The Grey Nato - Ep 13 - "Cars And Watches"
Published on Tue, 19 Jul 2016 09:02:29 -0400
Synopsis
Jason Heaton and James Stacey discuss automotive-inspired watches, covering topics such as the history of racing and driving watches, key brands like Tag Heuer, Omega, Rolex, Tudor, Chopard, Autodromo, and partnerships between watch brands and car manufacturers like Ferrari and Aston Martin. They also provide recommendations for affordable automotive watches under $2,500.
Links
Transcript
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| James Stacey | Hello and welcome to episode 13 of The Grey Nado, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, gear, and most certainly watches. |
| Jason Heaton | I'm Jason Heaton and I'm James Stacy. Today we're talking about automotive inspired watches. From Omega to the Tag Heuer's that we all know, Halda, Chopard, Autodromo, Blancpain, Tudor, Breitling, Parmigiani, and so, so many more. Much like the idea of a pilot's watch, an automotive watch can be almost anything. I suppose where we start is somewhere near the beginning. Jason, what do you figure the starting point is for what we view as the automotive racing watch archetype? We're not necessarily looking for the first watch designed with a car in mind. I don't think that would necessarily be interesting. I think where it gets interesting is where this now very popular idea kind of put down its roots. Where do you think that we land for that? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I think neither of us would proclaim to be any sort of an expert on the history necessarily of driving watches going all the way back to the 30s or 40s or something like that, where you get those angled watches like Vacheron sells, you know, with the crown on the corner that sort of faces the driver as you're holding the steering wheel. that type of watch. I think where it starts to get interesting is probably late 50s, early 60s. You know, I was about to kind of launch into kind of talking about the, the early days of the Rolex Daytona or the, uh, the Hoyer Carrera, but I think we might have to go back to 1957, which was when Omega introduced the first Speedmaster, which everybody knows the Speedmaster as the Moonwatch and as an astronaut's watch. But in reality, it was brought to market to capitalize on sort of this burgeoning interest in motor racing. And 57 was the year that Omega released the Speedmaster, the Railmaster, and the Seamaster, all using the same case, or similar cases. And that was 57. But then you get into the 60s, and I think that's where the tie-in becomes much more close between racing, which I think had kind of come into its own by the early 60s, and watches. You started to see watch partnerships. You started to see drivers wearing more watches. You know, 1963, I think, is where you kind of put the stake in the ground as sort of the dawn of what we would consider kind of the golden age of motor racing and racing watches. That was the year that the Daytona debuted, as well as the Heuer Carrera. And, you know, it kind of set the archetype for the style of watch that we all still consider to be kind of a racing, a racing watch. And I think it's important to kind of note here that, that there are sort of, you know, when you think about an automotive inspired watch, you can sort of get a design influence, uh, in a watch. But I think at least in these early days that we're looking at in the sixties, it really meant chronograph, you know, it meant a watch that, that would be used to, to time races and time lapse. Don't you think? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, definitely. I also think that there's a bit of a shift in style that allows for some of these watches that we now consider to be kind of the hallmarks of the genre, the Octavias, the Daytonas. And I think that at the time, the kind of popular look kind of moved from being Cary Grant and Don Draper to Newman and you know, these other kind of hallmark guys that are still icons of style today, with that kind of meteoric rise, they also brought a bunch of watches with them. And I think, you know, we still refer to a certain early Daytona as the Newman, and we know that Steve McQueen wore this watch, or maybe he wore that watch, or when he did Le Mans, he had this watch. And we know these things kind of in the same way that you know the cars that they had, And I think that helped cement the kind of cultural background for what happened with watches at the time, and how it tied very closely into racing, but also the popular, even celebrity culture around racing. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I think, you know, the 60s, you could kind of devote a whole separate episode to kind of the 1960s and watches and how, you're right, it did make a shift from You know, 40s, 50s, I think the Cary Grant analogy is a good one because, you know... Seamasters, Spadell bracelets. Yeah. I mean, in the days before the 60s, men were wearing slim, smaller watches. And I think once this idea of kind of a more rugged man stepping away from the racetrack and still wearing his same leather jacket or boots or chronograph or diving watch, It does. It becomes a style piece. It becomes almost an emblem of, you know, that you carry from the racetrack to the rest of your life. And I think we still see that today. I think that's why that style of watch is still so popular. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, certainly. And why you see crazy valuations in some of these cars that McQueen had, you know, early Jag race cars. And then also with you know, things like personal sunglasses and it's, it's really not just watches. It's, you know, we're obviously going to focus on watches, but I think there was an entire culture that needs to be kind of in the holistic view weighted against the kind of explosion of this concept within watches as how closely they were able to tie in with another, uh, engineering project, we'll call it for racing and automotive design. this kind of rapid expansion of technology. In just a few years, we went from manually wound automotive-inspired chronographs all the way to the kind of launch and marketability of automatic chronographs. And I think that's all wrapped up in the same sort of cloud of what was happening culturally with racing and cars and the celebrities surrounding that. That's something that didn't happen in later generations. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I think you're right. And it's probably not a coincidence that a lot of the early chronographs or the first automatic chronographs were kind of targeted as, a lot of them were sort of racing watches. I mean, the Monaco is the obvious example, you know, being Hoyer's sort of avant-garde foray in a driving watch that was one of the first automatic chronographs. But I think It's also representative of the fact that simply most of the chronographs that were used in those days, I mean, what, what would you use a chronograph for in the 1960s that, you know, why would you use a chronograph instead of just a time, all day watch, for instance? I mean, I can only think of a few reasons even today why, you know, a chronograph, you can say, Oh, you can time your pasta cooking or boiling an egg or a parking meter, pizza delivery, but I would say that in the fifties and sixties, you know, before, you know, quartz digital watches were used for, for timing things. Uh, you know, people were still using these mechanical watches for, if you weren't a pilot or an astronaut, which most people weren't, you could still use it on the weekend at the track, or, or you want it to look like you used it on the weekend at the track. And so most of these watches were styled as, as racing watches. I mean, look at the ads, look at the, the Viceroy, the Hoyer Octavia partnership that they had with Viceroy cigarettes, you know, these, these, full-page magazine ads with a guy leaning on his race car wearing a Heuer watch. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, and you may not have had the ability to, say, have a race team like Paul Newman did, or have the ability to hit the track on the weekends with a weekend car, a track car of some sort. Maybe you didn't live in, you know, the perfect location, you know, Southern California, you weren't around a racetrack, all these things. If you could go to the store, you could get the same watch. And there's that aesthetic connection. And it's like when you talk about Jackie Stewart, a champion of this era, I think of his sunglasses. Oh, yeah. I think you know the exact ones I'm thinking of. Oh, yeah. They kind of look like the hands on a BRM watch. Yes. And I think of that, I think of his hat. There's an aesthetic that goes with this time. and largely the part that has survived not so much survived in that we're still making watches that look the same way although we are and you can go back to our what's old is new again but more so that they've survived in that they're still very desirable in the 60s motorsports was very accessible to a mainstream audience as far as an aesthetic and a lifestyle yeah even more so than maybe Cousteau was able to establish for diving So there was a real time for these watches. And I think largely that the weight of that time is what's allowed them to survive, the idea of an automotive watch to survive for so long. And in many ways, and I don't necessarily mean this negatively, but in many ways, the idea has been so heavily bastardized by the watch industry's marketing departments. We started kind of a Google Doc with all the different watches we could think of. And what I thought would be you know, we'd have enough watches to talk about in this segment is like we could do three or four shows. Yeah, it's, it's incredible. If you wanted to just touch on every brand that in some way has established that this is their driving watch or their racing watch or their automotive inspired watch. I mean, it's rampant. It's just like the pilot watch. I would say it's, it's more watered down in some ways than the dive watch has become. I mean, a lot of these watches that we have on the list aren't necessarily even chronographs. |
| James Stacey | Right. And I think that's an important distinction. I think you have, whereas in the fifties and sixties, I think a driving watch meant or a motorsports watch or an automotive watch meant a chronograph because, you know, things that were necessary were legible sub dials and a tachymeter scale because you were using it to measure average speed over a set distance. And I think this notion of using the chronograph in that way has, it's largely been kind of lost. I mean, I think people still know how to do it, I suppose. And you can certainly use a chronograph for many things, but I think it's kind of changed. And like you said, a lot of these automotive watches nowadays that we get are not chronographs at all. I mean, you look at a brand like Autodromo, which is a brand that I think we both love a lot or admire. You know, they made the Prototipo, which was a chronograph. But by and large, most of their watches are They're very automotive-inspired. It's a very design-centric watch that is meant to conjure the romance and the notion of classic sports cars and racing cars. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it's an aesthetic. It's highly referential to the dial of the gauge pack of a certain car. The Stradale with, I believe, that represents an early to mid-60s Mustang. And then, of course, with the Group B, a watch that I'm entirely infatuated with, you know, they went from the design brief, you know, it feels like they went from the napkin at the restaurant that night to the final product with like, how closely could we kind of mimic some of the aesthetic, not only the aesthetic elements, but even some of the construction elements of a Group B car. And, you know, growing up, being as old as I am, I wasn't around for when Group B was still actively running, you know, I was too young, but I've obsessed about group B since I got into cars because it's, you know, it's one of those things that whatever it is, you know, I think there's guys like us have a mindset that likes to kind of attach to the craziest, whether it's cave diving or, you know, the types of, uh, of wreck diving that they talk about in shadow divers or, Wingsuit flying or these things that I just find them interesting whether or not I'm gonna participate is one thing I wouldn't never drive in group B. I'm a Terrible driver compared to those guys, but I love Autodromo's kind of eye for the aesthetic their understanding of the aesthetic Because it doesn't seem It doesn't seem cheap or ham-fisted. It seems very genuine Like there's a lot of respect that goes into any one of their designs I'm not necessarily a fan of all the designs, but I think all of them represent like a genuine love for automotive design in general? |
| James Stacey | Well, what's amazing about Autodromo is that you can take, so to make an automotive watch, to kind of take, I don't want to say the lazy way, but the easier way is to make kind of a classic looking chronograph with a tachymeter scale on it. Now, what Autodromo does is they take this notion, Bradley is the chief designer, you know, the guy who founded the company, Bradley Price, He's taken this notion of the cars that he loves, whether it's a group B rally car or, you know, a 50s Alfa Romeo, and he has translated that into a wristwatch. And I find that fascinating and incredibly intimidating and very admirable that he's able to do that because the design cues between a car and a watch are, there's very Few similarities besides doing sort of a literal, let's take the tachometer or the speedometer of a car and make it into the dial of a watch. That's just too obvious. That's too easy. But with, for instance, the Group B that you've been talking about, what is it about that watch that makes you feel like it's a Group B race car? I don't know. I can't even put my finger on it, but it just does. It's the colors. It's the angles. the font he uses you know it's just it conjures up that era and it's such it's so incredible to see how that can be done i mean that's that's what a great designer does and i think autodromo i think they do a great job with design and the and the watches are accessible i mean we'll talk about a lot of watches in this episode and few will be as accessible as anything that autodromo makes |
| Jason Heaton | So if your goal is to have an automotive inspired watch, a watch that maybe you wear when you go to a track day or an autocross event or a car show, you know, to kind of better key into your love of auto in general, I think that you could do a lot worse than buying something from Autodromo, especially like, I really love the, uh, the Group B. I plan to buy one. in the next little while. I think they're really cool. And then they've moved from the standard four-color version to the Compensione, which was co-made with Discommon. So it's kind of a raw case finish and a silver dial. And those are limited to, I believe, 200 units in two different colors. And that's to refer to the homologation limitation for group b where if you wanted to like if you and i wanted to run a car in group b you would have to make 200 road cars and sell them or have them for sale i suppose to be allowed to run in group b so that's why you know if you the reason that we even have a car like the ferrari 288 gto is because they had to make enough to run in group b and then by the time they did Group B wasn't looking so viable and it closed down, you know, shortly thereafter, just, I want to say about a year and a half after the road production 288 GTO started to come out of the factory. So, I mean, there's a really interesting history there and you could go for a while on Group B or I could go for a while on Group B alone. I really think that the footing for the automotive race-inspired watch is Tag Heuer. And at that point, they just have, they have so many models. All of them have kind of a special effect. I think the Octavia and the Monaco and the Carrera are kind of the three big pillars. But obviously the Camaro, the Silverston, there's so many, such a huge effect that company had through that generation of motorsport and through the generation of watch design. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. And I think it's such an anchor, you know, Heuer and Tag Heuer to follow. is just such a pillar, I guess, in automotive watches. I mean, arguably, they're the most important automotive watch company in existence. And it's based on this 50-year history of just churning out watch after watch that were worn by famous drivers. And it certainly didn't hurt that the Heuer Shield was on racing teams' cars and on racers' jumpsuits for many years. You know, they sponsored teams and they did the official timing for a lot of race series. And it gives them some legitimacy, I think. You know, I think there are a lot of brands that have sort of looked at the appeal of motor racing and the success that a brand like Hoyer has had and decided to, hey, we should be there too. And I'm thinking specifically about a brand like IWC sort of changed the engineer line from a scientist's watch, and then they had a brief foray into sort of an outdoorsman's watch for a year or two, and now the engineer is their automotive watch. And I think it kind of works, I think the design sort of fits in that sort of edgy engineering kind of vibe, but certainly going back to Heuer, I think Heuer kind of still They're still referencing their early designs. The Manza this year obviously was a big hit and conjures up that 70s sort of racing theme. But yeah, I definitely think Heuer is the starting point of any discussion around automotive watches. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I would certainly agree. And then you have some modern brands that are essentially making new vintage models. So if you look at a brand that's been quite successful with the form like Tudor, They have their heritage chronographs, a watch that both you and I really like, although I like the blue, I believe you like the black or the gray. And they have the fast rider and arguably the fast rider is about motorcycles, but I don't think that's necessarily a different concept. And Tudor's gone as far as to sponsor a race series, uh, that I believe operates below the top class of the WEC. Uh, so it's an endurance class, uh, Tudor racing series. And I think that's pretty cool. And I really love that heritage chrono the blue one specifically, you know, 12 hour bezel, you know, referential to their kind of original design in a big way. And those original ones have gotten hugely expensive. Oh, yeah. But you get I think you get a very similar aesthetic. And obviously the modern tutor ability, great case making great fit and finish, you know, looks awesome on that kind of blue, white and orange NATO. I think there's a lot there that Tudor definitely understands and they haven't gone wild with the lineup. I think they've gotten, you know, they've, they've spent a few years investing in the dive watches since that, uh, Heritage Chrono line came out. So it'll be interesting to see where that progresses, if it progresses or if it just kind of remains, uh, where it is. And then of course, you know, right next door in many ways, we have Rolex with, uh, with the Daytona, which has been a kind of a steadfast element, uh, tied to automotive, uh, more just tied to racing in many ways, certainly through its history. And then today with their connection to endurance racing and, you know, they give, uh, Daytona's are part of the kind of prize to the winning teams. And, and, you know, you see them engraved for, uh, the, the Rolex endurance races and things like that. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I would agree. And I think what I really like about both Tudor and Rolex, and I think they're such different watches, the Heritage Chronograph and the Daytona, but what I love about it is that they don't slap you in the face with this automotive thing, other than the word Daytona on the dial and kind of the marketing around it. There's nothing over the top, you know, that doesn't scream car racing. And certainly the Heritage Chronograph doesn't either from Tudor. It's a perfectly fine over all around sports watch. In fact, I there isn't even a tachymeter scale on the heritage chronograph, but somehow it's it's has this automotive tie to it. And I think it has a lot to do with kind of that, again, sort of like autodromo. It's it conjures up this this notion because of the colors and that sort of blocky aesthetic of the dial, the strap, certainly it just has a racy feel to it. And I think on the other hand, the Daytona, which is a very I would say a very sober watch, it's very black and white, it's very Rolex. Again, these are both just perfectly suitable, potentially the perfect sports watch. Screw down pushers, just sturdy water resistant cases, great bracelets. I kind of like that subtle take on an automotive watch that's a little more versatile than something like Uh, one brand that comes to mind, which is this, uh, I think it's, uh, Giuliano Mazzuoli, which, um, makes a watch that, you know, it's a dead ringer for, for a tire pressure gauge. To me that feels a little bit, you know, I remember when they first came out, I thought they were really cool. And I, you know, I admire, I mean, they're neat watches, but it's just, I don't know that I could wear that day in and day out. Like you could a heritage chronograph for instance. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I think it's, uh, it's, that's very, a very like heavily focused, almost niche. sort of thing. I really like that they make it and I think it's a quite a pretty watch. But I would agree that I'm not sure that it would necessarily be my day to day. Although if you look at a brand like, like if we try and focus on a brand that doesn't kind of just do automotive design as its wing, but as its main, imagine, you know, Porsche design. So here we have, I think that people are often fairly confused as to what Porsche design is versus you know, Porsche or Porsche, the company, the car company, and they're together, uh, you know, they operate, uh, it's, it's, um, from my understanding is a majority owned subsidiary of Porsche automotive and they make, they have a fantastic history of designing really beautiful, legible watches that aren't necessarily automotive inspired in that it's not forced, right? Um, but I think they are definitely automotive inspired in terms of their gauge like appeal. And this year they showed off, uh, at Basel a new line that had kind of a skeletonized lug. Love that. I love that watch, which is super cool and has, I think that, you know, that lightweight kind of super legera styling. I think that works well with the kind of watch car connection. I think there's some, uh, some interesting watches there and I think that people don't necessarily understand what Porsche design is, and I think sometimes that works against them. Obviously they make all sorts of things, everything from fashion and luggage to eyewear and some electronics, like they even make I think like a, I want to say it was a Porsche design Blackberry at one point. So I mean that kind of stuff can definitely water down how an enthusiast will look at your watches. Yeah. I think if you approach it from a design aspect, there's a lot of really interesting pieces there. And they often have some, you know, they have a chronograph, they'll have a three-hander, there's a GMT, there's some interesting things. And they're not working to mimic whatever Porsche Automotive is doing. They're operating as a watch company, which is, I think, an interesting idea because, you know, lots of car brands will work with watch brands to try and have watches for cars, specific cars or specific points in their marketing calendar. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | So if you think like, you know, Oris has a connection with Williams and I believe with Audi Sport. And then you have a Bremont with Jaguar, and that was tied in with the 10 E-type lightweight reconstructions. I'm not sure. I can't remember the exact word that they use, but they were the exact, right down to the welding technique. Yeah. Reissues of the original E-types. And that's where we saw the birth of the Bremont. I believe it was the Mark 1 Jaguar. and then of course you have like ball has their four bmw lineup which is kind of a different idea but even in that case you actually have the logo on the dial and i have no idea how successful that is i i guess if maybe i had a bmw that would that would sit differently with me but otherwise i would just rather have a nice watch to go with a nice car like a bmw |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I've thought the same about the Bremont Jaguar watches because I really like the design of that watch. I think they're gorgeous. I do too. I remember when they came out last year or the year before, I just, you know, I was really stunned because I, again, it could, if it wasn't done right, it could have sort of tipped over into this really cheesy sort of like, oh, it's the speedometer or I think in this case, it's the sort of styled after the tachometer with the red line and But they somehow did it right. I mean, it's a cool watch, but I have always told our friend Mike Pearson, the North American director for Bremont, I always tell him, I just don't think I could own that watch if I didn't own a Jaguar. I can't imagine getting into my Volvo, wearing a Bremont Jaguar piece. |
| Jason Heaton | I had never considered that. I love that chronograph a lot. I would definitely own that watch. I mean, they're quite expensive. I think it's just like a really beautiful, like hyper legible. Yeah. Sort of design and the three handers lovely too. I have like a pet peeve and this comes up in some of the Autodromo designs as well, where the minute track is not continued for the entire circumference of the dial. Huh? So that it mimics the fact that obviously the needle on your tachometer, your speedometer doesn't go all the way around. Oh, sure. So you get this kind of blank spot where maybe there's just like a marker for the five minute or like this little tiny dot that I'm not sure you can actually call a marker. And that can kind of bug my like sense of it being a watch. That's where they've, they've gone so far into the car gauge design. And, and I mean, that's largely insignificant as far as a complaint, but I really liked those, uh, the Bremont Jaguar watches. And I think with those ones, if you could imagine them making them without Jaguar. Yeah. Do they still work? And if the answer is yes, and I think they work just as well without the direct connection to Jaguar. So I think that's a very successful watch. And I think that it, it pulls from an aesthetic that I think matches nicely with Bremont. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | You know, old or old world or older world, British-y. Yeah. Craftsmanship. I like that. I thought that kind of worked out nicely. I could see wondering if it, if like, Oh, now should I try and just track down an E-type? Maybe, let's be honest, let's look at maybe mid-80s XJS. Yeah, yeah. You know, those V12 ones that don't run in the rain. |
| James Stacey | Oh yeah. So the elephant in the room, I think, when we're talking about this partnership thing, is the multiple brands that Ferrari has worked with over the years. And we were talking about this before the show, but I think their current partner is Hublot. But, you know, they've been with other brands in the past. I think they were with Panerai and with Gerard Perregaux. What do you think of the Hublot-Ferrari partnership? |
| Jason Heaton | I would love to know if it's successful. Like, I would love to know, one, like, what metric they used to say, like, this was good or this was bad. And, like, Hublot, I think, has been very cautious with the number of watches that they make that are, like, boldly Ferrari. Obviously, they have the LaFerrari line. Yeah. But that LaFerrari line is, like, borderline on being an actual watch. Yeah. I think it's awesome. It's, I would say it may easily be my favorite Hublot or those, those, the MPO5s, but that, you know, that's from an engineering standpoint. And I think that they, it has a very thoughtful aesthetic as far as your ability to see the movement and the movements designed to look like a V12, not in like a cheap or like contrived way, but in like an actual structural way that I thought was really cool. And I really, I do think those watches are very interesting. I don't think that they're necessarily great watches, but I think they are very interesting design and engineering studies. And I think that's the kind of thing that a brand like Hublot should be doing. As far as just having another Big Bang with a prancing horse on it, I don't know, like did it work for Panerai? I would love to know if that worked for them or if those watches all ended up selling at heavy discount. And then with GP, I mean, they had some very interesting chronographs, and then they went the route of having the Ferrari connection. I just, whether it was good or bad, I'm not buying a Ferrari anytime soon. So I'm not necessarily in the market for a watch to match my Ferrari. So I'm not speaking from necessarily the same perspective that they were looking to leverage. But I just wonder how successful it is. I kind of question how successful any of these partnerships are. Yeah. But especially the Ferrari one because they've moved around from one brand to another. And because they have like their own brand watch, which is... Yeah, you can go buy a $200 Ferrari watch and then I'm sure you can buy like an $8 Ferrari watch online. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, which is possibly the most undermining strategy of this whole arrangement. I mean, I think |
| Jason Heaton | Well, now they're publicly traded. So, I mean, they've got to sell T-shirts and hats, right? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I mean, it's just... I feel like it just completely cuts the legs right out from under the Hublot-Ferrari connection, at least from sort of an aesthetic or sort of a 30,000-foot view, like, kind of to the average person. I think if you showed up at the track with your Hublot-Ferrari watch and the guy next to you is wearing his $10 Ferrari watch, I mean, I think it's just... You know what you have, and it's certainly cool mechanically, but just the prancing horse on both, it's just such a disconnect. It's just such a weird connection. |
| Jason Heaton | It's probably so that there's a watch for the guy that has the Ferrari. Yeah. You know, they're priced into the same strata. Yeah. And if I'm honest, much like any of these things where it seems like it's a marketing decision, if the marketing decision means that Ferrari can continue to make cars, then so be it. I like being in a world where they make a strangely four wheel drive V12, 730 horsepower, four seater with, you know, a shooting brake sort of roofline. Like, yeah, that's fine. If it means you've got to sell watches, accessible, accessibly priced point watches from whether it's Amazon or your Ferrari store at the theme park in Maranello or you're selling, you know, through with a reputable ultra high quality brand like Hublot, and so be it if it makes for more interesting cars. In a similar one, but in sort of a pivot, I believe Aston Martin is involved with two watch brands now, or they've ended their connection with JLC. I'm not sure, because Aston Martin Racing recently announced a partnership with Richard Mille. And at least to my knowledge, up until not that long ago, JLC was making watches under the Amvox. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, that was the one that had the... One of those Amvox watches was the one where you could unlock the door of the car, I believe, with the watch. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, when you pressed on the... I believe it was when you pressed on the crystal, that same sort of actuation that you can start and stop the chronograph on some of the Amvoxes by actually pressing the crystal, which is really cool, aside from fingerprints, but... The actual mechanism is really interesting and of course it's JLC so it's perfect. Right. I thought the JLC Aston Martin was like perfect. Yeah. Those two together seemed just right. And Aston Martin racing with Richard Mille, especially with some of the cars that have come out of Aston Martin like in the last six months, makes perfect sense. Like Aston Martin is swinging really, really hard for the enthusiast contingent. So they're going to keep offering six and seven speed manuals. You know, and just recently Aston Martin announced their new hypercar with Red Bull racing, and that's the AM-RB001. You know, it looks like it's going to be fully bonkers. They're being a little not up front with the specs. I'm assuming it's not a real rolling car just yet, but they're saying a one to one power ratio. So that would be a power to weight ratio of one horsepower per kilo. So there's one other brand that's been able to achieve that. And that's Koenigsegg out of Sweden with their Agera one to one. And, uh, and yeah, so it's, uh, you know, they're saying a naturally aspirated V12 engine and all these great things. And, and I mean, if that ends up racing and you see Richard mill attached to it, that makes sense. It's ultra high end, the absolute pinnacle of an already prestigious brand. So it'll be really interesting to see where that goes, because I find Richard Mille to be a very, very interesting brand. I don't always fully understand their watches and they're obviously just ludicrously expensive. But I think that's part of the charm. And I like that, just like I like if Hublot is helping Ferrari continue making cool Ferraris, if Richard Mille's going to help Aston Martin continue to be as Aston Martini as possible. That's awesome. I think that could be really cool and it'll be interesting to see if they decide some specific watches to tie in with the cars or if they let it remain kind of more loose partnership with the racing team. I thought it was interesting when I saw it pop up in Top Gear. I'm sure maybe nobody else noticed it. I should make a screen grab and throw it up on Instagram or something because it was like obvious but for about a half a second. Huh. And I had written a piece for Nuvo Magazine about the new partnership And other than that, you know, I don't really hear anybody speaking about it. And certainly nobody necessarily saying that they are or aren't still with JLC. |
| James Stacey | You know, if we kind of leave the topic of partnerships for a second here, because we're, you know, as we were talking about at the top of the show, there's sort of these two schools of thought when it comes to automotive inspired watches. You have sort of classic chronographs that sort of harken back to a day when watches were actually worn for timing races. And then you've got sort of design inspirations like a Porsche design or an Autodromo. You know, the partnership thing is almost a third pillar of that. And I think it kind of is more with the, you can have both, you can have the chronographs, you can have the very functional watches, or you can have sort of the sort of design inspirations. But then, you know, you have a lot of other of these smaller brands. I mean, you know, just another partnership we didn't talk about. But another important one, of course, is Chopard with Porsche Racing. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I don't think you can go too far into the talk of current car interested brands without getting into Chopard. And with Chopard, you have, it's kind of a top down concept because their co-president, Carl Schaeffele, I apologize with the name, that's my best He's very much interested in all aspects of motorsport. I mean, he's run the Mille Miglia, they designed a watch to support the the kind of vintage class of the Grand Prix. And then of course, they have their direct sponsorship of Porsche Motorsport, and they're very, very successful program with the 919 hybrid. If you're looking for a modern, you know, current scope of a automotive obsessed watch company, I think it's Chopard. You know, they have a long standing line with the Mille Miglia watches. That's kind of your classic, like you're saying, you know, kind of classic reserved, beautiful with a tachymeter chronograph. And then then you move into the super fast lines, where you'll find much more avant garde modern styling, sometimes directly connected with a car like the 919. And then you have watches that sit somewhere in the middle, which gives you kind of a historical perspective on a modern sports racing chronograph. I think there's a lot to appreciate there. And if you haven't, if you think of Chopard as being kind of a dress watch manufacturer with the LUC line and things like that, I think it's, it's interesting to come across this fascination that comes from their co-president as an outlet for his love of motorsports. And I think it's interesting because they're still making kind of a very wide and varied range. And then they're they're operating within the space as much as possible through sponsorship and support of different racing series. I think it's a I think it's pretty cool. I got a chance to go to Austin to, you know, kind of the first US running of the WEC in some time at the Circuit of Americas. and actually see the way that they're operating with Porsche Motorsports and the 919 and the 911 RSR program. And there's some really interesting stuff that they've managed. And certainly the team's been hugely successful, which of course would be in some way partly connected to Chopard's support. And I think the watches are also pretty cool. And they give you a pretty wide range from old school with the Mille Miglia all the way up to watches like the Superfast and the 919 LEs and stuff like that. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, and I think Chopard is a brand that, let's face it, I mean, I think in the past 10 years they've kind of had some catching up to do in terms of kind of brand recognition on the watch side. I think they were kind of traditionally more of a jewelry brand, or at least that's how they were known for a long time. And I think that by fully embracing this motorsports side of things, I think, as well as their beautiful watchmaking, you know, they've really done a nice job of sort of owning that space. And I think, you know, to your point, I think they're definitely on top of that game, you know, up there with just a small handful of other brands that have kind of taken the motorsports, the modern motorsports watch and kind of made it their own. Yeah, no doubt. You know, in terms of, you know, a lot of these watches we're talking about, especially these partnership watches, the Richard Mille's, the Hublot's, you know, Blancpain and others, you know, their price points are well above our pay grades. I would, I think it's fair to say. Um, but I certainly, I think, uh, you know, what do you, in terms of sort of afford more affordable automotive inspired watches, if somebody wants to get into that, um, that space besides auto Dromo, uh, one that comes to mind for me is the small Belgian brand called radio, which is, um, I think they'd mainly focused just on, Valjoux 7750 based chronographs, but they do it in kind of a really neat way. They make limited series. I think they only make 55 of each of their watches and they theme them around specific, you know, corners of racetracks or specific circuits. And again, it's kind of like an Autodromo style brand where they're really focused more on aesthetics. It's sort of drawing from the theme. So, you know, one of them has kind of a cool carbon fiber dial with some unique sort of use of color. And I know the owners of the company are passionate sort of weekend racers of vintage cars. That's a brand I really like, and they're not really known very well in the U.S. I think they're just starting to gain a foothold in North America in terms of a dealer network. But Radion, I would encourage people to take a look at. James, can you think of any other brands kind of in the I don't know, $2,500 or less category when it comes to automotive watches? |
| Jason Heaton | Sure. I mean, I think Frederic Constant makes some kind of classically automotive and even I think a few boat inspired watches. And then you have Baume and Mercier's connection with Shelby, which would be one to consider at that price point. I also think you could just look into vintage and pick up something like an Omega Dynamic, an Omega Chronostop, or an early Seiko. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, vintage is a good way to go. The Chronostop is a particularly interesting watch, isn't it? I mean, that's... How did that one work? You push to start, and when you let go, it stops? Is that how those work? |
| Jason Heaton | Offhand, I'm not sure, but, you know, they had the sideways dial. The idea was that you wore it on the underside of your wrist, and when you were holding the steering wheel, it kind of gave you a clearer view of the time. I think those are really interesting. I think they're really cool. You can get a similar overall aesthetic without the chronograph and the sideways dial with something like a Dynamic. These are the earlier Dynamics, not when they turned into kind of a military chronograph or three-hander for a little while. The series before that from Omega, 60s. And then I also think that you could, yeah, you could do really well with something like a Seiko 6139, a Pogue, whatever you like, but with those ones you are looking at one of the first automatic chronograph movements in the world. And it's a safe, it's safe to say, I believe that Seiko was behind Zenith and Tag Heuer and co, when they came with their announcement somewhere in May of 1969, is what the modern conjecture appears to be. But there's some arguing as to who was the first and I don't think, at least I don't care, I assume you don't especially care, but you can pick up a 6139 for a very reasonable price and they can be serviced. They're very cool looking watch and that has a direct lineage to the time that we spoke about, you know, for some time at the start of the episode. On top of that, yeah, I think these Radeons are cool. I think you could do really well with an Autodromo. All of these would be very reasonably priced and, you know, lots of options out there. Are there any that stand out For you, Jason, regardless of price, like ones that you would actually see wearing? Yeah, I mean... Buying, wearing, owning? |
| James Stacey | Quite a few. I mean, I would say, actually, I own a couple of previous Autodromos. I don't have the Group B, but like you, I'm extremely interested in that watch. I would love to see one in the flesh or in the metal, I guess. And I would strongly consider buying that one. I think it's less than $1,000. I think they're $800 or $900 if I'm not mistaken, right? I own a Speedmaster. That's probably my, other than the Autodromos, that's probably my only quote-unquote automotive watch, although I consider it more of an astronaut watch, I guess. But I've had my eye on the Heritage Chronograph. I think you and I talked about this a little while ago, but it's a really attractive watch to me. I like the gray dial. It's just such a versatile, cool piece. Anything else? I mean, in terms of what I would actually spend my money on, I'm not sure that I'd want to jump in with both feet on a watch that has a really strong tie to motorsports. I mean, I'm certainly have a strong interest in cars and in driving, but I tend to prefer a watch that's maybe a little bit more versatile, that you can kind of straddle sort of a driving aesthetic with other things. So it would have to be a watch like the Heritage Chronograph or a Speedmaster that can kind of pull double duty. What about you? |
| Jason Heaton | Oh yeah, I would have to agree. The Autodromo, the Group B is about, it's a little over 900 bucks, US. And I think at that price point, there's a lot there. And that's a watch that I would happily wear. I love the yellow one. I could definitely see buying a Heritage Chrono. For me, it would be the blue one. I'm a sucker for a 12-hour bezel. I think it's an absolutely gorgeous use of that cream color and the blue. And I think, yeah, that's a very versatile design that you could wear with just about anything. I don't think you would have to necessarily think of it as a driving watch, but I think that it has that lineage with the Monte Carlo and things like that. And then beyond that, maybe this isn't your taste, but I really enjoyed some of the styles coming out of Ralph Lauren for their automotive chronometers and the Safaris and things like that. I really think some of those are viciously beautiful watches. And I think from a design standpoint, which is what they, how they connect with watches, you know, they connect with various cars in, uh, Lawrence collection. And I think, I think there's some very interesting models there. They're quite expensive, but very beautiful. And I think probably quite easy to wear. I've only seen a couple of models in person and they just looked awesome, really cool. And then, you know, we were talking about show par, I would, I really like, um, you know, for a while they've made, a steel Mille Miglia chronograph GMT. And if I didn't have a watch like my Zen 144, I would probably quickly track down something like one of those Chopards. I think they're really cool. It's a cool design. A lot of them came with a kind of rubber strap that had like a tire tread in it. Oh, yeah. Which was, I'm sure maybe they weren't the first ones to do, but in my mind, they're the first ones that I knew of that were doing that. Yeah. And I think it's, I've always thought that was pretty cool. And then, you know, there's, there's, there's some stuff that, that I've seen that you couldn't even imagine owning, but things like, like a Richard Mille or the Parmigiani watches for Brugatti are architectural and beautiful and fabulous. And, and I didn't really understand one until I got a chance to see it in person. The, you know, the, the watches that were kind of made alongside various versions of the Veyron. And it'll be interesting to see if that partnership continues into the Chiron with Bugatti's new car. They're just starting to get that into production. So it'll be interesting to see where that goes. But for ones that I would actually own, I'm very, very interested in seeing a Group B in person. And then at some point, I mean, it'll happen. I'll end up with a Heritage Chrono. I think they're just such, such beautiful watches. Yeah. Even just this year at Basel, snatched one off the shelf and took a picture. It's in my Instagram. I just really love, you know, like from the design standpoint, the use of color. I think it's just such a beautiful watch. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, it's funny. It's interesting that we've, after we've talked about well over a dozen brands here today, that we've both ended up kind of circling to the same, probably the same two watches actually that are ones that we would actually buy, which are the Autodromo and the Tudor Heritage Chronograph. I don't know what that says, but |
| Jason Heaton | Uh, yeah, I mean the, the only other one that stands out for me, uh, and one that I would consider buying is a Monaco. I got a chance to see their most recent reissue of the original kind of McQueen with the sideways markers and that kind of steely blue dial. Oh, what a beautiful watch. It feels so good on wrist. I checked it out at the Geneva boutique when we were in town for SIHH and that watch is awesome. I mean, it's, it's more than, you know, certainly more than the Group B and more than you would expect to pay for the Heritage Chrono. I want to say this was somewhere around $5,500 US. But what a stunning watch. I'm not exactly sure what a watch like that would go for in the secondary market, you know, pre-owned. But, you know, there's a lot of Monacos. They've been making them for a long time. And you could just pick the one that kind of fit. But that kind of new vintage version, I thought looked really cool. And I could definitely see wearing a Monaco. I'm just not sure I really have a lifestyle that has the credibility for a Monaco. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I don't think I can pull off a square watch. I get the Monaco. I think it's a cool watch from afar, but I just don't see myself ever putting that one on. It feels very specific. |
| Jason Heaton | It feels, you know... I feel like you need an old car with a roll cage or, like, you spend a lot of days in the canyons. Yeah, right. You know, running some old Porsche right on its edge. to deserve a Monaco. I don't know. I think there's such beautiful watches and I'm not much for square watches generally, but I do really like that. And there's a handful of Hoyers that I think would be really fun to own. But some of the old ones, I mean, the prices have just, even since like you and I have gotten really into watches, the prices have gotten crazy. |
| James Stacey | Well, the one that we didn't mention, but that we talked about a couple of episodes ago is the Monza. I'd take that in a heartbeat. I think that's probably my favorite Tag Heuer auto-inspired watch. I think it's the one they came out with at Basel this year. It was a stunner. When I put that on at the show, I was just shocked at how just perfectly it fit on the wrist. It's the right size, the strap is great. It's just a beautiful, beautiful watch. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, agreed. Great watch. I mean, we talked about it at length in our new vintage inspired episode and I feel the same way about it now. Certainly, I think that's a stellar design and a very wearable modern spin on the original one from the late 60s and just some really cool stuff. But for those of you out there who have a taste for the modern or vintage automotive inspired watches, let us know what you think. You can hit us up at gmail is thegraynadoatgmail.com or you can Get us at the Grenado on Instagram. If you have a cool car and watch photo, throw it up on Instagram and tag us. At very least you'll get a like out of it, but we'll enjoy, you know, sipping our coffee that morning and seeing some cool watches and some cool cars. We'll be back in just a moment with new business. |
| James Stacey | Well, it's time for new business. This is where James and I talk about things that we've been up to lately since the last show. Maybe some articles we've written, new adventures we've got planned. James, since the last time we talked, I know you went to attempt to summit Mount Baker. And why don't you tell us how that went? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, well, it didn't go well. I've had enough time between recordings for the sting to go away. But yeah, it didn't work out that well. We had perfect weather. We had perfect snow conditions. The mountain was awesome, but one of my team members, so I, you know, I was on a kind of an ad hoc team via a, uh, outfitter guiding group. And one of the members of my team was simply not up to the task of getting up a mountain. So we had a lot of trouble just getting to base camp. You know, your pack is fairly heavy, 50, 60 pounds. And then from base camp, the next day you attempt a very early start so that you can get the most amount of travel on the nice hard snow where it gets harder at night. And largely the main feature of Mount Baker is the Roman wall, which is just above 9,400 feet. So you're in your last 1,300 feet, something like that. It's where it gets fairly steep and you're up above kind of an exposed crevasse. And at that point, you pretty much just have to keep moving at a steady pace to make it to the top. But you also want to get to the Roman wall before the snow gets too soft. Unfortunately, my team, you're, you know, for something like this, you're roped up. So you're only going to move as fast as your slowest member. And unfortunately, my team was not able to move fast enough to even make the Roman wall We got basically up to the shoulder up next to the wall and had to call it simply because of how late in the day it was. So it was a fairly disappointing experience and certainly that was conveyed to the guiding company that I went with. So I will get another chance to go, which will be in from when we're talking about this about two weeks. So there'll be roughly a month between my first attempt and the second attempt. So hopefully we get good weather on the second attempt. And I'm going with a larger group, so there'll be two rope teams. And I'm really excited to have another stab at it, because I definitely felt, given the otherwise clear conditions, I definitely felt I had the kind of fitness and gear locked into it to an extent that I thought that I could get to the top. So it was disappointing to have it go a different way, but I guess that's ultimately life. |
| James Stacey | Well, that's too bad. I'm glad you get another shot at it. Is there anything you'll change between now and then in terms of your gear or maybe the watch you're wearing or anything like that? |
| Jason Heaton | Uh, you know, I took the Explorer two and it did perfectly. It looked awesome. I really enjoyed every time I looked down to check just how far behind time we were. Uh, I had that, I had the Garmin Phoenix, uh, three, which did beautifully as it does at everything you tell that watch to do. It's just a fantastic watch for those sorts of uses, but I won't change the, uh, the watch at all. You know, I'll make a few tweaks to the gear, maybe to the, some of the food. And then as far as, Workouts, just more squats, just keep the squats going, try and keep the leg strength up as high as possible for, uh, for what's essentially just one step after another for, I don't know, ideal round trips, probably eight hours. And how about you? I know you went down to, or over to Tenerife. How did that work out and why were you there? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I got back last week. Um, I was in Tenerife, which is, uh, an Island in the Canary Islands. Uh, it's kind of off the West coast of Africa. Uh, but it's actually part of Spain. And I was there, uh, with, on a, on a trip with a small group that was brought over by, uh, Tudor, the watch company. Um, it was, it was a really unique trip because they were under the sort of, um, auspices of, of reviewing the, the, the Pelagos watch. Uh, we were taking part in myself and about six or seven other journalists that were invited. We're taking part in a free diving clinic. Uh, that was being taught by a French world champion free diver named Morgan Borchus. And Morgan, you might not know his name, but you might recognize him because he was the guy, uh, when Tudor first launched the Pelagos a few years ago, they produced a video with, with a guy who was fully clothed wearing, I think, desert boots and a shirt and khaki pants. He climbs up the side of a crumbling volcano and then kind of peers into the ocean and jumps off the edge and into the sea. And then they cut to a scene of him walking on the ocean floor where he discovers what appears to be ruins of a lost underwater city. And, you know, when I first saw that video, I was like, Oh, I wonder who that guy is. I didn't recognize him. Well, lo and behold, it's Morgan Burchess. He was world champion, I think in 2013 or 14 in one of the many arcane free diving disciplines. Anyway, he was the guy teaching us this clinic in Tenerife, and he turned out to be a really charming, just a really interesting, great guy. And we had two days. We did one day of breathing exercises, and we did some static apnea, which is where you hold your breath in the swimming pool for as long as you can. And then in the afternoon of the first day, we went out and did some training out in the Atlantic. We went out in a little rigid inflatable, like a Zodiac, out to some buoys where they had hung weighted lines for us to do some free dive training. And after a few hours, you know, of kind of learning the ropes, so to speak, you know, we kind of quit for the day. And then the next day was sort of a competition, which was pretty cool because they actually had legitimate judges from the international organization that that oversees free diving competitions. And we had to follow certain protocols and had to state our depths that we were going to dive to. And then we each took turns and did our competition dives, which was really cool. And I was wearing a Pelagos on one wrist, the blue dial one with the bracelet. And on my other wrist, I had my old 1976 Tudor Submariner Snowflake. which was, it was just fun. It was fun to dive with the two watches. And it was just really cool. They had a, they had a video and photography team, both topside and underwater filming the whole experience. And I think they're going to put together like a sort of a promotional video around the whole event. And I just finished writing up the article for Gear Patrol. which I believe is going to publish right around the 21st of July. So we'll have to put up a link and some future show notes or I'll make mention of it when that goes live. But it was really cool. I'd never been to the Canary Islands and Tenerife is just a really cool place. Good Spanish food, great weather, really fascinating topography there. It's just a sort of a big volcano. It's like being on the moon there. |
| Jason Heaton | And you've got a few pictures of it on your Instagram. How did the How did the actual freediving go? Did you hit any personal bests? Was there a direct competition with the other people there? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, so we did this competition. I might have been at an unfair advantage because I had tried freediving before in Bonaire a few years ago with Carlos Costa, who was an ORUS ambassador. And a lot of the people that were there had never scuba dived or, for that matter, even put a mask on and weights and a heavy wetsuit. So it can be a bit of a foreign, intimidating experience, but, um, yeah, I, I stated that my depth that I was going to dive to was 20 meters, which is about 66 feet on the Imperial side of things. And, uh, I managed to nail it. I, I pulled the Velcro tag off the bottom of the rope and brought it back to the surface. And, and by doing that, I guess I won our competition, although there were no prizes given, but it was sort of a point of pride for me. So that was really cool. Uh, had a little bit of equalizing issues, um, kind of near the bottom. Uh, my ear got a little wonky. Uh, but, uh, I think, I think all is well, no, no permanent damage. So it was great. It was fun. I think I still prefer diving with tanks on my back, but, uh, freediving is cool. It's a little bit more relaxed. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | So I'd be so worried that I just want that next breath. I'll have to give it a try at some point, but I don't think I'll have any, any Special aptitude, certainly. I think you'd do great. Any other adventures, any watches otherwise? |
| James Stacey | Well, you know, my trip to Colorado from mid-June, I had taken the AORUS ProPILOT or Big Crown ProPILOT Altimeter out there for some mountain hiking with the goal of reviewing it vis-a-vis the Suunto Vector that I was wearing on my other wrist. And it turned out to be just a blast. The AORUS watch, and we did some hikes up to slightly over 10,000 feet on a couple of peaks out in Rocky Mountain National Park. And I got to say that the mechanical altimeter in the AORUS was just spot on. It was just an incredibly accurate watch, even not only in comparison to the Suunto I was wearing, but also against topographical maps and kind of official trail markings, um, which, which is really cool. And I've got a review that, that, uh, was published on Hodinkee about that watch and about that experience. And you can check that out. We'll put a link in the show notes, but, uh, really fun. You know, the, the Oris altimeter, they kind of sell it as a pilot's watch. And, uh, I first kind of got a, a chance to, to play around with it a little bit on a, on a press trip that Oris brought me on to, to Switzerland, uh, last summer to do some flying in the Alps. Um, but it really, kind of comes into its element, ironically, not in a plane, but actually hiking because it just works so well and it tops out at 15,000 feet. So, um, you know, if you're flying in a plane, you're either higher above that, or if you are, you're probably in a pressurized capsule or in the fuselage. Um, so it worked really well for hiking and, um, and it was just, it was just fun to, it's fun to wear something like that on the wrist. It's like wearing a mechanical depth gauge underwater. You know, it's just, it's a true proper tool watch. |
| Jason Heaton | So that was fun. That's a really, really cool piece and easily one of the cooler versions of their pro pilot line. I think it's, uh, there's nobody else really making a watch like that and certainly not one with that aesthetic. Yeah. Like I think they really locked in protecting the overall legible watch face while still offering that, uh, that altimeter. And I think it's, uh, a really cool piece and one that I'm looking forward to see when you come up here in the next few days. It's not too long from now. Yeah, here we go. Certainly by the time by the time people are listening to this, our TGN summit will have been passed. And you know, those of you who follow us on Instagram will will have been able to follow along. But there's some certainly some fun stuff coming ahead. With that in mind, you want to roll on to Q&A? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, let's do that. We had a first question from Harjot. And Harjot, I apologize if I'm not getting your name pronounced correctly here. But Harjot writes and says, I have a preference for smaller watches. Think less than 38 millimeters on account of my small sub six inch wrist. It seems that these days the market for smaller timepieces is really dwindling. It can be quite frustrating as manufacturers make these brilliant looking pieces that I can't wear due to the sheer size. He goes on to ask, I know that some manufacturers like Rolex or Nomo still produce great watches in the 34 to 38 millimeter category, but I would really be curious to hear about your favorite modern watches in this space. Harjot's current daily driver is a Quartz Grand Seiko, the SBGX-061, and at 37 millimeters, he thinks it's a great piece, and I would certainly concur. Yeah. James, you know, small watches are not small, but just kind of normal sized watches are kind of little bit, you have to dig a little deeper for them. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, definitely. I think there are a lot of options, though. You know, they're not as numerous as watches say between 40 and 45 millimeters. But if you want to look at sub 40 and then pushing into, you know, less than 38 millimeters, there are a lot of options to consider you have these in 556 is 38.5 millimeters, but it's going to wear pretty true to that size and I think is a very wearable watch and certainly one to consider beautifully made. Comes in two different versions. Braemont makes a 37 millimeter version of the Solo. I have the 43 millimeter version and 37 should work beautifully for that size. They have a few different versions. If you prefer rose gold, they have that as well. Uh, I found a fairly interesting one called the Zen 6033, which is one of their Frankfurt style. designed I think you could also do well hunting down the Alpina midsize diver, which was a quartz diver at 38 millimeters, but still has that kind of chunky cushion case vibe that the recent Alpina divers have had. And then finally, a watch that, you know, Jason has some firsthand experience with, you could look into the Marathon diver in its medium size. So that'll be the TSAR or the GSAR, but in 36 millimeters. well-priced, beautifully made, great dive watch, and you get your choice of auto or quartz, I think that one would be hard to pass up. Jason, what else would you add for something like this? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, like you said, I recently got the mid-sized Marathon Diver for my wife. 36 millimeters, it's a great size for that watch. Sits a little bit tall. The proportions are slightly tweaky on that one. But if you like that aesthetic, Classic sort of marathon tool watch, it's a good choice. The Solo 37, my wife also has that one. I just think that's a great size for that watch. Braemont just came out with a 32 millimeter sort of ladies version of the Solo. But I still prefer the 37 for that watch. Grand Seiko, you know, you've already got one, and we talked about that brand as well, but I actually have the ivory dial GMT Grand Seiko, the SBGM003. And it's a 38mm case, and it's just, it's the perfect size. It's got, you know, really slim bezel, makes the dial wear nice and big, but it sits nicely on the wrist. Breitling Transocean comes in a 38mm size. It's not the in-house movement that comes in the larger size, but I actually think proportionally the 38 actually wears a little bit better, or I'm sorry, it looks a little bit better to my eye. I would agree. I guess also on the dive watch front, the Zodiac Super Seawolf 53, which is kind of the modern replica of their original Seawolf. It's sized at 39, so it's a hair over what the size you're looking for, but it's a nice size. It kind of is that classic 60s dive watch size and wears really nicely. NOMOS, you know, you talk about NOMOS, and NOMOS does make some smaller watches. You know, I've had the Club 36 millimeter, which you'd think would be just a nice, good, small wearing watch, but Nomos, I find that their lugs on their watches tend to be really long. And even on my fairly big wrist, which is pushing seven and a half inches, the lugs were still draping over the edges of my wrist. So I'd be wary of some of the Nomos or at least try one on before you pull the trigger. |
| Jason Heaton | And then lastly, you could always dig up an older Rolex Explorer when they were in the 36 millimeter size. Oh, yeah. So that'd be pretty solid watch wearable for every occasion, right in the size range that you prefer. So I think that's a pretty widespread. I mean, you've got watches there in the hundreds up on into the thousands. And, you know, Harjot, thanks so much for your question. We really appreciate it. And when you get what you get, please throw it up on Instagram tag at the Graynado or Jason and I, or all of them. And we'd love to see what you choose and send us an email if you're not using Instagram. Best of luck, pal. Next up we've got Frank in Germany who writes in to ask, how do you transport watches when going on holiday with more than one watch? Do you use a leather watch roll, a special travel case? What are your experiences with the different types of products and what products do you use and would you actually recommend? So Jason, when you're moving around, how do you move some watches with you? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, so I kind of travel, my experience with traveling with watches kind of falls in two camps. If I'm just taking sort of more of an activation of my own. I tend to just take maybe one or maybe two watches in which case I have this clamshell design zipper little semi-hard case that a few brands have sold but I think Oakley was kind of the first to come out with it. They called it the Watch Vault and it kind of fits one watch perfectly on its side. So if it's a bracelet watch it kind of sets in there on its side perfectly or certainly a strap you can sort of curl around the strap to fit in it then it zips shut. And it's just hard enough. It's kind of a softer material, but it's kind of formed so that it has a bit of substance to it, so it protects the watch nicely. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it's kind of like those cases that come with little headphones. Yes, exactly. But much more rigid, and then it kind of expands where the head of the watch sits. Exactly. I have a friend that absolutely loves these things and bought a few of them when he found out Oakley wasn't going to continue making them. And they're a fantastic way to travel. And I've seen this person put very expensive watches in them. He has full faith in their ability to protect their watch in his luggage. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. No, they're great. And really nice. And it's compact too, you know, for one watch. So it works really well. If I'm taking any more watches, which tends to be rare, but let's say I'm going to SIHH or Basel and I kind of want to change watches with the day. I've got a canvas watch roll that holds about five or six watches. Just has some pouches, you fold it over once and then roll it up, ties with a leather tie. It's similar to the ones that are sold by, you know, websites like Hodinkee or Worn and Wound. It, you know, it rolls up like a burrito. It's pretty small and packs nicely in the bottom of my backpack. So those are kind of the two ways I carry my watches. You know, in a pinch, if you're just taking one extra or even two extra, you know, you can stuff them in a rolled up pair of socks, which pads them well. And it's pretty stealthy kind of in a in a in a bag, you know, no one's gonna Necessarily want to steal your socks. So that's kind of my guerrilla guerrilla method of Transporting a watch. Yeah, that works James. |
| Jason Heaton | How do you carry yours? Yeah for me again, like you said it depends on how many watches when I travel for myself It's usually just with one or two. So I have Like a service case from a couple different brands, but the one I use most often is a service case from Bremont And it's a, you know, it's kind of like a case for sunglasses, zippered, hard shell. And then on the inside it has elastic and the elastic kind of mounts. You can have a watch on kind of the lid and on the base. And then I just throw a little polishing cloth between them to kind of any, any kind of motion that might cause little scratches just to prevent that. So that's a nice way to hold two watches. It doesn't take up much space in a bag. It's, they're well protected and that's worked out really well for me so far. This past year at Baselworld, and I spoke about this on our Baselworld Mega Episodes, Episode 5 or 6, but I bought a 4 watch holding case from Maurice Stamoriak. It's this beautiful leather case and it holds 4 watches in a fairly unique pattern. I'll throw up a link on the show notes so you can check out the exact case. But it kind of looks like those CD cases that people used to carry around when they had CD Walkmans. And it holds four watches in a manner where the cases aren't against each other at any point. And I really like that if I have to carry a few more watches. And then if I'm going to take a few watches to a Red Bar event or, you know, to hang out with some other watch guys, I have kind of a simple watch roll like you were describing. Mine's from Benares Watches. They're now called Steve Rell watches and they sell these for, I think, about 60 bucks. And they're nicely made. It's a simple, I think it holds four or five watches in these kind of separated pockets with a flap. And then it rolls up, like you said, just like a burrito. So that's basically the route that I would go. It just depends on how many watches you're carrying. It's always easier to carry fewer. If you're in the market for something really nice, I would recommend you don't overlook the Discommon Watch Wallet. And it uses a special protective layer in the case itself for shock and, you know, impact damage. And it's beautifully made. They're quite expensive, but they're, they do look absolutely stunning. And that's one that I would love to see in person is one of these, uh, discommon watch wallets. They make some fantastic stuff. You know, we had talked about the autodromo competizione models where they had designed the outer case, uh, with kind of a raw finish that was done by the same brand. So they do these kind of, really beautiful design projects. And one of them was this watch wallet, which I've seen a few guys on Instagram get them and they look, uh, they look really beautiful. And they, I think they have some space for like travel documents, passport, things like that. So Frank, I hope that, uh, I hope that basically covers it for you. Um, so everywhere from socks all the way up to five, $600 cases from various brands. So there's lots of options for holding your watches and, uh, best of luck carrying a bunch of watches with you while you're on vacation. So what do you think? You want to move on to final notes? Yes, let's do that. All right. So final notes is when we bring you the best of what we found online or in person and just recommendations, things to get you through to the next episode. Jason, why don't you kick it off? What do you got for us? |
| James Stacey | Yeah. So both of mine this week come from Outside Magazine, or I guess more accurately, outside their website or their online presence. The first one is a really cool podcast that I stumbled on. Outside has kind of a series of podcasts that they called The Science of Survival, which talked about various things from, you know, people trapped out in the cold, climbing mountains, things like that. But the one that I listened to that was particularly fascinating was one called In Too Deep. And it was this story about a scuba diver, a wreck diver, who was diving on a a sunken ship off the coast, the Pacific coast of Mexico. And it was an upturned ship. He was penetrating inside the wreck and somehow he got, ran into some trouble with his regulator. I don't know if it was free flowing or wasn't delivering air properly or something. And so he needed to come up with a solution quickly and he stumbled upon sort of an air bell or an air pocket inside the wreck and ended up sort of getting into this air pocket and was able to remove his regulator and breathe in this shipwreck underwater. And somehow survived for 48 hours in this air pocket by drinking some fresh water that he found inside of a tea kettle. I think he came up in the galley of this shipwreck and there was a tea kettle that still had fresh water in it. And ate sea urchins. He cracked open sea urchins that he found inside this wreck and ate the flesh inside of them. So these guys that produced this podcast, uh, wanted to track down the story was from like the eighties or the nineties. And they really wanted to track down this guy, Michael Proudfoot was his name. Find out, you know, get the scoop on the story. It sounded almost too, too good to be true, but they couldn't track the guy down. So they, they go through and they, they end up interviewing experts in survival and wreck diving, including Richie Kohler, who was one of the two guys. featured in in Shadow Divers, the book that we've talked about quite a few times in the show. Anyway, I'm not going to give it away, but it's really an interesting story. It's about 45 minutes long. It's just it's it was really a fun listen. So we'll throw up the the link there in the in the show notes. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I listened to I listened to that episode after you recommended it on a run. I went for a run and listened to this and it's really beautifully produced and it's very thoughtful and they go basically as far as you could. to try and disprove the claims surrounding Proudfoot's story. I think Jason's right on when he says that that ends up being really interesting and it's a really fun story and kind of, of the ones I've listened to from this series from outside, kind of the hallmark episode. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I really enjoyed it. So yeah, give it a listen and, you know, I can't decide if at the end of it I come to the same conclusion they do, but I just think that the story itself is one of those great sort of diving legends that, you know, any sport you take part in, there's always these sort of myths that you always wonder if they're true or not. So it's a good tale. The other thing that came out of Outside, this is from outsideonline.com, was, and it certainly wasn't their original piece, but they're the ones who posted it where I saw it, was a video that was produced or made about a well-known outdoor adventure photographer named Lars Schneider. And Schneider, I believe he's, I don't know if he's German or Scandinavian, but he spends a good part of his year traveling around sort of dark and forbidding and beautiful places like Iceland and the Faroe Islands. And this video is about five or six minutes long and it sort of follows him while he sort of narrates and talks about how he lives his life. And, you know, aside from beautiful footage of him, you know, cooking his breakfast, uh, in the pre-dawn hours in the back of his Land Rover Defender, it's, it's just, it's kind of one of these beautiful pieces about what, you know, doing what you love and kind of finding what's important in your life. And, uh, I, I just found it very inspirational. So, um, it's, it's, it's, it's a nice video. It's, uh, certainly check that out. |
| Jason Heaton | Uh, did you check that one out, James? I did. Yeah, it was a fantastic video. I really, really enjoyed it. Um, I thought that it was a beautifully shot and it's his narration and it feels very personal and, uh, you can kind of identify some of the gear. He has the same bag from F stop that I've, I've been using that I used on Baker for mine. None of this is going to cost you anything. So we've got a, a net $0 final notes this week, but mine is a bigger ask for your time. I will preface this. first suggestion as this is not something for kids or sensitive audiences so there's a really fantastic podcast called you must remember this which is chronicling the kind of golden that the untold history of the golden era of hollywood and they did a 12-part series about charles manson's hollywood And as far as kind of long form audio storytelling, this approaches the level of an audio book, you know, it's 12 parts, I would say roughly 40-45 minutes a piece. And if you're even loosely interested in this, it's utterly fantastic work. On a nicer note, I would point you to a post on the adventure journal called the value of just going where they're talking about not always questioning your motivations, but simply attacking adventure, not necessarily for the summit or for the the strain or the difficulty, but simply to change your environment. And I think there's a truth in there. And if you're looking for a bit of motivation or you're looking for, you know, a bit of an escape on a Wednesday morning at your desk, click into this article and give it a read. and I think it's something to consider especially this time of year where a lot of us have the right weather to go out and do things that maybe we read about in these books or we read about on websites or you hear about on this podcast there is a certain value to just going and seeing what happens and I like the spirit behind the article and it's certainly one that I'd recommend and the last the last recommendation I have this week isn't a recommendation at all it's a question Um, a friend of mine runs the Instagram channel at van city wild, and it's kind of a Vancouver centric hiking and exploration kind of general leisure adventure lifestyle brand. And they recently made these patches, these van city wild patches. So as a final, final piece of the final notes. I'm wondering, would anybody listening have any interest in Jason and I designing some, the Grenado patches, whether it was one that just said TGN or one that has the same logo that you see on your phone. If you're interested, let us know at the Grenado on Instagram, maybe for episode 13, you could put it in the comments or you can send us an email and that's thegrenadoatgmail.com. I think, uh, I think there's some fun there. We'd love to find something that we could have, you know, you could see it on a backpack at a, airport and know somebody else was listening, something like that. I think it would be fun, but we wanted to see if other people would be interested. So let us know on that. And as always, thanks so much for listening. Hit the show notes for more details and links. You can follow us on Instagram. Jason is at Jason Heaton and I'm at J E Stacy, and you can follow the show at the gray NATO for any updates on new episodes or hallmarks or, you know, various communications. If you have any questions for us, please write TheGreyNado at gmail.com, and please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts, or you can grab the feed from TheGreyNado.com. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzer via the Free Music Archive. |
| James Stacey | And we'll sign off this week with a quote from race car driver and Grey Nado spirit animal Mario Andretti, if everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough. |