11. The Watch — Richard Lange (Platinum)
I’m wearing the platinum Richard Lange. Left to my own preferences, I’d have chosen the white-gold case with all three blued-steel hands — I’m partial to blued steel. But because my wife chose the pink-gold case, with solid pink-gold hour and minute hands, I matched her by going with the platinum case, whose hour and minute hands are solid white gold.
12. The Watch — Richard Lange (Pink Gold)
My wife’s pink-gold Richard Lange. It runs a little large for a woman’s wrist, but my wife was an athlete in her younger years and has the hand to carry a men’s watch without it looking out of place — which is why we settled on the Richard Lange.
The pink gold case has a quiet brightness to it — it suits a woman beautifully — which is the other reason we chose it. Her daily watches are a steel-bracelet Cartier Ballon Bleu and a Tank Française, so on days when she isn’t wearing the Richard Lange, I sometimes borrow it.
13. The 501XX with the Richard Lange
I rarely wear a leather-strap watch with the 501XX, but the Richard Lange is, strictly speaking, not a dress watch — it’s a wristwatch built as an homage to the precision regulators and observation watches of an earlier era, and that instrument quality lets it sit with denim without feeling forced. I tend to wear it this way when there are leather shoes on my feet.
14. The Shoes — Marini Oxford
With the Brioni trousers, I wear Marini’s semi-brogue oxford. Both are Rome ateliers, so they share a register naturally — and the small brogueing keeps the look from going as severely formal as a plain cap-toe would, which is why these get worn often.
15. The Shoes — Marini Derby
When I want a leather shoe with denim, the Marini derby is what I usually reach for. The color, the grain treatment, and a slightly squared, gently elongated upper bring just the right note of formality to a denim outfit.
Detail
- Sartoria Formosa, bespoke
- 100% cashmere (vintage cloth)
- Three-button front
- Fully lined
- Four-button cuff with working buttonholes (surgeon’s cuff)
- Patch chest and side pockets
- Deep side vents
Combination
- Sartoria Formosa cashmere jacket
- Denim: Levi’s 501XX (1954)
- Denim: Visvim
- Trousers: Brioni
- Silk knit: Tom Ford
- Shirt: FRAY
- Tie: Marinella
- Shoes (derby): Marini
- Shoes (oxford): Marini
- Sneakers: Visvim
- Watch: Richard Lange (Platinum) — A. Lange & Söhne
- Watch: Richard Lange (Pink Gold) — A. Lange & Söhne
What I Like
- A refined silhouette with a measured fit
- A build that absorbs ordinary movement without losing its line
- 100% cashmere, warm enough to wear through deep winter
- The range it carries across configurations
- Cloth and tailoring that don’t hold ugly creases when worn casually
Things to Keep in Mind
- It’s bespoke — no one else can have the same one
- Repairs ideally would go back to Formosa, but in practice that isn’t realistic
- To commission a Formosa myself would mean traveling to Naples