsing I was able to set a minimum price above which the design and functionality I wanted became readily available. This came to roughly $3k.

Next I created approximate price bands based on functionality, design, aesthetics, and brand premium:

  • Basic chronographs, $3-4k: Basic mechanical chronograph functionality; wide range of design aesthetics; relatively low water resistance (only 30-50m in many cases). Brands like Hamilton, Baltic, Tissot, and Junghans are represented here.

  • Enthusiast/tool-watch chronographs, $4-5k: Better movements (eg column-wheel chronographs, longer power reserves); higher grade construction (eg 100m water resistance); higher brand premiums; and better finishing. Here you’ll start to see brands like Sinn, Seiko, and Hanhart; as well as some Longines models on the secondary market.

  • Quasi-luxury chronographs, $5-6k: Higher grade construction (eg 200m water resistance, open case back); better finishing; and even higher brand premiums. This is where we get into Longines and where we also find some higher-tier Sinn models and some Oris models that are on sale.

  • Higher tier quasi-luxury chronographs, $6-10k: Better movements (eg even longer power reserves); less bulky (eg smaller diameter, thinner); better finishing; and still higher brand premiums. This is where you’ll find higher-tier Longines models and where brands like Oris, Frederique Constant, and Baume & Mercier come into the picture.

  • Entry-level luxury chronographs, $10k-15k: Even better finishing; even higher brand premiums; additional chronograph functionality (eg fly-back chronograph movements). This is when you get to proper “luxury” brands like Omega, Breitling, Zenith, Tudor, and Tag Heuer.

Finally, based on these price bands and my budget, I set my maximum price for a new or pre-owned watch. This came to roughly $6k, with a little wiggle room if needed.

Shortlisting criteria

Based on my preferences and what I learned from my initial research, I came up with a list of requirements that I could use to create my shortlist:

Movement type: Mechanical chronograph of any construction (ie column or cam wheel; vertical or horizontal clutch).

Size: 38–42mm in diameter; as thin as possible.

Price range: AU $3,000 to $6,000.

Sub-dial configuration: Bicompax or tricompax – I think bicompax sub-dials look cooler but the tricompax configuration is more functional.

Graphic showing promotional photos of two black-dial, stainless steel wristwatches side by side. Text next to the first watch reads, “Bicompax sub-dial configuration” and “Omega Speedmaster ‘57”. This watch has two sub-dials. Text next to the second watch reads, “Tricompax sub-dial configuration” and “Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional”. This watch has three sub-dials.

Dial design: Ideally, contrasting sub-dials in a panda configuration or a reverse-panda configuration – though other dial-colour configurations would do if the design is really good (like the Omega Speedmasters in the graphic above).

Graphic showing three things: the photo of a panda’s face and the promotional photos of two stainless steel wristwatches. Text next to the panda reads, “Panda” and “Panda in China”. Text next to the first watch reads, “Panda dial” and “Tudor Black Bay Chrono”. The design of this watch resembles the panda’s face in that it has a white dial and two horizontally-oriented, black sub-dials that represent the panda’s eyes. Text next to the second watch reads, “Reverse-panda dial” and “Tudor Black Bay Chrono”. This watch has a black dial and two horizontally oriented, white sub-dials.

Style: Aviation and field styles watches over dive and dress styles watches – think more Omega Speedmaster, Zenith Chronomaster, and Breitling Navitimer and less Oris Divers Sixty-Five Chronograph, Baltic Scalegraph, and Junghans Max Bill Chronoscope.

Graphic showing two groups of three wristwatches each. Text above the first group reads, “YES: aviation, field style”. Text below this group reads, “L-R: Omega Speedmaster; Zenith Chronomaster; Breitling Navitimer”. Text above the first group reads, “NO: dive, dress style”. Text below this group reads, “L-R: Oris Divers Sixty-Five Chronograph; Baltic Scalegraph; Junghans Max Bill Chronoscope”.

Inspiration: Watches that draw inspiration from, broadly reference, or make me feel how I feel when I look at my dream chronographs.

My dream chronographs

Graphic showing the promotional photos of five wristwatches. Text below these watches reads, “Breitling Navitimer B01 Chronograph; Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional; TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph; Zenith Chronomaster Original Automatic; and A. Lange & Söhne Datograph”.

I have five dream chronographs:

The first three of those watches got imprinted on me when I saw them in magazines as a kid in the 1980s – advertising works, folks! – and the last two I fell in love with when I properly got into wristwatches (because I could now afford nicer ones) about sixteen years ago.

Will I ever buy any of my dream chronographs? Yes! My plan is to get the Omega Speedmaster for my 60th birthday, but I don’t think I’ll get any of the others. Why?

  • The Breitling Navitimer is probably my grail watch, but it is very shiny and I’m not sure its something I’ll wear often – which, for me, defeats the purpose of buying an expensive watch.

  • The TAG Heuer Monaco is super cool, but it doesn’t match my usual style – meaning I’d only want to wear it with certain outfits. So, again, I don’t see the point in buying a luxury watch if I’m not going to wear it all, or at least most, of the time.

  • The Zenith Chronomaster is fantastic, but I suspect (hope?) the Speedmaster will have already scratched my tricompax chronograph itch.

  • Unless I win the lottery, and probably not even then, I don’t think I’ll ever buy the Lange Datograph!

Creating a shortlist

Graphic showing the promotional photos of six wristwatches. Text below these watches reads, “Tissot Telemeter 1938; Hamilton American Classic Intra-Matic Chronograph H; Hamilton Khaki Aviation Converter Auto Chrono; Seiko Prospex Speedtimer; Longines Avigation Big Eye; and Sinn 903 St II”.

In the end, these were the six watches that made it to my shortlist (in increasing order of price):

Let’s look at them one by one.

Tissot Telemeter 1938

If you’re wondering after all my talk of requirements and preferences how this style of watch of made it through my shortlisting criteria, the answer is simple: I adore pulsometer watches! Or, more generally, I love watches with spiral or contrasting-colour scales printed on the dial or the crystal.

Pulsometer watches have been around since the early 1700s and the coolest recent release in that style was the 2015 limited edition Longines Pulsometer Chronograph. I would love to get my hands on this watch, but it isn’t available anywhere.

Graphic showing the promotional photos of a wristwatches with text below it that reads, “Longines Pulsometer Chronograph”.

Probably the nicest pulsometer watches available right now are the Omega Speedmaster Chronoscope series. My favourite is the version with blue spiral track, though the panda version with the red spiral track is cool too.

Graphic showing the promotional photos of two wristwatches with text below them that reads, “Omega Speedmaster Chronoscope”.

All this to say that, when the white-dial Tissot Telemeter 1938 ($3,500) came up in my research, it went straight onto my shortlist. The black-dial version is pretty cool too.

Graphic showing the promotional photos of two wristwatches with text below them that reads, “Tissot Telemeter 1938”.

I checked out both these watches in Tissot’s Melbourne boutique. Sadly, they felt a little unwieldy on my wrist. Also, the black-dial version, while gorgeous, isn’t super legible and is therefore not practical as a chronograph (even though it’d be great as a dress watch). I guess this is a case of watches looking cooler in photos than they are in the metal – at least as far as my current taste in watches and my current watch-buying objectives are concerned.

STATUS: Removed from the shortlist.

Hamilton American Classic Intra-Matic Chronograph H

I fell in love with Hamilton’s Intra-Matic Chronograph series many years ago. In fact, when I decided I was going to get a nice mechanical chronograph for my fiftieth birthday, these were the watches I thought of first.

While I love the automatic, panda version from this series, my favourite is the black-dial, manual-wind, reverse panda: the Hamilton American Classic Intra-Matic Chronograph H ($3,650).

Graphic showing the promotional photos of two wristwatches with text below them that reads, “Hamilton American Classic Intra-Matic Chronograph H” and “Hamilton American Classic Intra-Matic Auto Chrono”.

Funnily enough, it was only while writing this post that I consciously realised that, even though they’re parsecs apart in quality, looks-wise the reverse-panda Intra-Matic for me scratches the same itch as the A. Lange & Söhne Datograph!

Graphic showing the promotional photos of two wristwatches with text below them that reads, “Hamilton American Classic Intra-Matic Chronograph H” and “A. Lange & Söhne Datograph Up/Down”.

Time & Tide, our local Hamilton authorised dealer (AD) didn’t have the reverse-panda version in stock, but I did check out the blue-dial version, which is also super cool.

Status: Black-dial version moved to the top of the shortlist.

Hamilton Khaki Aviation Converter Auto Chrono

I think it’s obvious why the Hamilton Khaki Aviation Converter Auto Chrono ($3,650) made it to my shortlist: its converter dial is reminiscent of the Breitling Navitimer.

The black-dial version of this watch is cool, but I think the blue-dial version is cooler.

Graphic showing the promotional photos of two wristwatches with text below them that reads, “Hamilton Khaki Aviation Converter Auto Chrono”.

I have over the years considered getting one of the quartz-based flight chronographs that pay homage to the Navitimer and Speedmaster: watches like the Citizen Promaster Sky or the Islander Calverton Flight Chronograph (which itself was inspired by the discontinued Seiko Flightmaster).

Graphic showing the promotional photos of two wristwatches. Text below these reads, “Citizen Promaster Sky” and “Islander Calverton Flight Chronograph”.

I never got around to buying one of these though, so this could be my chance to get something in that style but with a mechanical movement.

Sadly, when I tried on this watch at my local AD, it didn’t work. Yes, the watch fit physically on my wrist, it just didn’t have the presence or vibe that I connected with. Oh well.

Status: Removed from the shortlist.

Seiko Prospex Speedtimer

The Seiko Speedtimer has a long history. Released in 1970 as the world’s second automatic chronograph (after the Zenith El Primero in 1969) a slightly newer version of this watch even made it into space in 1973 with American astronaut William Pogue.

Seiko didn’t do much with the Speedtimer during the quartz era, but they revived it in 2021 and have since released a bunch of mechanical and solar-quartz versions.

The black-dial version of the Seiko Prospex Speedtimer ($3,900) is my favourite, but the white-dial version is pretty cool too. And there are many other dial-colour variations to choose from.

Graphic showing the promotional photos of two wristwatches, one with a black dial and one with a white dial, with text below them that reads, “Seiko Prospex Speedtimer”.

People also love this watch because versions of it scratch the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional and Rolex Cosmograph Daytona itch for a fraction of the price – specifically the SRQ055 and SSC911 shown in the graphic below.

Graphic showing the promotional photos of four wristwatches in two pairs, with some resemblance between the watches that have been paired. Text below the first pair reads, “Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional” and “Seiko Prospex Speedtimer”. Text below the first pair reads, “Rolex Cosmograph Daytona” and “Seiko Prospex Speedtimer”.

I checked out these Speedtimers at two local ADs – and I looked at both the 39mm and 42mm diameter versions – but ultimately decided that, if I was going to get one, I’d get a solar-quartz version ($1,150, but currently on sale for $851) at some point in the future.

Status: Eliminated from the shortlist. (Well, at least from my current birthday shortlist.)

Longines Avigation Big Eye

I was very curious about this watch when I first heard about it. Its design feels like that of a flieger-style aviation watch (which is a style I love) merged with the Omega Speedmaster (which is another style I love) but with the added twist of the 3 o’clock sub-dial being larger than the others – hence the “big eye” name.

Graphic showing the promotional photos of three wristwatches in a mathematical equation. Text below these reads, “Stowa Flieger Classic” plus “Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional” equals the “Longines Avigation Big Eye”.

I initially didn’t shortlist this watch because I thought it was out of my price range, but then I realised I was looking at the blue-dial titanium version ($6,500) and not the black-dial, stainless steel Longines Avigation Big Eye ($5,075 full price, but was on a 30%-off sale).

Graphic showing the promotional photos of two wristwatches, one with a black dial and one with a blue/black gradient dial, with text below them that reads, “Longines Avigation Big Eye”.

The black-dial version wasn’t in stock at my local AD or the Melbourne Longines flagship store, but the flagship store did have the titanium, blue-dial version which I got to check out.

Sadly, this watch just didn’t grab me.

Yes, there is a lot going for it: it is gorgeous, very well-executed, and runs on a high-grade chronograph movement. It was also on a 30%-off, end-of-financial-year sale when I saw it, which is probably the best price I’ll ever get for it.

The problem is that I already own two watches that have the same flieger / aircraft instrument panel look. These are the Stowa Flieger Classic 40 Baumuster B and the Techné GosHawk (Techné being a brand created by a former Longines watch designer).

Graphic showing the promotional photos of three wristwatches with text below them that reads, “Stowa Flieger Classic 40 Baumuster B”, “Techné GosHawk”, and “Longines Avigation Big Eye”.

I wanted a special watch for my fiftieth birthday, not one that’s in the same style as two watches I already own. So, disappointingly, I had to let this one go.

This is not to say I don’t think this watch is cool – it is cool, and I can totally see myself wearing it and loving it – but it’s just not the right watch for me right now.

Status: Moved to second place on my shortlist, but with the knowledge that I’m not going to buy it this time around.

Sinn 903 St II

The final watch on my shortlist was the Sinn 903 St II ($5,600). And while its blue-dial version is cool, I think its OG black-dial version is cooler.

Graphic showing the promotional photos of two wristwatches, one with a black dial and one with a blue dial, with text below them that reads, “Sinn 903 St II” and “Sinn 903 St BE II”.

“But Ameel,” you exclaim, “the Sinn 903 looks just like the Breitling Navitimer! Isn’t this design just a blatant rip-off of the watch you love so much?”

Graphic showing the promotional photos of two wristwatches from two separate brands that look almost identical. Text below these watches reads, “Sinn 903 St II” and “Breitling Navitimer B01 Chronograph 41”.

My reply would be a rather irritating, “You’re not wrong; but you’re not right either.”

I’ll let Brice Goulard, writing in Monochrome, explain:

Before you start commenting on the fact that this watch is a copy of the Breitling Navitimer, let me explain why you’d be right on one side, but also why Sinn has the legitimacy to do so.

Some might not know the story behind the creation of the Sinn 903 and why it is so close to a Navitimer in both design and technical specs. The story is that, back in the late 1970s, Breitling (like many other brands) was in a difficult situation due to the quartz crisis.

Parts of Breitling were liquidated in 1979 and the rights to the Navitimer were sold to the highest bidder. This resulted in Sinn, but also Ollech & Wajs, acquiring not only the design and rights to produce a watch identical to the Navitimer (the name remained the property of Sicura, then returned to Breitling) but also stocks of parts, such as cases and dials.

Sinn obtained the rights and parts of the Navitimer 806 and 809 and then produced watches under its own name with the reference 903…a model that has been in the collection for over 45 years.

So, yes, this is the Breitling Navitimer design but, no, it’s not a rip-off because Sinn legitimately owns this design as well.

Now before I started this round of research, I hadn’t seriously considered buying the Sinn 903 for two reasons:

  1. There is no Sinn AD in Australia

  2. I wasn’t a huge fan of the original Sinn 903 because the only way to rotate the slide-rule bezel was through an additional crown at the 10 o’clock position

Happily, while doing my research I learned two new things:

  1. There is now one (1) Sinn AD in Australia: Define Watches up in Noosa, Queensland

  2. In June 2024 Sinn released the 903 St II, and this upgraded version has a directly-operated slide-rule bezel along with a whole host of other minor upgrades

Woohoo!

Still, I had a problem: this watch was all the way up in Noosa, which meant I wouldn’t be able to get any hands-on time with it pre-acquisition.

So I did the next-best thing: I went into the local Breitling flagship store and checked out the 41mm version of the Navitimer :) I figured if that worked well on my wrist, then the Sinn 903 would too. Happily, it did! And I could totally picture myself wearing a slightly thicker, more tool-watch-like version of that watch very comfortably on my wrist. [3]

Status: Moved to the top of the shortlist, with the Hamilton Intra-Matic pushed down into second place and the Longines Big Eye pushed further down into third place.

Honourable mentions

Graphic showing the promotional photos of five wristwatches. Text below these watches reads, “Baltic Scalegraph Classic Panda; Sinn 356 Pilot; Junghans Telemeter; Longines Master Collection Chrono Moonphase; Oris Divers Sixty-Five Chronograph”.

Before I tell you which watch I ultimately got – as if you haven’t figured it out already – here are six honourable mentions that I want to, well, mention but not go on about:

  • If I wasn’t actively trying to avoid 1930s/40s-style watches (opting instead of 1960s/70s-style watches) I would have shortlisted the Baltic Scalegraph Classic Panda ($2,670). Also, I think it was the 1930s styling of the Tissot Telemeter 1938 chronographs that stopped me from connecting with them when I checked them out in the store.

  • The Sinn 356 Pilot ($3,550) is cool but, like I said when I talked about the Longines Avigation Big Eye earlier, I already have two flieger style watches so I didn’t shortlist this one.

  • When I’m ready to buy a telemeter watch (since I probably won’t be able to find an affordable pulsometer watch) I’ll likely get the lovely Junghans Telemeter ($4,300).

  • The Longines Master Collection Chrono Moonphase ($6,400) was outside of my budget but a great-condition version of it became available on the secondary market ($3,900) so I had to go take a look. Unfortunately, this particular watch was on display at the AD’s Sydney store and I wasn’t going to consider it without seeing it in the metal first.

  • The Oris Divers Sixty-Five Chronograph ($6,800) is great, and I might have found a version on sale that was under my budget, but I already have an Oris Divers Sixty-Five and there was no point doubling up.

Making a decision

By this point I’d pretty much decided that the Sinn 903 was the watch I was going to get.

Screenshot of the Sinn Catalogue 2025-26 showing the ‘Series 903’ watch that is described as “The navigation chronograph”. The screenshot shows the blue-dial and black-dial versions of the watch on one page and text about this series of watches on the second page.

“But why was the Sinn 903 even in consideration?” you might ask. “If you love the Breitling Navitimer so much, wouldn’t it have been better to wait till you’d saved enough money to buy the ‘real thing’?”

Normally, I would agree with that sentiment. If you’re pining for the “real thing”, there’s a decent chance you won’t be satisfied with a less costly substitute – whether that’s a replica, an homage, or something heavily inspired by what you really want.

However, this argument doesn’t work here because the Sinn 903 isn’t a substitute, it is the real thing – it’s just a version that’s built and sold by a different manufacturer.

Yes, the Sinn brand doesn’t have the same historical associations that the Breitling brand does, but as far as watches go, I actually prefer the Sinn 903 over the Breitling Navitimer. Also, I very much love the associations that the Sinn brand does have. I’ll explain all this in my next post because this post is already too long.

The real decision I needed to make was about something else.

Which version of the 903?

The Sinn Series 903 comes in two editions (standard and anniversary) and in five dial colours (black, anthracite, dark blue, green, and sunburst blue). I was pretty sure I wanted to get the standard black-dial version, but before committing to that decision I called up the folks at Define Watches to have a chat.

I wanted to ask about the standard dark-blue-dial version of this watch because, while I love a good blue dial, the blue of that dial needs to be a really good shade. My Oris Divers Sixty-Five 60th Anniversary Edition, for example, has a gorgeous, deep-blue outer dial that I adore, and this shade of blue matches, complements, or nicely contrasts with the colours of pretty much every outfit I own [4].

Close-up photo of a man wearing a stainless steel mechanical watch on his wrist on a blue-and-black woven cloth strap. The watch has black and deep-blue coloured dial, cream coloured numerals in a retro 1960s typeface, and silver coloured hands.

The person I talked to at Define Watches was Peter Petzold, one of the two co-owners, and he told me the blue of the Sinn 903 St II B E’s dial is dark blue, and that too a shade of dark blue that looks black in some light. That was great news.

I then watched a lot of YouTube videos that showed-off this dial colour in high resolution, and I came away impressed.

But even after all that investigation and exploration, I decided to go with the OG black-dial version. Why? Partly because it is the more historically accurate dial colour but mostly because this is the dial colour I fell in love with in the 1980s :)

The fact that this dial colour will never clash with any of the clothes I wear was just a bonus.

How do I feel about my decision?

I feel fantastic! And doubly so since Nadia gave me the watch on my birthday morning and I got to see it in the metal.

Looking at this watch on a screen and wearing it on my wrist are two completely different experiences, and the latter is better than I even imagined it would be.

Close-up photo of a man wearing a mechanical watch on his wrist. The watch has black dial, silver hands filled with a luminous material, and three white coloured sub-dials. This watch is a chronograph so it has two pushers on the side that are used to start and reset the chronograph function. The watch bezel is a slide rule that lets the wearer perform mathematical calculations. The man is wearing a button-down shirt with a navy-blue check, the cuff of which is covering one slice of the watch.

I was concerned, for example, that the watch would be too heavy, too bulky, or too thick. It is none of those things. It does have weight and it does sit taller on my wrist than most of my other watches, but by no means does it feel heavy or look bulky on my wrist. It also doesn’t look too blingy, which is important to me. (More on that in my next post.)

Instead, this watch fits perfectly on my wrist – both in terms of its physical size and its wrist-presence – and the gorgeous, black, vintage-style leather strap I got with it is super comfortable and holds the watch snugly at exactly where I normally wear watches.

Another cool thing that I hadn’t fully appreciated till I wore this watch was that its dial has a subtle sunburst finish that makes the dial look more dynamic than a plain matte black dial would have looked.

Close-up animated GIF of a man wearing a mechanical watch on his wrist. The watch has black dial, cream coloured hands, and three white coloured sub-dials. The man is standing outside on a sunny day and is twisting his arm towards and away from the camera, which highlights the sunburst pattern on the black dial of the watch.

I’ve only had this watch for two days, but it already fits perfectly with my entire wardrobe and is spot-on for my lifestyle.

Yes, I think I made a really good decision.

So what next?

What’s next is that, in my fifty-first year on this planet, I get to wear this most fantastic watch pretty much all the time!

Close-up photo of a man wearing a mechanical watch on his wrist while seated in the driver’s seat of a parked car. The watch has black dial, cream coloured hands, and three white coloured sub-dials. This watch is a chronograph so it has two pushers on the side that are used to start and reset the chronograph function.

And who knows, maybe I’ll get the Hamilton Intra-Matic that was in second place on my shortlist for my fifty-fifth birthday :)

[1] These days I wear mostly dark and casual clothes but, ten years ago, when I got the Seagull 1963 Airforce watch, with its champagne-coloured dial and dress-watch looks, my work “uniform” used to be khakis with a navy blue check shirt. In other words, this watch was a great fit for the old Ameel – like in the casual-Friday photo from 2019, below – but its colours clash with how the new Ameel dresses every day.

Selfie of a man standing in front of the floor-to-wall window of an office building that overlooks the city. The man is grinning and giving the camera a thumbs-up. He is wearing a textured maroon dress shirt with its sleeves rolled up. On his left wrist he is wearing a small silver watch with a cream-coloured dial: the Seagull 1963 Airforce.

[2] As part of my chronography research, I read or watched all these round-ups from Teddy Baldassarre:

[3] While at the Breitling boutique, I also tried on the 43mm Navitimer and, surprisingly, I think this size looked better on my 19cm/7.5in-diameter wrist than the 41mm version did. What can I say? Breitling watches are fucking cool.

[4] These days I mostly wear black, dark grey, navy blue, maroon, and khaki clothes, with accents in red, orange, yellow, and white. My Oris Divers Sixty-Five 60th Anniversary Edition watch goes with all of these colours, as does my new Sinn 903 St II :)

Collage of four photos, each focusing on a bald man with a salt-and-pepper beard who is wearing glasses. In two of the photos a woman is hugging this man and leaning her head on his chest. In the photos the man is wearing, respectively, a black t-shirt, a dark grey t-shirt, a grey-and-black hoodie, and a navy blue suit.

Arial and Helvetica alternatives – follow-up

I have a quick update to last year’s ‘Arial and Helvetica alternatives’ post.

I am adding a fifth typeface to the four free ones I recommended in the ‘Slightly different from Arial and Helvetica’ section.

My free favourites [updated]

These are my four five free recommendations:

  • Inter (and Inter Display) from Rasmus Andersson – also available from Google Fonts, though there these are called Inter and Inter Tight, respectively

  • Public Sans from USWDS – currently supports only the Latin writing system

  • Officer Sans Free from HvD FONTS – also has a paid version (more font weights + condensed versions)

  • Nebula Sans from Nebula – currently supports only the Latin writing system

  • [NEW] Nacelle from Dot Colon – currently supports only the Latin writing system, but it does come in thin, ultra-light, light, regular, semi-bold, bold, heavy, and black weights

Introducing Nacelle

My new recommendation, Nacelle, is a bit like Unica: the typeface that combines the strengths of Univers and Helvetica. Meaning this typeface is a little friendlier and a tad less neutral than Helvetica. For example, Nacelle has:

  • feet on the lowercase ‘l’ that makes it easier to distinguish from the uppercase ‘I’ and

  • circular tittles (ie dots) on the lowercase ‘i’ and ‘j’ instead of the square ones in Helvetica.

Nacelle was released in 2022 (as an update to Sora Sagano’s earlier typeface, Aileron) but I only really looked into it this week.

It is a cool typeface that I am happy to recommend as a more interesting alternative to Helvetica – though only if you’re going to be writing in English, since it has just a limited Latin writing system character set.

FYI, the text used in the comparison-graphic above is from the opening sentences of The Rook by Daniel O’Malley.

My favourite condensed typefaces (August 2026)

Quick update to my December 2025 favourite typefaces list.

I frequently find myself wanting to use a condensed typeface (or just a slightly narrower typeface) in my infographics, charts, graphs, and tables. So I made a list of my favourite condensed typefaces :)

Condensed typefaces

(For an explanation of the categories I’ve divided these typefaces into, read my ‘How I think about typefaces’ post.)

Now those are the condensed typefaces I use most often in graphics and tables, but here are a three more that I also use in headings:

Finally, here are two honourable mentions that you might find useful if you’re looking for a neutral typeface that is also condensed:

FYI, you’ll always find the my most up-to-date list of favourites on the ‘Typography’ page on this website.

[Photo walk] Local footy match

We’ve had a couple of sunny days in Melbourne so I’ve managed to take two nice walks around the northern suburbs this weekend.

Yesterday I took a quiet walk through a cemetery but today my environment was much more lively because I walked by a community footy ground when there was a local Youth Footy match on. (Oak Park FC v Maribyrnong Park FC, fyi.)

My Fujifilm camera isn’t designed for taking high-speed sports photos – and I am certainly not a sports photographer! [1] – but I took a few shots of the action as I walked by and I was generally pleased with the results.

Forwards waiting for the play to come to their end of the ground

Photo of a two teenage footy players from opposing teams waiting next to each other at one end of a local Aussie Rules football ground. They are both watching the play at the other end of the ground.

Running after the ball as it bounces forward

Photo of a group of teenage footy players from opposing teams converging on a bouncing football that’s near one of the goals. This game is being played on a local Aussie Rules football ground on a sunny day.

Catching the ball and getting ready to pass it forward

Photo of a group of teenage footy players from opposing teams running towards one of the players who has just caught the bouncing football in her hands. This game is being played on a local Aussie Rules football ground on a sunny day.

Getting tackled before she could make the pass

Photo of a group of teenage footy players mid-tackle on a local Aussie Rules football ground on a sunny day. One of the players has the ball and is attempting to pass it to her teammate, but she has been grabbed by a player from the opposing team and her handball-pass is being blocked by another opposing player.

[1] The last time I took photos at a local Youth Footy match I didn’t get any good photos of the action. This was over a year ago though, and it’s good to look back and see how I’ve kept improving as a photographer as I’ve gotten more practice.

Albums on repeat: Madonna, Charli XCX

Following on from my ‘Music album long list, 2026’ post from May, there are two albums that came out in July that I’ve been listening to from start to finish all month.

Madonna – Confessions II

Cover image for the Madonna album Confessions II

The first album I’ve had on repeat is Confessions II from Madonna, which is a follow-on to her 2005 Confessions on a Dance Floor.

Confessions I, as I guess we should call it now, I also an album I listened to on repeat when it was released; and ‘Forbidden Love’ and ‘Isaac’ from this are among my all-time favourite tracks of hers.

Confessions II is a gorgeously produced, intricately-layered, intimate-yet-universal concept album that is great to listen to from start to finish – especially since each song transitions so perfectly into the next.

I don’t have any favourite songs from this album yet, but I have had bits from ‘Bring Your Love’, ‘Danceteria’, ‘Love Sensation’, and ‘Love Without Words’ stuck in my head on-and-off all month.

If you want to get a feel for the album, check out ‘Confessions II - The Film’ (14 min), which is basically a six-song music video mash-up.

Charli XCX – Music, Fashion, Film

Cover for the Charli XCX album Music, Fashion, Film

I stopped listening to nothing but Confessions II on my work commute only when Charli XCX released Music, Fashion, Film on 24 July – and now I have that on repeat :)

This album is a super smart follow-up to 2024 Brat because it goes in a completely different direction: more guitars, fewer synths, and a move away from the club sound. Of course you wouldn’t expect anything less from Charli because she is hugely creative and constantly evolves her music from album-to-album.

I think this album is great, and if you think so too, check out its accompanying film: ‘Charli xcx presents Music, Fashion, Film’ (42 mins). Charli is an astute cultural observer and this film explains some of the “why” of this album.

Charli is also someone who invests in making consistently excellent music videos, and I particularly love the one for ‘Camera’ starring the fantastic Vincent Cassel. (There’s also a bit in ‘Charli xcx presents Music, Fashion, Film’ in which she pitches the idea of this music video to Vincent via voice note.)

I highly recommend you give this album a listen.

Other albums

Collage of album covers

Other albums I’ve been listening to over the last couple of months, though not on repeat, have been:

In case you were wondering…

You may have been wondering why I’m suddenly talking a lot more about music on this blog. I feel I don’t talk enough about the things that I love and that I’m enjoying reading, watching, or listening to. So I’m hoping to do more of that going forward.