The Grey NATO - 150 - June Q And A
Published on Thu, 01 Jul 2021 06:00:20 -0400
Synopsis
Jason and James answer a variety of questions from listeners on topics including favorite aquatic creatures while diving, old Land Rovers and Jeeps, the idea of a "one watch" collection, dealing with watch disappointments, treatment for leather watch bands, depth gauges for free diving, hiking gear and watch recommendations, getting a book published, driving on the Formula 1 Monaco track, and servicing vintage watches. They share personal experiences, opinions, and advice related to each question.
Links
Transcript
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| Jason | Hello and welcome to another episode of The Great NATO, a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 150, our Q&A episode, and we thank you for listening. James, how's it going? Hey, not too bad. Yourself? Oh, it's been an eventful week. We lost our beloved cat last week, which I posted about on Instagram and I got a lot of nice Nice thoughts and feedback from a lot of people. So thanks. Uh, thanks to everybody who sent their condolences. Uh, it was, uh, you know, he was 19, so it was expected, but, uh, it was, it's never easy to lose a beloved pet. So, uh, but, uh, you know, as the days pass, the, the sadness kind of lifts and we're left with, with a lot of good memories. So we have our other cat who has always seemed a lot younger, even though he's 15 and he's, he's doing a good job of keeping us company. So good. |
| James | I'm glad. Yeah, that's, that's, uh, It's kind of heartbreaking. I feel that at some level, you know, I think it's also one of those losses that a lot of people can identify with. And I think you saw that in the comments. So there was definitely some very sweet sentiments in there. |
| Jason | Yeah. But, uh, other than that, I mean, it's, uh, today's, uh, Thursday, July 1st, as this episode goes live. And if anybody's out there listening, um, and you happen to be in the twin cities area, tonight's a kind of a busy night for me. We've got a book signing or actually, yeah, I guess a book signing is what I'm calling it, but it's more just a, launch celebrations. It's more of just a launch celebration for depth charge kind of overdue. Um, but with the COVID restrictions lifting locally and nationally here, I thought it was a good time to invite some folks to Lake monster brewing in St. Paul to kind of just do a meet and greet, sell a few books. I've got a load of a depth charge and deep blue t-shirts and some posters and stickers and uh, I don't know. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. I think I've gotten, you know, anecdotally from, from people, uh, it should be a pretty good turnout. It should be a lot of fun. So if you're listening, you know, before 5.00 PM, um, you know, pop by it's from five to eight tonight at, at Lake monster. I'd love to see some TGN listeners out there. |
| James | Yeah, that would be, that'd be great. I really, really wish I could make it obviously, uh, not going to happen this time around. And it is kind of interesting, you know, the last time we had an option of a get together, was for the celebration for episode 100, and now we're at 150. And it works out that at least we'll have, some people will get to see some people at Lake Monster Brewing. So yeah, if you're, please go there in my stead. Please attend if you can. I think this is going to be a pretty fun thing. I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks on Instagram. And yeah, we'll do a little download about that on the next episode. It should be good. |
| Jason | Yeah, definitely. Well, today's Q&A, we've got a Crop of questions as usual. Yeah, we should, uh, we should jump in as, as typical with these episodes. You know, we kind of cut short the chit chat and skip the final notes and just sort of leap, leap right in so we can get through as many as possible. And, uh, thanks to everybody for sending in voice memos and definitely we probably won't get to all of them. So we'll roll over a few to the next one and keep sending them in. |
| James | Yeah, we're going to do as many as possible, but, uh, try not to keep it so long that you'd have to find two or three activities to finish the show. |
| Jason | Yeah, right, right. Let's jump in. The first one is from Giancarlo who has a question about aquatic critters. |
| Giancarlo | Hi James and Jason. This is Giancarlo from Boston. Longtime listener, first time caller. My question concerns diving. I'm curious, what are your favorite aquatic creatures? I know you've talked a lot about diving over the years, but to the best of my recollection, you haven't talked about what you love to see most when under the sea. Personally, love me some hawksbill turtles. Big fan of angelfish. Love the regal angelfish. And I really hate squirrelfish. They're just an ugly creature. Feel the same way about lionfish, but in Cayman, you can get a mean lionfish taco. So I'll let it slide. Look forward to hearing your thoughts, guys. Stay safe. |
| James | It was such a fun question. Yeah. He hates squirrelfish. I love it. Yeah, my hate would be Mexican hawkfish. I've had a couple come after me in Socorro. I don't know if you came across those when you were there. |
| Jason | I don't remember. |
| James | You know, they have the sort of protruding fangs. They're about a foot long and very territorial. Yeah. And you're trying to get in close. I was trying to see some, some kind of sleeping white tips. Yeah. And this guy was just, he was, he, you know, it's one of those, they dart at you and they get about a foot away and then they back up. Yeah. I've also had a couple of eels give me a good chase around Clipperton and in, in, um, in and around a little reef dive we did in Hawaii several years ago. |
| Jason | Yeah. Those morays get aggressive. They're so alien looking. |
| James | Yeah. It's very intimidating. I'm not generally afraid of a lot. Like I have a pause when it's a large animal, but even a small eel, you know, they just move in a weird way. Yeah. Yeah. How about you? Anything that you don't like we can start with? Cause there's so many that are, that are amazing. |
| Jason | Don't like, I mean, I think, uh, Yeah, I think the mores kind of creep me out, although I have a weird fascination for them. You know, I don't really dislike any critters. I would say, um, I don't hate the squirrel fish, but I think they're, they're, they're so common in the Caribbean that, uh, you know, you, they're, they're always just sort of in the way when you want to look at something smaller, but, uh, no, I don't, I don't, I don't dislike many. I mean, you see a lot of sea cucumbers and they're kind of like, yeah. you know, whatever, sort of, sort of boring, but I wouldn't say there's any, any legitimate hate for any creatures. I think, uh, you know, in terms of the other side of the coin, you know, my favorites, I, you know, of course the big stuff. I mean, I've had the pleasure of seeing, you know, dolphins, whale sharks and mantas and all that sort of stuff. But there's, there's one, uh, creature that is a bit unsung that I've only seen after dark. Actually you can see it during the daytime, but it's, uh, it's all coiled up during the day. It's called a basket star and they cling to the branches of corals and kind of coil up like a, like a little tiny coiled spring. But if you go for a night dive, they unfurl into this, they have these long frilly arms that sort of wave in the, in the sea and they kind of pulsate and move. And I think, wow, they're, they're snagging stuff that floats by in the water and they're, they're just the most, alien and spectacular creatures. And they get kind of big when they unfurl themselves. And it's, it's always a thrill to see those at night. You know, I, I've always liked predators. I think that, I think they just seem so purpose-built and kind of all business. And, and before, you know, in early days of diving, I didn't see many sharks or, or big stuff. And the Barracuda were always the exciting ones to see because they just, they're so sleek. But, uh, in Bonaire, you see a lot of tarpon, which, you know, a lot of people just like the feed off a dock, they throw stuff too, but, If you see them underwater, they're kind of eerie. They have this like metallic, you know, their, their scales are metallic and they have these big eyes and they get legitimately huge and they're, they're just kind of, kind of fun to see. But yeah, I mean, I don't know, the list can go on and on. Octopi, cuttlefish and whatever, but how about you? |
| James | Yeah, I have a big list of animals that I love that I haven't had the chance to dive with. A cuttlefish is probably my favorite animal in existence. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | But anytime I've had a chance to be in the water with an invertebrate, you know, giant Pacific octopus, it would be the most common around where I was diving in Vancouver. Yeah. And I've only ever seen one kind of half out of a crag. Yeah. And it's just the most special thing. And even if you're, even if, you know, when we did that wall dive on Kelvin Grove, we weren't able to find one that day, but typically with a decent flashlight, you can keep shining and keep finding. And there's a couple big ones that live in that area. Maybe they just saw us coming or maybe they were out hunting or something. Beyond that, my experience with mantas is almost like a weirdly religious experience. They seem so ancient and intelligent. Yeah. You know, when, when we were in Socorro, I was going through tanks so quickly cause I was having so much fun. Yeah. Uh, that I was, you know, I would break off from people that were there. Then we're going to get an hour, which was the limit they were putting on tanks at the time for this dive, just for safety is super remote diving. Yeah. But in, in that scenario, maybe I was getting 42 to 45 minutes. So I was one of the first out of the water and that's fine. You know, I've got big legs, big lungs. I just burned through tanks. I was too. So, and I was like laughing and hyperventilating half the time I was so excited. And a big part of that is these huge pelagic mantas were so personable. Yeah. Yeah. They do, they do flips past you. They'd make eye contact. And then when I would break off from the team to go to the, to notify the rib, you know, and run a, run a sausage, a flag. Yeah. This big, I have a picture of him, but this, and I'll try and put it in the show notes if I can find it, but this big jet black guy, he's maybe a, nine, 10, 12 feet across the wingspan. Yeah. He would just follow me. And then he would come right up to the surface and just circle me until the boat got close. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Yeah. |
| James | And like, I know I'm, I know I'm projecting, I'm anthropomorphizing this animal, but it felt like he was kind of wanting to care for me. Oh yeah. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | I'm trying to think what else. Oh yeah. I did a surface stop. I remember in, um, in Socorro on the Canyon and had a group of, uh, of, uh, tuna pass under me. Oh yeah. Yeah. And that's like something I've never experienced before. They're so big and they're so fast and they look so unstressed by their, by the water. Yeah. They just move so freely through it. Really, really special experience. And then the other one that would stand out that I think would be worth people Googling is probably one of the weirdest fish I ever saw while diving around Vancouver was called a grunt sculpin. Huh. Okay. And it's about, maybe he was six inches long, maybe. And at first I thought it was a piece of bone. Yeah. That was, that was on the rock wall. It was at Kelvin as well, but they have this incredible, uh, this very weird physiology of stripes and patterns, kind of three quarters of the way back or one quarter of the way back on their body. But the front of their body looks like an exposed skull. It's a really strange fish and he kind of hovered. He didn't really swim with a lot of, he did when I got closer, but I was within an arm's reach of him and he just kind of floated up the wall. Yeah. And I, it took me a while, like to visually contextualize what I was looking at, to see the edges of his very well camouflaged, but this kind of weird bony white and black face. Uh, what a, what a very cool animal. I could go on and on. There's the, basically anything underwater is awesome. Even, even the stuff that's annoying and kind of scary, the hawkfish, the, the, the eels, it's all just the best. |
| Jason | Yeah. It's a different world. It's like being a, it's like being in outer space in a sci-fi movie or something. |
| James | For sure. Uh, definitely, definitely need to get back to some warm water and some brightly colored fish sometime, uh, kind of as soon as possible. |
| Jason | Yeah. Uh, you want to jump into another? Yeah. Next one's from Clint. Who's talking about, uh, slow planes and slow vehicles. |
| Clint | All right. Hey guys, Clint here from the middle of nowhere, Minnesota. I just got back from flying my 1947 Piper Cub low and slow as they say. And I started thinking of the similarities between that airplane and say, a vintage Land Rover or a vintage Jeep? I know you guys have one of each. James, I don't know if your Jeep is considered vintage quite yet, but, uh, I would love to hear you guys compare and contrast vintage Land Rover and vintage Jeep. What do you like? What don't you like? What's your favorite design aesthetic quirks, all those kinds of things. And maybe if you had the chance to own one or drive one overland, what would you choose? Jason, obviously your choice might be already made, but anyway, thanks for making what's one of the best podcasts on the internet and keep up the good work. |
| Jason | Fun question, Clint. Uh, uh, I think I know who you are out in middle of nowhere, Minnesota. I hope you can make it in for the book signing tonight. I don't know. Why don't, why don't you jump into this first? I mean, I think, you know, it's an interesting topic. There's a lot to unpack when it comes to kind of the overlap between the two. |
| James | Yeah. You know, my, my experience with the Jeep, with Jeeps in general, I've driven kind of 40s Willis jeeps, military jeeps, and those are fun and tiny and no synchromesh and the rest of it, so it's a little bit more challenging to drive. And then as far as Wranglers go, my father has a TJ, which is a previous generation, and I have an 11 JK, so it's not vintage yet. It's only 10 years old. We'll get it to 200,000 kilometers this year. So I think I think as much as I obviously own a JK, a four-door JK, the JKU, I think that something was kind of lost in the transition from the TJ to the JK. I think the TJ was kind of that, the last generation of like that pure two-door, no compromises made for it to be great on road. Cause they're really not. And the JK to be clear, if you've driven a lot of cars, if you've driven a modern Land Rover, if you've driven, um, Tacomas and other stuff like a, like a moderate, I haven't driven a JL, so I don't want to talk about the current Wrangler, but like my JK is not a great on-road vehicle. Um, the big tires make it kind of darty. It's, it's very floaty. It doesn't break that well. It's very slow. Um, it's also just the NVH, the noise vibration and harshness is high. All three of those is high. Um, a lot of the inputs take some, some effort or, or are very vague in their feedback. And I think a lot of that is designed so that when you are on a trail, it has this very slow steering rack, which is nice for, for negotiating, you know, kind of lower speed scenarios. You know, there's the other thing I appreciate about the Jeep and I've talked about it previously. And I think this is the same with a lot of, maybe not the most modern crop, but a lot of off-roaders. It's just that like, they're kind of built like Lego. Yeah. Yeah. Like if you can see the bolt, you can probably take it off or put it back on or replace it. So as a budding shade tree mechanic. It's a nice vehicle to work on. There's a lot of room. It's already high off the ground. So if I put two wheels on a curb in front of my house, I actually have enough room to get under there and turn a wrench if I want to. When I did the exhaust, I did that without, you know, without a lift or roll ups or any of that. So, yeah, I like it. I think I like it to the extent that I know it's the right thing for me in terms of cost and what it does and how much I drive. But if I'm honest, I don't know that I would recommend a Wrangler to anyone. Just because I think people aren't like, if you've driven a modern Honda Civic, the level of refinement is decades ahead of what's in my JK. Yeah. And obviously we're also talking about, I don't remember what this JK was like brand new. I got it at 170,000 kilometers and I've refreshed parts of it, but not all of it. You know, it's still on some of the bushings are the original bushings. So I don't want to be unfair to Jeep. I'm rating it as a $20,000 Canadian purchase, not as a $70,000 new, you know, loaded out Rubicon might cost or a $50,000 Sahara with a few options. So I think, yeah, I like these. I don't think it'll be the last off-roader or kind of flexible vehicle, but for sort of do it all good option for Canadian weather. the cottage and, and, you know, not really wanting a pickup truck or the size of a pickup truck with two rows, two full rows, four doors. I think it's a great option for me. Uh, and, and the other thing that, that made me pick it. And I know that the Jeep thing is kind of a cult. Maybe it is for the Land Rover too, but like Jeep, Jeep people are kind of, it's kind of culty and I like Jeeps. I do, but I also kind of like all cars. The big thing for me was I wanted a stick and there aren't that many options. There just aren't. Yeah. Yeah. You know, they're disappearing and you can't get a stick on the new, uh, four by E you can't get a stick on the new, uh, three 92 Hemi Jeep. Like it's, it's just going away. And that's what I wanted. That's honestly, I think I would have bought something else entirely if I couldn't have found, um, uh, six speed, uh, Wrangler. How, where do you stand on Land Rovers? |
| Jason | Well, I mean, I think, you know, I think Clint was wondering about kind of our views on vintage, uh, Jeeps and Land Rovers. And I think, I, I've been long a fan of, I used to absolutely adore and I still do, uh, the, the CJ seven, um, which was kind of seventies, eighties, uh, you know, before it even became called the Wrangler. And, and there's something about that shorter wheelbase that you got with like a CJ five or CJ seven and those round kind of inset lights and the curved hood that they had. I, it was just, to me, it was just, It's a, it was such a perfect looking vehicle. It still is. There are very few kind of perfect aesthetically perfect vehicles. And I think that's such an icon. Yeah. I love it with the old school. Roll bars, which I think, you know, they obviously updated to make that longer rear hoop that kind of went closer to the back of the vehicle, but the old, the old one that just sort of had a hoop behind the driver with like two short stubby kind of supports. And, uh, you know, I think it was just such a perfect vehicle, but I think you know, obviously given owning two old Land Rovers, that's kind of the side that I come down on personally. And it's only because I mix that love of that general aesthetic with, you know, kind of an anglophilia that I have, you know, I have real love for, for things British. And I think the Land Rovers to me seem a little more international and versatile. I always associate them with safaris and, and you know, London to Singapore and, Um, you know, that, that type of vibe, whereas Jeep, I think kind of stayed more Americana, you know, I picture that out West, you know, Wyoming. Absolutely. You know, I suppose in Canada that would be up in Alberta or something, you know, kind of in the, in the wilderness, you know, camping, uh, you know, guy with a mustache and a plaid shirt and like a Marlboro or something, you know, I just, that's the vibe I get with those. And I think they're two very different. sides of the same coin, obviously the Land Rover was derived from, from the original Jeep. And I don't know, I was driving the 76 Land Rover yesterday, just running some errands and I'm like, it never fails when I get behind the wheel of that. It's just, it brightens my day. It like gives me a smile. You know, it's incredibly difficult to drive if you're not used to it and uncomfortable and loud and hot and whatever, but I don't care. I mean, if you know, and Clint, you know, your question about which one we would choose for an overland trip. I mean, you're, you're right. I would choose. given those two choices, a Land Rover, I think, you know, if I was a little bit worried about, uh, reliability or, or kind of being remote with, with something breaking down, I might opt for a third option, you know, maybe an FJ, um, you know, like an FJ 60, uh, land cruiser from Toyota or something, but since that's outside the scope of this, I'm going to, I'm going to pass on that. And I'm just going to go with, uh, I'm going to take our, our 93 diesel defender on that trip. |
| James | So I've, Two final thoughts. One is a book called Culture Code by Clotaire Rapalje. Oh, wow. And in that, he was the guy that led Jeep away from the square headlights. Oh, okay. So he's an author and I guess you'd call him like a marketing guru or a sort of like... He has this thing about developing culture codes for products and that's how they speak to the culture you're going to sell the product to. Yeah. And when Jeep had the generation of the Jeep with the square headlights, I had one of those, a YJ, right? Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry. I was throwing around too many model codes and I didn't want to alienate people who don't care about Jeeps too much. This is kind of interesting, even if you don't like Jeeps or Land Rovers or whatever, but with the YJ, it had square headlights and it was going to kill the Jeep. Yeah. They weren't selling enough Wranglers to, to, to kind of keep everything going. And, um, and they, uh, they, brought in a focus group led by Rapala. If I have the story correctly, it's been a long time since I read the book, fascinating book, nevertheless, but they brought it in and he developed the culture code as being a horse and horses don't have square eyes. Um, and, and he said, it spoke to that. Like you said, Jason, this thing of like the freedom of the Midwest and the ultimate flexibility, whether it was snowing or Rocky, or you want to get to the other side of your ranch, or you still want to go to town. Maybe you want to take your, your family to church on Sunday. And it was like that one vehicle that kind of did everything. And that's what horses kind of represented as well. Yeah. And obviously this is a time when the YJ was exclusively a two-door option. So you're not taking your family anywhere, but I still understand the, like the general vibe and they moved to the round headlights and, uh, and it kind of changed the entire brand perspective. It's an interesting, interesting thing. If you want to read into it. The other thing I would say vintage versus used versus new, If you're looking at getting an off-roader as your car, make sure you have a strong understanding of where it's going to sit in the line of your cars. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Right. If it's your daily, I suggest going with something somewhat modern. Yeah. I have AC in the Jeep. I have decent crash protection. I have, you know, proper ISOFIX seat mounts for my kids. I have stuff that's in a car that's of a certain age, right? But if I was buying it as my second or my third vehicle, kind of like your Land Rovers are, I would make entirely less practical decisions. I wouldn't need to necessarily carry four people. I wouldn't need to necessarily be concerned with maybe the ability to go a certain distance on a tank. I don't really fret about fuel mileage. I don't drive enough. I don't commute. But there are these sorts of concerns that could come up. And I think you just have to be very realistic when you're considering a vehicle as to How often are you going to drive it? And for what reasons? With my Jeep, it's my only car. So it still has to be a car. And that's where a four-door JK kind of makes sense. If I didn't, I definitely would have gone with something kind of older and a little bit more raw and a little bit more simple. Maybe something that had already been modified within the space that I plan to use it. And then if you're going with, with overlanding, you know, make sure that you pick a platform that makes sense for how you plan to overland. If you're doing the rooftop tent, make sure you understand static and dynamic loads. and how that can be balanced and where you can put it and what you're going to pay for in parts. You know, some brands, the customizing options are more limited, which makes them more expensive. That was the only thing I wanted to add in was a little bit of soft consumer advice, because, you know, I think we talk a lot about these these vehicles and they're not always the most practical option. Yeah. And you have to consider the voice. And it's worth worth considering that when when people bring up I don't would you want a daily a series three, right? |
| Jason | No, but I, you know, I found that since, you know, since we got the Defender, I, it's the daily driver, the Volvo sits in the garage. And, and the irony is that, well, for one thing, the Defender sits on the street and it's like easy to run out, jump in, go places, but it's, it's also proven pretty reliable and very easy to fix. Whereas the Volvo, which is in 2013 with only 40 plus thousand miles on it, um, I'm, we're having a problem with the blower motor for the heat and HVAC. Yeah. And it's like buried deep in the dash. And it's like, not just like a three position on high and low switch. It's like some sort of resistor that automatically adjusts for the temperature you set. And it's like to take it in, it's going to cost a fortune. Whereas like, you know, I'd changed the blower motor on the series three and it took an hour and it was right under the hood. And it's like, Hmm. I, I think I get what you're saying about, you know, safety concerns and things like that. And that's definitely a consideration. And I think if I were to do a long road trip that was comfort oriented or whatever, I would, we would definitely opt for the Volvo, but, uh, right. |
| James | I don't know. Well, one final follow-up as this answer has already gone on, uh, probably too long, but how do you, how would you describe the general drivability of the, of the defender? It's just like kind of like a mostly modern manual experience. |
| Jason | Uh, yeah, it's a very long throw stick, very heavy clutch. So it's kind of tiring to drive, but it's got power steering, uh, plush tires and coil springs. So it's pretty, pretty comfortable. It's it doesn't have AC. It doesn't have a radio seating positions. Okay. Seating position. The seats are okay. The leg room's a little short. Um, I think I've gotten so used to driving that Land Rover experience. Like the door is right next to my elbow. |
| James | Yeah. Yeah. That was the thing that surprised me about the defender, which is, roughly the one I was in was, you know, Jason Gallop's and it was similar in age to yours as a TDI five. Yeah. And, um, I was surprised by not how close I was to him, but how close I was to the exterior of the car. You're just, it is that packaging is the, the seats are really on either side of the transmission tunnel and you sit very, very outboard if you will. |
| Jason | Yeah. And I heard that the logic for that was that, you know, exactly where the edge of the vehicle is. If you're off-roading, like you can literally look down your elbow and that's like the limit of the, of the vehicle, which in the city, I don't care as much about, but anyway, yeah, we've, we've rambled enough about we've gotten way off topic, but it's, uh, um, you know, Clint, a good question. I think, you know, you can understand our passion and interest in both these types of vehicles and, uh, you know, I, just like you with your old plane. Um, and I know you have a couple old watches. if I'm remembering right. So you get it. So thanks for the question. I think we should probably move on to one from Carl who wants to know about One Watch. |
| Carl | Hey guys, my name is Carl. I am a jewelry and watch salesman in the Pacific Northwest. And as you probably guessed, I'm a huge fan of the show and I absolutely am obsessed with watches. My question for you is about the really elusive One Watch collection. I think it's something that we often hear a lot about. Yet we rarely ever seem to meet anyone who's actually putting that into practice. I love the idea of owning one really special, magnificent watch that I wear every day for the rest of my life. But on the same end, as a watch salesman, I'm in the cool position of owning some really special watches and growing really sentimentally attached to them. So I, I mean, I own an Auris Diver 65 Bico. That is my favorite watch by and large. I own a Breitling Navitimer. These are watches that I love and would like to continue to own, but I know I would enjoy wearing just one really special watch. What do you guys think about the OneWatch collection and do you know anyone who has actually put that into practice? Thanks so much. |
| Jason | Well, Carl, thanks for the question. I think your early mention of the fact that you're obsessed with watches is kind of the big difference between watch nerds and collectors and those who wear just one watch and probably why we don't see them in our sphere. And it's probably because they're not on the, on the forums and blogs and things or on TGN possibly, uh, commenting and participating because they're, they're kind of out in the world doing stuff with their, with their one watch. I mean, not to be glib about it, but I think, um, those people buy a good watch due to filling a need or use in their life. And then they go for something either, I guess disposable or cheap, or they buy one really good watch and then just, they don't want to have to think about fixing or replacing or taking wrist shots of it and things like that. They just kind of throw it on and wear it. I think, I guess I've just come to terms and it's funny just in the past couple of years with the fact that watch collecting is, it's about collecting an appreciation of something as collecting cars or stamps or anything else is as opposed to, you know, buying something, for a strictly utilitarian purpose. And that's, uh, that's probably why we don't see those people. And it sounds like if you're obsessed with watches, you are not obsessed with just buying a tool, you know, one watch that you want to wear, but you want to appreciate a range of them and that's fine. You know, that's your interest. That's your hobby. |
| James | Yeah, I totally agree. You know, I don't think I'll ever be a one watch guy while I work in this industry. Yeah. Maybe I'll become one as an old guy. I don't know. Yeah. Um, sometimes it's to suit a need. Sometimes it's to scratch an itch. And I think if you're more on the itch side, you'll never, you'll never be a one watch guy. Especially if you have a couple that you, that are important to you, that's already over. It might be, I think it's one thing to have one that is kind of your go-to, your daily, if you want. And then maybe the others are special or you're saving them for family members or offspring or whatever. But in total, I think the big thing is just a question of, do you have one watch and does that kind of fill your entire interest in watches or not? And for, I think for most of us, it's not. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Yeah, if that makes sense. All right, we got another one from Andrew about tough heirlooms. |
| Andrew | Hi, guys. My name is Andrew. I live in Bakersfield, California. As you can tell from my accent, I'm originally from North Carolina. I come from a long line of farmers and blue collar men. And unfortunately, these hardworking men never passed down a family heirloom timepiece. With the recent birth of my first son this January, I've become enamored with the idea of selling all my watches just being a one watch kind of guy. I'd like to buy a birth year everyday watch that my son will symbolically associate with me for the coming in the coming decades and will one day inherit. Do you have any recommendations for a what I call a workhorse heirloom? A timeless design with rugged dependability? I mean I'm kind of I lean more towards tool watches the tutors and sins and and other kind of like just real tough tool watches for sure. That would be worthy. I want something that would be worthy to be passed down to my son and ideally the sub $5,000 category. I mean, I know that's entry level for Hodinkee users, but for me, that's kind of the max. So if you could give me some tips and ideas, specific models that I could check out, I would really appreciate it. I thank you for your time and keep up the great work. |
| James | Pay Andrew. Great question. First of all, congrats on the fresh boy. That's awesome. A big, big day. And honestly, under five grand is also would be my max. I've never spent more than that on a watch. I don't intend to in the, especially with the way pricing is going. So I think that's a very realistic thing. I also like that you've got a budget locked in. I would go, I would go really simply on this for something that I think is, is kind of like you said, tough, but heirloom quality. I would get a black Bay 58 blue call around, see if you can either get on a list or if someone actually has one and just snap it up. You know, Tudor's not going anywhere. You'll always be able to get it serviced. If you break a major component, it's repairable. I think it's very much similar to buying a Rolex in the 90s. You know exactly what you're getting into. They've obviously done a big thing in ramping up their support system in the U.S., and that's where I would lean. I think you'd go really well with a Zen, but it's an entirely different buying scenario, right? You're going to be buying from one retailer and they do a fine job, but it's online only. And I think with the Tudor, you could walk into a store, you could forge a relationship that could help with service moving forward. Maybe you have watches, like you mentioned, that you'd like to sell. Maybe that includes trading them in towards the Tudor, if that's more simple. So that might be worth checking out some local options for Tudor. That's where I would lean. And I think either for me personally, it'd be a Pelagos or a 58 Blue. I'd go Blue either way. Both excellent options. The steel is going to hold up a little bit better. over time, but once you get enough scratches in the titanium, it's going to look awesome. So, uh, you know, six of one half does it the other. |
| Jason | Yeah. I, I, I tend to agree. I mean, I think a tutor is a solid choice. Um, I was going to throw out like a Zen or a Braymont or even, you know, some of the, some of the nicer Seiko divers, I think, you know, heirloom is, is a tricky term. Um, but you know, Andrew, you said, do you come from a blue collar background and I think James, you and I can both sort of identify, I think we've both written articles about, you know, our fathers and their watches and kind of our own upbringing. And I think to me, you know, if I inherited like a, I don't know, 20 year old Seiko diver that my dad wore for 20 years and did a lot of cool stuff with, uh, I'd be quite pleased with that. Um, how much are the new Explorers? Are they, do they tick in just under five or are they closer to six now? |
| James | Um, I mean, Canadian they're, they're pushing seven. |
| Jason | So I think we're outside the budget. |
| James | 65, something like that. |
| Jason | I think I'm going to defer. I'm going to defer to your, your, your blue, uh, black by 58. I think that's, uh, I think that's probably the best choice all around. |
| James | One other thing to consider. And I know this is a weird thing, but I think about it a lot now that, um, after doing the whole father's day loop, take some pictures of you, have some pictures of you wearing the watch. Isn't that true? Geez. Cause it'll build in, it'll build. Like I went through this whole thing with my father's graduation watch and there's no photos of him wearing it. And, and you know, Just make sure it's on your wrist and get some pictures on vacation and tie that watch into the story of your relationship with your son. And I think that's where, whether it's a Seiko or a Tudor, goodness, you could not pick two better brands for the task. But if you're willing to spend five grand, I think the Tudor is more special for the money than most of what Seiko has, especially if you're talking more like, say, $800 to $1,500. But if you've got the budget for the Tudor, use it, get some photos of it, build in the memories. when he's old enough, let him wear it around for a day. Like, you know, kind of, kind of make that connection between that's, that's the way I would go for sure. Next up we have one from Rowan. |
| Rowan | Hi James and Jason, Rowan here calling from Alaska. Really love the show and I appreciate the recommendations of watches, gear and other media content that you have. I only recently discovered your podcast and I'm working my way through your extensive back catalog and loving every minute of it. My question today is about watch disappointments. While I've only been interested seriously in watches for about a year, I have had a watch or two that, for whatever reason, didn't meet my lofty expectations. Perhaps the press release photos were a little bit misleading, or just didn't feel right on the wrist. I'm curious if you have any experience with this, where you coveted a watch, obtained it, and for whatever reason it just didn't live up to the billing. Curious to hear your thoughts, and as always, keep up the great work. |
| James | So much for the question and for following along with the show. Glad to hear that we, uh, we caught your attention and so far we're still holding onto it. Uh, Jason, what, what do you feel? You got any disappointments, anything that didn't live up? |
| Jason | Only one comes to mind. I might've mentioned this once before, but, uh, you know, at Basel a couple of years ago when Zodiac debuted that aerospace GMT with the kind of golf racing colors, I was like, I really wanted one. And, uh, you know, they sold out very quickly. They only made like 182 of them or something. And I, I managed to, I managed to find one. Someone sold me theirs, like they bought it and flipped it for the same price as new. And I snapped it up and just didn't bond with it. I mean, you know, watches are so subjective. I'm not going to say anything negative about the watch. I don't think, I think it's a fine watch. It's cool looking, but to me it just looked, it looked cooler in photos than on my wrist. Just didn't wear well on me. I didn't care for the, the bracelet and I took that off. And then when I put straps on, I just couldn't find just the right strap and something about the size and the lugs just didn't, didn't suit me. So I'm kind of moved it on after not wearing it very much. But, uh, that's, that's kind of the only one that comes to mind. How about you? |
| James | Yeah, I would say that, uh, I have the ones that I've bought that didn't really work for me are Seiko fives. I have yet to find one where I put it on and it feels kind of, as special as an SKX or 777. Those are more expensive watches. So I don't think the price is the factor. They just, there's something less permanent feeling about some of the fives, but I still recommend them to people who are getting into watches. I think by the time that I had, I think I might've skipped the five stage and kind of jumped right into monsters and 007s and stuff like that. So the Seiko fives are the only one where when I, when I see them, I always have to remind myself like, Oh, I know that you like the way that looks, but you won't be that thrilled when you get it in. And it's not, I don't, I genuinely don't think it's a cost thing. Cause I have $40 Casio's that I really like and like scratch, like scratch and itch or have an appeal that speaks to me. And for whatever reason, Seiko fives don't, and I know it's a strange thing to hear us say anything less than effusive praise for Seiko on the show, but the fives, even up to the brand new five diver, I think it's a perfectly good watch. It's not something I would ever, go for. I would rather have the 777 or the SPB 143 or even just my 007. There's a lot out there, and for whatever reason, the 5s never really hit the appeal for me. And then the other side is ones that I dreamed about for a long time and then got a chance to try on. So I didn't buy them, but I tried them on and I just went like, I don't have the wrist for these watches. And that's pretty much any Breitling Pro Diver. You can call it the Steelfish. You can go with an Avenger. You can go like, there's about 10 of them. I can't tell you how much, like 2015 James wanted one of these. I still, to the day, I adore the way they look. They're distinctive. It's their own style. It's the rider tabs. They're chunky. And then I put them on my wrist and like, I have a seven inch wrist. I can't fight the fact that I can't wear a big 44 millimeter dive watch. I just, I can't pull it off. The same thing happens with, um, wanting a Planet Ocean. The 42 millimeter Planet Ocean is an incredible watch. It's just a bit thick on my wrist. It sits up off the bone. And I, if they made a, uh, you know, that one with the gray bezel. Yeah. Yeah. I love, I love that watch. I love it. When I see pictures of it, I think it's a great design. I think again, it's distinctive and cool. And then I see it in person. I put on my wrist and I go like, maybe it's a strap thing and it's not a strap thing. It's just, I got the wrong wrist for it. And maybe, maybe in another life I'll have a, like a big, you know, eight and a quarter inch wrist. And I can, I could wear just about anything. |
| Jason | What about the 38? You should try the 38. Yeah. |
| James | Yeah, that's true. I should try the 30. I don't know if I've ever seen and like had one in my hand. Yeah. |
| Jason | I don't think I have either. My Gashani is a 37 and a half millimeter chronograph from the very early days. Oh yeah. And it's cool. It's, it's a bit thick for its size, but I haven't seen, I don't know that I've handled any of the modern non-chrono ones. That'd be fun to try. |
| James | Well, yeah. Yeah. Fair enough. Good note. So again, thank you for that question, Rowan, and we'll move on to one from Tristan about water intrusion. |
| Tristan | Hi, Tristan here from Germany. So my question is, how meticulous or OCD are you when it comes to possible water intrusion in watches? I happened to get condensation in two dive watches before and had to have them repaired. Did you ever have to check by yourself if a bit of water got inside a watch and how would you do so? Would be great to have your feedback on this. |
| Jason | Thanks, Tristan. I'm not an OCD about much, but I guess that's probably the one thing I am OCD about is water intrusion in a watch, and for good reason. Even a little bit of moisture inside of any watch can start to corrode movement bits that you can't even see. So if you don't even get the mist under the crystal, or if you just kind of ignore that and let it go away after a while, chances are there's still moisture lurking about in the gears and springs, and you'll end up with trouble. In terms of how to check yourself, You know, the kind of the gorilla way of doing it or, or kind of DIY way would be, you know, if the watch is wet or in a humid environment and, and I know this from experience from many years ago, I don't remember what watch it was, but you know, you get in like it's a humid summer day or you've been swimming or something and you get in a chilled air conditioned car. And like, you've got the watch next to the vents of the car blowing full on air conditioning. Um, it'll, it'll mist up under the crystal as it changes temperature and And then you kind of know you've got a problem. Um, it's kind of a, kind of a homebrew way of doing what, what a watchmaker will do. Um, when they test a case for, for water intrusion, although usually they take the movement out. Um, but yeah, I would say it's, it's worthwhile to be OCD about water intrusion. |
| James | Yeah, I totally agree. I don't really have anything to add. I don't, I don't really know how it, I guess the AC test would work. Good question, Tristan. Uh, next up, let's grab one from Quinn about depth gauges. |
| Quinn | Hey guys, this is Quinn from Arkansas. I had a quick question about depth meters or depth gauges on watches. And I've been doing some more free diving lately, and I've been wanting to start keeping track of the depths that I've been swimming to. And I've been looking at some of the watches that have depth meters on them, and they all either seem to be really large size watches, or either really expensive. So I was wondering if you guys knew of any sub 40 millimeter depth gauges, whether it's just a depth gauge or a watch that has that feature. So if you guys could help me out with that, I'd appreciate it. |
| James | Hey, Quinn, thanks for the question. That's an interesting one because you didn't mention a budget, but you did say like not too expensive. So I hope when you mean not too expensive, you're talking about like IWC, what are those called? Deep 3, Deep 2, stuff like that. And I think, and Jason, you would know this technology maybe a little better. I think the bigger ones, it's because they need room for the membrane to actually move. |
| Jason | Yeah, I think so. |
| James | Based on the pressure. So the two that jumped to my mind and Quinn, I apologize. I'll need you to hit the show notes for the Citizen, but there's a Citizen that I owned years ago. I paid under $200 for it. It was a full loom dial EcoDrive chronograph that also had a little depth meter on it, and it had the little gauge membrane on the left side of the case. I don't remember the model number, Jason. You know the one I mean roughly though, eh? |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason | I mean, so many Aqualands over the years that have had the depth gauges that, yeah, you can almost have your pick of them. |
| James | Yeah, I would say, uh, I would go either with, yeah, the Google out or, or watch recon or eBay or whatever. Um, uh, an Aqua land or buy, buy a Garmin that has the apnea setting, which is fantastic. Yeah. Which is incredible. I got a chance to use it the past weekend. Uh, you can set it up and just, you know, jump off the dock and go as deep as you can and you can come up and look at it. It's really fun. Um, the other option, the last one would be a, a, a mechanical depth, like diving wrist gauge. Yes. They're not a fortune. They're kind of big and clunky. It's not a watch, but, and the mechanical ones will operate where they have two hands. Right. And as you go deeper, um, one hand is active and one is the record. So if you go to 30 feet and come back up to zero, the zero, the, the active hand will, will come back up with you. And the, the other hand will stay until you go deeper. Um, which, which works really nicely. Uh, you'll have to memorize or, you know, make a note. Whereas if you do with a Descent or a Garmin that has the apnea feature, it's recorded. It goes right to your phone. You'll have the metrics for it and that kind of thing. So I think those are your two options. And I think that gives you a price range. Jason, you could predict maybe between say $150 and $1,200 for the Descent? |
| Jason | Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, the temptation is to resist getting a connected watch like a Garmin because you think, oh, I want to wear my cool dive watch on this. Once you try the descent and you use the apnea feature, it's utterly addictive. I mean, it's, it's, it's so intuitive and it's so clear. And fun that like, it's almost worth it just for that. Plus you can use it for downhill skiing and cycling and anything else. |
| James | Um, heart, heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking. |
| Jason | Yeah. You can check your heart rate monitor while you're free to get your notifications. Fantastic. |
| James | You can pair it with an in-reach and then if you go on any big adventures, it can It can send a text message to your family every now and then. It's a neat platform. It's not cheap, but it is a really neat platform. |
| Jason | I would say that the mechanical depth gauge from a dive shop or Leisure Pro or Amazon or something, there's one from Scuba Pro that you could just strap on your opposite wrist. They're about a hundred bucks and that works really well. Plus it looks cool next to your dive watch. You can wear them side by side. Super cool. |
| James | Yeah. And there is something kind of free divery about that big gauge on your wrist. That is kind of old school. It has that kind of seventies edge of sports. |
| Jason | The, um, the other, the only kind of more luxury option that would be the most affordable, I think of kind of a risk-based, uh, depth gauge in a, in a watch would be the Oris, uh, Aqua's depth gauge, which is certainly not affordable when it comes to, you know, a thousand dollars, it's closer to three or four, I think. Um, but it's cool and, and it will not memorize your deepest depth. So you'll have to check. you'll have to look at it while you're at your deepest depth and memorize what that depth is in meters. But, uh, I guess the one thing I would say, and this is just me being a responsible adult here is, uh, you know, it's, it's, it's addictive to try to hit depth, uh, records when you're free diving, but you should always have somebody with you. Um, you know, free diving is one of those sports that you think it's kind of dead simple and you can just kind of sit and snorkel and dive down. But the deeper you try to go, you can run into, uh, hypoxic situations and pass out near the surface. And if you don't have someone watching you, uh, it could be pretty dangerous. So just, uh, just a word to the wise. |
| James | Yeah. Especially because you're, you're probably going to get to the point where you're going for negative buoyancy to, to assist the first, you know, 15 feet or whatever. So, yeah, that's a, that's a good tip and a super fun question. And Quinn, I would love a follow-up as you please, as to what you get. Cause I think this is something that I'm kind of interested in. I would like to do more of it at some point. Um, so I'd love to hear what you, what you lean on. I think the Aqualand is maybe the watch coolest. Yeah. The Garmin's the most features and the, the scuba pro gate wrist gauge is probably like the most straightforward and, uh, and reliable. Yeah. Good one. Uh, all right, let's do another one from Ollie. |
| Ollie | Hi James and Jason. Ollie Ford here from Essex in the UK. And I've got a couple of questions for you for your monthly Q and A session. and in the style of a White House reporter, is one question with a couple of supplementaries. So, first of all, if you could have had the do-over in life, what would you have done career-wise? And then the follow-ups for that would be, if you could have lived in any era, when would that have been? And I think for myself, that might have been during the years of Edwardian exploration. And then finally, If you could have been a peer of anybody at any time in history, who would you have liked to have been a peer of? Don't know, maybe the likes of Scott Carpenter or Shackleton or Lewis and Clark. Interested to hear your thoughts. Take care, guys. Love what you do with the podcast and your writings, Jason, on Swim Proof. So yeah, take care, guys. Stay safe. |
| Jason | Bye. Thanks for the Interesting question, Ollie. Um, gosh, you know, multi-part here. I'll, I'll dive in and kind of quickly go through. You want to do all three? |
| James | You want to do one back and forth? |
| Jason | Um, yeah, let's do back and forth cause they're different enough. Right. Um, all right. |
| James | So first one would be, uh, uh, what, what you would do new career if you're starting over again? |
| Jason | You know, uh, I've often in the past thought, Oh, you know, if I'd started over, maybe I would have been like a marine biologist or, paleontologist or, you know, something like that. But the fact is, assuming I'm the same person or in this alternate reality, um, I'm terrible in science and math. Um, I probably wouldn't enjoy all the schooling that goes into it. Um, so I, I'm real happy. I mean, I like what I do. I like what I've done and I, I wouldn't really change it. Uh, I guess the one thing I would change is I would, I would have started it earlier. I would have, I would have hopefully had the confidence to kind of launch into freelance writing and and taking a stab at a novel back in maybe my 20s and 30s instead of waiting. Um, that said, I guess it played out the way it did because I needed the life experience to, to get to the point I did. So I guess I can't really, can't really say it would have been any better, but, uh, yeah, I'm, I'm pretty happy. How about you? What would you, what would you have done? |
| James | Test driver for Lamborghini? Yeah, let's see. Um, You know, there's a lot of personal decisions I wouldn't mind to do over, but as far as work goes, I think I found where I'm supposed to be for the most part. I think, um, I think if I couldn't do this, the dream probably would have been, yeah, something in cars. Uh, you know, I'm a little bit big to be a formula one driver, so maybe, maybe endurance or, or something, but, uh, yeah, something that cars would have been good. I don't have the natural skill. I think I'm a fine driver average. But, uh, let's say, let's say that skill set had been different. I think that would have been a fun route. The other one that I've always I'll be forever curious about, because I think it's a, it's a crucible of sorts would be the military. Uh, you know, there was a time in my life as a young man that that looked like a, an option, um, for some, you know, some learn some lessons, get some excitement, uh, see parts of the world, uh, that sort of thing. And it, it didn't pan out and it's probably for the best. Um, you know, my, my opinion on, on war and those sorts of things has changed in the preceding 18 years or so. But, uh, I think, I think that part would still remain very interesting, especially if, if I had, if it had been the sort of thing where I could have found my way into, um, into a special forces or, or, or something like that. I, you know, it's always something that, uh, a topic that has been interesting to me since I was a little kid. So I think that's probably where I land for the most part, but I think I'm best where I am now, uh, all things considered. Uh, what was the, uh, the second one? |
| Jason | Uh, if you could go back and live in any, specific era in history. |
| James | Do you have one for that? I mean, not within the socioeconomic confines of my actual upbringing. I think if I could have gone back and been part of the birth of diving, part of exploration, that sort of thing, for sure. But otherwise, I think this is, all things considered, a pretty special time to be alive. Yeah. Uh, you know, we've, we've witnessed the kind of rampant acceleration of technologies and other things like that. I think it would have been exciting to have been in, in my, in my, in my key years, say in the mid sixties, you know, to have experienced a space flight and, and the, the, the birth of, of really special automobiles and, and kind of this, uh, the post-war boom that, that happened in, in, or the kind of real payoff of the post-war boom that happened in North America. Yeah. But all things considered, you know, I definitely wouldn't go back a long way simply because quality of life was a lot lower. The life expectancy was a lot lower and that sort of thing. So how about you, Jason, would you, would you go back far enough to be, you know, on Shackleton's crew? |
| Jason | That always seems so miserable to me. I mean, you know, I mean, look at that famous ad, right? Yeah. Right. Right. Pretty accurate. Yeah. I think like you, I think, To me, I have a weird fascination with the mid sixties. I think that era, the cold war era, there was just so much, uh, you know, worldwide upheaval and advancement and innovation. And you know, there was a, an awakening of social consciousness. Uh, the pace of life was a little bit slower, um, just based on the different, more limited technologies they had back then. But what an era for design as well. I mean the cars, the watches, I mean the music from that era, you know, Absolutely. Jazz music, rock and roll, the birth of rock. |
| James | I mean, being able to see Pink Floyd live or go see the police live in your case, right? One of your favorites, like in a golden era. Yeah. |
| Jason | Yeah. I mean, it's tough, but I do think that you have to take the bad with the good if you do go back in time. And certainly there was enough bad back then. Yeah, I'm pretty happy with where I'm at now. |
| James | And finally, it was a contemporary. |
| Jason | Yeah. So a peer of anyone in history would be, I mean, okay. So I thought about this and you know, a lot of great heroes over the years. I don't know that I necessarily want to meet any of them and have my hopes dashed or my impressions dashed, but you know, you and I have this love of, of kind of that late sixties, early seventies adventure specifically with the making of blue water, white death. And absolutely. Um, you're going right where I was going off the blue Meridian. I want to do, I want to be on board the terrier while they're making that movie with Peter Matheson, Stan Waterman, Peter Gimbel, Ron and Valerie Taylor, you know, I mean, just, I don't know, that just felt like this rollicking adventure of a very specific era that really probably wouldn't and couldn't happen today. I don't know. To me, that would be, that's where I want to be plunked down. Um, at any point in history with, with any group of people, how about you? |
| James | You know, I, part of me would say like, it would have been neat just to have been a few years older and, and kind of found myself alongside guys like, uh, like, uh, crack hour. Oh yeah. You know, like imagine if you were in the same circles as someone like just someone that I've all eternally look up to, uh, for this to kind of steadfast dedication to his perspective and his work and, and that sort of thing. But, It's tough because, you know, the first place I went with Matheson as well, or Cousteau, but a lot of that, I think it's so much easier to appreciate just looking back at the good parts, right? |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Yeah. Right. Like, I think it would have been amazing to have been in the F1 world in the late 60s and the 70s, even the 80s, you know, but I think a lot of it, where I'm looking back with rose colored glasses, I don't know, maybe it wouldn't have been that fun or it would have been scary or maybe people were, you know, everybody goes through stuff throughout their life. And I don't know how much you, I would want to experience that firsthand. You know, I, it would have been amazing to have been able to watch Walter Bonatti climb. Yeah. Right. Like just one of the finest climbers of all time. Right. Um, but I also just like being able to go back and read books about him now. Yeah. And, and a lot of, I do find that, And this is, you know, I suppose where the whole don't meet your heroes thing comes from. But, you know, we live in a world where secrets aren't really kept that well anymore. People like to out other people. People like to, um, people like to, you know, try and try and cancel people and that kind of thing. And I think a lot of times you hear the oral history of these pieces of art or, or, you know, media that you grew up loving and it changes them. Yeah. Yeah. So I, yeah, I'm not sure. I'm not sure how much I would necessarily wish for that. Uh, you know, I think, I think it'd be easier to almost say like there there's people now that I would like to be contemporaries of or work with now. Cause I, uh, I value their work at such a high level. Yeah. And it wouldn't be a question of kind of changing my own timeline. Right. Right. I think that's where I land Ollie, but you know, a very interesting question, uh, for sure. And, and definitely one where we're, we're only through, uh, you know, seven questions at this point. I'm loving it. |
| Jason | It's been an hour or so. I'm loving them today. I mean, we've got, this one was good. And the, uh, uh, aquatic critters and depth gauges and, uh, and old Land Rovers and Jeeps. I mean, good, good stuff this week. I love it. Let's move into Charles. Charles has a question about Rolex versus other brands. |
| Charles | Hi guys. It's Charles from Michigan. I'm wondering with your perspective, if my recent watch journey says anything about the broader industry as a whole. So about two and a half years ago I decided to buy a nice watch like any noob. I went into the Rolex dealer and tried on every shape and size of Rolex they had. While nothing stood out to me, I kept looking. At the time I did look at Grand Seiko, but there wasn't much of a selection available. Fast forward about a year into the future and the Rolex counters are empty and have been empty for a couple of years now at this point. While if I look at the Grand Seiko case, there's all kinds of really neat inspired watch designs there. So my question is, is Rolex limits the availability of stainless steel models. Have you seen other watch brands that are able to take advantage of this vacuum in the marketplace that Rolex has left? |
| James | Hey Charles, fun question. So I, you know, in my mind, the one that jumps to, jumps to the forefront is Tudor has kind of filled a big piece of that role. We've already talked about Tudor in this episode, so we probably don't have to go too deep and some of their watches are hard to get. especially the BB-58s and now the more special ones with the bronze, the gold and silver and the rest. I think that there's been a handful of brands that have kind of seen this vacuum or in many ways, brands that kind of stepped into Omega's vacuum from a few years ago when they went from one price point to another, you know, Omega made kind of concerted effort with the coaxial movement to step up to, you know, more in the $7,000 to $15,000 range. than they might have been previously. And I think that, you know, there is a huge spread of great steel sport watches beyond Rolex. You know, Tudor, like I said, Zinn, I think has done a really lovely job of understanding who they appeal to. These kind of enthusiast sport watch fans, rather than there is something kind of more generalist about Rolex. Uh, and then the other one that comes to mind is, yeah, is it going to be Omega? It's going to be Longines depending on the watch. And, uh, and then I also think that, um, that Seiko, like not even Grand Seiko, like Seiko has prospects has really given the idea that you need to spend 10 grand for a dive watch that is high quality and also has like enthusiast credibility. Obviously there's a way bigger flex wearing a Submariner, but I'm, largely more interested in the guy wearing the Seiko. |
| Jason | Yeah, that's so true. |
| James | Yeah. You know what I mean? So I think that's where I would land. I think that as watches have gotten way more expensive, they've also gotten much better at the more entry level side. |
| Jason | Yeah, I would agree. We're really spoiled for choice. And I think, I'm not sure that it's been a conscious push into this vacuum that Rolex has created by its inaccessibility or its rising prices. I just think it's kind of this rising tide of all brands, uh, you know, raises them all. And they're, um, it's great competition right now and heightened awareness through blogs and podcasts and the forums and things. And I just think, uh, it's a, it's a good time to be a steel sports watch, uh, enthusiast. And there's, there's a lot of good stuff to choose from. So, uh, good question. |
| James | I do wish that grand Seiko would make a smaller everyday steel dive watch. |
| Jason | Oh, I know. I keep watching. I keep waiting. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason | Giant stuff. Yeah. |
| James | A lot of what they make is 47, 46. It's very thick. It's a very kind of, it's their awesome style and it's made to such a high level. I would never smirch a grand Seiko like they, they are amazing, but I really wish that the, and I guess they kind of did, they made the, um, the, the, you know, the 62 mastery additions. That's, that's what we're asking for. So there's a great option. That's 37, 38, four grand somewhere around there. Um, so if you can find one of those, the, the 2017 or 2018 was the first one, but they've done two or three since then. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | That, that, that's your grand Seiko that doesn't say grand Seiko, but is absolutely punching above its weight class. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason | Yeah. Killer stuff. All right. Next one from Adam question about, uh, modern designs and watches. |
| Adam | Hello, Jason and James. This is Adam long time fan and listener of the show. I've got a question for you about modern watch designs. Uh, of course, over the past few years, we've all talked and seen, heard all about watches that are quote unquote vintage inspired that, you know, kind of look to the past for their design cues or who are all inspired maybe by a Submariner or old type twenties or something like that. And I was wondering for you, what are some of your favorite watches that you see as being truly modern designs, um, that are somewhat divorced from the past, um, as much as can be? And yeah, which ones are your favorites? What do you like about them? And are there companies that you think are doing it right? Thanks. |
| Jason | Thanks for the question, Adam. I can take a, just a quick spin on this and then pass it on. But, uh, you know, we've, we've talked about modern designs in the past and, and there are a few brands that always pop up, um, their names and, you know, Bramont is, is probably the top of my list for, for modern design, like clean sheet of paper stuff. I mean, there are obviously some cues from, um, you know, old, you know, old watches from other brands and things in terms of marker shape or hand shape or some, you know, aged looking patina. But, um, I, I don't know. I think their case shapes and just their overall look is just so fresh. I think you could put Zen in there definitely has always been kind of their own thing and modern and no most. And I got to hand it to Seiko too. I mean, they, they, you know, they do these great vintage reissues like the ones you just mentioned, but, They keep introducing new designs and I don't love all of them, but, uh, you know, you even look across their dive watch line and it's like, there's always something fresh. There's always like some crazy samurai sumo monster, whatever. Yeah. Um, and they just keep pushing it. And you know, like I said, I, I kind of gravitate towards the old looking stuff, but, um, they're, they're trying to stay modern. Yeah. I didn't mention that you can think of. |
| James | Uh, yeah. I mean the one, the one that, I mean, I promise, I promise I really do that. I'm not just here to buzz market tutor, but the Pelagos, it has, it has one callback and it's that hand, the hour hand, one really strong callback. But that is, that is the modern, when you say modern sports watch, the first thing my brain thinks is Pelagos and the U 50, the Zen U 50, which is a nice small U series diver. Um, you know, there's like, yeah, I think, I think you covered most of them, Um, it's funny because the, the vintage watch thing is so prevalent now that it's almost hard to find something that is just, it just is a new, a new thing like residence, I guess. I think in many ways, and you're going to have to follow my train of thought here in many ways, Jorn is an incredible modern watch, despite the fact that the aesthetic is classic. It's not a callback. It's just, he's just, um, connecting it with, you know, a hundred, 150 year old, pocket watch and watch designs, but the outcome, especially if you look at like a chronometric blue with a tantalum case and that white handset, that's an exceedingly modern thing. I think there's a lot there. And then the other one that I would call out, and I know it's a brand that sometimes it feels like only I genuinely love is Hublot. They make some stuff that's way too big and is way too funky. And I don't understand the artists they always work with. Like I'm not in the whole of the Hublot world, but if you just want to talk about a big bang at 42 millimeters in titanium, That's awesome. It's such a good watch if you have the money. It's a beautiful movement. It wears really nicely. It doesn't have the same seriousness in terms of its baggage that an AP does or a Nautilus or an Aquanaut. I would say the other one that comes, like I just mentioned, is an Aquanaut. The Nautilus will always be the Nautilus, but the Aquanaut was meant to be the younger man's Nautilus, the more accessible, kind of modern. I think that that's another one to consider. Obviously, that's unbuyable to a certain extent. But those are the ones. And lastly, and again, man, with every addition to this, we're going up in price point, ReSharp Mill will always be kind of a deeply modern thing for me. The way that they approach even just the structure of the watch, let alone its design, is so cutting edge. So that's probably where I land. I mean, a lot of what is in the sub $5,000 range The hot thing right now is, yeah, is to make people feel like they have the vintage aesthetic, but with a kind of new quality, which is good. But yeah, Zen U50 and Tudor for sure. Uh, and like, like Jason said, a lot of Seikos are, are, uh, are in that, in that camp. So a fun question, Adam, let's keep moving. We'll jump to one from, uh, Neil about, uh, treatment for leather bands. |
| Neil | Hi, James and Jason. This is Neil from Champaign, Illinois, soon to be from Batesville, Arkansas. My question is, what kind of leather treatment do you suggest for a cordovan leather watch band? And do you put it on both sides or just on the outside? Thanks again for all your great work. Love it. |
| James | All right, Neil, that's a fun question. So for shell cordovan, it really is designed to not need a lot. In some ways, it's even, you know, water resistant to start with. But for any leather that you're looking to care for you, you want to kind of either keep it supple, you know, not dry it out or seal it off. Like with mink oil, I wouldn't recommend sealing it or using a silicon spray or anything like that, unless you're really specific in how you need, how you want to work with the leather. Um, on the other side, the way I care for my shoes, the way I care for my leather watches, whether they be shell or otherwise is with, um, it's a really simple product. I, you can get on Amazon, you can buy it at any store where Allen Edmonds shoes are sold. It's just called leather lotion. It's, um, it comes in a small white bottle with a black label and it's kind of like a, it's almost like, um, it feels like kind of like conditioner, like for your hair, it's a little bit thicker than that. And I've used it on everything from pretty much every, every pair of boots, including my Allen Edmonds and my red wings to the seats in the Jeep. It's just not very expensive. It's, it works a little bit like saddle soap. If you're, uh, you know, if you have experience with that product, but I like the smell of this stuff better and it seems to soak in a little bit better. Um, as far as specific care for Cordovan, I would actually go and find. Probably a company like Allen Edmonds or, or similar that works in Cordovan, you know, um, and see what they recommend and then just replicate the same thing in many ways. If you're talking about an online strap, where you have the, the kind of outer side that goes against it's it's the inside when it goes in your wrist, but I believe it to be the outer side of the leather. Um, I don't think you have to do anything to that. Uh, aside from you could keep it clean with a, with a simple brush. I think would probably be the smartest effort for that. And, you know, always be considerate about how much sweat you're dumping into leather straps. That's where you're really giving them a run because of the salt. So not only do they get wet, but then they dry out and then your leather becomes brittle, it cracks, it fades, the rest. It's just not that comfortable. So keep your leather nicely conditioned, nicely kind of supple, and typically it'll take care of you. |
| Jason | Yeah, that's good advice. I think I don't have anything to add. I've actually never serviced a leather watch band or even thought about it, but I think I think your recommendations about going with a kind of a shoe leather treatment or something for a belt obviously makes perfect sense. So we'll leave it there. |
| James | Cool. Let's jump into one from Mitch about logging dives. |
| Mitch | Hey Gushani, James, Jason. Thanks so much for the podcast. I really enjoy it. It's Mitch here from Western Australia and I'm hoping you can talk a little bit about your process for logging dives. Are you minimalist with just depths and times or do you take a more detailed approach and record pros and photos and those sorts of things? Personally, I'm a, I'm a minimalist, but I often wish I was a maximalist so that I could go back and relive some of the great adventures I've had. Thanks. |
| Jason | All right, Mitch. Thanks. Thanks for the greetings. I will pass those on to Ghoshani as well. Gosh, logging dives. So I, I'm kind of in the same camp as you, uh, in being more minimalist. And, uh, in fact, there were a couple of years in there when I actually stopped logging dives, you know, early on I was very meticulous. I had a book that would get very soggy and, The ink would run from my pen and all that sort of thing. And, um, I would keep track of depth and time and place and what I saw on the dive and the water temperature and all of that. But then after a while, I don't know if I just got jaded or just was diving too much. I sort of just stopped logging dives. And I kind of regret that. Um, cause I lost a couple of hundred dives, I think to memory, but what's really cool is with the, now that I'm using the Garmin, the descent, uh, it logs everything in the app. So it sinks just like if you're using. You know, it took to track a run or a bike ride or something. Um, it moves all that into the phone app and then you can add additional data as you please. But, uh, I just think, you know, the basics of. You know, depth, water temperature. The one thing that's really valuable for me in a log is water temperature and what configuration of gear I wore, because I've got, you know, seven mil hooded wetsuit. I've got dry suit. I've got a three mil. I've got a five mil, like. all these different weights of exposure protection and then the amount of lead that I have to wear. I always forget that stuff. I don't care how many times, uh, I've done a dry suit dive with, you know, twin tanks or something like I always forget how much weight to use. And, um, at the bare minimum, I, I, I really want to start being a little bit more, uh, vigilant with, uh, with recording all of that, but I think, you know, stuff you see on specific dives could be handy as well. I mean, if you're in a, in a kind of a cool new place and. You plan to go back a few years later, like you want to know what was the good site? What did we see there? You know? So there's, there's kind of a benefits to both approaches. James, how have you logged dives? |
| James | Yeah. So I actually keep a pretty disturbingly detailed log. I have one for everything I did before Clipperton, and then I have a separate one for Clipperton. I just never blended them. Um, but my log, it's just something that I keep in Google docs and I'll sit there with my computer and fill it out. I mean, I haven't dove in years. I'm hoping to, I actually just started the process yesterday of finding a shop in Toronto, uh, to service my gear and to go on some fun dives later this summer. But, uh, I have, uh, let's see, it's, uh, this one, this page is for the first 29 dives I ever did. And it's, um, location, date, visibility, maximum depth, surface interval, dive time, start PSI, NPSI, average depth, SAC rate, RMV rate, uh, which is, uh, sorry, RMV, which is respiratory minute volume. I have time in cumulative dive time, temperature, co-divers, guide or instructor, gear, weight, safety stop and notes. Wow. So it's 21 fields per dive. And, uh, and I can look back on it and I can know that on January 1st, 2014, January 19th, 2014, I dove Porto Cove was 10 meters, uh, visibility, which is excellent in that area. Um, we were down for 32 minutes on this dive. I went through, uh, let's see, 28, uh, a hundred PSI, uh, average depth of 9.1 meters. Uh, you know, Jason, you dove Porto Cove. You don't have to be deep if you don't want to, uh, there. And I could tell you, you know, My cumulative dive time at that point was 625 minutes. It was a five Celsius at depth. I dove with a guy named George. My instructor was Paul. Uh, this is one of my earliest, uh, or no, this would have been dry suit. I was diving with my stiletto, my S 600 regs. Uh, I have it down to 28 pounds. So I can see here that at some point I learned 34 pounds was too much. So this is my first time, um, where we did the safety stop, uh, what we saw, et cetera. |
| Jason | Wow. That's good. I mean, I think that's the more the better. |
| James | I mean, if, if, yeah, I would say it's really important for your first 20 dives. Yeah. Yeah. Because you're, you're going to really, especially if you're not diving like weekend after weekend, after weekend, you're going to forget what weight you use last time and whether it was too much or too little, you'll forget what under layers you wore. If you're doing dry suit and you're just learning and you're, you're grabbing everything from your normal ski equipment short of your shell to try and keep warm. It's nice to be able to look back and go like, Oh, well, I know the water was five Celsius and I wore, um, you know, a hoodie and my blue fleece and my T5 leggings and, and to have all that stuff, but really weight is important. I think if you're really a data nerd, it's fun to know your SAC rate. So that's your surface air consumption rate. Um, because it can really help you to see if you're, if you're diving enough to actually dive calmer and calmer each time and breathe less basically. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Um, so you should be able to see that improve over time. And typically for me, it's not that it improves over time cumulatively, but like when I went to Clipperton, my, my SAC rate was terrible when I started the first two or three dives. And then if I look at the same page, um, the same thing, you know, 20 dives later after, you know, nearly two weeks on the boat, it was half. So you're just, it really is, uh, uh, you're able to track all these things. And I think it's important to keep a metric of it. And now that I have the descent, I'll probably start just adding notes in the dive app for the descent, which is fun. |
| Jason | All right. Well, thanks for that, Mitch. Continuing on, we are moving topic to topic here. Now we're going to talk about pro camera servicing with Jules. |
| Jules | Hey guys, this is Jules and Albuquerque. My question for you is knowing that both of you use a camera quite a bit to make a living, do you subscribe to any pro services such as ones from Canon or Nikon? to periodically send in your lenses or camera bodies for calibration and cleaning. I'm a hobbyist, but I take photos almost every week and have considered doing that and just wonder what you think about the value and if there's any other third party services you would recommend. Thank you very much. Enjoy the show. Keep up the good work and take care. |
| James | Hey, Jules. So that's an interesting question. And the easy answer is I don't use any of these services. When I was really dedicated to the Canon platform, I didn't take my camera anywhere where the dust or the cleaning. So I would just get it cleaned at, at my local Henry's. It's a camera outlet in, um, in Ontario here. I would just get mine cleaned at Henry's. Uh, if I started to see specs on the, on the sensor, you know, when I was editing the images, if there was dirty, I would get it cleaned. And that's, you know, it's not expensive. It was 50 or 60 bucks. I think usually. And, uh, that's super simple. It's also something where if you're patient and want to watch the YouTube channels, you can learn to clean your own sensor with the right tools. It's pretty safe. Um, and then as far as lenses being out of calibration, it's not something I've ever experienced. Uh, you know, especially I've, I've, I've used lenses that are out of calibration. Usually it's a macro lens that's been dropped or not cared for correctly and they back focus. So there'll be a millimeter or two off of what you actually, what the camera actually thinks is in focus. And that's super frustrating, but when you factor for the cost of it and the fact that it never happened to my lenses, it's, you know, stuff I've borrowed from Hodinkee that needed some service. Uh, when you factor for the cost of a $250 lens versus, uh, you know, the subscription to a professional service, it makes more sense just to have the lens serviced, uh, outright. I could see it really being a different scenario. If I was essentially a working photographer, if it wasn't just one aspect of what I did, if I had a table full of gear and multiple bodies and you're kind of, You have to be able to have them serviced while you're working. So you're either getting loaners or swaps or something like that. So I think in the right scenario, they make a lot of sense. For me, I've always just been in a scenario where if something didn't work, I either had a backup, a different lens I could shoot for the project, or I would just take it to my local shop and have them sort it out. The other flexibility that I have is typically when I need anything outside of my Leica Q or the 5D Mark III with the hundred macro, which is what I shoot 99% of stuff with. I just rent it. And then you don't have to worry about any of the additional costs. |
| Jason | Yeah. I personally, we, we, Gshani and I, we've never used a camera servicing a contract or anything like that. We've had cameras in for repair that have gotten some moisture in or dropped or just malfunctioning. Um, I, I clean sensors every now and then we have the little kit with a swab and, and the fluid and, uh, it's, it's pretty simple to do. Um, but no, I've, I've never, never had a contract. Um, just, just, uh, fix it if it's broken, I guess. |
| James | Fun question though, Jules, I hope, uh, I hope that's helpful. If you, if there's another, if there's a scenario in which it's, you know, you found some great value and it dropped us an email, I'd be interested to hear how that aligns for you. Um, and next up, we've got one from Tony about, uh, hiking in New Zealand. |
| Tony | Hi, James and Jason. It's Tony here from Sydney, Australia. Love your podcast and all the other things you do. Jason, congratulations on the book. I've got a holiday coming up in New Zealand now that Australia has a travel bubble for about two and a bit weeks, mostly in the South Island, Queenstown, down to Milford Sound, back up to Mount Cook, over to Wellington, et cetera. every day doing about a two or three hour hike slash walk. The question I have is a gear question with a little bit of watch thrown in. For that type of holiday, what would you recommend as a day pack? What watch would you recommend? And what shoes slash boots would you recommend? Thanks very much. Keep up the great podcast. Have a good day. |
| Jason | All right, Tony. I mean, that sounds like an amazing trip. New Zealand, South Island is one of my favorite places in the world. And, uh, I hope with the most recent lockdown you guys are experiencing in Sydney, I hope you're able to still get away for that. Um, in terms of a day pack, my go-to is consistently a Patagonia black hole. Um, specifically the 32 liter version. Um, I think it kind of hits just the right size, um, for, pretty much anything you need for a day hike, a good, and it sounds like two to three hours, I think you'd be well set with like this size. It might even be a little big for that, but you know, you can carry plenty of water, both inside and outside. It has enough pockets, um, and it has some light kind of waterproofing. It's not quite a dry bag, but it'll definitely shed the, the rain you're likely to experience down there on the South Island. In terms of boots, I think again, you know, day hiking, you want something light, but I think Uh, as I recall from, you know, Milford track and some of the passes you hike over, it can be rocky and muddy and slippery and a little bit of support would be nice as well as I think I would go. Uh, waterproof. I think a lot of times waterproof boots, uh, can be overkill, um, for, for what you need. But I think in this case, something like, uh, Arc'teryx does a great boot these days. I've got their old, um, Bora boots, which they don't make anymore, which are fantastic, but. They make one called the Crux and then they make another one called the Arios. And I think, you know, just, just based on my experience with fit and finish, um, they're, they're really one to consider. And then I've, I've got a pair of old and James used to have these two of these, uh, Scarpa kind of approach shoes or hiking shoes, the Crux, um, they make, it's a nice shoe. I think they make a kind of a higher top hiking version called the Mojito GTX that has some Gore-Tex. And Scarpa is just a great day hiking choice. I think they make a lightweight, modern, narrower toe boot with usually like a full rubber rand, kind of like a climbing shoe. And then, you know, Salomon has some good options. I think any of these would be good picks. As for a watch, you know, I'm not sure what you have for personal options in your collection, but, you know, I think if you're kind of hiking and it's damp and maybe a little muddy and raining and whatever, I think you go you go light and tough and something you don't really need to think about. I mean, maybe even something courts and definitely, you know, on a NATO strap. Um, I think anything on like a bracelet or a heavier steel watches can get annoying when you're, when you're hiking every day and you don't really want to have to think about or feel your watch on your wrist. Gosh, something like a, you know, a solar Seiko or, you know, uh, I don't know, uh, CWC or something like that, that you can kind of snug up nicely on a, on a NATO strap and not think about, but it'll be there for you. Those would be my picks. James, what do you, what do you think? Like if you aren't doing a digital kind of connected watch, what would, what would be your go-to hiking watch from, from what you have now? The Explorer? |
| James | Um, yeah, probably. I would definitely consider the Explorer for sure. I would want something, the big thing for me, especially if I was, um, if I was doing kind of a, some, some camp hiking would be just good loom. I want to wake up in the middle of the night and know if that's the time I'm supposed to be pushing out for the day or if I can go back to sleep. I would also, I'm not saying you have to go the Garmin route, but consider something that could give you the low pressure warning. You know, the Casio does this, Suunto does this, and they have the altimeter barometer compass. A compass is going to be helpful, right? And then on top of that, maybe something like a Rangeman 9400, Um, it's kind of a big watch, but it doesn't weigh anything. I wore one hiking for years in Vancouver, really solid to a watch giant. It's a big, big, big boy of a watch, but it'll tell you if you're going to have a sudden barometric drop. So the likelihood of poor weather, um, and which could be helpful to spend depending on it. Otherwise, yeah, I would, I would say, uh, man, that's the kind of thing I probably would have considered my, um, my now sold. Uh, aerospace, you know, light, easy to wear, uh, no loom on that, you know, given its age and such, but, uh, or, or a CWC, right. So with nice big hands and kind of no fuss, no muss, uh, wear it around. |
| Jason | Yeah. Good one. I mean, Tony, you know, have a, have a blast. I mean, just enjoy the heck out of that trip and you're there for a good long time. |
| James | So one thing that I would add is, uh, break in your boots. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Yeah, true. Don't, don't start breaking them in on the, on the field. I did this. I bought a pair of Solomon GTX is when I did a Baker's, uh, when I did Mount Baker and the second time I did Baker and I didn't appropriately put, you know, 50 or 60 kilometers on them before I should have just worn them to work and back every day for a while. Yeah. Break in your shoes. Otherwise you'll start the trip literally on the wrong foot in that you'll be covered in blisters. Um, I think we got time for at least one more. So let's, uh, let's keep going at it. Nice long episode here. So let's, uh, let's go with, uh, one from Martin, uh, with an interesting kind of two part question. |
| Martin | Hey, James and Jason, this is Martin from Charlotte, North Carolina. I have two questions. We'll be short. First one is primarily for Jason. I'm working on this collection of dad jokes that have been illustrated and I want to know what's the best way to try and go and get that published. I don't have the same type of connections you have. in the space to try and self-publish, I don't think at least. So do you have any recommendations on how I should go about getting this out there in the world? And my second question for both of you is, since Formula One is five races in at this point, at time of me saying this, which track would you like to drive on? What watch would you drive with? And this is something that whatever watch you pick can actually withstand the G-forces and all that. And which team would you drive for? Thanks for what you do and I'm looking forward to the next episode and all that you guys do going forward. |
| Jason | Well, Martin, thanks for those interesting questions. James, I think it's logical to have, maybe I'll take the first half of course. And if you want to take the, the F1 driving one, I'll leave that to you. Yeah, for sure. Martin, you know, congrats on the, on the budding book. It sounds, sounds fun. You know, I would say, you know, my experience has been short of, of being in touch with a couple of agents and talking to a publishing house. quickly went the self publish route and I don't really regret it. Um, but I have done a little research on, on getting a book published and, um, I would say, you know, given kind of the topic area of your book, you know, don't overlook the niche kind of small publishers. There are publishers, small publishers, and I would say don't even overlook, um, local options. I'm not sure where you're, where you're based, but you know, a lot of times your home city will have local small presses that, that specialize in very specific kinds of books, whether it's children's books or religious books or, or, you know, uh, illustrated books or whatever. And I would say just, you know, Google's your friend here and just, just look for publishers that specialize in those specific types. And they'll often have a section on how to submit a query, um, and, and practice writing a good query letter that really sells them on your book without going over the top or being too long winded. As well as prepping a sample excerpt, I think in your case, it sounds like your book has some illustration in it. You know, if you can create some sort of a manuscript that has, uh, has the illustrations in it or, uh, you know, some sort of a PDF extract, um, you know, get that stuff prepared ahead of time. Look for those niche publishers that specialize in the type of book you're, you're looking to publish and then just get busy and put the amount of time into writing and sending good query letters. weekly that you, you have been putting into actually creating the book itself. And I think, you know, nine times out of 10, you'll get either no response or rejection or, you know, a no thank you. But, um, there's always gonna be that one that, that comes up and says, yeah, I'm willing to give it a try. Send over your, your manuscript and let's take a look. And, uh, failing all that go the self publish route. I think you can, you don't have to make a choice. You can self publish. And then later, if the book gets popular or you get some good feedback or the right person reads it, chances are a publisher will pick it up or an agent will read it or something and then want to give you a hand with it. So good luck with it. And yeah, James, I'll pass over the second part of his question, which is completely unrelated, but I think it's probably more in your wheelhouse. |
| James | Yeah, yeah. As far as Formula One goes, this is pretty easy. I want to drive for Ferrari and I want to do it in Monaco. And I would probably do so with, uh, well, let's, let's dream big, a solid gold Daytona, uh, vintage Daytona, uh, on my wrist, preferably one with the expanding bracelet. So I, I, I can't remember if it's a six, two, six, three, six, two, six, five, but yeah, give me a solid gold Daytona, preferably one. I can get just barely over my, the cuff of my glove and, um, and put me in a Ferrari, if possible, a V 10. or even earlier, something with a stick. And then it's whatever it is, any car, you could put me in a, a rental Twingo for all I care. Give me, let me, let me run Monaco as hard as possible. Um, a couple of times, you know, until I put it into the wall, basically, uh, that would be the dream. You know, I've, I've been, I've been there. That is the course in my opinion, in the European theater and, uh, talk about a historic thing that if a few, if a few little chess pieces were different, we never would have had this track. It barely, still exists in, it's there for legacy in F1 today. It's so dangerous. It's so fast. It's so special. Um, that, that would be absolutely the move would be Monaco. Um, time for one more. |
| Jason | Yeah, we can do one more. |
| James | All right. Let's get to this one from Jeff. Popular question for us. |
| Jeff | Hey, James and Jason, this is Jeff from Northeastern Scotland. Uh, first I just want to say that I appreciate what you guys do and the inspiration that you give, uh, Actually, next week I am getting my scuba certification all finished up. It kind of came from you guys and your stories. So, again, from Wisconsin. So, Jason, you're not too far away. If you ever want to show someone new to scuba kind of the cool shipwrecks out in Door County or Lake Michigan, I'd be up for that. Anyways, I got into taking apart mechanical washes during COVID as kind of something to keep me busy. I knew that my parents had a drawer of old watches and kind of reached out to my mom and asked her if she had any old watches that I could take apart and put back together. So she gave me a bag and inside that bag I came across my old grandfather's Hamilton. And turns out, um, after a little bit of research, it is a 1965, uh, Hamilton Acumatic A605. Um, it's been in a drawer for 30 years or so. Um, but I know you guys have talked about, you know, a vintage watch. If it's not moving, it's fine. Um, but if you've got dry or no oil in there, uh, once that watch starts moving and ticking, then that's a problem. I did bring it to a local watch store. Um, their master, uh, or their technician, their watch repair, uh, was kind of hesitant to open it just because he said that he didn't really want to risk, um, finding something wrong inside that he couldn't find parts for. So the question really is, Hey, I got this vintage Seiko. It's got an EDA movement in it. Um, where do I take it to get it serviced so I can wear it and enjoy it? Um, again, thanks a lot. |
| Jason | All right, Jeff. Hey, congrats on the, on the, Impending dive certification. Great to have more Midwestern Great Lakes divers on the roster here. Just a quick note, I would recommend all new Midwest divers get down to Lake Wazee, which is in the Black River area of middle Wisconsin and dive the big flooded quarry there. It's like the deepest inland lake in Wisconsin, but it has some great clear water, kind of shallower stuff too. So it's a good place to get your feet wet, so to speak. In terms of your servicing that vintage Hamilton, you know, I'm kind of surprised your watchmaker didn't want to crack it open and even take a look at it. It sounds like it's not, you know, running horribly badly, but, but maybe it's, it's, it just needs a simple service. And most decent watchmakers should have no trouble with it. If it's something Swiss or ETA based. I did check with, with a friend, Justin Vrakos, who runs a Watchstiz vintage watch business out of, based out of Milwaukee and Justin's an old chum and he sells some really cool watches so be sure to check out Watchsteez. But he said he usually recommends when somebody asks a place to get a vintage watch serviced, a watchmaker named Andy at Ultra Vintage based in Ohio. And Justin works with him a fair amount on some of the watches that he sells. He did say that Andy does have some longer wait times given kind of his popularity and it seems to be a a dwindling number of good watchmakers that work on vintage watches these days. But, uh, I would say, you know, give him a try. It sounds like this watch has been sitting in a drawer for many years anyway. So maybe you don't care about a long wait time and you're willing to kind of put up with that to get, uh, to get an heirloom properly serviced. So check with that. I don't know, James, uh, does, does Roaldorf, does Jason take on stuff like this or not? |
| James | Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Roaldorf would be my first, as long as you're comfortable putting the watch over the border. Yeah. Right. I would say with a Hamilton, you mark it as a used watch for repair. You're not going to get a bunch of taxes. Uh, pretty common. The other one don't sleep on, um, the AWCI is find a professional. Oh, you can put in a zip code name, company and keywords. Uh, you know, this is the American watchmakers clockmakers Institute and they keep track of, of people that are kind of still working in the space and doing great work. And I'll put it in the show notes, but if you just literally Google AWCI, find a professional, there's a search feature. they can find somebody as close to you as possible. And that way you'd at least have a starting point because half the time it's, it's kind of like getting a vintage car service. Do you call them and you go like, Hey, I've got this. Can you guys do it? They go, no, but call this guy. And then, and then you get the connection. Um, and I think the big thing is, you know, just make sure you're going to a watchmaker, right? With a vintage watch, make sure you're going to someone who's been to school for it. Right. Um, or, or has been trained by someone who did. Uh, I don't think it's necessarily something you want to take to the mall. Maybe you're lucky enough to have a really good mall service option nearby. Otherwise, yeah, trust somebody like a Roldorf or like, you know, if, if Justin says that this guy's good, he's good. This is his business. That's a great, great recommendation. And AWCI has your back if you want something to see what's available nearby. |
| Jason | Cool. Wow. What a crop of cool questions this week. Yeah. We've got ran the spectrum today. |
| James | Yeah. We've got seven, eight, nine, about nine left. Um, from the crop. So we'll get to this and you know, in the next few weeks, we'll do another one that we picked to do this one today. Cause we couldn't come up with a topic. Uh, and, uh, and yeah, so that, that, that worked out really well. Thank you so much to everyone who sent in your questions. It means a lot to us. We really enjoy these episodes. It's super fun for Jason and I to not, not only not have to think about, uh, a theme every week or a main topic, but also just to hear from you guys and gals and everything, and to see kind of the variety of of things that everybody's into. It's super fun. So if you have a question for us, you can always just send us an email. If you want to text reply, thegreatnadoatgmail.com, but otherwise please record it as a voice memo into your phone and then just send us that file. Uh, you'll get a really kind of short answer from me just saying, Hey, thanks so much for your question. Stay tuned for our response. They get added into a folder and we get into them when we can. And we'll do another one pretty soon and probably get through most of what's left. So we could use more questions. If you got them, they don't have to be about watches. kind of anything that that's on your mind, anything you might think is fun. I think some of the best questions today were kind of watch adjacent questions or car adjacent questions. So, uh, super fun as always. |
| Jason | Yeah. And as always, thanks so much for listening. You can subscribe to the show notes via notes.thegraynado.com or check the feed for more details and links. You can follow us on Instagram at Jason Heaton and at J E Stacey and follow the show at The Graynado. As James mentioned, send your questions, thegraynado at gmail.com and either just an email or a voice memo. And if you're enjoying the show, please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts. Music Throughout is Siesta by JazzArr via the Free Music Archive. |
| James | And we leave you with this quote from John Lubbock, who said, Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass, under trees, on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. |