Comments on: Vaer Automatic Review – A Sweet Spot in a Crowded Field

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 23:42:29 +0000

In reply to Stereo. A shithole company buyer beware

By: Aaron Dougherty Photography

Aaron Dougherty Photography — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 16:38:45 +0000

Yeah that kerning would drive me nuts too—now that I’m aware of it.

By: Mark Signorelli

Mark Signorelli — Sun, 28 Feb 2021 02:35:05 +0000

In reply to Randy P. Cool, dial looks clean and attractive. Let us know how you like it.

By: Randy P

Randy P — Sat, 27 Feb 2021 22:59:56 +0000

I just ordered the A5 Design Navy. It’s gorgeous in its simplicity. I hope it hits the mark for a field watch!

By: Mark Signorelli

Mark Signorelli — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 20:15:19 +0000

In reply to SMB. Thanks SMB for your comment. The Black Heritage dial is really attractive as well, similar to the “Dirty Dozen” w/small seconds, but without the subdial.

By: SMB

SMB — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 12:13:16 +0000

Thanks for the article. I didn’t know about this brand before and these look like nice watches and good value. I particularly like the model with the small seconds.

I also appreciate the comments on typography from Stereo. Maybe that is why I often prefer watches with index markers to ones with numerals.

By: Stereo

Stereo — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 18:34:52 +0000

Hi Mark, capital letters can be quite difficult to kern. For instance, with INDIGLO, the O can’t get closer to L without touching it, But, the negative space in the L gives the illusion that it is farther away from the O than it is. When I look at INDIGLO, the space between the IND seems seems more problematic to me.

One interesting thing to note is that the 1s are kerned very well on the Timex. If we compare the numbers on it to the VAER (17, 11) the difference is notable.

By: Mark Signorelli

Mark Signorelli — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 18:04:58 +0000

Thanks Stereo. Fascinating perspective. One more question. Take a look at the dial of the Timex Weekender in my previous review on TBWS. Do you believe that the letter ‘O’ in INDIGLO should be closer to the ‘L’?

By: Stereo

Stereo — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 14:29:08 +0000

Granted, it’s something that is likely only going to be noticed by people who work with type. However, it’s also the type (haha) of thing that once you see you can’t unsee. Most major brands (watches or otherwise) have that sort of thing perfected. But to answer your question, the ‘A’ and the ‘E’ do need to be closer, but the spacing of the other letters in VAER would need to be adjusted as well to create the proper sense of balance and spacing between the letters.

Regarding the 1s: the number 1 in most fonts has too much space between it and the number that comes before and after it. It’s a holdover from typewriters, where each letter and number had the same amount of space between it. Some newer fonts adjust for this, but the vast majority need someone to kern it manually. If you start looking around, you’ll see it all time where a number like 100 will be more like 1 00. The space here is too large, but you get the idea.

A side note, and another recent typographic blunder, was in the recent Omega 50th anniversary release where the apostrophe in the quote on the back was a foot mark, and not an actual apostrophe. Oops 🙂

By: Mark Signorelli

Mark Signorelli — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 13:16:34 +0000

i wasn’t familiar with the word “kerning”. Thank you for that! With respect to the wordmark, I guess I’m not seeing what you are seeing. Would your solution be to just reduce the spacing between the A and E on the dial?