The Grey NATO - 178 - Challenge // Breitling
Published on Thu, 27 Jan 2022 07:00:24 -0500
Synopsis
The hosts discuss watches, winter weather, and other topics. They draft a fantasy collection of Breitling watches within a $13,000 budget, reviewing various models like the Navitimer, Aerospace, and dive watches. Jason selects the Navitimer 806 1959 re-edition and Avenger Seawolf 45, while the other host picks the Superocean 36 Automatic and AVI 765 1953 re-edition. They also talk about desk organization with Ikea pegboards, and recommend the YouTube documentary "Being James Bond" about Daniel Craig's tenure as 007.
Links
Transcript
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| Unknown | Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Graynado. It's a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 178, and it's proudly brought to you by the newly formed TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you'd like to support the show, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. Jason, how you doing? Staying warm. |
| Unknown | It's cold here. It's good. Yeah. I mean, it's, you know, whichever scale you're on, I think it's somewhere close to the minus 20, um, you know, this morning and it's been, it's winter. I'm kind of, you know, this time of year, every year, end of January, it's like, all right, time to time to kind of move into something else here. But, uh, I don't know, I've been making the most of it. I've been trying to ski every day, cross country. And we, we, we get a little snow every night, which, uh, which, you know, at least, uh, I like, winter to be proper winter and have snow. If it's cold and just sort of gray and hard ice, then it's no fun, but it's at least given me a little, I did have, I, speaking of cold and snow, I've got to relay this story. I was trying to figure out where to, who to tell this to. And this seems like a good outlet for it. I was, I was, um, so I was out skiing. There's a golf course where they groom a loop, a big ski trail. Um, and I can get there pretty quickly. I can do like a full lap and half an hour and be back home and showered, you know, within the hour. And so. It's kind of my go-to. And I, I was there yesterday and there was this brutal North wind and you know, the golf course, there weren't a lot of trees. And so I was out in the middle of the course and I had, I was wearing my Volobok, uh, that, that kind of rain shell that we got, which works great as, as just sort of a windshield. And I was skiing along and I was like the back of my neck started to get really cold. Cause I wasn't wearing a balaclava. I just had a cap on. And so I thought, okay, I've got to put the hood up. So I paused to. put the hood up, but in order to do that, I had to kind of unzip the top of the jacket a little bit to get the hood up over my chin and over my head. But I was wearing these big lobster mitt gloves, you know, mittens or gloves, which were then through my ski pole straps. And so this is, this is one of those classic tales of task loading and cascading little problems because, um, in order to unzip my jacket, I couldn't grip with these lobster mitts. So I had to take a glove off. So hands exposed now to the wind. I unzipped the jacket a little bit. Uh, I get the hood up and I zipped the jacket back up. Now I'm putting my glove back on. My glasses have fogged over. My sunglasses have fogged over. Cause now I have the hood up and then I try to put my, I try to put my mitten, my mitt hand back through the ski pole strap, which has now come undone. So now I have to like rethread this finicky strap. So again, I have to take the glove off, but I had to take my sunglasses off to put in my pants pocket, which also have a zipper. I mean, it was like, it was one of these things where in normal weather, none of this would matter at all. You read these stories about a guy high up on Everest who has to take his glove off or he drops a mitten to, or he has to zip up his jacket to get to his oxygen, something or other. And he drops his mitten and he can't find it and his hand gets frostbitten. So therefore he can't zip up his jacket cause he can't use his hand anymore. And therefore he, you know, dies of exposure or something. I mean, it's, it was like one of those things that I was almost laughing to myself as I was going through this, because we watched a touching the void a couple of weeks ago, again, kind of an annual viewing of that movie. And there's that scene where Joe Simpson is dangling over the cliff on his rope, and he's trying to thread this little finicky like Prusik knot to like use as a step so he can climb back up the rope. And he has to take his glove off to do this. And his hands freeze into these frostbitten claws. And it's like, You know, I mean, if you don't live somewhere like, I guess, like we do, you, you can't relate to this stuff, but it was so evident yesterday. Like that, that, that conundrum. Sure. I just, I thought it was a fun, fun, but, but painful story. |
| Unknown | Well, that's why as you have any, any sort of thing that requires a lot of gear, uh, whether it's, you know, I don't know, race car driving, skiing out in the bitter cold scuba diving, being an astronaut, there's like these progressions in task loading. And yeah, sometimes, sometimes, especially when you do the first one or two things thinking kind of on autopilot. Yeah. Like you probably weren't, weren't doing a lot of like reversing your plan of how to get your glove back into the strap and then make sure the hood is there and remember to take your glasses off. So you're like, you make a couple of decisions or you make a couple of moves, not even decisions. And then you start dealing with the cascading effects. And when it's like actually cold, it gets really frustrating really quickly. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Yeah. It's like if a dry suit springs a leak or something, you know, it's like these little, the smallest things make such a difference when you're kind of on the edge. I think if you're, you know, walking down a city street and your hands a little cold, you can pop into the cafe on the corner to warm up or whatever it is. But like, and I'm not saying skiing on a golf course is extreme adventuring, but it's like, you know, you, you get this little glimpse into, you can relate to those stories that you hear or when you're watching touching the void, you're like, yeah, I kind of, I kind of have a small sense of what that's like. so |
| Unknown | evacuating the mask and like, look, anyone's going to have to evacuate their mass sometimes. But like, I would meet people who wouldn't even do, you know, you'd go on a fun dive or something on a Sunday. And these people like, wouldn't even make a big effort to get the hair out of the top of their mask. So their mask could be filling up slowly, like not at a dangerous rate or whatever, but in my mind, I'm like, but what if you enter a problem or, or, or try and help somebody and your mask is 30% full of water and you have to deal with that while dealing with a legitimate issue. Yeah. You know, there's no like general concern. You'd see people who like, didn't bother clipping things to their person. Yeah. And you're like, but then how do you know where they are when you meet them? Right. Like there's all this sort of stuff. So yeah, I totally agree. Yeah. |
| Unknown | And understand. And on a, on a, even a more simple level, I'm, I'm guilty of being one of those people who kind of pushes the limit when it comes to the, the fuel, the low fuel light coming on in the car. And, uh, you know, it's a psychosis, it is a psychosis and, and, you know, Gashani gives me a hard time about it. I know I shouldn't do it because what will happen then is, yeah, I know there's a gas station in 10 miles and it says I'm going to get 20 more miles on that tank. But then suddenly you encounter an accident and a traffic jam, and then you're really start sweating it out because you're sitting there idling in traffic and the lights on, you know, it's like in the best case scenario, everything goes fine, but it's, it's when there's another. Once every few years you run out of gas. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Right. Right. I have a thing where I don't really like topping a tank up. Oh, like it's got to be under a quarter to feel like it's worth my time to go to the gas station and see the credit card and stand in the cold or the hot or whatever. Yeah. So I'll go until the light comes on always. Yeah. What I've learned, and this is legitimately, um, I was, I drove to the States in December. Yeah. Well, like just before Omicron became a thing that we did a, uh, edit meeting for Hodinkee in, in a little town in Hudson. And I took whatever the toll road is. I took it the whole way. Cause I wasn't paying. Yeah. And, um, and on that road, they tell you like next fuel in so ever long, and you can get off if you needed a fuel between that. But the ones that are like the rest stations where you don't even leave the highway. Oh, sure. Those are staged. And one of them, I just, I was like, well, I've got time. I'll be fine. And, and I, you know, I've been going for several hundred kilometers at this point. And this is when I learned that the Jeep, once it's, once the projection for how, how far you can go is under, I think like 40 or 50 kilometers. So like 25 ish miles. Yeah. Right. 25, 30 miles. Um, once it's under that, it doesn't give you a number anymore. It just says low fuel, which is the opposite of helpful. What were they thinking? Yeah. Right. Right. Give me, um, you know, give me low fuel until I only have 30 kilometers left. Then give me the freaking number. Yeah. Right. Right. This is a weird choice. Um, So yeah. Oh man. I haven't been up to, I haven't been up to like a ton recently. I, I am not going outside very much. I don't, it's, it's like incredibly snowy here to the extent that like people have not been maintaining sidewalks. So like even walking to the store is kind of a slippery mess in my neighborhood. Yeah. So I've been going outside to shovel. We've got like several feet of standing snow and probably will for some time. Yeah. So I'm avoiding that as much as possible. I did, I did, uh, to give people a little follow-up on the Peloton thing recently, I did end up getting a friend from Vancouver, Greg, I'm sure you're listening to this, uh, big thanks to Greg. Uh, he gave me like a pass, uh, like you can share a pass on your account. So I I've got 60 days or something to try the app and I've been enjoying that. It's been nice. I've, I've done a couple rides, uh, and I've looked into, they've like a boxing program and they have different stuff like that. So, uh, that's going well. I'm trying to think of what else is, uh, Oh, and, and a thank you to people who, who offered up options for kind of how to learn a Wacom. Um, I did end up getting someone who's willing to share some videos they really like, and I'm going to get into those, I think probably this coming weekend. Oh yeah. With some free time and, uh, and give that a try. So I'm looking forward to that. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Nice. Maybe you can combine your tech. You can be on the Peloton while you're using the Wacom. That would be, that would be very accurate. |
| Unknown | Wouldn't you? That's like, that's like something you see when, you know, I used to be a big UFC fan, um, you know, a long, long time ago, uh, more than a decade ago. But I remember, you know, they do these little montages of the guys kind of getting ready for a big fight, you know, be like a five minute little film or 10 minute little film about all the work they did to get ready for this fight. And they'd always be like, yeah, running on a treadmill while, while working on their balance, you know, throwing the ball between their hands or something. And I was like, man, I can, watching that makes me feel like I'm about to fall on a treadmill. Like I'm not not coordinated, but I think I'm like deep, very average in terms of my level of coordination. I've like very fine motor skills, but I, I can't run and like run fast on a treadmill and juggle. And they've got one of those mountain masks on those elevation. So they're not breathing. So your heart's going to be pounding and the rest of it. That's a very, very silly stuff. But, um, man, Yeah, a big thanks to everybody with the Wacom and the Peloton feedback. I think I'm set for now, but if I have any more queries, I'll certainly put them out to the crew. Let's do an update for Rischek on how your month of wearing the Seamaster's going. |
| Unknown | Yeah. So, you know, technically I started on, I think the date was January 14th is when I kind of put the stake in the ground, even though I'd been wearing it a little before that. And so I'm a couple of weeks into this. I've been wearing this white dialed Seamaster. you know, I wear it nonstop. I haven't really taken it off for, for anything. I wear it exercising, skiing, running, rowing, uh, where to bed. Um, sometimes I'll just, you know, keep it on, jump in the shower after I've exercised or something. And I haven't really even swapped to the Garmin or anything to track exercise. And it's kind of been freeing to, to not have a choice to make for one thing, but also to not really be so focused on metrics when I'm exercising. I'm kind of enjoying that as well. And I thought I'd, be swapping straps every other day, you know, just to kind of keep things fresh. But I pretty much kept it on this black planet ocean style, Omega rubber strap every day. And I think it just looks so killer on that. But then I saw there's this brand Zealand, uh, out of, I think it's a French brand and they make rubber straps that are tailor cut for a number of watches, you know, Rolexes and Omegas and a few others. And so I ordered one of theirs for, for this very watch. And it fits perfectly. And I got, I got it in white rubber and I've never had a white strap before. And, uh, yeah, I put it on yesterday and you know, at first I was, I was a little dubious about kind of a white strap. It, it feels, it definitely feels more like a, I don't want to say a fashion watch. It feels like it kind of ticks it up and kind of this luxury space, like, cause it matches the dial and it just feels like it's a lot of white, but I think it looks good. And I think especially kind of, It kind of has that winter vibe going, although I think it would look a little better with my skin if I had a little suntan going or something, but it's a super comfy strap. If anyone's looking for a good option, that's not the Omega strap, which of course Omega makes excellent rubber straps. These are just superb and they do make them for submariners. What's the price point? I think this one's like $175, so it's not cheap, but |
| Unknown | You know? Yeah. So it's like, like this is a similar, similar business model to like a rubber B or rubber B. Yeah. Yeah. Is it, have you had an Everest before? |
| Unknown | I have had Everest. It's very similar. In fact, I was even wondering if they, they ended up acquiring the company or something like that, but no, it's, it's, it's what they call FKM rubber. I'm not familiar with that term, but apparently it's sort of a high end rubber compound and it's, It's very supple, very soft. It feels very much like the, not like the planet ocean strap, which was a stiffer, thicker rubber. If people know that strap, remember it. But the, the rubber strap that came on this Seamaster, the black rubber, if anyone's familiar with that, it feels very much like that. It's very pliable, but, but isn't tacky at all. Like, like some silicone straps can be, and it's got a decent buckle and the fit to the case is spot on. It's just perfect. So, um, Yeah, so far, I recommend it. And they have other cool colors. I mean, you know, if you're into that red, green, I think there's a blue, of course, black. |
| Unknown | So I was impressed with the I have an Everest for the Rolex a blue. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And I always thought that was a really nice product for the price. And it was impressive. And of course, they make the version where you can put the Rolex clasp on it. Oh, yeah. If you really want to go that route, or I got mine with the Tang buckle. Yeah. So I could see this being kind of a popular option to, and, and it seems like this company, um, Zealand does a handful of different, it's not just Omega. It's, and it's not specific. It's not like just one, it's not just the Seamaster. |
| Unknown | Right. |
| Unknown | Uh, they've got kind of a wider range. So probably worth, uh, worth some fun taking a look. Yeah, definitely. |
| Unknown | What about you? You've, you've got something fun on and kind of summer preview ish. |
| Unknown | Yeah. So I've got the, uh, the, I spoke about it on the previous episode, but I've got the DOCSIS 600T. I've got two versions in, um, the diving star. So that's the yellow dial with the steel bezel style insert and the bracelet. And then I have a professional with the ceramic bezel and the orange rubber, the matching rubber strap. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Unknown | And my review, so this will come out on Thursday. and my review will probably go up either on the weekend or by Monday for Hodinkee. So keep an eye out for that. Um, and I'll probably include it in next week's show notes or something like that, but I can give you guys the quick little download in many ways. I'm pretty impressed by the watch, but in a very personal way, it doesn't work at all on my wrist. If that makes any sense. Like it's nicely made. I think it's a great price. It's got a decent movement. I like all the touch points. I really enjoy the color and the dial and how it, it definitely feels doxy. Yeah. but it's super different than a 300 or the 300Ts, the Anniversary, et cetera. But the big thing is the proportions don't at all work on my wrist. It's 40 millimeters wide and it doesn't wear wide at all, but it wears like the biggest 40 millimeter watch I think I've ever put on. The two watches that leap to mind is if you've ever put on an SKX007, it's a very similar overall proportion to that, but imagine you kept all the thickness and made it slightly smaller. Okay. So it really has a chunky tall field. And if you look at the watch from the side profile, you have the bezel of course. Right. And then you have the case flame and then there's like a good three millimeters of steel, including the, and then not all of that. It's not even the case back. The case back is part of that for sure. But there's another whole element like between the case back, like almost like a ring, a movement ring or holder. And the watch just doesn't sit that well on my wrist. I think my wrist is a little bit too bony. It's better on the bracelet. It's, it's, um, it's significantly better on a simple rubber strap, like a Hirsch pure or a leather strap. Yeah. But because of the shape of the case and then the rigidity of the rubber and then the thickness of the class, the rubber is unwearable. That's the only word I can use for it. Yeah. Um, I think if you had a bigger wrist, it would be fine. Um, but my wrist is right. I think seven is kind of medium. Yeah. So you're cutting off a lot of people who would probably like a 40 millimeter watch. Right, right. I really like the way it looks. And if you want something that wears a lot like an SKX, just a much nicer made one, and of course, with a very doxy sort of vibe, I think this is a great option. But sadly, it was one that I thought I might be buying. And it's just the way that it wears its weight. I don't really mind a 14, 14 and a half millimeter thick dive watch doesn't bother me. Um, but the way that this one wears its, uh, thickness and its weight is, uh, it just doesn't work for my wrist at all. I was hoping that this would kind of be the $1,500 answer to, I want a Doxa. And I think it is, if you have say a seven and a half inch, eight inch wrist, a bigger wrist, or if you like a kind of tall, chunky dive watch, that's my, that's my short review of the, uh, I'll put it into a wider spec and bring in some competition and the rest in the hands on for Hodinkee, but that's kind of the, the Coles notes. |
| Unknown | Yeah. I mean, I think, uh, Docs is one of those brands that very few people can actually get their hands on before they make a decision about buying. And I think, you know, it's, it's not even so much a value judgment as it is. Here's how it wears on my wrist and my wrist is this size and here's what it compares to. I think that's all such valuable input for people when they are making that decision. And, you know, photos tell a lot and I'm sure you'll have a ton of photos and stuff. |
| Unknown | So yeah, I can't wait to see that. I think if you're looking for Docs as pull profit, weirdly, this is, Oh yeah. Yeah. the bigger your wrist, the better it's going to make sense. Basically. |
| Unknown | I think so much of watch fit has to do with not only the size of your wrist, but the shape. And I don't, I think you and I both have kind of bony flat wrists. Like my wrist is not like, if you were to look at it cross section, it would not be round at all. It would be almost like rectangular, you know, like mine's very oblong. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that that makes a big difference. I just wonder, you know, I don't know. Yeah. It's a interesting to see how this would fit on different wrists, but yeah, good. Good short answer there. Good. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Briefly. There's, there's wrist check completed. Uh, I've got a couple of watches that didn't quite do it for me and Jason's got a watch that continues to do it for him pretty well. Um, but yeah, other than that, I've just, you know, I'm still wearing the Braymont. I just, I love it. |
| Unknown | It's great. Yeah. |
| Unknown | I put it on a two piece, um, that looked good. Two piece, uh, Haleo strap, uh, uh, like a, it's a canvas style strap in green. And I think it's just about perfect. It's really comfortable. Uh, it's the nice size. That one has very little case meat under the case flank, which is nice, but that's how Bremont designs are. The lugs typically are the lower point on the watch. What do you say we jump into a fun kind of challenge? |
| Unknown | Yeah, shift gears here from Doxa and Omega to the other big player here, Breitling. |
| Unknown | If you haven't heard a challenge episode before, I'll give you the quick breakdown. It's basically a draft in which we chit chat about a brand that we like, and then we have a budget and we pick watches that fulfill that budget. And we shouldn't go over, although let's face it, I almost always do, the brand. a piece of framework, is how we would suggest it. Yeah. With the Seiko one, you might actually go out and buy all of the ones that we suggested. You could make a nice little collection of Seikos. But my guess is you wouldn't go out and spend $13,000 on multiple Breitlings in one swing. More power to you if you do. And I'm not saying you wouldn't get all of these watches at some point. I just think you'd probably buy one Breitling and really enjoy it. So it's done as a draft. So once watches are picked by a host, they can't be also picked by the other host. Um, and, uh, and we'll go through it. And the goal here is to spend about $13,000, preferably not over with Breitling. That could be the better part of four watches or it could be one. |
| Unknown | Yeah. You know, Breitling, a lot of people are familiar with this brand and I think it's, it's one of the, you know, when, when you talk about, you know, the, the, the big three in terms of kind of oat or luxury brands like AP, you know, Vacheron, uh, Patek, um, I would say Breitling is kind of occupies a very lofty space on the more of a sports watch side or the luxury kind of every man's space. I think along with, you know, a Rolex and maybe an Omega, Breitling is rightfully so kind of up there in that, on that pedestal. And I think it's because, you know, they have this, this rich history of innovation. You know, they were the first to develop a separate pusher chronograph. And then the two button chronograph was also their innovation back in the early 20th century. And then their history of making pilots watches, I think was, is, is, has never been in doubt. I think, you know, their, their Navitimer and, and Chronomat and, um, you know, a number of other great pilots watches are what they're best known for. But in my mind, kind of having come of age in the watch space in, I would say the early two thousands, what I remember Breitling as was, was this big chunky in many ways, kind of blingy watch, you know, the Breitling for Bentleys and the, you know, the Avengers, you know, some of these watches and I, and I always associated with that, which was never kind of my taste, but every time I handled one or saw one, and I've had, I've got a few friends that, that own them, they always strike me as incredibly well-made watches, kind of along the lines of even like a Tag Heuer, you know, these are brands that maybe you don't, um, feel a kinship with or, or necessarily bond with, but like you, you can't deny their, their quality. And that's always what I associate Breitling with. Yeah. And then in the past, I don't know, within the past five years, they've really started to crank up some very attractive watches that I do feel a kinship with and I do bond with. And I think it's because they've really started looking back at a lot of their heritage designs. And that's kind of what I think of Breitling. And then, and then of course, the analog digital stuff that you and I both love, which is kind of a weird, weird part of their heritage, but, but a very important one. |
| Unknown | Yeah. I think it's important to see Breitling as a classic mid-century tool watch brand with things like the Navitimer, and their involvement in the development of the automatic chronograph and these sorts of things. But the brand has gone in several phases. I think back in the day, they were a big competitor and a big player in the aviation space, like you mentioned, Jason, with things like the Navitimer and their military chronographs and monopusher sets and everything. And you see these, some even being issued, right? Like there's a Canadian RAF Breitling mono pusher. It's a very cool watch. And then you kind of get into the eighties and they have this sort of Baroque modern style, a lot of two-tone sports watches that focus on making a sort of modern tool watch. I think they actually took it further than most brands. Omega did this too, with things like the X33 and the X-Series Speedmasters. But they really took the idea of a pilot's watch as far as they could by getting into things like the emergency and in the aerospace where you're combining very accurate movements with a lot of functionality in a world long before smartwatches. Yeah. This would have been a world where like the closest competitor from a functionality standpoint would have been a relatively inexpensive G-Shock. So they made a really quality luxury product that was always luxurious. This isn't a brand that has a lot of I think they start at about $3,500, $3,600. So there's no $2,000 Breitlings. For a while, there was a lot of value in the secondary market, but I think people are starting to wake up to it. Certainly the vintage stuff, that ship has sailed. Guys like Watchfred have really popularized how beautiful a lot of the brand's mid-century work is. And then for a little while, you could get aerospace for nothing. I paid $600 or $700. from my 56062. Yeah. In my mind, Breitling does a few things really well. They're one of these brands that has an enthusiast side and sort of a mass market side. I think they were, you know, for, for chronometry certification, they were like the fourth biggest brand in the world for a while. I don't know if those numbers are still published the way they used to be, uh, for COSC, uh, certifications. And then of course you have brands outside of Switzerland aren't so it's, it's hard to get that number, but they, they were, very high ranking. And yeah, on one side you had LA real estate agents with the Bentley watch and the Bluetooth headset in, right? And then on the other side, you had things like Navitimers, you had really rad chronomats that were made for like the Italian air force. You've got, you know, the stuff is nerdy as the aerospace. And, um, and, and I think all the thing that unifies all that is regardless of what they do, the watches are made really well. Yeah. And I think they were kind of well-positioned to be a big presence in that, in the big watch movement of say 2005 to 2015, something like that, where Panerai's were all 47 and 50 millimeters, and you've got a big range of options from Breitling. Yeah. And I think they just, they make a wide range of watches. And what's cool to see today is that you can kind of see elements of all of that in their current lineup. They still do the nerdy stuff. They still do the stuff that I think is probably way too big for most people's wrists. They still do the fancier stuff, the more mass market, the more nerdy. I think it's interesting to be able to see them at this point in 2022, in the last, like you said, four or five years with George Kern doing a lovely job bringing the company into its current level of maturity where you get all the aspects, the vintage stuff is there, you can go back and buy re-editions and special editions and stuff that line up with automotive or motorcycle or planes or they just kind of have figured out the whole line and I don't think that they've left anyone out. For a while they might have left out people who wanted smaller vintage designs but they've got lots of that now. And for a while, maybe they were a little bit too nerdy, things like very expensive emergencies and B55 exospaces and stuff like that. And it seems like they've got a nice balance these days. |
| Unknown | Yeah, you're right. When you compare to kind of other players in their space, the breadth of their offerings, you know, before we kind of dive into our own picks, you know, you've even got stuff like the, what do they call it? The endurance, you know, like a quartz chronograph that you could wear for sports. And then they've got the aerospace, which kind of, I like that they've stayed true and kept that stuff in their lineup. |
| Unknown | Me too. |
| Unknown | Um, because, you know, they, it would have been very easy for them to kind of abandon that. And on the other hand, I've often wondered why, you know, Tag Heuer was kind of one of the first luxury brands to embrace smartwatches and they've, they've done fairly well with their connected watch. And I've often wondered it would have seemed a natural progression for Breitling to take something like the aerospace, the emergency and kind of morph it into, uh, you know, more of a smartwatch, um, connected sort of feature set, um, which they, they really haven't. kind of fully evolve that. I'll be curious to see if they do, but you know, on the one hand you have these, these incredibly faithful reissues from the fifties and then you've got, you know, a $19,000 emergency, you know, so it's, it's cool to see that in the same lineup. |
| Unknown | And it's nice that it's all, it all still feels really brightly. I don't find much of their lineup confusing. Yeah. you know, if you want a vintage style diver, they'll do that. You want a modern diver, they got you covered. They, you know, you want a, a vintage sort of pilots watch fine. You want to like their expression of where the pilots watch should be, then that's maybe the aerospace or, or something to that effect or a Corona mat. You know, they just, there's a lot of variety. Yeah. And, um, and I like, I think that they've, they've come to a place, like I mentioned, where all of it makes more sense than maybe it did a decade ago or 15 years ago. And the company seems a little bit less concerned with, they still do a lot of celebrity stuff, but it seems like that is being less positioned as like, look at John Travolta and his cool plane and he's got a Breitling, right? Like it's, it's a little bit, it's a little bit more down the normal road of, of kind of celebrity endorsements with their Breitling squad stuff, but they've got some pretty serious celebrities and athletes and that sort of thing. So, and I think that kind of stuff sells watches and when you operate at the level that Breitling does, you could compare them to a lot of other brands, but, you know, Omega doesn't get where they get without the Olympics and Bond. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Unknown | Right. And, and Rolex doesn't get there without Federer and, and, you know, these people on their side. So it makes sense to operate at this level that you're going to have a Kelly Slater and a Brad Pitt and a Charlize Theron and whoever. Right. Right. Yeah. Do you want to get into the picks then? I think that's probably a decent background gives us some idea of where we stand on, on Breitling and why we would pick them. |
| Unknown | Yeah, I think so. Boy, this was tough. I like, I'm liking a lot of watches that are in their collection now. And I got to a fork in the road where to come up with 13,000, I actually had three watches that if I pieced together would get me just under the bell. But I've decided, I have decided to go with two watches because, and I think we're going to be different here. I have long been, this is kind of one of those, I don't want to call it a grail, but a watch that I've always loved, would love to own, but probably never will. So I'm going to pick it here just because this is our fantasy. And that is the Navitimer, the reference 806 1959 re-edition. Now this was a limited edition watch. So we're not making any claims that you can even get these anymore. It might be sold out. The website says notify me. So that probably tells me it's on wait list or not available anymore, but let's pretend it is. This watch chews up. $8,600 of my 13,000. So I'm not going to have a lot left, a fair amount left, but not probably not enough to get two more watches. |
| Unknown | Yeah, probably not. So what about this watch made, made you spend two watches worth of money kind of in the budget? |
| Unknown | I mean, the Navitimer is you, you, you see it, it's, it's their Speedmaster, it's their Submariner. It is, it is the quintessential Breitling. It's the watch you see across the room, across an airplane aisle at a restaurant, et cetera. And you know exactly what it is. Uh, you kind of know what that person's all about. You know, there's this, there's this deep respect for an incredibly important mid-century tool watch, you know, without equal. I mean, this watch, you look at it and it's so, it's so incredibly complicated looking that you, you, you have to, you have to appreciate it to wear it. I mean, you, you mentioned the kind of the LA real estate agent and with a Bentley version, I mean, no offense to LA real estate agents, but. You know, this is, this is not, this is not the watch to be kind of just picked up and worn. I mean, this is a hand wound watch for one thing, which automatically kind of cuts out a good part of the market. You know, if someone walks into a Breitling dealer says, yeah, give me the latest cool Breitling. They're not going to want to watch that. They have to wind every morning. I respect it. I love it. This is, this is a reissue watch that they created, you know, from like original drawings and, and, analysis of an actual 1959 Navitimer, um, to the point where it's, it's so close to the original that I think if you put them side by side, you'd almost have a hard time telling other than any patina on the old one. And I think that they've done it as well, if not better than what Omega did with the Speedmaster, although they didn't necessarily re-engineer the, uh, the movement like Omega did, but, but this one's using a hand wound modern Breitling, uh, it's their caliber B09, um, which is a, you know, 30 minute counter with a, with a 12 hour counter. It's a 34 jewels mechanical hand wound. You know, they, they make it in house. Um, and uh, you know, this, this watch is, I would say that this watch is probably not one that I would own simply because of the fact that the water resistance is only three bar. Um, you know, I'm, I'm someone who kind of values water resistance is kind of a high on my criteria list. But other than that, you know, I, I just adore this watch. I think it's, it's, so quintessential Breitling that it was, it was very hard for me to approach this challenge and say, you get to pick Breitlings and you have $13,000. I can't walk away from it. It's, it has to be in my collection. I just, I have to have this watch. So that's my first pick. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a great pick. You know, it's a 41 millimeter Navitimer. There was a, there was a decade where I think a small Navitimer is 44 or around there. Right. Yeah. Yeah. and you don't have a date on it. So it's a beautiful, really balanced, super mid-century. It's the right size at 41 mil. I agree with the three bar thing. It's a shame. 22 millimeter lugs, straps, NATOs, whatever. In my mind, this watch, specifically the one you picked, the 1959 reference 806, it's their big pilot. I like this. I think this is a really cool, almost elemental uh, sort of sports watch. |
| Unknown | Yeah. So, you know, at the risk of kind of blowing my wad here on, on one biggie, I think I couldn't avoid it. I think I just love this watch. And like I said, I'll probably never own and have a timer. I've kind of come to that realization, but I will always, uh, it'll always have a spot in my heart. And, and I also love the fact that they put a plain closed case back on it, you know, hats off to Breitling for, for doing that. I think that's the ultimate kind of stealth move, even though it's got this tremendous, uh, really cool in-house hand-wound movement in the back. I agree for sure. Yeah. Very cool. |
| Unknown | How did you, uh, how did you approach? I'm going to start, I'm, I'm, I'm only going to get two watches. Uh, I think, I think if I get them both, it'll land me just over 12. Um, yeah, I'm going to start with, um, I'm going to start with the cheap one, uh, as I think that makes sense. It's their most inexpensive watch, uh, at $3,600 and it's the 36 millimeter super ocean auto. Uh, I think I would pony up. Um, when you see the second watch, this will make sense, but I think I would pony up for the orange one on the orange Hirsch rubber, like Hershey strap, and then just put it on a gray NATO. I think the gray orange with the black bezel would be lovely. Yeah. Um, I think this is sneaky. Like, uh, this is a watch that like, uh, Logan at Houdinki wrote about recently, uh, as a, uh, sort of entry level to Breitling. It's their entry level watch. And he made the case that it's like arguably one of their best watches and most well-rounded kind of packages. Yeah, so it's this really nice kind of chunky dive watch, but then it's only 36 millimeters wide. It uses a Breitling caliber 17. It's 11.2 millimeters thick. So compare this, we're talking about a Breitling, right? That's 43 millimeters lug to lug, 36 millimeters wide, 200 meters water resistance. It comes on a rubber strap, comes in a few different colors. They don't do a black one for whatever reason, maybe they will, but there's blue, a kind of a very light blue on a rubber or a bracelet, a white with a white bezel, rubber or a bracelet. And then there's this orange with the black bezel. And it'd be between the blue and the orange, but I think the orange would be more fun. I, you know, I think within the space, if I'm going to play this game that we've got going, I definitely think I'd go, I'd try the orange one. I definitely try them both on. But I think this is a sweet little thing. I really love the look of like the bowl. Do you remember like the steel fish and these kind of like fancier dive watches they used to make? Yeah, definitely. And I think this one works really well. I like the big markers. I like the big loom. I like this sort of tule vibe. And then to have it at 36 millimeters means you get all of that without the like bulk. That means you can't wear it, you know, unless you've got a t-shirt on only or prepared, you know, tuck your sleeve above it or something like that. It's just, it's a nice size, right? You know, my daughters could probably wear it if they wanted us. And once they got a bit older, uh, I dig it. Yeah. I think this is a bit of a sleeper for them and a cool piece for sure. In, in any of the versions, but at $3,600, you know, I think it's a pretty good offering. |
| Unknown | Oh, it totally is. And I think, you know, just a few years ago, it was very difficult to find a high end, uh, You know, I would maybe call it a unisex sized dive watch that doesn't necessarily look like it was made for, you know, quote unquote ladies. Um, you know, I remember when Ghoshani was looking even, I don't know, 10 years ago, it was like really hard to find. And so then she got the planet ocean chronograph that Omega came out with at 37 and a half millimeters. And it was this breath of fresh air. Now we're a little more spoiled for choice in this category, but I think, um, this really has kind of stayed true to that, you know, Breitling's always had these, these kind of, uh, basic, really burly, well-made chronometer certified dive watches. Do you remember the Colt? I don't know if they even still make Colt. Oh yeah, absolutely. And they still make versions of the Colt. The Colt, you know, I mean, they made a quartz Colt. They made, and it was always this like, no one really talked about it, but then if you saw somebody that had it, it'd be like, that's like a one and done, you know, watch that you can just strap on and never take off. And like you wear it all over the place for 10 years and beat up. |
| Unknown | And one of the main things that would, that would lead me to go towards this over a Colt, And this is such a silly thing, but it is important or not important, but it's something I really like is the font for super ocean. Yeah. Yeah. I just love it. Yeah. That big S it feels like something that should be on the back of a, of a car early seventies. Yeah. Right. Or the graphics along the door sill of a, of a, you know, a Carrera RS. That's true. Yeah. I just, I love the font. Um, I'd like the big markers. I love that. It's, it's a big watch. That's small, which is kind of fun in my mind. It's kind of like this watch would align with like a two door Wrangler, right? Yeah, right. It's, it's, it has that, the kind of compact tool-ish sort of nature. Um, I, I like it. Yeah. So that's going to be my first one. And that puts me at a 3,600 bucks. All right. |
| Unknown | I like that pick a lot. All right. Okay. I've got, I've got a whittle down because I had three others on my list, depending on what you were going to pick. Was that one of them or no? It was not. I do need a dive watch. Uh, I think Breitling is known well for their pilots watches, of course. And I've just spent, 8600 on a very dry land oriented or aviation oriented chronograph. So I really need a dive watch. And I think Breitling does such great dive watches. And, uh, this one is going completely the opposite direction of both what I chose and what you chose, but it's, it's just classic Breitling. And it's, it might be a one that you wouldn't expect me to pick. I'm going for the Avenger automatic 45 Seawolf. This is 4,150. It's a 45 millimeter watch with a bright yellow dial. It's big, it's tough. It has rider tabs on the bezel. It's water resistant to, drum roll please, 3,000 meters. |
| Unknown | That's a good yellow too. 3,000 meters, goodness sakes. |
| Unknown | It's over 18 millimeters thick. To me, this, when I, When I think I look, I I'm not going to make any or look at that profile. I'm not going to cast it. I'm not going to cast any illusions that, that I, that I don't like big burly dive watches. I still do. I like my, my Braymont S 2000. Uh, I had the original planet ocean in size, you know, 45 and a half millimeters. And just as Breitling is well known for its, you know, Navitimers and it's kind of mid-century piloty kind of stuff. They're equally known for these big rider tab, bezeled, chunky watches. Um, you know, the, the Avengers, the super Avengers, I love the names of these watches. Um, I think the Seawolf part of this is the reason why Zodiac has to always call their super Seawolf now. I don't think they were allowed to go back to the Seawolf cause Breitling kind of owns this now. Um, but they've made the Seawolf for a while and it's, it's, it's the only, Seawolf in their collection. I think they've kind of given it to this, this watch cause it's their most extreme, uh, diver and it's, I chose the yellow with the steel bezel with the yellow, with the steel bezel, the coloring looks good. They have the kind of, if you scroll through the photos on the product page, you know, there's, there's the wrist shot of the guy like holding his jacket shut and, and it's on this, uh, I don't even know what that's got to have a huge wrist. It's gotta be a 10 inch wrist. Yeah. My wrist is, uh, might not be, I might not have the risk for this. |
| Unknown | But I don't think that watch was photographed on his wrist. Yeah. Right. Right. Photoshopped in place. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Yeah. Look, if I'm going to have my Navitimer and then I need something for, you know, extreme duty, uh, this is the one I reach for. And I guarantee it's going to be so uncomfortable by the end of the day that I'll be crawling back to my Navitimer with a sore arm from wearing this thing. Cause I bet it, do they, do they list the weight of this thing? Oh man. Oh, 160 grams. 180 grams. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Yeah. |
| Unknown | Yeah. I mean, this is it. This is, this is opposite. I, I had, I had, I, I don't want to, you know, steal thunder here. I did have more of a retro style dive watch, um, because I, I'm a big fan of some of their, their super ocean stuff, the super ocean heritage stuff. But I was like, you know, I've got the Navitimer to kind of scratch that kind of retro-y itch. So I'm going to go full on modern Breitling, the Breitlings that I remember when I was first getting into this hobby. And, uh, I'm making no apologies. I'm going to go for this one. That's a 8,600 for the Navitimer. Plus this one is 4,150. I come in at 12,750. So, you know, 250, I think Breitling sells a lot of straps separately. Maybe I can afford. Oh yeah. They held the diver pro straps for 75. I could get a handful of these straps. I can get like a Hershey strap. There you go. Um, to go with it with a little bit of extra money. |
| Unknown | So there we go. Man, I love the way this watch looks. I really liked the night mission version too with the Arabic, the kind of military, almost like spray paint style. I'm sure there's a name for that, you know, like the stencil, stencil font. But this one, I really liked the dial layout. I adore this color yellow. It's this medium, very signal yellow from Porsche is kind of where I would see it. I think this is, a nice looking watch. I think the size is ludicrous. Of course, 18 millimeters is just, that's too thick for a daily to wear watch. But as a sort of flex, a very Breitling overbuilt, take it to the edge 3000 meter dive watch. This is cool, man. I mean, like you remember some of those oil filled watches from back in the day, there was a Swiss army watch that went 10 kilometers or something and was like, you know, 22 millimeters thick or something. Yeah. And, uh, there's some, some pretty, pretty fun stuff back. And, and this kind of makes me, makes me giggle. And, and I don't know who buys this watch. I mean, you, I guess in, in a draft scenario, but I don't know who's out there buying and then wearing this watch. What my guess is it's just somebody of, of considerable mass. Yeah. Right. Yeah, exactly. This is a big Burley guy. |
| Unknown | This is like pro offensive lineman, like football. |
| Unknown | Yeah, exactly. Look great on that for sure. Definitely the guy. Definitely the guy in that wrist shot is like six, seven, 280 pounds and real fit. Yeah, for sure. He's got an eight, nine and a half inch wrist. |
| Unknown | Well, if I'm honest, you know, you mentioned the night mission and I would, I would have gone for that if I had a little bit of extra money, maybe I could have tweaked over the, uh, the 13,000, but I wanted to stay under, but that, that DLC, uh, titanium with the olive green dial and the stencil font. I mean, how cool. That's number two. How about you? We're both going with just two today. |
| Unknown | What's your second? My second one is oddly similar to your first one. This is one that I think people would have guessed that I would pick. It's a watch I've rambled on about here and written about for Hodinkee. And that's the AVI 765, 1953 re-edition in steel. I believe it's sold out. So I think this is a fool's errand, but we're allowed to pick any currently listed model for these drafts. So that's 8,600 bucks, just like your 806 LE. And I just think this is like a perfect, I don't really even love chronographs. I think this is like a perfect one in my book. Significantly less expensive than a Daytona. Mm-hmm. Which is probably the chronograph, right? Mm-hmm. I also have a thing where, and feel free to disagree if this isn't like, I have a lot of trouble reading modern Daytonas. Yeah. I lose the hands. Yeah. Yeah. Easily lost. I've had one on my wrist so many times, and it's a little bit better in the John Player Special, sort of the very expensive one on rubber, the Everose. Right. The contrast is there, but I like the white dial Daytona. I love a white dial Rolex, of course. Yeah. I like the white dial Daytona, but I've had one on my wrist a couple of times, even like for more than a few minutes, a couple of hours. Yeah. And not an overly legible design in my experience. And then you look at this, you look at this seven, six, five. Oh yeah. It's a, it's the right size. It's 41 millimeters. It's also only three bars of water resistance. So I'm going to have to wear the dive watch when I need it. But this one, you get the same hand wound manufacturer. It's a very similar watch. The one that you picked. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's absolutely gorgeous, which is the first thing. I like that it uses 22 millimeter lugs so I could wear it on what I assume is a lovely leather strap that it comes with. Or for $175, I can go to a brown strap. There's a lot of options here. Our budget doesn't allow, but I do really like the... I believe it's a platinum one with a blue dial. Beautiful. A multiple of our budget. But at 8,600 bucks, I just think it's really beautiful. It's super legible. I love a 12 hour bezel, long on record for that. So you get the added benefit of it also working for some travel or watching another time zone. There's nothing I don't like about this watch. It's the right size. I think it's a perfectly fair price for what you're getting. You get a solid movement and it's just, it's drop dead gorgeous. I think this is another one that's kind of like the big pilot. It's an iconic sort of design. And if you asked a watch nerd to draw the elemental watches, even like at a child level of art, you'd get a dive watch, you'd get a pilot's chronograph. And I think this or yours would be right in there, depending on if they did it with crayons, they could draw mine. They'd need a fine tip to do all the little lines from the Navitimer. But yeah, I adore this watch. Really, I have rambled on about it in the past, so I don't have to go too long today. But yeah, from the price to the size to the look, I think it really kind of checks all the boxes for what I would want if I was spending pretty big money from Breitling. |
| Unknown | Yeah. This was, this was the alternative to my Navitimer pick because, uh, you know, equally maybe not quite as iconic as a Navitimer, but I think to my eye, this is a more appealing aesthetic watch. Um, I love the really simple logo, just the B in Breitling. Uh, it, it just has such a military vibe to it. Um, yeah, yeah. Dead even on price. I think they kind of released it in the same, spirit as they did the Navitimer reissue that I picked. And, uh, yeah, yeah. Good, good call. I mean, I'm wishing we could do like a $35,000 version of this show too, because, you know, looking at it, I mean, I do the outer known super ocean heritage. I do the emergency, you know, I love that watch. I mean, there's just, there's so much good stuff. I'm surprised. I thought you were going to do an aerospace. |
| Unknown | Well, my thing is, is my love of aerospace is very specific to all of those leading up to the 42 millimeter. Oh, sure. I think the Evo is a better feature set, but it's thicker. And one of the sweet things that people don't talk about that often with the 40 millimeter aero spaces is that they're like 11 millimeters thick. They're really thin. And a good portion of that is the bezel. The case is like very svelte. It's a thin movement, doesn't have a ton of water resistance. There's nothing to bulk up on that. And maybe someday in the future we'll do a $35,000 one, or maybe we'll do like a grand challenge. It's 50 grand. just come at us with whatever, like a proper draft or some sort. But for my money, I don't know that I would spend $5,000 on an Evo. Yeah, true. When for $1,500, I could probably get a really tidy E-56062 or the following one, the Repetition Minutes and go that direction. And really the honest answer is I should have just kept the Aerospace that I had, which I think I've said on the show before. I liked it quite a bit and I shouldn't have sold it. It became entirely redundant for me once I started running with a garment. But there's something just intrinsically for me very cool about the smaller, thin, full grey on the bullet bracelet with the extending clasp, older aerospace. But yeah, there's a lot here to pick from. If you like the current 42 millimeter, you're not wrong. It's a very cool watch. I really like the, the night mission one, the, the, or the, the Evo in the full dark trim on a black Hershey. That's a really good watch. It's a nice size. It's just, if you've had a 40 millimeter on your wrist and, and kind of attached with that almost weightless, barely there sort of perfect fit that they achieve with that watch. It's hard to say that I would honestly spend that kind of money, whereas if I had the money and I was going for Breitling, the two that I picked, I would buy. I like them both. I like the 36 Diver a lot. I do too. I think that's a bit of a sleeper. Yeah, totally. So good on Logan for picking it up. It's a watch that I think I maybe saw on a table at Baselworld a couple of years ago, a version of it maybe, and it might even have been one of the larger ones. But I think this is a good list. I think both of ours make sense. Both of ours kind of appeal to our spaces. I think if you're going to go spend big money on Breitling, you're going to want a big chronograph probably. Yeah. It's so core to their thing. But then the other side of it is overbuilt, techie dive watches. And I think in your case, exceedingly overbuilt. And in my case, a little bit more tailored to the fact that I do stay in this mode now where the watches have to be of a certain size. Cause I'd like to be able, if I keep them and I really liked them, I'd like to them to be something my kids could wear. And it's yet to be seen if they're going to, if the style and taste of their era of watches is more like 36 millimeters, more like 45 millimeters. Right. |
| Unknown | So hedging my bets a little bit. Breitling's always done such a good job with color too. And I liked that you, well, I chose yellow, you chose orange, but I, you know, I remember the first generation emergencies and aerospaces and things. And even the dive watches from the 80s and 90s, they would do that coral orange. They did a nice blue. Yeah. Um, they've done yellow really well over the years. I think, you know, their use of color for a brand that in many ways is kind of has a sobriety to some of its older stuff. Um, they really kind of leaped into color with both feet earlier than a lot of other brands. You look at the, the oyster perpetuals and whatever, and everybody's kind of vooing and eyeing over some of their dial colors. Well, you know, Breitling has been, doing fun dial colors for a long time. And I, I love that we picked colorful ones. I think I needed some color after, you know, kind of a Navitimer, which just feels so sober. And so like, you know, Navy pilot 19, you know, 59. |
| Unknown | So if we had had a different budget, you could have gotten a third watch. What was another one from the list? |
| Unknown | Would it have been that, um, I like the, uh, gosh, so many. I really was, I've always been drawn to the super ocean heritage. Um, they, they were doing a limited edition to register chronograph for a number of years with a green dial that I liked, but they don't have that in their collection anymore. So the kind of the closest, um, thing that I, I could get would be, they did like an outer known limited edition of the super ocean heritage 57, which has that kind of deep dish, um, concave bezel and those funky markers. Now, The criticism of that watch, of course, is why didn't they make it at least 200 meter water resistance? I think they kept a non screw down crown and they kept it at 100 meters water resistance, which is a little silly to my mind. But honestly, I mean, 100 meters is fine for the great majority of anything you do. I'd even probably take that watch diving. But I just think it looks so good. I think it's such a cool, funky, you know, like retro, but also like retro doing futuristic, you know, it's like what they thought the future was going to be like in 19, what, 50? Yeah, it was a little neo-futurist for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Sort of Jetsons. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's probably another one I would have picked. I did have an aerospace on a kind of a secondary list, but yeah, super ocean heritage and, and, and probably a pilot's watch would be my alternative picks. |
| Unknown | I was, I was really tempted because I would have, it would have, I would have done, it would have brought me just under 12, I guess, um, to do a Chronomat 42. Oh yeah. Yeah. I think this is a watch I haven't... This is a watch I haven't been able to see in person yet because of when it came out and COVID and the rest of it. But the black dial with the red central seconds hand and the silver sub dials on the bracelet, that's 200 meters water resistant. That is a BO1 movement. Like I said, it's 42 millimeters wide. It's 15 millimeters thick. It's got 22 millimeter lugs. It's only 50 millimeters lug to lug. So I think it would wear really well, bigger, but really well. Yeah. And I love the look of this. They make a several versions. So if you didn't want the silver on black, uh, there's, you know, more colorful, less colorful, uh, sort of options that's 82 50. So, you know, that wasn't one that was going to fit into the budget, but I think if there'd been a third watch available, if we'd been dealing with more like 20 grand, um, this would have been the one, I think it's, I, it's one that I'm excited to see in person. And I think that, they've, they have done some smaller ones of that. Uh, but they're time only. And I think if they were able to do a smaller version, like a 38 or 39 millimeter chronograph chronomat would probably be pretty rad as well. Yeah. But I don't think you're doing that badly with the, uh, with the 42. |
| Unknown | It's funny, you know, George Kern, you know, CEO of Breitling, he was at IWC before, and I think people, He did such an amazing job there but he was very polarizing and I think it's because IWC came out of the 90s with this very Teutonic like you know we're very sober watches that people really admired for their kind of toolish nature and I think people felt like he took it in too much of a kind of a marketing spin direction and I think when he's moved over to Breitling I think he's found his comfort zone. I think Breitling is a brand that does both of those things. I think they're known for tool watches, but they've also done this exuberant design stuff. Um, and I think sporty works, soccer and yeah, colors and yeah. And I think, you know, he stepped in and he's kind of tapped into all of that. He's, he's kind of looked at the heritage stuff and to his credit, he's gone to, uh, to watch Fred for, for inspiration and for input. And, uh, and also, you know, just kind of amped up some of the other stuff. And he's a big, you know, cyclist and skier. And I think you know, I don't, I'm not a huge fan of the endurance, the quartz chronographs, but, uh, you know, he brought those in, in which was a bit of an odd ball, but, you know, presumably they're doing fairly well at that kind of a lower price point. So yeah, that's off to Kern. |
| Unknown | Yeah. And, and, you know, looking forward for the brand, it'd be interesting to see if they use their sort of composite case on smaller model. Yeah. Right. The endurance is a very, I think it's 46 millimeters and, um, it'd be interesting to see that come down. They make a huge, I don't want to get this wrong, but it might be in excess of 50 millimeters, a big dive watch with a yellow dial. And it has that sort of composite case. I'd love to see that stuff come down. Do the Superocean 36 automatic with a cool composite case. And then you've got something in the same vein, if you will, as the Carbon Doxa, and it might actually end up being less money than what they're selling the Doxa for. Yeah, there's our Breitling challenge. We both spent just between twelve and thirteen thousand dollars. I think I came in about twelve thousand two hundred bucks. And Jason, you came in at twelve seven fifty. And Jason, you picked a Navitimer 806 LE and Seawolf 45. And I picked a Superocean Auto 36 and the 765 Avi re-edition. We'll put all those in the show notes. And hey, as always, with the with the challenges, head over to our sub stack, find episode 178 and get into the comments. Let us know what you would spend 13,000 us dollars on at Breitling and why, why it was different than what we did. Or if you liked our picks, why, why it would align how you might see spending that money. Maybe it's just on one watch. They make a handful of watches that are in the 10, $12,000 space. Oh, and the other thing I wish I had, I wish they had was more GMTs that were like under 44 millimeters. Yeah. All the GMTs are a little bit bigger. Yeah. Um, and, and my guess is that's just like a, it'll come with time thing. Cause they, they've kind of started to trend back towards 40 or offer more. Um, so maybe, maybe we'll see more GMTs in the future, but that's the challenge. Let us know what you think and what your picks would be at, uh, the gray, nato.com. What do you say? Some final notes, Jason. |
| Unknown | Sure. Yeah. Why don't you go first? I'm intrigued by this. You sent me some photos. |
| Unknown | Yeah. So I, you know, I'm always liking to refine my workspace, my office space. I have a corner of one of the rooms in the house. It's got a nice big desk and it was a desk I kind of cobbled together from a few different options from Ikea. And, um, I'm, I would say that largely speaking, I think you're better off buying used decent furniture than you are buying new Ikea stuff. But occasionally Ikea is the answer. for this desk, I'm very happy with it. It's very simple. It's four legs and like a big, what looks like a big piece of butcher block that I then stained. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Unknown | Uh, but I've been using this for a long time and then otherwise I don't have a lot of Ikea stuff. I have some red cabinets I bought used some like, they look like lockers. So I keep watch boxes and things like that in it. And otherwise I like to kind of avoid the Ikea aesthetic. I spend a lot of time on a, on a Reddit called battle stations, which is people's desks and where they game and work. Yeah. And it all kind of gives you different ideas like, Oh, maybe I do my monitors like that, or I, or those speakers or this or that. And what I started to see were these peg boards that people had a similar to what you'd see in a, in your grandpa's workshop. Right. Yeah. But a little bit more elevated. So less of that cardboard sort of look and texture and more of like a wood. And, uh, and, and so Ikea makes them, they're called a SCADIS, S K A D I S is the system. And they make boards in a few different colors and different sizes. And then they have a bunch of accessories from shallow hooks, deep hooks, shelves, file holders, pouches, uh, little containers, bigger containers, clips, things like that. And the nice thing is, is none of it's very expensive. So I bought two of the big ones. I think they were 25 bucks or $27 Canadian a piece. Yeah. And then I bought maybe another $20 worth of hooks and clips and things like that. So now I've got a place for my headphones. and for some spare COVID masks. And I, it's where I hang up the Garmin when I'm not using it. Uh, I've got a photo, I've got that little Seiko desk clock. Oh yeah. You can, you can pop the legs out of it. They're like, they just kind of hinge into the bottom. Yeah. And I have it sitting on two hooks and it just kind of looks cool. Yeah. Um, and, and yeah, so far I'm, I'm super happy with it. It's not expensive. And if you're looking to get some stuff on your desk or on a shelf off the desk or off your shelf and on the wall where they can kind of, it's a little bit easier. I highly recommend it. I'm, I'm pretty impressed by it. It was not hard to install. It uses one rail that essentially goes into anchors in your wall. And then the bottom of the board uses like a little stabilizer, like an extension so that the board stays off the wall. So that the pegs actually work. And otherwise it's really straightforward. Like I said, it comes in a few different colors. I think white, blue, I've got the Brown sort of tan one. And then they do like a techie version, like a gamery one. That's like kind of looks like military grays and blacks have a design on it. So I'm not always a huge Ikea fan. I like things that last, especially when it comes to furniture, you know, my, my dinner tables, 60, 70 years old. Yeah. Um, I, I prefer that, that option, but there are some scenarios, especially when you get into like organizing shelves, things like that, where Ikea just makes a lot of sense. |
| Unknown | Yeah, I think so too. I think, you know, it is a matter of just, you know, choosing the right, the right thing for the right space. And I think for certain applications, you're right. Ikea is, um, you know, no one does it better. I think they're, they're really good at organization. I think, you know, a lot of their stacking stuff, their drawer, little, you know, bedside drawer units and things like that are really smart and clever. And of course, very affordable. And I, I love pegboard. I haven't, this reminded me, I haven't really thought about pegboard in a long time. I've got it of course, in the garage, in the basement, kind of the, the ratty stuff that you were talking about. Yeah. That's really not suited for my, you know, space that people might see. Um, but yeah, this is, this is really cool. I like that. |
| Unknown | Yeah, I dig it. And you know, my thing with Ikea, I don't want to bash Ikea in any way. You know, I think anytime I see myself going on Ikea or looking at especially like larger stuff, like imagine you do your whole kitchen Ikea style or a whole living room Ikea style. is all that goes through my head is that opening sequence from fight club club. Yeah. Where he was, you know, he's customizing his life with little single servings of Scandinavian furniture and these sorts of things. And I go like, I, I, you know, fight club in my mind didn't hold up that well. Uh, I think there's a lot of kind of toxicity in that film intentionally read the book. It's there, it's there with reason, but that was a big thing when I was, you know, I'm 36 now. So when I was 18, fight club was a big deal. Um, even a little bit younger than that, you know, when I was in high school, Uh, and, and so some of that sticks in my brain, you know, walking around in Ikea, I find to be a little bit stressful. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Yeah. It's like a labyrinth and there's no easy way out. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Unknown | There's that. |
| Unknown | Yep. There's that. Some of it I really like. Right. Um, but seeing the, like the prep rooms, which seems to be a big draw for people. Yeah. You go in and see those hanging out. Yeah. Yeah. Those all kind of worry me. Yeah. Um, because I feel like, Every now and then you visit somebody and you're like, Oh, you've got like a real Ikea bend going. And then there was a time in my life after school and after fight club where everyone I knew had the same four or five things from Ikea because you had no money. Right. Right. So everyone had the Malm table and the Malm side table and the Malm bed. Yeah. Right. And, and, and so once you start to find some, there's nothing bad about the Ikea stuff. I don't like how some of it feels like it wasn't designed to be built twice. So if you move, it never goes back together quite as well. Yeah. But there's other things that are genius. I mean, the flat packing is genius. The impetus to make their company really smart, really strong ideals in making sure hardware was almost universal from one item to another and bringing costs further down, all that kind of stuff. But I think, like I said, sometimes Ikea is absolutely the answer and the rest of the time, you know, go on Facebook, Martin Place or whatever and And, you know, find a piece of mid-century furniture if you can. Right. Clean it up with a sand and brush it and oil it and keep using it. Yeah. |
| Unknown | All right. What have you got? All right. Yeah. This was a movie that, uh, it's, it's shown up on YouTube. It's a documentary. It's probably a little over an hour long. Uh, it's called being James Bond and it was previously only available to subscribers of, I think it was on Apple TV plus or something. So you had to pay for it or have a subscription. And now the makers of the film have released it on, on YouTube for free open viewing. And it's interesting. I mean, this isn't like an award winner by any means, but you know, with the recent interest in James Bond with the release of no time to die, it, this is a bit of a retrospective of Daniel Craig's tenure as Bond and kind of puts a bookend on, on his career in that role. And what it is is it's, it's an hour or a little over, uh, kind of a chat between him And Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, that the two kind of, uh, I think they're step siblings who are the heirs to the cubby broccoli, um, fortune or whatever, um, the family that, that originally started making the bond films and they're the current producers and owners of the name. And it's, it's just a conversation between the three of them. And they're just talking over a nicely edited series of footage from, you know, kind of those rare. screen tests that Daniel Craig did and some, some footage from some of the, his early pre bond movies, stuff that I've never seen or even heard of. Um, and, and kind of the, the brutal reaction to when he was introduced as, as the new character, as the, as the new James Bond and how people really almost violently, you know, came out against him and kind of, yeah, I remember it being a big deal that he had blonde hair. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Yeah. Like a big deal. |
| Unknown | Yeah. And, uh, and they discuss all of that. And, you know, he's like, that was, it was quite hurtful. You know, he said that one night I just went online and I spent the whole night like reading through this stuff. And I was like, and then he's like, at the end, he's like, you know, screw it. I'm just going to go out and make a good movie. And he did. And Casino Royale was sure did a hit. And then, you know, the rest is history, but, uh, it's an interesting look and it's, it's very current. You know, they, they, they take it right to the last scene that they filmed for no time to die and kind of his reaction after they were done rapping. uh the creation of the movie and and whatever so if you're anything of a bond fan or a daniel craig fan it's it's a it's an easy watch it's you know just a little over an hour and it's on youtube now for everybody to watch so check it out super that's a good pick and uh i think a solid way to uh to end a show about cool sports watches and yeah our dwindling interest in winter yeah for sure |
| Unknown | As always, thank you so much for listening. If you want to subscribe to The Show Notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grab yourself a new TGN signed NATO, please visit TheGreyNATO.com. You can subscribe and review the show wherever you like to get your podcasts, and we would love it if you took a moment to tell a friend about the show. And let's not forget that music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive. |
| Unknown | And we leave you with this quote from Steve Jobs who said, if you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time. |