The Grey NATO - 159 - August Q And A

Published on Thu, 02 Sep 2021 06:00:15 -0400

Synopsis

This episode of The Grey Nato podcast features Jason and James answering questions submitted by listeners. Topics covered include recommendations for vehicle emergency kits, watch complications and designs listeners would like to see, unpopular watch opinions held by the hosts, Tudor's service model of swapping movements, gift ideas for getting a significant other into watch collecting, the ethics around re-homing an engraved vintage watch, tips for beginner snorkelers, and thoughts on specific watch models like the Certina DS Action Diver.

Links

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Transcript

Speaker
Jason Heaton	Hello and welcome to another episode of The Grey Nado, a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 159, our August Q&A episode, and we thank you for listening. As is the case with these Q&A episodes, I think we're going to dive right into the questions, James, but I think you had a couple of quick things you wanted to mention before we do that.
James Stacey	Yeah, I had a couple of notes I wanted to get to before we get to the questions. We did get a great crop of questions, so thanks to everyone who sent those in. Uh, the first thing is some of you might've seen on Hodinkee that I was tasked with, um, you know, kind of picking up, uh, hosting duties on Hodinkee radio. Uh, got a lot of nice messages. I appreciate all of that. This isn't necessarily the venue to chat, you know, extensively about a whole other podcast, but I did want to make something really clear to everyone who's listening. Uh, TGN does not compete with Hodinkee radio. We're not going to be changing anything about TGN. We're going to keep doing it. It's going to keep coming out on the same days we're going to continue to push to do weekly episodes and, and lots of great interviews and, and the same sorts of chats we had before, uh, you know, TGN is my, my vocation, my, my happy creative place. And, uh, Hoodinkee radio is an assignment that I'm, you know, thrilled to have and to undertake and to get a chance to, uh, you know, hone some skills, but, uh, to, to kind of distinctive things. And certainly me helping to run the ship for, uh, for Hoodinkee radio doesn't mean that we're going to change anything we're doing with TGN. So I just wanted to quell any concerns on that front. Second up, you know, we're certainly aware that the week we're putting this Q&A out is also Geneva Watch Days. It's a lot of new watch news. Thing is, we have to record these on Tuesdays to maintain our kind of schedule. So we didn't want to comment on all the watches when we haven't seen them all. There's actually some watches that are coming out later in the week that I think are definitely worth a look. So with that in mind, I would just say we're going to do a Geneva Watch Days episode next week, and it should be a good one. So look forward to that one. Without further ado, let's jump into the questions, eh, Jason?
Jason Heaton	Yeah, let's do it. Our first one is from Wesley, who's got kind of an overlanding truck prep question.
Wesley	Hey, James and Jason, this is Wes from Birmingham, Alabama. I have a question for you guys about everyday carry, specifically within your vehicles. I am the proud new owner of a 2017 Toyota Tacoma. And while I'm definitely not ready to go overlanding, I have spent the last month trying to piece together a few items that I like to keep in the truck regularly. Things like a flashlight, ratchet straps, a few things in case I break down. Are there any particular setups or kit that you guys have put together for the Jeep and the Land Rover? Whether it's an individual item or maybe a bag that you've put together with a few tools and other accessories. I'd love to hear what or if any suggestions that you guys might have. If there are any other Tacoma and TGN fanatics like myself out there, feel free to hit me up with your suggestions as well. You can find me on Instagram at Wesley.Garnett. Thanks so much, guys. Really appreciate it and enjoyed the weekly episodes. Keep up the great work. Thanks.
James Stacey	Okay, Wesley. Thanks so much for that question. Jason, what do you kind of keep all the time or most of the time in either of the kind of Land Rovers to keep you kind of going and feeling safe?
Jason Heaton	It's actually a pretty extensive list and it depends on which of the two old Land Rovers I'm taking and how far I'm going. Um, and there are some, some great resources that I've tapped for this, this type of list. There's a, there are Land Rover specific forums and places that I go to, to kind of get those listings and then just sort of general overlanding tips. But, uh, in general, um, uh, toe straps, jumper cables, and then I always take, uh, Some fluids, the common fluids that, that tend to get low or leak out on this. So motor oil, gearbox oil, um, and clutch fluid, which can be used, uh, uh, for the clutch or the brake, uh, brake system. You know, I haven't really done any off-roading in this, but I had signed up for an off-roading course in the spring that I've now postponed until I guess the end of September. And that came with a pretty good list of items that they recommend and almost require that we take. And one is a. uh, a tire patch kit, um, that you can kind of plug, uh, you know, holes that you get in your tires and then an air compressor. So you can air down your tires for going on, you know, soft sand or mud or whatever it might be. Uh, and then you'd need an air compressor to air back up when you're off the trail. So I bought a Dewalt, uh, battery powered air compressor that uses the same battery as my 20 volt Dewalt drill. And it's really compact. I've tried it. It works great for, for the car tires and it plugs right into the the 12 volt port in the truck. Um, so that's really great. Um, you know, I, I take kind of a, uh, a, a bare bones tool roll of, of kind of commonly used sizes of, uh, you know, sockets and open end wrenches and adjustable wrenches, zip ties, plenty of rags, a head torch that I keep for, you know, hands-free, uh, kind of tinkering in dark places. Um, plenty of rags and, and, um, one bit of good advice I got was to take kind of an old blanket or an old, you know, moving blanket or something that you can, you can lay on the ground. So if you're in muddy, dirty, you know, broken glass, strewn shoulder of a road or something, you have something you can lie on. Um, and then in addition, you know, there are a couple of things that, that maybe it's my own paranoia, but with, um, With either truck, if, if any of the, um, if the clutch master cylinder or slave cylinder goes out, uh, it's, you know, it's, it's kind of a no-go situation. So I've actually got, um, those two cylinders that I had ordered a long time ago. And I just kind of keep, and they're, they're small enough and compact enough that I can tuck them into a, the, the creative tools that I take along, um, which, you know, heaven forbid, I have to replace those on the side of the road. But if I do, I've got them. Also a starter motor. So the, the old Land Rover actually can be hand cranked or bump started because it's a stick shift, but with the Defender, which is a diesel that they're harder to bump start. So I actually have a replacement starter motor that mine was starting to make some weird noises last winter. So I bought a starter motor and I'm, I'm just thinking, you know, if I'm doing a longer trip, which I plan to do later this summer, early fall, I'm going to tuck that into it's heavy and it's a little bit clunky to carry around, but I thought. You know, um, might as well. So, you know, that, that's kind of a meandering haphazard list, but it is certainly, uh, um, kind of keep me covered or at least give me peace of mind. You know, we did that road trip to Iowa last summer in the old Land Rover, and I took kind of most of this sort of stuff and ended up doing a lot of kind of fluid checks along the way and, and, uh, ended up topping off fluids, but didn't need any of the other stuff, but it does give peace of mind. So for sure. James, you know, your Jeep is certainly newer, so I don't think you probably need to be taking, you know, clutch cylinders and starter motors and that sort of thing. What about you?
James Stacey	Yeah, I'm not carrying around parts just yet. Maybe we get there at some point. Definitely oil. But the funny thing is I probably only keep the oil in the Jeep because I don't want to put it somewhere else. It's just easy to have it in there. I'm a big fan of having some bags or like a spare toolbox or something with all sorts of stuff. I typically have some tools in the Jeep, But in scenarios where I wouldn't, I try and keep an entire set of tools that would allow me to get access to most parts of the vehicle. So a lot of the Jeep is Torx. So I have a Torx set and I have a, um, I have the, the kind of Jeep toolkit, the one that would have come with that allows you to even remove the top and the rest. Those are all handy. I think it's for any vehicle, um, for almost any usage, I think it's smart to have a properly sized socket for your, uh, wheels and a big breaker bar. Yeah. Even in a scenario where you don't necessarily know how to use a jack or put the wheel back on, it's important to have the tools in case somebody is willing to help you. Right. So it's one thing to not know how to do something because you haven't done it before. And I don't think that's something people should feel bad about if you don't know how to change a tire or install a spare or whatever. It's another thing to both not know how to do it and not have the tools. Sure. Um, so watch the YouTube video, you know, go to your local, um, what's the one in the Harbor freight is, is the one in the States and Canada. Here we have a princess auto and grab yourself a big breaker bar that allows, you know, a person of, of, uh, adult weight to really crank on, uh, on a lug nut. Uh, that can be helpful. Obviously, if you know how to use a jack and you're comfortable doing so that's helpful to have. I'm a big fan of having an air compressor. Uh, the Dewalt one that Jason has is the premium option. It's super handy. They're not that loud. They work really well. They use a known battery system. All of that is great. I have a wired one that I like a lot that I bought off Amazon. I don't remember the brand. It was just, you know, the one that had 8,000 reviews or whatever. And from bike tires to vehicle tires to whatever, it's super handy. It's not very loud and you can preset the, the, um, pressure.
Unknown	Yeah.
James Stacey	And then walk away if you're doing more than one thing at a time, which is super handy. I'll put that in the show notes. I think it was 30 or 40, maybe $50. Definitely worth having. And then, yeah, the easy stuff, always have a flashlight, have some way of signaling the fact that you're in trouble. Um, if you're in trouble, whether that's a road cone or a high visibility vest, you could tuck into your trunk, whatever, just something so that people know you're on the side of the road. Um, the other thing I'd recommend is if you have a breakdown on a busy lane and you use ways, Mark your position as car on the side of the road. Everybody driving on the road who also uses Waze gets a notification for that. I think people tend to overlook just how dangerous it is to stop on a shoulder. Yeah. On a highway, it's insanely dangerous to do so at night. So when you do, you need to make sure you're visible, keep your lights on, keep your flashers on. And, um, and just assume that, that you need to do everything and then don't stand in a position where, when your vehicle gets hit by someone who's not paying attention, you'll also get hit. Stay 10 feet away from the vehicle unless you need to, like there's some things to consider. And I know this is maybe outside the scope of the question, but I'm blown away by the behavior that I see on the shoulders on roads in North America, especially. Legs sticking out from underneath. Yeah. People who don't get all the way on the gravel. or you pass a car at night where they're clearly trying to work on the vehicle and they're on roadside and they don't have their flashers on. It's just a very strange, and I've digressed extensively, a battery for your phone. You don't want to have that time where you need some help and all you really need to do is call CAA or AAA or whatever and your phone's dead. And keep in mind, if you're in rural areas, your phone will be off of standardized networks. It might be on older networks or longer range networks, and that can be harder on your battery. Again, that depends on the phone, but it's worth considering. And then what I mentioned there, again, is have a CA or AAA membership so that if you need a boost and you can't figure it out or you can't change your tire or you need fuel and you don't want to walk 10 miles and you don't have a jerry can, et cetera, you can figure this out. And that way you kind of prepay for a problem or two a year. I think it makes a lot of sense financially. Yeah. Finally, I think, uh, one of those inexpensive roadside hazard kits, even though they're all cheap and some of the stuff that comes with them will only work once or twice still worth having. If you don't have a, um, uh, a siphon and you need one, the, the $1 one that comes in a $30 roadside kit is a, is a savior, right?
Unknown	Yeah.
James Stacey	It's a godsend. Yeah. I'm always surprised by how little people will keep in their car. Um, even when you can walk into a store and buy a kit, that's basically everything you need. Um, so consider one of those kits, uh, consider a membership and then beyond that, try and build out a toolkit that reflects what your vehicle needs. And a lot of times, especially if you're into a taco or a Jeep or a Land Rover, you can go on the forums and see what other people kind of keep in theirs to cover all their bases and then just build that kid out piece by piece. Yeah. That's what I would do. Yeah. Good question. Wesley, uh, happy driving in a really fantastic truck. Good pick. Yeah. Next up, we've got one from Ian questioning alternate universes and the complications they're in. Hi, guys.
Ian	It's Ian here calling from the UK. I want to say thank you, firstly, for everything you've done in terms of producing this content throughout the different lockdowns we've been in. It's been much appreciated. My question to you is this. It's an alternate universe where TGN has assembled the world's greatest watchmakers, technologists and designers. And they have the power to create entirely new watch technology without any limits or boundaries. And their question to you is firstly, what watch complication that doesn't exist, would you want them to create? And secondly, which brand and model would you want that new complication integrated into? Thanks guys.
James Stacey	That's a tough question, Jason. You got any ideas for this?
Jason Heaton	Well, the one that came to mind was a complication that, uh, has kind of haunted me for, for years or bugged me. And I know, I know it might exist and you probably know better than me, but at a higher level, like a Vacheron level, but it is a GMT watch that keeps track of those countries that have half hour offsets in their time zones. Oh, sure. So that's particularly useful for me because, you know, with my wife coming from Sri Lanka and visiting there often and calling family over there, Uh, Sri Lanka is a half hour off. So it's, I think it's some time of the year, it's 11 and a half hours off. And sometimes it's 10 and a half hours off, depending on our daylight savings. You know, certainly I can use a digital watch or a, you know, the, the Seiko Arnie or the Aqua land or whatever, and just set that. But in the mechanical watch, you know, GMTs and world timers typically go by, you know, just on the hour and. I'd love to see a GMT that, that accounts for that half hour offset in, in certain time zones. I think, you know, Indian standard time, Sri Lankan time, uh, and a few other countries. I think it's a very niche complication of course. Um, but it would, one would be one that that's very useful to me in terms of which brand and watch I would like that in. I mean, geez, give me any GMT that does that in kind of a sports or dive GMT. I think, you know, we've talked enough about wanting a Pelagos GMT, that would be fantastic or. Um, but throw it in the black Bay GMT or, or the Bremont S three Oh two, we can call it the S three Oh three or something and, and include that. Um, I just think a sports watch, like a, you know, when I go to Sri Lanka, you know, I'm always hiking or diving or, or whatever. So I want something rugged and travel worthy. Um, and I want it to account for that, that half hour offset. So that's, that's my choice in our alternate universe.
James Stacey	What about you? There aren't many watches that would track, I think we're at 37 distinct time zones in the world currently, 36 or 37. Russia also likes to change which ones they observe and don't observe. So I know that watches like the Glashutte Original Cosmopolite are capable of managing all of those. And of course, if something changes, the watch has to be fixed or changed, updated, if you will, to manage that. But I do like the idea of simply you know, finding some modification of a more simple GMT platform that would allow you to half hour jump the hand, right?
Unknown	Yeah.
James Stacey	Yeah. I guess your other option would be to have a watch that showed two distinct time zones with minutes and hours. And that way you could just set the second one to anything.
Unknown	Yeah.
James Stacey	Cause then it would work because there's some, some, some of the offsets aren't one hour, they're 15 minutes or 45 minutes. Um, which is, you know, confusing, right? If you're, uh, Myanmar, Iran, Afghanistan, you have half hours, but if you're Nepal is, is plus five 45 on UTC. Yeah. So, I mean, it's, it's, it's in, in new Zealand, uh, also is plus UTC 1245. Uh, so, I mean, it's, it's, that is an interesting concept and certainly a better answer than any that I came up with. And in my mind, I love the idea of, um, of some sort of nanotechnology that could be added to an old watch. Um, that would give it more longevity. Um, and, and so imagine if you could, if you could think of some tiny little system that could be installed in a watch that could set, set and regulate its time on its own in, let's say you could do this in a 30 year old or 40 year old dive watch now. So you could buy a vintage dive watch. It would be able to set its own hands. It could also start to measure all of the tolerances of the movement. So you'd know when it needed to be repaired or serviced.
Unknown	Yeah.
James Stacey	Um, and then it could have other conceivably other features, whether it's a, you know, maybe the hands do a little dance when you get a message or, or something like that was the only thing that came to my mind is like, how could we kind of take something old that we love and somehow kind of make it something not more necessarily more useful, but something a little bit more future-proof. Yeah. Tough question though, in many ways to, it's a bit like trying to imagine a color you haven't seen before, you know, think up a new complication, but I do like the idea of a more democratized, flexible GMT system that's not just the hour setup. That's a good answer.
Jason Heaton	Thanks for that question, Ian. Really, really interesting one for us. Let's move on to our next question from Jason, who has a question about kind of watch blind spots.
Jason	Hey, Jason and James. This is Jason in California. A big fan of the show. Appreciate all the hard work you guys put into it. So my question has to do with what I'm calling blind spots in the watch market. And, you know, is there a price segment where a watch doesn't exist that you'd like to see exist? And I'd love to hear, you know, what type of watch that would be, the price segment and who would make that watch. And I'll give you an example. So for me, I'd love to see a dress watch in the under $400 category, a two hand quartz, you know, something that isn't super gaudy and it's just very timeless. And I would love to see Helios tackle that. You know, maybe make it 100 meters of water resistance. Keep it under 10 and a half millimeters thick. I think that could fit into their ethos. But I want to hear what you guys think. Thank you.
James Stacey	All right, Jason, thanks very much for that question. That's a that's an interesting one for sure. And, you know, the idea of a quartz Helios dress watch. I'm not sure that I can see it. Offhand, but who knows? I guess anything's possible in the future. For me, I think there's still a big hole that we've talked about many times for a sort of flyer, you know, local jumping GMT movement under, say, two grand. We're starting to see the one that's sourced in the Swatch family. It's an ETA-CO7 something or other, I believe. I'll find it and put it in the show notes. so we're not confused. But we're starting to see it in some watches, including things like the Mido Ocean Star GMT, but that's a 44, 45 millimeter watch. And I would love to see them take that movement and put it in something. Imagine if it was something like the Mido Ocean Star Tribute, which is a 40 millimeter watch that conceivably should be able to handle the same movement. I would just like to see that functionality, that local jumping functionality come to a kind of Not one or two. It could be one or two to start, but eventually a range of affordable do-anything GMTs. I don't think that this is a piece of technology that has to start at $4,500 with something like a BBGMT. And yeah, I know that the OceanStar GMT has this, and there's a couple others from within the Swatch family that use the same or similar movement and offer it. I just haven't seen any that kind of struck the balance in terms of size. I'm personally nothing against a big watch at all. But if it's for my money, I would like something around, say, 40 millimeters. And I think that could be a pretty compelling hole to fix. It's something I think Zinn could do a really good job at that price point. With that functionality, I think you could see lots of brands like Sertina, and, uh, and Mito and, and, you know, Swatch family value-based brands, uh, do the same thing. And, and I think people would, people would be here for it. I think, I think that we're so used to having the Etta option, which of course doesn't have local jumping. It's, it's more of a caller GMT and it's still very functional, just less functional for actively changing time zones. So it'd be neat to see both sides of that coin covered.
Jason Heaton	Yeah, I think so too. Um, I think another one that we've talked about and they're kind of blind spot that, that we've both have wished for was, a return, you know, by Omega to kind of more of a entry level kind of sea master with the sword hands. Um, um, I think even more than that, uh, moving up the, the kind of the, the swatch food chain, um, you know, one thing I'd love to see is, is Blancpain come out with, with an affordable dive watch. I think, you know, their history is not, um, at least with the 50 fathoms family is not in super high-end watches. It was very functional tool watches that were procured by militaries and sold in dive equipment catalogs. And I'm not saying that they should go back to that, but it, wouldn't it be nice to make, um, wouldn't it be nice to build a, to get a Blancpain on your wrist and take a diving for, you know, $5,000 instead of always right around 10. I think that would be great. You know, you've, you've talked at length in the past about kind of wishing that Panerai would return to kind of more affordable pricing as well. I think a few of these brands, uh, Bramont is another one that comes to mind, you know, they've, they've worked over the years to, to come in a little bit lower with, with some other more entry-level watches, you know, the, uh, armed forces collection, the Airco stuff, but you know, wouldn't, wouldn't like a $3,000 kind of simple pilot Bramont be, be nice to see, you know, get more people into the brand and kind of silence some of the critics. Um, you know, I think all of those, I think I think when, you know, in general, maybe the theme that I'm hitting at here is, is some of the higher end brands, you know, offering something, you know, just more affordable, but, but with similar quality.
James Stacey	Yeah. I don't, I don't disagree. I mean, it is, it is remarkable that a brand as big and kind of as known as Blanc Bond hasn't gone immediately to try to fill the vacuum of the fact that you can't go out and buy a Rolex sub.
Unknown	Yeah.
James Stacey	Yeah. Like, like make a general model, middle, not like middle of the road in terms of quality, make it a Blancpain, of course, but make something that like most people are going to agree upon. Like this is the core. Yeah. And make it in a, in a size that's like, just make a product that's in many ways, very Blancpain, but, but follows a Submariner format, or even just follow a 1950s Blancpain format, like you were saying. Right. Right. And, and go with it. I think, I think they could do really well. I think there's, I think that there's a vacuum in the market that's becoming more and more pronounced. in that the watches that people want, they can't necessarily buy, or at least the watches that people publicly talk about not being able to buy, it's because they can't. Yeah. And there's this kind of feedback loop that it's interesting to see where brands are kind of repositioning themselves to make light of that. And I think Omega is beautifully placed across the board to be the option for people who want an amazing watch with a great history and a fantastic background. And there's no reason that Blancpain one doesn't, they do play in that space, but there's no reason they could kind of expand that field. Right?
Jason Heaton	Yeah. And I suppose, I suppose with some of these, uh, you know, we look at brands and maybe the Swatch Group doesn't, maybe the Swatch Group looks at its whole portfolio and says, well, if you want an affordable dive watch, get a Mido or a Tiso. And if you want, you know, high end, we're going to, we're going to keep Blancpain at the high end. And then, uh, you know, maybe my, my comment about a cheaper Omega is, is a little bit misguided because, you know, you can get the, the nice ceramic dial, beautiful Seamaster that I've been lusting after lately, you know, the white dial one or the, or the bond ones, um, for what, five grand or something. I mean, no, that's a lot of money, but it's in terms of where, you know, it stacks up really well against even Blancpain's. I mean, you were talking anti-magnetic in-house movement, co-axial.
James Stacey	Omega's value statements real strong these days, huge lineup, lots of great watches for sure. And I think the Seamaster stuff is just flatly overlooked. That white dial one is a gorgeous watch. Yeah. I would love, like, I don't know, I can complain about it. It doesn't make any difference because Omega knows what they need to make. They know their market. They sell a ton of watches. I would love to see a couple with sword hands. I don't love the skeleton hands, but clearly other people do. That's the one that's lasted and persisted and was Bond's watch and the rest of it. I'm also really excited to see where they take the Planet Ocean in the next few years. Yeah. Especially now that it seems at least from their website that the 42 millimeters been all but phased out. It's a 39.5 and then the larger one. I'd love to see that 39.5 in person. I have a request in, but it doesn't look like one's available. Might have to swing by a store just to see it. Cause that sounds like it could be a pretty sweet thing as well. I mean, great watches, really good looking. Yeah, no, I, uh, I agree entirely.
Jason Heaton	All right. Well, that's a, that's a, I like these, these hypothetical questions, these speculative questions that we're getting today. Um, Let's move on to our next question from Mike, who thinks we should be talking a little bit more about big watches.
Mike	Hey, James and Jason. Mike from South Texas. Had a thought on my mind I wanted to share with you guys. I've been listening to you guys since the beginning, and you know, reading Hodinkee and all the media that covers the watch world. And I noticed over the years how things change from bigger watches to smaller watches. And we hear all the time about these 39, 40 millimeter watches being perfect. And I own several. I downsized probably like many, many people. But I got to thinking the other day after I picked up a brand new Planet Ocean, you know, 43 and a half millimeter on my six and a half inch wrist and the lugs don't overhang. And I remembered why and how much I loved big watches back in the day. And I think we're all doing a disservice to the watch community as a whole by telling people that the smaller watches is the in thing. I think what needs to be told to everybody is the watch you love is the in thing. and I think people really follow what you guys say and I think it'd be good once in a while if we covered some big watches because I know you guys have them you talk about them here and there and uh remind people that it's okay to wear what the heck you like because people look up to you guys and they look forward to the information they receive from you both so anyways anyhow I appreciate all you guys do you guys have got a whole bunch of people through the uh apocalypse we've been having and keep up the great work. Thanks.
Jason Heaton	Well, thanks for that, uh, that question, Mike. Um, you know, I, I guess I would argue that, uh, that James and I are, uh, are pretty egalitarian in our, in our discussions. I think we, yeah, we've gone on record many times talking about big watches and small watches. And I think, uh, as you mentioned, it is very much a subjective choice. Uh, you know, you, you wear what you love, you wear what looks good on your wrist, or even if it doesn't look good on your wrist, if it makes you smile, then that's the one to get. I, Um, I just spent a week, uh, diving last week and I, I had my, my supermarine 2045 millimeter watch on my wrist and posted some photos of it and happened to adore that watch. So, um, yeah, no, big watches are great. Small watches are great if that's what you'd like. But, uh, um, I guess I, I feel like we've, we've, we've been pretty good about, about being, uh, being open-minded about all of that. Wouldn't you say?
James Stacey	Yeah. I mean, I, I, I don't want to be defensive in any way. I mean, if, if, if we got this question, then clearly it's not exactly what I was thinking. And in terms of where we stand, I feel like we're very clear that you should always buy and wear whatever you like, be it big or small, old or new, whatever, like that, the whole thing is to have fun with this and enjoy it. So I absolutely agree with Mike's assertion. Uh, they're, uh, totally, totally in step on that. And then the same as I, you know, I think we talk a fair bit about big watches. But the absolute fact is, and it's not something that we've created, Heaton and I, or anything, in many ways, it's probably just something that comes from a mix of industry trends and reading comments. And that is like the current fascination with watches is around, say, 38 to 42 millimeters, especially with sports watches. And of course, that's not always the way it's been for a long time. It was, say, 44 to 47, and then it started to kind of sneak down, and then it was 43 for a while. And these things kind of change. And it's not that one is being ignored versus the other. It's like, you know, nobody buys cars anymore. Everybody buys CUVs, but that won't, that won't last forever. Eventually the taste will change and we'll, we'll be buying something else. If the goal is to talk about watches, we talk about watches in all sorts of size ranges, you know, from little Cartier tanks all the way up to great big, uh, Omega ploprops, probably my favorite, you know, giant watch out there. But that said the, the general consensus right now is that the, the popular size range is a little bit smaller than what it was, say 10 years ago, a few millimeters smaller than it was 10 years ago. And those millimeters make a big difference. So I think it's in many ways, when you're trying to take something that is very much a hands-on thing to talk about a watch that you wear on your wrist, it's a very personal decision. You do at a certain point start to attached to certain things that will allow people to understand what it is. And if they've owned a larger watch, they'll understand why, what a smaller watch will work with. And if they own a 40 millimeter watch now, then saying the 40 millimeter would be similar is kind of in that space as well. So, uh, yeah, Micah, uh, I absolutely agree with, uh, with the idea that we should all be wearing whatever we want and that there's nothing wrong with big watches. Uh, and if, if Jason and I suggested otherwise, you certainly have my apology. Uh, there's no perfect size. could be perfect for my wrist and too small for Jason's or the other way around, and that's how it goes. Next up, we've got a question from Ben about watches we'd like to see made.
Ben	Hey guys, I'm Ben from Anaheim, California. In July's Q&A, James mentioned that one reason he hasn't purchased the Pelagos is that he's hoping for a smaller version to come out in the near future, like what Tudor did with the Black Bay 58. This led me to my question today. What watch do you want to see a brand produce that currently does not exist? Thanks for that question, Ben. In a way, this one is
Jason Heaton	Kind of similar, I suppose, to both Ian's and maybe even Jason's questions. Just a couple of, a couple of topics earlier than this, uh, in terms of blind spots or kind of alternate universe, uh, speculations. Um, and I guess I, I, I kind of go back to the, the idea of a Omega with a Seamaster 300, not only with sword hands, but without a helium release valve, you know, I, I, I mentally Photoshop that watch in my, you know, in my brain, every time I kind of look at it, I sort of hold my thumb over the the helium escape valve. And I think, man, those pretty twisted lyre lugs that the Seamaster has just would look so much better without that extra crown on the left side. And then I started to wonder, I wonder if anybody does any modifications to these watches that would put sword hands. I wonder if the old sword hands from like a 2254 would be an easy swap. Obviously, you know, voiding the warranty, I would guess. If anyone's doing that these days, that might be something to think about. But that's the one that comes to mind. I don't know, James, what do you think? I mean, Pelagos GMT is obviously the one that we've talked about.
James Stacey	Yeah, it's Pelagos GMT, BB, like a Black Bay 58 GMT. But I feel like I talk a lot about the Pelagos GMT. If it was my watch to create, it would come down to 40 millimeters. Yeah. It would be as thin as you could make it, and it would add the GMT. And again, to be very clear, it would be a GMT on the RIAT. uh, so it'd be a single additional time zone and then the bezel would still be a dive bezel. Yeah. I don't want a GMT master style bezel. I don't find them to be more useful in a way that's important to me. Um, I, I like, uh, I like a dive bezel and that that's what we like about that. Braymont S302 is that it's a dive watch that has a GMT mechanism rather than a GMT watch that has dive watch, uh, ability. Um, it's sort of a different formula and I think that's the way to go with it. So that's what I would do. And like I said previously, Hey, give me, give me a, a Mito ocean star tribute GMT. I think those are like, you could, they have both the parts. You'd mean you need a new dial. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. Take the movement from the bigger, the bigger ocean star, drop it in the tribute, which is a cool throwback. Give it a cool hand and be done with it. That's a great, that'd be a killer watch for under two grand. Yeah. Be a lot of fun. But yeah, fun, fun question, Ben. Thanks so much for that. Next up, we've got a question from Oren about Xen and the planet Mars.
Oren	Hey there, James and Jason. This is Oren from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Thank you guys for the great weekly content. I've been with you guys since I think episode four and have thoroughly enjoyed the great NATO every step of the way. A couple of questions for you. The first has to do with the Xen 556. I know, James, you've mentioned a couple of times, I believe, That's a great value for what you get in that watch. And I was curious to know which version you guys would choose for yourself if you picked one up. Would it be the 556A or the 556I? The A having the larger numerals, the I having the indices. Just curious to know which one you would select for yourself. And the second question has to do with going to Mars. If you guys were selected by Elon Musk to be on the crew, that first stepped onto Mars, I wonder which watch you would choose to wear when you set foot on the Red Planet. Much like we have talked about the Moonwatch for so long, I'm sure in the future we'll be talking about the Mars Watch. So what would you choose to be your watch that you would wear on your wrist as you walked on the Red Planet? Again, thank you guys for the show. Looking forward to hearing from you.
James Stacey	Hey Orin, thanks so much for that question. I can probably be pretty quick with mine. I would go probably 556A with the numerals. It's a little bit more sporty. I think it has a nicely balanced look. There's something kind of very sparse about the eye. So I'd go 556A or go back and find a Lume Dial 556 from a few years back. Those were pretty rad too. As far as a watch for Mars, I would love a version of my Explorer 2 where the main time display is capable of showing Mars time, but then you'd still have the ability to see what time it is back home. So it'd be a GMT, but for two different planets rather than two different time zones. I think that's the direction I would go. I have exactly zero faith that Elon Musk will ever make it to another planet, but somebody will. And to them, I think it'd be pretty helpful to have the ability to very quickly understand I guess mission time would be Mars time and home time or, or, or whatever would be, would be, uh, earth time. Uh, so I think that's where I would go. How about you, Jason?
Jason Heaton	That's, uh, yeah, that's brilliant. I love the idea of having, uh, the, the two different planet times that here, we're going back to Ian's alternate universe question. Um, yes. Um, and Oren, I hope you're, uh, hope you're staying safe down there, uh, after a hurricane Ida blew through there. I don't know how Baton Rouge was affected, but, uh, anyway, I hope you're, able to listen to this with some electricity and dry feet. I would agree with James, the 556A is the one to have, for me at least. I love the numerals. I think it's quintessential ZIN. I would find the hash marks a little too stark as well. So, and it is truly a great, great watch. Oh yeah. For Mars, I mean, I think I'm going to take my own watch. I'm going to take, I'm going to take my Speedmaster. I'm going to get it serviced so that it's keeping good time and it's sealed up well. Not that there's much water to be concerned about, but you know, just want it to, to be up to snuff. And I think it would just be fun to kind of take a relic of a pre-moon NASA days to, uh, to the red planet. So we'll, we'll, we'll see where we'll see where things go in that regard, uh, uh, in my lifetime. But, uh, anyway, that, that would be my pick. And, uh, another interesting speculative question. For sure. Uh, we've got our next one coming up here from Jake, who has a question about DIY watchmaking kits.
Jake	Hi, James and Jason. This is Jake. from Maple Grove, Minnesota. I was curious if you guys have any good recommendations for a DIY watch building kit or something of that sort. Looking for something to keep me busy this winter and something to broaden my knowledge on watchmaking in general. Thanks in advance, guys.
James Stacey	All right, Jake, that's a great question. Jason, I mean, the first thing that came to mind when I checked to make sure it was still there is the Time Zone Watch School. Yeah, that's what came to mind for me, too. You can still enroll in the TimeZone Watch School. I'll put it in the show notes. Basically, you'll need some tools. And then you end up, I believe, unless they've changed it, but I believe you end up working on a blank of an ETA 6497. You know, that kind of classic hand-wound movement that we've seen in all sorts of watches at all sorts of prices. And it's a whole curriculum to work through that includes, you know, how to use the tools and what to do with the movement and disassembly and putting it back together and the rest. Uh, I, yeah. Timezone watch school seems like the, uh, the easy one, uh, because your classes are specific to a movement. Um, so you're not just kind of taking general knowledge and applying it to an ETA you bought on, uh, on eBay or whatever. I think this is a little bit more specific and it's probably something that you can break into chunks and move along, uh, when you have time.
Jason Heaton	Yeah, I think that's good. We've talked about that before. And I think, uh, for anybody that's, that's really into watches and just interested in how they work, it's, it's well worth, uh, time to do that. And it's not terribly expensive. And obviously we'll put the link in the show notes and we'll always just keep directing people to that because I think it's a cool resource.
James Stacey	Absolutely. So next up, we've got one from Mike about dive logs and handwritten notes.
Mike	Hi, James and Jason. This is Mike from Plymouth, Minnesota. My dog Lily and I love the show and have listened to just about all the episodes together. I'm following up on a recent comment on the show about dive logs. And I'm wondering about your use of written dive logs and if you've seen other divers using them. I'm also interested to know how you may have used notebooks, diaries, journals in your own field work. There's obviously a great tradition of field notes and wondered about your take on this. Thanks again for the show. And I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Jason Heaton	Well, thanks Mike. And fun to get, uh, back-to-back questions from, uh, back-to-back zip codes here just down the road from me in Minnesota. Yeah. Um, I have to admit, you know, I, well, for one thing I used to keep a written dive log book when I first started diving for the first couple of years. Um, I don't anymore, mainly because my, my Garmin will sync up with, with the Garmin app and put everything I could possibly need to know, uh, short of kind of the critters that I saw, um, on, onto the app on the phone, which makes it really easy. But beyond that, I'm very envious of people that keep written notes in notebooks, whether it's on expedition or just notes for a book or, you know, a dive log. Um, but I'll admit I, I'd never been very good at it. And I think it's for one simple reason. I'm, I'm left-handed and I know that sounds like a cop-out, but I have terrible handwriting. And when I write with any sort of a pen, I ended up smearing everything all over the place. And it just becomes not a very, aesthetically pleasing and pleasant experience, uh, especially when it comes to like logging dives, when, you know, you do it and you're kind of in a humid environment and the book is kind of damp and wet and things get kind of smeary and messy. And, um, so what I've done is I've, I've just accumulated all these wonderful Moleskine notebooks and field notes, you know, little pocket notebooks and wonderful pens, um, with this intention or this imaginary intention that I'm going to be this, you know, roving reporter in the field, taking handwritten notes about everything. And I just, I just, every time I try, I just get kind of frustrated and abandon it. So I ended up, it sounds pathetic. I ended up like taking notes on the notepad on my phone or, or just using the Garmin, uh, dive log app. So James, do you do much handwritten stuff?
James Stacey	Uh, I do, but most of it's for like thought synthesis, not for records. Yeah. Um, so like when, when I'm on a call like this, I'll, if there's something that you mentioned that I want to bring up in my reply or, or just to keep in my brain, I'll make a little, I'll jot that down, but it's not useful. Like as soon as the, the kind of vapid nature of the phone call ends.
Unknown	Yeah.
James Stacey	The notes mean almost nothing. Um, you know, when I, when I was, when I used to do more assignment based work, when I would go on trips or go to cover a car and there's a presentation, I like to have that stuff in handwritten, you know, being at a hotel and coming down for the morning presentation and drive pre-drive briefing on a, on a press launch for a car. Isn't really the scenario in which you sit there with your laptop open on your lap and like type out notes. Some people do that, but it's, it's a little bit more just kind of sit and pay attention to the, to the, the PowerPoint, but there's always usually a piece of a couple of things that I know that I'll want in the, in the eventual writeup, a little like little colorful pieces of data that are kind of fun to include. So that's always important. And then when I did like when I did the big Clipperton expedition, I bought a notebook and I wrote in it every day, like a journal of what we did. So I could try and remember all of the density of every day. Yeah. Because otherwise, especially when you look back on a trip where you spent two weeks on a boat, it's really easy to not have that much to say about the two weeks. Right. Surprisingly. Right. And like, if you don't remember some of the, the, the way the day went or what you're feeling or that sort of thing. So I think there is some value in journaling, some of that kind of stuff, but man, definitely since COVID almost never, uh, do I take handwritten notes? I have notebooks. I have stacks of them because I think they're, they, it feels good to buy a notebook. It feels like you're about to do something great.
Unknown	Yeah.
James Stacey	And even if you never crack it open. And then these days, if I have a meeting that is very detailed about something that I know I'm not going to get to in the next few days, a pitch meeting or something, I do have a notebook where I'll make these notes and I can go back and check them. And the other thing where I found it pretty useful is when I'm reviewing a watch that I'll have four or five days with, I'll take the pictures of and then I'll send it away, whether it's back to the brand or on to the next person who's reviewing it. If I don't write down my own case measurements, the bracelet taper measurements, the weight, all of these things that I like to add based on what a company may talk about. Case width, I want thickness, I want lug width, I want lug to lug, I want bracelet taper, I want all this kind of stuff. Sometimes it's easy while I'm sitting at my desk to synthesize all these, measure it, write it down, measure it, write it down, that sort of thing. And in that case, I will still use a notebook and I have one that I use. And then when it's filled up, I typically just move on to another, uh, similar notebook. So not to the extent of, you know, some of these high functioning people that journal and, and do to-do lists and the rest of it. I have a lot of that for me is now digital. Um, but I do have some, some use, uh, for, uh, handwritten notes and, and luckily those, uh, tactile turn pens have made me write more than I have been previously. Uh, I don't know if you had that experience with the one they sent you, Jason, but it's just kind of a nice thing to use and, It kind of fits the notebook lifestyle as well.
Jason Heaton	Yeah. Yeah. Good pen. Good notebook can be, uh, can certainly be inspiring. Yeah. All right. Good question. Let's move on to another Mike who has a really interesting question about our least popular watch opinions.
Mike	Hey, Jason and James. Uh, this is Mike from Philly. Thanks for all the work you both do. I got a tough one for you. I want to hear your least popular watch opinion. I want to hear that opinion that is going to lose you listeners. Uh, the one that you're, you're, you're scared to share with us. Uh, so the least popular, uh, opinion you have on, on watches. Thank you so much.
James Stacey	Got any, uh, burning junk opinions in there?
Jason Heaton	Least popular, going to lose us listeners and make us less popular. That's uh, yeah, that's a goal for sure.
James Stacey	That makes sense.
Jason Heaton	Yeah, I guess I've got a couple I could, I could dribble out. Um, one thing that always seems to, uh, to be particularly controversial and one that I come down with, uh, come down on with regularity is, uh, I happen to think that that Bramont is a great brand and they make a great watch. I think that runs contrary to, um, a lot of kind of, uh, yeah, I think a lot of watch enthusiasts and commenters on forums and blogs and things give Bramont a hard time. Maybe some of, for some of their past, uh, PR foibles and pricing and that sort of thing. But I, I own a few and I adore the watches. I think they're very well made. I think, uh, I think the brand stands up well against, uh, most of the kind of the Swiss luxury brands in the same segment. And I, I, I firmly agree with that. I think I stand by that. So that's one. And then I think the other one, I think, um, I find the Rolex Explorer, uh, kind of the basic Explorer, I find an extremely boring watch. Um, You know, I think a lot of people think that that is like the pinnacle of watch design. I own one. I have the 14270, kind of the drilled lug 36 millimeter older one, and it's rugged. It keeps good time. It's a classic, but I wear it for half a day and I take it off. I find it just, I find it boring visually. So that's probably a very unpopular watch opinion, but that's what I got. Okay.
James Stacey	Let's see. I've got, Hmm. Trying to think of what would actually rile people up a little bit. I don't care about movements. Is that a fair thing? Like I want it to work and be functional and repairable. Yeah. The idea that it's in-house or it's funny because in-house means almost nothing now. So I'll say, let's, let's be a little bit more specific. The idea that it's not EDDA almost doesn't matter to me at all. Yeah.
Unknown	Yeah. Yeah.
James Stacey	I I've never really had an EDDA just give up on me. Right. Right. And don't get me wrong. I love a car with a very specific engine because it changes the whole character of the car, the noise, the vibration, the way it revs, all of that matters. And keep in mind, you're talking to a guy that drives a 3.8 liter Jeep, the worst engine that they ever put in a Jeep in terms of characterfulness has no character. It might as well sound like a blender full of bolts most of the time. Right. When it comes to a watch, I just want it to be functional and keep good time. This is like, I get a lot of messages about the SPB 143 and how the 6R that's in there, people aren't that great with because for $1,200, they think it should be more accurate. And my point is, for $1,200, you should just spend your $1,200 somewhere else. You care more about movements than I do. Yeah. And there's no right or wrong here. I've never been able to afford the sorts of watches where the movement really made a difference.
Unknown	Right.
James Stacey	You know what I mean? A high beat chronograph or a resonance or, you know, maybe with the possible exception of, I do care about say the functional layout of a GMT movement, which does have, there's a price Delta, which we've talked about in this episode, even between a local jumping, typically more expensive. And when I bought my Rolex, I wanted that ability.
Unknown	Yeah.
James Stacey	I didn't just want a GMT, I wanted the local jumping and preferably I wanted a 3186, the most refined version that they had at the time. But other than that, like when I see, oh, the Bremont, like you brought up previously, like Bremont probably exhibits some of the more expensive price points for an ETA caliber movement on the market, has never bothered me and it's not going to just suddenly start bothering me. I understand the case for in-house because there's a, There's brands that do it really well and offer a lot. And then there's a lot of brands that just do it because it allows them to exhibit a higher price point. And it doesn't change the way I think of the watch. I do get that, but for the most part, movements don't matter that much to me. They just need to be reliable, serviceable, and keep decent time. Anything more than that. And I think you're into a level of watchmaking that isn't part of my personal financial experience, if that makes any sense. The other one that comes to mind that definitely people don't even understand. Like you say this to them and it doesn't register. I have trying to think of the correct wording here. I have no interest in six digit Rolexes. Yeah. Very unpopular opinion. This is as hot as hot a watch as exists on the market. There's people I know who like are waiting for their ad to call them and say they have anything and they would buy it. Maybe not even need the call. Just put it on my credit card. Yeah.
Unknown	Yeah.
James Stacey	Right. Me, if I had a great representative here and they called me and they said, Hey, you know, we've got a sub for you at retail. I'm just not interested. I thought you meant six digit as in the price. No, no, no. Six digit reference numbers. Your 14060, fantastic. I think that's peak modern sub for me.
Unknown	Yeah.
James Stacey	I don't like them with the ceramic that much. I don't like them with the squared off sort of shouldery lugs. They don't wear the same way. I think that the, um, the, you know, the last of the, the, I think it was a 16, six 60 C dweller. That was peak C dweller for me as well. Yeah. I like, uh, I like, I like what I like. And in many ways it's all like, I like a 14 to 70 much more than the current, although I haven't seen the current 36 millimeter, I've seen the two one four, two 70. Um, so I'm sure that current one's probably really sweet, right? Just like the 36 millimeter OP, probably pretty sweet, but those are both watches with a lot of like five digit DNA in them. Yeah. I thought the Daytona was kind of cooler before it went with the ceramic bezel. That's not a popular opinion. No one else in the world agrees with me, but yeah, I like, uh, I like a five digit, uh, reference number vastly more than a six. I'm sure that'll change with time. And at a certain point, it's kind of like liking the cars that came out when you were in high school. like when you first got really into it. And, and that'll, there'll always be a sweet spot for those cars. And, and in this case, that may be those watches that I just prefer the stuff from say 10 years ago than I do to now, but in 10 years, who knows? I'm willing to change my mind, but I have my feeling that my vast preference for five digit references versus six digit is not a popular opinion. So fair enough on that one. I think you've got four not so popular opinions. But they're all ones that I would stand by. They make sense to me, certainly. Next up, we've got one from Cedric about Tudor service models.
Cedric	Hi, James and Jason. This is Cedric in Davis, California. And I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the Tudor Kinesi service model. And that is when you return to your Black Bay, for example, for service, they pop your movement out and pop in a refurbished movement from somebody else. And then in turn, uh, they'll refurbish your movement and pop it into somebody else's watch. So basically your Black Bay, uh, no longer has your original movement. It's got a refurbished movement in it. Uh, as opposed to the traditional model where the watchmaker takes all the pieces apart, um, cleans everything. and replaces worn parts and gaskets so forth, puts it back together, and then you get your original watch with all the original movement back. On the forum, some people are quite surprised that this is their service model. Some people seem to care about it. Some people don't. My feeling is I sort of want my watch to stay my watch with all the parts other than the replacement parts. Curious what your thoughts are. So thanks a lot.
James Stacey	Bye-bye. So Cedric, this is a great question and one that I've actually seen come up in a few different spots online. I think it's an interesting thing because for the vast majority, like think about how many watches are being made by Tudor using the Kinesi partnership movements, like a lot now, right? And that's thousands and thousands of watches a year. And only a small subset of those are going to be sold to the level of enthusiasts that's concerned about original movement. For a lot of people, what they want is if their watch has an issue, it comes back quickly, right? Yeah. And this allows a very fast turnaround time for repairs. Now, I don't want to discredit the enthusiast side of this because we've all been taught that originality is kind of everything in watch collecting. And certainly if you went back and found out that the movement in your watch had been swapped and that was in its kind of storied history in a nice vintage watch, let's say, that could affect its value. So I absolutely understand the mindset where this isn't the same watch that I bought a couple years ago or 10 years ago or whatever. And in that case, I did actually check and I have it on very good authority from within the supply chain that if you send your watch in, if you send in your tutor for service, you can simply say that you don't want the movement swapped out and they'll do a standard class of service. It's just going to take a little bit longer than if they swapped it in. It's in many ways kind of, I guess, in the same vein as, you know, there was a time when Rolex would take your watch in and it would come back with a different dial or it would come back with this or that or like service parts. And now it's my understanding through several sources that, that a lot of that comes down to what the person asked for when it's sent in. So the watch would be assessed. They'll make recommendations that could include polishing or this or that. And you can say like, Nope, I just want the mechanical sort of leave the rest of the watch alone. And in this case, you could say, I don't want the fastest turnaround time by swapping the movement, which I actually think is kind of a clever solution, as long as enthusiasts understand that it's now no longer something you're going to measure in the originality of the watch. That said, if it bothers you, I think all you'd have to say when you send the watch in is, like, don't swap my movement. Just service that movement and put it back in the watch. And it's my understanding that that's within the realm of requests for when the watch goes in for service.
Jason Heaton	I mean, it seems, it seems like the best of both worlds. It seems like, uh, it kind of creates, makes it a non-issue if you can request that. Um, and it, it, to me, it brings up a larger issue and that is, uh, and maybe this goes back to unpopular watch opinions, but I've often felt that if you owned, you know, and I've said this before, probably on TGN, if you owned a watch from new from, you know, a 1975 Tudor Submariner or something, and you, just had that watch throughout the years and you wore it every day for whatever you were doing, you'd take it in for service when it wasn't running correctly or the hands lost their loom and you couldn't read it at night anymore. And you'd say, you know, make those hands glow again. I want new hands or, you know, it's, it's broken, you know, fix it. Uh, you know, they put a new movement in. I needed to keep good time for me. Like it depends on what your mindset is or why you own that watch. If you're buying it as a collectible thing and you want originality above anything else, then then yes, swapping a movement would be a big no-no or somewhat disappointing. But if you just need the watch to work and you want it kind of turned around quickly and back on your wrist, then swapping a movement is fine. And I just wonder if there's a price cutoff or a brand cutoff that, you know, if you dropped your Seiko SKX on a cement floor and it just, you know, broke a bunch of components in the movement and you took it to a watchmaker and they said, you know, might just want to put a whole new movement in there. Like what they do with, you know, quartz watches or something. Absolutely. Yeah. You know, what, what does that matter to you? Or, or what's the cutoff in terms of price? Is it because it's a Tudor that it's not palatable to do the same thing? And, um, so it, you know, it opens up a bit of, I guess, a can of worms in terms of other questions to ask. But, uh, I'm, I'm happy to hear that the Tudor offers that, that option.
James Stacey	Yeah, for sure. And it's funny you bring up the, the quartz thing. Cause I remember now, uh, when I When I first bought that Aerospace, it was recommended to me by some people, some circles that I was learning about Aerospaces in, that you kind of like buy up any watches with this movement because it was an Eta-sourced caliber and wasn't one that they were still making. It wasn't one that was especially serviceable. And then it was my understanding that if it wasn't, even if the battery swap was just kind of done haphazardly, it was really easy to break the movement. Once it's in the case and everything's tightened down, perfectly robust thing. It's just the battery swap or maybe it was moving the movement in and out of the case was quite difficult or fragile. There's some elements there. I don't know what level of credence there is to all that, but I do remember people saying like, well, this was a movement that was also offered in some Victorinox watches and handful of other things and people stockpile them simply because they're not something that you can just walk out and buy a brand new one or you couldn't say six, seven, eight years ago. So yeah, that's an interesting thought. And it's a funny thing about how I think some brands, especially when you're as big as say a Tudor, you have to see your watches as a generalist product, not always the fancy of an enthusiast. Right. Right. And in that choice, of course you would go, but this way I could have, you could have the watch back in, in weeks instead of several weeks or months. Right. And especially when they're probably servicing and caring for thousands of movements at a time. Right. It makes a lot of sense to have a kind of stockpile where you could just say like, well, we already know this one is mechanically sound and tested and everything else. And we'll just plop it in and get it back out there. And, but it makes sense, of course, being a brand that's been around in the game as long as Tudor to have the option for somebody to say, no, no, no, not with my watch. Yeah. All right. Fun one, Cedric. Next up, we've got one from Alex, who's looking for a watch for his wife.
Alex	Hi, James and Jason. My name is Alex from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and also known as Watches and Brews on Instagram. I just had a quick question. I got married recently, and for this Christmas, I'm planning on getting my wife a watch. She doesn't really have any watches besides a couple of cheap quartz ones that she doesn't really even wear. I thought I would get her something nicer to maybe get her more into the hobby as she knows that I'm somewhat obsessed with it. So I wanted to get your guys' thoughts and opinions. Right now in my head, I'm thinking a Nomos Tangente 33 champagne dial. It's something that she's seen and she likes the color and the simplicity of it. Um, she also has a smaller wrist, so that would compliment her well, but I just wanted to hear your guys's, uh, you know, if you guys had any other options or opinions, um, the tangents is around the 15 to 2000 mark. So I'd be looking in that price range, uh, basically anything under two grand though is fair game. So, uh, just let me know. what your guys' thoughts and opinions are, and I love the show, and Jason and James, just keep doing what you're doing. Thanks.
Jason Heaton	Well, congratulations on the nuptials, Alex, and hats off to you for wanting to buy your wife a watch. The Nomos is a great idea. I think they're such beautiful watches. They're totally friendly to either gender, I think, and they work really well on a variety of wrists. I did kind of think of a couple of other kind of smaller similarly priced watches. One of which is there's a kind of in the same vein I guess as the Nomos sort of a Teutonic design would be there's actually a smaller Max Bill Junghans. It's a 34 millimeter watch. I'm not sure of the exact price but I think it comes in a little bit actually less than the Nomos so you might save a little money there and it kind of gives you that same vibe maybe even a more Even if it's possible, a more starkly Germanic kind of aesthetic. Another one that I think would be a really fun and kind of out of left field, but beautiful little watch would be an On Ordain Model 1. So this is a watch that I have actually with their enamel dials, which is such a unique thing. They're pretty robust watches. They're 50 meter water resistant. It's a nice case shape. They come with some beautiful straps. Mine came with this lovely goatskin strap. But the dial is really what sets them apart. They're very clean, the numerals they use are beautiful, and then an enamel dial is just something to behold up close. I think it's a very bewitching watch. And then my last choice would be something a bit different, and maybe at the high end of your price bracket there, and that would be like a Tudor Black Bay 36. If you wanted to go more of like a sports watch kind of vibe, something maybe you could even take swimming or on a hiking trip or whatever, you know, active pursuits your wife likes to, likes to do. And maybe she doesn't want to have to worry about her watch. Black Bay 36 might be a nice choice. So those are kind of some options that I thought of. James, do you have any others?
James Stacey	Yeah, I've got, I've got a couple. I mean, the first thing I would say is, If your wife has watches and she's not wearing them, it might be worth understanding why. Whether they're ones she doesn't like, or she doesn't like wearing a watch, or if she needs something more from a watch than just the time. Not necessarily the most popular answer, but maybe consider one, does she actually want to watch? Two, would something like an Apple Watch be a vastly more useful thing to add to her life? Uh, then, um, a mechanical watch. And then if you get to the mechanical watch side, uh, the, you know, we talked about it earlier in the show, the Zen five, five, six, uh, comes in many different versions. If you want something that I think would be classically seen as a little bit more feminine, they do mother of Pearl. Uh, and that's under $2,000, uh, well under actually on, uh, on a strap, uh, 1670 ish, uh, which I think could be pretty interesting. I think the ones that Jason recommended are great. And then the other one that leapt to mind, although it's out of your price range by six or $700. So, you know, if you, if you think it would work extend, uh, would be the new Cartier tank solar beat. Um, the smaller size of that is absolutely gorgeous. Uh, I think you really can't go wrong buying a Cartier these days for any, uh, gender or orientation. It is a very stylish, beautiful kind of timeless watch. And then having it be solar and absolutely fuss free and quartz and easy is probably a win and then not too big. But like I said, that's pushing more towards the 3000 side of a $2,000 budget. Uh, but definitely something to consider as that's kind of new and cutting edge from, uh, from the brand. Uh, please send us a, an email, let us know what you ended up picking and what she thinks of it. Uh, uh, congrats of course on, uh, on getting married and, uh, I hope you can find something she loves. All right. Next up, we've got one from Marshall about engravings.
Marshall	Hey, fellas, Marshall here from Seattle. And I've got kind of a weird question for you as watch journalists. During the pandemic, I started a YouTube channel called Wristwatch Revival, where I restore vintage watches and kind of learn how to do it as I go. And one of the watches I did was this really sweet Sears Tradition Skin Diver from the 70s. It's a watch you guys would love. And it had a caseback engraving on it. And I was contacted via social media after I posted the video. by somebody who says that they recognize the engraving on the back as a watch that belonged to their father. Now, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do next, because normally I would sell a watch like this on and it's pretty valuable. But if it is, of course, this person's dad's watch, I'd love to reunite it with the family. And I'm just not really sure how I'm supposed to proceed from here. So yeah, any advice you have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Jason Heaton	Well, thanks for that interesting question, Marshall. I guess the first thing that comes to mind for me is, did the person that got in touch with you express an interest in reacquiring this watch for his or her father? Yeah. If not, then I don't think you really have an issue. I do think that if they did express that desire to reacquire the watch, I think, you know, first of all, you know, you could, if you're planning on selling it anyway, just you could offer to sell it for a fair price back to them. Presumably, This watch was sold for a reason unless it was stolen or lost or something. Um, you know, it left their father's wrist, uh, and possession for, for a good reason, whether it was just to make some money at the time or because it wasn't being worn. Yeah. Fair game. I don't mean to be cold hearted about it, but I do think that unless it was stolen and you somehow came, came to have this, uh, you're not really under any obligation to, to, you know, like give it back or anything like that. So that's, I mean, that's kind of what I think.
James Stacey	Yeah, I absolutely agree. In my mind, you've got a few different options here. So assuming then, like Jason established, that they're interested in having this watch back, have it back in their family, there's a few different ways that this could go. You could give them the watch. I don't think you're under any duress to do that. That's not how this works in many cases. There's a cost associated with you acquiring the watch. So I guess somewhere in the middle ground, you could sell them for what you bought it for. That way it's kind of an even you lose out on potential profit, but it goes back to the family and you're not out any money. And I think that would be a generous thing to do, but also not your obligation in many ways. And finally, it would be to talk to them and say, well, this is what the watch is worth. What I'll probably sell it for. If you're interested, I can not list it. So there's no competition and you can buy the watch from there. Again, like Jason said, unless it was stolen, and needs to be reunited on that kind of front, then I don't think you're under... I don't think you have any ethical obligation to gift them the watch or something like that. These things are possessions. And like most things, possessions kind of come and go from different owners. And if they want it back, there's a market price for that. And I think that would at least need to be observed in a way that keeps you whole. I don't think that's selfish to think that way. Uh, interesting question though. And, uh, Marshall, uh, incredible voice. You should continue doing whatever you can to stay in front of a microphone. I love it. Uh, next up, we've got one from John about snorkeling.
John	Hi, James and Jason. This is John calling from Chicago. I got married recently and my wife gifted me a Black Bay Navy blue, and she had the case back engraved. Um, it's something that I'll, I'll treasure forever. It's not what I'm calling though. We're actually honeymooning in the Maldives and I'm told there's some snorkeling that we'll be able to do there. I'm not a big snorkeler. I've maybe been once or twice before so I was curious if you guys had any tips for first-time snorkelers or maybe had some resources in mind that I could check out to kind of brush up on before I get there. Anyway, thanks for taking my question and for everything that you do.
James Stacey	All right, John, that's a great question. Congrats on getting married. And that is a killer watch. I don't think you can do a lot better than a blue BB 58 with an engraving. I love it. As far as snorkeling goes, there's some obvious stuff. Maybe Jason will have more depth. Sunscreen is very important. You wouldn't believe how, how incredibly hard you can burn by saying, you know, with your back facing the sun and half an inch of water. It's like a magnifying glass somehow. I've gotten a couple pretty solid burns at the cottage this summer, even with sunscreen on. So I would recommend a rash guard or a really good sunscreen, something like that to keep the sun off your back. The next one is make sure you're using like equipment that's ready to use. So if you're buying, you didn't mention if you're buying or renting, but if you're buying kit, make sure you go through the process of treating the mask. So it's not just a foggy mess through the whole time. And then the other thing I've seen is you get brand new fins. Uh, Jason, maybe you've come across this, maybe you have a better fin recommendation, but I've seen, you know, brand new snorkeling kit, fins, cheap fins, but not like super cheap, um, that have very rough plastic edges that kind of have to be worn down as you wear them. And if it's your first time and you're getting in the water on your vacation and like the heel cup for your, your fins is just kind of cutting into your foot. Um, so I've seen, I remember going through some, buying snorkeling equipment, diving equipment, people taking like sandpaper to the edge of that kind of plastic. Uh, so that it didn't, it didn't cause any discomfort. I'm not sure why that stayed in my mind, but it has for some time. And then finally, my, my big suggestion is it's a practice, like all sports, it's a practice. And just the key is to be as comfortable as possible in the water. And you can't be comfortable if you're not relaxed. Uh, so when you get in the water, just relax, try and have a good time. I wouldn't focus too heavily on. how deep you can go or for how long or whatever, just kind of get in there and fin around and you swallow some seawater and, and that sort of thing. But for the most part, just like relaxing makes it a lot easier rather than having your heart rate really high and, and it all kind of being a more of an amped up sort of experience. Uh, you kind of want to get your physiology out of the way so you can just appreciate the environment. Does that make sense Jason?
Jason Heaton	Yeah, I think so. I think you hit, you hit all the big points there. I think, um, the sun protection is so overlooked and so important. And I, I think a rash guard is a really nice recommendation and it can actually serve two purposes. If you get a certain kind of rash guard, um, it can also help you with the kind of the comfort, uh, aspect as well, or lowering any anxiety you might have. Cause I think, I think snorkeling is one of those things that you know, seems kind of like a tame activity. But I remember the first time I went snorkeling in the ocean, this was before I started diving, you know, way back and kind of jumping off a boat. It was on one of these snorkel tours and I jumped off the boat and I kind of put my face in the water with the mask on and it was, it was a bit overwhelming. I mean, it was deep and it was such a foreign environment and it's a little bit disconcerting. And I think the last thing you want is to, is to be anxious, uh, when you're trying to have some fun and, And one thing that can help is to be a little bit more buoyant. I mean, if you're in seawater, you're going to float pretty well, but, um, oftentimes these snorkel tours will offer some kind of a flotation. Vest of some sort of snorkeling vest that you can wear and don't, don't feel bashful about wearing one or, or feel bad about taking one of those if you feel you need it, but you can buy rash guards. And I have one that I wear for diving and really warm water sometimes that has the torso is made from a very light, like a one or two mil neoprene that, that gives you some boost in buoyancy and a little bit of warmth as well as the sun protection. And I think, um, you know, if, if you're able to float easily, um, it removes that whole element of like, if I, if I stop kicking, I'm going to sink, you know, kind of feeling. And, uh, and I think that can help. And then in terms of the fins, I was going to say that, you know, you, you don't need giant like free diving fins or even scuba diving fins to, to snorkel comfortably. Cause you're not, swimming great distances. You're just sort of paddling around and need a little bit of propulsion. And, and I've really grown to love these. Uh, maybe you've seen if you follow me on Instagram, some of these, these, uh, swim fins that I bought a few years ago from a company called Dauphin. Um, and it's a Hawaiian brand that makes them for like lifeguards and, and kind of surfers and things. And they're, they're very compact, very soft rubber. They don't have a full foot pocket. You actually, slide your foot into the pocket on the fin. And then there's just a single integrated rubber, very soft rubber strap that you pull around your heel. So your heels actually free and they're really comfortable and they're very small. They fit nicely even into like a small carry on a suitcase, which makes them really nice for travel. And I found that those are working really well for just a snorkeling or some light free diving or just even open water swimming. So, um, Yeah. Kind of a, a good rash guard and, and, uh, for some buoyancy and, uh, and some good fins. I think those are.
James Stacey	And what was the brand on that rash guard? So we get it.
Jason Heaton	The rash guard, it's quite old now. It's gosh, it's over a decade old, but it was made by a company called, uh, Dakeen. Um, D A K I N E. I'm not sure if they still make it, but the torso is neoprene and then the sleeves are just that lightweight kind of stretchy material. Um, but yeah, you could look for like a surf, surf rash guard. I think a lot of like surf style rash guards are, are kind of light neoprene on the torso. And then the arms are less restrictive because if you're surfing, you're, you're using your arms a lot. So, uh, yeah, it might be something to look into.
James Stacey	Yeah. I've owned some stuff from Dekeen. They make a good product for sure.
Jason Heaton	Yeah. And man, I mean, John, come on the Maldives. I was there a few years ago diving and it's just spectacular. I mean, whether you're snorkeling or diving or whatever, I'm just a wonderful place to go. So congrats and enjoy.
James Stacey	Yeah. John do enjoy. And thanks so much for the question. Next up, we have the last question in our in our backlog of Q&A questions. So I suppose this is where we end the show. And it's a question from Mickey about Certina.
Mickey	Hi, James, Jason. How are you? I'm Mickey from Barcelona in Spain. And I have a question about a specific watch that would be the Certina DS automatic diver 38 millimeters. So my understanding is that this watch was released just this year. I first saw it on a post on Hodinkee and then I think James mentioned it on an episode a while back. I don't know, overall it looks like a nice piece. It has 38mm in diameter, 44mm lug to lug. It is from a renowned brand being Sertina and all. It is also ISO certified and I don't know, it feels like a cool piece. I wanted to know your thoughts on it because I'm thinking about buying it. So let me know what you guys think. Cheers from Barcelona. Love the content, love the show, love you guys. Keep it up.
Jason Heaton	Thanks for the question, Miki. I think you're referring to the Certina DS Action Diver, which is a dive watch they've had in their collection for a while. I'm not sure with that size, but 38 millimeters is a lovely size for a dive watch, very versatile. I would say, you know, you probably can't go wrong with this watch. It's a certified dive watch. It's from the Swatch Group, which you know, you're going to get generally high quality. These are watches kind of from the same umbrella as, as you're getting from, you know, Longines and Tissot, et cetera. Um, I think, you know, you could cross shop with maybe, uh, kind of some similar, uh, priced Hamilton models or Tissot like the Sea Star or a Longines or something. Um, but if you like the styling of the Sertina, I mean, I, I don't think you could go wrong. I, I do find it a little bit less distinctive, I guess, in looks than something like their DS PH 200 Diver, which I absolutely adore. I love that watch. I think the DS Action Diver is a little bit more conventional looking, a little bit more like along the kind of the Submariner clone sort of family. But I think it's certainly a handsome watch, and I'm sure it'll serve you well if that's what you decide to go for.
James Stacey	I would agree that, you know, the nice thing about this is that 38 millimeter sizing, it's 12.2 millimeters thick, sapphire crystal, 300 meters of water resistance, and it uses the Powermatic, so it's an 80-hour power reserve movement, which is great. It does so, I believe, with a lower rate. It doesn't tick at 4 hertz like you're used to with a lot of ETA stuff. You know, where there's some weirdness here is the lug width is 19 millimeters, so if you don't like the bracelet that it comes with, and you're more of a strap fiend, make sure you've got some idea of what your 19 millimeter strap options are. Uh, cause my guess is this watch would work really well on a NATO, but of course there's not as many 19 millimeter NATOs out there as there are 20 and 18. Um, also undersizing your NATO is kind of a classic James Bond move. So feel free there if you need to, uh, beyond that, you know, it does say that it's a 6425 ISO, uh, dive watch, but I would contend that it doesn't meet the most recent rules in that it doesn't have a five minute loom marker next to the date. This is something that Seiko went through briefly with a handful of watches, including the SPB, and I covered it in my year look back at the SPB. Some of them have a little marker sandwiched between the date window and the edge of the dial. The current ISO specifications, which I believe date to 2018, mandate that you would have a luminous plot for every five minute marking on the dial. So I'm not sure that this does necessarily qualify for the extent of the 6425 spec. Would it bother me? No, not at all. ISO 6425 is right in there with movements. I don't care that much. It's nice to know that it's there. But like water resistance is what we want and a lume on the PIP is what we want. And I don't know if we'd necessarily need one next to the date. a look. kind of capable dive watch. If so, I think you're looking at a pretty good option there, Mickey.
Jason Heaton	Yeah, well, that's all she wrote. I mean, we got through them all. I can't believe we've never done a Q&A episode where we've reached the end of all the questions we've got in the inbox.
James Stacey	Yeah, so I would suggest if you're listening and you would like to hear another Q&A, send us a question. It doesn't have to be about watches. It doesn't have to be about trucks and SUVs. It could be about anything. Uh, whatever you might want to hear us chat about for a few minutes, you can send us a question. Please do so via recording the message into your voice memo app on your phone and then email the file to thegraynadoatgmail.com. The other thing I would say is we're at 230 some odd questions. There's a good chance Jason and I missed one or two, uh, in our filing system in which we both kind of share a Dropbox and it's very possible that we missed one. So if you're listening and you go, ah, you guys aren't At the end, you didn't answer my question. Uh, I would appreciate an email if we happen to have missed your file, uh, due to a clerical error. I would love to get to your question. So, uh, drop us a line. If you can actually find the question in your email, reply to that. It'll be a little bit faster than me searching, but I would like to make sure we are not forgetting any. Uh, but yeah, I think that's it. Send us a question. And if we miss your question, send us a heads up and we'll make it right. All right.
Jason Heaton	That's all she wrote as always. Thanks so much for listening. Subscribe to The Show Notes via notes.thegrenado.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 be sure to follow the show at The Grenado. And as James mentioned, if you have any questions for us, please write thegrenado at gmail.com and send in those voice memos for future Q&A episodes. If you're enjoying the show, please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts. And music throughout is Siesta by JazzArr via the free Music Archive.
James Stacey	And we leave you with this quote from Albert Einstein, who said, learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.