This is interesting and rather timely.

According to a study done by Elizabeth Dunn, Assistant professor of the Dapartment of Pyschology, University of British Columbia, men and women who are romantically involved react differently to receiving gifts.

Crucially, if a man receives a gift which he perceives as “bad” (less suitable than he expects) he will then rate his partner as less similar to him, with the potential for this to damage the relationship. In fact men in receipt of a “bad” gift will often rate the future of their relationship more negatively, saying for example, that they would be less likely to get married! Women however, take a positive view when receiving a “bad” gift.

The British Psychological Society has a research digest wesite, which has a very readable summary of the research here. The article is titled “Why you should take extra care when buying a gift for a man” and I think they are only half joking…..

Hi, I have updated the post with some photographs of the watches under discussion and a note on Bamfords Personal Shopper service.

This is interesting.

I have not talked about Bamford before. As many readers will know they are an award-winning clothing company, who produce classic English clothes with a modern edge. Their menswear (they also make womenswear) uses finer, lighter wools, modern styling and organic fabrics to make clothes that fit, look good and wear well.

Their style is English, structured and classic but colourful and worldly. Their design makes them the perfect clothes to wear for a country hotel weekend or any smart casual occasion which verges on the formal. Have a look at their website here for some examples of their clothes. Their black military-cut fieldjacket is a thing of beauty in its own right.

Four years ago, George Bamford created the beginnings of a specialist watch department by creating a collection of customised Rolexes. He applied a high-grade military PVD (Physical Vapour Deposition) to a selected set of Rolexes and produced a new classic in the Bamford PVD Daytona Rolex. PVD is best thought of as a finish on the surface of the metal which is bonded at the molecular level. This means that the finish is difficult to rub off and does not easily fade.

Now Bamford have produced an additional service which allows customers to design their own Rolex, from one of several models. You can try this on the website here. The Bamford Watch page has a link that allows you to customise a Rolex Submariner online. Click on the link and the interactive web page allows you to customise the bracelet, dial, date wheel, date, reverse engraving and add a face engraving. Of all of these options I liked the face engraving facility most of all. It seems to me that this facility really helps you to design a unique watch.

I have often thought that Bamford have very original ideas (see their company policy on using organic materials) and this is a really good one.

Why do I like this so much? As we know, each man’s birthright is to create his own style and this is a real step towards allowing us to do that. Also, as a creative man, it gives me the ability to try out my own ideas before I commission a definitive watch. Try it at no obligation (as they say in the better stores), its fun and you get to design the watch you really want.

Update – This service is avaialable as part of the Personal Shopper service that Bamford offer.