The Grey NATO – 166 – Inside Bremont's Big News
Published on Thu, 21 Oct 2021 06:00:12 -0400
Synopsis
This episode features an in-depth interview with Nick English (co-founder) and Chris Reynolds (managing director) from the watch brand Bremont. They discuss Bremont's new ENG300 movement which is being manufactured at their facility in England. The movement incorporates an 80% redesign from the base K1 movement from a Swiss company. They also discuss the new limited edition Longitude watch which is the first to house the ENG300 movement. The Longitude has design elements inspired by the history of marine chronometers and the quest to determine longitude at sea. Nick and Chris share details about the extensive manufacturing process and testing (including a new chronometry standard) for the ENG300 at Bremont's English facilities.
Links
Transcript
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| James Stacey | Hello and welcome to another episode of the Grey Nado, loose discussion of travel, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches this episode 166. And we thank you for listening. Jason, how you doing? |
| Jason Heaton | I'm doing great. Yeah, it's, uh, I'm still wearing shorts, which is kind of crazy here. Really warm October, but it's, uh, bottom's going to drop out here tomorrow. I think we're, uh, we're about to feel the, the the true essence of fall, so to speak. But I'm holding on to it as long as I can. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, we haven't had any of the like kind of weird. Well, not weird. We haven't had any of the usual like cool days here. Yeah, they're cooler. You know, we're down into the teens as far as, you know, Celsius goes. But I think we've only had a couple where it kind of dipped to where I would kind of expect to see it mid to late October. But I'm sure I'm sure that our are just desserts are on their way as far as winter and cool weather is concerned. But this should be an interesting episode. We've got some huge news from Bremont in part of both a new limited edition model and a new movement. To tell all of that, we didn't want to sit here and just ramble off specs and such. So we were fortunate enough to be able to get a couple of folks from Bremont on the show in the next little while, including Nick Linglish, one of the co-founders and Chris Reynolds, their managing director. So it should be a pretty interesting show. We've got lots of questions, obviously. That's how these things go. Jason, before we get into that, what have you been up to other than wear shorts in October? |
| Jason Heaton | Well, we have built a couple of fires. I had a nice fire outside last week and then we've been building fires indoors in the evening. And I just love you know, the, the change of seasons when it's, uh, it's time to sit by the fire and, and been kind of revisiting the whiskey collection. Um, maybe a little too much lately, but, uh, you know, that's always fun. And, uh, yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's, uh, there's frost in the forecast finally. So I've got to get that. Suddenly our tomato plants decided to put out, you know, dozens of, of tomatoes and it's like, Oh man, you know, I either have to cover them up or, or pluck them and get them inside to ripen indoors. And then, and so that's, uh, I think that's going to be happening here today or tomorrow. So if anyone's got any tips on ripening tomatoes off the vine, do let me know. I've certainly Googled it plenty of times, but if anyone's got any secret tips, I've heard if you put a ripening banana in the, in a box or a bag with them, it'll help cause it gives off the ethylene that they need or something. So we'll, we'll see. But I guess in more interesting news to people that might be following me on Instagram, they may have noticed that my new beloved, Arctic Bond Seamaster Pro. I've been, you know, playing a lot with different straps and bands and things for it. And it works so well on so many different choices. But someone had recommended this, you know, Forstner makes a bracelet for it as well as Uncle Seiko does as well. And I ordered one of the Uncle Seiko bracelets for it because, you know, I don't care for the stock bracelet that comes on the Seamaster Pro. I never have. I got it with the rubber strap, but I don't know, a bracelet on that watch just, I kind of wanted one. And so I ordered the one from Uncle Seiko. And then as I was unwrapping it and getting ready to put it on the watch, I thought, you know, I wonder if these solid end links would work with my old Speedmaster 1171 bracelet that I tend to not wear on the Speedmaster anyway, because I've got a different band on it. And sure enough, it fits perfectly. And so I don't know, the watch just sings. It just, it made a huge difference. putting it on an old school, you know, three link Omega bracelet with, with the Omega stamped a clasp. And, um, I don't know. I just think it looks fantastic. I think it's going to stay that way for quite a while. And I had posted a few photos on Instagram and people seem to take some interest. So I thought I'd mentioned that, but I, I do think that, you know, if you don't have an old Omega bracelet, certainly the, uh, the Forstner or the uncle Seiko varieties are probably perfectly fine and probably, you know, sturdier at this point than a vintage Omega bracelet, but I just kind of liked the idea of putting it on one. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. No, I think the combo looks killer. I saw that on your, on your Instagram and it's a nice little kind of hodgepodge of old and new and, and sort of, it encapsulates a lot of the Omega world on one wrist there. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. It does seem a little strange to have a, you know, ceramic dial and bezel and anti-magnetic blah, blah, blah on, on this rattly old, you know, pressed steel clasp bracelet. Um, But, uh, it works and it, and it wears nicely. I keep it a little bit on the snug side because I think that kind of flimsier bracelet with a heavier watch head would maybe, uh, tend to have the watch head flop around a little bit, but I've got it set. So it's, uh, it's wearing pretty well. So that's been, that's been a lot of fun. |
| James Stacey | I had my own weird experience with a bracelet recently, and I know some of you have read the story I posted to Houdinki about, um, my Vostok Amphibia, uh, this hilarious, you know, $70 Russian dive watch. that I got for a story. I bought it for a story. And I think that's my new low bar for a bracelet. The watch is fine for a $70 watch. It genuinely is. I mean, it's 200 meters water resistant and has some eccentricities, but seems to be made reasonably well. There isn't any nice finishing on it. It's a $70 watch. I don't really know what to say beyond that. It's a simple thing. that works nicely and seems very reliable and robust, but the, uh, the bracelet is beyond bad. Uh, it, it makes, it makes the, you know, the Jubilee that comes with a, or at one point could come with an SKX, you know, double Oh seven or double Oh nine really makes it seem like a, like an oyster. It's hard to even encapsulate. Like I almost broke the bracelet full stop, just removing one of the pins. Oh, wow. Wow. Um, because it's all a series of like, carefully shod together, rolled metal wrapped around various things. And as soon as you put too much force on it, the metal just bends. So if you can imagine, if you can imagine a link has sort of like an H like shape, I was actually like with the amount of force that a pair of pliers would use to pull a pin from the link. So like not over torquing anything or going too tight or whatever. It's actually the oblique. I was pulling something free. Yeah. I bent one of the arms of that eight, but I bent it laterally. So like in a way that's not very easy to bend back, I had to use a vice. Oh yeah. Yeah. And, um, and then even then, until you put the pin back in place, everything was kind of sliding around in the link. Cause there's nothing solid to it. Yeah. And don't get me wrong. I'd like, I'm, I'm in many ways a fan of cheap bracelets. It's, I've only ever owned maybe one or two decent bracelets and it's not like I like them that much more than the cheap stuff. But when you, when like sizing the bracelet can be destructive, I think that might be the point where, you know, maybe if you decide to go the Vostok route, just skip the bracelet, buy it on a strap of some sort. It's definitely not a value add. And I would say in some ways it's actually like, it's kind of a pain to size it and to figure out how to size it. And then once it's sized, it doesn't feel good or wear well. But other than that, I mean, the watch itself is kind of fun. Yeah. Not anything that's punching all that much above its weight class, but certainly a charming watch for, uh, for $70 and a fun thing. And I think something I probably should have owned before now. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, I think, I think it's, it's just fun and a bit novel to have a watch, you know, from, from Russia. I mean, I think, you know, I've been eyeing, I follow, um, uh, seagull 1963 on, on Instagram and I'm like, you know, one of these days I think I'm going to pull the trigger and get one of those hand wound, um, seagull chronographs. I mean, I've heard, stories, you know, they're bad movements, they don't last long, et cetera. But I mean, as you're experiencing with the Vostok, I mean, it's like, that's not why you're not buying this to be an heirloom or something that you're going to travel the world with. |
| James Stacey | It's a laugh. It's fun. Yeah. It'll make a great thing to pass on to someone who's interested in watching. Yeah. Right. |
| Jason Heaton | Right. So yeah, I think that's cool. I've got an old Vostok amphibia as well that a friend of mine who used to work with a small group, he was doing some training for a team in in Russia back in the, in the mid nineties and, and they gave it to him as a gift. Uh, and it's got some kind of gold accents on it and he, he didn't wear it and it came in the box and whatever. And he's like, Oh, you're into watches. Why don't you, you can have this. And so I, I don't think I've worn it for more than an hour at a time, but you're, you've inspired me to pull it out and wind it up with that strange crown and, and see how it goes. |
| James Stacey | It was a strange crown. |
| Jason Heaton | I still can't figure out the crown. It's like, It's just kind of wobbly. It's almost like a canteen style, like a spring loaded thing. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Like at least it might be a little bit different than the one you have, or maybe it's identical. I genuinely don't know. But on, on the, the one that I've got, you have to, the crown, you have to pull it a little bit. Yeah. So you have to have some outward pressure on it and then it works like really well. It engages nicely and it has this really tight sort of, but the moment that it's, it's left on its own, it has some sort of a fitted channel, which allows it to disassociate from the stem very easily. Um, but if you leave a bit of pressure and even if you're rotating it and you, and you have that pressure on, you can actually feel it kind of fall into place. Um, like a, like a key in a lock. Um, and, and once that goes, then it works really well and you can wind really smoothly and you can do the rest of it, but actually just unscrewing it really, yeah. You'd think like, what is this? Can I, is this connected to anything? Is there just a piece of like a, like a dental floss in there that's keeping this crown where it's supposed to be? Yeah. No, it's, they're, they're a weird thing, but if you're, if you're into watches and you have the budget to buy one, you know, for, for curiosity sake, for not so much as a bid, I'm not saying you're buying it to make a joke out of it. You know, if you're used to even entry-level Seiko, if you're used to entry-level Swiss stuff, this isn't going to blow you away in terms of its fit and finish, but it is an interesting design note. It's from kind of an interesting time in watches. Yeah. And, uh, and it's definitely fun. And I think would make a, an interesting way of getting, say, you know, a young person or a newly curious person into, uh, into watches for sure. |
| Audible confirmation sounds | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | And then, yeah, the only other thing I've got kind of new since we last recorded an episode is I went and saw no time to die, saw it on Sunday. So I saw it a couple of nights ago. You know, I, I, uh, I'm not sure I'm crazy about it. Really? You know? Wow. Yeah. I, uh, it, it felt kind of messy to me at times. It felt really not bond or like just a very different bond than we've gotten for the last couple movies, the last few anyways. Yeah. Um, I definitely didn't dislike it. Yeah. And this is such a weird thing for me to say, cause I like long movies. It was longer than it needed to be. |
| Jason Heaton | I thought I didn't think it felt long. I thought it would cause it's what, two hours, 43 minutes. |
| James Stacey | And I thought it's real long, you know, for, for, especially for like, what's essentially an action movie in this case, they went, you know, we'd, we'd been talking on a previous episode about how, you know, Casino Royale is maybe more of a a Bond movie first and a different type of movie second, whereas Skyfall is more of an action movie first and maybe a Bond movie second. Yeah. The truth is, before we decide to do a whole episode, I'm going to have to see it again. Yeah, me too. Because it's really hard for me to contextualize things from the theater. I saw it with noise around me. It was also the first time I'd been in a theater, certainly since before the pandemic. This is something we can dig in deeper if it's something that other people are feeling too. But I have a fair amount of anxiety when we go out and do things in public spaces now. Yeah. And I'm sure I'll get over it. And it's not the kind of thing where I'm letting it like ruin my life or rule the way I make my decisions. But I found flying to be like exhausting. I made it to Vancouver, which is really only like a five hour flight. But that was probably the most I'd been around random people. Yeah. A year and a half. Yeah. It's a little disorienting, you know, try and deal with, with ultimately just other people being around you for a long time. And, and I got, I got off that flight and like, I could, I not that I couldn't speak. I didn't want to speak. I wanted like an hour to sit and look out a window and just be kind of like alone and chill. And so I'm, I'm not sure how much that may have weighed into my impressions of the film. It felt like the movie was made in chunks and they didn't always touch each other that well. Yeah. The various parts of the film. Sure. Yeah, I think it's one that I'll need to see again. You know, we got a bunch of comments saying that people would like more episodes about Bond, but maybe not specifically about No Time to Die. So maybe we need to think of a Bond series that we can get into, kind of like a film club. Yeah. Where maybe we start doing the, you know, every six episodes or eight episodes or something is kind of a Bond themed episode, whether it be books or movies or otherwise. I think that's certainly a possibility. But if we're going to do sort of a longer at length Yeah, I'd be curious to get your, your brother's take on it as well. I, have you talked to him about it? Has he seen it? I don't believe he's seen it as of yet. Um, but I should, um, I should, and maybe that's the, maybe that would be the thing to do, you know, would be to have Tim on to chat about it. Cause, uh, he might be able to explain to me in fewer words than I'm rambling about as to why, you know, maybe parts of it didn't, didn't work for me, but, uh, I'm glad that they made it. And there are certainly elements of it. I really liked, I thought that the, the interplay between the characters was really entertaining in this episode. It was, there was more about other people than just Bond, uh, than maybe we would normally expect in terms of character development or, um, or even just like a characters being kind of introspective. I think the movie is very much like Bond looking inwards as he faces, you know, the next phase in his life. So yeah, I think it was a mix for me on first viewing. I'm excited to get a chance to see it again and then maybe chat about it in the future. But I didn't want to leave anyone hanging because I had said I was planning to see it before we recorded this episode. And I did. And I would say, yeah, I'm pretty mixed from first viewing, but maybe it'll hit me differently if I get a chance to see it again. |
| Jason Heaton | It's funny. really get into many other movie franchises or, or series of movies. You know, when I was a kid, you know, the star, the first group of star Wars movies were kind of big in my life. But you know, since then I don't get into the Marvel films or the Batman movies or anything like that. I I've seen a couple of them, but it's not something I eagerly await or follow or keep track of. But the bond movies I think in general just carry so much more baggage than any other kind of movie. So everyone you see, has this weight of history and the character and people's expectations attached to it. And at some point I was sitting in no time to die, you know, with these giant expectations sitting there just quivering, waiting for some big light bulb moment and whatever. And I loved the movie, but on the other hand, I was sitting there and I had to keep reminding myself like, just relax. This is just, it's, it's, it's supposed to be just a fun kind of movie that you could just watch on its own and kind of giggle at or, or, you know, shake your head at or whatever you want. But, um, it really is the only kind of movie franchise that I follow, you know, somewhat passionately because I'm a big fan of the character and the books and whatever else. But, um, you know, to view it just as a standalone movie, like, like so many people do, you know, I almost want to see it a second time or, and maybe even a third time and just go in with, with a different kind of perspective, you know, and just kind of view it in a different way. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, no, I think that's fair. It definitely looks to have been a successful movie from a financial standpoint. So I think that's great. Looking at films coming out the other side of this pandemic now, people are going back to see movies and that sort of thing. And I'm excited to see that some are functioning as though People still want to go to theaters and people still want to go out and support things like films and such. So I think that's good. And yeah, but for me, I kind of expected I would need more than one viewing. I didn't necessarily expect this movie to be like this. You know, I had seen the one trailer and then I stayed the rest out of it. I didn't read any reviews. I haven't, you know, didn't dip into spoilers before I got to it. I, uh, I was, I was, uh, you know, thrilled to get a chance to see it. And it was a weird experience being, being back in a movie theater. But, uh, if you're going to go, I think it's definitely a cinematic thing. It's worth seeing in theaters. It's big enough for, for sure. Uh, by, by big scale. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, we're waving the union Jack, we can jump into our very British themed a risk check. And then of course our main topic, what, uh, what are you wearing this week? |
| James Stacey | I'm still wearing the S three or two. I mean, even if we weren't doing a Bremont themed episode, which we are here, uh, I would still be wearing it. It's just, it's my go-to these days since getting it. I've got it on a Brown, uh, reed leather strap, uh, further igniting the, uh, dive watch on a leather strap conversation. Um, but yeah, no, I'm absolutely loving it. Uh, no, no qualms, no issues have come up since I got it. And certainly it's the right, uh, you know, thing to have on risk for a episode like this. Yeah. How about you? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, so, you know, keeping with the theme, I'm wearing my White Dial MB2, which I've had a few years. And, you know, I actually pulled this one out not only because of our chat with Bremont, but also because, as we mentioned last time, Artem sent us a few sailcloth strap samples to check out. And one of the ones that he sent was a 22 millimeter. And I don't have a ton of 22 millimeter lug watches. I have my Aqua Star and then a couple of Bremonts. Yeah and of course a few Seikos but I put the black 22 millimeter sailcloth with the white stitch and the fold over deployant on the MB2 and it just looks great. I mean you know the stock leather straps that Bremont sells with their watches a lot of times are that kind of what the quote unquote Breitling style padded leather with white stitch. This sort of hits along the same general look, but then the sailcloth has that bit of texture to it. And it's just such an excellent strap. So yeah, that's what I'm wearing. I love this watch and it looks great on the strap. |
| James Stacey | Nice. Well, we are deeply Bray-monted for this episode. And that basically brings us to the main topic, which is going to be a chat, like I had mentioned at the top of the show with the managing director for Bray-mont, Chris Reynolds, and of course, a founder or co-founder in Nick English. And it was a treat to have both these guys on. Obviously, they're here to talk about the new Longitude LE, which is a John Harrison themed limited edition, you know, made in conjunction with the Greenwich Observatory. And then on top of that, and kind of as part of an additional in-depth chat with the new watch, they're also launching a new movement, which is the ENG 300. Uh, so we'll get into all the details, uh, firsthand from the folks that, that made this movement happen, but it's, uh, it's, uh, uh, a movement that's being manufactured by Braymont in England, uh, based on a design from a company called THC plus, uh, and the movement base is called the K one. And then it's, uh, heavily, uh, modified by Braymont, you know, 80% has been, uh, updated or re-engineered by the brand for their specifications. And they own all of the IP, and the rights to produce that movement at the wing, and we'll be doing so moving forward. So I'm excited to get into this. It's a nicely varied chat, a lot of details on the movement, details about the new watch, and details about where Bremont's headed. So let's jump right in. Nick, Chris, thank you so much for coming on the show. It's a treat to have you both here, especially with how busy your schedules are. You guys are good? No worries. |
| Nick English | James, thanks for having us on. Absolutely delighted to be here. We're very, very well. Very, very well. Thank you. |
| James Stacey | And both in the UK at the moment? |
| Nick English | We are indeed. We're just here, Henley. Henley, England, which is about half an hour west of London. So here ready for a rather sort of major launch next week. So running around a little bit, but it's all good. All good. |
| Jason Heaton | And Nick, you're a, you're well-known to the TGN audience, but, uh, Chris Reynolds, uh, you want to give a little, a brief intro, uh, about yourself a little bit since people might not know who you are. |
| Chris Reynolds | Yeah, sure. Hi, I'm, I'm Chris. I'm the managing director here at Brebon. So I was, I joined the, joined the business in early 2019. Um, I was the opportunity presented itself and I kind of grabbed it, two hands, great, great brand of business to be a part of. I'm happy to be on the chatting to you guys too. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, well, you guys have some pretty big news. So it's kind of two parts, the story for today's chat. You've got a brand new movement and a lot of news surrounding that movement. And then the first watch that that movement will be in is a brand new Ali. I think we start on the movement and what this is. So this is the new ENG 300 series movement. And I think there's a really interesting story here. But as these things go with movements, explaining kind of where they come from and how much is done where and how and why requires these days more explanation than I think it used to. Or at least people appreciate that detail more than they maybe knew they needed it a few years back. Why don't you guys tell us about the ENG 300 because it's been kind of a long road to get this far, no? You've summed it up quite well, James. |
| Chris Reynolds | I think it's always a different one to talk about Movement, particularly with our history, we want to make sure that we're, you know, we've had a long term kind of stab at getting a movement out there. And with ENG 300, we're incredibly excited about it. We're really proud. The best thing about it, we're making it in our facility. We're manufacturing components in our facility. We're assembling it, we're regulating it, we're testing it. Where do I start? The key thing for us was finding a movement which we know we could put into our core range, a movement which excels. It has to have the right level of complication, the right level of quality, finishing, and also reliability and repeatability for us to produce it at volume. There's a number of incredible watchmakers making beautiful movements in low volumes, actually, globally. We want to do something where we could in shoe cycle range at a level that Nick and Giles have always aimed to do. |
| Jason Heaton | I think that's an important distinction, Chris, that you brought up. And that is, um, you know, some people might say, Oh, well, there are some movements that are being made in the UK, for instance, uh, what, uh, what Roger Smith is doing, et cetera. But I think, um, you know, as I understand it, Braymont's goal over many years has been to bring back, uh, movement manufacturing to, to England. on a larger scale on kind of a repeatable serial production, industrial scale, so to speak, that really hasn't been seen since the Smith stays right back in the, in the early seventies when they closed shop. And that's kind of what, what you're after here, right? |
| Chris Reynolds | Yeah, that's exactly it. I think, um, so I can say things Nick and Giles through modesty, you wouldn't be able to say they set about on a mission to kind of reinvigorate the British watchmaking industry. And that's, pretty lofty, that's what we've set out to do. We've been looking at movement design for a number of years, and we've been looking at the original ambition was to create something wonderful, something beautiful. We have patents approved for movement design that we have proudly accomplished. But the reality is to produce something repeatedly, I've been reliably informed. I'd like to say I did this count, but I didn't. There's 3,500 unique steps in movement production. Knowledge transfer steps where you have to know this process to that process. It's a process game as much as a design and an engineering one. So, yeah, Nick and Giles said about this mission and the team here at Bremont have been very proudly plugging away over that for a number of years. And here we are coming to the end of 2021 with something that we can be incredibly proud of and talk about and show. |
| James Stacey | So I think the best place to start would be the basics. What is the movement and how do you see it integrating with sort of Bremont's overall strategy for watches, not just say limited editions, but moving beyond that? |
| Chris Reynolds | Well, so the base architecture of this movement was designed by a company called THE+. They're a BN, BL, based business in Switzerland who we were incredibly impressed with. We came across them some time ago. We've been working with them on movement component, technical aspects. We've been looking at all kinds of things with them. And they have a movement architecture, which really impressed us. And we were able to come up with an arrangement where we've acquired that, the IP, the full detail, intellectual property, the full technical support around that movement design, and then work heavily over recent years and months to kind of redesign that movement, to re-engineer that movement, to create new features and new functions. This movement that we have produced, the ENG 300 movement series, will go in our core range. We are proudly announcing it, our first ever produced batch of these movements, probably releasing that into a limited edition, um, as we, as we tend to do with a kind of a historical limited. And, but ultimately it goes into our core range. It's, it's a, I wouldn't describe it as modular because modular brings up, brings connotations of kind of layers and kind of thick movements with modules sat on top of each other. This is a, it's a, it's a modular concept, meaning that it can have a number of different complication features, which we can introduce. We're launching it with a big day, power reserve, offset seconds, and so on. But yeah, it's a very flexible design that will allow us to... Okay, we're never going to be in a position, I mean, I say never, but it's very likely we'll never be in a position where we're manufacturing all of our movements for all of our watches. Very few brands do that. if any. So we are aware of that. This will always be in a selection of our watches. And you have to wait and see which ones those are. But yeah, that's certainly the way we're going. |
| James Stacey | With that, we're looking at an automatic movement based on this K1 from THC+. It's then been extensively kind of re-engineered and modified by Bremont and a huge portion of the movement. Actually, I could have this wrong. I believe a large portion of the movement is entirely manufactured in England. Like at the wing? |
| Chris Reynolds | So we've, we've, we've looked into this. We thought, okay, how do we measure what we do? What do we think about, um, labor minutes? Do we look at machine minutes or hours? Do we look at weight, volume, quantity of parts? Um, the fact is 55% of the weight of this movement is manufactured from raw components in our facility in Henley in the UK. Um, which is, which is pretty cool in its own right. But then on top of that, actually 80% of the entire movement by weight is entirely modified, unique and exclusive to the NG300 series. So despite taking a base caliber and working with it, and actually if I just expand on that a little bit, maybe this is something you're interested in or not, we believe in this transparency. I think that there's a lack of transparency, maybe that's slightly controversial, but we believe in that transparency. We joke about the fact Our manufacturing technology center, the walls are made of glass. We kind of say like, that's the way that we behave and act. You can book a tour and come and look around our facility, see what we're doing. Our watchmakers proudly assembling these beautiful timepieces. And we've got our engineers, you know, proudly now with beaming smiles on their faces at the moment, producing different parts and assembling movements. So it's kind of this transparency and this 55% of the weight, 80% of the weight fully modified unique, bespoke to us, entirely owned by us, IP wise, it's our design. I mean, these are bold statements, but these are factual. And this is the way we wanted to really put this out there. |
| James Stacey | And so as it stands, the ENG 300 side of it, the final Bremont product, that's a Bremont movement made by Bremont in the UK, but at least 80% of it has even been designed, modified by you guys. Do you have the ability, you figure like beyond the LE, when, when this watch starts or when this movement starts to make it into supermarines and MBs and things like that, you can, you can keep up with that kind of production. Like it's not like we're not talking about millions and millions and millions of watches. It's not Timex, but it's also like, it's not like you guys make a hundred watches a year, right? That's a big demand from a production standpoint. Yeah. |
| Chris Reynolds | But we've been, I mean, I'll, I'll be open. We've been kind of, Not hitting a glass ceiling, I mean, that's an awful thing to say, but the reality is we've been around the 10,000 watches per year mark for some time, kind of hovering just above, just below. It feels like it's a number that we kind of just pluck out the air because we keep saying it, but it's just legitimately where we've been hovering around. This, at the moment, we have set up and invested in infrastructure, people, expertise, testing, regulating and so on to all the tooling and fixtures to allow us to assemble a maximum around 5,000 movements a year. So that's, as things stand, that's our maximum capacity. So, you know, assuming if it went into every watch we suddenly sold, it would only ever be 50%. The reality is this will take time to design into new releases. You know, so this is going to be an iterative process, an evolution of introducing our own technology into our watches. But then at the same time, we built an engineering, a technical team, not just to take this and run with this and stick with this forever. I mean, we want to look at new things. We want to grow that. Our team are hungry to do it. They very much enjoyed this process. And we've built some really talented individuals. So, and that's probably something worth talking about. And it's in its own right, actually, the fact that we, how difficult that's been, because We're here in the UK. We're not surrounded by watchmakers. We're not surrounded by movement engineers and designers and technicians. We've had to recruit from other industries and cross-train. That's been a learning curve for them and us. But what we've been able to do is pull together this group of people who are just so passionate about doing this, who just read Nick and Giles' business dream, the mission statement and said, wow, I want to be a part of that. |
| Nick English | But also, I think some of the interest there is the fact that, sorry to butt in Chris, some of the interest there is the fact that over the years we worked very, very closely with Switzerland. I mean, we went out there as sort of very naive and fresh faced individuals 20 years ago and learnt a huge amount about the industry. But it's only in the last for a few years that we've been working really, really closely with a lot of the suppliers, a lot of the technicians, in terms of a lot of that intellectual property. When we set about making cases in the UK, how many, five, six years ago, a bit longer than that, it was getting, as Chris said, some incredible individuals, but a lot of it was trial and error. We had people from Formula One, from the arms industry, from medical, all getting down, cutting metal, And we, you know, it took probably longer than we expected, but that was because we were failing and then passing and then eventually succeeding in what we're doing to ended up with cases which we believe are and other people have looked at them are some of the tightest torrents in the industry. And we're really, really proud of that movement manufacturers, a whole nother game as well. It really is. And what we've been so incredibly lucky at is having some help, some of that intellectual property from Switzerland, which is now over in the UK. We've sent a team out there for a long time being trained up, cutting metal at ridiculous spindle speeds and operating new machinery, which we're programming. This is the really exciting bit, actually. This is something which we could have only dreamt of doing a number of years ago. It's a reality now. As Chris said earlier on, you know, if people want to come and have a look around and sit, it's really, really exciting to see this sort of outside of Switzerland. |
| Jason Heaton | Absolutely. I think, um, if I can chime in here, I think, um, there are some really interesting aspects about this movement, um, that, that we should address. And, uh, one of those areas is, is the actual modifications or, or engineering improvements that you've introduced to this, but then also the fact that you're not only manufacturing the parts, but you're completely assembling these movements at the wing. And then, uh, the testing and, and we'll get to that in a bit here, but your H one, uh, time standard, which you're introducing with this, uh, this movement in this watch as well. But, but first of all, can you maybe talk a little bit about, um, the reasons for the, I guess, improvements that you made to the movement and what those are. |
| Chris Reynolds | So with the, basically looking at the original base, the base architecture, the K1 design working with the THC team, what we sought to do is identify any improvements that that we could identify based on the expertise within our business, now a number of years of watchmaking, after sales servicing. What are our observations? What have we noticed? Some of our brand DNA in regards to robustness and kind of the whole tested beyond endurance feature. So some of the basics, so the movement clamps, we increased the size of those. There's some of the bridge redesign, particularly the balance bridge. We opted for a double footed kind of balanced bridge design to give that more rigidity. Um, there's an improvement to the, to the, um, to the balance where we've gone for a four point timing adjustment, which is, uh, recognized as a, um, as a more complex, more challenging way of timing and gone for a Silicon escapement, um, which, which obviously is, is a, is a huge improvement and gives us anti-magnesium, but also, um, the, uh, power reserve, we, we, it has a 65 hour power reserve compared to Typically we're offering watches between 38 and 40, 45. Some of the tooling equipment we've bought is incredible. So, I mean, I'd like to say it's all, you know, artisanal and done by hand. These guys are kind of feffing away, getting these jewels, 22 of them set for every movement. No, we haven't. We've got a high precision machinery that does that. And that's part of that design for manufacture is what's gone into this, knowing that we need to make thousands of these. |
| Nick English | And there's modifications to the escapement, the winding bridge, the wheel bridge. And that's, as Chris said earlier, at the end of it, it's probably 80% of the movement is new. So that's quite exciting. And I think also, it's just explaining the whole process of You know the whole difference between T0 assembly up to T3? |
| James Stacey | I literally have, Nick, I have that question just shortly down the list here. What is T3 assembly? I saw it on the press release. Why don't you let us know? |
| Nick English | Well, it starts, you know, it was all sort of new to us. I think a lot of companies do various bits of this without realizing. It starts almost before T0, funny enough. You know, you almost need a T minus one. You start cutting the metal and that is pre any T series, you know, that is manufacturing of components. You then got T0, which is the manufacturing of some pre-assembly of bridges and main plates and dual setting and the bits. And then you've got T1, which moves on to the fuller movement assembly. So if someone's talking about T1 assembly, it's like putting the movement together, not, you know, after the pre-assembly. Then T2 would be casing up. So getting that watch all, you know, cased up, regulated and that sort of things. And then funny T3, if someone says they're doing T3, it means they're sticking the bracelet on and they're getting it out the door. So that's in rough terms, very, very crude terms, what the sort of different T series means. |
| James Stacey | For a watch then that has the ENG 300, that has T3 production, you're starting with raw materials to create the movement that is based on the K1 with all of these modifications. And then you're taking it, that process actually is considered done when you put a spring bar through and put the bracelet on it and put it in a box. I mean, that feels like several stations in any company to get to that point. |
| Chris Reynolds | Well, the thing is, the thing is that James, that's actually kind of almost a blessing. And it's a blessing and a curse for us. A lot of equivalent brands to us based elsewhere would not be wasting their time, but would not need to invest time, money into the equipment and tooling and training or whatever, and time in some of these processes. So that's kind of the curse aspect. But then the blessing is that We legitimately are handling this end-to-end raw material right the way through. This is our product. When you're buying into this product, you're buying into this brand, you can do so in the knowledge, knowing that this has been cared for right from raw brass blocks that we're purchasing, loading into machines. And the team that we've got who are programming, setting, operating these machines, it's their passion. It's incredible to watch, actually. The T1 particularly is where you're fixing your sub-assembling items together, which cannot easily be disassembled. That's the differentiation between T1 and T2. So T2, you could, you're assembling things together, but you know, you could then disassemble them. Whereas you couldn't practically do that with a T1 assembly. But the T0, currently we're doing the lion's share of that sub-assembly in-house. There's still some sub-assemblies that we are reliant on our supply chain for, and we have a strategy to further increase that. Over the years, we will see a growing number of machines and processes find a way into the manufacturing technology center. |
| James Stacey | And just to be again, just to be clear, because I do think that this is kind of a central tenant. This isn't a scenario in which you guys are buying partially finished movements from K1 and then putting the new Bremont bits on it. You have the K1 design in your computers and that's what you had started with. You've added in the 80% that's been modified. So now this whole piece All of that, you're starting from raw material. You don't start with a couple of main plates from Switzerland and put on the good British bits. |
| Nick English | James, if you came along, you'd see literally a load of square brass plates. |
| James Stacey | Wow. |
| Nick English | Okay. That's where it's all machined from. |
| James Stacey | For a brand that's been using ETA and to good use and nothing wrong with an ETA movement at all. But for a brand that's been using ETA for a long time, that has to be, to see that first chunk of metal go into the machine and know like, that's mine now, that's got to feel good. |
| Nick English | Well, I tell you what, so it was, there's been a few emotional times over the last couple of decades. But I have to say last week, seeing jewels being set for the first time in plates that we'd seen come off these machines, and it was incredibly moving. And I think for me, it's the passion of the individuals involved as well. And people who are making gearboxes, they're making, you know, parts for Formula One cars. They were involved in a whole new industry, which they'd never thought they'd be involved in probably even two years ago. So that was really exciting. But I think also, we've, you know, you said, you know, we've been using Etta, we use Sellita, we're very grateful. We've been using Lejeu, we use Vaucher, we use a number of different movement houses. But what's really, really exciting about this movement is, because it's been developed over the last 10 years, it's not using any legacy design or movement part. If you think about it, a lot of movements out there intrinsically haven't really changed a huge amount over 50 years. It's just, they've improved, but they, you know, the design is designed. So if you talk to some R engineers and the THC engineers, you'll realize that actually, a huge amount of this is just very different technology, like the silicon parts and the, you know, the exciting bits, which do make it a very, very different movement. And we're, you know, we're hoping people will, you know, really look at the movement in a lot of detail and sort of see the changes we've made and how the movement differs from those out there. |
| James Stacey | You know, I want to, I want to leave at least some time to talk about the LE, which looks beautiful and is obviously very exciting, but I do have a few more questions as it goes, you know, with these, With the completed movement, it's a three and a half hertz movement? That's right. |
| Chris Reynolds | Yeah, that's correct. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | You're producing the movement alongside all the other bits that have to go into the watch and such. When you're looking at these different percentages of how much is based on a Bremont design, how much is based on how much you're manufacturing there, are there like simple examples of things that you simply aren't going to be able to make yourself, whether it's a jewel or a silicon balance or something where you are bringing that in from outside England, outside of the wing, that sort of thing? |
| Chris Reynolds | Yeah. I think some of these things are screws and jewels and again, silicon parts. |
| James Stacey | I never even thought about the screws. That must be a whole wig of some companies. |
| Unknown | To be honest. |
| Chris Reynolds | Yeah, exactly. Well, the thing is, that's one of the main reasons why you can't, because I'm thinking actually, I always try and play, what does a cynic individual think or say? But I think if you, If you try and do the, how, when we're appraising the value of the volume of the movement that we're manufacturing in-house, the immediate thought is, okay, look at these 140 odd parts that go into this movement. How many of those individual pieces are you making? Well, actually, big chunk of those is 22 joules. That's, you know, how many screws now, actually, but there's a way of thinking about some pieces like that that we'll never, never be looking to make at the wing. |
| James Stacey | And then I know you guys are planning on introducing and then applying it further, a whole timing standard, a chronometry standard. So I assume that means you guys feel pretty good about the performance that the movement is capable of. Talk to me a little bit about the plans for H1 and how that should work for this movement. |
| Nick English | Yeah. And it's a very, very capable movement. And as soon as we stuck the first one or two together, they were passing chronometer standards. Obviously, we can't go for cost because we're based in the UK and we're not Swiss, so that's difficult. But for a while, we've been doing this ISO 3159 standard and all these movements, as soon as they get into core range, will be put through that. And so, Chris has been implementing this and other sort of the technical team. And in Henley, you can now see a sort of chronometer testing. stations where these movements can be put through. So we felt that was quite an important part to the brand. You know, we've always, all of our core watches have always been chronometer rated ever since day one. And it is a big differentiator, you know, it's a reflection of the quality of the parts, the finishing of the parts, and actually just a sort of stamp of, you know, what you're getting when you open the back of this watch. And we wanted to keep that going. So there would never be any questions, you know, doubting that the time would be keeping ability of the movement. So for us, it was quite important. |
| James Stacey | So obviously, the whole H1 thing and the chronometry really aligns with the longitude and the new LE, which I'm excited to talk about. But before we get to that, I don't want to overlook the warranty for the movement, which has become kind of a crucial thing for people, especially a lot of folks who are jumping from maybe they're normally buying EDA-based watches into the in-house thing or the manufactured thing, the proprietary thing, then you end up with more questions of like, What's this going to look like in a few years? So what do you have for a warranty when it comes to the ENGY 300? And what's the kind of predicted service window? |
| Chris Reynolds | So with the warranty, we are offering a standard three years extended to five years when you register the watch. So every ENGY 300 series will come with five year warranty. With the Longitude, however, we're offering a free service as well. So if you need and want to get your watch serviced within that three to five-year recommended timeframe, that's included with the purchase. So we offer, you know, the clever among the buyers will recognize we get a two-year warranty with our servicing. So you could even hold out to five and get ultimately seven years. |
| Unknown | And then I guess my last question is simply, you know, you had mentioned that there are plans to eventually see the movement in more of the core lineup. |
| James Stacey | And maybe it's too early to ask this question and we don't even have to include it if so, but do you have any concept of what that will do to the current price point? If we're talking about say a $39.95 USD watch, is there going to be a sizable jump for one that now offers the ENG 300 architecture? |
| Nick English | You know, it was really, really important to us to, and this is part of the reason it's taken quite a long time for us to get to this point. You know, we have a number of fully complete movement designs within the company now, but it was this one here, which was seen as being the best option to go into all of our core watches. The best option whilst also keeping a price point, which was not materially different from from the prices which exist in our core range. And I think that is important. It's hard-making movement. It's really hard-making movement that is capable of going into a watch without the price doubling, tripling. But this won't be materially different from what currently exists, which is for us very, very exciting. |
| Jason Heaton | I think we should probably move on and talk a little bit about the Longitude. It's kind of the reason for the timing of today's episode, actually, is today's the first full day that you're introducing this new limited edition to the world, and it's the first Bremont that uses the ENG 300 family of movements. I think, you know, the name itself, Longitude, obviously has a strong tie to the history of British watchmaking, given Harrison's involvement with with his marine chronometers back in the 1700s. I'm guessing this watch, well, I'm not guessing, I've seen the press materials, incorporates some historical element related to the quest for longitude. Why don't you give us a brief kind of overview of the longitude watch? |
| Nick English | Yeah, of course. I mean, I think if you talk to anyone at Bremont and you quizzed anyone in the corridors and you said, you know, what's Bremont about? As Chris was saying earlier, a massive passion has been about trying to, even in a small way, trying to bring back some watchmaking to the UK. And as you look back at the history of watchmaking, clockmaking in the UK, it's a pretty illustrious history there, dating back to the 1700s. And you look at any mechanical watch on anybody's wrist, doesn't matter which one, a lot of that innovation would have come from British shores. And for that, we're really proud. And I think so when it came to this, you know, this watch where we spent, you know, years of work producing this first movement, how and what watch would it go into? And obviously, if we could have tied into something where, where the sort of history of time began in the UK, it'd have been quite a special thing. And that for us was Greenwich in the Royal Observatory, where we all know a lot of the original ships, chronometers and clocks were regulated and tested. And there is this this wonderful marine history, this innovation, as you said, with John Harrison. And so we've we've been working quite closely with the Royal Observatory and the curation department there. And and there's a lovely cross cross fertilization of of of information and and just work going backwards and forwards. You know, they're very interested in what we're doing. And we're fascinated by the history that they have. And so when it came to this first watch, it was right, we've got to do something with Greenwich. And imagine if we could, you know, it is a historical limited edition, we're only doing 300 of them. But if we could do something quite special for those collectors, we have quite a few of them who are, you know, passionate about some of the watches we've done. If we could integrate parts of Meridian line and Flansteed's line and John Flansteed's was the first Royal Astronomer, you know, laid down by King Charles II. I think it would have been something quite special. And so that's what you see in the back of the watch is this line, which we melted down in Birmingham, a big furnace and machined beautifully into this ring. And that's been placed in the back. But also the movement in this particular case has been, one, it's in a configuration which you won't see again for a little bit. And the finish of the movement is quite spectacular with the rotor and the, um, the plating and everything else that goes into it. So it's, it's a special watch. |
| Jason Heaton | And then you've got this, uh, this nod on the dial, um, the red ball, tell us a little bit about that. |
| Nick English | The red ball Jason is really important. It's, um, I love that story. So, um, this, this particular movement, as Chris mentioned earlier, it has a power reserve and, uh, the power reserve is at six o'clock like many power reserves, but it's this particular one. Um, if you know about the history of, of Greenwich. And the way a lot of these ships used to set their chronometers back in the 1800s, dating from the 1800s, 1818 or so, they used to raise this ball at five minutes to one every day, and then halfway. And then at two minutes to one, this red ball would go straight to the top of this mast. And then on the dot of one o'clock, 1pm, this ball would drop and everyone's surrounding would be looking at this red ball and setting their chronometers to that time, which is quite lovely. And it started in the 1880s and it's gradually taken over in the 1920s by the BBC and the beeps you hear on the radio. I love those beeps. Even if you go there today, you can still see that the ball going up and down at one o'clock. So, so the power reserve is a bit of a nod to that, which is quite fun. |
| Jason Heaton | That's great. I'm a little disappointed you couldn't get actual wood from Harrison's clock to put in the movement, but you know, I'm, I'm sure that. |
| Nick English | A bit of a ligninvitis. Exactly. This, um, incredible, but it's amazing, isn't it? When you think about the history of that clock and the materials I was using for, uh, you know, just to avoid, uh, lubrication issues and temperature changes and things. I mean, he was, uh, yeah, it was fascinating to, to look into. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, and I mean, for anyone who's listening who doesn't understand why a British watchmaking company would want to make a watch called the Longitude and even its extension beyond the work with the observatory, you should read Dava Sobel's book, Longitude. There was a point in time where one of the last great navigational challenges in the world was knowing where you were sort of left to right on the world. There was a lot of people who thought they could figure it out with astronomy. And that was the presiding, highly prestigious science of the time. And then there was a couple of people who thought, no, this can be done with a clock, but the clock has to be absurdly accurate, even when it's been on a boat for a long time. And, uh, the, the final solution, which at the time should have also come with, I believe, uh, a million dollar endowment. I think that's what it was. I think it was 10,000 or a hundred thousand, something like that. |
| Nick English | 20,000 pounds in 1730, which is about three and a half or four million pounds now. |
| James Stacey | Definitely not pocket change either way. Would have been owed and Harrison went on to make several versions, iterations of these clocks. And yeah, that used some really advanced at the time. Now they would seem almost archaic, but advanced ways of dealing with temperature fluctuations and lubrication issues and orientation problems. It's a fascinating story and it's really well covered by that book. we don't have the time to, to dig really deep into that background, but it's absolutely worth a limited edition. And it definitely feels like the kind of one that you guys should have made. So it makes sense. And am I right in saying that this is the first 40 millimeter, uh, Ellie? Yeah. So, um, which is pretty exciting too, I think. |
| Nick English | What is it? I think it's, uh, it's also show that this, this movement, which is, um, it's, it's the size is actually, uh, is perfect for this sort of size of watch. So the movement is 4.95 by 25.6 millimeters. So it's a, it's a movement which can fit into a lot of different cases, which is again, very important for design. So I think 40 mil is a lovely, lovely size watch. And I find myself going back to 40 mil many, many times. It's just a very comfortable watch to wear. So that was the basis of that. |
| Jason Heaton | And you're doing, um, I'm seeing there's 150 you'll be doing in steel, 75 in red gold and 75 in white gold. |
| Nick English | Is that correct? Yeah. Yeah. So, um, yeah, exactly. Only 300. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Wow. And, and the, the launch event is, uh, let's see, this is going live on our episode on Thursday morning and you're doing a launch event this evening. Is that correct? This evening being, being a Thursday, the 20th. |
| Nick English | Yeah, it totally. So, um, Yeah. So I just hope Charles doesn't muck up or anything. But that is when we're doing it. Yeah. So it's exciting. And actually to have it there at Greenwich is amazing. It's a real privilege. |
| James Stacey | And Nick, what's your favorite part of the watch? Of the three versions, do you have a favorite? And of the specific design, do you have a part that you really, really appreciate? |
| Nick English | Do you know, for me, I think it's because it's such a big thing for us as a team. it's the movement full stop, you know, I can't help but turn it over. And it's, and it's such a different looking movement from anything else out there. And, you know, Chris alluded to design that but it, you know, the the movement is, is has got the curves of our big facility here in the wing, we call it in here in Henley. And there's a lot of design cues there. But it's just a really lovely, beautifully finished, robust movement. And you can't help but when you know, this sort of love sweat and tears that have gone into it that you can't help but turn it over actually and look at that more than anything else. But hopefully it's a watch that people will find attractive as well. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, I think my favorite part just looking at the photos is the engraving that says Made in England on one of the bridges. I think it's been a long time coming. I remember that I had an old Smith's W10 British Army watch years ago. And I always liked that it said that on the bottom of the dial and, and, you know, that that's just not seen on watch movements anymore. And, um, so obviously that must've been a very proud moment when that, that bridge first came out engraved with, uh, with made in England on it. |
| Nick English | Do you know, it really is, it really, really is for everyone in the team. So something which, you know, we didn't know how long it would take to get there, but, uh, we're there and it's, um, yeah, we're, we're so incredibly excited. Really, really excited. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, great. Um, you know, Wish we could have come for the event, but, you know, things, uh, things didn't, uh, transpire as, as we would have liked, but, uh, you know, uh, I'm sure it's going to be a blast and, and big congrats on, on the longitude and, and on the movement. And, uh, we're just so thrilled to have you guys on the show. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I'd second, what Jason said. And the only thing I would add, the thing that was, you know, still left in my notes here is, uh, you know, you guys, you, Nick, you had mentioned it earlier in the show is you offer a tour. So if somebody would like to come and see any of this kind of stuff moving through the production line, I guess that's, that's possible. |
| Nick English | Do you know, I'd be or anyone would be so incredibly excited if anyone listening would be, you know, keen on coming and having a look around and that some, you know, seeing the bar of steel going in and the cases coming out or that the brass plates and the movements coming out or jewel setting or movement finishing or movement assembly regulation. It's all there under one roof. And we are so incredibly proud of it and showing people around is something we really love to do. So please do get in touch and Giles and I or Chris will be, you know, honestly delighted to show you all around. |
| James Stacey | And there's a small fee, but it goes to a charity if I have it correct, right? |
| Nick English | Yeah. It's tiny. I mean, it's 25 pounds, but it's, it's, it's more just to get the keen folk who actually wants to come, but it all goes to charity. So. |
| James Stacey | Well, I know that the, from what I've seen the images and everything, it definitely looks like a great destination. If you're around London, it seems, feels like a no brainer. And for Jason and I, we're going to find an excuse, hopefully, uh, next year to, to make it to your fine, uh, your fine country back, back to the best Island. And, uh, and see, see that we must be great, but, uh, and Jason's Land Rover, we're going to fly it over tons of deal or something. See, see who will fly a Land Rover. I don't mind. We could sit in it too. It wouldn't, we wouldn't even need seats in the plane. Well, this is great. Thank you so much, uh, Chris and Nick for coming on. I really appreciate the time and of course the expertise on answering some questions. And I'm sure we'll get a bunch more questions in the comments. So if you're listening and you feel like we missed something or I rambled too much or something like that, let us know in the comments and we can pass those questions along and get the answers. But Nick, Chris, thank you so much. I appreciate it. And congrats on the launch of the new watch and the new movement. And I hope the week that, as you're listening to this, is a week old wasn't too hard. |
| Nick English | Thank you both, James, Jason, so very much. Thanks guys. Congrats. |
| Chris Reynolds | Thank you so much. Thanks a lot. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So that was a, that was a great chat with Chris and Nick from Bremont and thanks to both of them for coming on. And, and, you know, this is airing on a Thursday morning, the morning after their big launch event, which, you know, we're recording this kind of bumper intro and outro bit. uh, the day before that. So I'll be curious to, to watch the launch event live and, and certainly wish we, we could have been over there for that, but, uh, we'll get over there at some time soon. I think it's just big news. I think it's, uh, you know, it's great for Braymont. I think anytime a watch company is creating movement parts and assembling and everything in house, it's, it's big news, whether that's in, in the UK or, or, you know, Japan or the U S I think it's, uh, it's a big deal. So, you know, congrats to them and, and I hope everybody enjoyed a bit more depth on the new watch and the new movement. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I'm excited to see where it goes from here, where we're going to see the new movement. You know, a new LE is a new LE. This is something Braymont's been doing for a long time. And while I absolutely adore the kind of tribute material of the LE, the John Harrison clacks and the work to discover and accurately measure longitude, I think the movement is in many ways the big story. It's something that Braymont's been working a really long time to get to. to be able to have kind of their own movement and control their production within England and the rest of it. And now that they've got the great big new building and lots of manufacturing space, it's cool to see them actually make their way into that. And, you know, maybe not surprised, I guess this is how I would feel too, but it's just special to see how kind of proud of it they are. And they put in all this work, you know, in the hopes of doing things the right way and in a way that's easily kind of transparent to the audience and to buyers and things like that. And I think they've made something kind of cool and, and yeah, you know, neither you or I got to see it. The timing for this, uh, this trip, uh, this week didn't work out for either of our schedules, but, uh, I think we can probably make that happen sometime in the future. Uh, and it'll be, uh, it'll be cool to see. And, and, and I'm excited more to see it in core watches as I'm sure you are too, Jason. |
| Audible confirmation sounds | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | All right. So how about some final notes? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I've got two, so I'll, I'll bookend yours. Um, First one is, is also have bond themed given your recent discussion of your no time to die viewing. And this came from a friend of mine, Chris, who sent me this article about the, um, the radio head theme song that, that the band put out for specter. So, you know, I, I wasn't as aware of, of how they source the theme songs for these movies, but apparently, you know, they, they kind of choose an artist, but they also kind of open it up to, to other bands and artists to, to compose and kind of throw their hats in the ring. And back when Spectre was being, uh, put together the Radiohead, you know, the British band, uh, composed and recorded a song called Spectre and I've heard it before, but this YouTube video that my friend Chris made me aware of is called how Radiohead wrote the perfect bond theme. And it was really an interesting viewing. Now I'm not, uh, a trained musician. I, you know, played instruments in high school and whatever, but I've long since forgotten my music theory and how to read music and that sort of thing. But, and so this one goes into some fair depth about, you know, major and minor keys and chord sequences and things like this, when it comes to the actual kind of classic James Bond themes and what makes them successful. And, uh, but you know, still even to kind of a novice like me, it was, it was an interesting, uh, listen or viewing to, to kind of see how radio had put together this theme song. And, you know, I, I've quite liked this song and I think the, the theme song that they chose for specter, which was the, the Sam Smith song, um, wasn't quite as strong. And I think this radio head song actually would have been better. And, you know, there've been a few instances where we've heard alternate theme songs for bond films. You know, you two did one, Shirley Bassey recorded one called Mr. Kiss, kiss, bang, bang. That was supposed to be for, I think that was going to be for Thunderball, you know, so there have been these kind of alternate bond themes that you can find and they're, they all have that kind of smoky minor key, you know, chord progression stuff that you're so familiar with that, that just makes something sound bond. And this one from Radiohead's great. So it's definitely worth, worth checking out this. I think it's about a 10 to 15 minute video on YouTube. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, this is a cool one. And it's funny because I don't know that much of Radiohead in general. I know a bit. Um, but not, not much. And it's funny because I know I couldn't, I remembered this song when I clicked on the link. Yeah. Um, but I couldn't place what the official Skyfall song was. I was like, man, I don't think this is the, the original. And then you're like, Sam Smith is like, oh, of course that song. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. What'd you think of, of the, the Eilish theme for no time to die? |
| Jason Heaton | I wanted more crescendo. I wanted kind of some bigger notes, but all in all much of it. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Just kind of went, I like the, the smoky kind of mood to it, but, at some point I just wanted sort of some Adele or Shirley Bassey sort of crescendos. And there one sort of comes towards the end, but I don't think she's the, quite the belter, you know, she doesn't have the pipes, I guess. |
| James Stacey | Uh, you know, maybe not like Adele. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Um, who does though? Yeah, exactly. But I thought it was fine. I thought it was better than some of the recent ones. |
| James Stacey | Um, yeah, it's always a mixed bag. Um, yeah. The Skyfall one was fantastic. Yeah. I was going to say like Skyfall, Skyfall, which is the Adele one. And she says Skyfall a lot, which is fun. That always makes me kind of giggle. Yeah. It's the name of the movie as well. Yeah. Yeah. But that is a really good one. And it has it. It feels like a complete song. |
| Audible confirmation sounds | Right. |
| James Stacey | Whereas the the Eilish one felt more like a theme. |
| Inaudible | Mm hmm. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. You know, almost like that. What's that concept of music called in film? Leitmotif, where they attach a theme to a person. Okay. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Right. I know what you mean. Yep. |
| James Stacey | Rather than to the, you know, like the Indiana Jones theme, the Marion theme, the, you know, there's the, the, the, the force theme song or the, the Skywalker theme or the there's these ones that attach. So you, you can sometimes even know who's in a room, even if they don't tell you, cause what music's playing or who's coming down a hallway in full of smoke with a lightsaber or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. And, and I felt like there was some of that in like, almost like this is, um, this was a little bit of like character work in the Billie Eilish theme. Whereas the, like the Skyfall one comes on so hard. That one from Casino Royale, which I want to say is Chris Cornell. Yes. Yeah. That one is very memorable, but hasn't aged as well as some of these ones that stuck closer to kind of an orchestral sound. Right. Which has a little bit, it's a little bit more timeless. And Chris Cornell's voice for me will always sound like a window of time as well. |
| Audible confirmation sounds | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Right. When, when he was, you know, such a, uh, a huge presence in, in music. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, no, it's definitely, definitely a cool one. And, uh, I like this, uh, radio head song quite a bit. Yeah, me too. Uh, so that's a, that's a winner for sure. Um, I can actually stay on loosely on the topic of, uh, British music, uh, with mine, it's a brand new album from one of my favorite, uh, favorite singer songwriters, James Blake. Uh, the full album came out, it's called friends that break your heart. So he's been kind of doling out singles from this album for some time. And I've been, Boy, any word short of addicted probably isn't accurate, so we'll go with addicted. I've been addicted to Say What You Will, which is one of the singles from the album. It's a really, really fantastic album. It's pretty much down the middle. James Blake, you know, I'll include the Pitchfork review, which I think is fair. I would have scored it a little higher than they did, but ultimately I'm not sure the score really matters. The album's simply incredible. Um, it's, it's varied and, um, and colorful and has lots of texture, but you know, his voice really comes through the singing, the, the, his, his songwriting ability really comes through. And there's some really fantastic, uh, sort of composing and piano work throughout. Uh, so that's what I've been doing when I'm not editing podcasts or, or, uh, or, you know, enjoying silence while I write, I've been listening to, uh, to this album quite a bit. So I highly recommend friends that break your heart by James Blake. Oh, cool. I'll check it out. Yeah. Yeah. And what do you got for your third one? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Third one's a classic TGN. Um, this came from, uh, our buddy Ed Estlow. It's an interesting article. So there's, there's a publishing house, a small publishing hall house called lost art press. And they, they focus their, their publications, their books on the themes of, as the title suggests, or as their name suggests, lost art. So anything hand-built or hand-created or, you know, very craftsman-like. So they're coming out with a book in early 2022, which is a must-have on a TGN bookshelf. And it's going to be called The Handcrafted Life of Dick Preneke. |
| James Stacey | How did they not call us for like a foreword? Exactly. I know. We haven't been working hard enough. We got to work this angle. Yeah, right. I thought we were the de facto Uh, you know, operating. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I thought, I thought we were the, the, the chorus. Yeah. Right. That's saying the praises here. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. So this, this book was written, um, by a fellow by the name of Monroe Robinson, who apparently back in the eighties, 1980s was, was tasked with, um, restoring various elements of Preniky's cabin. I'm not sure of why, if he worked for the park service or whatever, but, um, So he made several trips to Twin Lakes up in Alaska where Dick Preniky had his wonderful cabin. And rather than go into a full explanation of Dick Preniky, we'll just put several links in the show notes because we've talked about Preniky so often. He's a real hero of ours. But Robinson was tasked with working on the cabin to kind of keep it maintained for posterity and for future visitors to the national park. one point he took along his, his 12 year old son, whose name is Ilan. And Ilan was something of a kind of a budding illustrator, even at that age. And he sketched some, uh, some images from the trip, you know, with his experience with meeting Dick Preneke, who by then was, was a very old man, um, and of the surroundings. And they did some kind of adventures in the area, you know, kayaking and hiking and camping around that area. And so, Now that Ilan is a grown man, he's a, he's a professional illustrator and he actually did the cover illustration for this forthcoming book, the handcrafted life of Dick Prineke. Super cool. And, um, so this, this blog post that we're going to link to is, uh, called a conversation with Ilan Robinson and Monroe Robinson. So it's kind of their recollections of meeting Prineke and, and kind of their experiences at his cabin, uh, over the years. And when Ilan got to meet him that one time and. Very cool. It's a, yeah, it's a nice, very heartwarming story. And, and I don't know, fall always makes me think of cabins and the outdoors. And I just think, you know, again, I think it's, it's not a bad time to revisit alone in the wilderness, at least while we're waiting for that book to come out. Cause I think that'll be fantastic. |
| James Stacey | Oh yeah. And these photos are so fun spots you can recognize from the movies. Yeah. And, and Prenik, he's standing, standing there. You do realize just how tall that house is when he wasn't a tall man. Yeah. Preneke and you can see some of the other folks in the party here would have to bend down pretty low to get through that doorway. Yeah. Yeah. Really, really fantastic. This is a great one. Thanks very much, Ed, for sending this to Jason and yeah, giving us a chance to take a look at it. I'm excited for this book for sure, but I know that we're preaching to the choir on that one. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Very cool. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, as always, thanks so much for listening. Thanks again to Nick English and Chris Reynolds for joining us on this episode. You can 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 follow the show at The Grenado. If you have any questions for us, please write thegrenado at gmail.com and keep sending those voice memos. We're collecting a good roster of them for our next Q&A episode for October. 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 Stacey | And we leave you with this quote from C.S. Lewis, who said, hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny. |