The Grey NATO – 169 – Challenge // Hamilton
Published on Thu, 11 Nov 2021 06:00:21 -0500
Synopsis
Jason Heaton recently returned from a trip to Germany with Leica, where he got to experience the brand's headquarters, museum, and production facilities. He talks about the history of Leica and the Leica M camera system, as well as his experience having an uncomfortable COVID test while jet-lagged. James Stacey discusses an upcoming trip he has planned to photograph the lighting of Split Rock Lighthouse on the anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. For their weekly challenge, Jason and James pick three Hamilton watches each to purchase within a $2,000 budget, revealing their choices and strategies. Jason's picks are the Khaki Field quartz watch, the Khaki Aviation Pilot Pioneer in aluminum, and the Jazzmaster Seaview quartz diver. James selects the Khaki Aviation Pilot Pioneer chrono quartz, the American Classic Intramatic automatic, and the classic Khaki Field mechanical hand-wound watch.
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Transcript
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| James Stacey | Hello and welcome to another episode of The Gray Nado, a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 169 and we thank you for listening. James, you jet-lagged or getting used to being jet-lagged again? |
| Jason Heaton | Man, I couldn't tell you how out of sorts I am, but yes, I'm very jet-lagged. I came back to, you know, we don't swear on the show. So I came back to a very complicated scenario here in terms of workload and podcast turnaround and stuff like that for Hodinkee. But yeah, I was in Germany for three, three and a half days with Leica. It was an incredible trip from like what I learned and saw and everything. But yeah, really out of shape when it comes to when it comes to traveling. And, you know, I've avoided dealing with a lot of the intricacies of COVID tests and things. Yeah. Like I had my first COVID test just before this. Yeah. And then I had another one in, in Germany, had to get a PCR. Their PCR is there, at least the one that I paid for, which due to a scheduling error was like, I needed the 20 minute one. Oh. So, you know, it was like $200 or whatever, like who cares about the money, but they, they don't go through the back of the nose. They go down to the back of the throat. Oh, and, uh, and due to, you know, maybe getting an hour and a half's worth of sleep and the rest of it, I wasn't feeling really hot, kind of nauseous. And I, I definitely almost barfed on the poor lady. Um, I, she was not a fan of mine by the time we finished that interaction, but, uh, luckily, you know, negative as you would assume, or at least hopefully assume. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. I mean, this trip was incredible. So it was kind of assigned around the Oscar Barnack awards, which is Oscar Barnack developed the first Leica camera. before that they were kind of in microscopic, uh, lens design and things like that. And he took that design and made a, uh, essentially a camera you could put in your pocket, which in 1914 didn't exist. So if you, if you think of what cameras are now, even up to cell phone cameras, it's kind of because of this one guy. And, and then, uh, so it was the first one in, in, you know, the length of film strips 36 is kind of based on his wingspan. There's some weird stuff that, that links back to how deeply Leica has been into especially like street photography, essentially mobile photography. So no more, no more transfer plates, no more like giant Ansel Adams setups or, or, you know, the smoke bulbs or any of that kind of stuff. Suddenly like you could go and take a picture while traveling, you could, you could take a street photo. You could take something kind of that wasn't planned as much. Sure. Yeah. And then to see that and, and, and to go to their museum and see the legacy where that you started this or like a, which they're now worth six or $7 million if you can find one. And then you watch the cameras progress and they really, kind of stick with the same format. It's this really beautiful, highly functional. It's not so much a Bauhaus because I don't think that would apply to a camera that well, but it is very German in its kind of synthesis of form and function. Yeah. In that they made something that was super functional and because of it, it came out being something that's kind of beautiful. And I think that's, that's still what they do. And, you know, we talk about like occasionally on the show and I loved, I love these cameras The ones I have, I absolutely adore. And then I got to shoot with some even higher end stuff like the SL series, which is kind of their, their competition for the highest end DSLRs, insane processors, insane speeds, the ability to mount essentially any lens you can imagine with an adapter, but anything from Leica's history, we came across a guy running an M10D, which is a modern, you know, seven or $8,000 body. and he was running a microscopic lens on it that was made over 100 years ago. So he adapted the lens to one type of adapter and then he created his own adapter by modifying a second adapter and put it on and it all resolves. So it's a really, really intense, amazing company. I don't think we have to go into it super long because I did an entire episode for Hodinkee Radio. There won't be that many crossovers between TGN and Hodinkee Radio, but just in the hopes of this episode not being 30 minutes longer than it needs to be, Check out Hodinkee Radio. The episode's called Into the Heart of Leica, and it's a couple different chats. I spoke with the gentleman who's in charge of Leica, who runs it, Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, and I spoke to a really talented and really engaging and thoughtful and kind of a very super smart sort of guy named Mark DePaola, who's a photographer in New York, kind of known for his work with Leica. Yeah. So we got kind of two sides of it, the artistic side and the kind of business side. I thought it came out pretty well. It was a big lift to get it all edited and everything. and out on time, but, uh, super fun to, to see it happen. And it's one of those things where like, I think people have even written me about this, uh, in, in the email and the DMS, like my creativity through the pandemic, aside from maybe watch photography has really waned. Yeah. I just, I don't have that motivation to pick my camera up and do anything. And I met all these people and it wasn't like a watch trip where there was some watch stuff that I can't really talk about. Just stay tuned for the most part that everybody else on the trip was kind of like a working photographer that had a relationship with With Leica, there's some guys that have great YouTube presences. Big Head Tacos is a great one, and Beers and Cameras, and you can check out these out. I'll put them in the show notes and such, but there's a handful of great people there, and it kind of, I got that kind of buzz back to be out with a camera and trying some new things and kind of expanding my attempts at being an okay photographer. So that was great, and yeah, a huge thank you to Leica. I tried to buy a camera while I was there. It didn't work out, which is probably good for my bank balance. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I could see how that would happen. I could see how you'd be. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh yeah. And they have a, this is, they, they have their, this amazing customer service platform there where they service all the cameras by hand. And we saw it and it looked like a watch service area. Specialized tools, incredible, like hundred year old tools, 50 year old tools for setting the focusing mechanism in a range finder. And all of these, like, it's very, like, there's still this like handcraft to it. Yeah, which is kind of remarkable, especially if you know the camera world, a lot of it has become very not only digital, but like automated. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | And so that they can make a lot. And there's all sorts of product that that Leica makes that they just make as many as they can. But someone has to hand polish a part of it. Oh, sure. Some insane, sane, expensive piece of glass or whatever has to be done by one person because they're the only one that won't mess up this glass. Wow. So some of these lenses take a long time to make and then even longer to come to market. Yeah, I was blown away. You know, it was this weird mix of like, um, it was a little bit like visiting, uh, like a Ferrari or, or, or something like that, where you see there's elements where they've, they've really gone to the extent of making it as kind of cutting edge, um, as possible in terms of accuracy, you know, special measurement tools, a lot of really cutting edge specialized optics, uh, to make sure that they're doing a good job, but then the other side of it is still being done by hand. Huh. which is I think kind of wild in today's world. But like I said, a lot of this is on that other episode. I'll throw it in the show notes. I don't think we have to go too deep into that. If you have any Leica questions, put them in a Q&A and we'll circle around to it. I feel like I've been talking a ton about Leica. It was super impressive and exciting to be back on a press trip, but also just it really highlighted how much I've become something of a homebody in the last year and a half. And I really missed the comfort of my own bed in a way that I don't think I ever have in my life and, uh, my own time zone. Right. It was only five hours, but because of the timing of the flight, I think I was, you know, I was getting an hour or two of sleep. Yeah. You know, I think that's something that you get used to when, when you have a pace where you're constantly kind of jumping around. But when you, when you step out of that river, it's, it's, uh, it's a little bit chilly to jump back into it. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. That travel muscle memory, uh, it takes a while to, to get back for a couple of years. I mean, I do think that, um, you know, I saw some of your photos from the trip and I haven't checked out the hood and key radio yet, but it's, it's such a privilege to, to visit. I mean, that, that brand is, is like going to visit, you know, Mercedes or Porsche or Rolex, Rolex, or, you know, any of, any of the kind of, I hate the word iconic, but iconic brands in any field. And, and you know, what a, what a tremendous privilege that would have been. That's, that's really amazing. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I agree. Yeah, no, I definitely of all the people there from a photography skill standpoint, I was the least deserved of the of the spot on the slot. But it was it was it was super interesting and varied, you know, we saw Old Town Vetzlar, which is it has been essentially the home of really high end optics, not only just Leica, but others for over 100 years. And, and a really, really impressive thing. And it was nice to be back in, you know, Europe and small European town and and that kind of thing. The COVID of it all is a real bummer. I don't really have a love of wearing a mask for 14 hours straight or trying to sleep with a mask on or that kind of thing. So hopefully as that stuff fades, travel kind of regains some of its glint. But if it had been a less interesting offering, come see Leica's headquarters, which is kind of like a dream trip. Yeah. Uh, I think it would have been, it would have been easier to have said like, nah, you know, I think I'll stay home. I'll read the press release or whatever. So, uh, some of these are worth it. And I think others probably won't, you know, I think the context of press travel has probably changed quite a bit. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. In the last year and a half. Uh, how about you? You're, uh, you're currently dealing with, um, a bit of a chill of your own. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, you could say that. I woke up this morning and our, um, Our troublesome boiler, uh, that heats the house, uh, is on the fritz. We've had issues with this thing for the 10 years we've owned it. And, uh, usually it's, uh, it got to the point not to bore people too much, but you know, it got to the point where I knew the error message by heart and I knew how to fix it myself. So I didn't always have to call a technician out. And I just had a pile of these, what are called flame sensors that I could just replace myself and get back in business. Well, this time it's something more complicated than that. So I had to have a tech come out this morning and take a look at it and there's still no resolution. So I'm running. running some heaters around the house and have, uh, have the fireplace going, which, which does a nice job. But the, the, the difficult thing is, and speaking of photography, um, we're supposed to be leaving to, to go up, uh, up north this afternoon. Actually, this is Tuesday because, uh, there's, um, every year on November 10th, which is the anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald and Lake Superior. They, they light the beacon that split rock lighthouse, uh, up on the North shore of Lake Superior. And, um, you know, it's a, it's a, it's now a historic site, a defunct lighthouse. They don't use it anymore, but they light it once a year on November 10th and they do a reading and they sing the naval hymn and, and whatever at the, uh, on the evening of the anniversary of the sinking. And so I've never been up for this. And, and so we thought we'd go up and try to get some, some nice, uh, it sounds lovely. They light the, uh, the beacon just after dark and then they leave it on for a couple of hours. So there's a, a kind of a cool Rocky beach that you can hike down to and oh, We thought we'd set up a couple tripods and take some photos and see how it goes. The complicated thing is, you know, leaving a cold house. So we're, we're kind of trying to work through that now so we can still get away. Um, cause we have a cabin rented up there that's waiting for us as well. So it's like, we'll see how it goes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | So, well, that's, that sounds like a really, uh, really interesting sort of event to, you know, I, I, Your love of the Edmund Fitzgerald is kind of beyond my general understanding of it. It's something I should probably experience at some point, but I'm looking forward to seeing the photos if you make it up there and I hope the cabin's good and the rest of that. That sounds like a nice way to spend the balance of the week. Would you stay through the weekend or just for a bit? |
| James Stacey | No, it's just gonna be two nights. So we'll be back actually Thursday, not, you know, just after this episode goes live. And, you know, it was really a spontaneous thing. I was like kind of watching the weather and they're supposed to get some rain and snow up there, which could make things interesting. But it was like, let's go for it and get up there at least and try to get some photos before we kind of creep and crawl back home if the weather turns. But I think I think we'll be able to sneak away and I'm looking forward to it. I've wanted to do this for a few years and that lighthouse is so picturesque and to see it kind of lit up on a snowy dark evening would be, would be kind of a thrill. So we'll see. |
| Jason Heaton | Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I look forward to it. Uh, I don't really have a lot else. I mean, I think I edited the last episode, went up when I left, uh, left for Germany and then it was just, you know, full throttle in Germany and now I'm back to kind of full throttle on, this episode, and I'm going to have to... What I need is a watch that measures more like 40 or 50 hours in a day. Yeah. I'm running a little low on time here. Yeah. If you want to talk about something more concretely, how about some wrist check before we get into a pretty fun kind of main topic for the day? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, definitely. I'm wearing... I pulled out the Shark Hunter old T-Graph on a bun strap yesterday, and I've been wearing it. Nice. you know, such a fun, cool, chunky watch. I haven't worn it in a while and it seemed, it seemed like a good fit. Um, but you know, I kind of got up in the wee hours this morning feeling the chill of the house and I glanced at my wrist to see what a time it was. And of course this thing has no loom and I'm thinking, okay, we're going to be up north like taking nighttime photos in a, in a dark cabin or out of a dark cabin. And uh, I'm kind of going to want some looms. So I might, I might make a last minute, game time change to my wrist wear, but for now it's the the T graph that's on my wrist. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, might might need a Seiko for that job. But yeah, that kind of works the T graph for that kind of a trip and that subject and that kind of thing. |
| James Stacey | So I get it. Yeah, for sure. What about you? |
| Jason Heaton | I got back and I'd been wearing the S302 through the entire trip, you know, GMT being being something that's kind of handy when you're in a different time zone. But I got back and immediately just kind of switched over to something a little bit more simple, just kind of fun and fresh. And so I'm rocking the Halleos Universa with the pastel. Oh, nice. I still really love this watch. It's one of the few that I really like on its included bracelet because of the micro adjust and the bracelet's nice and thin. The loom is great. I mean, I got no arguments for this watch. It's easy to wear. It's a great kind of everything watch, but it suits sitting around at home and not, not kind of feeling like it's too heavy to be working on the computer or, or other things like that. It's just a nice size and super legible. And the pop of color is nice, especially when, you know, for the last while I've been wearing a kind of black dial dive watch pretty much 24 hours a day. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, that's true. Yeah. That's a, that can, uh, it can get a little old after a while. I mean, strangely enough for, for guys like us that own several of them, it's, uh, sometimes it's nice to pop on a little color. So that's cool. |
| Jason Heaton | Absolutely. What do you say? You want to get into a challenge? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, let's do it. We haven't done this in a while. We've done some fun brands in the past. And when we were talking about which brands to consider for this week, some big hitters came up. And I don't know, it almost feels like more fitting to do this kind of stuff with more affordable watch brands, at least at the start. |
| Jason Heaton | So if you haven't listened to a challenge episode before, it's kind of like a draft, but there's a budget. Actually, I guess drafts have a budget. So it's a lot like a draft. Basically, we pick a brand and we establish a budget that really limits what you can pick. Yeah. So you can't just kind of pick anything. You can't just go buy their best stuff or their most expensive stuff or whatever. And it kind of... The idea is it highlights our taste for a brand and where we think the strengths are for a price point. And being a draft, if someone picks a watch, it's not available to the other. So if I pick a certain watch, then Jason can't pick it. And this week, we're gonna do Hamilton. a brand that I don't think we talked quite enough about on the show. They have some stuff that I think anyone should consider and should experience at some point in their watch appreciation journey. But for today's challenge, we're going to be doing a $2,000 challenge. So if you know Hamilton, you know that if you cycle through their website, there's a lot of stuff at about $1,000 now. A lot of the mechanical stuff sits right under $1,000. It's a really smart price point for the brand. And especially with the new H series movements, the H10 and such, so you get 80 hour power reserve. These are based on the Powermatic system that's through Swatch. There's a lot of value here at $1,000. Yeah. And we figured we'd go with two grand so we know that everyone can get at least two watches. And then depending on how you play your cards, maybe you're fine in three. And as always, we want your feedback. You can go to notes.thegrenado.com, leave comments, sign up for the sub stack so you get this delivered right into your inbox and all that kind of stuff. But Jason, who should go first? How do you want to decide this? Cause I think the first one might be, might really change the shape of my draft. |
| James Stacey | I think it's your turn. I think I went first last time and you were kind of bummed. So I think I'll, I'll graciously give this one over to you to start. |
| Jason Heaton | I appreciate that. I appreciate it. But we'll remember, I'll remember this next time. Next time is definitely yours. Yeah. All right. I'm going to start with, um, hmm. This is one where I kind of feel like I have to predict what you might be buying to try and hit a certain price point. I'm going to go with I'm going to go with what I think is a classic from the brand. All right. But also one that I feel doesn't need to be an automatic or even a mechanical. I'm going to go khaki field quartz, which is their 38 millimeter quartz watch. Three hundred and twenty five dollars, 18 millimeter lugs, 100 meters water resistance. In my mind, As much as the khaki field mechanical has become kind of the calling card for the brand in the last couple of years, for a field watch, I think quartz really suits it. Yeah. There's a get up and go, get out of the house, go do something, no fuss, no muss. And at $325, this is direct competition for the Victorinox we talked about last week. Nicely made. I think a really beautiful watch. And at 38 millimeters, it's perfect. It's a great size. You got to remember a field watch is a lot of dial. So a lot of these Hamiltons wear bigger than you would expect. I think a 38 is going to feel just right. And that's certainly been my experience. And that would be my first pick at $325. I think that just black dial, put it on a brown strap, you know, house wore version of this. I mean, he wore the khaki king, which is an automatic version, but it has that nice kind of casual, but considered vibe that I think you want from a watch like this. And I think that's where I'll start my pick. |
| Unknown | All right. |
| James Stacey | Well, was that on your, on your radar? It was not. I mean, I had something close, but not the, not a quartz one. Yeah. I guess I'll jump in with my first pick. I, you know, apologies in advance. They're, they're doing some concrete work out on the street here. This is usually on the Toronto side of a TGN here, but today, yeah, but, uh, we'll, we'll try to edit around. I'll do my best to suppress it. All right. I think what I'm going to go for is this is a bit of an outlier. I bet. Um, this is, the khaki aviation pilot pioneer chrono quartz. So we both go on course with our first pick. And this one is, it's a beloved formula for me has, as people will recognize once they, they know which watch I'm talking about here, but it's, it's basically a riff on the asymmetric kind of what they call the fab four chronographs that were made for the Royal Air Force back in the seventies. And, um, you know, CWC makes one, I have the reissue, the two register hand wound, reissue version from CWC. And this one basically mimics that case and kind of general vibe, but it's a, it's a quartz chronograph and it has this kind of funky two register display with, with the the 30 minute counter kind of sits up between 10 and 11 and then the running seconds is down at six. And it's got syringe hands kind of photina loom And this one's 595 bucks. So, you know, I think with, you know, you mentioned, you know, yours is a quartz. It has that kind of grab and go functionality to it. And I think that it's the same here. I mean, Hamilton has made a mechanical version of something similar to this, but for some reason, you know, price being one of them, uh, or one of my criteria, I'm going to go with quartz on this one because I think the look is exactly what I want. I think it's, it's such a great watch. And for those people who kind of have wanted that asymmetric, RAF chrono look, but don't want to shell out for the, you know, multi-thousand dollar reissues or spring for an eBay find of a genuine one, which goes for quite a bit more. I think this gives you the same vibe. And I think it's, uh, you know, it's 41 millimeters, so a reasonably good size. Yeah. You know, it's got a hundred meter water resistance, which, you know, these things that's unheard of for the originals. So you could wear this. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And with that asymmetric case, you get it like some extra case to kind of balance out the dial. I think this is a smart pick for sure. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And you're going on a NATO? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I'm just going on a straight NATO for $595. It's a gray NATO, fittingly enough. You know, the originals would have had fixed spring bars. This one doesn't, obviously. So you can, I think it'd look great on a nice leather strap or a bund or whatever. So yeah, that's where I'm headed. $595 for my first pick. You know, again, we've got what, $2,000 to play with. And I think that leaves a good chunk left over. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, for sure. If I end up getting the three that I'm thinking, I'm going to be over budget by just a tiny bit. Oh, that's all right. But just a little bit. But I think when you factor for the fact that Hamilton is sold in retail in a lot of places, a lot of these prices have some flexibility in them when it comes to sales or other stuff like that. So it's less than 10% that I'm over. Yeah. Considerably less. Yeah. Cool. So for my second pick, this is a watch that I've never seen in person, but I do really like the look of it actually follows your pick in some ways. This is the khaki aviation pilot pioneer. You can see why I was getting worried when you were saying the title of yours, the khaki aviation pilot pioneer in aluminum. Oh, okay. So this is their automatic aluminum watch. It's a 1145 is the price point. Okay. And it comes in several different colors being aluminum. I'm going to go with the blue dial blue case on a NATO. Yeah. I really liked the way it looks. This is another 41 millimeters. So same, same, general case shape and size as what Jason just picked, but now you're getting an H10, so that's an 80-hour power reserve movement, 22-millimeter lugs, 100 meters water resistance, sapphire crystal, all that kind of stuff. This is kind of the bigger spend, but I wanted to have an automatic... I wanted something with that Powermatic movement, the 80-hour H series movement, which I think has become kind of a nice value for the brand. Yeah. At less than 1200 bucks, this is the same price as an SPB 143, but I think it's a completely different way of spending the money, and it's very similar in size. I think it's nicely specced, and it also doesn't look like other people's chronographs. Right. I'd really wanted to have one of the Crosswinds or X-Winds. You get to pick. I think it's Crosswind. Yeah. But the thing is, is all of those watches are at least 43 millimeters. Many are 44. And I really wish that they would make that watch in a 40 millimeter, 41 millimeter sizing. Right. I had one many years ago, well over 10 years ago. I really did enjoy it, but at the time I was buying 45, 47 millimeter watches, and I think now that would seem pretty big for me. Yeah. So I wanted to go with something in that zone, a pilot's watch, and this is what I settled on, the Aviation Pilot Pioneer in aluminum. I think it's a cool thing. It's actually one that I might need to send an email to Hamilton and see if they're around for a loan. Because I think it could be pretty fun to experience in person. It's a nice looking thing, nicely balanced sort of design, not unlike yours. And so that spends me a little over half my budget on one pick. |
| James Stacey | Well, that's okay. I like it. Originally, I was going to put all my eggs in one basket and go a full 2000 bucks on a different watch. But I think with Hamilton, I think the way to go is to get the most bang for the buck. Well, that's a good pick. I mean, that's, that's awesome. And to crest a thousand bucks with Hamilton still gets you a tremendous value. I mean, it just, they swing so much above their weight. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I think it's a pretty cool watch. I also, and like I said, the, the, the nice thing about this is it's still a khaki, but it's, it's pretty, it's different than the last one I just picked. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | You know, I don't think, I don't think you would necessarily have these two kind of competing with each other. Right. Which if you really wanted to stick to this $2,000 budget, a lot of the stuff that I find really nice, say under 800 bucks, Yeah. All kind of looks relatively the same. You only need one of them. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. And so this way, I think this wears the 41 millimeter size better being with the asymmetrical case and a little bit more case meat in the equation. I love that titanium 42 millimeter auto. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep. Beautiful watch. But I'm not sure how the relationship of like case to dial would suit my wrist. I think if you've got enough wrist for it, that's a killer choice as well. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, that's my second pick. And so that takes me to $1,470 and I've got one pick left if it works out. |
| James Stacey | All right. All right. My next one, I was tempted to go full on, like all, you know, military style field and pilots watches and whatever, but I, I, there's one in here that, that I've been in love with for a long time. And if I were more of a dress watch guy, this is where I'd go. And so I'm going to include, it's the, uh, they call it the American classic, but it's, it's part of that collection, but it's the intramatic, auto. So this is oh yeah this is a great watch. This is a watch and there are a number of different versions of this watch. I chose the just the classic 38 millimeter silver dial automatic. Beautiful. Great size beautiful watch just you know I feel like I feel like it's that kind of watch that that when you go to buy a vintage anything Omega, Hamilton, Bulova from the 60s or you know kind of a Don Draper-esque watch you know maybe it's like a Timex Marlin but but a much better built one. Um, this is it. And you know, I've, I've seen one of these in person. They're, they're just spectacular. It's got the, the old Hamilton typeface on the dial and that kind of jet age logo. Um, that just speaks to me so much. And, uh, yeah, at 38 millimeters, it's great. This watch comes in at $845. So I think, you know, you spend that kind of money and it's like, okay, this is an affordable watch, but I've spent a little more, this is a watch I want to take care of. And, and you know, where for, you know, for many, many years. If you're that kind of guy, you know, you can wear it every day or you can wear it for special occasions. It's a beauty. There's no, there's no running seconds. It's just a smartly placed date at six o'clock and two stick hands and those lovely markers. It's a very minimalist, just classic watch. |
| Jason Heaton | So that's a, that's a great piece. I remember, I remember had, had one of those in for reviews years ago and really, really liked it. And they've made some iterations of them. They've got a champagne dial one or like a salmon dial one now. They're a winner for sure, especially if you kind of match them with a strap that really suits your taste or the rest of your outfit, that sort of thing. I find on the black strap, they're a little severe unless you're in a suit, but they warm up nicely on a more casual strap. I've even seen them online on Reddit where people wearing them with purlons and they look great. Just nice and chilled. Yeah. Very, very cool watch. |
| James Stacey | Very cool. Yeah. And that puts brings me to $1,440. So I've got about 500 bucks left, which shouldn't be a, Shouldn't be too tough. There's a few to pick from, but that's where I sit right now. All right. |
| Jason Heaton | You're onto number three now. All right. So this will be my last pick. I'm going to go over budget. Like I said, I think I'm going to land $65 over budget with it, which I think is acceptable. It's less than 5% over budget. And like I said, with the pricing, you could wait for a sale and you could come in under two grand easily if somebody were to buy all three of these watches. I really wanted to find something from the dive watch category within Hamilton. I don't think it's the brand's strong suit. Yeah. Um, I think that they could use some external advice. Uh, Jason and I are more than happy to help if you're, if you're from Hamilton and you're, and you're listening, uh, I think, I think that you're really close, but they're a little bit over-designed in my opinion. A lot of them, they don't, they don't quite do it for me when it comes to their dive watches. but I did dig around and I found one that fights that in a very nicely way. So this is a 37 millimeter quartz diver from the Jazzmaster line called the Jazzmaster Seaview. Yeah. So it's a little bit of a dress diver, date at six, it's a quartz, it's 37 millimeters, which means you could easily, you know, toss it on a NATO and wear it really nicely. I think it has a nice looking bezel. It comes with a, you know, it's a simple movement, but 18 millimeter lugs, a hundred meters water resistance. So it's not like you're true. It's a little bit more of a, a lifestyle dive watch. But for my uses and my taste, this has that nice kind of mix of being dressy, but kind of sporty. I like the blue and the sunburst style. And at $595, I think this works. I think it would work on the bracelet. I like a small watch on a bracelet when you get a chance. And then at 37 millimeters, it means that, let's say my kids wanted to wear it or something like that, that would be well within their vibe sometime down the road. So that's always a consideration in my mind. Yeah, I dig this. I think it's a nice looking thing. It's also something I just didn't really know existed. Yeah. Like what you said, Jason. But for $595, if you want a dive watch from a great brand, that doesn't cost a fortune. And again, I think everybody needs to have that quartz watch in their world. I agree. We say this a lot. I'm not saying that, you know, mechanicals or automatics aren't great. They are and they're fascinating and they have a special kind of appeal. But you got to have one or two courts that you so when, when, when it's time to go and you realize that none of your, your mechanicals are wound or set, you just pick it up and you, and you leave and you don't have to think about it. They make great vacation watches and it's just kind of kicking around in the neighborhood watches, weekend watches, that sort of stuff. And in this case, I think that checks the box. I'd love to see something like this with a screw down crown and 200 meters water resistance, but you know, for the money, I don't think you can really complain. And if they say it's a hundred meters, then it's a hundred meters. I mean, it's a modern Swiss made watch. So I don't have to go that much deeper, uh, or really any, anywhere near, but, uh, yeah, that's my pick the, uh, Jazzmaster Seaview courts. I also kind of like it because at least in my world, it's a little bit of a dress watch too. It kind of tells that line being between the size and the, and the somewhat more resplendent dial. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I agree. And I think, you know, this, this has the dive watch style without being full on. You're not, you're not purporting, you're not claiming that, you know, you're going to be diving deep with this thing. It's, it's that dive style watch that a lot of people who aren't divers that don't need all that extra water resistance and features can get this look. And I think with the blue dial, it, it, it is a little dressier for some reason. It has that bit of sunburst to it, um, as well as those markers. So yeah, that's a good call. So where did you land with, uh, with the three then? |
| Jason Heaton | $2,065. Okay. So in many ways, I think, I think if you're, if you're going to go to the comments and say, which one of us won, you've got to give Jason a little bit of an edge just because he's, he's stuck to the limit. |
| James Stacey | Well, yeah. But what's interesting is I just tallied mine up. I come in at $65 under. So between the two of us, I mean, what are the chances? |
| Jason Heaton | We did this last time I took, I took, I think I took money from you last. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Yeah. So here we go. Yeah. I mean, we're all even overall. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | All right. Let's hear the third. Third one is it. This is highly predictable. I was actually for sure. I thought you were going to pick this one and you sort of, you know, got the different version of it, but this is the khaki field mechanical. So the 38 millimeter. Great watch. Fantastic watch. I just feel this is quintessential Hamilton. This is like if, if, if I were to get one Hamilton, it'd probably be this one. If I said like, I need a Hamilton in my collection, it'd be like, okay, this is the recognizable kind of military-esque field watch from Hamilton, you know, tried and true. They come in so many versions now. So many versions. And I've just got this black dial with kind of the tan loom and it's on like an olive NATO with leather keepers. Um, you know, but it's. |
| Jason Heaton | I know the one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a cool strap. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. And it has the H50. I love the white dial as well. I do too. The white dial is great. It's a hand wound, which is really cool. I mean, I think to, to, you know, get a watch from Hamilton that kind of harkens back to kind of an old military field watch that has kind of a movement that also reminiscent of that, I think is really neat as well. So, you know, that watch is $4.95. I mean, talk about like, you know, we talk about this a lot on the show and it is, if you aren't necessarily a watch guy and you don't have this like box of watches, like so many of us do, and you're just kind of, you know, a casual watch guy, you want something solid that you can wear for anything. You know, you get something like Oh, I don't know. I mean, there's so many brands that like you can end up with like from Seiko to, to Hamilton, to whatever else. But this is, this is that watch, you know, this is that watch. You can cut the grass in, you can put it on kind of a slightly dressier strap and wear it, you know, with a, you know, tweed sport jacket to go out for dinner. You can, you know, do whatever you want with it. So it's a, it's quintessential Hamilton. And at 495, it brings me in at, as I said, $1,935. So $65 under. So how convenient. |
| Jason Heaton | That is, that's great. Yeah. It's an interesting question to say, like, we just picked three, what would be the one that you would pick? And I think that's a great one. Yeah. And for me, it would be the automatic version of the quartz one that I got just because I like the case a little bit better. Oh yeah. I think I like the dial on the mechanical better, especially the white dial. But I like, I think I like the shorter lugs of the 38 millimeter khaki field auto. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | We'll put links in the show notes to all of these. You can let us know. It's not really a competition, necessarily, says the guy who broke the rules. But by all means, if you've got a pick or you think we missed a watch, put it in the comments. We love to hear from you guys and gals. We've been loving the comments lately. And yeah, let us know if you think we missed something. If you've got a favorite, maybe it's one that's not offered anymore. I think it's a brand with a lot of possibility when you look at their lineup and they make a lot of really cool stuff. Some of the big pilot chronos, like I had mentioned, the Crosswinds and such, are I think really cool designs. I love the cases. I love how like they have a case where I really want to, it's such a weird thing to say, but I want to touch the case. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | I want to push the buttons and spin the little, the thing that changes the Riyadh and the rest. And I think all of that's really crucial, especially at this price point. Yeah. So that's our, that's our Hamilton challenge. Jason, do you want to give a breakdown of your three one more time? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, sure. My first one was the Kaki Aviation Pilot Pioneer Chrono Quartz for $595. My second one is the American Classic Intramatic Automatic. And that one came in at $845,000. And then my third one is just the Khaki Field Mechanical, which is at $495,000. So coming in at a grand total of $1935,000. And you've got yourself three Hamiltons. If you're a Hamilton buff and you want three watches, there you go for less than $2,000. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, nice varied pick. You know, three watches that aren't going to compete with each other in a big way, which is nice. And for my three, I went with the Khaki Field Quartz for $325, the Khaki Aviation Pilot Pioneer Aluminum for $1,145, and the Jazzmaster Sea View Quartz for $595. Nice. That's great stuff. So what do you say we put a bow on it, hit some final notes? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I'll go first. Mine is a 15-minute video on Vimeo called Ice Ball. And it's near and dear to my heart because a few years back, Gashani and I were invited, um, when I was writing for gear patrol to go up way up North, uh, near the border, um, between our two friendly nations, um, to the polar explorer, Will Steger's property. Now he's got, you know, quite a few acres up there on a lake that he has developed since he was in his twenties. And now he's in his, uh, pushing 80. And, uh, he built this whole place himself. He dog sledded in all the supplies and built it by hand, multiple buildings and expedition center where he planned all of his his polar explorations and community center and some little cabins and things like this. And one of the things he has up there in an effort to be more self-sufficient is he built an ice house. So he carved it out of the side of a hill and he stores ice that he chops out of the lake, the frozen lake in the winter, and puts it in this ice house. And then he uses it as a refrigerator year round. So it stays cold year round from ice that he harvests on the lake. Okay. Well, as you, as you can imagine, harvesting the ice is a big, big job. And so annually in about February, he invites friends and school groups and just various old buddies of his to, to come up and spend a weekend and help him saw these, you know, two to three foot thick chunks of ice out of this frozen lake. And then they haul it by horse-drawn sleigh back to the ice house, put it in, cover it with sawdust and then seal the place up. And we went up there and we took part in this and Ghoshani shot a bunch of great photos. We'll try to find a link on gear patrol to the story that I wrote about this and got to visit Will and check out some of his old expedition sleds and skis and parkas and things from all of his North pole and Antarctica trips and whatever. So in any case, this video that I came across called ice ball is about a 15 minute documentary that someone shot of a different years. Ice ball is what he calls it because, um, In addition to doing all this hard work in the evening, um, he usually has a couple of like bluegrass musicians and they fire up the potbelly stove and they have a bunch of people cooking, you know, various things and drinking beer and just hanging out. And it's kind of this Mary, you know, making Mary well into the night kind of thing. And it's, it's just a really good time. And I have a lot of fond memories of going up there that year. So I was really pleased to find this video really kind of captured the whole experience. So. We'll throw that on the show notes. Yeah. It's a lot of fun. Yeah. Very cool. How about you? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. My pick this week is, uh, is actually something that I'm pretty sure we talked about on the show in the past. I definitely wrote a, uh, like a weekend roundup when the trailer came out, uh, for Hodinkee and it's, uh, the Alpinist is now on, uh, prime video. Uh, so this is a movie about Mark Andre Leclerc, um, who, uh, this incredible climber who at one point very briefly was my brother's roommate in Squamish. Think of any climbing documentary you've seen. I think this is a step above. It's made by the same guys that did the Don wall. Uh, it's absolutely gorgeous. It's really beautifully told. It's a fantastic story. And if you're, if you like a sports documentary, I think this will appeal to you. If you're into climbing, it'll appeal to you. If you just want to feel like outside and see some really genuinely bonkers, like hardcore peaks. Yeah, they do it. It's really beautifully shot, really feels super high end, um, but very human at the same time. It's a good capture of, of what Mark was about, I think. And, uh, and you know, I, I know a handful of people have known him. I knew him or I met him very briefly, uh, back in, uh, I guess, uh, 2018 or maybe even the, the fall of 17. I'm not sure. And, uh, yeah, it was, uh, it, you know, it's something I've been waiting to come out. Um, I was in Vancouver and hanging out with my brother and he had been able to go to a private screening or an early screening of it and said it was really something else in that the level of climbing that they captured look so easy because he was so good. But if you know anything about climbing, like if you, I don't know a ton about climbing, my brother knows quite a bit more. He's like, it's just kind of jaw dropping to watch him move. Huh? in some of these scenarios, especially some of the mixed stuff where he's switching from his ice axe to with his bare hands to rock. Oh, wow. And then retrieving the ice axe and moving across this kind of mixed mixed surfaces and mixed climbing. I can't I can't recommend this enough. Anyone who has prime video, please just find an hour and a half and watch it. It's incredible. It's absolutely fantastic. I would love to get the filmmakers on the show at some point. I'm going to see if we know anyone that knows them, as I'm sure they're being asked this a lot. Yeah, right now and in the next little while. But if we can make that happen, we certainly will. But all I would ask is if you're listening, this is in this is absolutely in the wheelhouse. It's a beautiful story. And and it's somebody that, you know, meant something to a lot of people that I know. You know, I didn't know him personally, but he was definitely a friend and a big element of the Squamish climbing scene. So I absolutely please, please see it. It's it's. Fantastic. |
| James Stacey | Definitely. We'll do that. If I get any wifi up where we're staying this evening. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh yeah. |
| James Stacey | Dial this up. That sounds, I've been, I've been waiting to see this. I, you know, I, I missed out on the short run of the rescue that the latest film. I can't wait to see that. Passed through town in like a week here and I missed out. So I can't wait for that to come to some streaming platform, but this'll, this'll get me by. |
| Jason Heaton | This sounds amazing. It is. Yeah. I think two, two vastly different things. You know, we're, we're super excited for the rescue when it, when it's easily found. Yeah. but I also couldn't make it to a screening. Wonderful stuff. These are great. I love that people are making these and that they just keep getting better. These sort of like really cutting edge sports and adventure documentaries. So a good time for it. And I think this one will absolutely stand with the Don Wahl and Free Solo and things like that. It made my hands sweat in the same way. Honnold is active throughout the film as a sort of talking head and a presence. I can't say enough. You know, I think I've said it all, but it's worth seeing. Good one. Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, we got some travel, some Hamilton watches, and some outdoor adventure. Pretty core show, I think. I would say. Yeah. Yeah, it was a good one. So, as always, thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to The Show Notes via notes.thegreatnado.com, or you can check the feed for more details and, of course, all the links to anything that we spoke about. You can follow us on Instagram at Jason Heaton, at J.E. Stacey and at The Graynado. If you have any questions for us, please write TheGraynado at gmail.com or send in a voice memo and send it to that address. We will be using those in the next few weeks to cover the end of the end of the November Q&A. And of course, if you're enjoying the show, please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive. |
| James Stacey | And we leave you with this quote from Edmund Burke, who said, Frugality is founded on the principle that all riches have limits. |