Laco Miyota Black Automatik 42

[Uwe W.]

I was pretty happy to receive a Miyota Black Auto 42 yesterday and am quite pleased with my purchase.

It's been a while since I bought a Laco with a Miyota movement, so it was interesting to see the updated rotor through the watch's display back. Even before I had a chance to compare the Miyota Black Auto to my Miyota JU52, it was obvious that the Black had a taller overall case height (see photo below). This small difference is more than enough to transform the watch's wrist presence and it feels beefier than the Miyota Marine and B-Uhr models.

The focal point of this watch for me is its hands. Slender and elegantly shaped, both the hour and minute hand taper to a needle sharp point that makes them extremely precise in their time keeping function. A particularly enjoyable moment occurs once every hour when the minute hand eclipses the hour hand and their profiles perfectly mesh to form one bold pointer. The red second hand is another distinguishing feature of the watch and it really jumps off the black dial.

As much as the hands are my favourite component, they pose an interesting challenge too. Initially I found myself mixing the two up; a quick glance at the watch often had me confusing the hour hand for the minute hand. This might not sound like a very good situation, but it was an entertaining exercise in object memory. Not to worry, if you wear the Black on a regular basis you quickly become accustomed to the differences in the shape of the hands; they are a design element that I certainly wouldn't want to change in any way.

The only element of this watch that I would like to change is its strap - even though its buckle has a wonderful satin finish that would have looked ideal had it been used for the case too. The strap's length is good (for my 7.5 in. wrist), and it's well made, but it has two elements that I detest: it's tapered and it's padded. The taper takes it down from 20 to 18 mm in width, so the strap looks disproportionately small compared to the Black's case. However, its grey colour is a perfect match for the watch and is historically correct, which means I'm happy to use it for now until I can replace it with a more robust grey strap.

I had wanted this model since its release, mostly because it's nearly identical to a rare vintage Stowa that I own (see photos). I managed to hold off on buying it for a long time, but I recently caved with the recent upswing in its popularity here in the forum. Although the photos other WUS members posted here were too much for me to resist, I'm really glad that I finally got around to buying this particular Laco.

[Lenny0264]

Uwe, Congrats on your recent acquisiton. Very nice write up.
Yes I find the hands a challenge as well at times. It becomes more difficult when viewing the lume as the hand sizes reverse.
I am also looking to change out the band, but I think I will go for something black. A Di Modell Chronissimo possibly.
Wear yours in good health, glad you decided to cave.

[LH2]

Congrats on the new acquisition, it looks good Uwe. I like this model too, but see how the hour & minute hands could be confused at a glance if you're not used to wearing it, although that would quickly pass with some wrist time. The red seconds hand is a nice touch too.

[kubelwagen]

Congrats Uwe! That makes us three happy owners from Lenny0264's initial thread. You're right about the hands, my first thoughts were: have set it wrong? It even got confusing when viewed in lume. It takes a while on to get used to it. Overall, its quite a nice piece, I would say.

[Uwe W.]

You're right about the hands, my first thoughts were: have set it wrong? It even got confusing when viewed in lume. It takes a while on to get used to it.

I suspect it's only an issue for those of us who rotate watches on a daily basis. When you look at them carefully, it's obvious that the two hands are very different, so I'm not sure where the confusion starts. I suggested that it had something to do with object memory, or how our brain increases the processing speed of what we see by drawing upon shapes that are familiar to us. Interestingly, I haven't been tripped up by the lume because I've already associated the smaller footprint with the minute hand.

Despite this interesting oddity, I really wouldn't want to change the hands in any way. They really are one of the things that I like most about the watch.

[Clockwork Blue]

Thanks for this post, Uwe. This watch has a great retro vibe to it, very nice piece. A classic for sure, congrats.

[lukeeesteve]

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