I am happy to report that I recieved from C.J. an Eastman Monarch. I had long been wishing for a monarch without the inner pocket mods and so when this came up in a 44 I took the plunge.
As I take a 44 in just about any Eastman A-2 I was confident that the jacket would fit when it came. It does. It fits in that keenly sought after military fit that is so frequently advocated here with no shoulder droop and no tunneling of the sleeves.
You will see from the pictures in his ad offering the jacket for sale that it is pretty beaten up with heavy scuffs and scratches. That was fine by me but I cant help feeling that the actual leather used contributes in some way to this. It rates highly amongst some of the floppiest, easy to wear leathers I have encountered. Horsehide from eastman, mccoys and especially lost worlds comes up a bit uncomfortable at first. I suspect that this Monarch had been light and supple from the get go. there is not a great deal of heavy graining anywhere but the entire left front panel is nicely grained and natural looking. with this moderate graining, the wear and tear and the distinctly matt finish to the leather it looks like a real vintage jacket. an interesting point about the collar on this jacket is that snapped or unsnapped it lies in the same way. Despite the jacket being beat up the knits show no damage at all which is encouraging. they are of a shade which provides little contrast at all to the jacket. There is nothing exciting about the pockets, they just sit there quietly with moderately rounded corners and a gradual scallop to the flap. Comfort wise and looks wise I am very happy with this jacket. It contrasts sharply with my Seal mccoys dubow.
Cheers CJ
Tim
As I take a 44 in just about any Eastman A-2 I was confident that the jacket would fit when it came. It does. It fits in that keenly sought after military fit that is so frequently advocated here with no shoulder droop and no tunneling of the sleeves.
You will see from the pictures in his ad offering the jacket for sale that it is pretty beaten up with heavy scuffs and scratches. That was fine by me but I cant help feeling that the actual leather used contributes in some way to this. It rates highly amongst some of the floppiest, easy to wear leathers I have encountered. Horsehide from eastman, mccoys and especially lost worlds comes up a bit uncomfortable at first. I suspect that this Monarch had been light and supple from the get go. there is not a great deal of heavy graining anywhere but the entire left front panel is nicely grained and natural looking. with this moderate graining, the wear and tear and the distinctly matt finish to the leather it looks like a real vintage jacket. an interesting point about the collar on this jacket is that snapped or unsnapped it lies in the same way. Despite the jacket being beat up the knits show no damage at all which is encouraging. they are of a shade which provides little contrast at all to the jacket. There is nothing exciting about the pockets, they just sit there quietly with moderately rounded corners and a gradual scallop to the flap. Comfort wise and looks wise I am very happy with this jacket. It contrasts sharply with my Seal mccoys dubow.
Cheers CJ
Tim
