The Grey NATO - Ep 116 - June Q And A
Published on Thu, 25 Jun 2020 06:00:22 -0400
Synopsis
The hosts discuss an upcoming Rolex auction for charity, share their weekly wrist checks, answer a variety of listener questions on topics like helium escape valves, reading Ian Fleming's books, selling watches, choosing lady's watches, mountain climbing gear and tips, using mechanical watches for tough activities, watch collecting versus enthusiasm, and finding large watch straps. They also share media recommendations including the band The Longest Johns and the Donut Media YouTube car channel.
Links
Transcript
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| James Stacey | Hello and welcome to another episode of The Gray Nado, a Hodinkee podcast that's a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. My name is James Stacy. I am joined as ever with Jason Heaton, and this is episode 116, and we thank you for listening. How you doing, Jason? Pretty good. Yeah, really good. It's been a good Monday, I think. Good weekend, good Monday. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it was a good week all around. I mean even, you know, we just aired a few days ago and I announced the winning bid for that Unimatic that I auctioned off for Big Brothers Big Sisters and I'm happy to report that I sent off the check to Big Brothers today and the watch is on its way to Maldives. It's probably just a couple days away now and No, no, no sooner than that's off my plate. You have some exciting news about the Helios auction. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, so for those who may have missed the last episode or don't do the Instagram thing that heavily, we auctioned off or I auctioned off my first series pastel dial 12 hour bezel Helios C4, a favorite watch of mine, but one that I also thought would earn a respectable amount of money for this sort of scenario. And I gave the option for the high bidder to pick from a And I gave the option for the high bidder to pick from a few different charities. They ended up selecting the Innocence Project, and the total came out to $2,800. That's amazing. Which is more than 4X the original retail for that watch. And I think a really impressive result, especially when you consider that we put up two watches that maybe together would have cost $1,500. Yeah, right. And we're at about five grand. Jeez. Yeah. So I'm really happy with this, and I've already been conferring with the high bidder, and that's how I got the receipt of their donation to the Innocence Project. I'm really thrilled about this. It really put a lot of gas back in my tank about my feelings about humanity and people, and certainly our community. And I don't mean our community like the people listening to this, but I mean the community of people who like and share watches online. Right. Of which you and I are a part, not so much the distinct TGN community. I'm always 100 percent on board with those folks. So, yeah, that was great. I'm really, really thrilled. So that that donation is already made. I don't have to do in your case, like with the check or whatever. I just have to actually send the watch. And the funny thing is, is, you know, you deal with great people. Sometimes you take it for granted. But, you know, Jason from Haleo saw the auction total and he said, hey, you know, That watch has been kind of out of my orbit since you got it back a few years ago. Do you want me to take a look at it first? So it's going to go to Hallios and make sure that it's tip top, and then it'll go to the winner. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, that's great. And the winner's in North America, right? It's in Texas. |
| James Stacey | That's not far to go. Good. Nope, not at all. So he'll get a pristine and fairly rare, cool little Hallios and I'll miss it. But also I'm pretty thrilled with if it's going to go, I think this is the way it had to go. I don't think this is a watch I ever would have sold. Yeah. Unless things were fairly dire. But in this scenario, other people's scenario is pretty dire. And I think this is a good way to chip in what we can and We actually have another auction to announce for those of you who haven't gotten, you know, tired of this one. And at least in this case, we definitely saved the most impressive for last. You want to fill people in? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So this is really exciting. We've got a friend of the show and a friend that James has met out in Denver, Colorado, who kind of saw what we were doing with the Unimatic and the Helios auctions and offered up his own single owner Rolex Oyster Perpetual for a really good cause. He's planning to auction it off on Instagram as, as we kind of did, um, with all proceeds going to the equal justice initiative. And, you know, both of us were just blown away by this, by this offer. And Sam asked us to help him spread the word and kind of for some advice on how to get this cranked up. And so he has actually set up an Instagram profile specifically for this auction. And the address is at Rolex four, that's the numeral four EJI. And you can go there and follow and just, you know, bid if you're able. If you're looking for a cool, you know, beautiful 36 millimeter steel dial Rolex Oyster Perpetual, here's your chance to get one and to do something for a really good cause. So we're really pumped for this and, you know, I don't know. I mean, I love how this is sort of blossomed out of our friend Soog's, you know, original swatch that he put up and then the Unimatic and the Helios and it just keeps going. I just love it. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I agree. And the big thing to keep in mind here for anyone who's listening is again, this is a nice single owner, boxes, papers bought from a great retailer in Denver, 36 millimeter steel OP. It's a really cool one with a kind of like a steel tone dial. And then Sam and his wife are actually going to match up to $5,000. Amazing. So if this watch even goes for what it's probably worth normally, we're talking about 10 grand for charity or more. Wow. And I definitely think it should be more, you know, if we're getting 4x on a Hallios. Yeah. I don't see any reason why we can't see a great result for this. And it goes to a charity that's really well managed. You know, this is a very well vetted charity via charity navigator. And Sam, I mean, we're just thrilled to that you even asked for us for us to help out. And this is something that can, again, earn some more money and you know, likely considerably more than we've, uh, we've generated so far for these sorts of charities. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And we should mention that he's planning to start the auction, um, today. So if you're listening to the show on Thursday, the 24th, um, at noon today, and I, I assume that's going to be mountain time, which is Sam's home time zone. Um, but be sure to check out Rolex for EJI on Instagram for more details. And we'll certainly be regramming and reposting and kind of spreading the word as we can. |
| James Stacey | I don't think you'll be able to miss it. We'll make sure that people get the notice and you get a chance to throw a bit in there if you're game. And yeah, I like between the matching donation and a really cool watch. I think this is a win in almost every direction. And yeah, I'm a little bit speechless. I'm just just so thrilled that this worked out the way it did and that Sam and his wife were so generous to to think of this way and and, you know, ask for a little bit of help, which we're more than happy to to attempt. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Really excited to see where this goes. Well, before we jump into kind of our own little updates for the week, before we get into our huge main topic today, we've got a little bit of housekeeping. Next week is a holiday week for both of our countries. We've got Canada Day and Independence Day here in the U.S. And I'm going to be doing this cabin trip I mentioned next week, so I won't be around to do much recording, hopefully out of Wi-Fi range by then. And so we're going to skip our July 2nd episode and come back with what we think is a pretty neat topic on the 9th. and kind of kick off our summer of summer of good TGN stuff on the 9th and go forward from there. |
| James Stacey | So, yeah, so we would encourage you to, you know, take some time offline as well. Maybe maybe, you know, let let the let the podcast feed build up if if other people aren't taking the week off. But we'll certainly catch you back on the 9th. And we're already planning. Yeah, like like Jason said, a pretty fun show, kind of a varied topic that I think people get a kick out of. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And, you know, I've got my cabin trip coming up and I'm as we've talked about, I'm looking forward to jumping off a dock and you just did that a couple of days ago, right? |
| James Stacey | I sure did. Yeah. My, um, I haven't been up there for years, but my, my, uh, greater family has a cottage in the Kawarthas on a, on a fantastic Lake. And, and, you know, between living on the other side of Canada and then, uh, generally not being around for a lot of the summer, I hadn't been up in a while and it's about two hours from Toronto. And, uh, we drove up for just for the afternoon, drove up around lunch, uh, got a solid sunburn with the top down in the Jeep. And, uh, went for a swim, you know, drank, uh, drank a cold beer next to the water. Caught up with a few family members, a very social, socially distanced sort of crowd happening there. Uh, but, uh, you know, you can talk from across a dock or a picnic table or something like that. And, and yeah, we got a chance to see some family members and just kind of enjoy a day in the sun and then a nice drive back in the evening. I mean, it's, it's, uh, it's hard to beat those kind of cooler summer nights once, uh, once it was so warm. all weekend. And it's so, so muggy at the moment. I had to turn my fan off for the recording and I'm already sweating. I'm, I'm, uh, I, I still have a Vancouver sort of, uh, uh, you know, tolerance for the heat. So it's, uh, it's been, it's been nice, but it was, I gotta tell you, it's, uh, it was everything I hoped it would be jumping in that lake. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, that's great. And, um, you did a little Jeep upgrade before you went too. |
| James Stacey | So I did. Yeah. And, and this is when I, you know, it's funny because I, I, uh, I think I talked about that I had another upgrade planned or something on a previous episode, but I ended up replacing the exhaust on the Jeep. That's a big one. It wasn't too bad. I mean, this is axle back, so it doesn't it's not even a cat back, let alone, you know, like a full exhaust. Pretty simple part. You know, I think it's, you know, it wasn't hugely expensive either in the grand scheme of things, but I picked up a Magnaflow. kind of dual tip exhaust. And I didn't really know what to expect. I've never put an exhaust on a car. I've never really had a car where you would want to put an exhaust on it. But if you've ever owned one of these Jeeps, especially mine with the 3.8, it's not exactly an exciting thing to rev it out, even in scenarios where you have to, you know, maybe you're on ramp or a pass or something like that. They sound pretty sad and a little bit anemic and a little bit like they're hurting themselves above, say, about 3,500. So I put I would also preface this that I don't typically love loud exhaust. I like a exhaust note that has a lot of character. Yeah, but I don't really care for it loud. So I've been driving it now for maybe five or six hundred kilometers, and it's my understanding that it will break into some extent over that time over a little bit more time. Even I haven't decided if it's too loud or if I will keep it on, but I do really like the sound, especially when you wind it out. It's It definitely makes driving a little bit faster, you know, making passes on back roads, that sort of thing, a little bit more interesting. Um, but it is a little bit, uh, bellowy or, or just kind of, there's a bait, like a kind of persistent base note around 2000 RPM, uh, that I'm not sure I'm, I'm wild about. Yeah. Um, but if that grows on me or if I learned to not, it not bother me, the other thing is like with the top down, it's probably louder, but it doesn't resonate the same way. Yeah. So I don't really know what it'll sound like once I put the hard top back on. Um, but it is, I mean, these things, it's a Jeep. So a lot of these things are so simple and mechanically it is very simple. It's literally one pipe, obviously being exhaust. And I had to actually had to Dremel the bolt off because it had rusted to the point of like melting. Um, you know, this is an Ontario Jeep, so the rest will always be a problem, even though I'm, I'm in the process of getting on top of, uh, what, what there is currently. But certainly when it came to the exhaust, it rusted pretty bad. And so I cut the bolt off. And then you basically remove two of these hangers that mount into these kind of rubber points under the Jeep. And then you just kind of shake it like crazy. And I mean like crazy, like for 30 minutes, just kind of reefing back and forth until it finally, and then lubricate it and shake it a little bit more and lubricate it and turn it and shake it and twist it and the rest. And then finally it pops off. And the old one wasn't in great shape, so it had to go either way. So I'm not too worried if I end up not loving this Magnaflow. I'm sure I can sell it and get a more simple one. But the Magnaflow went on in about five minutes. |
| Jason Heaton | Did you get a face full of rust when you finally freed it? |
| James Stacey | No, no. You see, I was actually... So the Jeep is nice and high off the ground, even stock. Mine's a stock Jeep with no lift. So I took a co-worker's suggestion and just put two of the wheels, the one side of the car on the curb to buy me another two or three inches. And that was all I needed. So when I was actually taking it off, I was sitting full up kind of with my face against the bumper and just pulling horizontally. But certainly when I went under there and started banging on stuff, I always wear eye protection. And of course, in this case, I actually co-opted the use of a face mask, so I didn't breathe a bunch of rust. and an auditory sort of change. And so far, I like it. You know, it's not super droney on the highway, which is nice. It's usually the weak spot for a lot of these add-on, like things that haven't been tuned by multi-million dollar companies. Yeah. So yeah, I'll keep driving it and keep running it. It's certainly like more of a laugh when you start it up just because it has a little bit of a grumble. It doesn't sound like a muscle car or anything. It sounds kind of more like you'd expect from a TR6 or... Oh, sure. like a, like, you know, just kind of a Revy, but it doesn't, it's just as a Rev that hard. Yeah. So it's good. I'm happy with it. And mostly I really, I really wanted the project. I had never done an exhaust before. So learning something new is kind of fun. And there were these little challenges, whether it be that bolt or other things along the way that I got to learn, which I was, that was mostly the, the fun of that. The rest is, is just kind of a laugh with the noise it makes now. Cool. And what did you get up to, uh, what'd you get up to this weekend? I got to swim in and a fun little bod to the Jeep. So. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, you mentioned a sunburn and, uh, it's been a while since I got scorched pretty badly and, uh, it's my own fault, but, uh, we went out for like a 35 mile bike ride on Sunday, I guess. Yeah, just yesterday. And, um, you know, it was, we made the mistake of leaving like midday, hottest time of the day, and I was wearing a short sleeve Jersey and kind of got out halfway and I turned around and I was just like, looking at my arms just turning redder and redder and, uh, ran a little short on water. It was, it was one of those, you know, stupid learning experiences. Like I should have learned about 20 years ago, but, uh, it was all good. I mean, it's fine. And, uh, felt good to kind of spin the legs out a little bit. And, uh, you know, this is summer. I mean, it's what I expect sunburns and swims and top down and the whole bit, you know? Yeah. So that's great. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Good stuff. Super. And then hopefully, you know, you've got that cabin. Cabin coming up. Hopefully you'll get a full compliment of that kind of lifestyle. That sounds like a good breakaway. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Well, we got a big Q&A episode. We should jump into that. But before we do that, quick risk check. What do you got on? Well, I've been borrowing. I don't think I mentioned this before, but I've been borrowing the AORUS Diver 65 Chronograph. I wrote to our friends at AORUS and I just said, hey, you know, I wouldn't mind just trying one of your watches to kind of talk up on TGN and take a few photos of and just check out. And I've always liked the Diver 65 chronograph, you know, from the early Carl Brashear's version to the current one is a steel one with a bronze edged bezel. And it's quite a beautiful watch. I mean, I've worn it off and on for about the past two weeks and it came on a nice stitched leather strap and I moved it to a gray NATO fairly quickly because I think it just lends itself well to that. And I like it. If I had a complaint it's that it's maybe a little too large for kind of the overall aesthetic. It's 43 and a half millimeters and I would I'd love to see this watch at you know 41 max. I think would be really cool. But it's got this amazing high dome crystal. I don't think I've seen other than like on a vintage Sea-Dweller or something I don't think I've ever seen a crystal this high with high of a dome. You know I'm a sucker for a good dive chronograph too so that's been that's been a lot of fun to wear. So I'll I'll probably send that back, yeah, probably before I head up to the cabin. |
| James Stacey | Those are really sweet. And I actually have... I won't divulge all of the information, but I have a similar watch coming in. Oh, nice. In the next little while. I'm actually very lucky. There's a handful of interesting watches coming in as I start to really ramp up the sort of continuation of doing hands-on pieces, but from home. Kind of like how I used to when I had a day job and I didn't go to an office in New York or anything like that. Yeah, yeah. This is fun. I get a chance to play around with more cameras and sort of different techniques and stuff. But, uh, I really liked those Oris chronographs. They're a little bit big for my wrist. I would love to see a 40 millimeter version. Yeah. And I know that's kind of like a, like a broken record thing to say at a certain point. Uh, I don't think that they're too big at 43. Um, I just think they'd be a bit sweeter if they were a bit smaller. Um, but certainly that it's also like, what one guy says versus what a company knows they should be making. You know what I mean? Right. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, but for me this week I am wearing, you know, I was, I was driving the Jeep with the top down going, going up to the cottage to jump off a dock. I had a dock selling. Oh, perfect. No question. I had the pro, uh, I wore it. Uh, I have a very good watch tan, a nicely developing watch tan to prove it. Uh, but I wore the pro like for the last four or five days straight, um, on a, I like it on a, the, it's tread in a nice cool lake. Oh, great. My love for that watch and for its SR sibling has not diminished it at any level. They're just such fun things to wear. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Such a great summer watch. This past week was the 45th anniversary of the release of Jaws. And I don't know, I always associate Jaws with 70s diving. To me, that movie feels like a Doxa movie, even though there wasn't even a Doxa. It was the Allsta that Hooper wears. But I don't know. I always put the two together and always think of Blue Meridian and Blue Water, White Death. I don't know. That whole thing kind of comes together in my brain. And yeah, it's a great summer choice. |
| James Stacey | Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Always a fan. With that, we've got that out of the way. We've got news out of the way. We've got this great upcoming Rolex auction covered and out of the way. So let's get into Q&A. Uh, as always people have sent in some really great questions. A lot of questions. We are going to get to as many as possible. Uh, no, literally at this point we have so many that like, I don't think we can package them all into one episode. So if you sent one in, in the last week or so, uh, it might have to wait until July. Uh, we, we really appreciate people sending these questions in. There's only so many we can put in one episode, but that being said, Jason and I are going to do our best. And let's start with this first one from Tynan. |
| Tynan from Maine | Hi, this is Tynan from Maine. Just a quick question around helium escape valves. So say I'm a saturation diver. I'm coming up, of course, I'm in a dry environment as I'm desaturating or whatever. So couldn't I just unscrew the crown on my watch and wouldn't that act as a saturation? I mean, rather a helium escape valve that would just escape from the crown itself? Just a question that just kind of popped into my mind. Thanks. Bye. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, thanks, Tynan. Good question. I think, you know, this is one of those questions that pops up, you know, here and there, especially with regard to, I think when people see what Omega's done with the Seamaster with the screw down helium release valve, they think, well, why couldn't you just unscrew the crown? And I've often wondered that myself. I mean, I don't know what the overpressure release is for an HRV as opposed to the pressure that a crown seal can, can withstand. Um, but you know, I've seen Rolex, you know, just straight like a Rolex GMT or something, uh, being water tested with the crown unscrewed and it's watertight to about 50 meters, um, of air pressure. So, you know, that's pushing in certainly, but, uh, you know, I'm not sure, you know, how that works going the other direction. But I would think that that would be possible. I think the advantage of a helium release valve, of course, is that you don't have to remember to unscrew it. At least the automatic ones, as opposed to the Omega kind. But that would be my very uneducated opinion on that one. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I would say that that feels correct to me. I think that it would depend on the quality of the seal surrounding the stem for the crown. If it was to a tolerance where air could pass through when it was open, then I think, yeah, it would work just fine as an HRV. But if it's something like what you get with a trip lock, where they can actually be pretty water resistant, even if you forget to close the crown, then that I don't know. I also don't know what the differential would be. Would that seal be the weak point if it was open, the seal surrounding the crown stem? Would that be stronger or weaker than whatever's holding the crystal on? Because anecdotally, that's always the story you hear is that people's crystals were popping off. Yeah, right. And then with the ones where they're unscrewed, then I guess that's a very careful piece of machinery. I'm sure there's a seal on those as well. The kind of flush style that we've seen with Doxa and, of course, Rolex. This might be one to bring up with like a Jason Gallop or someone similar, or maybe we check in with Paul Schofield and see what he thinks. |
| Unknown | Yeah, right. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. We have people we can pass a question like this along. So Tynan, if we can get a more delicate answer or a more complete answer for you than just saying like, it seems like it would work, then so be it. But until then, if you're saturation diving, just assume that you do need an HRV. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Until then. All right, let's jump into the next one. Thanks very much for that, Tynan. |
| JJ from Charlottesville, Virginia | Hi, gents. My name's JJ and I live in Charlottesville, Virginia. I have two questions. First, do you have any plans in the near future to release TGN swag? I know many of us would really like to purchase a coffee mug or something of that nature. Two, Dive Month is coming up in a couple of weeks. Are there any insights that you can give to some of the articles or features that you might be working on? Any idea what might be released through the Hodinkee shop? Thanks and have a great day. |
| James Stacey | All right. So that's a great question. I can feel this one, JJ. We appreciate it. So the first one, absolutely. We would love to do more swag and even just the ability to sell things to people who like the logo or kind of like the vibe of the show, whether it would be a T-shirt or a mug or a key chain or NATO straps. It's just a question of facilitating a level of customer service that Jason and I aren't convinced we can provide on our own. We don't really want to do things halfway. or make a bunch of excuses when they don't ship out correctly or whatever. So we're in the process of figuring out a way of doing some of the fulfillment and the rest of it in a manner that would allow us to continue on the current professional trajectory we have and not become customer service professionals alongside several other jobs. So the answer would be yes. And I would love to say, you know, theoretically this year we'd have some sort of an answer, but it's something that we're actively working on. And then as far as dive month, I actually don't know. My answer to all of those questions would be I don't know. I don't believe to my knowledge that there's anything coming specific to dive month in terms of content. There's obviously lots of dive watch content going on, but I don't know anything specific beyond that. |
| Jason Heaton | I do like the coffee mug idea if we ever do it. It's a good one. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Coffee mug's a good plan. I like that. Logo would look okay on a coffee mug. Yeah. Good one. All right, let's grab another one from Kevin who's got a question about a turtle. |
| Kevin from Canberra, Australia | Hi guys, it's Kevin from Canberra in Australia. I'm in the market for a watch that has a day and date complication and top of my list is the new Seiko King Turtle. I've heard both of you talk at length about your love for the Seiko Turtle. I wanted to see what your thoughts on the King Turtle are, especially with the ceramic bezel and the new Cyclops. It looks like a good package. I'd probably get it on a bracelet. I like the fact that it has a screw-down crown and 200 meters water resistance. I wanted to see if there were any other watches that I should be considering in roughly around that price point. Thanks very much. Keep up the great work. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, thanks a lot for that one, Kevin. You know, James and I are obviously huge fans of the Turtle in almost any variety. It's funny, the King Turtle wasn't one that was on my radar and I actually had to look it up. And that's a pretty swanky looking Seiko Turtle. So I think you're on a good path if that's what you land on. Cyclops, ceramic bezel, the wave dial, which isn't entirely my cup of tea, but you know, it definitely elevates the look of the watch. I can't think of a lot of other comparable kind of priced and quality wise Day-Date watches that would fit your bill. The only other Day-Date that springs to mind is actually not a mechanical watch, it's a quartz watch and it's the SBS version of CWC's Royal Navy Diver. So it's a black steel case with a Day-Date Swiss movement, quartz movement. And you know, if you've heard me or read me, you know, over the past few years, you know that I'm a big fan of CWC and the Special Boat Service in the UK specifically requested a day-to-day version of their Royal Navy Dive Watch and they still make that to this day and I think it's a pretty cool piece. But hard to go wrong with a Seiko. In fact, I've been wearing my Turtle quite a bit lately and these strange long summer pandemic days, having the day to look at is handy sometimes. So good choice on the King Turtle. How about you, James? |
| James Stacey | Any input? I'm a big fan I really like the the model with the kind of black crosshatch dial versus like Jason said the blue model which has the wave dial is a little bit too stylized for me. But there's something really, really clean and nice about these. And while I go back and forth on whether or not I like a Cyclops, it's definitely handy. And I don't dislike it enough to, you know, I've known people who removed them from their Rolex. I don't care enough at that extent, one way or another, but I think it's nice to have the Cyclops. The ceramic bezel is super smart, especially if this is going to be your daily wear and you don't like bezel scratches. And also the other thing to keep in mind with these is like, so you're getting the Cyclops, you're getting a kind of interesting dial that definitely looks different than a normal 777 or those versions. And you're getting the bezel, but you could change the bezel at any time. Yeah. It's still a 777. It's still a great deal. And you're looking at a little over $500. So it is a good price jump over a standard 777 street price. And that would be the only time where I would think like, is it worth that that jump in price for the Day-Date? And if the answer is yes, then I say you absolutely go for it. Your other option, of course, would be something like a Monster or like a standard SKX, which would have your Day-Date as well. But outside of those, if you want something from a modern crop of Seiko with like a little bit better technology in terms of that bezel, I absolutely think it's a great buy for sure. |
| Jason Heaton | Great. Thanks for the question, Kevin. Let's move on to Cedric. |
| Cedric from Bishop, California | Hi guys, this is Cedric in beautiful Bishop, California, and I've got two questions. First, you guys travel a lot, both for business and for pleasure. And I'm wondering what will it take to get you guys to travel again? And just for sake of argument, let's assume a minimum six hour flight and a seven to 10 day holiday. And the second question is, has the pandemic changed the way you think about watches and the watch industry? And if yes, how? So thanks for, um, doing the gray NATO. I enjoyed every week and take care. |
| James Stacey | Hey, Cedric. Thanks very much for that question. Uh, I can jump in with, uh, with certainly an answer for the first part. Like what, what would it take to get me on a plane for six hours to go somewhere for two weeks? Um, probably nothing short of the preservation of my career. I can't imagine needing a vacation. I don't vacation that often. I'm lucky if I do one real vacation a year. But at this point, I would drive. Obviously, this is talking within the context of the fact that the borders aren't open. I couldn't freely travel to a lot of spots. But even if it was open, what I would want was some sort of assurance from health officials as to how the virus is actually spread, what the sort of containment vectors are, what the sort of problematic conditions are, what the airlines are doing about it, what the hotels are doing about it. It's not just the flight. You got to go somewhere when you get there. And I would want more concrete, you know, knowledge based on what the circumstances are. And then if we get into the realm of a vaccine, then I'm much more comfortable. If I can be vaccinated and I don't become a risk factor for my family, then yeah, Let's start doing some travel again. What do you think, Jason? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I'm in largely in agreement with you. I'm not itching to go jump on a plane, especially since I've seen what some of the early precautions are looking like with, you know, five hour waits for domestic flights and, you know, considerable health screening, which, you know, I think is all certainly, you know, prudent. Yeah. But I have no desire to expose myself to that scenario. And I'm quite happy to, you know, pursue road trips and Um, look into new, new outlets for travel and, and kind of get stuff done around the house, which I've have to admit, I've sort of enjoyed recently. It's been a pleasure. Yeah. And the second part of your question was, has it changed our way of thinking about watches? And in a way it has, I think what I'm finding is that, you know, early on, I think we had a question about, you know, are we wearing, you know, is there a watch you're wearing during the pandemic? And, and my answer was, well, I've got this collection that I'm sitting at home with. I might as well cycle through as many watches as I want during a day. But what I found is that I tend to put on a watch and just wear it for days and almost pick watches that I don't really have to think about or care about. So if I'm out, you know, cutting the grass, tinkering with a Land Rover, uh, you know, going for a bike ride, et cetera, et cetera, I've been wearing like largely, you know, Seiko Turtle CWC quartz watches a lot, just stuff that has good loom for, for nighttime viewing. And just, I don't really have to think about much, but, uh, I wouldn't say it's kind of changed my outlook to a certain degree. I've, it's kind of reframed what I view as important these days. I think some socioeconomic issues that have popped up as we've discussed here locally in Minneapolis and around the world has also contributed to that new way of thinking as well. So, but I don't know anything to add on that James, or you want to move on? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I don't think I, I don't think this has any effect of the way I think about the industry. I think the industry was already going to have a tough year in terms of communicating their message. and telling people about new watches with the shows having changed. And this was going to be a transition year no matter what. And then they were forced to go not to plan B, which of course was moving the shows around and that kind of thing. But now we're into plan C or D or E. And I would say that it's really just, from Jason and my perspective, as people who cover this industry, it's very reactionary. Our context, you know, we're not, We're not making any of the decisions as to how this industry, uh, operates or mitigates their risk or, or otherwise. And, and, and I think, I think that that's my position is it hasn't really changed. Um, there's no, there weren't shows this year. There conceivably will be shows next year and they'll decide how those go and we'll respond by covering them as we can. I don't see it being a whole lot more complicated than that. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, thanks Cedric for the question and thanks as always for, uh, for your loyal following. Let's move on to a question from Andrew about our past mountaineering experiences. |
| Andrew from Ohio | Hey, James and Jason, this is Andrew from Ohio. I've been a longtime listener and you guys convinced me to follow a lifelong dream of mine, and that's to climb a mountain. I was originally scheduled to climb Baker in June of this year, but with everything going on, we've unfortunately had to push it back until June of 2021. So I'm trying to turn this one year delay into a positive by getting into even better shape and by doing more prep work ahead of my trip. Since the two of you have experienced climbing Baker and Rainier, I was wondering if there is anything you would do differently if you were to do another climb, such as different workout routines, different gear to take with you, different food or snacks you would take, really just any tips you wish you would have known as a first time climber. Thanks for your help and keep up the great work. |
| James Stacey | All right, Andrew, this is great. First of all, really kudos on, on picking up on a life goal. Nothing for me has touched a certain part of my soul as doing a mountain. And it's one that I think if I had stayed in mountain shape, as in living around mountains and being able to train kind of easily, uh, I, something I probably would have continued doing and definitely something I hope to get back to one day. Um, as far as Baker, fitness is important, but I don't think it's going to be your main issue. Um, the biggest thing will be developing a level of fitness carrying weight, I think is going to be the easiest thing that would translate to the most areas. So if you're already in a mountainous area, Buy a weight vest. You have a year now, buy a weight vest or buy some scuba weight and put it in a backpack and just go up and down inclines. Because obviously you need the strength to go up and to carry your pack and who knows, you might have to help and carry someone else's pack or something like that. But then also coming back down involves different muscles and you want to kind of do both sides of it. I see a lot of people train going straight up some stairs and then maybe they don't go down or you see people go, in my case, people go up the gross grind. to train, but not go down. You could take the gondola down. So I would say focus on a balanced training methodology. As far as things I would change, yeah, I mean, I did almost... Well, not permanent, but I did very significant damage to my right foot by going on the in-hike and then, of course, out on a pair of shoes that just should have been thrown out before the program. So they were a perfectly great pair of Scarpas, which Jason and I love, are great shoes, but I'd worn them way too long. And, uh, and they provided no support. So when you come out and you've got, you know, maybe 50, 60 pounds on your back, um, of every, of all the gear, the team gear and everything else. And my foot just wasn't up for that. And I damaged the plantar fascia on my right foot. And I mean, it still bugs me to the day. It doesn't stop me from running. It doesn't actually hurt. It's just, you know, if I don't sleep that well, I wake up and it's kind of sore, that sort of thing. And that was years ago. Uh, so I'd say make sure, make sure you're like simple. You're really core gear is locked in. And then lastly, and this is kind of a bummer, but it is something because I had to do Baker twice. The first time our absolutely attainable summit bid was waylaid by one person on the team who was not anywhere near in the level of shape that they should have been. They should not have been allowed on the team, et cetera, et cetera. It ended up getting me a placement on another team a few weeks later, and we did it again and had a great time, but both days were perfect weather. I was the exact same level of fitness for both. And, uh, and, and I would just be, you know, prepare yourself for the fact that anything can happen on a mountain. It could be somebody on your team. It could be whether it could be something else and you won't get to the top. Um, and, and I don't think that needs to be seen as necessarily a failure in my scenario. It was directly related to one person's inaction in getting ready for this, uh, this summit bit. And, uh, I got a chance to, uh, to do it again, but if it had been weather, if it had been, any of the things that, you know, the guiding outfit that I went with couldn't control, then I wouldn't have gotten another bid. And that has to be within the realm of your expectations. And then I think you just at that point, you take what you learned and you move on and make another bid at another time. But it doesn't matter how fit you are. If it's a storm, I mean, Baker's the snowiest place in the world. So if it decides it doesn't want you on the top of what is a very attainable mountain, you're not going to get there for sure. Other than that, I would say just stick to it. Oh, I have one other tip and I'm actually not sure how much people would want me to explain this, so I'll just keep it easy. If you don't want to necessarily have to deal with some of the biological expenditures on the mountain, I'm trying to think of the sweetest way to say this. Um, if you don't want to have to use the, use the bathroom in front of a bunch of people on a rope team, I recommend black licorice because it is maybe three days in the wilderness and you can easily go that time without, um, without using the bathroom. Wow. Uh, and, and if you don't, if, if that's not really your game of stopping a rope team on a bright sunny mountainside and pooping in a bag, uh, then yeah, I suggest considering, considering ways of just pausing that process for 80 hours, something like that. And in my case, that's black licorice, simple, simple tip. Maybe it means nothing to you. If it hadn't worked out, it would have been okay. If there's an agreed upon scenario on the hillside. Um, but still, you know, if it's something you can control, uh, I don't have a great stomach in general. So it's, it's, it's definitely something was high in my mind. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I don't know. I don't, I don't have much to add, um, to, to most of your comments, I would say, uh, I, Felt like I trained fairly adequately and my gear selection was pretty spot on and we'll try to dig up a link to my gear list that I put up on Gear Patrol several years ago when I did this climb. I think it's still up there on their website somewhere. But I would say boots are very important. You know, James mentioned footwear choices, uh, when he was training and I think, you know, getting good boots, I mean, nothing is worse than a blister or cold feet or, you know, any foot problems when you're, when you're on a mountain or doing any sort of hiking. Um, so, you know, get good boots, break them in, wear them a lot before the trip. And if you can, I think you mentioned you're in Ohio and I think, you know, altitude is tough. Yeah. Altitude is tough. And I had a hard time with that. Uh, coming from, from Minnesota, I had spent a fair amount of time out in Colorado where, you know, it's high altitude and it usually takes a couple of days to get acclimated. So if at all possible, um, before your trip, I know you said June of 2021, maybe, you know, some of these travel restrictions and issues will lift in time, you know, like a month or two before you have your trip, if possible. drive or fly or something, somewhere with a bit of altitude, you know, the foothills around Boulder or something, you can get some cheap flights into Denver and just go hike, just go and kind of see how your body feels in that, in that, uh, thinner air. I think, um, you don't know. And it would be a rude awakening if you get out to, to your base of your mountain and you find that you're nauseous and not, not a hundred percent because you do want to be a hundred percent. And then my last tip would be, uh, slather on a lot of sunscreen. Um, I got a great tip. I got sunburn in the weirdest spots. I got it. Um, it was a warm sunny day when we were doing our first day of climbing up to the kind of our high camp. And I jacked up the sleeves of my base layer. So my forearms were bare and the reflection of the sun off the snow just torched the underside of my forearms where, which almost never see the sun. And it was just excruciatingly painful. So, you know, put it on the underside of your chin, put it on your, uh, the bottom of your forearms, um, all over your nose, your ears. Um, high altitude sun is nothing to nothing to mess around with. |
| James Stacey | So yeah. And to, to Jason's point, he told me all of this before I went. And not only did I do the sunscreen, especially on the underside of my nose, the underside of my chin, um, my, you like weird things like your forehead, which is mine's coverage. You're wearing a helmet and a hat. Um, but I did, I put all of that on and other people on the team were like, Nah, dude, we're leaving at like 2 in the morning, we're going to be down by 11. And you're like, you have any idea how sunny it's going to be by 11 when you're coming back down the hill? I also wore, I didn't ever have bare forearms or anything. I kept on the Ice Breakers UV layer, a really light wool layer, which I highly recommend because when you're coming down, you'll be so happy you won't realize how cold or hot you are. Yeah. And at a certain point, they find when you're not on the glacier, they let you off leash, essentially. And then you realize just how much energy you actually have. I had trained extensively for this. So I could have done the mountain two, three times in the day. Like I really enjoyed every step of it. And it's, it's such an incredible terrain, but yeah, the sun, the sun thing. And I mean, I still use the glasses that I have on really bright days. Just went with like a really simple, yeah. Glacier rated glass from sun cloud. And that makes a big difference. Um, make sure your eyes are good. Make sure you're comfortable. Drink a lot of water. And I think you'll have a blast. I'm really happy for you, Andrew. All right, I've rambled enough. Let's move on to another one. We've got a question from Joe. Hi, guys. |
| Joe from Southern California | This is Joe Whitaker from Southern California with a question regarding selling a watch. I wonder what your preferred approach is if you're selling, say, a watch that is sub $3,000 and how that might be different if you're selling a watch that is still a nice watch but is probably worth less than $1,000 on the resale market. What are your outlets for that? How do you maximize your return and keep the transaction safe? Thanks. |
| Jason Heaton | I can jump in quickly on this. I think, James, you probably have better and more thorough advice than me, but I hate selling. Oh, yeah. My preferred method, if at all possible, is to hit up kind of a local network of people, whether that be a local group of watch enthusiasts that gets together regularly, that we also have a couple of retailers in town here in Minneapolis that are buying uh pre-owned watches and turning them around and selling and you don't get as much maybe as you might get selling privately on a forum or ebay or something but it's it's just such an easier safer transaction that i tend to prefer that and boy i i just try to sell as little as possible but that's that's those are kind of the the two ways i prefer but then you know the other route i guess is if you've got a forum membership, which I do from way back, uh, you know, sell a watch that way. Um, but James, I think you have, I know we've done questions like this before and you've had some good tips. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I will attempt to keep this brief. It's not my strong suit because there's a lot you can say about this. And Joe's question was so thorough. Uh, so kudos there. Uh, first I would say manage your expectations before you price it. Um, if the watch is so valuable or in such high demand, it'll sell itself. It'll sell to one of your friends. It'll sell to anyone who happens to hear that you want to sell it. If that's not the case, if you're selling something that's just normal enthusiast fare, the fastest way to get a result will be an aggressive price point. This is how I sell watches. I'm much less interested in what I get from them in terms of say what I paid or whatever. But by Pricing aggressively. This isn't just my general feeling in selling things used is like price them really smartly and just make sure the first message is somebody writing you saying like, I'll take it. And it doesn't mean that you're taking a bath on it, or you might, depending on what you paid in the in the original scenario. I mean, watches can be very expensive and depreciate insanely quickly. But if you're selling an enthusiast watch, my suggestion is start with your friends, start with other people who might be interested in the watch, make the price kind of a friend price. I always like to at least offer to my overall kind of internal watch group and then just I'll make a really low ball price. But the understanding is that if that person wants to sell the watch down the road and maybe flip it, I get first denial, which usually takes the flipping concept out of it. So if I'm offering a watch for, you know, not significantly less, but less than what it might go for on a sales form, then the understanding is like, if this person would like to turn around and sell it, I'm just going to say like, well, but I get first bid. Outside of that, you have to have an existence. If you want to sell to the public, you have to have some sort of existence. So there's websites that give you an existence, which would be like a Craigslist. And then there's some that require a more personal thing. Like I would sell, if I had to sell a watch today, I would do so on Watch You Seek, where I have an account. It has the requisite number of posts to allow me access to the sales forum. And then you basically follow the understood format for selling the watch. And I found that to be fine. It's a pain. It always is a pain. It leads me to not bother selling most watches. But when something really has to go, that's where I'll put it. And that way, I know it's going to an enthusiast. I know it goes to someone who has done this a couple times before. So they understand that like, The cost versus shipping and the rest of it. And then if you're talking stuff under three grand, you know, you can probably get that reasonably insured in terms of safety. If not, I would say, you know, just at a comfort level, maybe limit it to your country. So if that's continental U.S., limit it to continental U.S. It's going to lower your risk a little bit. And then beyond that, just be, you know, really upfront, get really, really good pictures, um, get a really, really precise description of the watch. And, uh, and then if, if it's something where you're hoping to do this more and more often, which means you'll, you'll be building on a reputation, then treat every single one like a customer service scenario, that this is your customer. Uh, they need to be treated with respect. They might have questions that are really stupid, uh, to you, but are important to them. So make sure you go through those sorts of things. If the watch needs a service, make sure you have it serviced before you sell it, not try to pass that off to someone else, all the simple kind of stuff. But I would say for the most part, I use Watchuseek, which has never really let me down. If I found that Watchuseek's community changed in any drastic way, or you couldn't sell anything from a Rolex to a Hallios to an Autodromo to a Seiko, then I would probably move on to eBay, where there is just a constant audience. Uh, that's looking at these things and you don't have to have an account that's had 50 or a hundred posts and that, you know, you're, it's based on, on, you know, you're selling success and, and sometimes you've got to make your first sale. So I would, I would start with a friends and then I would move on to something like an enthusiast group, like a watch you seek. And if you can't, if you, if you can't do there, or that doesn't work for you, I'd move to a much more general platform like a eBay or Craigslist. Good. Cool. That would be my answer. All right, Tommy. Let's hear from you. |
| Tommy from the UK | Hi, Jason and James. So I'm here from the UK. Uh, I just got finished listening to last week's podcast and thought I'd submit a question for this week's Q and a session or perhaps any others you're doing in the future. So with all the extra time I've got on my hands in lockdown, I'm trying to realize a bit of a dream, which is creating my own dive watch. Um, now I keep on going back and forth on whether I should be using a Swiss or a Japanese automatic movement. and we'd really love to get your guys' view on things. So, I was wondering, in the microbrand space, how important to you guys is the provenance of a watch's movement? For example, the Sellita SW200 versus the Miota 9015. Also, I was wondering, do you think the importance of provenance changes if you move outside of the enthusiast's microbrand space and into the kind of bigger brand names? And do you think Swiss is really better than modern Japanese. Anyway, sorry, quite a lot thrown at you there. That's it from me. But on a side note, I'd just like to say how much I enjoy what you guys put out there on the Grenaded podcast. I only found out about the podcast about six months ago or so. But I really enjoyed listening to the back catalogue you guys have and it's become a regular feature for my long car journeys. So thank you. Anyway, cheers guys and take care. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, thanks for that one, Tommy. And, uh, thanks for, uh, thanks for joining the journey here with us and listening regularly. Um, you know, personally, I don't, uh, have a specific preference Swiss to Japanese. I think a lot of it comes down to, especially in the micro brand space, the fit for the type of watch that it is. Um, and you know, a lot of micro brand watches, and I think you said dive watch, and I'm guessing that if you're creating something on your own, you're not aiming for, you know, something in the, $8,000 to $10,000 range right off the bat. You're probably kind of in that, you know, $500 to $1,500 range. I think the Seiko or Miyota Japanese movements are a perfect fit for those watches. I think, you know, traditionally the types of watches that people like for a watch in that range anyway, in terms of dive watches, are Seikos and Citizens. And those all run Japanese movements that have been tried and tested and proven many, many times over in the 60s, 70s, 80s, up to now, and I think they're a great fit. I think if you move into kind of more of a classic quote-unquote Swiss-style dress watch or chronograph or something that's maybe trying to harken back to something existing, maybe a bit nostalgic, maybe it's reviving an old brand, then I think, you know, going the Swiss route maybe carries a little more nostalgia or heritage or prestige. But again, I don't necessarily think that it's any better. In fact, what you end up having to pay for a little bit more with these movements off the shelf from from ETA or Salida allows you to put less money into some of the maybe more important parts of the watch, like getting a good dial or crafting a really great case or even putting a little bit more into getting a nice strap or two for it. Um, and in that case, I would, I would again, opt for, for the Japanese route, but, uh, I don't personally think there's any, uh, the Swiss have any sort of monopoly on, on great movements. I think that's been sort of what we've been led to believe over many years of, uh, maybe a bit of bias. Um, yeah, but, uh, you know, I think just kind of go with what, what fits the watch and what you're after. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I would agree. I think I've never been let down by a Miyota or a Seiko movement. If those are within the price point that allows you to hit the overall price point, then I think those are great. I don't put any special weight in a Solita versus a Miyota. I think it would be weird if a purely Swiss brand started using Japanese movements. You know, like if we saw Oris move to Miyotas, that wouldn't line up. But I think if it lines up nicely with your watch and what you're offering, like Jason said, that makes a lot of sense. And then the question you said, where does it make a difference when you if you move outside of the enthusiast space? I don't think it does only because those folks are going to know even less and their expectations are going to be all over the map. So when you sell something to enthusiasts, they already know what they're going to get from a 9015 or from, you know, a four class movement from Seiko or something like that. If you move into a much more general space, in many ways, I would say go quartz because it's going to align with the way that most people interface with their watches. I think that mechanical movements, automatic movements, that sort of thing are in many ways the purview of the enthusiast still many, many times. And I think you can't go wrong at the correct price point with a Miota. The 9015 has been great in all the watches I've had it in. So thanks very much for that question, Tommy. Let's move on to one from Frederick. |
| Frederik from Denmark | Hello, James and Jaycee. This is Frederik from Denmark. I have a quick question. How do you store your watches? Do you have a watch winder, a watch roll, pouches, the original boxes, a Pelican case? What do you guys do with your watches and how do you store them? And do you keep them wound all the time or do you just wind them when you pick them up? Thank you for a great show and I look forward to hearing your answers. |
| Jason Heaton | Thanks Frederick for that one. It's a bit of a variant of a question I think we answered last month in terms of winding watches. Personally I keep all my watches in a variety of watch rolls. I've got a couple of canvas watch rolls that hold pretty much my whole collection and I kind of keep them themed. So I've got a watch roll that kind of is largely dive watches and I've got a smaller roll that has a few of my vintage pieces. And then I also have a couple of smaller pouches that I kind of keep in my desk for watches that I maybe cycle through a little more often than the others. But, uh, in terms of winding, I just, uh, just wind it up as I take it out. I don't, I don't use a winder. I have a kind of an old single watch Swiss cubic winder, which was kind of a novelty and really cool to use. But, um, you know, given that I've got more than just one extra watch, it kind of was a little silly to just be using that all the time. So I just wind them up as needed. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, that makes sense to me. Uh, in, in my case, I use a Nanuk 910, um, Kind of, it's a Pelican case, but it's a, or it's a Pelican style case. It's made in Canada. Ira, like Nanak, uh, Hallios uses them as their, you know, their cases for their dive watches. This nine 10 is kind of a laptop sized case. So it very easily holds 12 watches. It uses that kind of. Easily separated foam. So you can make little spaces and then you can use the piece of foam that you removed as a sort of, um, filler for the bracelet or the strap. And then you sit the watch back in. Otherwise, I leave a lot of watches just sitting on my desk. I currently have seven, six watches just kind of sitting on my desk. I don't wind any of them. I don't really like winders. From a technical level, I've never been shown any evidence that they're better for your watch, despite the sometimes extreme cost and effort involved. I mean, like a watch is designed to run and also not run. I don't think I don't think it has to be one or the other all the time. And so yeah, I typically just pick them up and put them down as I feel, you know, pads of paper, bandanas, leather pads, that sort of thing. I'll keep them from getting any undue scratches from whatever surface. But the Nanuk is where I keep the, let's call it the collection most of the time. And that's a nice thing because it really isn't a huge investment. And it's a nice one where if you're worried about the watch, or if you have insurance reasons to worry about the watch, you can hand it off to a family member before you leave town for a couple weeks. I paid $90 Canadian, so maybe $75 for this case, and it's been perfect. |
| Jason Heaton | All right, let's jump into another one from Del. |
| Del from Honolulu, Hawaii (avid traveler) | Aloha, James and Jason. This is Del from Honolulu, Hawaii. I've created lots of memories with one of my watches. I've summited three of the seven summits, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, and Aconcagua. I've also summited Mount Rainier and the Grand Teton. I've done some basic mountaineering in Antarctica. I've gone canyoneering in Maui, sailing in Bali. I did the Running of the Bulls. Scuba diving here in Hawaii, snorkeling in the Silver Fisher in Iceland. I've trekked to Everest Base Camp and to Patagonia in this same watch. It's a Casio Pathfinder. My question is, do you have any recommendations for a good mechanical ABC watch? There's nothing wrong with my watch, but it's a digital watch and I wish I'd created these memories with a mechanical watch. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a bunch. |
| James Stacey | Well, Mahalo, Dell. Thank you very much for, you know, calling in, leaving your message. Those sound like some real adventures and Aconcagua was so high on my list. I kind of hope you'll send me an email and tell me exactly what that was like if you if you get a few a few spare moments. As for the watch, Jason actually has a little more experience with at least one of these functions. But I don't know of any watch that any mechanical watches ABC. And I actually don't know of any mechanical watch that does see the compass. Uh, in a manner where it's integrated with the movement that, that feels right, right, Jason? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Right. I think that's true. Other than I remember IWC used to do an integrated compass, but it doesn't have the other two, two functions. |
| James Stacey | So if you wanted to, so I think your options with, uh, the altimeter and the barometer exist. And, and I think in, in that scenario, I would leave it with a, with Jason to explain at a higher level as he's used them. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So the two, the only two mechanical examples that I can think of are the Favre-Loibe bivouac and the AORUS ProPILOT altimeter, um, both of which have barometric pressure altimeters that are built in, which is, you know, really an incredible feature, um, and, and works quite well. I mean, I've, I've only used the AORUS, I haven't used the Favre-Loibe, but, uh, they both have some good history and have, worked really well. The Richard meal that I tried in Colorado a couple of years ago has the compass integrated in it, but not the other two functions. But of course, with that one, you get the water purification tablets if needed. Yeah, that's a plus. But if you do want a compass, Suunto has made for many, many years, this little clip-on compass, they call it Clipper, and it just slides onto a NATO strap, kind of sits on the inside of your wrist and pretty much turns any adventure field watch into a watch with a compass. So I think between like if you were to buy the Oris and put it on a NATO strap and clip on this clipper compass, I think you'd be pretty well set. The thing about barometric pressure altimeters is, you know, they use barometric pressure, but you're not going to get the pressure drop weather forecasting function that you want in like a true barometer because it's not a separated function. Um, but you can get the kind of, you know, barometers. If you want to go fully analog, you can get a kind that like you can hang on your neck on a lanyard or something to go along with your, your cool watch. |
| James Stacey | So yeah, maybe the solution is to go with, with you keep using the ProTrek and put something mechanical on the other wrist. When I did Baker, I had a Garmin Phoenix on one side and the Explorer 2 on the other. Yeah. That seems to make the most sense. |
| Jason Heaton | I think. |
| James Stacey | All right. Thanks very much for that question, Dell and all the best and all of what I assume will be some, uh, illustrious future adventures. Great to hear from you. All right, let's grab one from Rich. |
| Rich (caller asking about collectors vs enthusiasts) | Hey guys, thanks so much for the grenade. I really do look forward to every new episode. I wanted to put in a question for your next Q&A episode and get your feelings on the differences, if you think there are any, between a collector and an enthusiast. I have 20 some odd watches, but I never consider myself a collector because there's really no direction. and the grouping of watches I have, I just buy what I like. Every now and then, if I see something that really strikes my fancy, I buy it. I've always thought of a collector as someone who curates the grouping of whatever they collect, whether it's watches, cars, knives, pottery, that they have a specific thing that they go after. And with watches, maybe it's military, maybe it's a brand, maybe it's a particular variation. I've always thought of that as a collector. I was curious on your thoughts on that distinction. Thanks again for everything you do, and take care. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, thanks for that one, Rich. Yeah, I don't think James and I would call ourselves collectors. I would call myself an accumulator, I guess, or more on the enthusiast side of things, just because I haven't had a kind of a true strategy over the years that I've been accumulating watches. I definitely have a bent towards dive watches. So, you know, if anything, I've been collecting dive watches, but not with any specific, you know, laser focused intent. The closest I've come is for a few years, I was kind of annually going after like a vintage Rolex Submariner or something with some extra sort of retirement quote unquote funds that I had. But other than that, no. I think a collector is somebody, and I don't mean to use that term pejoratively. I don't think it's necessarily a negative. I just think it's a different mindset. I think collectors aren't necessarily buying things that they want to wear. They're looking at things that maybe have a larger theme to them or even as an investment and not with necessarily the intent to wear or to use as a wristwatch, but as maybe a piece of art or a collectible investment. I would agree with you there. I think I'm in the same boat and I suspect James, you are too. |
| James Stacey | Jason said it. I'm in this more because I just really like watches and it's not a whole lot more complicated than that, but I don't feel this need to have one of every reference of something or, or the rest of it. And I think that's, that's what kind of defines the difference between an enthusiast or someone who appreciates and kind of buys and sells an example of something and a collector where It's a kind of got to have them all scenario. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Good question. Uh, let's move on to Mark who has, uh, some leather watch strap choices for us. |
| Mark from Durham, North Carolina | Hey, James and Jason, this is Mark calling from Durham, North Carolina. I'm a long time TGN listener and avid Hodinkee consumer. I really appreciate all of the content that TGN and Hodinkee has provided during the quarantine. And so I'm planning to buy myself a leather strap from the Hodinkee shop as a small token of my appreciation. I'm planning to wear it on my blue dialed 40 millimeter Breitling Colt GMT. I have a strap in mind, but wanted to hear what you would each recommend for this watch. I've included a link in the email. Would you each mind sharing your top three choices from the aid shop? Thanks so much, Mark. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, thanks for that, Mark. First of all, cool watch. Breitling Colts are never talked about. And every time I see one or see a picture of one, I'm like, that just feels like a proper kind of high-end tool watch, like along the lines of the early Seamasters. And I don't know many people that have them. Just such a neat watch, and the blue dial with the GMT is really awesome. Would look great on a leather strap, I think. I'm not sure we're each going to be able to give you three choices, but I did kind of peruse the Hodinkee shop and came up with a couple of options that I like. One is the, and we'll put the links in the show notes here, but they sell a canvas and leather watch strap that kind of has canvas on the topside and then leather that rides against your skin and it has a bit of a textured sort of weathered look to it. I think that that would look really appropriate on on your Colt, which sort of straddles dive and pilot. It's just sort of an all around adventure vibe. And then also, you know, you had to see this one coming. I think you need a bund strap for that watch. I think, you know, the bund strap that Hodinkee Shop sells is what they call the Newman. And of course, it's It's the wider, more rectangular cuff style, which isn't my first choice, but I do think that it would look pretty cool on the colt. I think it would give you this sort of retro, macho kind of look. I think it would put a little hair on your chest and set you off well on some good adventures with that cool watch. So those are the two that I'm going to recommend. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, and I can actually offer up three that I think would work really nicely for this watch. So the first would be the Distress Brown Leather Watch Strap. Um, so with a watch like the, like this one, it just adds some more kind of character. Uh, I think it's a really nice option. It's a watch that kind of works on almost anything, especially kind of a tool dive watch. Uh, beyond that, I think that you can go really well with anything you pick the color. I would do ash gray from the Sedona. Uh, it's a really gorgeous strap, but it's also not too thick or too thin for something like a dive watch. Sometimes you can override a watch with the thickness of a strap and sometimes they're so thin. that they really only work on a dress watch. And then finally, maybe a kind of punchy summery option. It depends on what part of the world you live in and how hot your summer is. But I would probably look at something like a reed strap. There's a lot of texture in them. They're really nicely made. It's a really nice kind of grained leather and they come in a handful of different colors. I think it'd be really fun on The taupe, which is kind of a greenish tone. There's a really an orange one that's kind of like a more like a vintage Ferrari seat in terms of orange. It's not like bright orange. And then they make a really nice one in royal blue, which I think would work really well on that watch as well. So it would be the distressed leather, the Sedona, and the reed. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, nice. I can jump in with a third one that I was just looking through the shop that I should have mentioned, and that is the kangaroo NATO strap in dark brown. |
| James Stacey | That's such a good strap. |
| Jason Heaton | That's such a good strap. Yeah. I think that would work really well. Good call. By the way, Mark, when you do throw a cool strap on there, be sure to post up a photo and tag us. Yeah, please do. Our next question comes from Hervé. |
| Hervé from Paris | Hi, James and Jason. This is Hervé from Paris. Currently wearing my Zim 556 on a gray nature, so I thought it would be an appropriate time to leave the message. The question actually is for Jason. We know your love of diving and love of dive watches more generally. And the question is, why don't you never ever mention the Blancpain 50,000 Batascafe limited edition, which has been gifted to you by the Odinke staff. I think it's a great watch and it will be quite good, interesting to hear about it. Thanks. |
| Jason Heaton | Keep safe. Bye-bye. Well, thanks for that one, Hervé. You know, I certainly don't mean to neglect that wonderful watch because it is nearly a perfect watch with a 38 millimeter size and No date and that great color for the loom. I think it's fantastic. You know, we don't actually often discuss our own watches on the show unless we're doing a collection inspection or kind of our weekly wrist checks. But it certainly is one of my favorites. But I guess the main reason I don't discuss it much is because my wife, Kashani, has pretty well commandeered the watch. I mean, it's funny. She wears it, I would say, 90% of the time. Um, it fits her wrist perfectly. I think it's very fitting that she wears it, even though it was a gift to me. Um, you know, she's done the, the bulk of the underwater photography over the years for, for dive projects and, um, just looks so good on her. And so we're, we're able to share that one. We have a few watches that we share, but, uh, um, that one, that one's her favorite. So that's, that's my excuse for not, uh, not talking about it more, but it's, it's a cool watch. We've got, uh, our first, uh, woman, uh, caller, um, which is amazing after all these Q and a episodes. And we're really excited to feature her. This is a Jennifer calling in about ladies watches. |
| Jennifer from St. Louis, Missouri | Hey James. Hey Jason. This is Jennifer from St. Louis, Missouri. My husband actually got me into listening to you guys and I immediately fell in love. So have been binging you guys in, in quarantine and beyond. My question for you both is if you were going to purchase a watch for a lady in your life, whether that be your spouse, your mother, whoever, in one of two categories, a sub $1,000 category and a sub $10,000 category, what would you pick and why? Thanks so much for all of you do love your podcast, love your content. Keep up the good work. |
| James Stacey | All right, Jennifer, thanks very much for calling. This is awesome. We're thrilled. I can answer this actually pretty quickly. So sub $1,000, I think you want kind of a day to day elegant, but also sporty watch. Certainly the person, the people that I might be buying this for would love this design and would appreciate it and could wear it on a variety of straps. But this is the upcoming, but yet to be released, Hallios Universa. So it's a 38 millimeter, 10 ATM, non-screw down sort of dive style watch. but it has all these kind of nice touch points. And I got a chance to see some early versions in person. It's 48 millimeters lug to lug, so it's super wearable. It's 11 millimeters thick with the crystal. It's a fixed bezel, so it's certainly not a dive watch. It's just kind of adjacent to the Fairwind and Seaforth styles, but a lot of value for the money. It's a really nice size. And it's also the kind of thing where like, even when I buy it, it's the kind of thing where I think like, oh, maybe a few years down the road, one of my daughters would wear this because it is just that kind of nice, transferable size between, I'm not saying the whole gender sizing thing is necessarily fair, but it is like, it's a concept in the watch industry and it isn't a dress watch per se, or even a little bit of dress watch, but I think it has this kind of middle ground appeal, which means you could kind of trade between it. Let's say I did buy it for a partner. You could kind of trade between the partner on the watch and that sort of thing. And then, and then if we're talking sub $10,000. You know, selflessly, I think I want something that I would still want to put on my wrist occasionally. You know, Jason, Jason lost his bonk pon to, to Ghoshani most of the time. And I respect that move, a high level move by Ghoshani. But I think if you flip the script on that one, I think a Cartier tank is just one of my absolute favorite things in that price point. And I mean, well under 10 grand, you can get a nice, even not, not a super small tank, But then if I needed to dress up, I'd have this amazing watch, but the tanks have these ability to be super casual. So if it's a jeans and t-shirt sort of scenario, they're so elegant. So for the higher price point, I think like a really clean tank on a strap and for the sub thousand dollar price point, I think something like a Universa again, you could, you could put, put it on any sort of strap or, or, or kind of whatever worked, but I think those are two good options. What do you think, Jason? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, those are good ones. I, I, Those weren't on my radar at all, although I was thinking Helios because my mother kind of has spirited away my old pastel dial Seaforth and it looks great on her. I'm going to go, I'm going to start at the sub $10,000 level and I'm going to dive right in here and say, Go for an Omega Planet Ocean, uh, 37 and a half millimeter. Oh, good call. There's a huge, I was just looking at Omega's website. I forgot those existed. Huge line of, of them to choose from. There's a blue on blue rubber, there's steel, there's with orange numerals, there's a crocodile strap version. Um, there's a white bezel version on steel. If you want to go quote unquote a little more feminine, um, you can get a diamond bezel, but it's going to run you about 16,000. But Ghoshani, so this was her first real big watch. She got the, they used to make a 37.5 millimeter Planet Ocean chronograph and she's worn that thing everywhere for so many years. And it looks great and she loves it. So that's my sub $10,000 pick. I think it might be a slightly more, I guess, masculine looking watch, but I think it's definitely unisex and in that smaller size, it just has that good mix of sporty and well-sized. And then if I'm kind of staying with that kind of straight up dive style watch, I'm going to point you to the SKX013, the 13. It's not currently in Seiko's lineup, but it's their smaller version of the SKX Diver. You can find them on sites like Creation Watch for, you know, 300 some dollars. This is, I believe it's like a 38 millimeter case, a little bit tall, I guess, a little small and tall. But, you know, why should Why should women not get in on the fun of a proper kind of Seiko dive watch? And I think, uh, you know, it's just such a versatile, great piece. It obviously comes on the rubber, but, uh, you can move it onto a NATO strap very easily and, and, you know, wear it till the end of time. So those are, those are our picks. So thanks. Uh, thanks Jennifer for that. I hope we get more women calling in and I hope we have some other women listeners out there. That's, that's awesome to hear from you. |
| James Stacey | Super cool. All right. Next up, we have a question, which I'm only going to intro because Jason, this will be for you to answer. I've not read any Ian Fleming. So let's dig into this question from Chad. |
| Chad from Dallas, Texas | Hey, guys, this is Chad from Dallas, Texas. Enjoy the show. I've been listening for quite a while. Actually found you guys via Hotinti. So appreciate the podcast. My question is, I guess, mostly for Jason, although James, happy for you to weigh in as well. I've just heard Jason talk about the Ian Fleming books a little bit more. And I've never read any of his books, and I'm kind of wanting to jump in with some of the James Bond series. I'm a bit of a, I guess, James Bond nut, although I'm really probably more just a spy and espionage story nut. I've probably seen just about all the James Bond movies, even the older ones that predate myself, and I've got the Omega Seamaster James Bond watch from 1999. I just kind of happened upon that, actually. I wasn't really seeking it out. Regardless, I noticed the other day that most all of the James Bond books are included in Kindle Unlimited. So I've got that subscription, so they're free to read, essentially. And I was just simply wondering, and this is my question. It took me a while to get there. I was simply wondering, what book would you recommend starting with? Appreciate the show. Appreciate the answer. You guys have a great day. |
| Jason Heaton | All right, Chad. Thanks. Cool. You're diving into the Fleming books. Boy, where to start? I think a logical place to jump into his Bond books would be Casino Royale. That was his first, the first Bond novel. I think he wrote it in 1952. Um, and of course the, the kind of the reboot of Bond with the, in the Daniel Craig era as well. And I think it's a, it's a great place to start. In fact, I would recommend reading through all of his Bond books from start to finish in the order in which they were published, because there are references in books to previous storylines and previous books and characters that have died and been injured and all these sorts of things. So it's, it's not a bad way to just kind of work your way through them if you have access to them. Um, I guess if I had to pick a favorite, I really love, and I love to go back and reread Moonraker, which the book was absolutely nothing like the stupid movie, um, which was probably my least favorite Bond film, um, which was nothing like the plot in the, in the book. And I think for some reason, The Moonraker book plot kind of rings true these days in kind of its scope, even though it takes place in England. It has a certain sinister quality to it that I like. And then finally, before I go here, I would just say check out the audiobook versions if you can. There are some great versions that are read by people like David Tennant, Hugh Bonneville, and Bill Nye, which are just superb. Every time I get on an airplane, I've kind of bought several of these and I just, I really enjoy hearing Bill Nye read Ian Fleming. It's just, uh, it's, it's a real joy. So, um, yeah, go, go into those books and enjoy them. Thanks for calling in. Let's move on to Kurt, who also wants to know about selling a watch. |
| Kurt from Amsterdam | Hi guys. This is Kurt from Amsterdam. I want to flip one of my watches and I have a question. What is in your view the best way or platform to do this? Thanks. |
| James Stacey | All right, Kurt. Obviously, if you're listening to this episode, you heard us with a kind of extensive answer to Joe's question a few moments ago. My suggestion is if you're not part of a known kind of forum scenario, like a Watch You Seek, and to my recollection with Watch You Seek, you have to have 100 or maybe even just 50 posts before you can use the sales form. And if you haven't gotten to that level, then I think you really are needing to look for either a local source like a Craigslist or an international source that doesn't require a certain number of posts like eBay. And I think it's not much more difficult than that. Your other option, like Jason suggested previously, is to deal with local retailers that might be interested in either taking in consignment or buying the watch outright for obviously a lesser value, allowing them some margin when they resell it. Short of selling to your friends, I think that's going to be your options, Kurt. Thanks very much for calling in. Let's hit a question from Adam. |
| Adam (asking about activity limits for mechanical watches) | Hey fellas, my name is Adam and I'm a big fan of the show as well as your writing and work on Hodinkee generally. I've got a question about how tough watches are and what we should use them for. If there's kind of a line of when we should stop using a mechanical watch versus maybe something like a G-Shock. I've got a couple Seikos that I love and I also have a Casio. And the other day I was working out in the yard with like a pick and matic and I just kept on, you know, digging a hole. I live next to the mountains. I've got a lot of rocks in there. And I was, uh, after hitting, you know, rocks on the ground about 90 times with the Matic, I looked down at my Seiko and I was like, I don't know if this is too much for the movement, you know? And so I went in and put on the Casio and I was wondering if, if there's kind of a line for you, if there's certain activities that you don't use your anti-shock Seikos or Doxes or Rolexes for, and kind of when you strap on something else or if that's even a concern for you. Thanks. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, thanks for that one, Adam. Um, you know, what, what is that line where mechanical watches can't take it? Um, I, I think it really comes down to vibration and shock. I think are the two main enemies, uh, magnetism to a certain degree, but when it comes to kind of doing activities, um, I think things like, you know, splitting wood or, you know, golfing or playing baseball or whatever it might be, is subjecting it to just more risk than, than maybe you probably want to do. Um, you know, for, for so long, mechanical watches were all that was available and guys went to war with these watches and, and, you know, flew planes and dove under the sea and, and, you know, built countries with, with mechanical watches on the wrist. And they certainly put up with a lot, but I'm sure a lot of them also broke Um, and you used to see watch ads that said unbreakable mainspring and things like this. And so that was clearly an issue back in the day. Um, but I think now that we have a choice, uh, you know, taking your watch off is just a simple way to kind of avoid any unnecessary risk or switching to a quartz watch. I tend to do more of that nowadays too. And, um, you know, if, if you just find yourself messing around with something that's questionable, just take off your watch and stick it in your pocket for awhile. Um, unless you absolutely have to do it or if the watch is integral to whatever you're doing, if you're using it to time something or whatever, then maybe that's a risk worth taking. But nowadays I just don't see that being the case. So, um, I, ironically watches are made better these days than ever before. So I don't think there is any planned obsolescence when it comes to, to modern watches. Uh, despite what you might gather from, from marketing of, of watches and other products, you know, anti-magnetism is, a big issue with watches and brands like Omega have all but eliminated that risk. As well as, you know, full balance bridges and really strong springs and pinions and things in watches. They're just less susceptible to extreme damage, even though we don't have to wear them for everything anymore. But yeah, just take it off if you have any doubts. |
| James Stacey | Yep. I would agree. I think the, uh, the big thing to remember is just, you know, if you're uncomfortable wearing it, then it's probably defeating the point of having the watch on, uh, your comfort levels, probably a little bit lower than the point where the watch will break. And, and lastly, if you go back to episode 61, we did an episode on this concept called, uh, don't do that with your watch, uh, where we kind of highlighted a handful of things that we didn't really enjoy doing with a watch on our wrist, because it just felt so abusive. especially to the mechanical nature of the device. Thanks very much for your question, Adam. Let's get on to a similar one from Mike. |
| Michael from Poland | Hello, gents. I hope you're both doing well in these extraordinary times. This is Michael, currently living in Poland. My question is about the true robustness of watches made today versus watches which were made 50, 60 years ago. In these times of planned obsolescence, a Doxa or a Rolex that has been built in the last 10 years going to be the same value proposition and built to the same robust specifications as their counterpart in the 50s and 60s. Planned obsolescence is of course ever-present. Everything from cars to appliances are built to roughly a five-year plan and I was wondering if the same has been leaking into the watch industry. I'm really curious to know your answer. And I really also appreciate what you do, and I hope you both keep well. |
| James Stacey | Thank you. Hey, Mike, thanks very much for that question. And, you know, it definitely flows into what we talked about with Adam, but in my experience, which is not holistic as much as it is, you know, it's my experience versus a lot of others, I would say that there is no planned obsolescence within the concept of the Swiss watch industry. They are entirely hinged on the concept that they make something that does last forever. And it's such a nice thing to have, but occasionally you want to re-up and do it again. Um, certainly there's watches, whether it be your, um, your, you know, fashion watches or the stuff that you see advertised by a podcast, certainly not ours, um, that are designed to maybe not even make it through a single battery change. But when you get into the world of a mechanical watch, uh, they're definitely meant to, to be, uh, longstanding and well-served over that course of their life and then serviced and then continue on. And I think that falls in line with the last, say, 80, 90 years of watchmaking history, when we start talking about wristwatches in general. So no, I don't think that there's a strong concept of planned obsolescence. And I actually think, to Jason's point from the response in the last question, watches are made better today than they've ever been made before. Uh, computer enhancements, 3d design, uh, laser scanning, all of these things have allowed for much finer tolerances and much more inventive watch creation. Uh, and that includes even things that have trickled down into more and more accessible price points. So while you may see some very fancy things that might actually break with some frequency way up at the top, not unlike very high strung sports cars and supercars, the stuff that you get at the consumer level. is generally bulletproof and super reliable, and I think that will continue. Assuming that we can continue training watchmakers to service them longstanding, then I think these keep on going for a really long time. Jason, would you agree? |
| Jason Heaton | I would, yeah. And as I said with Adam, his question, yeah, it's ironic that watches are better than ever nowadays, and they're arguably less necessary on our wrists, but definitely not planned obsolescence, thankfully. |
| James Stacey | All right. What do you say we do, uh, we do one more and, uh, and then we wrap up this show, which is getting a little bit long. |
| Matt from Toronto (with large wrists) | Yeah, let's do that. Hi, Jason and James. This is Matt out of Toronto. And, uh, just wanted to say, you know, thanks very much for a great podcast. I've been listening since the very beginning. Haven't missed an episode yet. Even if I have to have a backlog of four or five of them sitting in a queue. Uh, in any case, this is a question for either of you. I don't really know. Well, I'm probably, you guys don't have this problem. But I've got huge Sasquatch wrists, like I'm talking eight inch, sometimes eight and a half, like depending on if it's like a really hot muggy day or something. And I've had the hardest time finding straps that fit me. Uh, just like you guys, I love using a NATO strap, but sometimes I want something, you know, rubber or, um, leather and it's just super, super hard. to find any rubber or leather straps that can fit a wrist like mine without it looking just absolutely ridiculous. So, just wondering if you guys have any recommendations for some extra large straps for an extra large dude. Yeah, I mostly wear watches with 20 millimeter lugs, by the way, just in case. if that helps. Thanks so much and keep up the great work. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, thanks for calling in, Matt. That's a tough one that I've, you know, had a few friends and even my dad have struggled with having larger wrists and getting straps that fit. NATO is the obvious choice, but like you said, can't always wear a NATO strap. You know, if you go, if you have Seiko's, Seiko rubber straps are incredibly long, like absurdly long. They always have been. Um, but those would work, usually work on almost any wrist I've seen, which, which is just strange, but, uh, I love them for that. Um, but, uh, Isofrane also makes, I think they make a longer version and those straps tend to run pretty long as well. If you want to a really good high quality rubber strap. Um, otherwise, you know, you can, a lot of, uh, leather watch strap companies or, or small, uh, purveyors of them will actually make custom make longer straps. And I think with leather, Um, might be worth the extra, you know, leather straps tend to be a little expensive nowadays anyway, and you can certainly, uh, just have one made to measure and get a really high quality strap that you can have on for many, many years. And it ends up being worth what you paid for it. I know that, uh, my friend Myron who runs a Rover Haven straps over in Michigan, he, he'll do easily do a, a super long, uh, thick leather, uh, shell cordovan strap if, if you want it. Um, and there are just countless other, um, leather strap makers that'll, that'll do the same. So that would, that would be my advice. Uh, I'm not sure of any off the, off the shelf ones off the top of my head, but, uh, going the custom route, I think this might be the way to go for leather. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I agree. If you're going leather, uh, Myron was the first one that came to my mind as well, because he could make something to order. Uh, but there's certainly no limit to the brands that do offer that. Uh, obviously Jason and I, we would endorse the quality you get from a guy like Myron. His straps are incredible. Uh, so I think that's probably your best bet when it comes to rubber, definitely like an isoframe or maybe, uh, maybe even see, uh, you know, look for options that offer, uh, straps typically designed to go over a wetsuit, which would buy you say seven to 10 millimeters, uh, and might make the difference between say a seven inch wrist and, and something a little bit bigger. Uh, yeah, I mean, that, that's kind of a tough call. Certainly, uh, now that we've got your, uh, your email, Matt, we, uh, If we come across something that has the long option, I'll I'll kind of keep a running tally if we if we can send something to your way. So thanks very much for that question. And for everyone's questions, this, I think, is going to be the end of this question and answer scenario. We got to all but say looks like about five from the previous crop. So if you have a question for us, if you listen to these and you go like they didn't get that question or that answer quite right, let's let's redo it. Send it in, thegreatnadoatgmail.com. Record the message into the voice memo feature on your phone and then email it to the email again, thegreatnadoatgmail.com. And a huge thank you to everyone who's been sending these in. The segment's been way more successful than I thought it would be. And I'm thrilled that we can do one of these a month. So let's keep it going. And yeah, like I said, a huge thank you. And let's get into final notes. Jason, what do you got for us? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So I'm going with a music recommendation today. Uh, we, we talk about music fairly often and we keep threatening to do like a TGN music club to add yet another recurrent segment. That's what we need. Yeah. Everything's going to be recurring at some point. Um, but this is a band out of the UK, Bristol. Um, the band is called the longest Johns. And this came to me via, um, friend Justin, who goes by Monfrites on Instagram, and he's a good follow anyway, because he's He collects some really interesting watches, one of which was the subject of one of Cole's articles on Hodinkee, actually. And Justin turned me on to this band because he knows I kind of like all things nautical. And the Longest Johns has been around for a few years and their forte is sea shanties. So, you know, these are kind of largely a cappella, kind of old school style, like you'd hear being sung robustly after a few pints in a pub. somewhere, you know, like on the, uh, in the Maritimes or on the East coast in the U S or over in England or something. Um, and it's just, it's just good fun. Uh, the, the one video that we'll post up that I like, uh, from YouTube is called the Wellerman. And it's just, it has a certain energy to it that I like. And when I was on their website today, I noticed that they've got a new album that just came out on the 10th of June. And, uh, you know, definitely, uh, you can download that digitally and, uh, and check it out. I think it's, uh, It's just good fun. It's, it's good music. It's certainly not anything that you need to take too seriously, but, uh, uh, it's great. The new album is called Cures What Ails Ya. Um, so, uh, check it out. Yeah. Good, good nautical fun. |
| James Stacey | That's great. And you know, if, if, if people are listening and they would actually enjoy the sort of film club scenario, but transferred over to an album club or song club or, or whatever we would call it. Uh, let us know at the great NATO. We're, we're certainly open to, uh, to expanding that concept, but, uh, we don't, we don't really want to be suggesting things that people wouldn't then turn around and say, listen to. And I think something like, uh, like these guys, the longest John sounds, uh, sounds fantastic and certainly very different from the sorts of stuff I stand standardly listened to. So I'm, uh, I'm going to sit in front of every single fan I own, uh, short, shortly after this recording is I'm still sweating. Um, and, uh, and I'll check that out. I'm looking forward to it. What do you have? Mine is also a video that I came across. Actually, this one, you mentioned Cole and yours, and Cole's going to get a mention in mine. He suggested Donut Media on YouTube. And I have been, I don't even know the right word, delighted, I suppose, by this company and what they put out. So this is a, they have 3.67 million subscribers. And somehow, despite my What I thought was a qualified love of cars and YouTube videos about cars. These guys somehow missed me. I must have a weird blind spot. I, or sorry, I miss them more accurately because they are putting out one episode every single day of the week, seven days a week. They have a show that comes out every week. Uh, the one that Cole sent to me and I've now become obsessed with is a series called up to speed. And it's these really zany, funny, super high energy. If you imagine like a macho man, Randy Savage, talking about a wrestling match either before he's or after he's about to wrestle, it's loosely that level of energy. But imagine instead of talking about his match or whatever dumb stuff they would talk about in wrestling, he this guy, the host name is James. He is talking about giving you kind of a history lesson on something from the car world. So it could be something specific, like a specific car, or it could be something a little bit more general, like a brand or a sub-brand, like SVT to Ford or HKS to the tuner scene in Japan. I honestly can't stop watching them. When Cole sent it to me, I then quickly realized they had 150 of these, and that's just the one video, one class of video, the up to speed. Again, they do seven types of videos. I'm obsessed. Everything I've watched from them is hilarious and exhaustively researched, and really got like a weird, funny, high energy. They've got a lot of like running jokes. They run a weekly podcast as well, which I'm going to get into over this sort of break that we're talking about at the top of the episode. I'm really, really impressed by these guys and the level to which they seem to both care and research is so Beautifully contrasted by how zany and kind of silly a lot of the episodes are. So they really hit a point where you don't feel like you've been learning a lesson for 20 minutes. Like I'm laughing. You know, there's lots of cultural references that I appreciate. I can't speak highly enough about them. Donut Media on YouTube. And if you need somewhere to start, check out the Up To Speed series, which appears to come out every Thursday. and you can basically scroll down the list of 150 plus episodes and pick something that you know. I'll challenge you. Pick something you think you know everything about, because I kind of think James and his team have found something more. They're really, really impressive pieces of content. They're super watchable. They're really funny. And you know, this is a stressful time in the world and in content and the rest of it. And this has been like a real high point for me for the last three or four days. I bet you have watched, I don't know, 50 or 60 of them, uh, since, since, since Cole dialed me in and I just absolutely love them. So yeah, it's a donut media. And then if I pick any of them, if you care, but up to speed has been fantastic. |
| Jason Heaton | Wow. That's impressive. I mean, an episode a day, that's, uh, I can't imagine just when I was feeling proud of our, uh, our weekly TGN. |
| James Stacey | But we need to add some staff, I guess. Yeah, we need a few more people, I suppose. Send your resumes, too. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, speaking of that, you know, we mentioned that we're off next week, so no episode on July 2nd. See you July 9th. Hopefully this very long Q&A episode sustains you for the next two weeks. Yeah, and with that, as always, thanks so much for listening. You can hit the show notes via Hodinkee.com or the feed for more details. And you can follow us on Instagram at Jason Heaton and at J.E. Stacey and follow the show at The Graynado. If you have any questions for us, either audio questions via voice memo or written, please write to TheGraynado at gmail.com. And of course, send those voice memos and you'll get featured on a future Q&A episode like today's. Please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts. |
| James Stacey | And I would actually like to break protocol and cut in here. Jason and I ask maybe once every two years, and I'm going to do it now because we're going to take a week off. So when you realize you're not getting an episode next week and there's a little hole in your podcast feed, do me a favor and dip into wherever you get your podcast, preferably iTunes, if it's possible, and leave us a review. We don't ask very commonly, like we ask at the end of every episode kind of as something that we recite. But more actively, it would mean a lot to us. We've worked a lot to go to weekly episodes and attempt to make a lot of stuff that people are enjoying. And all we would love is a few solid five-star reviews to bolster that. It's going to make a big difference in how many people find the show and how it relates to the algorithm within iTunes. And then anything you change in iTunes, of course, kind of reflects on the rest of the podcasting world. So if you can do us a favor, if it's not too much to ask, Uh, drop in and let people know what you think of the show in, uh, in iTunes. Uh, we would absolutely appreciate it. And then to get back into the flow here, music throughout is Siesta by Jazza via the Free Music Archive. And we leave you this quote from Robert Persig via listener at i.kortman, who wrote, the place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there. |