I still remember when I first stumbled across this forum at the tail-end of 2005. I had just started collecting at that point - I already knew it was Carreras for me, but this seemed a source of much more information than I had been able to find until then.

So there were lots of posts to read and information to absorb, but some of the posters really stood out for me. One of those was Chuck. It wasn't only the style of his posts (if you've not seen them, use the search function and look for posted by "Chicagoland Chuck Maddox"), replying to all the individual points in a post but it was also what was in them. The man knew his stuff.

But not in a daunting way. At first, like a lot of people, I was a little timid about actually posting much in the forum but Chuck was always up for discussion. I remember a couple of those, about my liking of 2-register chronos and Chuck's preference for 3 and another of how much the 7750 Carreras owed to Speedmasters. Your posts might have been dissected and debated, but they were never dismissed (unless they deserved it...).

As I said earlier, I already knew Carreras were the Heuer for me before I even came to the forum. What I didn't know was that I really wanted one of the Lemania 5100 Carreras. It was Chuck talking convincingly about the movement and posting some enticing shots of watches holding it that convinced me.

So this is my CMMDI (aka "Chuck made me do it") watch. 3-register, you'll note, rather than two :) It rapidly became one of my favourites and it still is. I probably would have come to these eventually but Chuck got me into them earlier, and a lot cheaper, than I would have done if I'd waited.

The forum has been really active of late and OTD itself has some nice additions too. We continue to ask the searching questions and have the tricky discussions.

I hope Chuck would approve. I think he would.