This is a downgrade from the protective labcoat
From Fallen London Wiki
... for watchful checks inside the lab, assuming you have a decent amount of watchful but not quite enough to 100% the checks. +6 Research Preparations scales better than +6 Watchful, assuming 60% ≤ +6 Watchful's success chance ≤ 100% (because at 100% they're equal). At least, assuming I did the math right.
Of course, it's better than the Smock for every single other watchful check, and gives +1 to Kataleptic Toxicology, so really it's an upgrade but what kind of person would I be if I didn't have a clickbait title?
