There are always long wish lists for the Holidays (as well as for Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day, Any Excuse To Get Presents Day etc.) and for guys they are usually full of the gadgets and gizmos, meat cooking related objects or something to do with alcoholic beverages and how best to prepare and drink them. There are plenty of great lists out there and to put another one up would be presumptuous of me because I really wouldn’t do justice to everybody’s true desire. So I am going to be completely self centered and tell you the three items that I want this Holiday season and that there is no way I am actually getting, but I figure you should always dream big.

I love my watches as I am sure you can tell from related posts around here, but there is one watch that I crave above all. It is one that I truly believe is the most elegant watch ever made and defines the gentleman’s watch. If Santa truly exists then tell him to stupefy me by putting a Cartier Tank Americaine under the tree.

The original Tank watch was created by Louis Cartier in 1917, and inspired by the lines and proportions of the Renault tanks that fought on the Western Front in WWI and the prototype watch was presented by Cartier himself to Gen. John Pershing of the American Expeditionary Force.

I know it is not the most expensive, I know it is not from a pure watchmaker, I know it is not on many a watch connoisseurs mind, but if you asked me right now what watch I would want to pull out of thin air it would be the Tank Americaine – understated, elegant and timeless.

This brings me to my second wish from the “me list”. Fountain pens, as you well know, are one of my many obsessions and for some time now I have pined after an elusive beauty. The Montblanc Czar Nikolai Legrand Platinum Plated fountain pen.

A 1999 limited edition that rarely shows up on the auction radar these days. A particular twist to the classic Montblanc that I can only hope to see in person one day.

And last, but not least I would have to request Smythson’s A4 Lippiatt Folder. My version of a very retro iPad. It holds the essentials for writing and note taking.

You do not have to recharge it and it stays on mute throughout all your meetings. Lightweight and elegant. Drop tests prove that it is shatter proof, but not scuff proof. The scuffing, though, will give it that broken-in look that will have people oohing and aahing. Granted the price tag is higher than an iPad, but there won’t be a second generation coming out next year to make you spend more to keep up-to-date. There are certain perks to old school.

Now that I have shared my deepest and most secret desires with you, I am off to Staples to see if they have any sales on Bics and Mead notebooks. Maybe with a little collage work I can get them to look like replicas of the aforementioned goodies.