The Grey NATO – 142 – Rolex, Tudor, And Many More Wonders
Published on Thu, 08 Apr 2021 06:00:31 -0400
Synopsis
This episode of The Grey Nado podcast covers the new watch releases from Watches and Wonders 2022. The hosts discuss and provide their thoughts on the new models from brands like Rolex (the new 36mm Explorer I and updated Explorer II), Tudor (Black Bay models including a new chronograph), Oris, IWC, TAG Heuer, and others. They also touch on some non-Watches and Wonders topics like Zinn's new releases and more general watch discussion.
Links
Transcript
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| Jason Heaton | Hello and welcome to another episode of The Grey Nado, a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches, especially this week. This is episode 142 and we thank you for listening. James, big week, you're not getting much sleep. |
| James | Oh yeah, just kind of kicked off with watches and wonders. And to say I'm not getting much sleep isn't that bad. You know, I was assigned the Patek releases along with Jack, so we got up at one. Oh man. Because Patek kind of sent that email at like 1 10 and I think the official embargo was 2 o'clock and we had this, I think we had both stories up by about 2 20. Wow. Uh, so that worked out okay. Obviously it's a new, there's not, not a TGN really caliber of watch, so we don't have to go into this in, in our main topic, but it's a 57 11 now in a green dial kind of makes the discontinuation of the 57 11 uh, like one 10th of the new story that they said it was, uh, you know, it's, they've really what they've done is just ended the blue one and started a green one and then and very much to my liking, where I a much richer version of myself. The new fifty nine ninety one are is you know a solid rose gold flyback chronograph with a travel function just insane insanely cool. I mean that watch is insanely cool and almost impossible to buy in steel. So this is purely academic. My love of this watch, but it is cool. Uh, I get it. Uh, but yeah, so that, that's kind of just started, uh, you know, we don't commonly, um, try and cover shows, but because it's a Rolex and Tudor aligned event, uh, we wanted to, we wanted to record this after all of the Rolex and Tudor news came out. And then we kind of realized, or, uh, you know, thankfully Jason, you made the list and now I'm realizing that the last few weeks have had quite a few things worth talking about. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Some fun stuff. |
| James | Right. Yeah, exactly. And that's going to be the main topic of the show, and we'll get to that in a few minutes. But, you know, as we always do, we like to go over the local weather concerns and other little chitchats. So, Jason, how have you been? What are you doing to kind of ease your way into more and more spring? You know, we can keep the weather to a relatively light, you know, time count, but it's really been nice and warm in Toronto. I've been up to the cottage a couple of times getting some stuff ready. Oh, yeah. How about you? How are things? How are things in your neck of the woods? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I mean, Ghoshani and I got our bikes out last week for the first time. Yeah, this is my second year with tubeless tires on the bike. So tubeless tires mount to the rim differently. You have to use an adhesive that you actually squirt into the valve for those who aren't aware. And so that was my My bit of spring maintenance, I had to take off the valve and squirt in some adhesive and then pump them up and they're good to go. |
| James | Is it a complicated thing or it's the kind of thing you can figure out from a YouTube video? |
| Jason Heaton | Very much a YouTube video level of expertise, but I did manage to screw it up. It comes in these individual two ounce bottles of adhesive and thankfully it was a three pack because you use one for each wheel. I managed to spill one of the one of the bottles all over the place of this messy adhesive. And so, um, fortunately I had a backup bottle. So anything, anyway, it went fine and, and pumped them up and yeah, we had a nice ride the other day, went out for about 20 miles around town and, uh, it felt really good. It was warm, you know, shorts weather, which is crazy for early April. But, uh, you know, that first ride, the, the, the, the butt, the sit bones are just bruised and sore and whatever else. So now, now we're back to cold and rain. So I get a little bit of a reprieve before we getting the saddle again. But, uh, the other thing I did, um, I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that I got a little care package from Australia from a guy named Luke Taylor, who's one of our listeners. And he had heard me saying or lamenting that I couldn't get Nim's purges book beyond possible yet in the U S. And so he sent me his copy after he was done reading it. And I finally got around to reading it. I read that entire book cover to cover in, in a 24 hour period. So not straight through, but like, just, I can't wait to read it this summer. It was kind of an easy read, but like gripping and, you know, very nims like, I know it was, it was, um, does the book capture his, like his kind of energy? |
| James | Totally. It does. Cause the guy is just a pot of like positivity. That's just constantly bubbling over. |
| Jason Heaton | And I can't put my finger on it. But when I, when I read it and I hear his voice, I know the book was largely, you know, either ghostwritten or co-written or whatever it was, but it was, Um, it really captured his voice. And when you hear NIMS as, as you might, if you heard our interview with him last year, or if you read this book, he's, he is incredibly positive, but you could almost be forgiven for thinking that he's, he's arrogant. I mean, his, his tone is very like, I did it the NIMS way, you know? I mean, it's very like, he talks about himself in the third person a lot and he's very like, um, kind of, kind of like puffs out his chest to a certain degree. But I think he, he's taken a lot of flack from, the mountaineering community. And, you know, he kind of worked his way up from living in a village to joining the Gurkhas to, you know, special forces. And then this, this fairly recent mountaineering career, which has been just stratospheric. And, uh, I don't, I mean, having kind of followed him for the past couple of years, I like that confidence. I'm going to call it, I'm not even going to call it arrogance. There's something about it that I, I'm willing to overlook the tone because it feels very genuine and just very like focused. |
| James | The way, the way it strikes me. And I know that I think it did, it, it did kind of read a little bit like arrogance to me. And typically the, there is kind of a, a general tone to the climbing community. That's kind of not reserved, but like a little bit understated, something amazing is done and you kind of let other people say how amazing it is. But I think it's kind of unfair, especially like, you or I have the right color skin and come from the right background to have had a mountaineering career, if that had been what we really wanted. Yeah, right. But that's not the same thing for everyone in the world who might not look the same way or come from the same background. Right. And I think that I think that some of this I'm reading between the lines and I'm fine to be corrected and the rest of it. But I think some of this comes from the fact that he's probably dealt with way more kind of systematic challenges along that path to put him into a sport that's typically maintained and the figurehead is formed by wealthy white men, right? Yeah, right. It's a different sort of scene, and I think whatever he's saying, he's earned it. And I also like the way that he responds to people online is super genuine. He's so supportive and consistent in his tone. And I think if it was arrogance, you might see a lot more anger or like narcissism. And I don't get any of that from the way he carries himself online. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. He's an interesting study. I mean, I think to, to follow him on social media and then to read this book and listen to interviews with him, um, he communicates in a way that's different from, from anybody else, especially in the mountaineering community. Like you said, and I think his championing of the Sherpa population and then the Nepalese guides and porters and things that are working so hard to support a lot of these rich European expeditions over the years. It's funny, you know, the book, the pace of the book and the fact that I read it so quickly, it kind of mirrors the pace at which he lives his life and, you know, and did Project Possible. I mean, it's like running right up. He climbed all 14 of the 8000 meter peaks in 11 months or something. And like I read his book in 24 hours, you know, it just felt like you need to read it fast or something. |
| James | So he is operating at a pace that's somehow inhuman. but yeah, I I'm a huge fan and you know both of us are and and and it was all obviously a treat to have him on the podcast. I'll throw the the link to that episode in the show notes. So if you didn't get to hear names kind of speak about what he does in his own voice with Jason, I think it's definitely worth a listen. Yeah, I think I think that's great. That's a book. I'm really I have quite a few books that I'm planning to kind of pour into over the summer. My brother just got me the other one of Ted Chang's books that informed the the story arrival Oh yeah, and so I'm looking forward to that and to nims. I've got a got an embarrassing backlog of like wrote double issue road and tracks. I've got to dig into haven't been reading nearly enough, but I think the kind of the cottage will help me get there and that that I love a good mountaineering book, even even if I don't have an affinity for the for the personality or the personalities in the book. I just like the stories. Yeah, so I'm excited for that for sure. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, Well, and I guess I just to put a bookend on that too. I mean, I, I've got this trip next week. It's, it's very much more sedate than NIMS, but I'll be doing a bit of hiking, uh, you know, inspired by NIMS. I'll throw a backpack on and climb some Minnesota mountains here. We've, we've got a bit of a cabin getaway next week, uh, up North along the North shore of Lake Superior. So if you see any picturesque Instagram posts with a big Lake in the background, that's, uh, that's the reason why. So that sounds pretty nice. Yeah. So that's kind of what, uh, you know, what's happening on, on my end of things. What about you? You mentioned you were at the cottage, uh, yeah. |
| James | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | So it was in the Jeep. |
| James | Yep. Yep. We went up, um, we went up once just to kind of hang out and to see, I hadn't seen the lake frozen since I was a kid. Um, and so we showed up, this would have been, you know, maybe two, three weeks ago and it was still pretty frozen. We went on, you could stand on a little bit. Some people went by on, uh, like ATVs, which seems really, really sketchy because you can see holes. Yeah. Uh, I'm sure that locals know what they're up to better than better than I would. I had, I was reticent to even stand on it or walk out beyond, you know, maybe, maybe knee depth. Yeah. And then, uh, you know, just slowly sourcing stuff on Facebook marketplace and such for the kitchen. So we took up a big cabinet, uh, last weekend and took some measurements for the flooring and the rest. So just kind of putting together plans for the stuff that we want to get done this summer and trying to get as much of it done early so that it's more of a, There's a phase on the sweeter side of the summer that's just kind of hanging out, going up there. So I'm looking forward to that, certainly. Other than that, yeah, I've been working on a few things. I'm now a proud sandal owner. I don't think I've owned sandals in the better part of 20 years. And the quarantine lifestyle has really changed the way that I approach comfort. sure in my clothing, and so now I bought a pair of those vegan Birkenstocks. They're green, green straps, green bottom. They're just all green. Yeah, and so now I guess I'm a sandal guy. I mean, it feels like a step backwards for me and my personal evolution. You know, I really don't like the idea of I've been wearing them with like hiking socks. Oh sure, but yeah, I'm not not wild about, you know, men's feet being visible in public unless you're at the beach, but you know i'm i'm trying i'm trying to work at work, you know i'm trying to work on some of these pathologies sandal related and and otherwise. Oh, the other thing i was working on and this is actually one i'll throw out to to those of the those of the audience that do a little bit of off roading or or you know kind of vehicle modifications is i don't know i've been i've been looking in to try and get some like spot style driving lights for the jeep which would be handy, you know, for illuminating a project at night up at the cottage or or driving on a really dark back road and wanting to have some additional reach for deer. Yeah, so specifically I'm looking for spot. I guess if it's combo, maybe it would depend on how much of it is combo. If I have floodlights or I have I have fog lights and of course I have decent headlights, but the issue with those isn't so much near and with coverage. It's that that distance. Oh yeah, you know if i'm if we're going to spend a lot more time going between toronto and and the court is where the cottage is yeah i i would like to be able to see a deer you know more than two seconds before i hit it. So i'm i'm currently looking my way through that and and the thing is is the i'm sure that some of you who are already know where this is going, but the the options are almost endless like if you just want a set of led driving lights and and they range from twenty dollars for four lights to two thousand dollars for two lights. Do you know what I mean? Like like the range is it'd be like saying I want to watch and not knowing and yeah. Okay, let's narrow it down. So I'm looking for I'm looking for some advice. If anybody out there has a driving light that they like that isn't a fortune. I don't want to spend the money on a light force. I don't even drive the vehicle all that much. This would be used mostly technically. It's probably illegal to use them on the road. It would be something you'd really only want to click on when there's nobody else around. or or when you're, you know, on private property. So I don't feel like I need to spend two grand to make this happen. I don't have a commute that takes me through deer country or anything like that. This is a selective drive, but there is, you know, I figure there's a good chance that I'll be doing more at night than I have been usually. So I figured it'd be worth asking. I'm looking for something round, probably something roughly the same size as the headlights on the jeep, which is seven inches. It could be a little smaller. That's not a big deal. Yeah, just L. E. D. A long distance reach is what I'm looking for. I've looked at everything from yeah ox beam and like the the the ridge rigid industries all the way up to Baja designs and light force and A. R. B. And these ones and it's it's kind of endless. I'm having a good time reading about them and you know, I have a Amazon cart with five different lights in it, but I haven't I haven't been able to decide really, you know, the Jeep doesn't have a bull bar which is typically where these lights look the best. Oh, yeah. So I'm gonna have to mount them flush on the on the bumper, which is okay. It's kind of a T. J. Look with with the ox lights on the bumper. I don't I'm not worried about the aesthetics of it so much. This is why I don't want to go with a light bar. I think they're really ugly. I like the kind of matching round lamps that match the headlights, that sort of thing. So if anybody out there has an opinion about these, they bought and tried or bought one and it fell apart or filled up with water after a year and they had to buy a more expensive one, you know, drop me a line. If you don't mind the great NATO at gmail.com. I appreciate any, any kind of advice. If you've, if you've put your money out there and tried to buy a light for a similar use, I'd love to, uh, I'd love to pick your brain even just a little bit. Um, if you don't have a lot of time, just drop me a link and a thumbs up. And I appreciate it. |
| Jason Heaton | I'm seeing a theme here. You've got sandals, the jeep, the cottage, you know? |
| James | Oh yeah. I'm fully you're, you're full summer mode now or getting, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm heavily invested. I even bought some binoculars. Oh wow. So I haven't, I haven't owned a decent pair of binoculars ever really. So I figured I would kind of dig into the entry level of decent, which is like Nikon. Yeah. So I picked up a pair of, I don't remember what the specifics are an eight by 42 pair. Um, and, and I've used them a couple of times now and they're, they're nice too. So Yeah. I think, I think I'm just, yeah, I'm prepping for full summer, full summer action. You know, I'm going to live in a bathing suit. I'm going to jump off every dock I see. And yeah, I'm, I'm looking forward to it. It's been, um, it's been kind of, uh, uh, an interesting spring so far. It'll be interesting to see kind of if, if we get a bit, a little bit more winter here, uh, that might slow the pace. I mean, the first time I went to the cottage property last year was early May and it snowed while we were driving up. So you just don't, you don't really know. Right. Right. But if it continues on this path, I think we're going to get a nice long, uh, summer. And, and I think that, especially with the, the quarantine, the lack of travel, the kind of general boredom, the, the malaise, if you will, uh, I think all of that mentally will be very, uh, useful, uh, to have, to have a second location, to have a spot that doesn't feel like the same four or five rooms. Um, and, and that sort of thing. So I'm definitely excited for that stuff. Uh, Yeah. Hopefully someday, uh, when it, when it's kind of tuned up and, and, you know, borders are open and all those other things that are now, you know, more modern concerns, uh, you can come up and see it. Uh, we could, we could record an episode by the fire. Oh man. |
| Jason Heaton | That'd be what a dream, huh? |
| James | Geez. Yeah. Either, either you're coming up here, I'm coming down there at some point. Yeah. Right. The East coast has been calling. I think we might need to do a TGN East coast tour of some sort. I haven't been out that way. And I think it's probably pretty special. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. I was, I was looking at Google earth or Google maps, a satellite view of, of the East coast of Canada. And it just looks like it just calls to me. I know some of these little towns where it looks like there isn't even a road that gets there. It's like a little sort of Inuit community, like on the coast or, you know, way out at, uh, in like Newfoundland or something. It's like, I just want to like go to the end of the road and, and see what's there. |
| James | Oh, sure. And, and, and that, like, that's the, that's that one where you, you could do that and you do the rooftop tent thing and the rest of it and really, really kind of invest and see some stuff, which would be, uh, which would be special. Yeah. I, and, and I would like a return to Tobermory this summer as well. Yeah. Yeah. You know, do a little camping, kick around a little bit. So there's, there's a few things on the list. We'll see how, how things are going. I think stuff in the States is a lot better in terms of vaccination rates and the rest of it. So I don't really know when Canada is gonna, gonna feel like they're ready to play, open the doors a little bit. Um, but we'll see, we'll see. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so we want to get into the main topic, obviously, but there is one more thing I wanted to cover, and we can do that in Wrist Check. Anything else before we jump into Wrist Check? |
| Jason Heaton | No, I don't think so. And I think our little Canada talk is a good segue into what's on your wrist today. |
| James | Yeah, for sure. Not from the East Coast, but definitely a West Coast product. I got one of the new Hallios Universa in pastel. Beautiful. Pastel blue. And yeah, I'm kind of blown away. I've had it for a little while. few weeks now, and I really wanted to spend some time with it because it is kind of a departure from the normal from Hallius. It's hand wound, it's a hundred meters water resistance, no screw down crown, it's very thin, it has kind of a it's a little bit of like a move like like if you blended a fair winds case with some elements of like vintage Grand Seiko. So there's some facets, the lugs are a little bit longer, but man does it does it wear well I'm, you know, this is a watch that I first saw when we shot that like a sponsorship ad storytelling thing in Vancouver, September 2019, I believe. So that's when I had first seen it and I saw it and, you know, it's, I already had at the time, of course, I had a couple C fourths, one, one of which we, the pastel one we auctioned off during, during the early days of the pandemic. but I'd seen that and I'd seen the the fair wind, which is kind of the sort of a follow up to the seaforth or a sibling to the seaforth and it has a bezel and such and then I saw this and I kind of thought like you know what I've got lots of watches with bezels and and this one feels different and special, but still like super halos, the looms incredible, the dial colors. I mean I don't still have my like I said, I don't still have my pastel seaforth, so I can't put them right next to each other, but in my mind it's identical in terms of the blue yeah and then it comes on a uncommon to a halos. It comes on a bracelet and it's a really good bracelet, not not what you normally see at seven to eight hundred dollars. These are seven hundred and thirty five bucks yeah, so it's a flat link bracelet, so not rounded off like a like an oyster or something like that, and then it has a really nice clasp, and then in the clasp is a push button micro adjust, ratcheting. |
| Unknown | Wow. |
| James | So you can be wearing it and have it feel a little bit too tight, it's summer or whatever, you're holding on to some water, and you can actually just tap this button while just gently flexing your wrist and it'll knock it out a notch or two, and then if you grab the whole thing kind of like a cuff and squeeze it, it just clicks back tight. Wow. It's it's not it's not like a pelagos thing, obviously, where you have the the the multiple settings and the springs and the rest, but short of something like a glide lock or the pelagos like this is all I want from a bracelet class. It's not super bulky. The button action is really nice. It has a nice firm ratchet and and that gives you micro just the you know it's tool list. It's clever and it's also just not something you see at this price point. Yeah for those who have no idea what I'm talking about. This is a steel kind of sports watch, 48 millimeters lug to lug. It uses 20 millimeter straps. It's 11 millimeters, including the crystal. So it really feels like under a centimeter on your wrist. And it's a 38 millimeter width, no crown guards. Crown action's really good. The setting is based, you know, the movement is an SW 210. So it's a hand winding movement. It's no date only. There's no phantom position or any of that kind of stuff. Obviously, it can be difficult to buy a Hallios. You have to kind of do things in the correct order, send an email, register your interest, wait for a batch, and then buy from that batch. But for a watch with a Swiss movement that is largely being assembled and checked and everything right in Vancouver by either Hallios or Rolldorf & Co, and Rolldorf is selling some. So if you really want one of these watches, obviously, hit up out Hallios' website and you can get a notification when they get restocked and then also follow along on Roaldorf because occasionally they post that they have a few. Typically, these are walk-in only, but maybe if you give them a call and kind of make arrangements in advance of them making them available, then that might be your best bet. My guess is these will be in demand for a little while and then that demand will be fulfilled mostly and we'll start to see them a little bit easier to buy. Um, obviously it's been, it's been quite a wait for these and, and pandemic timing and the rest of it, but yeah, Hallios continues to just make what I think is probably one of the most appealing watches under a thousand dollars. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, I'm, I'm looking at it on their website. I love the pastel, but I mean, 735 for Swiss hand wound with a bracelet. That's that's unheard of. That's amazing. |
| James | Yeah. And like a bracelet that I I've, I've taken it off and I put it on leather. I haven't worn it on the NATO yet. I'm saving that for like a treat. Yeah. like reward myself for something or if I'm having a bad day, then I'll put it on a NATO and try it. Um, but I'll, I'll have this, uh, I'm going to give it the full, I'll treat it the same way I treated the Seiko last summer. I'll wear it all summer. I'll wear this in the military all summer and really beat them up a little bit and just see how they do. Certainly the passive crown and the a hundred meters water resistance doesn't bother me even a little bit. This is a nice sturdy thing and it is water resistant to a hundred meters. So I'm just going to treat it, uh, like a sports watch and, and, and get a lot of wear out of it and try and get a nice, uh, you know, Universa shaped wrist tan. |
| Jason Heaton | And we'll go from there. Such a great case shape to it. Kind of. I mean, you said Grand Seiko and it also if you squint, it's almost like your SPB 143 or the Aquastar. You know, it's that. It has the straight crown guards, the straight long lugs. Yeah. |
| James | Yeah. But yeah, you get the nice long lugs. But the nice thing is, is because the watch is 38 millimeters, you get the long lug profile without actually getting a really long case. It's only 48 millimeters. So I have a seven inch wrist and this thing just wears beautifully. And when you add in that you can make it, you know, you could probably change it by seven tenths of a centimeter at the push of a button. So if you want to wear it a little bit loose because it's kind of feeling too constricting, you can. If you want to tighten it back up, you can. I think it's good. I think it's a good thing. Yeah. Yeah. A solid design, a fair price point and a nice execution all around. Yeah. Cool. So how about you? What have you got on wrist for a big day for watches. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I chose something appropriate today, but it's a watch that I don't really wear very often. I'm, you know, I've come to kind of realize that I'm, I'm someone who likes something to play with on a watch, whether it's a bezel or a chronograph. And, but today I, I pulled out the, the old Explorer. This is a 14 to 70. So it's the, the old 36 millimeter with the tritium dial on the drilled lugs. Um, Something we were fortunate to come across. One of Gashani's coworkers was, was selling his a couple of years ago and we picked it up. And, um, like I said, I don't wear it very much. It's not because of the size. I think 36 millimeters wears really fine on my wrist, but, um, I just, I long for something to fiddle with, I guess. So I don't wear it much, but today seemed like the, the day to do it with, with the news out of watching wonders watches wonders with, with Rolex. I mean, I mean, we might as well dive right in. I mean, this is, this is, this is big news for Rolex to go back to 36 millimeters. |
| James | Yeah, I think your 14270 is probably a relatively known quantity. We've talked about these watches a lot, and it really is a nice little bridge into the Watches of Wonder stuff. And yeah, let's start with Rolex. Let's start with the Explorer. This is a year we even talked about thinking it was going to be a big year for the Explorer II, and I think arguably it's a bigger year for the Explorer than the two. This is a big change. They went to the 39 millimeter sizing a few years ago, And now they're back to 36. And we now have the first explorer of any type with a precious metal. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, right. I mean, do you think that a return to 36 in a relatively short amount of time is a bit of an admission that it was a mistake to go to 39? Or do you just think it's just following trends? |
| James | I think if I were to guess, and it is only that, it's only a guess. I can only pretend to assume at great distance what Rolex is thinking. But my assumption is that, you know, it seems like they want fewer watches at forty at thirty nine or forty millimeters. You know, the OP is dead that in that size and refreshed at thirty six. And now we have the Explorer, which was thirty nine going back to its kind of roots at thirty six millimeters. Yeah. And personally, I think this is an incredible move. I think this is a great watch at thirty six millimeters. I think they made a lot of the thirty nine millimeter. So I don't think it's like, I think it'll be collectible because it's a Rolex, but I don't think there's going to be suddenly like a legitimate run on these watches. It's not like they only made them for six months or something. Right. I'm sure that there'll be, I'm sure that people will say it was the last 39 millimeter Explorer and they'll go up in price. It's Rolex. I mean, things are kind of crazy in terms of what they cost these days. Um, what they actually cost their price is one thing, right? Like, like I feel like we, we, you and I spoke a bunch about these watches before we started recording, kind of aligning our thoughts. And we didn't talk about price that much. And it's almost a weird thing with Rolex. We're like, what, what is the price? |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Yeah. Yeah. Right. Like if you can't, if you can't walk into a store and buy it, does it matter that it's $8,500 for the new Explorer two? Yeah. Right. I guess it does. And it doesn't, if you're going to get on a wait list and wait, that price is good. And you'll get your, you'll be the first name on the warranty card if you're impatient and the money's not so not the most important aspect of the purchase, the cost. then yeah, you're probably going to hit the use market or the gray market, but have you seen like what a Daytona, a sealed Daytona is going for, like 3X retail? I don't know. It's a great watch. They're all great watches, but there's also a lot of great watches out there that you don't pay 30 grand for. You know what I mean? This is probably just me talking and maybe even just taking the show way out of its depth. We don't typically talk about the merits of spending $30,000 on a watch. So I've digressed probably too far, but I think the new Explorer is great. I think the two-tone is weird in an Explorer, but I mean, they also did it in the, in the CU, in the CULR. Right. Yeah. They went with a two-tone before they went with different dial colors or, or whatever. So maybe this is just their methodology now, and maybe it makes the Explorer seem a little bit less kind of weekend worry to to the Rolex crowd by giving it the the role of sore treatment. So I, you know, it doesn't speak to me. I think it looks a lot like a tutor with the two tone. I think a solid gold one would have been like ten times cooler because it would have been just such a an awesomely weird thing. But I think that's middle ground, you know, you know me. I'm not a huge two tone guy, but yeah, I think the the new one in steel is a absolutely a positive move and and I think it, it kind of brings more diversity to Rolex's line rather than look at the six different watches we make that are between 39 and 41 millimeters. |
| Jason Heaton | I think people who, uh, you know, and there's a lot of naysayers that, that really get up at arms about releasing these tool watches in two-tone and I, I'm, I'm neutral on it. I think if, if there's a want for it and people will buy it, then, then it was a, it was a good move. And I don't think we, I don't think anybody needs to be so, pedantic about, you know, whether or not a Rolex tool watch can be made available in gold. Because, you know, what about the guy who spends 80 grand to, to be guided up Mount Everest and he wants to, you know, wear a watch to commemorate it. And lo and behold, he, he wants to get the, the 10, $10, $11,000, you know, gold version or two-tone version or whatever. And I think it's definitely not my taste. I don't care for the look on this watch. I think that the steel one is the one to have, but, uh, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm fine on the two-tone. They can, they can do what they want, but the, I don't, I don't think the two-tone is a problem. |
| James | It just, I don't like two-tone. Yeah. You know, I, it doesn't bother me that an explorer is two-tone at all. Like it's Rolex. It's Rolex is going to be Rolex and, and all of the stuff that, that people are precious about, they already made. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Right. Yeah. I mean, when a submariner would kick from was first released in gold and whatever it was 1969 or whenever it was, it was like, know, were people up at arms then? I don't know. It's turned out to be one of the coolest, uh, coolest vintage watches around. So pretty cool thing for sure. Um, but this 36 millimeters Explorer is great. I think, you know, everyone was, had their eye on the Explorer too. |
| James | I think, you know, they had this teaser with somebody descending into a cave and it was 50th anniversary of the, of the, of the form, you know, 1655 was, uh, 1971. And yeah, so we can jump over to the Explorer 2. So it's now a 226570, pretty simple to understand, right? Where I believe that this model reached its perfection is the one that I have, which is a late generation 16570. Then they went to a 216570 at 42 millimeters, right? And that 42 millimeter watch has been around for the last 10 years, and it used a bespoke movement, a movement that bespoke, maybe the wrong word. It used the distinct movement, a movement that Rolex wasn't putting in other watches, and it's likely because of the 42 millimeter sizing. Very similar movement to what was in the GMT Master, but it was a different movement. And now what they've done is they've slightly massaged the case dimensions, and this is something I don't wanna editorialize on because it's gonna be very easy to get it wrong until we have calipers to measure it. But visually, they've slimmed the lugs in the same way that they have for the super case uh, submariners that came out last year in 41 millimeters, the, the, the lugs appear to have kind of less of a chunkiness to them. That's about where I would leave that. I don't want to say that the size is or isn't 42 millimeters or, or the rest of it. I think that this requires a caliper and, and some notes, uh, to get right. And, and I definitely think that we'll get to see these at some point in the next year. Uh, somebody will, and, and that'll be my pressure. If it's anybody from the hood, Inky team is like, could you measure, give me all the details on so we can compare them. And then the major update, despite the fact that this isn't a major update as a watch, it's very similar to the previous generation 42 millimeter Explorer II, is now it has the 3285, which is the GMT movement from the GMT Master II. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | I mean, it's a great watch. I mean, it's really the forgotten Rolex, and I think... Oh, for sure. I'm actually glad that there was a lot of speculation that they'd add a ceramic bezel to it, which, whatever, that's fine. But a steel bezel belongs in this watch. And I don't say that to be the pedantic person that I was just railing against earlier, but I do think that it just looks best visually. It just looks best with that, with that steel bezel. And, uh, you know, I tried one of these for review, gosh, seven years ago. And I remember wearing it for a couple of weeks and took it hiking and whatever else. And it's like, personally, I remember when it came out, you know, people were not happy about the 42 millimeter case. I think, you know, as time's gone on and time has gone on, it's, it's become less of an issue. Um, I actually liked the way it wore. I think, you know, if you step back from this watch and you, you look at a 42 millimeter white dial watch with a superior, you know, GMT movement with this flashy, beautiful big orange hand on it and a second time zone capability, it's, you'd think like if that had, I don't know, let's say Bremont, Bell and Ross, whatever on the dial, you'd be like, what a cool watch. You know, what a great size, what a capable watch. But for some reason, because we know where it came from, we tend to think, eh, they kind of missed the mark a little bit and whatever. But I still think this is a pretty superior adventurer's watch or tool watch if you were to just wear one thing for everything. |
| James | Yeah. No, I mean, I remain, I mean, I'm currently putting the, putting the final spell checks on the 6,000 plus word look back at the previous five generations, four generations. of the Explorer 2. This is my favorite family of Rolex watches. I have kind of specific tastes in that I really like the kind of levity, the lightweight, airy feel of the 40 millimeter. It's really more like 39, but it's 40 millimeter, 16570, the one that I have. That said, my main complaint with the 216570 that, you know, generation that they replaced as of today was the really chunky case. Just didn't sit on my wrist well. Again, it's not like they've made a mistake or something. They're not having trouble selling these. I would actually say if Rolex had a misstep anywhere in here is they've kind of let the Explorer II's spirit fade a bit. So they're not attaching it to modern spelunking or modern You know, I would like to see it kind of alongside its Submariner and GMT Master Brothers as a core model, and I think in many ways it's never been that. It was a really weird watch when the 1655 came out. It was absolutely their push into the ideals of the 70s, and then I think they found some refinement, but it was also, to say refinement, but the difference between a 1655 and a 16550, the resulting generation from the late 80s, those are two vastly different watches. You know, now you have the white dial, you now have a Mercedes handset, you now have a normal sort of, you know, 12 marker or 11 marker dial, and they refined the bezel. Really, what it comes down to is that bezel is kind of the Explorer II, so I am glad that they didn't do the ceramics. Yeah, it wouldn't it would feel very Rolex if they did and it wouldn't be a bad decision for the watch, but I do think that the part that makes this watch distinctive when you see it from across the room is the white dial and the that radial brushed bezel and I mean it's just my it's my favorite Rolex. Yeah, certainly my favorite Rolex since nineteen ninety Yeah, I absolutely adore mine and my my guess is that with some subtle, we'll see what these tweaks are to the case, but this might be this. They might have made kind of like a real sleeper, whereas everybody else is going for the sub or the GMT. There'll be this crowd that that hits these this new two to six five seven zero hard. I'm I think it's fine is what I would say. Do I wish that do I wish that they also that the Explorer followed the Explorer to and they went back a generation in terms of sizing? Absolutely. Yeah. But the modern context of this watch is the giant markers, the giant hands, tons of loom, very much like a more of a two-ish vibe rather than a conservative vibe. And I get that. And I still think it looks great. I love the white dial. I like that Rolex is still making stuff with a white dial. And the new movement's not gonna hurt, right? That's good. Always good to have. With Rolex, you only have the choice of in-house, so you might as well have the latest one. And they do make some pretty solid updates as they move along. I'm excited to see it in the metal. That's why I would leave it with this, I think. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. |
| James | Should we move on to Tudor? Yeah, let's do Tudor. So Tudor has a bunch. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, yeah. What do you like? What don't you like? |
| Unknown | Maybe it's too early. |
| James | I don't know about don't like. I mean, a lot of these are kind of interesting color plays. |
| Jason Heaton | I mean, it's all Black Bay, right? So it's Black Bay Chrono and it's and it's black bay silver, and then it's this black bay gold. |
| James | So you got two black bay 58s. One is sort of a taupe dial and bezel with a 925 silver case, which I think is really interesting because there's no way that I really, I have trouble believing that you would see, now granted they did announce a yellow gold version of the 58 as well, but to see, I don't think we're going to see a black bay and white gold or platinum. So the idea of having sort of a dress watch that's very much a sporty dive watch, right? By giving it a more, you know, a precious metal case. I guess silver counts as precious. It does to me. And a little bit more of a muted color and feel. It doesn't feel as sporty or kind of, you know, brash as a standard model. I think I would still lean towards the blue in steel. for my lifestyle, but I can absolutely see this be, you know, folks that don't love dive watches, typically the dive watch that they would connect to. It's only a little bit more money than a steel Black Bay 58 on a bracelet. I think it's like $600 more, so it's not a big price delta, which is impressive because the other model, which is a a gold version with a green dial and bezel. I think that's considerably more expensive than, as you would expect, it's a solid gold watch, but that puts you into a different price point as well. For these $258, where do you kind of land? I think it's weird that they went gold but with a very trendy color with the green rather than a black dial and a black bezel, which would feel more core. That's the only thing that kind of hits me. The silver is a very interesting thing that I would love to see in person, |
| Jason Heaton | I love the idea of silver because, you know, in the old days, I mean, pocket watches came in silver cases and they were, it was, it was, it was this sort of family heirloom quality thing. I mean, I, you know, uh, my parents bought silverware for, for their, you know, for their wedding and had it engraved. And, you know, for special occasions, when we go to their house for dinner, we pull out the good silver and I don't know, silver to me, it's, it's very appealing. I would love to, to handle this watch if not own it. I mean, it's just, uh, I think it's one of those watches, you know, I'd love to, you know, see engraved, although with the clear case back, there's not a lot of room. I guess you could do it on the bezel, but, um, or on the, uh, the rim of the case back, but it's, uh, it's a handsome watch. And I think that taupe color is a really interesting choice. Um, the gold one, I kind of see where you're coming from with kind of the oddball green choice with, with gold. I think it looks good. I think it looks sharp. You know, that's a lot of money for a tutor. It's like, you know, almost $17,000. Whereas the silver one is at 4,300. It's like, you can tick up to this precious metal, you know, Black Bay, which is, it's the best of both worlds. It's this kind of heirloom quality, precious metal watch that you can take on vacation and go diving. And it's not going to scream, you know, expensive watch. Um, so, but I don't know, it feels almost, I don't want to say wrong, but to have a $17,000 Tudor, I mean the Tudor's whole ethos was a more affordable kind of alternative to, to Rolex. |
| James | But, uh, and, and, to what we were talking about previously, I guess it still is, right? Yeah, I suppose. Yeah, right. Because if a steel Daytona is double the price of a solid gold Tudor, which also has an in-house movement. I mean, at a certain point, we're really splitting hairs. You have to want Rolex or want Tudor. You're buying the brand, right? Because otherwise, the 58 in steel or the Pelagos or... These are kind of additions. Looking at the photos, the taupe-y color looks very brown. I don't know if that's a color balance thing or if it's actually brown. Some of these things, it's different when you see them in sunlight, right? Yeah. So if it's more brown and kind of has more of a tropical vibe, I would be out. I don't like brown dial watches, but if it's in that kind of gray brown, that might be really pretty. I mean, the photos look good. The photos look good. I think it's also like if you don't have a tutor, this would be a special way to do it. Yeah. Like if you like the idea of a black bay, but maybe everybody's got them or you had trouble finding the blue one or what have you, this might be a more interesting move, especially if you're not in the round, like if you're not about it for a bracelet, which I wouldn't be. It would not bother me. I saw some comments from people very early, as soon as the post went up saying like a dive watch shouldn't have a display case back. And I was like, well, who cares? You're going to put it on your wrist. You can't see the case back anyways. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. It's not going to distract you from your pressure gauge or something. |
| James | Yeah. I can't imagine how this could no diving or otherwise. I just mean like wearing it. Right. And I can't help but feel like the guys making those comments, they're not certified. They're not the ones diving. Like, you know, it's the, don't put a dive watch on a leather strap. Like, come on, it's a watch where it, how you want to wear it. And I think a display case back is, is an interesting move. It's a very industrial movement. So it's not like a pretty, right. |
| Jason Heaton | I'm not sure it was worth it. I mean, but, you know, whether they want to do it, it's fine. Yeah. |
| James | It is kind of a, a weird thing to have on a, on a Rolex family dive watch with a display case back. So I think that oddity again, makes this less of a purchase. I don't think Tudor's making this watch for the normal Black Bay buyer who wants a sporty dive watch that they can take in the water and do the rest. I think it's somebody who wants the, you know, the general Rolex vintage aesthetic and size. in a more resplendent sort of take it up a notch or two. I'm not taking it in the pool, but I might want to take it to work most days. Yeah. And I think it might be that kind of zone. And I think that brands have to do this. They have to make watches for people. They have to make some watches for people like us. Right. And they have to make watches for everyone else too. Right. And I think this kind of shoulders the line between there's a lot of enthusiast interest. The silver is interesting. The new colorway is interesting. Um, the sizing is great, all of that, and then the other side is that like this could be just be seen as kind of a an up market push on on like a slightly elevated kind of take on a black bag, which makes sense to me. I just it's another one of these things with colors and this is how I feel about the green on the gold. Really, I just can't you know you want to see him in person right right and I think I think that's kind of like crucial to understanding some of these, but yeah, I guess What do you think the thought behind the green was, that they just make it for a couple of years until green's not the hot color anymore? And it's very green, too. It's super green. It's not the Harrods green on bronze that they did a few years ago, which is gorgeous. It's a larger, that's a 43 millimeter Black Bay. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, this is almost like St. Patrick's Day green, almost. It's a bit much. |
| James | Yeah. I have trouble kind of like judging the green from the images. It just I can't I can't quite get a read on it there. The images that they've provided seem to be yeah, it's a very yellowy green. Yeah, yeah, I think st. Patrick's day is not not a bad pull on your part. Maybe it's not like it doesn't have the cool green of a Kermit or a Hulk. Yeah, and it's not iridescent. At least it doesn't appear to be. It has a matte finish on the bezel, which is common to these watches. I think it looks really good. |
| Jason Heaton | I mean, you're right. Maybe they'll, maybe they'll just make this for a couple of years. And I mean, can't you see the ability to just spin out, you know, in two years time of, you know, blue dial version and then eventually a black dial version or brown dial or something. I mean, yeah, I'm guessing it's not a long lived color choice or offering in their catalog, but you know, that's easy enough to change. |
| James | Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, I guess I'm surprised that because the, Tutor doesn't typically play really hard into trends. Obviously, they did a black bay blue, but that was kind of on the end of the blue on the big push on blue. Yeah, I'm just kind of surprised that they didn't come at this with like it's a gold version of our original 58, which had gold accents and a black dial, but who knows? Maybe maybe that comes out in three months, four months, right? Um and and this one with the color makes a little bit more of a splash. It's a little bit more interesting. It's it's more of a noteworthy creation than if they'd done something a little bit more conservative. I definitely really in the live images that they have on Houdinki, it looks really good. It just does. Like I think it's a really handsome thing. And again, it's just, I want to see that color, um, in person. Um, because I guess if I, in my mind, I would have guessed something close, more, a little darker, a little bit more metallic, right? |
| Jason Heaton | So switching gears, I actually think so. The silver black Bay 58 was, surprising and very, I was very pleasantly surprised. I really liked it. But I think the winner for me from Tudor was, um, was this new black bay chrono. And I'm so glad you think that because I, because when this watch first came out, somebody referenced it in the Houdinki article, like 2017 or whenever it was, I was like, Nope, this watch doesn't work for me. I don't like the dive markers. I don't like the hand shape with a chronograph. I see these two and I'm like, my opinion is 180 degree. change. I really like the look of this watch, and I think I like the white dial best, but I love them both. And correct me if I'm wrong, is this the first time we've seen the black bezel on these? I think they were always steel before, or maybe not in the steel and gold version. |
| James | I think the steel and gold one is a black bezel. |
| Jason Heaton | I think the black bezel just changes everything for me. It looks tremendous on the two-register Panda. It's fantastic. |
| James | I also think that this is the best of the lot from Tudor. as good as, as good as the two 58s are, this is more of a surprise and, and to have a, a sporty do anything chronograph with a white dial. Yeah. I think, I think what we're seeing now and I'm willing to, to, you know, stick a, stick a flag in the sand, you could start preheating my crow, whatever. But I think that what we're seeing now is, is where this range, the, the, the idea of the black is really going to take off. If Daytonas are 30 grand. Yeah. right or thirteen. If you can get one from a dealer and this is forty nine hundred dollars on a strap. |
| Unknown | Yeah, which is a with a yeah. |
| James | Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the bracelet makes the watch too heavy. In my opinion. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's always nice to have the bracelet and it's tutor. So you only pay three hundred and twenty five bucks for the bracelet, which is a great deal. Yeah, it's an empty fifty eight thirteen. So it's a Breitling automatic chronograph move. That's excellent, right? Who wouldn't want that? Right. And I think the black with the red accent and the silver coloring is awesome. But the white one, the white one obviously really speaks. I think that white one on a gray NATO or on a tan leather would be like an incredible everyday watch. And then the fun thing is, and this is something that I every time I get to say this about a good sports watch, it makes me happy. They made it thinner. It's a millimeter thinner. Yeah. And that watch needed one millimeter less metal. Yeah, it's not that it wore too tall. It's that visually that you know the the forty one millimeter black bays have that big slab yeah on and i'm right handed. So I wear my watch on my left wrist, obviously, and that slab is what you see. That's the very visual aspect, and so if this thing is a little bit tighter in how it sits on your wrist, yeah, i'm a hundred percent on board. I really i'm really excited to see the the panda, the the black on white in in person. At some point, they've got it on a really aggressive bund in one of these photos. I thought you might dig. That's a lot of stitching. Yeah, giant stitching. Yeah, yeah, I think this is where I think that they're really showing that this is a model that that they've got to the point where I think it's going to start to become very core. I think we'll start seeing more of them. People start wearing them more and and yeah, I think I think it's grown up with the screw down push credible |
| Jason Heaton | It's, it's like, you know, for people that always wanted a Daytona, you know, Paul Newman or, or otherwise, um, the, the ones that started with the screw in pushers. And then, um, you know, the alternative at that time was always, okay, you get the big so-called big block, the big blocks, the tigers. |
| James | Yeah, for sure. |
| Jason Heaton | Cool. And, uh, very cool. And to me, the scratches that itch and even better because of the, the dual, uh, counter. layout, you know, the, the, the nine and three sub dials. I just, I don't know, to me, it's visually just, just a beautiful watch. |
| James | Yeah. I, it's funny you pulled that, that was going to be kind of my next point is like looking at these images, I'm getting a whiff of big block that I didn't get from this watch previously. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I think it's the screw in pressures. They're just, I don't know what the black bezel. |
| James | It's like, yeah, I think I think you're right. And yeah, it's that black bezel. It's the the red on the dial, right? The big blocks often had some red on the dial. Obviously, these don't have the big blocks had very aggressive Cyclops. If you remember on the crystal, these don't have that the dates at six. I think this is a really solid watch. I think that it's at a great price point. It's only a little bit more than a three hand dive watch from the same brand. Right. And when I say a little, I mean like a little bit, it's only a little bit more. Yeah. Um, I, yeah, I think, I think that these, this is, this is really where this line is going to start to pick up some speed for the brand, I think. And I think it's been reasonably successful so far. I can think of at least what four versions that they've done, including the all black one, which is a pretty rad watch. Um, but yeah, I think the, uh, the Rolex and Tudor refining things for not to change their size, to follow a trend, but to kind of massage the ergonomics. I love, I think this is great. You want to shave a millimeter off all the watches? Awesome. I think this is super good. You want to reprofile the lugs so that the bracelet looks a little bit better or it tapers more aggressively to your wrist. All of these are great things, and I would say while the elephant in the room for me is that all I really wanted from Tudor was a new GMT, either a 58 GMT or a Pelagos GMT. I can't look at these and say they made a bad mistake. like or that they've let me down, right? Yeah, I think someday we'll see that Pelagos GMT. Maybe if we keep talking about it by, you know, episode three or four hundred. Yeah, we'll get there, but I think yeah, I think that they did a good job. I think Rolex did a pretty solid job, especially with a thirty six millimeter Explorer. Just an exciting thing. Yeah, that said, I think we have probably put enough time into those two brands. If you want to read more about these, I would recommend just swinging by hooding keys website. if you're listening to the show on on holding his website, maybe wait until you've done the show before you leave the page, but everything's there. We've covered everything. It was all a huge push to to get this stuff going. And the nice thing is, is like I mentioned, kind of at the top of the segment, there's it's not just Rolex and tutor. We've got a few other things to be excited about here. So what else kind of what else kind of hit you? Well, I mean, |
| Jason Heaton | Okay. I was going to take a detour into a brand that, uh, didn't get a lot of talk. Well, let's do it. Let's talk about Zen. Um, two, two that stood out in the past week or two, they're celebrating their, I believe it's their 60th anniversary. And so they've, they've been kind of turning out new watches over the past few months. And, um, the, the two that came out recently were the, the one four, four ST and then, um, and then a new one called the seven 17, which is really fascinating to me. It's a very interesting watch. Um, But the 144ST, now that's a version of one that you used to have, or did you have the 142? I can't remember. |
| James | So yeah, I had a 144ST GMT, which is a similar case and everything. Bare metal, not a black coated, it was on a bracelet and has a GMT function. This is kind of a throwback to an anniversary, like that's why it's the anniversary. But yeah, this is the 144ST Anniversary 2 or Jubilee 2, I seem to get two different names on their site. It could be that I don't know, anniversary in German is jubilee or something like that, but uses a conceptual movement. So it's a little bit of a higher end movement, has all this in stuff that you want. It's 41 millimeters, 14.5 thick comes on like either the Zen kind of H pattern tapered bracelet or a rubber strap. I think it's super handsome, silver dials, a lot of red accents, super legible. It's a Zen. I mean, things pretty sick. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then this, this seven 17, which isn't a weird one, right? It's cool. It's a crazy one. It's big too. It's 40, it's 45 millimeters across. Um, I'm not seeing a lug to lug, but so this watch, the concept was make it look as much like, like the old Zen, uh, instruments that used to be on a, uh, like an aircraft instrument panel, uh, as possible. So it's got the big loopy numerals. Um, what's really cool about this one is, well, two things that I think are really cool, um, are the central minutes. Chronograph, which is something Zinn's done in the past via Lamania 5100. Yep. |
| James | And this uses their SZ-01 movement. Yeah. Which allows them to offer that function that not many brands can. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And then the second feature is this externally operated timing ring that you use just like you would on the aircraft instrument clocks that would have a rotating... I'm looking at it now. It's elapsed time, so it's not countdown. It's elapsed time. where you grip this sort of coin edged outer bezel and it turns the timing ring that's under the crystal. And it just looks cool. It's an all blacked out watch. It's not a watch I can see on my wrist, but... No. But it's cool. I like it quite a bit. Yeah, I like it. And it's 200 meter water resistant, you know, typical Zinn. So it's got all their toughness. Yeah. Still having some neat features. So yeah, good show from Zinn. I mean, I think, you know, not a watches and wonder brand, but still. |
| James | Yeah, we have... There's also, for those of you who are just fans of kind of cores in chronographs, there's a couple of new versions of the 358. So there's one with that kind of like Arctis blue dial. Oh, yeah. 358 SA Flieger BE, and then they do one with the kind of distressed metal kind of ground dial, which they had done previously on... And the last time we talked about news in releases, they had done a version of the U1. Mm-hmm. with a dial like this. So now you can get the same on the Flieger DS, 358 Flieger DS. So always really good stuff from Zinn. You know, we love seeing anything come out from, from the brand and, and they always just kind of, they never, they always have one or two things that are like core Zinn stuff that you can just kind of like remember and enjoy. And, and I think it's all really strong products. So we say it all the time, but you know, good work from Zinn as always. |
| Jason Heaton | Now you've seen, you've, you've got a little more intel on, on the next brand, TAG Heuer that I haven't really had a good look at. So why don't you tell us a little bit about the new Aqua Racers? |
| James | So yeah, TAG has relaunched the Aqua Racer. This is a model that's been in flux for a while. I think the last several years of TAG Heuer has been for celebrating their legacy in the Monaco and the Carrera and things like that. And the Aqua Racer, which is a very core, super consumer-friendly watch, kind of just not languished, but it just kind of sat in the background and maybe didn't get the attention it deserved. And now it's getting kind of a full refresh. So it's a handful of new versions. I believe seven new SKUs, four in 43 millimeter, three in 36 millimeter, and then a special limited edition. And, you know, I think that these are... I've been a fan of the Tag Heuer Aquaracer for a while, but I did think that they became kind of too fussy aesthetically. I've talked about how I had a WAN 2110, you know, about 10 or 12 years ago, which is 41 millimeters, an aluminum bezel, a fairly simple dial, good loom, not very thick, a nice bracelet, super easy to wear and not super expensive. And I think that they went through some growing pains in the generations between those two. Their watches got bigger, they got quite a bit more expensive, you know, they didn't really offer a level of refinement that would suggest that tag had been making dive watches for a long time. They seemed kind of casual, kind of run of the mill. And I think that what they've done with this design, um, kind of speaks for itself. I don't fully understand why they went 43 and 36, but didn't do a middle option at say 40 or 39, just cause I think just, just like, just look at what's working for brands like tutor and copy it. I don't want, I don't want Tag Heuer to make a, a clone of a 58, but there's no reason that they couldn't have made these rather handsome, modern dive watches in 40 millimeters, right? Or 39 or whatever. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, and the older ones were always 41, right? I mean, that was like a really sweet spot. 41, pretty commonly. Yeah. |
| James | Yeah, and if you... I mean, they still make 41 millimeters of the previous generation, so my guess is it's coming and that'll be great. That'll be the one, I think, to talk about. But there is some interesting stuff here. So, I mean, these are still caliber five, 300 meters water resistance, obviously screwed on crown, solid case back. For the 43 millimeter versions, there's a blue version, a silver version, a black one, and then a green one that's fully titanium. Pretty cool. |
| Unknown | Okay. |
| James | And then I think the one that's probably largely the most TGN is either the kind of standard black dial at 43 millimeters or there's this new tribute to reference 844, which is a late 70s Hoyer dive watch. where they took the new format, the new 43 millimeter with the octagonal bezel and everything, and they gave it kind of tan loom and a matte dial, kind of looks like Teflon with red accents that mirrors this old model, and they ship it on a cool kind of porthole rubber strap. And I think that looks great. I think that the price of these has gone up quite a bit in the last decade. So you're looking at like three grand for the standard 43 millimeter models, you're up to 4,200 for the titanium and green, and then this tribute is forty three fifty, which I think is where tag wants to be that three to six thousand dollar range. Yeah, but but unless my data is wrong, that that W and twenty one ten I had way back in the day was was retail for seventeen hundred bucks. We're a very similar watch right? Yeah, and don't get me wrong. Things get expensive over time. You go back another ten years, the same same watches, maybe eight hundred. Who knows right? I don't remember or I don't. I don't have that data, so things do go up in price over time, but it feels like this, that much of a price jump is a different market. You know, there's no, there aren't people cross shopping a 15 or 17 or $1,800 watch with a $3,000 watch. |
| Jason Heaton | I think tag, you know, the aqua racer, I remember going on a very early press trip and our friend, uh, Mike, a spindle, um, you know, we used to do some work for him. Yeah. |
| James | Um, he, he was on this, he's done some freelance for Hodinke recently. |
| Jason Heaton | Yes, he has. Yeah. Um, so Mike was, uh, I remember on this trip, he was wearing this old kind of battered, quartz aqua racer, you know, of the same case style and generation that you had. And, and he said, you know, this is my travel watch. I just wear it for everything. And I was like, you know, I, I, I remember really loving that watch. And I remember loving, they used to make like a blue dial blue bezel version with, I think a yellow sweep hand, like this was before blue dials were really popular and whatever. And it was, um, it was just a great watch that kind of slotted in just below the, the Seamasters and well below the Submariners. And it just, I don't know, Tag always felt like, okay, this is the brand you get if you're kind of really just going to throw on a watch and go do some stuff. And, uh, and the pricing now and the look of them, I feel has gotten, I'm not super keen on the aesthetic of these, the octagonal bezel I kind of get, and I'm sure it's very grippy and nice and the sword hands are nice, but it just feels like a bit of a, a bit of a mashup. I do like the, the, the tribute piece to 844. But if you look at them side by side, as they are in the photo on, in the Hodinkee article, like other than the color of the loom, the hands are different. The markers are different. I mean, there's a date at six, not at three. That's different. The case shape is different. Like there's, there's nothing that's a tribute. I mean, it's like all the only tribute is that the red 24 hour markings on the dial, the rest is just not even close to the old watch. |
| James | Yeah, with the Tribute, I think it's, if you try and hold it just to how well it is a Tribute, it doesn't work that well. Yeah. But I do think it's a good looking watch. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, I do too. It's the best of the bunch, I think. I may be a little heavy on the Fotina, but yeah. |
| James | Yeah, the weird thing about the Fotina is I think I've seen it enough that I don't register it anymore. It's just a color of loom. It used to really get under my skin. And to expand on getting under my skin, I can be pretty hard on Tag Heuer sometimes. But I think it's genuinely because like I feel like the brand has all of the all of the ingredients. Yeah, and they're still figuring out the recipe. Yeah. And every now and then they hit like they hit an absolute home run, right? The the the data reissue, the stuff they've done with Hodin key is gorgeous. I thought that Bamford le while while it was forty three millimeters was a pretty handsome watch a cool thing. And certainly, you know, the Monaco is a very well refined and lovely thing, as is much of the career lineup. And I'm just excited to see them make some strides with the Aquaracer. I definitely want to see it in what I would call a standard size now, 40 millimeters or thereabouts. And I do think that it'd be interesting to see kind of where they take it at this price point. Do you try and make a Doxa play and go for carbon? Do you do a ceramic thing to kind of make some alignments with Omega, right? Because they have kind of a wavy dial and they have that kind of shiny appeal that's similar to, say, a Seamaster that's not necessarily there with other watches. Right. So I think it's an interesting move and I think that it suggests a positive path for the Aquaracer. I definitely like the aesthetic of these more than the previous generation, but I still think there's some massaging to be done. Yeah. And I think Tag could so easily be like the dive watch brand at a certain price point, right? Because like Longines isn't trying to push into that market, they just aren't. And I think sometimes Tag wants to be Zenith more than they wanna be Tag, and that's kinda tough, right? But I think these are good and hey, more dive watches is more dive watches, so at least we... A lot of the stuff from this show is typically pretty fancy, Um, so it's nice to see some, you know, kind of core product as well. So, uh, what else, uh, what else for you stood out? There's some great stuff from Morris. |
| Jason Heaton | I think, yeah, we can talk about Oris. I was going to move into IWC, but we can save them for, for later. Um, Oris had this, uh, this Aqua Aqua's pro caliber 400. So they've taken their, their new in-house movement with the, you know, the 10 year service interval and warranty and anti-magnetic properties. And they've put it in the, um, what they're now calling the Aquas Pro. So it used to be, I think this used to be called the Pro Diver line. I don't know if they've dropped that name because the movement was previously only in kind of the standard Aquas line. And so now they've moved it into this Aquas Pro, which is a much more kind of aggressive pro level blacked out dive watch, which I think is a really sharp piece. |
| James | I think we've talked about it in the past, you know, that, that there were some, there's some really cool Orises from the 2000s in the TT line. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | I had a TT three hundred that I really loved. It's, you know, a titanium dive watch that kind of predates. I think it might have been called a pro diver at the time, but it wasn't called the aquas yet. And I think these ones are big and they have kind of a complicated bezel, but I do think that they're really cool. This is almost fifty millimeters. So it's certainly not a watch for my wrist. Yeah, but I love that they've put the new bezel in it. I love that it's it's it is that kind of like techie to Lee, like legit tool dive watch, but it still has a fairly standard bezel and dial. It's not, it's not too wild to be like a decent product to actually wear and use if you have the wrist for it. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And, um, and yeah, I mean, they've got wrist shots in, in the, in the post here. Uh, it looks good on risk despite being big and, and it just, that wavy dial and the data at six and, and the really clear handset and font and the rest all really speaks to the kind of, uh, you know, mine was a quote unquote, like a bullet era, uh, TT 300. a great watch and one that I enjoyed when I had it and it was a fun thing. And it's good to see the movement go into more watches. And while at 50 millimeters, this isn't gonna be the core thing from Oris, it is a neat thing for sure. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, I had the ProDiver GMT for a test a couple of years ago and it just feels like... We've talked before about big watches and you know our tastes and this and that but sometimes you just want to throw on a big chunky dive watch and this feels like that and and especially with it in black it might wear slightly smaller um than the size i'm looking at a photo on their website yeah and really short lugs a rubber strap yeah he's got like a black you know sweater sleeve on and and and then that flash of yellow on the on the 15 minute arc of the bezel um the wavy dial and this is like a really dynamic fun This isn't like a proper sports watch. This isn't a black bay and silver that, you know, is kind of a dress watch masquerading as a dive watch or vice versa. This is like, this is the watch you wear to like go bang, you know, bang around and do fun stuff with. |
| James | Yeah. I, it feels, feels to me like the brand's ploprof, right? Yeah. Yeah. I think every dive watch line needs a ploprof, the one that's big and kind of technologically forward and maybe an esoteric design, something that really speaks just to your brand. I think it makes sense. Who cares how big it is. Yeah, right. Some people with big wrists are going to buy it and absolutely love it. Yeah. They also did a new Aquus LE to save the Wadden Sea. It's called the DatWatt, D-A-T-W-A-T-T. It's two words for Wadden Sea in the Dutch dialect. And yeah, so this follows the format that Oris has been doing for a while, where they're developing a watch that supports kind of a charity or an operation or a conservation fund or some sort of an effort to save or protect ecosystems around the world. So this is definitely one worth checking. It's a pretty cool thing. It has that sort of tide chart that they had on a previous pro diver, if you remember that from five or six years ago, that black and orange one. Yeah. So that one's definitely worth checking. It's based on a 43.5 millimetre steel aqueous obviously 300 meters water resistance. It's got the brand's caliber 761, which is a Salida base, and that's a little under three grand and it's limited to 2009 pieces. And then the last one, and I think these are really fun and I definitely would like to see them in person because it's great colors, but it's like a trio of cotton candy color diver 65s, fully bronze, bronze bracelet, 38 millimeters. I think these are super fun. These are kind of like they're kind of personal very Oris take on like a Stella dial or one of the new OPS with the fun colors under twenty five hundred bucks on a leather strap, twenty seven fifty on a bracelet. These are standard production. They use again a Salida based movement, one hundred meters water resistant. They come in sky blue, wild green and lipstick pink. And I think, you know, the pink maybe not for me, but the blue or the green both look like super, super fun watches. I love the sizing and I have really come to enjoy. I got to experience the Holstein limited edition, full bronze, and I think in a smaller case size, this would be super fun and very much in the in the general range of kind of the feeling of a gold watch. It'd be it's a little bit heavier. It has that coloration. I'm on board for these. Absolutely. I think the price is great and and yeah, I like this size. That light blue is killer. Yeah, you know, as I sit here next to a pastel blue watch. |
| Jason Heaton | So All right, let's finish with a big boy here, or we can do a couple of other small ones here. But I think IWC had a pretty strong showing at Watches and Wonders, and I think... IWC's been on a run for a couple of years. |
| James | Yeah. They've been doing really, really good work, especially in refining sizes after having a lot of large watches because they invested in large movements. What of these new ones stands out? Are you in the chrono phase? You like the big pilot that's not as big? What's your... What's your feel? |
| Jason Heaton | You know, as I was, as I was reading this, uh, latest news about the, the, the new big pilot, which is now what? 43 millimeters. It's got a central sweep hand and no power reserve or date. It's, it's like the ultimate kind of IWC pilots watch. I think I'm still not as crazy about Flieger hands. I still like that. This kind of the stubbier hands that run the tribute to 3705 recently, but, You know, the big pilot's a legitimate modern classic. I mean, this is, this is a modern icon and, and, um, to see them tweak it a bit, well, more than a bit, um, is kind of a major move for them. And I quite like it. I think their pilots watch line is clearly their strongest across the board and has been for so many years. And I think, um, that's a real winner. And then this, uh, the smaller pilots chronograph, you know, I used to have, I don't remember what the reference number was, but I had one of their Flieger chronographs and loved it. It was a big watch though. I think that was 43. Now it's down to 41. You know, just a really strong showing. Uh, you know, the Mojave, the Mojave stuff with the colored cases is, is cool. You know, they've done a few kind of colorful plays on, on their pilots watches in the past. But for me, the, the big pilot, the smaller big pilot is kind of the winner of the bunch. |
| James | Yeah, I think it's this, for me, it's this chrono, you know, I, I've spent some time, I did a week on the wrist previously, so about two, three years ago now. with the Spitfire at one. Yeah, and I think it's just it's like it's perfect. Yeah, I like the hands on this. They're a little bit less aggressive than a traditional Flieger hand. I like the use of color. I really like the blue. I think the 41 millimeter sizing makes perfect sense for what the watch is. They're super wearable and the nice thing is, is and it's interesting because we'll get to it when do a couple minutes on the now smaller big pilot, the mini pilot or whatever they're going to call whatever people will call It's an aesthetic, not unlike a Panerai thing, where I like the aesthetic a lot, but it... And it still works when you compress it a little bit. Yeah. That your normal Big Pilot's 46 or more, depending on the model, they've made some huge ones, right? And then you get into the QPs that they did in the Big Pilot cases, and there's some giant watches. And to see them come in at 43, which I still, in my mind, is kind of the high side of a normal sized watch. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | This is a shot in some way at Bremont, right? Their core line up is forty three millimeter pilots watches and to see the brand take the big pilot, which for a while was their Submariner, like you remember when like celebrities either wore a steel Submariner or if you were like a young guy that wore jeans in the early two thousands, like an up and coming actor, you'd have a big pilot and they always looked kind of insane on on guys with like seven interest like mine because it's such a big watch. Yeah. With that giant crown and the rest, and to have them at 43, I think is super smart. I think it reestablishes the fact that this remains a stylish, everyday watch that has a great history from a brand with a history for pilots' watches. Yeah. I would still lean towards that 39 millimeter mark. Yeah, yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | I think that's super fun. But they've gotta offer this. I mean, this is their icon, and you have to have it big. I mean, it's called the Big Pilot. Absolutely. |
| James | And they already offer the smaller stuff, 39, 40, 41. They're like, you want three hands, you want a GMT, you know, you've got options. They have a nice lineup. You're spoiled for choice with them and pilots watches. Yeah. You know, the pricing is, I don't think the pricing's that wild, 6,500 bucks for the, for the chronograph. Yeah. For what it is. |
| Jason Heaton | In-house. |
| James | Yeah. You know, that's, that's an in-house IWC chronograph for, you know, it's a good chunk more, a thousand bucks more than what Tudor's asking for theirs. Right. But IWC is a chronograph brand, right? It just makes sense. It's like you want a luxurious car, you buy a Mercedes. Yeah. You want a pilot's watch, you know, a Swiss pilot's watch with great history, you buy an IWC. Yeah. I get it. I like these. I think it's cool that they're also making the perpetual calendar a production model. That's another small update that they've made to the range. Those are typically done in limited edition runs and has kind of become like iconic for their brand. This you know, big for four register perpetual calendar movement. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And such a masculine, sporty kind of pilot. He watch. Yeah. |
| James | Yeah. Yeah. No, I, I would put IWC right in there with like Zen, like you stuck to your core skill. You did what you did, what needed to do. And I think all of the changes they've made make a lot of sense. Uh, they're not, they're not canceling big pieces of the line. They're not making a bunch of like rash changes. These are nicely massaged models that, that kind of keep up with, uh, with taste and, I assume, demand. My guess is they've been asked for a long time to make a big pilot that's not as big. |
| Jason Heaton | Right. A medium pilot. This Blue Dial pilot chronograph with the little red... Yeah, I like the Blue Dial a lot. It's so perfect. And now they're... I mean, they were always like... IWC's always been a bit conservative with their water-resistant ratings, and I think they used to be like 60 meters or something. Now it's a full-on 100-meter water-resistant sports watch. I mean, you could wear this for anything. |
| James | Yeah, and I mean for less money than a Speedmaster. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Right? Yeah. Than the brand new Speedmaster. So I think this is good competition for the market. I think this makes the 41 millimeter, around 40 millimeter sporty Swiss chronograph thing a little bit more interesting, a little bit more competitive. So well done IWC for sure. Yeah. Otherwise on the list, we've got Panerai announced a handful of watches. I think this one that's mostly recycled is an interesting story, but I feel like Panerais priced themselves out of TGN at some level. |
| Jason Heaton | I agree. I mean, we, we could have a whole episode on our kind of disappointment with, with certain brands and what we wish for. But I think, I think you're right. I mean, we talked about it before the show, but you know, Panerais used to be such an appealing. |
| James | You can buy a logo 05, 005 logo for five grand, six grand. Yeah. That was a lot of money and it's still a lot of money today, but like, it seems like what the brand really wants to do is make very kind of interesting and tech forward $25,000 watches. I say $25,000 watches. We took a quick pause there because I wanted to pull up the page for the watch we're talking about. This is the Panerai Submersible Elab ID. Reference number is PAM 01225. It's a 44 millimeter brushed eco titanium. It's almost exclusively made from recycled sources. It's not 25 grand. I was way off. but it wasn't off in a direction that's gonna make it more applicable to our audience. It's $60,000 and they're only making 30. So maybe this is a case in point. This is a large watch. Maybe this is more of just a 44 millimeter, 300 meter water resistant, big Luminor. Hopefully they take this tech, which is now resulting in a $60,000 watch and we start to see the recycled elements trickle down. Um, which would be kind of fun, right? |
| Jason Heaton | I mean, it feels like if you're going to make something recyclable and appeal to that movement that can pull people into buying it, you'd want to make it more affordable. I mean, 60,000 is just absurd. I mean, this is like concept car concept watch, you know, and like you said, I hope it trickles down, but I don't see a trickling down to the point where it would be appealing to me unless we're talking back to the five, six grand in category. So what a shame. |
| James | Yeah, it's the brand has made has made an up market push and you know they did it based on a huge amount of popularity in the two thousands. They were just the it watch for a while and they they were smart because they were able to make that push up market before getting their lunch eaten by some other brand. Probably steel Rolexes is what happened, but it does mean that most of what they make is quite expensive and it they're definitely a brand that has transitioned from being a realistic ownership possibility for me into being more of an academic understanding. You know, like I know about them and I'll follow their stuff because I work in this industry and, and, and I still really appreciate the brand and its history and the aesthetic, but I don't think I'm ever going to aspire to a $60,000 Panera. You know what I mean? It's just, it's, it's the number is so big, like it might as well be 600,000. It doesn't make any difference. Yeah. It's not money anymore, you know what I mean? I think there's a ton of watches, even a ton of watches that we've talked about over the past much too long episode at this point that are, you know, well under ten grand, under five grand in many cases that are really appealing. Oris has some, Tudor's got some, you know, Rolex is doing stuff that's smaller and the price of the thirty six millimeter Explorer is down from the thirty nine. Yeah. How often does that happen, right? Yeah. Yeah, so I think so far, I mean we're not, we're ten hours into since the first embargoes really lifted at two a.m. E.T. We're ten hours into that now. I think that this has been good, a good watches and wonders. You know, this is we, I remember you and I had in previous episodes, I think actually the very first TGN, right? Right. It was just after a January S.I.H.H. 2016, and we titled that episode All Luxed Out, because there weren't that many watches that applied to what we like and what we buy and what we would save up for or sell other watches to buy or even just kind of become obsessed with, even if you weren't going to be an owner. And I don't think we're seeing that this year. We're seeing like a lot of really solid sports watch options. I think Tudor so far has the most interesting stuff. I can't wait to see all of it in the metal at some point. And then a new 36 millimeter Explorer, like that's a TGN classic. that's on the high side of kind of where what we like to talk about, but it's a modern Rolex. They're expensive. That's just the reality of the game, but I think it's a I think it's been a good year for watches and and a good show so far. Hopefully, we get a few surprises over the next few days, but you won't hear about that until the next episode and then we I will tease that we have we have some special news coming in May. So if you're listening, get excited. and and if you know of anybody who might enjoy the show now, it'd be a great time to send him a link. Let him let him hear the show and and see if they see if they get ready for for some May news and we'll also have a I've said this too many times now. We'll have a Q and a soon. It's such a busy season. I have to get to the other side of watches and wonders and magazine prep for Hodin key before I can take on a little bit more in terms of editing and production. So That'll fix itself in the next few days, certainly by the next episode. We should have all these plans in the work. And, yeah. Anything else or you figure final notes? |
| Jason Heaton | Well, we can move on to final notes or you can talk about that very TGN final watch that you have in the list here that you've avoided. |
| James | Oh, yeah. This is just one that... Speaking of luxed out. Yeah, yeah. Talk about transitioning into more of an aspirational or an academic thing. I have, you know, every now and then Hublot will make a watch that I just really like. And often they're not even something that I would see myself wearing, but I look at them and I go, oh, I love that. I love it the same way I love a Lamborghini. I don't want to own one. I don't think I would want the hassle of owning one. A watch doesn't have the same hassle, so it might be a little bit different. But they released four really wild watches, but one of the most inexpensive of the four is aesthetically not wild. It's not made just out of sapphire or whatever. It's called the Hublot Big Bang Unico Yellow Magic. And I don't, you know, I think a lot of people in this audience probably don't adore Hublot, and I don't adore most of their watches, but I really love the, you know, the most recent Ferrari collaboration they did. I thought those were really weird and didn't feel necessarily like a Hublot, but felt really special and fun. And this is your kind of core 42 millimeter Unico, so it's an in-house movement, really beautifully made, and then it's in yellow ceramic, which is like Hublot says it's never been done before. Maybe that means it's never been done for a production watch before. My guess is other brands have tried to do yellow ceramic, but it's this really gorgeous yellow on black, very much like a supercar for your wrist, yellow bracelet or a yellow rubber strap. I really like it. I think it looks hilarious. It's significantly less expensive than that Panerai. Let me pull up the price here. I think it's just under 30 grand. |
| Jason Heaton | It's 26, I think, yeah. 26,2. |
| James | and am I saying anyone should buy this? No, come on, if you like it and you have the money like going nuts, it's a thing that you can own if you want to, but I think hublot just deserves more attention in general and less kind of like guff that they don't want to be protect or automar right that like they're just going to be hublot and I like that they have a sense of humor and that their watches are fun and not always so self serious. and so concerned with legacy. Look, I don't think that they're- because they're not a brand that's been around for hundreds of years, they're not burdened by their- by having- by being, you know, beholden to their legacy, and they can make interesting things. And I think this is just a cool looking watch. I love this watch in titanium. It's just the standard 42 millimeter Big Bang. I think it's like a bit of a sleeper in a market that's largely dominated by, you know, AP and Patek. for these sorts of watches and I think this is a fun and interesting and and kind of light-hearted and and I also think it just looks good. Yeah I think it's expensive but and it's like rich guy stuff but I still like I'm not sure I could find much in my wardrobe to match with it but I'm sure if I owned this watch I could afford all the navy blue yeah true okay just head to toe denim yeah That's how I do for sure. All right. Well, all right. So that's a fun footnote, a less serious one, certainly. If you think we missed anything or any feedback on Watches and Wonders, keep in mind that we're recording this midday on Wednesday the 7th. It'll go up on the 8th. So if anything comes out after that, that's why we didn't talk about it. We did our best to kind of time this where we could get what we thought was the really cool stuff that had already come out. but we didn't have to delay the show. You know, in my mind, I thought, well, maybe we push it to Monday and do kind of a weird release that covers everything, but it looks like most of the stuff has come out. So we went that direction. If we miss something and it's awesome, it'll be in the next show. Uh, if we miss something and it was like only, okay, we probably won't talk about it unless, uh, uh, the story loops back some other day. So, uh, how about some final notes, Jason? |
| Jason Heaton | Sure. Let's do it. Um, mine is, uh, it's watch related watch brand related, but not a watches and wonders brand, um, came across this, Blancpain two-part series that's on YouTube on their YouTube channel called the 50 fathoms history parts one and two and For those of you that are interested in dive watch history and particularly with the 50 fathoms, which has a great history It's it's worth watching I would say part one is more interesting than part two part two kind of focuses more on the revival of the 50 fathoms name and kind of the modern era which some some might like but I really like looking back at the development of the watch itself back in the fifties. And, um, each episode is, I believe, you know, 30, 30 minutes long or thereabouts. So these are legitimate, you know, kind of a legitimate little sort of documentary series. Um, Peter coyote narrates. So he's the guy that has narrated a few of the Ken Burns documentaries, including the current Hemingway one that's on PBS these days. |
| James | Um, I've not seen that. Is it good? It's good so far. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah, I've watched a part of the first episode. The Hemingway one is good? Yeah. Yeah, it's good. Ken Burns. Oh, okay. That could be fun. Doesn't fail. Yeah. But in part one, there's interviews with the former CEO of Blancpain during the era in which the 50 Fathoms was developed. Mr. Fichter and with Robert Maloubier, who was the French combat diver who kind of also contributed to the development of that watch and just some great old old footage and images of some of the old 50 fathoms and some old dive footage. So, um, definitely worth checking out. We'll put, we'll put the link up to the Blancpain's YouTube page and you can check that out. Blancpain usually doesn't do a bad job with, uh, with kind of their dive heritage and they do some nice films. The stuff they've done with, uh, Laurent Ballesta has been great. And, um, I don't know, they kind of know where they're at with, uh, with their dive heritage and it's really cool. |
| James | Yeah. And they also produce really good content. Like they have a taste. |
| Unknown | Oh yeah. Yeah. |
| James | a lot of brands kind of go halfway or maybe they attach themselves with like production companies that don't really understand what they're up against. But like Rolex does a really good job with this, but often their films are very short. They're like a minute and a half long. And I go like, Hey Rolex, could I have like a 12 or 13 minute video about one of your watches? I would watch that. Or one of your scientists, like give me a little mini documentary at an, at a minute. I'm just watching an ad. But, but Blancpain I think does the best out of all of them. And I think it comes from that, you know, a one-to-one connection between the leadership at the brand and people like Laura Blessing, for sure. Yeah. How about you? Mine can be an equally quick one and everybody can get on their way. This is kind of a thing that came across thanks to Outside Online and a story and video by Wes Seiler, whose work I've become very much enamored by recently. He does a lot of very practical, straightforward advice sort of work, stuff I'm trying to replicate with some posts for Hodinkee. And this is actually probably a little bit specific to my scenario for the cottage, where we're drawing drinking water from the lake and then deciding to purify it or bring in water. We really didn't wanna bring in water when avoidable, just because there's a lot of waste in the plastics and such, and the water's right there and filters aren't that complicated. So we have one of these burkeys, I don't know if you know what that is. It's like a big metal canister. Oh, okay. that you just pour water in the top, and it could be pretty cruddy water, and it filters down, and it has a little spigot, and you can- just a really nice water filter. And I have that here in the house, and the water's delicious, and the rest of it, that's all great, and that can come up to the cottage. This is a little bit more specific to either emergencies or what I would consider like second or even third locations, and it's a $40 or $50 thing from MSR, the outdoor, you know, mega brand, called the Emergency Home Water Filter, and it comes in a sealed bag. It is a military product that they've rebranded, like MSR makes it for the military, and they've kind of repackaged it in red and with some more logos and stuff on it, but it comes in kind of a tear sealed bag, and you open it up and it does something like... The water can be pretty cruddy. Apparently, it'll do a thousand liters of cruddy water, and when it won't filter anymore, it just stops. Oh, okay. Which is clever. if the filter medium has degraded to that point, it just stops flowing. So you don't have to measure your usage. Oh, sure. And obviously the dirtier the water, the faster it'll clog and then you throw it away when you're done with it. The idea behind this is it's for, you would keep one at home for emergencies because it can connect to any household like water faucet, like what your hose connects to outside. Oh, sure. I'm sure there's a specific name for whatever that threaded connector is. But the idea is you could connect it to anything like that, any hose or exterior spigot or water source and thread it in and then it flows based on that pressure. It's a really simple thing. I'm going to try and integrate it into the general water system that we're using at the cottage right now. There'll be a lot of plumbing that we work on this summer to try and bring that up a level. But right now, I think this is just about perfect. And when I read about, I was like, I mean, you can spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on one for your backpack. Yeah, like a decent water filter. MSR makes some, you know, with that pump and they do various filters and they can do the Giardia pass and they can do all these various things. This is just a very simple thing where like you're, you're mostly sure that the water's fine and you want, but you're, you're trying to, to filter water from a source. You don't have to worry about it. And, and, and for that, I think for the price and the simplicity and the packaging and all of it just feels military spec, which is nice. Uh, so I bought one and I'm going to put it to use this summer. Um, and I'll report back obviously, uh, if, if it ends up not being useful, but Wes has yet to really steer me wrong with any of his posts. Uh, if only I could afford, uh, the driving lights that he wrote about. Um, but yeah, so that's the MSR emergency home water filters, like 40 or 50 bucks. It kind of feels like a no brainer to have one. Um, in a bug out bag or or in an emergency home safety kit or something like that for the money. It feels like like a goodbye and and I think it a little bit. I I'm a huge proponent, Jason. I think you are two of life straws. I've never tried to those simple tubes. Oh, okay, I used to I used to hike with them. I'd run out of water and I could just wait into a creek and just sit down and drink for a little while really handy. They're also like twenty dollars. I think those are you should be in everybody's backpack or you should keep one in your glove box in your car. You just never know. Yeah, And they don't cost enough that it matters. Um, that if you, if you went 10 years and you never got a chance to use it. And I kind of think it's the same thing with these. It's just a smart thing to have it in my mind. It's kind of like having some spare batteries around or, um, or a solar charger or a good first aid kit. Uh, water's kind of crucial. And, and certainly we've seen some stuff like what happened in Texas where you can't always rely on the standard delivery systems for these conveniences, and I'm not saying we all need to become preppers or that TGN is going in that direction, but I think that there's lessons, there's casual lessons to be learned from the proper community, right? Yeah, yeah. You know, have a first aid kit, have a way to purify water, and this is not that expensive. Some of these systems are... The Berkeys are several hundred dollars for a gravity fed system, and Newton makes really great filtration systems. I've used those as well. I've used the MSR field one with the carbon I've had some experience with them and I think that the price on this one makes it pretty appealing for its simplicity. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, watching what happened in Texas and just sort of general, uh, uh, you know, emergency prep stuff. I I'm seeing such overlap with, with just simple camping gear. I mean, our basement's full of sleeping bags and emergency blankets and first aid kits. And we have, we're big proponents of the first need brand water filters that you can just screw on the top of most water bottles and you just put the other end in the hose into the, into the lake or a stream or anything. |
| James | I'll put a link to that as well. That's clever. |
| Jason Heaton | And, uh, and then, you know, like if, if the dung hit the fan, you know, we could go down the street to one of the 10,000 lakes that are in Minnesota and just throw a tube in the water, assuming it's not frozen over and, uh, just pump it into a few bottles and bring it home and it would be set for a while. So it's a water filtration is like one of those no brainer things that, um, and, and you don't have to spend a lot of money for it. So I think that's a, this is a good one. I'll check out Wes's video. |
| James | Yeah, I've been enjoying his stuff for outside. He does nice, thoughtful work, which I appreciate. So yeah, I think that's a show. I think so. Well, as always, thank you so much for listening. You can hit the show notes via Hodinkee.com or our feed for more details. And you can follow us on Instagram at Jason Heaton and at J.E. Stacey. And of course, you can follow the show at The Graynado. Should you have any questions for us, please write TheGraynado at gmail.com. And please keep sending in those voice memo questions. We've got a bunch of them. It's going to be a really good Q and A when, when I've got the time to put it together. And, uh, and then, like I said, we have some surprises, uh, coming up in May, some special episodes and some other news. It's all going to be fun. Please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcast. And of course, music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive. |
| Jason Heaton | And we leave you with this quote from Thomas Edison, who said the value of an idea lies in the using of it. |