The Grey NATO – 139 – Challenge: Sinn

Published on Thu, 25 Feb 2021 06:00:38 -0500

Synopsis

The podcast episode is a discussion between two hosts about various topics, including watches they recently acquired, outdoor adventure movies and shows they enjoyed, and a thought experiment where they had to choose watches from the brand Sinn within a budget of $7,500. They share their picks, explain their reasoning, and engage in a fun conversation around the topic.

Transcript

Speaker
James Hello and welcome to another episode of The Grey Nado, a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 139 and we thank you for listening. Jason, how are you doing?
Jason Heaton Oh, doing pretty great here. Yeah, the sun's out, it's warm. Yeah, so, you know, things are looking up. We're almost to March.
James Yeah, yeah. Aren't we just? Isn't that a good thing? I'm not upset about that one bit. And yeah, it's actually, we're above zero here. The snow is melting. I'm looking out and there's probably like four or five feet of snow in some spots, but it'll take a little while to melt. But I am happy to see it melting and to be recording another episode. You know, we did the Q&A last week. If you're not subscribed, you might've missed that. So obviously do that. And if you've got a question for us, watches or otherwise, be sure to send that in. How have you been since that recording? You've been up too much?
Jason Heaton Well, we had a, we had a bit of a cold snap. I don't remember if it was before we recorded that or after, but we went, you know, four or five days with, didn't get above zero Fahrenheit. So it just felt like the right time to crack open a son of a polar exploration book. I like to lean into the cold a little bit. And so, uh, Gashani and I have kind of gotten hooked on audio books in the past year, I'd say. And, and we, we get them from this library app that we use and, and we, we got, a book called alone on the ice, which is written by a really good author named David Roberts, who's written mainly about mountaineers and mountaineering exploits. But this one was about Douglas Mawson, who was a famous Australian polar explorer who I believe if the book is correct and this still applies, he's on their a hundred dollar bill in Australia. Oh, cool. And back in 19, I believe it was 1911, 1912, he led the, Australasian Antarctic expedition. And, um, it's an amazing story. It's one, you know, you hear about Scott and Amundsen and Shackleton and their exploits and their heroics, but you seldom hear about moss. And then, and his story is even, I think almost more fantastic than, than Shackleton's because, uh, they weren't going for the pole. So I think maybe that's why it's not as famous that expedition, but what they were doing in Antarctica was very ambitious and the tribulations he had to go through or just just harrowing and just, just horrific. But, uh, it's, it's a good book. I recommend it. Um, I don't, I'm not sure who the narrator was of the version we were listening to, but, uh, Ghoshani and I, we, we built a fire and kind of hunkered down for, I guess it was the three day weekend because here in the U S we had president's day and Ghoshani had the day off. So we, we just built fires, like sat by the fire, like all day for three days and listen to this book. And then every once in a while, we just for some exercise, we'd bundle up and go out and we'd live pretty close to a lake that, that freezes over, you know, a couple of feet thick of ice every winter. And we went down there and kind of trudged around on the, on the frozen lake and tried to relive Mawson's expedition a little bit. And then we'd come back and listen to some more. So, uh, it was, it was kind of, it was kind of a good way to kind of embrace the cold and now we've turned the corner. So now it's time to think about, about spring. I don't want to get too optimistic or jump the gun here, but, uh, it's the days are long now.
James Yeah, they're getting longer, which is certainly nice. And that sounds like a great story, certainly. Yeah, yeah. Definitely one to check out. What about you? I'm not sure. Not like a ton. I'm just looking at the list of things I wrote down, trying to decide how much of it's boring. I added a second monitor to my desk. That's probably my biggest news. I've been using the same kind of 27-inch 4K for a few years. And I just bought basically the modern version of that, just I think, I think, you know, for years and years, and Jason, maybe you can, you can attest to this, but for years and years, I've, I've been kind of based on, for the most part, I mean, with some exceptions, I would sit at my desk and use the monitor when I needed to, you know, do some very careful photo editing or when I felt like I really needed the extra space. But in many ways you, you, you learn in this line of work, cause you're, you're constantly moving that you can do a lot on a, on just one laptop screen. Yeah. But then when I get into a really big story or deep into a Photoshop, you just end up with so many desktops and windows and tabs and the rest of it. So I finally broke down. It was one of these things that I was spending my evenings just kind of like reading about different types of monitors and different types of layouts and arranging them for maximum productivity and the rest of it. And finally, I bit the bullet and got it. And so far, I'm absolutely thrilled. It's so nice to just kind of have a lot there in front of you. And it's 227 inches, so it's not the biggest monitor in the world, but it's a lot of monitor, certainly. So that's been nice. It's a nice place to work. My computer tells me how often I'm on my computer. And I figured at a certain point, when you're deep into the double digits most days, maybe it's worth making sure that the overall format's better. Uh, that that's, that's been a plus.
Jason Heaton You're someone who from the past, uh, some from past episodes, you've said that you've, uh, often worked from bed or whatever on the laptop. I'm such a old school kind of diehard office worker type, even though I've worked from home for many, many years, 15, 20 years. Um, but I, I come into my office every day and I click on my little desk lamp and I, I've got a big old Dell monitor that I connect to my Mac book and Um, so I sit at this desk and a nice chair and I work here with a mouse and a, and a Bluetooth keyboard. And I like that I've got a window that I look out of, but every once in a while I unplug it all and I go and take my laptop and I go sit on the sofa. You know, if I build a fire or whatever, and I sit there and I edit or something and it's a nice change of pace. Um, but for the most part, I'm a, I'm a desk worker, but I need to kind of go the opposite direction and get away from the desk every now and then, because I can, I mean, that's the beauty of, of this work situation.
James Yeah. I find that, um, it all just kind of comes down to, you know, in, in a, in a very honest sense, just what my, my, my, my kind of like mental health mindset is for the day. Yeah. Uh, there's some where I get up and, and I want to be at my desk and I want to feel like maximum productivity. I want all these monitors and windows and, and everything organized and, you know, a pad of paper with a pen and a list of things to do. And there's other days where I kind of go like, I know what I got to do and I'll get it done, but I'm not going to get, I'm not getting fancy about it. We're not getting out of bed today. Uh, so it just kind of comes and goes. I mean, I think normally the, I think, I think that this is, this is the, and I don't say this callously, but I also don't say it with like any concern, but like, I think this is the, the sort of effect that the, the, the, you know, now several waves of, of a pandemic and, and lockdowns and, and the rest is kind of had on me is like, Yeah. Some days I just, uh, you know, obviously you're going to get worked on. You always got to be working. But, uh, some days I've, I've from a physical standpoint, I've largely quit, uh, just, I'll just like whatever's comfortable wherever, wherever I can kind of like exist in a way that feels like I'm limiting the amount of stress. Yeah. Uh, that's kind of entering my body. Um, but I, to your point, I do really like the ability to move around. I'll, I'll, I'll do my morning emails and, and feedly and, And that sort of thing in bed. And then maybe for lunch, that sort of thing, I'll transition to my desk and try and get through kind of the bigger tasks of the day. And then I kind of, I tend to finish my day in the living room in front of the speakers with some music going. And that way, if it's just like, I like to put my reading at the end of the day. So you can kind of sit anywhere and just read a screen, which is nice. I don't like if I'm reading one article, I don't need the ability to cascade eight tabs. over the past course of the past few years, I've, I've kind of backed away from having like a traditional workspace and now I'm, and, and it's probably a little late in the pandemic, all things considered, but now I've kind of grown into actually sitting at my, I was there, you know, I can now sit there for like a whole day and get a lot done and not feeling comfortable.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I mean, I, you know, it's probably a good segue, but I've been, uh, I finally got back my edits from, from Chris, right. Oh, nice. Okay. Depth charge. He gave them back to me. He spent about, four or five weeks, uh, editing the whole novel. And he just gave those back to me in Google docs last Friday. And so I embarked on doing my rewrites this week. And, um, that has become a bit of a migratory work situation. So I, I, I've been doing a little bit here. Um, I don't have quite as, as much emails to answer or things to research these days. So being at my desk isn't quite as important, but it's, Um, so I've been kind of migrating around with my laptop a little bit, um, because these edits, I've got a bit of a system going now where I'm just going through and accepting or rejecting his, his feedback and his comments in Google docs before I actually go and do some heavy duty rewriting, which I'll probably do at my desk. So, you know, I think it's all a very fluid situation. I think, you know, work ergonomics are, obviously important. And, and, but, you know, so as mental health and the way you, you know, that, that variety that you need. And I think that's the beauty of working from home. So.
James Yeah. And I, you know, it all, it's also nice to kind of, um, hedge my level of procrastination with things I don't want to do. Um, you know, I, I love, I love the job and, and like when it comes to something like editing a TGN, I'm excited. This isn't going to be my afternoon. Yeah. We'll make the show. It's going to be great. But there's other stories where you're just, it's a story, like it's an assignment. Yeah. And like, if you're not that keen on it, man, I'm at, I'm definitely at a point, which isn't common to me. This isn't usually how I work. We're all just wait and wait and wait until it's due. Oh yeah. And I have to, I have no choice but to write it. Yeah. And I don't know, like, yeah, a lot, a lot of it starting to just change the way that I've been working. And I'm not sure all of it is towards, you know, better, better hobby, better practices versus worse ones.
Jason Heaton Right. Right. Yeah. It'll be interesting to see how we all come out of this. Everybody's kind of been adapting to, to working from home. And, you know, just this past weekend, I helped Kashani get her office sorted. She sits upstairs in our bedroom. We've got kind of half of it set aside for her office and she moved her big monitor to the side and she works, you know, on her laptop in the middle and she's got sort of a bigger desk area. And we moved a chair up there. So if she's on a phone call, she can go sit in the chair. And, um, you know, her, her company has gone to the point where they're like, you know, we're, we're not going to renew the lease on our office space. Everybody's going to start working from home. So, um, you know, she's loving that, that notion, but, uh, required a little bit of reconfiguring for the long haul here. So, um, yeah.
James Yeah. And yeah, I mean, aside from, aside from some, yeah, some desk shuffling around and some more, more, uh, you know, working on my monitor tan, um, I, Oh, I got, um, I got in a new watch, which I'm actually really enjoying and I'll, I'll do a write up for it eventually. So we'll link to that. But, uh, Just preliminarily, Steve Laughlin from Raven, previously with Benares, he's also one half of the two guys behind Finch Knives, who I bought their Runtly. Oh yeah. That kind of, that yellow knife I had you ferry up here for me. Yeah, yeah. Raven has a new version of their 39 millimeter Trekker, which has a blue dial and it's a really, really pretty watch. I had been chatting back and forth with Steve about knives and watches and he sent up a box. So I've got a 39 millimeter Trekker with the no date on the blue dial and the steel bezel. Oh, yeah. A really great thing on I've been wearing it on a NATO. I haven't sized the bracelet yet. Usually I don't until I'm going to take the photos because it's easier if you don't scratch the bracelet before the photos. Right. And then he also sent up the holiday, which was the next one I was planning to buy to check out, which is the kind of it's a little bit more of like a gentleman's folder. It's still a pretty large folding knife, but we'll put these in the show notes. So we don't have to go too far, but it has a nice like white bone inlay on the handle and has a pocket clip as well. And then they have a new kind of sportier model called the Cimarron. Again, show notes are going to be your friend when it comes to understanding what a knife looks like in an audio medium. But yeah, I'm really impressed with both as I was with the Runtly. And then, uh, the watch, uh, the watch I've spent a few days with, uh, it's typical Raven quality. It's really nicely made. It's about $700. Uh, I think they look really good and that sort of thing.
Jason Heaton That's really amazing. I mean, Steve is, you know, he's, he, I didn't realize he was involved with both companies. Um, and you know, that's, I mean, he's, he's right in the EDC territory there. I mean, if he starts doing like, you know, sunglasses or, or key fobs or something, and he's got everybody covered on all fronts, that's pretty cool.
James Yeah, and you know what, Steve would have to correct me. I can't remember if this was kind of the end of the Benares era or the early Raven. I think it might have been early Raven. They were also doing like watch rolls before they were kind of a more popular thing. They're really well priced and nicely made. I think he's got really good taste on these sort of hard goods, whether it be something like a pocket knife or a watch. I mean, the watch thing, it's now been, Steve's been in this for a decade or more, right? Between Benares and then into Raven. I've had lots of experience with the Raven Trekkers in the past, and the 39 is just kind of massaged. It's just a little bit more polished, a little bit more refined. It's a really nice size on wrist. You know, drilled lugs, not too thick, not too heavy.
Jason Heaton Is the case size different? Is the 39 new? A new size for them?
James This iteration of the 39 is new, but they've made a Trekker 39 for a little while. I see. But they've made the Trekker in other sizes as well. I've had a larger size in the past. So this is just a small sort of downward move. uh, for their, for their lineup in terms of, uh, case size. Uh, I think 39 is a great size. Obviously it's been very popular the last couple of years and things like the black Bay 58 and the rest of it. And for $700, uh, that, you know, still maintains one of my favorite micro brands, uh, with Raven, uh, as they have been for, for some time. So I'm, I'm happy to see that they're making, making more stuff and keeping things going. And, and, uh, the Finch stuff is nice. It's a really impressive product. So. They've done a good job with those. And we'll talk more about the Trekker in the future. And eventually I'll have a hands-on on Hodinkee. So just kind of sit tight for that. And yeah, until then, swing by their site, I guess, and check out what they had. So Steve, thanks for sending a few things to check out. I appreciate it. They're a good product. I'm looking forward to getting some photos of the watch set up.
Jason Heaton Nice. Well, I mean, this is a good, good place to move into risk check. Um, cause I, I got a new watch in as well to, to try out this, uh, came over to me from the folks at Boliva. Um, a couple of weeks ago, there was an article on Hodinkee introducing this watch and, um, you know, I wrote to the PR person from Boliva and I said, Hey, you know, I, I had the limited edition of this. This is the devil diver with the orange dial, the orange and it's the smaller size, similar to the, the, the Ellie, right? Right. So I had that LE for a while, um, a couple of years ago, um, and then parted with it, moved it on to a friend of mine. Um, but I always kind of liked it and I wanted to see if there was a big difference between this production model and the LE. And so she sent over a sample for me to check out and you know, this is, it's a, it's a 41 millimeter case with a 45 millimeter lug to lug, which is an entirely reasonably sized watch. Um, the, it's the orange dial and it's, it's the most fluorescent orange, uh, you could imagine. I mean, in person, like if you look at pictures, it's just looks like kind of a doxo orange, but it's, I was, I just had it on this morning and it shines like, boy, that thing's like fluorescent. I mean, it's just, it's a crazy bright orange, which is, which is kind of fun. It's, it's a very summery watch. Um, it doesn't quite feel appropriate for this time of year for whatever, for whatever reason. But, um, you know, since I've been wearing it, I don't know, the weather's been warming up. So maybe, maybe it's having an effect. I don't know, maybe it's casting a glow or something, but, uh, this one is, um, so the, that Ellie differed slightly from this because it was a little bit more true to the, the original from, I think 1970, um, in that the, the minute hand was this, I think they called it the serpent head or snake head hand or shovel head hand or something like that. And then the, The sweep hand didn't have a loom pip and then the 15 minute arc on the bezel was white. This one is orange. So, you know, it's close enough. This is, uh, it, it feels very much like a vintage Bulova, which I love. I've got a bit of a soft spot for, for Bulova. It's got the supplied, um, wordmark on the dial and then those big chunky raised loom pips on the, on the dial.
James I like those, those kinds of cylindrical loom pips are neat. They almost look like, look like one of those little gems from a Lego set.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
James Clear ones. Right. Right. Yeah. They're, they're very cool the way they catch the light. This is a great looking watch for sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I, it came on the rubber strap. I immediately moved it onto a NATO strap, a Phoenix gray NATO. And, and I don't know, it tones, tones it down a little bit. And I think that rubber strap, it had the weird effect of kind of cheapening the watch. I didn't care for it much. And I think moving it onto a NATO, just give it a little bit more, it kind of softened the, the kind of overall bright kind of feel to it and kind of made it a little more tempered it a bit. So I'm liking it. Yeah, that's cool.
James And then that's, um, that sells for what?
Jason Heaton $7.50? $7.50. Which, you know, seems, seems reasonable. The movement, I've seen a few people complain about the movement. Yeah, the movement could be better for that price point. It's a 21D, so it's a non-hacking, slower beat Miota movement. You know, I mean, I, I've never been one to, to really quibble about movements unless they keep really horrible time. And so, um, you know, in a, in a watch of a sub thousand dollar range, I'm, I'm kind of okay with this. So anyway, we'll, we'll see, I'll wear it a little more and, and, uh, you know, keep giving feedback.
James So what do you have on? Uh, I am, I'm actually, so I got a watch in yesterday. Uh, it's a, it's a weird one, not, not at all in my, in my normal realm. It's a, um, it's the current gen, Casio Data Bank calculator watch. I was, you know, it's, I bought it out of a curiosity. Basically we're looking at, I think they're $19 in the States. This is the, this is the one that I believe. And again, I'm not a data bank historian in any way, but I believe this one is as close to the original as they kind of get from the modern one. Yeah. So really straightforward. No, no backlight that's on a more expensive model from what I can tell. And I'm still kind of figuring out what you can do with it. I mean, obviously it's a calculator. So if you, if you have, if that's what you need,
Jason Heaton Would have come in handy for today's main topic.
James True. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I did. I did. I did use a calculator, um, for the very entry level math required for today's, but I didn't use this calculator because the buttons are so tiny and my fingers are way too big. Yeah. It's, it's just a jet black. Uh, and, and yeah, I think, I think I paid $34 or $35 Canadian, but I did check on dot Amazon.com for the show notes. It's 19 bucks. They make other ones and I, If I'm honest, I'm not sure why anyone would want this except for the look. Yeah. Like I don't think that, that anyone needs a calculator on their wrist. And I know that these are a data bank. So I think you can save numbers to recall them. I haven't figured out how to do that. I haven't read the manual. I learned how to, I taught myself how to set the time, which is easy because it has a full number pad.
Unknown Oh yeah.
James Yeah. All things considered pretty simple. I, so far I dig it. If you, if you want that sort of like eighties, um, retro casual vibe. And, uh, and yeah, I dig it. It's not something that I think speaks maybe to me directly or my, my sense of style directly, but I do get why people buy and wear these and why they're still made despite the fact that like, I'm sure the idea of having a calculator watch was, was great in 1985 or 1986 or whatever. But 35 years later, it's kind of a different scenario that, you know, we have phones, we have, uh, other methodologies of, of doing some simple mathematics, but, uh, yeah, I dig it. It's, it's a, it's kind of cool. I wish I had a backlight. Basically. I don't, I don't, the idea of a digital watch with no backlight, this has been my complaint with some versions of like the F 71, uh, Casio, the super, you know, you can see these sometimes they're like $12. Um, but, and, and not all of those have a backlight. And I feel like a backlight is really, is really part of the sweet spot of having a digital watch is I get to have a backlight, you know, I'm still a five, still a five-year-old at that level. Right. quite unabashedly. But yeah, so that's what I got. I guess pay attention to the story. And maybe if you're a databank guy, I apologize if I got any, you know, data wrong about the databank. I'm brand new to it. So yeah, kind of a fun thing. And it is one of those things where like I knew that I needed a story, a different story wasn't going to happen. So I had to fill the slot and I was lucky because Amazon had like same day delivery on a $19 watch. Wow. So I made the decision around noon and I think it showed up around four or five yesterday. Uh, so that'll be, that'll be kind of fun and it should make for kind of a fun photo shoot, a bit of retro style to it and that sort of thing. So yeah, there's the risk check. Uh, what do you say we dip into the main topic?
Jason Heaton Yeah, it was tough. Geez. I mean, this is a fun, you had a tough time. You had a tough time with this. I did. Yeah. Why don't you explain?
James Yeah. Yeah. For, for people who maybe don't know what the challenge episodes are, we did one previously, it was episode one 15. and it was for Seiko. Um, and the idea is we pick a brand, uh, for this episode, it's going to be the German brand Zen and, uh, and we set a budget. Typically it's, it's, I, I try and pick a number that allows you to get two watches from the brand guarantee that you can get two watches from the brand. Um, so this is only the second time that we've done a challenge episode. So I probably shouldn't be using the term. Typically we're, we're still kind of making this up as we go, but we're, uh, we're setting the budget for today's little challenge at $7,500. And unlike with the Seiko one, where I think we were kind of safe in assuming we wouldn't overlap, there's a chance that Jason and I will pick the same watch for Zinn. So we're going to do this in a sort of a draft style. So if one of us picks a watch, that's then off the table. So I think that's pretty straightforward, right, Jason? That's the concept explained? Yeah. So we have $75 to $100 to spend on Zinn. How would we spend only that money only on Zinn? And, uh, you know what, Jason, I'm feeling, I'm feeling, um, I'm feeling generous. So how about you go first?
Jason Heaton Okay. Well, I mean, before we jump in, I got to say the reason this was so difficult is Zen has so many watches that are, that I love. I mean, you know, we, we talk about Zen a lot and I'm actually surprised neither of us own a Zen. I mean, just I'll put it out there. I it's, it's crazy because, you know, this was so difficult because for one thing, the most expensive watch I could find on, watchbuys.com, which is the North American sales outlet for, for Zen, um, is like 6,300 and you know, that, that, so you could buy that and still have enough to buy a second one. So it's crazy. And then, you know, there's just an infinite number of combinations that you could plug in to, to add up to 7,500. I mean, you could buy, I think, you know, like five, five, five sixes and give them to all your friends or, you know, there's just like, Party favors. Yeah, exactly. I mean, there's just so much. And I, initially what I was going to do, and I'll just explain my rationale here. You know, you can sort on watch buys by lowest to highest or highest to lowest. And I started going lowest to highest and sort of going up the list and sort of ticking boxes, adding them to my list and then adding it up. I was like, I can still get another one. I can still get another one. Um, that got stressful. So I went the other direction. I went with high to low and that's kind of where I landed. I'm going to start with one that I absolutely loved a slightly different version of this at Basel a couple of years ago. It's the 910 column wheel flyback. Dang it. No way.
James No way. That's my number one pick. Oh, for sure. I adore that watch. Well, at least one of us got it.
Jason Heaton Amazing.
James That was the watch that like I was trying to decide, like, Oh, do I pick first? Cause I would pick a 910. That SRS is sick. What a cool watch. Yeah, no, that's a good, that's a good pick. That throws a huge wrench in my game for the whole thing.
Jason Heaton Oh man. Geez. I thought for sure you wouldn't pick this one. I just did not think this was being, not being a chronograph guy. I thought for sure. Anyway, so, so the 910 column wheel, um, they made a limited edition of this watch, an anniversary edition that was a split seconds version. Um, then had an extra pusher at what eight o'clock on the case. Um, that one's 6,300. So, you know, that's the top level watch on, on watch buys night. It's temporarily sold out. And I thought that that really kind of blows everything for me and sure I could get like a barely get a five, five, six to it. In addition, I'll go with the slightly detuned version, which is the column wheel flyback chronograph, which is actually a little bit cleaner aesthetic because it doesn't have that extra big pusher on the side.
James Yeah. And it's a, it's a three, it's a three register in the Zen style. So the brand and the date are aligned at three, which I really like how they do that. That's what they've done on other Zins that I've had, like the, the one, four, four. Um, I think whether you go nine, 10 anniversary or just the nine, 10, which is a confusing way for them to make two different watches that are the same, uh, reference number. Yeah. But if you go with the, the, the kind of stock model at $4,200, 4,260 on a leather strap, you know, it's this it's, I mean, it's, it's a, it's a white dial sport watch with black markers. I'm, I'm sold. I'm deeply sold.
Jason Heaton And, and the, you know, this isn't typical Zen fair. I mean, when most people think Zen, they think black dial, very sober looking, um, kind of 60s, 70s pilot style watches or the really tactical dive stuff. So this was a little bit of left field, which is the reason I didn't think you'd pick the same one, but I just, I love it. I think it's, It's very sin as well though, because it's, it's a hundred meter water resistant. Um, you know, the, the, they've adapted a movement to, to use a column wheel. Um, it's very instrument like it's got all these, um, uh, uh, you know, the, the scales, the scales on the outer track and, um, it's, it's, it just feels very technical, but also very classic. It's a very classically shaped case with those mushroom shaped pushers and a big oversized crown. Um, I'd probably move it on to a different strap, probably a Bund.
James But at 41 millimeters... Yeah, it'd be great on a Bund. Yeah. I think that'd be great. I think it would look really good on a mesh, like a light sort of mesh, just because there is a lot of metal there. 41.5 millimeters, 15.5 thick. It's 22 millimeter lugs. Your normal two-year warranty. I think these are killer. I really like this watch. I like the split-second more just because it is it is legitimately that much more special to have a split second and the 300 unit le 300 it's pretty limited so i get that i get the point there but i think those are sold out so i think that would be right uh not exactly in the vein of um of what we're what we're doing currently but a great pick and and if you had picked anything else it would have been uh would have been my follow-up really really good call for sure all right yeah well what are you gonna do you got a scramble now you have a uh yeah i mean i'll go with what was what was going to be my second pick first uh which is uh just a loaded out u50 uh so the u50 uh the fully tejumented with the steel not the black colored bezel okay on the bracelet you know we've got them got the money to spend especially now that a rather expensive option was knocked off the board yeah but uh yeah i i think i absolutely adore u50 i would love an excuse to own one Um, it's one of those things where if, if I, if, if one hits on, uh, on watch recon, that's already in Canada and I wouldn't have to deal with the stress of getting it over the border during all this and the rest of it. Uh, I would be tempted. Absolutely tempted. I think it's just a fabulous watch. Absolutely worth the money. If you want a, a nicely sized, super capable dive watch, you know, in my mind, in many ways, it is the, um, the, the current generations, two, two, five, four. Hmm. Right. You know, Omega has moved on to kind of more expensive, more complicated, more technically proficient watches. Yeah. But I think somewhere in there, Omega also kind of lost the sweet spot that they had, which was a nicely sized everyday dive watch. Yeah. And while I think the Omega is maybe a little bit dressier and a little bit more ornate being a Swiss watch versus a German watch, if I can make that assumption, There is something about the Zen where I think if you put it on a nice warm leather strap, it warms up that sort of stoic simplicity. And I think it becomes a really great everyday watch. I love these. I love them a lot. I can't wait to eventually have one. Maybe they'll do a GMT at some point in the future and I won't even have a choice. I'll just go broke getting one. But no, a great watch at a great price point. One of those, you know, that I got a chance to review over the summer last year, thanks to Watch Buys being willing to send one up. And I just, it was such a bummer to even send it back. Like the whole time I was thinking like, oh, you know, what could I kind of shuffle or sell? Or what could I kind of do where financially this would make sense? But, you know, like I've complained about before when you do the price of the watch being one thing, and then the conversion to Canadian dollar, and then the taxes to get it over the border. And the rest of it, they, they end up getting quite a bit more expensive than that, than that list price. But, uh, yeah, I think, I think if you can, you know, if you're, if you're getting one at just under three grand, I think they started about 2,200. If you don't want the Tej amended, you're up around three grand. If you want Tej amended on the bracelet, uh, huge value, great watch.
Jason Heaton Yeah, that's a good pick. I mean, I think it was arguably one of top, but you know, probably you want it at least in your top five for last year. I mean, you reviewed one and we've talked about it several times. I think it's, uh, you know, when you look at modern, you know, tool watches, modern technical dive watches, I think the Pelagos kind of sits at the top of the pyramid. I think the, uh, this type of a watch from Zen is, is right up there. I think, you know, whichever Zen straight up dive watch you go with is very much a competitor to the Pelagos. I think, you know, short of, unless you're, you know, really want an in-house movement or, or full titanium or something, you know?
James Yeah. No, I agree. And I think the other thing to consider is that, you know, the, the Pelagos started, you know, black dial two line text very much in the same form as the U 50 is now, but then they went with the blue, they went with the LHD. I'd like color can really make a watch like this feel, you know, maybe less severe.
Unknown Yeah.
James Yeah. Cause there is something so kind of techie and purposeful about the U 50 as it is now. I'd love to see one, in a couple different, yeah, like they, Zinn does a really lovely blue. Rarely, they've, they've done it on the U1. So a blue 50, you know, a blue U50, I think would be pretty cool. I think one with a white dial, which they've done on other watches, you know, these super high contrast stuff. You know, Zinn does a lot of great dials. So it wouldn't surprise me if they've got a couple, a couple other options up their sleeve, but no question. I mean, whether you go with the base one or you, you spend the money for the, the higher end spec, I think just, a great modern watch that really is not at all interested in playing the, um, the kind of vintage throwback game, which is kind of refreshing as much as you and I love vintage inspired watches. Yeah. It is nice to see somebody operating outside of that.
Jason Heaton It is. And I, I almost prefer going to this extreme, not extreme, but you know, going to this type of very unique blank sheet of paper, modern design versus modernizing an old design. And I think, you know, just, you just look at the hands and markers and everything about this watch. And it's just, it's, it's wholly unique. And I love that. Now, can you imagine a blue dial you 50? I mean, in that blue that the, that sin has done so well with, I think that would just look so great.
James I, I agree entirely. So, uh, I guess we have to decide, is it, is it a serpentine draft where I get to pick two in a row because you got the first pick or do you want to do your second pick? I don't think you're going to take my second one. So let's just to be even, how about you go next?
Jason Heaton Okay. All right. Let's hear it. Okay. I mean, okay. I was, mine was a toss up. I was going to go with a U 50 Tejament SDR, but I, it's so close to yours that my, my other choice, actually what I picked before that, and I'm going to make it my second choice is because I'm a, I'm a big guy. I'm going to go with the U1 SDR, um, fully Tejamented on the bracelet. So, um, a few years ago I had a chance to, to try out the U1 professional, which was a limited series done for the U S market. That was a no date version. And I had a few other slight tweaks to it. I think some of the red text on the dial was blacked out, whatever, but it had this black bezel and I owned a U1 years ago and I just, there was something about it. I just didn't warm up to. And I think it's because it had the steel bezel. And when I see the U1 or the U50 for that matter, with the black bezel, it immediately speaks to me. I love it with the black bezel. Yeah. So I'm going to go with a U1T SDR on bracelet. And the only reason I'm going on bracelet, because I'm not a huge fan of ZIN bracelets, but I have a little money to burn here. I mean, if I go with it on the excellent rubber strap, which maybe with my leftover money, I'll just buy the strap separately. But you know, as, as wisdom often says with, with buying watches, get the version on the bracelet because it's more expensive to buy it after, after the fact. So that's what I'm going to do here. I think, you know, for, for many, you know, most of the same reasons you talked about with the U50, I'm going to go with the U1. And I think between, you know, when you look at what we're doing here with this challenge, you know, certainly I could have gone with some sort of an EZM, you know, tactical, you know, high end pilot's watch.
James Yeah, I thought maybe an EZM, something with a central chronograph.
Jason Heaton Yeah.
James I mean. Is where I would have guessed your next pick. But I guess you've already got the 910.
Jason Heaton I get the EZM and I love dive chronographs, but. Yeah. I've never been much for the aesthetics of the EZMs. And I think a U1 SDR just has this really purposeful, that, I don't know, that black bezel on this watch is just, uh, I don't know. I love the starkness of it. I love how it sets off against that red and the hands, the blocky hands with the red. I mean, it's just a spectacular watch. Um, but I think to compliment or to the U1 is so extremely opposite of what the 910 is that you're getting two extremely different watches from a great brand that makes a really high quality rugged product. And I think that's, what's fun about combining these two picks is it's their opposite ends of the spectrum. I know, I think where, you know, a wrench really would have been thrown in the works as if they still offered the, the one five eight, which, um, if anyone remembers this, this is the one that it was a limited series based on the old Bundeswehr Zen from the seventies. Helmut Sin had bought up some, extra stock. He used to do servicing for Heuer back in the 60s and 70s and that famous flyback hand-wound chronograph that Heuer made for the German Bundeswehr were often shipped to Zinn for servicing or for building or something like that and he would actually replace the dials with Zinn dials and so there was a Zinn version of this watch and that watch is like hands down my favorite Zinn ever. It's just the coolest looking watch. It is super cool. I love those but you know, fortunately or unfortunately, they're not available. They are shown on Zinn's German site, but they're nowhere to be found on watchbuys. So I'm going to assume that, that I can't do that. You know, the other tactic that I had initially mentioned was starting at the low end and just sort of adding up by, by putting watches in my basket, um, which would have been like, you know, start with a $1,200, five, five, six, and then add a dive watch.
James And then that's a lot of watch for the money. Isn't it the five, five, six.
Jason Heaton It is, it is. And you know, my rationale for, ultimately abandoning that strategy was that I like watches that do stuff. I like watches that have a something fun that you can play with, you know, widget of something. So whether that's a dive bezel or a chronograph, I need that. I've just found with like my Rolex Explorer, I never wear it because it's nice. It's very clean. It's fun to look at, but ultimately I want something I can fidget with. And, uh, I think that satisfying bezel on the U1 or the flyback would just be a blast on the 910. So that's kind of where I ended up at this duo.
James Where does that put you for total?
Jason Heaton If my math is correct, after swapping in the U1 for the U50 at $7,140, Dang. Okay. Um, so I might have enough. I'm not sure what those straps go for the, the nice rubber strap for the U one, but I'll probably pick up one of those or just throw it on a NATO or something and pocket my additional 360 bucks.
James As far as my second pick goes, man, I'm not sure it's, it's tough because I'm, they don't still make a one four, four GMT, which is the one that I've had. Yeah. And it's kind of this really cool, um, idiosyncratic take on, on a pilot's GMT chronograph.
Unknown Yeah.
James with a ton of loom. And it has this kind of like Orfina Porsche design style case. And I had that and loved it. And it's actually a watch I regret selling, although my buddy David has the watch, so it's not like it's gone anywhere. A great watch, but they don't still make the GMT version of that. For a little while, they made a GMT version of that watch that was also Lufthansa colored. So it was blue and orange. Oh, wow. Which is pretty gorgeous. and it had a Lufthansa symbol, I think, on the dial, which was probably too much for me, but I did like that colorway. I'm not sure. I'm tempted by a 358 Diapal, which is another one of their most expensive watches. You know, it's a big GMT, or not big, but it's their sort of top spec GMT chronograph. Very similar movement to what was in my 144. I like the gray on gray dial. I like the overall aesthetic of this watch. This is something where I feel aside from the sort of U1 and U50 look, this is very much a Zen thing with the syringe hands and the skeleton hand and the very clear text and the rest of it. But I think ultimately I got to pick something that's like weirder because I have the U50, which is a great watch. And I always enjoy a GMT, but I think I'm going to go, I'm going to swing outside the fence with something a little bit cheaper. So I'm not going to get that close to the 7,500 limit. I'm going with an EZM13. Okay. Which is the divers, the 41 millimeter dive chronograph. Yeah. With the buttons on the left case side. So you use them with your thumb. Yeah. Which is really handy. I remember when they launched this watch, I remember holding it and just thinking like, this is the right size. And it has... It's so zen. Yeah. It has this sort of asymmetric chronograph layout. It has a big register at six. It has a fantastic bezel. The pushers are really nice. It, it, it, it's great on the bracelet. I think this is a really cool, super wearable watch. Even if, um, I'm not, I don't always feel like I'm that much of a chronograph guy. There's definitely exceptions and, and in the world of dive chronographs, which is very much your space, uh, Jason, I think this is one of my favorites. Yeah.
Jason Heaton I mean, and unlike a lot of other dive chronographs, uh, this one gives nothing away, uh, to legibility. I mean, it's, You know, just looking at the photo, I mean, those white hands against the black dial. And then, you know, Zen always purposefully sort of mutes out or grays out the running seconds so that it doesn't interfere. So you're only seeing what you need to see at a glance. And I think they do a really good job with that.
James Yeah. I think it looks great. You know, it is, it is a 430 date, which is before people tell me, I know it's a 430 date. It's actually one that doesn't bother me because the watch is already kind of has a lopsided feel to it.
Unknown Yeah.
James with the layout, and then it's a black date wheel in a black window with red text, which I think aligns really nice with some of the other markings on the dial. If you're going to do a 430 date, here's an example of one that I don't hate. 99.9% of them are terrible. Here's one that I'm not hugely against. It's still functional. I don't think it looks bad. And I think it almost works in concert with the general weirdness of the watch. And the weird part is, in my mind, very much a compliment. I think that this watch is very distinctive, which I like quite a bit. I think it's the right size. I like that it's 20 millimeter lug width, so lots of great straps. And it has a lot of the brand's tech, which is where you're seeing some of the higher price point and the EZM part of it. So that sells from watchbuys for $3,140, which would bring my total to... Wait, is that on bracelet?
Jason Heaton Because on strap, I'm seeing it for $2,970.
James Uh, bracelet. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. 31 40 for that on a bracelet. And then we have a, uh, a U 50, uh, loaded out is 29 20, which brings us to 6,060. So we didn't even get that close. Lots left over. Well, um, spare straps or, I mean, you can buy me a five, five, six, I'll buy a full, I'll buy a full five, five, six. So there's my third squeak a third in at the end, uh, you know, have, have a nice, uh, a nice, uh, spares in, I guess. But yeah, I think that this is fun. So Jason, you chose the 910 SRS, the non-limited gorgeous 41 millimeter white dial chronograph. And as your second watch, you picked the kind of... Is it the fully black one or is it just the SDR where it's a black bezel ring? It's just the SDR with the black bezel. There you go. So a U1 SDR, the full size. So that's 44 millimeters, a good size for for your wrist for sure, Jason. On my side, I picked a U50, kind of loaded out the U50T. I want the steel colored bezel and the bracelet. Such a great diver. And then I guess I didn't have enough divers and went in kind of a different direction with what I think is one of the brand's coolest watches, the EZM-13. It's a sort of military dive chronograph with left-hand controls. a really, really cool, really fun. I like both of these a lot. And Jason, I think you did a better job of spending the budget. I came up pretty far short. So we're going to tack on a five, five, six, uh, there in, into mine to get me into the set, at least into the seven grand range. But yeah, that's a, that's the Zen challenge right there.
Jason Heaton Amazing. That was a good one. It's really strong one. Really difficult. I know Seiko felt a lot easier than Zen did.
James Yeah. I, I think I don't, I want, I do wonder if maybe I picked the wrong number at 7,500, if it was like, if I had made it 10, then we might've been, we might've had four watches to talk about. Theoretically, if I had made it, if we had made it five, you'd have a much tight, like I wouldn't have gotten the two watches that I had and neither would you. Yeah. So maybe it was a number thing where you had too much freedom, but not really enough to, to, to make it just kind of perfect. But I, yeah, I think great picks. a solid brand. And, and yeah, I, I, I definitely agree that there's probably got to be as in, in, in one of our futures, uh, in, in not too long a term, uh, you 50 would really, you know, still retain continues to talk to me. Yeah. Yeah.
Jason Heaton So, yeah. Well, good ones. Um, you know, we'll, we'll revisit this topic for this, uh, this theme for episodes in the future. Um, yeah, this is fun. I mean, Seiko and Zen, it's great. We'll stick, we won't stick with us as we promise.
James Yeah. Yeah. We'll pick a brand that doesn't start with S. If you have a brand that you would love to hear us do for a challenge episode, we'll do another one in a couple months, like Jason said. So feel free to send us an email, thegreatnadoatgmail.com with your pick for an ideal challenge brand. You know, we've done Seiko and we've done Zen. We will probably try and pick something pretty different for the third one when we get to it. But before that, what about some final notes, Jason? We have a good list. We haven't been doing four final notes recently, but we've got four today. So that'll give us a good end for the show.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I'll start. Um, I've got two movies actually that, that we watched recently, both on Amazon prime. One of them was, I was really excited to see pop up as available. Uh, and a lot of people might've seen this one, the watchmakers apprentice. So well-known film, uh, to watch nerds. It's about George Daniels, the famous British watchmaker from the aisle of man, uh, arguably the greatest watchmaker of the 20th century. uh, who invented the coaxial movement that Omega ended up adopting, um, as well as his apprentice, his lone apprentice, Roger Smith, uh, the also British watchmaker, um, who labored for years to come up with an acceptable first watch that, that George Daniels would approve of and, and ultimately allow him to become his, his apprentice and kind of take over his, you know, the, take the mantle from, from Daniels and carry it forward as the preeminent British watchmaker. Right. Um, beautiful film. It's not terribly long. I think it's less than an hour and a half, but it, it's well done. And you know, as people know about me, uh, I, I'm not really a, an oat or lingerie kind of guy. I don't, I'm not, don't really get into high complications or really high end watches from long as our paddocks or jorns or things like that, but you can't help but come away from this movie. And even a non watch person would come away from this movie really struck by the, to me, it's, it's almost a bit melancholy to see the, the, the loss of this level of handcrafted artistry in the world. Um, and, and it was also encouraging to, to see Roger Smith carrying this forward and, and Ghoshani and I both kind of clicked it off and sort of sat in silence after this thinking, wow, that's just, it's, it's inspiring and, and, you know, beautifully shot, well lit, um, great interviews. Um, you know, the one guy that, pops up often is Michael Clarizzo, who, you know, we've bumped into and spent some time with on press trips over the years. He wrote a biography of George Daniels. And so he speaks a bit in the, in the movie. Um, and then you see some of Daniel's old cards. He's got, he had some old Bentleys that he used to race. And, um, it's, I don't know, just a really pleasant, nice, very cozy kind of movie. I don't know. It just, it made me want to, take out an old, you know, my old Hamilton pocket watch and wind it up and take off the back and just look at the movement. It's just a, it was just a really nice movie to watch.
James So you've seen this one. I have. Yeah. Quite some time ago, whoever was promoting the film or something else gave me a, uh, sent me a, uh, like a Vimeo link maybe, or I don't remember what the service was. It was, it was, but I did, I did see it. Um, if Amazon has it in a higher resolution, I think if I remember correctly, the, what they were sharing, maybe wasn't the whole film and it might've been like in four 80 as far as the resolution. So if Amazon's got it in better resolution, I may go back and watch that, you know, put it on the projector and really enjoy it. Cause it is a fun movie. It's super relaxing as well. Like there's no, there's no like drama. It's not, it's not like a reality show or something with these two great watchmakers. It's pretty down the middle as far as like the tone and treatment of a watch documentary. Yeah. Um, yeah, I like it a lot. That's a, that's a great pick. And, and if it's on, if, if more people can see it, I think this is a vastly, uh, good thing for, uh, for the thing for, for all of it. Uh, you know, the, the Roger Smith stuff is incredible. He's still one of the best talking watches, um, was, you know, him with Jack. He's just, uh, what, what a talent, what a fastidious, you know, detail driven, extreme talent. I like it a lot for sure. Yeah. How about you? My first is a website, but also it's a show on Netflix. So maybe the show's the easiest way to get to it. It's called Meat Eater. And it's basically, if you imagine an Anthony Bourdain style show, like a travel show, but instead of going to a city and meeting some people, it's about this guy, Steve Rinella. And I know that there's people listening who are like, why is James talking about Meat Eater? Everybody in the world already knows Meat Eater. I didn't until maybe six months ago. But it's this guy, Steven Rinella, who started this website and this show. he basically, it's, it's all about hunting and, and ethical hunting and, and deep back country, like touring, hiking, where they spend seven days tracking some animal. And then when they get it, you, so I I've been fascinated by it. Hunting is something I've always been, um, casually interested in, but never to the point where I got a chance to try it or go with someone or, or have that experience myself. Um, but you know, I think, I think, you know, Jason, you're a, you have specific sort of dietary restrictions based on various ethics, correct? Yeah. That's a, that's a fair, fair assessment of, of, uh, of the way that you choose to eat.
Jason Heaton Yeah. We, we, we try to kind of minimize our, our meat intake, specifically beef. We don't eat a lot of meat. And I think, like you said, it's, it's largely for ethical reasons and kind of just a lack of interest in, in supporting the industrialized kind of meat production. Right. So I don't have anything against hunting specifically, but, uh, But yeah, sort of the industrial meat production cycle.
James Yeah. So the, the reason I bring that up is this is something that I've thought about more and more is, you know, I really like a steak. I, I, I eat a fair amount of meat, um, but I've never, I've never, you know, uh, killed and butchered my own meal, which feels like a bit of a disingenuous element to, to the way that I lead my life. And I think part of this, it's been really nice to watch this series, which is not presented in an especially bro-y manner, which is nice. It's not super macho. A lot of it focuses on the cooking. So what you can do with the various parts of the animal, they do whole episodes that are about cooking with meat that people don't typically cook with, usually for social reasons, not so much even for taste. We have modes of eating in North America that are different in other parts of the world, obviously. I find the show to be fascinating. I've really enjoyed it. It's presented in a really nice manner. And also when you're kind of cooped up and you can't go and do a lot, you can't necessarily go and do a lot of stuff. I do enjoy these kind of travel based shows where one show he'll, he'll be in the Rockies hunting a mule deer or something. And the next one, he's on a river in South America looking for a special type of catfish. And then, and then once they catch it, it's not just like, well, you know, I used to watch those like Saturday morning fishing shows when I was a little kid.
Unknown Yeah.
James You know, as a, you know, probably a show sponsored by a bass boat company and, and a guy who kind of shouts a lot, uh, stands on a boat and catches a bass. And you, you know, there's a, uh, a camera underwater, so you can see the fish moving around. It's not really like that at all. This is, it feels more like a travel show, um, than a fishing show or a hunting show, but it is all these things kind of wrapped up. And I really like Renella and the way that he, um, presents everything in the way that he's very humble when he makes a mistake or, or when he's still trying to learn something from somebody else. And the kind of fixers or the experts they bring in for various areas are, it's a fascinating look at, at like a, the idea of like a modern kind of wilderness, um, lifestyle.
Jason Heaton I really like it. That's amazing. I want to watch it tonight. I mean, I love that idea. I'm fascinated with hunting like you, I feel a little bit ashamed as a strong word, but, um, Like something's been missing from my life that I haven't.
James Yeah. It feels like it's off balance a little bit. The way that I approach food.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Because you know, like you, I mean, I, I do like meat. We don't eat a lot of it because of this sort of ethical issues, but, but look, I, I'm all for ethical hunting and I, I think the show sounds great. I've heard of Rinella. I think he's had a few articles in men's journal or outside over the years. And outside. Yeah. So yeah, good one. I mean, I think, uh, That's great.
James Yeah. I would say, I would say if you're listening to this and you're thinking like, Oh, I don't want to see an animal butchered. This might not be the right show for you.
Unknown Yeah.
James Um, at this point they do it in every episode. They almost every episode they do kill something, they do butcher it, and then they'll either cook a part of it on a fire that they're at, or they'll do a whole segment in the show back at somebody's house where they prepare, you know, if they're in Northern Mexico for a certain type of deer, they'll then prepare, the meal as it would be prepared in Northern Mexico, um, you know, with some help and, and, and, and it is, it, it really is the same beats as an Anthony Bourdain. Okay. There's a lot of voiceover and a lot of kind of walking around and talking to a couple people and then there's a meal that they share. Uh, it's uh, I, I, yeah, like I said, I, I really like it. I, it, I've learned a ton from the show cause I know next to nothing about hunting. Um, but I've learned a ton from the show and, and I feel like I, it is kind of a nice way to approach, the parts of it that people are maybe uncomfortable with, the butchering, the death, the rest of it, because everything is presented in a fairly thoughtful manner. And when it's not, they're super honest about making a mistake, whether it was a shot they shouldn't have taken in the field or a hunt that didn't go the way they wanted it to. They recognize mistakes and that sort of thing. I'm really impressed with the show and with Rinella in general. So I highly recommend it. If it's the kind of thing where you know you don't want to see an animal butchered, then I would I highly recommend not watching it. Um, I don't, I don't, I don't think that this is the right, maybe just watch the cooking ones. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, the cooking specific episodes, which are just like in his kitchen. Um, I, even from those, I don't even cook that much. I learned a lot. Been, uh, I've been, I've been enjoying that and they just, I think they just recently dropped the second half of the ninth season on there. And then if you get through everything that's on Netflix and you're enjoying it as much as I did, you can go to meat eaters website and watch, I think seasons one through three. So there's like three seasons I haven't been able to find.
Unknown Hmm.
James because I think Netflix has like six through nine or five through nine, something like that. And their website has like one through three. Um, but it's great. You get out into the woods, you get into the mountains, you get out, uh, you know, fishing on some remote river and so it's, it's, it's, it's fun. I enjoy it. It feels like travel to a certain extent. Cool. So what do you got as your second
Jason Heaton Second one is also a film, not a, not a brand new one. Um, and one that once I got about a third into it, I realized I'd seen before, but so worth it. Uh, the beckoning silence. Uh, this is a film based on a book by Joe Simpson, who if you've listened to TGNs in the past and are into this kind of stuff, he's a TGN hero. He's the author of touching the void. One of the great, great books and great, great documentary movies of, you know, all time, I would say. Joe is a British mountaineer who, if people remember, had that horrific accident in the Andes in 1985 in which his rope was cut and he fell into a crevasse and had to crawl out with a horribly shattered leg. It's such a famous story. Years later, Joe actually became an author after that. So he wrote Touching the Void while he was recovering. it made him somewhat famous. And I read recently that he's, he's written eight books now. So he's, he kind of turned into an author and he's very, he's a very thoughtful writer. If you read touching the void, that's the only book I've, I've read of his, but I want to pick up the beckoning silence now because he's one of these accomplished outdoorsman adventurers who is also a really thoughtful and good writer. And in the beckoning silence, he talks about how his, the book that, had the biggest impact on him when he was a kid was The White Spider by Heinrich Harrer about the first ascent of the Eiger in Switzerland. Part of that book talks about one of the early attempts to climb the Eiger in 1936 in which an Austrian climber named Tony Kurtz died horribly, basically encased in ice, hanging from a rope just out of reach of his rescuers. It made such an impact on Simpson and he kind of ties the two situations together, his own, uh, accident in the Andes and Kurtz's death in the Alps in the thirties. And then the movie's kind of about this. There's recreations of Kurtz's climb, which are really well done by some German speaking climbers. They've re recreated some scenes on the Eiger. Um, but then Simpson's actually climbing the Eiger as well. And so he goes in present day, And he's there with a climbing partner and it's a mix of interview and voiceover with him climbing. And, um, you know, the Iger ceaselessly fascinates me. I've seen it in person and it's just a spectacular mountain. And of course there are just so many great stories about the ascent of its North face. And, uh, and I like Simpson and, um, so it's just a great, a great movie. Um, again, not very long, just a little bit over an hour. Um, but you know, you, I like, I like Simpson. I like listening to him talk. I like the concept of this movies. He's a humble guy, but, but one who, you know, really has faced mortality much more closely than the rest of us probably ever will. Um, so yeah, highly recommend it. The beckoning silence.
James All right. Yeah, that looks great. Uh, consider that deeply on my list for the next couple of days. That's also on Amazon by the looks of it, which is super. All right, my last one, and we can wrap up the show after this, is a YouTube video from a channel, what appears to be a very popular channel called Beyond the Press. They have 674,000 subscribers. I did not realize they were that popular when I picked them, but I do think that this is something worth watching. So I think this is one of these channels where they kind of do various kind of hilarious experiments. From what I can tell, they do a lot with one of those hydraulic presses, where they just crush something in the press, I guess.
Unknown Oh, sure.
James Yeah. Anyways, the video that I'm talking about is how deep can a dive watch really go, and they use what's called a sea chamber or a deep sea chamber, and they actually take a watch and they take it down to 3 kilometers, 3,000 meters. Okay. Um, and they do it with a citizen that's good 200 meters. Then they do it with, um, like this watch made by a company called Dugano, which is kind of a, um, like an Amazon, not quite knockoff, but, uh, uh, Submariner adjacent looking watch. And basically they, they take them down to their reported water resistance, which is a hundred meters and 300 meters respectively. And then they go way further just to see what happens. Um, and I, I don't really want to give anything away cause I actually found the video to be pretty interesting. Um, specifically in that, um, it's, it's a reminder that, that the weak part of a dive watch, isn't the part you're typically thinking of. Oh, okay. You know, in, in, in all of these watches that the major damage, these are both quartz watches and there was enough damage done to a part of the watch to destroy the movement. Oh, but visibly you'd have almost no idea. I found the outcome to be really interesting. Now I want to find out if, if it would be possible for, uh, you know, for Hodinke to produce a video like this, but more from a watch angle. Yeah. So, you know, pick, I don't really care one way or another for the watches they chose. I think if they, if they picked watches, you know, that people really attached to the video might be more probably, I would love to see how far can an SKX really go before it just crushed, you know, the crystal shatters and then do it with a watch that's good to a thousand meters. And anyways, I really enjoyed this video. It came to me via Reddit. It's not like I found it or anything, but it's a cool channel and an interesting video and they're just kind of having fun with it. Um, and, and they, and they kind of show you just how extreme, not only the fact that these watches, um, but each went several times beyond its water resistance rating before failure, like several X, not several meters. But then when they fail, they fail in a very quiet fashion. I mean, with the citizen, I'm not giving anything really big away, but the second hand just kind of stops. It's a court. And then if he, when, when he backed off the pressure, it starts again. Huh? And then they take it too deep and it's never going to start again. But this is a fun one. It's kind of a really simple 13 minutes. So you're not devoting a huge amount of time. I would love to see this exact same thing kind of done to a higher level, more dive watch nerdery than just pressure nerdery, which I think maybe they're more into putting something under extreme pressure. So if I can source one of these machines or someone who has one and that sort of thing, I think that there is a a more, a more specific video to be made here, but I really love where they started with it.
Jason Heaton Huh? Very cool. I'll check that out. I, this reminds me back in, gosh, I've just looked it up back in 2012. I, I went to the local Rolex repair place. That's done some work on a few of my watches and I, I wrote an article for Houdinki called, uh, let's see, under pressure, a look at Rolex water resistance testing. And I, they actually, it's one of the few places that actually has a, uh, or at that time at least had a Rolex water tester, called the fathometer that was, is that the one with the big handle? Yeah, it has, it has a crank on the side and then a big, you know, three, three armed handle that you crank down almost like a submarine hatch and you can test a wash down to 1220 meters. And, um, I did a very poorly put together video that somebody artfully edited as best they could, but you, you can't see what's happening to the watch while it's in it. But, um, I did it with my own submariner and they actually took the movement out and put it in. brought it down, I think to 300 meters and checked it out. But I think, you know, water testing is one of those things that, you know, we all sort of know about in theory. And we look at the numbers on the dial and these crazy numbers, these, you know, thousand meter, this and 500 meter that, and, uh, know that none of us are ever going to go to that depth, but, but it's just the sheer engineering of it. So to see, um, you know, to see this done and that's really cool. I just caught a bit of that video that you linked to and, you know, to actually see what's happening, um, is, is really neat. I remember watching some sort of, I think Seiko put it on a ROV or something and sent it down and you could, and you could see like, I think ultimately like the crystal presses onto the, the hands and like stops the hands from moving or something, you know? So the watch really starts to deform, but they go really deep in that Seiko one.
James If I can find that link, I'll put it in the show notes as well. I know we've, we've mentioned that on a, on a show, maybe a hundred episodes ago.
Unknown Yeah.
James Um, but there is that, yeah, they have it on some sort of a sub on the art, you know, zip tied to a plate on the arm of a Rover of some sort of submarine, a remote submarine. Yeah. And they just keep going deeper and deeper. And then, yeah, you just kind of see the watch stop. Uh, not, not exactly that you like an explosion on the wrist or anything. It's much less dramatic than that, but no, I love these and it's kind of, you know, they, they kind of presented in like a myth busters fashion, which I like. uh you know a great show and and certainly this would have been something mythbusters could have done a an incredible job on actually you know what they might have and i just missed it they made so many episodes yeah uh when that show was on but uh yeah i i dig this a lot um and uh super super cool that they went ahead and made it and that they they've got one of these compression chambers that goes down to three kilometers i mean wow wow that's bonkers yeah super fun i don't know what one would be worth it'd be fun to have if i had more space Talk about a specialized tool. I have looked at those at a water pressure tester, the single arm ones.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I've got one of those.
James I posted that on Instagram the other day. Yeah. Oh, maybe that's why I was looking at it.
Jason Heaton Yeah.
James Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Like 30 bucks or 40 bucks on Amazon.
James Just, yeah. Kind of neat to have a good time on maybe, maybe inadvertently flood one of your watches. Hard to say. But yeah, so I mean, I think that's a show. A challenge then, some really solid final notes, and yeah, sorry if I bored anyone with all of my monitor talk at the top.
Jason Heaton Oh, there's something for everybody in this episode.
James Well, as always, thank you so much for listening. You can get the show notes via Hodinkee.com or the feed for more details. You can also follow us on Instagram at Jason Heaton, at J.E. Stacey, and the show is at The Graynado. If you have any questions for us, please write thegranado at gmail.com and please keep sending in those voice memos. We'll do another Q&A next month. Please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive.
Jason Heaton And we leave you with this quote from Andre Gide who said, one does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.