The Grey Nato - Episode 10 - "Collection Inspection: Volume 1"
Published on Tue, 07 Jun 2016 08:58:03 -0400
Synopsis
Jason and James each discuss a watch from their personal collections that they consider "keepers" - Jason's late 90s Rolex Submariner no-date 14060M, and James' Omega Seamaster Professional 300m 2254.50 "Swordhand" model. They talk about the history, details, and sentimental value behind these watches. They also respond to a question about recommendations for a dress watch in the $3,000-6,000 range for someone who primarily wears sport watches. For the hiking segment, Jason shares memorable hikes he's done including the Milford Track in New Zealand, the Enchanted Valley in Olympic National Park, and his wedding hike in Alaska, while James discusses local BC hikes like Joffre Lakes and seeing his first glacier. The show concludes with recommendations for the Gear Patrol magazine, car videos, and an article about Briggs Cunningham.
Links
Transcript
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| James Stacy | Welcome to episode 10 of The Grey Nado, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, gear, and most certainly watches. I'm James Stacy. |
| Jason Heaton | And I'm Jason Heaton. Today we're chatting about watches from our personal collections, dress watches for sport watch guys, best hikes, and more. Against all odds, we've made it to episode 10, and we want to say thank you to everyone who has listened, liked, replied, and emailed. |
| James Stacy | And we really appreciate all the support and the love for our first foray into double digits. We wanted to try something a little new. I mean, everything's still kind of new for this, but, uh, uh, you know, we wanted, uh, our main topic, uh, each of us have selected a watch from our own collection, something that we feel will probably stick. And, uh, we're going to kind of do a rolling collection review. So today we've each picked one watch and we'll, we'll select further watches in the future. We're just gonna try and explain why we chose the watch initially, why we still have it, and why we think it's still interesting enough to remain in two collections that are kind of evolving all the time, just like, you know, probably most of you who are listening. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it should be a fun show. James, why don't you kick it off? Which watch did you pick? |
| James Stacy | Yeah, so I picked what's arguably my first sort of foray into luxury watches. It's the Omega Seamaster Professional 300 meter. It's the 2254.50. a.k.a. the Peter Blake, a.k.a. the last of the Swordhand Seamasters. So for those of you who can't picture the watch immediately, it's a 41mm steel dive watch with a black aluminum bezel, a sapphire crystal, it has their wave dial, so it has kind of a nicely detailed dial design, very simple painted markers, sword hands, big lume, uses Omega's 1120 movement, so this is before they went coax and then into the 8500 etc series. So this one is quite thin, it's based on an ETA 2892 and then modified by Omega. The 2254 came on a speedy style bracelet, but it could also be had on a bond bracelet, and at that point it would be called a 2054. I'm almost 95% sure of that. |
| Jason Heaton | The speedy bracelet, that's the one with, it has some thin sort of polished links in it, is that right? |
| James Stacy | Correct. So you have the Bond bracelet is a little bit chunkier and has these kind of two vertical lines on the side of each link in the center. And the Speedy bracelet's very much the more simple one. It's pulled directly off the Speedmaster Professional. And I think that's certainly it's the way that I like the watch, but I also think it is kind of the standard for people who like the look of these 1120 based Seamasters, which were typically very thin, and obviously came in like as Omegas want to do a litany of versions. So this is a watch I first liked only on aesthetics because I actually found it just as I got into watches. So a Google search that started with looking for a battery for like a Columbia field watch that I had been given ended with me learning that like watches had different movements and some didn't require batteries. And during that, you know, first few hours of learning about watches, I came across a picture of this black watch on a steel bracelet. And I remember thinking, like, that's awesome. I didn't know the brand Omega from anything else. I didn't know Seamaster. But I did save the picture to my desktop many, many years ago. And many, many years later, I bought one. And I've absolutely loved it since. I think it's a fantastic watch. I think it's a hallmark of an Omega that we don't have anymore, where Omega has gone upmarket to kind of directly throw blows with Rolex. This was an Omega that was a little bit more entry level, a little bit more accessible, ETA based, still very high quality, very reliable. Everything was made to a very high standard just as it still is. But the price point was different. They weren't in a world where they were necessarily having to consider all the other Swatch brands that exist. Um, so they were just kind of balanced in their own right. And of course, uh, you know, Speedmasters have gotten more expensive over the years and it's no different with the Seamasters, especially as they produced the Planet Ocean and then they went to the 2500s and the 8500 movements and they went fully in-house. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I think, I think that the 2254, it, it, uh, it was sort of, it sort of was a kind of a standard bearer for a certain era of Omega watches. And I think, like you said, it was sort of before they sort of blew up and kind of started really chasing Rolex pretty aggressively. I think it was one of those watches that represented such an incredible value, and it was a very unique, very Omega-esque watch. It had a high end, you know, nicely finished at a movement. It was thin. It just, it had, I don't know, I had one of those for a while too, and I just look back at that watch with a certain amount of fondness. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, it's really comfortable. It's great on the bracelet. Leather, it works beautifully on a NATO 20 millimeter, you know, turned lugs. I think it looks great. The movement, as you said, is capable of excellent timekeeping, and I simply adore just the simple aesthetics of the watch. I think it's a very balanced design. It's certainly not, without its faults, the bezel's not good at all. I mean, the scale's fine and everything, but the actual gripping on the bezel is scalloped, and it's actually really difficult to grip when your hand and the bezel are dry, and it only gets worse when you move on from there. The action's fine. It's very tight. I've never had mine serviced or anything, but the, like, By the time they got to the Planet Ocean, they went with a normal coin edge, much grippier. Actually, the Planet Ocean has a nice lip on the bezel as well for added purchase. This doesn't have this, so you really find that you're slightly pushing down on the watch and trying to pinch it from two sides to turn the bezel. It's just not a great design. Aesthetically, I think it looks really good. This is, I think, right on the line of being a dress diver. You know, it's a little bit strange to have a bezel that's not that functional and then you have a silly HEV valve. Yeah. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | So I think what's interesting is that it has that kind of, like you said, sort of a, I don't want to say non-functional, but a less than perfect dive bezel. And then you have this incredible, what I would consider one of their best dial hand combinations of any dive watch they've made, which is that those big beefy sword hands and those big, those really bright markers, um, It had the, does that one have the triangular 12 o'clock? |
| James Stacy | Yeah, it's like three times the size. Yeah. I mean, it's excellent. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, it's a, it's a, the visibility of that watch is great. I think if they just maybe done something a little differently with the bezel, it would have been pretty near perfect actually. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. And you have a nice kind of lollipop style secondhand with a red tip. So not a whole lot of color. I don't think there's too much text on it. There's certainly not, not a lot of text on it, but I don't think there's too much. And you know, all the text and the branding is on this model painted. So you don't have a lot of, like nothing's really applied on the dial, which is a nice, a nice effect. Certainly they made a version later on what is commonly referred to as the non AC dial. And that one used applied markers and it is, I've seen them in person and they have like an instantly fancier, more upmarket feel. Yeah. because of course the little metal surround, the border on the marker, catches light very much in kind of the same way as a Submariner, the new Submariners. And it's a completely different aesthetic. Truth be told, Omega made like a bunch of different versions, roughly of the same system. So there was a GMT model that came in black and in white. Both are really cool. And if you can source a white one, and you like the kind of eccentricity to its design, that's a fairly rare watch in the Seamaster world. Yeah. And I think that would be a really cool watch to own. It's, you know, it's white, they call it a great white, has some red accents. The cool thing is for the GMT models, and this is something that almost no brands do now, certainly, is the modifications they made to the 2892 actually gave it local jumping hour. Oh, nice. So as opposed to giving it an independent 24 hour hand, which is what you would get on a lot of ETA modified GMT movements, they actually made it just like, you know, a 3185 from Rolex, where you have the ability to jump the local hour hand. So when you change time zones on the plane, you can update your time without stopping the movement. Really cool. And those ones really top out at like about $2,500. They would represent kind of the upper echelon of what these costs on the used market. A 2254 like mine, which is in wearable, good wearable condition. It's not a safe queen. It's not going to a museum anytime soon. That's really only like maybe between $1,400 and $1,800 US in the used market with the bracelet. And that's a killer value for that watch. Also being an ETA base, it's not difficult to have service. I've had mine serviced both by Omega and then by a very qualified independent watch servicer in Ontario. And both times it was not an expensive process, certainly less than you would find with an in-house movement. Yeah. They also made a blue model. So same dial, but with a, like an electric blue, which is a pretty cool effect. There was a titanium model. and they made a uh the i want to say a 2594 which was the sword hand um chronograph i love that watch i really like that watch yeah mega cool watch really thick because it's a a module to give it the chronograph ability but a really really cool watch and it retained those sword hands which kind of became like a little dna line within omega that is all gone now yeah and it it what i like about that watch i've always thought that |
| Jason Heaton | It was sort of the, in the direct lineage going back to the sixties and the, um, you know, the Seamaster 300 that has evolved into sort of, you get a little bit of it in the Planet Ocean. Then of course the more recent Seamaster 300 Master Co-Axial. But you know, the sword hands, the triangular 12 marker, um, it, it, it just had that, it had that cool feel. I just felt, I never warmed up much to the Bond Seamaster. I mean, I think that's a watch that sort of has people who love it, people who don't like it. I'm definitely in a camp that I've never, I've never even been drawn at all to the Bond Seamaster. Whereas, you know, same case, same movement, um, just totally different aesthetics. The 2254 that you've got is, is just such a cool watch. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. And the, the Bond one, which I believe would be, there's again, there's a number of models that would fall within that range. But I think when people say the Bond Seamaster, they're talking about a 2531.80. With those, despite you and I both liking the 2254 and the Swordhands, it's the 2531 that has continued. You can buy a new one with a ceramic bezel and a 2500 base movement. Yeah. Those are fantastic watches, beautifully made, great movement. I would say the 2500 is a better movement than the 1120. It's largely modified to add coaxial escapement to an 1120. And then I think we'll see them bring back the Swordhands at some point. But, you know, Omega has moved into that newer, higher price bracket. Even if they were to bring back a watch like the 2254, I don't think it's going to represent the same sort of value that we attribute to being one of the kind of pluses of the 2254. Yeah. It might have the aesthetic, but this watch, and I think quite a number of Seamasters from this era, even the 2531, if you prefer the skeleton hands and the blue dial, I think a bunch of Seamasters from this era represent huge value to an enthusiast because you're getting a really nice, very wearable everyday watch, tool watch, dress watch, dive watch. It kind of blurs the line between a few different sides of that. Sure. It's definitely a dive watch, but it's very thin. It's very nice to wear. It looks great on the bracelet. It works on a strap. It looks really cool on a mesh. That's when it really starts to look like an old 300. But I think if you want a luxe level watch from a respected brand and you don't want to necessarily move to the price point of a Submariner, I think this is a huge value, especially if you have seen the PO and it's maybe a little bit too thick or a little bit too big. This wears a little smaller and it certainly wears quite a bit thinner. And that would be the same for any of the 1120 base Seamasters. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Were they selling the 2254 alongside the Planet Ocean for a couple of years? |
| James Stacy | Not to my understanding. I found kind of a wide array of reports as to when they stopped actually making versus selling. And Omega, of course, produces a great number of watches. So it seems like they probably stopped making this watch because it wasn't selling that well. Oh, yeah. But they had a lot in retail. So it looks like there were like three or four years of stock to sell through. Oh, sure. So it was somewhere in the early to mid-2000s, and I believe that predates the Planet Ocean by a few years. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, because I remember seeing them in the case side-by-side for a while, and I'm sure it was just old stock that dealers were selling through. I mean, I always thought, you know, I remember when Casino Royale came out, the Bond film, and he was wearing the then-new Planet Ocean, and it became kind of the cool watch, and he also wore the old Brosnan era Bond Seamaster as well. I've often thought that the 2254 actually would have been the better choice for a Bond watch. |
| James Stacy | A little bit more of a tactical design. Yeah. Fantastic lume. I think it would have suited Bond more than than the other. But, you know, again, it was probably a decision like they looked at this watch and they said, like, we know we have a cool design here, but it's not selling. Yeah. And this blue one is. And oh, and we've got this new one that we hope will fix the problem we have with the black dial. Yeah. Kind of every man's dive watch. Yeah. And so on. And, uh, you know, I love this watch. I've had it for a while. You know, I think I plan to keep it long-term. I could see getting a GMT, uh, because I am just simply a sucker for that, uh, functionality in a watch. And, and I really like what Omega did by heavily modifying a 2892 to offer what I would call a flyers GMT movement. Yeah. versus almost everyone else who would modify it, you know, a two eight XX movement for a collars GMT, which would give you the ability to jump a 24 hour hand. It's just not as handy. It's not as fancy. Yeah. And in the term of, of being a dive watch that you could put on, you could buy the store, put it on and then just wear it, never take it off. I think this is one of those watches that would qualify for that, especially in the GMT version, really cool family of watches. And one that I'm thrilled to own and it connects back to my roots in watch appreciation. |
| Jason Heaton | I don't see it a lot on your Instagram feed. Do you wear it regularly still? |
| James Stacy | I do wear it quite a bit. A lot of stuff on the Instagram, I'll go through little phases where I take a lot of watch photos. And then I'll put them out and I try and be conscious of like not repeating certain watches a lot. So I, I, you know, I, I think I posted a bunch of it when right around the time Spectre came out, I bought one of those black and gray striped, striped Nato's. Oh yeah. And kind of leaned into the whole Spectre thing. And you know, Spectre was a bit of a letdown as far as Bond movie goes, but I do wear the watch certainly weekly. I don't have many watches, so I'm, you know, I'm happy to wear it. |
| Jason Heaton | I remember when I had mine, um, I only had it for six months or so, but I, I really liked it. I liked it. I actually bought the rubber strap that was made for that watch. It was kind of like the one that came with the Planet Ocean, but it must've been cut a little thinner because of the thinner case. Yeah, it's cool strap. It's expensive. Yeah, it is expensive. But that's the way I liked that watch the best from when I had it. I never wore it on the bracelet, but I love the look of it on the rubber strap. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, I've worn it on a black Isofrane. And you would think that the watch is only, you know, It's under 12 millimeters thick that an ISO frame would overpower it. But it actually works really well. Like it's actually really wearable. And I would buy the OEM strap, but it is like, it is, it's several hundred dollars. And then another, I want to say like a buck 50 or 200 for the buckle. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. I want to say Omega's quoted me something like 600 Canadian. Oh, geez. And I mean, like, I think I paid 13, 1400 bucks for the watch. Yeah. You know, many, many years ago. And like I said, it's not a perfect condition. You'll see in photos, the bezel scratched, the bracelets chewed up. The previous guy before me tried to refinish the buckle to the extent that you can almost not feel like if you run your hand over where it says Omega and Seamaster, the engraving is almost not there anymore. Oh, wow. It's just been heavily kind of brushed. But for me, like I did, it was never going to be a safe queen. And I think if you were going to buy one to really treat like that, buy the non AC dial, buy the titanium one or buy one of the GMTs in perfect mint conditions with your papers and with a clean red box and all that stuff. Otherwise just find one that's like was, has been loved and properly serviced and just buy it and wear it. They take scratches really well. They have nice kind of swooping lugs that cover up a lot of the bigger dings. It's a, it's a nice wearable design and I think it's an ideal watch to actually just wear every day. It always kind of works, uh, as far as formal versus casual and I love it. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I love that watch. It's a cool watch. |
| James Stacy | We'll transition to your pick. Arguably you've got, it's in some ways it's main aesthetic competition at the same time. Uh, you know, the next price level up, you're looking at a no-date sub from the same era, roughly. I think the sub was around longer. Yeah. Before and after, but I think they would have been in watch stores at the same time. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, so for my pick, I chose... I've got a Rolex Submariner, and it's a late Z series, if you're familiar with Rolex serial numbers, and that places it somewhere in the late 90s in terms of manufactured date. And I don't know the exact range in which this watch was sold, But this one that I have, like you said, it's the no date Submariner and mine has the reference number 14060M, the 14060M. There was a 14060 that was around before that, and it was the watch that came right after the 5513 Submariner that was sold since like the early 60s. You know, there's just so much that I love about this watch. It's definitely a keeper. I mean, it's the watch that I'll, you know, probably the last one I would ever sell, and that would only be in very dire circumstances. It's kind of hard to know where to start, but I guess I could explain how I came by it. I actually got the watch in 2010 as a gift from my wife for my 40th birthday. And, you know, one thing about it is, unlike a lot of the watches that I've sort of schemed or traded for, this one, we actually walked into a Rolex dealer, you know, right around my birthday that year, and, you know, just bought it new from the Rolex dealer. And to commemorate the occasion, I had the case back engraved. Rolex always does such a, you know, they know that people like to engrave their watches. So they give you a, you know, a nice flat, empty case back. So I had the back engraved with my initials and then the date. You know, like I said, it was the watch that replaced the 5513. And I think that was kind of a hard act to follow. And I think a lot of people sort of still consider the 14060 sort of the I don't know about the poor cousin, but, you know, it's definitely more of a modern Submariner than the 5513. It's got the superluminova applied markers. It's got a glossy dial. But, you know, it's, in many ways, when you look at it through modern eyes compared to the new Rolexes, it's starting to kind of pull more of the vintage vibe to it, even though, I don't know if you You could actually even consider it vintage since it's from, you know, the 90s. But it has the old-style case. It's got the thinner lugs. It's got drilled lugs, which I love. It's got the aluminum bezel insert instead of the ceramic bezel that they've got on the new ones. The new ones use that nice blue chromalight lume. This one has old superluminova, which glows sort of a sickly green color. But, you know, so it has this sort of old, quaint feel to it now. Did you say sickly? Sickly. Sickly green. |
| James Stacy | Oh, man, I love that color. |
| Unknown | Oh, really? |
| James Stacy | i've loved that color since i was a little kid like that that quintessential glow-in-the-dark green color yeah and yeah like uh the blue is cool and they've actually achieved like rolex has achieved an impressive glow from a blue like vastly better than bgw9 from super luminova yeah but that like c3 that super luminova c3 which is what's on my my c master i love it |
| Jason Heaton | Well it's not that I don't love it, I think sickly comes from, it just... In daylight it's that, it is kind of like a faded green, creamy kind of... Yeah, and I think when I first got the watch, I hadn't really owned a Rolex before, and I remember thinking, like, Rolex isn't known for its lume, you know, Rolex is kind of a... I don't know, I just didn't think of it as a lume watch, like, you know, you always hear about Seiko and even Omega and whatever, I remember, you know, when I first turned the lights off on that watch, it was bright. I mean, it still glows bright. It's a pretty good, you know, dark conditions watch, as it should be, I guess. For sure. But, you know, one thing about that watch, too, that gives it that old feel is it's on the old style Rolex bracelet. It's, you know, they aren't, the end links are folded over, the clasp is just this flimsy, you know, stamped, thin steel, It's nothing like the new ones. I remember when the new subs came out with the maxi case with the wide lugs. You know, it had the engraved Rolex on the outer part of the dial. And the rear, yeah. Yeah. And it's, you know, solid link bracelet with the solid end links and then this, you know, beautiful ratcheting adjustable clasp and everybody loved it. But to me, part of the charm of the old 14060 and all the subs that came before it, were, was that, uh, that old rattly bracelet. Um, you know, they're super easy to resize. Um, the, the clasp itself just uses that series of sort of fine tuning adjustment holes, which, you know, seems kind of corny, but you know, so many watches from decades of all different brands use that method. And I still think it's a great way to resize a bracelet. You can do it with a toothpick, you know, if you're on vacation somewhere and your wrist swells a little bit from the heat, you know, get your toothpick out of your cocktail. You can, You can do it right at the dinner table, you know, you can just resize your bracelet and it doesn't, you know, jam up with, with sand or grit. Um, yeah. |
| James Stacy | And I think the, I think the micro adjust is only dumb when they only give you like two. Yeah. And I want to say like my Explorer 2 bracelet, which has the old style bracelet, despite having the engraved Riat and a 3186, they never gave the 16570 the better clasp. It has solid end links, which is great. Yeah. But it has the old, the older style kind of pressed clasp. Yeah. And I want to say it's four or five micro adjust, which is awesome. Yeah. Uh, that said, that said my absolute most favorite thing about the new, so it's the 114060 is that clasp. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. It's, it's cool. It's a great engineering. |
| James Stacy | It's, it's a great piece of engineering. It's like, it's like, it's in the same way as I love the clasp from the Pelagos. |
| Jason Heaton | Yes. Yeah. However, I have, you know, used a number of sort of adjustable clasps. I can't remember if it was Tudor specifically or Rolex, but you know, I can recall, I actually, I think it was the, like the Ploprof Omega or something like that. They do get, they do have a tendency to get kind of jammed. If you wear them on the beach or in salt water or something, they do tend to get kind of a little funky, a little jammed up and a fold out wetsuit extension with those little adjustment holes is just, it's kind of bomb proof. You know, they're, they're just sort of simple and um, And the bracelet's light, and it's really comfortable, so... Taper's beautiful. |
| James Stacy | It has a perfect taper. |
| Unknown | Yeah, yeah. |
| James Stacy | So aesthetically, you can tell from a nice distance that it's a Rolex, and I think it's due to that taper. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. In many cases. You know, in terms of the case, I mean, Rolex, you know, it has such a classic look, and they haven't changed, you know, from that watch all the way back to the 60s, or, you know, even the 50s, arguably. It's got that same look. Comparing it to something like your 2254 Seamaster, the Omega cases are just beautiful. I mean, those twisted lugs are just, I find them just so much more visually appealing than the Rolex case, which is just, it's kind of slab-sided, it's a little bit squared off. I guess, to a certain degree, maybe it's a little bit more of a tool-ish look to it. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, I think it's a little bit more of a military vibe from those Those cases, I agree that I like the Omega case better, although your 14-060, that would have drilled lugs? Yes. Which is awesome. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. That's another, I mean, that's another great thing. It was actually the, that Z series 140-60 is, I believe it was the last of the Submariners that had drilled lugs, which, which I really like about it. It makes, you know, strap changing super easy. And the spring bars that are supplied with that watch, if you ever, if you ever own a Rolex, like one of their sports watches, the spring bars they use on their watches are just, I mean, it's like, it's kind of a symbol of the company. I mean, they're just, even the smallest part are just so good, especially on the, on the sub that I've got there, you know, they're shoulderless spring bars. Cause you can just push them through from the other side of the lugs and they're beefy and thick and long and really kind of inspire confidence. You know, it's a, it's a, it's a cool watch. And like I said, it's one I won't get rid of for pretty much any reasons. Part of the reason is because I got it for a significant birthday, but you know, I've worn that watch for a lot of different things. I've, I've dived with it all over the world. Um, I wore it when I climbed Mount Rainier a few years ago and I, you know, I had it on a, uh, I even, I think I even wore it on the bracelet for that. And we were doing, you know, self arrest training with an ice axe where we're, you know, falling down a hill and like, you know, you stop yourself with your ice axe. And I remember thinking to myself, you know, this is going to like snag on something and fly off, but of course it never did. And then this is the watch that I had on when I was crewing on a sailboat in the Rolex big boat series in San Francisco a couple summers ago where I snagged it on a halyard and it tore the bezel off, which was found later by somebody. And then I just kind of popped it back on and it's missing the click spring now. So it's not a unidirectional bezel anymore, but you know, I'm going to keep it that way because it reminds me of that time. And you know, the watch just has a lot of good memories to it. and it's not one that I wear that often. I'll go in kind of spells where I'll wear it for a couple weeks straight and then I'll put it away and not wear it for months actually. But, you know, it's, I love it. It's, to me, it kind of speaks, it's kind of a sentimental sort of first Rolex and one that has a lot of history for me. And I also think that for people that you know, want to get into Rolex or kind of like the Submariner and want like a vintage style Submariner, you can either kind of go two routes. You can either go 5513 or 5512, I guess, for a lot more money. But the 14060, you can get them nowadays for, you know, sometimes around three grand. I've seen them for even less if you get it without the bracelet, uh, which I think is just cool. You know, you just throw it on a leather strap or a NATO or something. Um, And for the money, it's Rolex quality. It's got the great classic old looks. And it's something that you conceivably could just wear for the rest of your life and never take it off your wrist. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, it's a bit like a 911. Sure, the new ones are faster, I guess, and more technologically advanced, but somehow Rolex has done what Porsche has been able to do, and it never seems to damage the charm and the practical viability of the old model. There's still people who would not only prefer, but seek out and spend a great deal of time and effort to drive the old ones and to wear things like 5512s, 5513s. And there's absolutely nothing to suggest that that won't be the exact same way for a 14060. Yeah. Yeah. Killer watch. Great choices. I think both of us, you know, picked, uh, oddly similar, uh, watches from, you know, different perspectives, yours with a little bit more sentimentality. And certainly I love that yours is beat up and will continue to be used as a sport watch. And with my Omega, I kind of like that it often reminds me of where I started in this, which was just like a gut reaction. I saw a picture and I loved it. It's a great backstory. Yeah, it's kind of fun. Alright, and it's time for new business. This is where we try and bring you up to speed on things we're working on, adventures we're having, things we're doing, all that kind of stuff. So Jason, why don't you take it away, lead us off with your new business. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, so I'm about a week or so I'm headed to back down to the southern Caribbean for a week in Bonaire, which is one of the islands in the Netherlands Antilles down there. I've got a week of diving planned. Bonaire is one of my favorite places to dive, as I think we've talked about in previous shows. Um, what's, what's cool about this trip is, um, I'm taking a new watch down there, uh, to, to shoot some underwater photos with my wife and to do a little testing. It's the new Eterna Super Contiki Chronograph, which is a watch that they debuted right around Basel this year. And, uh, I got to see there. Um, it's, it's a really neat watch. Um, it's, you know, the Contiki family for Eterna goes back, I think to the late 40s or 50s, and they've had a number of different iterations of it. But the Super Contiki is their sort of dive version. You know, there have been some really great ones over the years. This one, like I said, debuted this year, and it's a dive chronograph to register. And it uses a new movement from Eterna, which is an in-house column wheel chronograph movement that has a flyback function, which I'm a sucker for flybacks. I love flybacks. Super cool. The sub-dial that tracks elapsed time, you know, it's got a main sweep seconds hand, but then the sub-dial actually, it's kind of like the Omega or IWC style where you have hours and minutes in the same sub-dial. So you kind of read it like a clock, which I just think is cool. I mean, I think this watch retails for, or will retail for between $4,000 and $5,000. And, you know, to me, a cool, you know, dive, legitimate dive watch chronograph with a flyback function, column wheel in-house movement for that kind of money is really a great deal. And I've actually got two of them. I've got the blue version, which has the blue bezel and dial, and I've got the black version on both rubber strap and the steel mesh bracelet, which I've never been a mesh guy, but, you know, just trying it on, I can see what the appeal is. Mesh is very comfortable. |
| James Stacy | It's really hard to argue with the aesthetics of this, uh, with this piece. I'm looking at a picture of it now. I love mesh and this looks like a very tight, almost like a Milanese mesh. Yeah. Eterna has, uh, one of my favorite fonts for their Contiki. |
| Unknown | Oh yeah. |
| James Stacy | Uh, so it says Contiki super. You have a date at six, a lot of room for loomed. Uh, what's it, how's the glow on it? It's pretty awesome. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | There's not much, there's not much that's, that's bad about this watch. I mean, we'll, we'll see how it does. I mean, obviously, uh, you know, unless it leaks catastrophically underwater or, you know, the loom is horrible or keeps bad time. It's going to turn out to be a pretty cool watch. So, you know, keep an eye on Instagram. I'm sure I'll be posting plenty of photos from down at Bonaire. So, got that ahead. That's kind of my big news. James, you're off somewhere shortly here too, aren't you? |
| James Stacy | Yeah. Tomorrow morning I leave for LA to hang out for a bit. I'm going to, you know, visit some people down there. I'm reviewing a car for the week. an Infiniti Q70. So that should be quite a bit of fun, you know, kind of tour around. Seems like a nice car to sit in traffic in. And I'm hoping to check out some watches there. Certainly by the time you hear this episode, I'll be home. So I won't ask for any recommendations or anything, but other than that, I'm going to, yeah, spend some time in the sun and I'm going to drive some roads that I've read about since I was a little kid. And I'm, I'm excited to be in California as soon as possible. Nice. So let's get into a little Q&A. We've got a couple of great questions for you this week. If you have a question, please let us know at thegraynadoatgmail.com. Send us an email. I read every single one. I get Jason's input on like 90% of them. I'm sure he's tired of the four words, but let's dig right in. First question this week comes from Tyler in Austin, who writes, I have a solid collection of dive and sport watches that I love to wear, but I feel as though my collection yearns for a solid dress watch, even though I doubt that I will love it as much as my sport watches. He says there's certain situations that face him where he feels out of place with a sport watch and his current collection includes a P.O., a Pelagos, a Rolex GMT-2. For a dress watch, he wants something that fits under a shirt sleeve, could potentially be gold, is on a leather strap, vintage if it's a better bargain, and his budget is somewhere between $3,000 and $6,000, so plenty of money for a fantastic watch. Tyler expands saying he loves the Paipan Omega Constellation, but the vintage ones feel a little too small on his larger wrists. So, Jason, why don't you take it away as we've got a kind of multi-part here, love of sport watches, want for a dress watch. Where would you land with that? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, Tyler, I mean, you've got some pretty awesome sports watches, so hats off to you for that. And, you know, I'm not a big dress watch guy either, so I'm kind of in the same boat where it's nice to have something for those occasional opportunities to wear one that a sports watch is a little bit out of place. I think this is a great opportunity to go vintage. You get such great values these days in vintage watches that even if originally they were sold as sports watches, they're now firmly in sort of dress watch territory, slim bezels, big wide dials, pretty modest sizes, 36 to 40 millimeters. And the cool thing is, With vintage watches, or sorry, with dress watches, you don't really need that ruggedness or water resistance because you're not planning to wear it for every day. And so you don't have to worry about wearing a vintage watch because you don't really have any fear of damaging it. So I think vintage is a nice way to go and there are just tons of great options to choose from. The Constellation I think is a great choice. I kind of like the Pie Pan, the older Pie Pan ones, but there's a late 60s version of the Constellation doesn't have a Pi-Pan dial, but it has this kind of cool tonneau shaped case. I think it was a little bit bigger, so that might be a cool option to look for. And what I like about the Constellations is, especially in the 60s, they were kind of known as Omega's, you know, really precise watches. They were, you know, a lot of them just even said chronometer right on the dial. And I just, I always kind of like the look of that. So that would be a good choice. I think You know, if you don't even want to go full on Rolex, you can find a lot of old Tudor Oyster prints. Uh, you know, the date version, that's kind of a date, just kind of style watch, or they made kind of their own day date version, which I think they just flipped it around and called it the date plus day. And those are, you know, super affordable and you can, you can find those around as well. For something maybe a little bit more quirky and interesting, you might want to take a look at a Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox. And there are just a lot of versions, you know, from all the way back in the 50s, most of which are sized pretty nicely. Some of them might be a little small if you're looking for something a little bit bigger. A lot of them I think were like 35, 36 millimeters. But just a, you know, a cool little dress watch with that great alarm complication that I think would be a neat conversation starter at, you know, a boring office party or a wedding reception or something. But, you know, if you want to move into something new, a newer watch, I would strongly suggest that you look at Grand Seiko. And I'm not sure if you have a specific bias towards more Swiss watches, but in your budget range, you can find some pretty amazing new stuff from Grand Seiko that rivals pretty much anything from Swiss brands that cost twice as much. Last year, I picked up a Grand Seiko GMT that has this beautiful cream dial, and I wore it to SIHH on a leather strap with a suit. And I got more compliments on that watch and likes on Instagram than pretty much anything else I've worn ever, including the respect. I got the respect of a lot of, you know, bonafide watch nerds and people in the industry. You know, you really can't find a better value in high-end watches than Grand Seiko. They're, you know, a vertically integrated company, all in-house, beautifully decorated movements. stunning case work, great hands, just really, you know, I hate the word classy, but to me they're just such classy looking watches. And they kind of fly under the radar. They look great under a sleeve. They're just nicely sized. Most of them are right around 38 to 40 millimeters. So, you know, if you don't go vintage, I encourage you to take a strong look at Grand Seiko if you want something new. James, any recommendations from your side? |
| James Stacy | Yeah, so my general feeling is that I'm much more maybe at home with a sport watch, but I feel like yeah, every collection needs a dress watch. I have an old Shard Parago hand winder that I use for that purpose and it gets worn a few times a year. If I'm going to wear a suit and a tie, generally I'll wear that watch and it was not expensive by any stretch. It costs about as much as an entry level Seiko and I got that through eBay just by being patient and finding a watch that kind of suited the style that I liked. So my recommendation would be if you want to go vintage, um, start with, uh, seeing what's on, start by seeing what's on, uh, eBay and other options, um, to try and widen your scope. Because I think most vintage watches will be in that 36 to 38 millimeter, maybe even a little smaller range, but they definitely exist into the low forties. Uh, certainly once you get into some chronographs, they got a bit bigger. If you're going to go, if you're going to go with new, I would think that you could probably find a pre-owned Reverso within your price range. And like a Reverso for me is a go-to for a dress watch. Cause I think they're just crazy cool. Uh, I really liked the way they wear because they, they are small, but they wear so much differently than all of your other watches that they have this kind of hugely unique appeal and they feel really dressy but I think they're, well not I think, they are made to a very high standard and obviously they have a background as something of a sports watch that still persists in the design today even of the basic models. So I mean if you could dig up at the higher end of your budget a tribute to 1931 or any of kind of the one-sided models where you get a steel back that could be engraved, something to remember, maybe commemorate something big that came up in your life, Otherwise, I would say, why not try and mix your sport and dress watch? Love, kind of mix them together and maybe pick something like a Nomos Ahoy. A Nomos Ahoy is worth about $4,000 if you were to buy it brand new. And while I don't think it's especially dressy, it's certainly not the wrist appeal of your normal sports watch. I know, Jason, you took one of those diving, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. And what would you think? It has kind of a dressy vibe to it. |
| Jason Heaton | Definitely more dressy than diver. It's a cool watch. Nomos DNA, that just great Bauhaus, very simplistic look that really transcends genre, really. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, and then I think your other option with Nomos, and I think you could almost go with any Nomos and fit the bill and Orion would be a fantastic dress watch and leave you quite a bit of budget for something else. You could also blow the budget entirely on a Zurich Weizseit, a watch that I absolutely adore and drool over at a moment's notice, whenever possible. So this is their world time come push button GMT Fantastic movement comes in a blue or kind of an off-white dial just crazy cool and would certainly function as a dress watch and Also would make you know if you ever have to do any business travel Would make a great companion for that sort of use on a lower side of the budget which would leave you an option to also go vintage a I really like the Youngins Max Bill watches. I don't think they're specifically dressy, but I also think they're kind of like an architect's eyeglasses where they never seem out of place, but they have a certain, not austerity, but they're just noticeable without being shouty. I think you'd notice the quality design of something like these max bill watches and you know they start as little as a thousand dollars you could go to the chronograph which gets you a 40 millimeter case might be perfect if you like a chronograph they're very minimalistic in their form but i think almost like a gnomos perhaps even more so than a gnomos the design kind of demands a certain level of attention and i i really like those quite a bit and they're not expensive and i think you could literally pick up one of those and then also Start hunting around for the ideal vintage watch in that way. Maybe you could have the youngins for Semi, you know semi formal and then something maybe gold for a formal use or something like that Finally, I would say it's gonna be really hard to beat a Datejust There's so many different options of what they can be now. I know you already have GMT-2C So maybe you don't want to go with another Rolex, but you could definitely find Datejust within your price point And they vary between the kind of one you would think of a black dial all the way to linen dials. And also, you know, there's just so many different variations. And they age really well because they haven't been changed all that much over their considerable lifespan. So I think that's a pretty fun choice and would be a really nice sort of watch to have for special occasions and then maybe pass on to future offspring, something like that. But that's the way I would take it. That's the way I would take it, Tyler. And thank you so much for the question. We really appreciate writing in and by all means, please either send us an email or whatever you pick, you know, tag TheGreyNado on Instagram. We'd love to see it on wrist. Happy hunting. |
| Jason Heaton | So our second question comes from John, who is on Twitter at UnderTheLoop. And John just asks a simple question of us. He would love to hear more about what some of our more memorable hikes have been. James, I'll jump in. You know, I've hiked for a long time and I've been to some pretty cool places. Hold on, hold on, hold on. |
| James Stacy | I don't want to follow your hiking list. It's way better than mine. No, no, I'm going to go first. |
| Unknown | I have normal hikes. |
| James Stacy | You've hiked all over. John, thanks very much for your question. I'm cutting in here. John, I know that I believe you're from around the Whistler area, or at least you've provided me tips on Whistler hiking on Twitter before. One of the first hikes I ever did in BC was Joffrey Lakes. Um, which is, I think the hike I'm going to take Jason on when he gets here. And Joffrey Lakes is an unbelievably accessible hike. You just have to have a car that can go a few hours outside of Vancouver and up above Pemberton, you access just a simple parking lot. You know, it's a provincial park. And then you hike, uh, I think it's six or seven kilometers. Minimal gain, maybe six or 700 meters across the whole thing. But you hike, um, past three glacier lakes. Um, they're actually all fed from the same glacier and you can take a swim in any of them. I've swam in the second lake, which was the coldest thing I've ever done. Uh, but it was a really hot day. Uh, it was really fun. And then at the top you can camp if you want, but at the top you're basically sitting in a big. Kind of stone bowl at the base. There's some trees still at the tree line, and then you have this, uh, kind of glowing aquamarine water. Uh, that's a fantastic hike. I also did Brunswick Mountain, which is just outside of Vancouver. It's a short drive, it's maybe 30 minutes from where I live. And Brunswick Mountain is the highest point in the Britannia Range, which is the line of mountains that sit on the inland side of Howe Sound. And it's nice because once you get through all the spider webs at the bottom, you're just kind of in the woods, it's quite open. So when you do get to the top, not only are you kind of at the highest point, but you can see a lot from the top of the range. And I've got some pictures of Brunswick and of Joffrey, indeed, on my Flickr. And then finally, when I was in, two Canadian Thanksgivings ago, I did a little trip down to Glacier, Washington. While we were there, we kicked around Mount Baker, foothills of Mount Baker for a bit. And you can hike into the edge of Coleman Glacier. It's actually a very short hike. It took about an hour, maybe an hour and a half to get down to the glacier. And that was my first time. And Jason, this is why I wanted to go first. That was my first time actually seeing in person a glacier, like up, up close enough to actually not only touch it, but witness its physical size. And it totally took my breath away. Like I've seen obviously, you know, BBC specials and Nat Geo specials, and I've seen pictures. and I've seen them from airplanes and such, but actually to stand next to Coleman, which isn't a large glacier, but it's big enough. And it just stretched off into the distance. And when you realize like you kept getting closer to it and it never seemed to get any, to, to, to fit into the size that I expected it to be. So you're kind of hiking towards it. And it was a really fantastic experience and one that, um, One that I think I'll remember, you know, it's a very simple hike and, uh, nothing really fancy about it. We walked up to the glacier, I touched it. And it was just something that was kind of in my mind, kind of a bucket list item to see my first glacier. And then of course, uh, later in June, I'll actually cross my first glacier, which I'm quite excited about. Those are kind of the ones that stand out for me. Uh, you know, in episode nine, the previous episode I spoke about going up to, um, Ghiribaldi Lake. for the weekend to do a little camping and that was some great hiking as well. So there's certainly a lot to do and the reason I cut in on Jason was just, you know, I don't have the same experience and you'll see what I mean as I pass the torch to Jason. Jason, where have you been hiking? What modest mountains have you climbed? |
| Jason Heaton | Well, you've got some pretty awesome hikes right in your backyard there. I can't wait to come up. Yeah, I'm very fortunate. Can't wait to come up and see what you got up there. Yeah, I've, you know, I've had the good fortune of hiking in a few different kind of cool places around the world. I did a trip about three years ago to New Zealand and hiked the Milford Track, which is, they've got a series of hikes down there called, they call them the Great Walks, and they're sort of modest, they call their hikes walks. But the Milford Track is kind of the most famous. I don't know that it's the most beautiful, but to me, I thought it was pretty spectacular. Uh, I don't remember exactly how long it was, 30 to 40 miles. We did it over, uh, I think three days hiking hut to hut along the way. So cool. And it was really cool. I mean, you know, New Zealand is just a world apart. It's just a really stunning place. But what was really cool about it is they've got this, this network of huts that's maintained by their conservation department. And if you go with a guided service from the, the DOC, the department of conservation, they actually I don't know that they're obligated, but part of their service is that they, they keep an eye on, uh, potential avalanche dangers and they will actually ferry you across. If there, if there's a high avalanche danger, they will actually come and pick you up in a helicopter and then fly you over that danger zone and then drop you on the other side. And then you continue your hiking. And that happened on a, on a couple of occasions when I was there and it was just, it was just such a cool thing to do. You're hiking and suddenly they're, you know, the guide is on his, two-way radio and he gets a call that there's a potential, they call them slips, they don't call them avalanches. And suddenly you hear this helicopter arrive and they start ferrying people, you know, a quarter mile up the trail and drop you off and you continue on your way. So that was, that was pretty cool. A little closer to home, a few years ago we, my wife and I hiked, we did a three-day backpacking trip in Olympic National Park, which is in, sort of on the coast side of Washington State. And we did this particular hike that was to a place called the Enchanted Valley, which is this big sort of cirque of mountains with just hundreds of waterfalls pouring off the hillsides. It was, you know, black bear country. You see bears and there's this roaring rivers and deep sort of forest. I'm guessing it's kind of similar terrain to what you get in Vancouver, James. Lots of sort of rainforesty sort of drippy trees and kind of muddy trail, just beautiful mountains. scenery, um, which was, it was, it was a really special trip. Um, you know, I've hiked in the white mountains in New Hampshire, which should have been, or would seem that it would have been very easy hiking, but it was actually some of the hardest hiking I've done. They don't have a lot of altitude out there, but the hikes are very, uh, the trails are very old. Um, the mountains out there are very old, but the trails are very old and, and they didn't do a lot of switchbacking or, or sort of well thought out trail making back then. So the trails just kind of, you get to the bottom of a mountain and they just kind of went straight up, you know, so you're, you're kind of hiking these steep sort of all fours crawling over boulders to the top of these really rocky mountains out there. Um, and that was another hut to hut trip, which was, was grueling, but it was beautiful scenery, really fun time. And then, you know, finally, I, I guess I hadn't thought of this until, um, I started talking here, but one of the more memorable hikes that I did James, when you were talking about glaciers is my wife and I got married in Alaska near Homer, Alaska. And we, we flew up to, to Homer. We've got a friend out there who volunteered to be justice of the peace for the day and to marry us. And we, we stayed with her for a couple of days and then we took a boat taxi across the, the little bit of water that from Homer across the bay to The boat taxi dropped us off on this little gravel bar, sandbar, and we hiked in about two hours through the forest and there was bear scat on the trails and these signs saying, you know, this is grizzly country and whatever else. It was a little freaky. But then we got out of this forested area into this incredible lake that was fed by this glacier on the other side and it was sort of calving these small icebergs that were floating around in the middle of this lake. that's where we got married. And we, we rounded up a couple of French backpackers that happened to be passing by and they served as our witnesses and signed our certificate. And, and that's where we got married. So it was, you know, it wasn't a particularly challenging hike or anything like that, but it was obviously very memorable and it was a beautiful place to get married. |
| James Stacy | This is why I wanted to go first. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Finish with a romantic story. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | This isn't, this isn't fair fighting at all. |
| Jason Heaton | That's a great story. Yeah. So that's, that would be, that would be, that would qualify as a memorable hike, that one. So. |
| James Stacy | I'll leave it there. Cool. John, thank you so much for the questions and I hope that answers it. John, if you have any tips for hiking really anywhere, send us an email. Let us know the ones that you really enjoyed. We'd love to give them some of a try when we've got boots and some spare time. |
| Jason Heaton | Time for final notes. This is the last part of our show where James and I trade back and forth some kind of interesting freebies, videos, books, articles, movies, anything we've seen or heard or watched that we'd like to share with you, preferably free or nearly free. I'll go first. This week, kind of big news over at Gear Patrol, which is one of the websites that I write for. Gear Patrol, as you may or may not know, launched its first print magazine last fall. Beautiful, you know, almost 300 page you know, nicely printed print book with some cool articles. Well, issue two is now out. That was just, I believe they just released it this week and it looks to be a promising issue. I, you know, I may be biased because I actually have an article in it. I wrote a story in there about my history traveling to Sri Lanka and there's actually a whole chapter on Sri Lanka in the magazine. There's also a chapter on Oaxaca in Mexico. some stories from Hokkaido in Japan, as well as some interesting articles about some travels down in the Lowcountry in the southeastern part of the U.S. So, you should check it out. You can order the magazine off of Gear Patrol's website at gearpatrol.com, or I believe Barnes & Noble is carrying the magazine as well, across the U.S. and possibly in Canada, as well as a few sort of men's stores and sort of lifestyle stores around the country. And you can check out, I think Gear Patrol probably has those sellers listed on the website as well. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, and on the website, they're only asking $20 an issue. I think I subscribed to the year for $35-ish, which was super fair. I really enjoyed the first magazine, Issue 1. In Issue 1, you had written a piece about circling Superior. Yes. Uh, which I absolutely loved. I think I've read it twice now. |
| Jason Heaton | Nice. Well, thank you. |
| James Stacy | Um, what was that spot that you went to, uh, that was like an, a learning annex for all sorts of like traditional crafts? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. It's in, it's in the Northern part of Minnesota, just before you cross the border into Canada. It's called the North house folk school. |
| James Stacy | And that's it. So cool. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. They teach, uh, everything from, you know, making, you know, shoes or clothing out of animal skins to, you know, forging a knife in a blacksmith shop or a woodstrip canoe or a boat. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. That's awesome. I'd love to have a boat. It's a cool place. That sounds so cool. But the, uh, yeah, the, the issue is definitely worth it. I'm looking forward to, uh, to issue two and, uh, it's nice. It shows up in the mail and it's a bit of an event. You know, it's, it's not like getting a newsletter or, or, you know, a post to another blog. It was, uh, it was pretty cool. And, uh, at 20 bucks, that's actually the total cost of today's final notes because mine are three free things. So the first one is, uh, we'll say two, two videos from Evo magazine. So they have a fantastic YouTube channel and they do collaborations with RM auctions. Uh, so when interesting cars are going to come up for auction, one or a couple of the guys from Evo will drive. these cars and they'll shoot a little video. They take them around a track, you know, they're auction cars, they're going to be sold. So they're not doing burnouts and drifts and everything, but they're driving them around. You get to see them on the move and hear them. And they made a video for a Porsche 959 and for a Ferrari 365 GTB4. Jason, I know I shared both of these with you when they first popped up. So cool. I mean, the 959 is, is like a watershed moment for sports cars and the technology it has. if you reference it against the year that it was around, that it was launched, is unbelievable. Entirely remarkable. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I had a toy 959 when I was a kid. And when I saw that video, it was like the toy kind of just grew and came to life. And that car, I mean, I loved it, you know, back then. But, you know, when I was watching that video, I just couldn't help but think it's so German. It's so sterile. |
| James Stacy | Oh, most definitely. And especially like being 1986 for the 959, a year later, we would have the Ferrari F40 and I think most people know the F, most car people know the F40. Yeah. But don't realize that it's direct competition was the, I want to say 198 mile an hour 959 versus the 201 mile an hour F40. Yeah. And that, that was those three miles an hour or two, two, you know, whatever actually, you know, I'm, I'm trying to remember this from pure, purely from memory, but whatever, whatever actually, Separated the two cars was very slim. But what we were actually seeing was the The like pure brushstroke of Porsche and the pure brushstroke of Ferrari. Yeah, one was this ultra high-tech every single piece of engineering That they could put in a car it had mm-hmm And the other was Ferrari saying like we're gonna make something that's very light it used advanced, you know Kevlar composites in the f40 but You know, it has open floor welds. It doesn't have any, you know, gadgets or interior amenities. And largely I would say the F40 time has served it better in terms of its legend. Yeah. But watch this video on the 959. I, you know, if, if you're hearing this and you're thinking like, what's a 959, it's kind of like an oddly elongated, widened 911. You know, Porsche isn't going to ever step that far from a 911. And it's a really, really, really cool car. And then the second video is a 365 GTB4. And this is, I would say, a largely, in many ways, a largely forgotten Ferrari. It's a very, very cool car. Henry Catchpool is the guy doing the video, and he's wearing a speedy on a NATO, which is kind of fun. A second one, I think the Ferrari sounds better. I think the story behind the Porsche is maybe perhaps more interesting than that behind the Ferrari, but I think both videos are worth checking out. They both recently went to auction. I think, uh, maybe when we were recording this, maybe 10 days ago, and I don't remember what either sold for, but, uh, both very cool cars and leads me right into my next piece, which, uh, this is a post that, uh, Ben Clymer, head honcho at Hodinkee wrote up called In Depth, The Incredible Watches and Cars of Briggs Cunningham. And I'm actually not sure how much I want to tell you about this aside from the fact that this is an absolute must read. If you are listening to a podcast that's, you know, mostly about watches and occasionally about cars and adventuring and kind of a lifestyle played as much kind of to the edge of your comfort zone as possible, you should read this piece. It's one of my favorite that Ben has ever written. It's very much in depth about these cars that Briggs Cunningham was responsible for either bringing to the US or having manufactured for Le Mans and a couple of amazing watches and now my new favorite ultra rare Patek, which is pretty cool, especially because he wasn't really a watch guy. He just knew he was a man of wealth and knew what he liked in watches and was responsible for for some pretty unique owning and kind of having Patek create some rather unique pieces. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I love that he just, you know, bought himself a Patek and then just, you know, wore the heck out of it. I mean, it was just his watch, you know. It's one of those traits that I admire about people that I wish I could have, but, you know, he was just kind of this larger-than-life guy who just wanted a cool watch to wear, and he happened to be driving and building some pretty awesome cars. |
| James Stacy | Oh, yeah, and one of the lead photos in the spread on Hodinkee is is Briggs next to his 300 SL. It was the first one he got it. And you can see him wearing this steel Patek chronograph on his wrist. It's a great photo. And it's just fun to think that there's like a legend that this guy built up between his, you know, obvious passion for cars and a very specific passion for Le Mans. and then an appreciation for things like watches, and it all kind of wraps into what was, I think, one of the best posts I've dug up on Hodinkee. I think it was great. I read it a couple times right in a row. Super piece. Everyone should read it. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, and if you ever want to change your name, I think Briggs Cunningham would be a pretty good choice. |
| James Stacy | So good, right? I'm an international kind of like... Man of mystery. Yeah, man of mystery with all the cars and the watches. Briggs Cunningham. It's perfect. |
| Jason Heaton | Exactly. |
| James Stacy | Right. If you found out that like 006's name was Briggs Cunningham. Yeah. You'd be like, yeah, I guess so. That's about right. That's about right. Right. But yeah, so I think that basically brings us to the end of the show. So as always, thank you so much for listening. Please hit the show notes for links and details on everything we spoke about. You can follow us on Instagram. Jason is at Jason Heaton. I'm at J.E. Stacey. And you can follow the show at The Graynado. If you have any questions, please feel free to write us at thegraynado at gmail.com. Uh, feel free to subscribe to the show wherever you like, but leave a review. The reviews make a big difference in the ranking for our show and the ability for the uninitiated to find the show. So if you're enjoying the show, please leave us a review, an honest review, leave us a review. And, uh, and, and we'll try and get the show to, uh, some new listeners. Keep growing. You can find more at thegraynado.com or through SoundCloud and music throughout is Siesta by Jazzer via the free music archive. |
| Jason Heaton | And until next time we leave you with this quote. from the mountaineer Conrad Anker who said, enlightenment isn't found with a full stomach or on a soft pillow. |