Doxa manual wind watch

Doxa is another Swiss brand that almost disappeared during the 1970s when quartz watches, mainly those made in Japan, flooded the market with relatively inexpensive watches. It was supposed to have survived but to me somewhat seems obscure compared to the more popular Swiss brands. In fact, I have been to many international airports including Dubai, Schipol, Narita, Changi, Hong Kong and Incheon but haven't seen their watches there.

Simple watch face with pencil hands and no day or date complications. I like watches with sub-seconds. Its probably why I took this one.

The case body and particularly the back has been polished. I was actually more curious about the mechanism with the leather strap. Its a quick release of sorts that allows you to detach the straps from the watch.

I recorded the storage twice for this watch and I got an average of 52 hours on full winds. The watch though runs late and loses about 21 minutes per day! So I had it serviced and learned the back was actually made of zinc thus the unusual feel of the material when it was removed to show the movement. I was not able to take a photo of the movement but it was unsigned so it may be a generic movement unlike the other watches I've featured that were all signed and could be verified as either Swiss or Japanese made.

I got back the watch a couple of weeks after, and my watchman told me that it had a Swiss movement and beat at 18,000 bph. He was also surprised to learn it ran for more than 2 days after observing it a number of times. I observed it twice since and recorded about 52 hours each time.

Here's the watch on my wrist.

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Rest in peace, Mama Puring

Another beloved aunt recently passed away. Purissima Fajardo-Ermino or Mama Puring as we fondly called her was the younger sister of my mother. I had photos of her in my old album but that, too, was destroyed by the flood of 2009 (Ketsana/Ondoy). The following collage was created by a cousin who posted about our aunt's passing early last Friday, June 1st.

Mama Puring succumbed to complications after she suffered a massive stroke earlier last week. My uncle, her husband, who is a retired police officer decided against her going under surgery as the prognosis was not promising and upon conferring with relatives thought they would just be prolonging her suffering as there was no assurance of a recovery. 

Mama Puring was a public school teacher; one of many in both sides of my family. She practically raised two of my cousins from another aunt who went home immediately after learning of her stroke. She and her husband didn't have their own biological child but have an adopted daughter who was there by her side when she expired. I knew of her mostly from my mother who related on how my aunt was very generous with my cousins back in Sorsogon. Their side of the family was not an affluent one. An older aunt and uncle depended on farming to raise their two children; one of whom became a registered nurse. An uncle, the youngest among the siblings, had to work many jobs including factory worker, bus conductor and farmer. He and his wife persevered, too, and now my cousins are better off than their parents were with one cousin now with the Marines. Mama Puring helped bridge the financial gaps particularly when it came to my cousins' schooling. Hers was a very generous, unselfish heart.

My siblings and I were careful in breaking the news of her stroke to my mother. We were afraid that she would become depressed after learning of the condition of her sister. So far, so good it seems and she took the news pretty well and resigned to the fact that this was something more serious than what she herself experienced.

Paalam, Mama Puring. May your soul rest with Our Creator.

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Chocolate review: Alluvia Chocolate Cocoa Nibs

I mentioned a second Alluvia bar. I opened this while the Clairvoyant was away last May but felt I had to seeing the 'Best Before' to be a year after the production date. It was a good excuse. :)

Alluvia's dark chocolate with cocoa nibs

Details on the chocolate at the back of the package including the price tag

The cacao used for the chocolate is from an area in the Mekong Delta

There's no mention about the minimum cacao content and not so much details about the nutritional value.

The wrapper reminded me of the movie "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" with its golden ticket

Seal for this high quality chocolate

This bar turned out to be a good one despite it being way past the "Best Before" indication. I didn't get a tummy ache from eating this chocolate (over a few days) so I think its time in the refrigerator preserved it enough. It was not as smooth as the first Alluvia bar but then perhaps that's because I didn't eat it at at time it was supposed to be eaten. Add to that the cocoa nibs infused in the chocolate that also influenced the taste. I would recommend this chocolate for those who go to Vietnam and want to find some nice souvenirs. The quality, for me, was a pleasant but not a big surprise considering they should be able to grow high quality cacao in Vietnam where they already produce top quality coffee.

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