The Grey NATO – 185 – The TGN Auction For Ukraine And The Latest From Bremont

Published on Thu, 17 Mar 2022 06:59:07 -0400

Synopsis

This episode of The Grey NATO podcast covers a variety of topics related to travel, diving, driving gear, and watches. They discuss the upcoming TGN auction to benefit humanitarian efforts in Ukraine with items donated by brands and listeners. They talk about the excitement of the Endurance shipwreck being discovered and the history behind it. The hosts also review new watch releases from Bremont including the Williams racing chronograph, jet black series watches, and limited edition tributes. Final notes cover recommendations for stories about "backyard adventuring" and the art of falconry.

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacey Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Graynado, a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 185, and it's proudly brought to you by the recently formed TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support of the show. And if you'd like to support the show, please visit thegraynado.com for more details.
Jason Heaton Jason, how are we doing? I'm doing great. Yeah, it's warming up. We had some big fluffy snowflakes yesterday, but the forecast shows nothing but spring weather coming up and I'm very, very pleased to see that.
James Stacey I'm hoping for the same. They're saying that later in the week here in Toronto, by the time this comes out, we'll actually be seeing double digits as far as Celsius goes. And I do hope that's the case. Right now, it's snowing pretty good.
Jason Heaton It's the swan song of winter. Let's call it that.
James Stacey Yeah. We're getting, we're getting a little slice of it, but yeah, I'm hoping, I'm hoping for a warmer weekend and, uh, and that sort of stuff. So it'd be exciting if it, if it came to, uh, came to be.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I got, um, you know, a few episodes back, I talked about these ice bug cleat, uh, running shoes that I got that I was running in and over the winter. And, um, I, I recently got some warm weather running shoes as well, um, which I have yet to try. I might try them today. And they are, I shouldn't say Swiss made, they are Swiss designed. It's these, this brand On, O-N. I think Roger Federer was an investor, early investor in the company and he wears them for tennis, but they've become quite, quite popular. I've gotten great reviews and, uh, yeah, I'm excited to give them a, give them a try. They, they look sharp and they're, um, they're nice and cushy and yeah, so that'll be my, my dry pavement, uh, set of shoes for, for the coming season here. So I'm excited.
James Stacey That's great. Yeah. No, it's, uh, it's fantastic. I'm, uh, I'm just, just starting to look into running and getting my, my, uh, road bike kind of tuned up. Um, it needs a new set of tires and some other work done. Uh, but it's, it's nice to be kind of planning these things, right?
Unknown It sure is.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I, I took the wax off my skis and I, uh, I aired up the bike tires and lubed the chain on Gashanis and my bikes. And so we're, it's, uh, it's that time, put the sweaters and moth balls and, and move forward. So excited. You know, it's funny, you mentioned the, the supporter crew, like we always do at the beginning. And now we're what mid-March and we've had, uh, we launched our kind of supporter crew campaign in mid November. It's already been four months. It's amazing. We've, we've built such a big, big community. I just, it just occurred to me, as you said, uh, the recently formed and it's, uh, it's been a while now and it's fantastic. It's great. It's going so well.
James Stacey Yeah, no, it's been incredible. We're already looking forward to, um, uh, we're going to do another big push in November to keep people, you know, on the a hundred dollars a year. So there'll be a new bundle. that we're starting to plan out, which I'm pretty excited about. Yeah. And it's just nice to have the comments and the support and like my final notes today came from the supporter crew. There's this sort of feedback loop now that we have that's more direct. And I love, you know, in the last couple of months, we've had a few brands come forward and say like, hey, we'd love to advertise. We finally got on that Manscape. We got on their email so that they were offering to advertise Manscape. Not something I think we would have done. But it's really nice just to simply write back and say, you know what, we're We don't do any advertising. Yeah. You know, that, that could change someday, but at the moment we're very happy with how it is. And, uh, and you know, if the right partner came along with the right project, I could, I could make an exception, but just reading ads, right. I'm so thrilled to not have to do that and really feel like we make the show for the listener specifically, which is a, which is a fun thing. Um, also speaking of fun stuff, we're, we're, uh, we're kicking off the TGN auction. We talked about it last week. This is an auction in support of, uh, uh, the humanitarian crisis, uh, in Ukraine. Uh, Jason, you want to fill in some of the details?
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, you know, we, we introduced the idea on episode one 84 last week. And you know, since then, I mean, I've even seen a real uptick or almost a explosion of, of auctions from various corners of, of social media and the internet, including the watch community, which has been really encouraging. And you know, there's so much need that I don't think there are ever going to be too many of these auctions. No, And, and we chose specifically to benefit the, uh, international committee of the red cross. They've been really doing a lot of good work in Poland and other bordering areas of Ukraine and within Ukraine in terms of just, you know, helping with the refugee crisis and getting people food and medical help and all of that sort of thing. They seem like a really solid organization to whom we can, we can offer some, some measure of support. And we have this great platform with, with all these great listeners. And so. we thought that we would put together a bit of a, an auction kit, you know, like a package of, of various products that are very much in our, in our wheelhouse kind of core TGN stuff. And we put the call out to, to various you know, to anybody really that wanted to respond and maybe contribute something. And we've gotten some, some pretty stellar stuff. And I think, I think whoever comes out on top with the, with the winning bid for this is going to be really, really happy. And we'll, we'll kind of announce the, the list here in a bit, but, um, the, the kind of overall conduct of this auction is going to be that, that it will be open as of now, as of, uh, I guess, 6 AM Eastern or thereabouts, uh, whenever this, uh, episode goes live and we will put a post up on the TGN Instagram feed at the gray NATO. And we're going to run it until 10 PM Eastern North American time on Wednesday, the 23rd, basically, we're just going to take bids on that Instagram post. And the winner, the winning bid will then go ahead and pay the Red Cross. And we'll put a link where to bid directly and then just send us a receipt so that the person who does have the winning bid actually gets some, you know, a tax benefit, a tax deduction benefit by, by paying directly. And, and as soon as we see that, that proof for that receipt, we'll try to get that package shipped off by the 29th of March. I'm, I'm leaving for some travel on the 30th and I'd love to, to get this box of goodies out the door to, uh, to whomever wins that. And the auctions open to anyone that lives where we're FedEx delivers because we're using FedEx as we've done for our supporter kit. And I've done for my books and they've just done a great job getting products all over the world. The only caveat, I guess, to all this is that, you know, you're on the hook for any local taxes. Uh, and you know, the package will be sent from me here in Minneapolis. So, you know, if there's any sort of import duties or anything on the, on the products, you'll, you'll have to cover that. But, uh, James, you want to kind of talk through a few of the items we're offering? I think it's a really, really cool list.
James Stacey This is fun. And what I recommend is if you're listening to this, like, like Jason said, the, um, the, the auction itself is open. So if you want to go see the, the actual list of what's here, rather than just listening, you can just go to the Graynado's Instagram account and, uh, and check it out. But it's a, it's a, it's a pretty impressive list. Um, some of this that Jason and I have kind of offered up and some that, uh, brands were so kind to kind of step in listeners. and, uh, and throw some stuff in. So we've got a copy of depth charge, which will be personally signed, not by me, of course, uh, sub mechanophilia baseball cap. Uh, Jason, uh, previously produced a run of posters that used, uh, when sex was safe is like a doxa ad poster. I have one. They're super fun. One of those Braymont stepped up with one of their new Foley MB clocks. So it's a wall clock that looks like the dial of a, of an MB.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey which is super rad. Our friends at Tactile Turn are offering up a pen, a really awesome pen. That'll be in there. The folks from Super Alpine stepped up with their Chamonix travel guide. So again, that'll be in there. Wonder State Coffee is going to offer up some coffee and an AeroPress kit. The fine folks at Cantonment have a Cantonment set that'll be in there as well. And then we have a Colson Keen No. 111 Leather Bound Journal. This is via a listener. Mike, thank you very much. The next one is really touching for both Jason and I, given our history with Hodinkee. Our friends at Hodinkee figured out that we were doing this, and they're offering up a Benris Type 1, a Greynado, a Heaton Bund, and a Rollcase, all as a kit. So that's the kind of watch focus of this one. For other folks that offered up watches, we just wanted to stick with one, especially for customs reasons, if the winner ends up being outside of the States. So this one will be a Benris Type 1 with a sort of TGN-themed kit. couldn't be more thankful for that from Hodinkee, of course. And then we've got a Patagonia Black Hole 25 liter backpack, a Vario SG travel case. And then the final one, and this will be an option, you won't have any pressure if you win the auction. But as a final offering, Jason and I will send you a microphone and you'll have the option of being a guest on an upcoming episode of TGN. We'll work around your schedule and your comfort We'll make sure that it's really fun and easy. But if that sounds like a good time, then we're more than happy to include that. And that's the list at this point. It's a long list. It's a lot of amazing stuff. Oh man, it really is. I'm really touched by the response from brands that listen to the show. These aren't things where we sent an email asking. We just said, you guys all heard, that's all we put out. So these are people that actively listen to the show, like the rest of you. And this is going to be super fun. Um, and yeah, everything from books to pens, to watches, to straps, to all sorts of goodies, a solid backpack and a chance to be on the show.
Jason Heaton This is, this is a list that, you know, I've, I've got a few of these items, obviously, but, uh, boy, I'd love to, I'd love to have that folly clock on my wall and that bedrest on my wrist. And, uh, you know, you and I both love, uh, you know, the Patagonia stuff. And I mean, this is, this is just tremendous. I mean, everything, everything from coffee to a, to a writing journal. So cool. So cool.
James Stacey And most of that will ship in a single box. A couple of these things, the brands have offered to do their own drop shipping to make it even easier. Yeah. So we'll organize that with the final winner, the high bidder. Once we've got the, yeah, just the proof of the payment to the ICRC.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And we just want to say a quick thanks to everybody who responded. You know, we did turn down a few people, not because we didn't like what they were offering, but we had We had a pretty good list going and we didn't want to kind of duplicate up on a few of these things like, uh, you know, straps and watches and things like that, even though, even though people offered. So, uh, we really appreciate all the response and, and the, and the support for this. And, uh, we were, we're confident it's going to be a really good, good auction for a really good cause. So, uh, super excited for this.
James Stacey Yeah. So swing by the gray NATO on Instagram, the auction ends, like Jason said, 10 PM ET Wednesday, the 23rd. So that's nearly a week that it's going to run for. And we're very, very excited about this. And if we see the opportunity to do more in the future, maybe we can make this something we do even more frequently. You know, we did this back for the ACLU a couple of years back. We auctioned off my beloved Hallios to great results. So this, we wanted to kind of pump the gas here and make it something super in the space of TGN. And I think this will work out. Yeah. Check it out. If you like, if you have any issues, I wouldn't DM the TGN account, send us an email at thegraynadoatgmail.com where we watch it very carefully. And we certainly will during the window for the auction. So check it out, share it if you can. We'll certainly be sharing the post and trying to get the word out. So, and any support would be amazing. Yeah. And just a big thank you to everyone.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And, and, you know, speaking of, of Ukraine and humanitarian, uh, concerns. Uh, you know, I had run across, um, as, as a million other people did to, uh, president Zelensky of, of Ukraine in a press conference, wearing this olive drab t-shirt with, with the Ukrainian flag on the chest. And I noticed the little five 11 tactical logo, which is a, a brand that I happen to like. I like, uh, I'm wearing a pair of their pants right now, actually, they make some really, really good stuff. Um, and, and he was wearing one of their t-shirts and I kind of just not jokingly, but I, you know, I posted it on my Instagram stories and I said, Hey, 511 make this available in the U S and, and uh, you know, donate the proceeds of its sales. And, and somebody had already beat me to that. And sure enough, I just, a guy wrote me yesterday and said he works for 511 and that indeed they are doing just that. I believe they have a limited supply and they might be sold out now. But for those of you that might be interested in another way to donate and pick up a cool, cool t-shirt to kind of show the spirit here. Um, know, we can throw that link in the show notes too. And they might be sold out by the time this episode goes live, but, uh, but who knows really, really good on them for, for stepping up in that regard too.
James Stacey Absolutely. Yeah. Super cool. Uh, and, and a nice thing, you know, again, we've, we've pumped up our own auction, but I would assume this will be something of a considerable expense and you can, you can pick up one of these t-shirts for a much more, you know, a lesser total outlay of cash, certainly, but it's a, it's a cool way to do it because they're donating all the money regardless of whether or not the t-shirts sell.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey So it's just a limited run and the value of that run is going to be donated by five 11. Yeah. Which I think is really clever. So check that out if you want a t-shirt and you want to rep, you know, you want to rep a Ukraine. I think, uh, I think that's super fun. So, all right. All right. I mean, uh, other than that, I I'm back from, uh, Miami. So my tan is, I'm sure you can hear it. I mean, it's very impressive.
Jason Heaton Um, how did it feel?
James Stacey What was it like to like blink blink into the person in Florida with a mask on that like didn't work at a restaurant, right? Oh yeah. Right. Yeah. Which is okay. And I did, I did obviously for Canada, you do a test to go, you do a test to come back. I did another test a couple of days later. Yeah. Luckily the, the availability of rapid testing has really kind of diminished the stress level. Yeah. The overall experience, you know, it was a short flight, so you didn't really deal with the, like the mask pain and the rest of it. So I'd say for the most part, it was nice. It's super nice to just like witness what 30, 30 degrees feels like, you know, 90 Fahrenheit. Right. Right. It's just like nice and warm and, and I had to worry about getting a sunburn and I, you know, I've been to Miami before, but I hadn't spent much more than an evening on South beach.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey And, uh, and I was staying for the Omega thing at a hotel in South beach. And so I went for a long walk the first day I got there. Um, cause we were a little bit ahead of the program and I just really enjoyed it. It was nice. It's not, you know, it's nice to be there. It's nice to feel, um, normal about travel. Yeah. it really didn't feel scary or too risky or, or, you know, the big, my big concern is that because you still have to pass, well, you have to get a negative on a test to come back. Otherwise you have to quarantine wherever you are. Yeah. So if it goes wrong and if the same thing for watches and wonders, if it goes wrong, I don't get to come home and, and quarantine at my house. I'm going to have to stay at, you know, essentially at a, at a, a hotel that's prepared to bring the meals and the rest of it. for at least 10 days, right? And then you have to pass a PCR so that they're sure, and then you can go home. And one thing to deal with that risk in a country where I speak the native language, it's a different bit of stress that I kind of have. It's a background kind of noise in my mind right now about watches and wonders. So I might be the only dude doing the mask thing through all the watches and wonders as well. I don't know. I don't really know. Every country is a little bit different. Yeah. Yeah. And on the topic of Watches and Wonders, before I forget, because we just sorted out the schedule, Jason's away for the better part of April. Yeah. So we've got this episode today. We've got another episode in a week's time. And then that brings us to the 31st, which is right in the middle of Watches and Wonders. Jason will be away and currently traveling during that window of time, and I'll be tasked with all sorts of stuff for Hodinkee in Geneva. So we're going to take the week of the 31st off. When we first kind of set up people paying for the show, we made it clear that we weren't going to do 52 episodes a year. We're going to do, you know, a few less than that. And this is one where sure we could record an episode in advance, but all that anyone's going to want to hear about are all of the watches that come out on the 30th. Right. And, uh, and in that case, we're going to do kind of a, one of our traditional mega episodes was the first episode of, um, TGN was recorded following, um, Basel world, I believe. Oh, no, it was January. So it was, yeah, all luxed out. So we're going to do the same sort of thing, a giant episode, all about the watches. will be recorded remotely. So we're really hoping the internet and everything works out as well as it does normally. Uh, so that'll be the seventh. And then the rest of the month, we've got like a collection of fun episodes, some that have Jason on them, uh, some that don't. So if you have any questions about the schedule, any concerns or whatever, you can always drop us a line, but I think we've come up with a good plan and yes, we're taking the 31st off, but I would say if you really want to hear my voice, talk about watches that week, maybe check out hooding key radio. Cause we're going to do some coverage from the show. And otherwise, if you want to hear Jason and I go deep on, on what we like from the new releases, uh, that'll come out on the 7th. Yeah. That's our housekeeping. Yeah.
Unknown Good rundown. Geez.
Jason Heaton I mean, it's, it's, it's, uh, it's a busy few weeks coming up here. I'll, uh, I'll talk a little more about where I'm going and what's going on when we get closer to it. But, uh, yeah, that first week in, or I guess the overlap between March and April is going to be some crazy days for both of us.
James Stacey Yeah, absolutely. It's going to be a busy season, as it always is. And honestly, I'm excited to see watches in person and take pictures and do all that. I got to do a day of that in Miami. Yeah. So it is exciting. But I want to be upfront because now that people are paying for the show, we do feel this pretty specific burden to deliver, not only on the number of episodes, but the quality. Yeah. And if we record seven or eight episodes in two weeks. I don't believe those are going to be our best episodes. Yeah, yeah. So this way, it's kind of a blend. We'll have a couple that were pre-recorded. We'll have a couple that have fun guests, and then we'll have a couple that are just recorded, you know, at a greater distance than Toronto to Minneapolis. Right, right. So I think that should work out. Speaking of great distance, they found endurance. We're a little late on this. The timing of the podcast is strange, right? And we talked about this on the last one. I think this happened The day the podcast went out last week, maybe the day after.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Well, I think they found it on the 5th, but then of course they, they waited to kind of divulge it to the world. Um, but yeah, I mean huge news last week and it's funny, you know, we had, we'd been talking about Shackleton and the endurance and the book club Antarctica a lot lately. You know, I had that history hit a final note, which was the Dan Snow, the guy that was kind of embedded with the search team and his regular YouTube missives from from down there and, and lo and behold, there they were. I mean, I think they were, they were within, you know, within five days of having to, to leave the wet LC and there it was 10,000 feet deep. I mean, it's just crazy. I mean, I, I, I'm still, I still get goosebumps when I look at the photos, the wreck is in amazing shape and, and it's so surreal to see high resolution photos of something that always only existed in those, um, Frank Hurley, sepia, you know, photos that he took back in 1916 or whatever. Just crazy.
James Stacey Everyone listening who decided to send a DM to Jason and I or an email, like the moment it came out with a lot of exclamation points. We love you guys. The speed and the attention and the fact that you care to send an email to us is amazing. It's such a thrilling thing to find, right? Yeah. Because I think this is, this is one of the greatest adventure stories of all time. Easily top five, right?
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey And to have, to have this footing where you'd like, you know, it's still there. I don't know what that means. It makes me feel like it was so much closer than it was previously. Like I understand, you know, the date of, of the, that whole expedition, the several years hasn't changed at all, but it feels so much more modern than it did two weeks ago.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah. So it's more immediate.
Unknown I can't wait for the documentary.
Jason Heaton I'm so fascinated by the technology that that's used to hunt shipwrecks these days. And, and you know, they were using this, Saab built autonomous underwater vehicle to do the searching. And they, you know, they had to do it through the ice. And at one point their research vessel got stuck in the ice and they had to rock it free and, you know, keep the water open so they could launch the submersible.
James Stacey 150 square mile. Can you imagine how much work that is? I know. I know. And to find it. What does that feel like? I would love, like I said, I can't wait for this documentary, but if we can get somebody from this team, if they do a good media run, which I'm sure they're in the middle of, maybe we can tack onto the back of it, our plucky podcast and, and ask some of these questions. Cause like, you know, there's those great, that those great moments from when they found the Titanic and, and, uh, and you know, the first time that they really put a sub on the Titanic and that does very exciting sorts of things. And for me, this is bigger than that, you know, maybe less well-known on a global scale Titanic and of course no giant movie about it yet. Although obviously there's been some, really fantastic media made about endurance and Shackleton. Yeah. This is just, this is really cool. We'll put a couple of stories in the show notes if you didn't catch it or if you saw it and you were like, Oh, I'm going to wait to, to see what, what, what, what comes of the episode. But yeah, we'll put a couple of notes in there and take a look if you care. It's, it's, it's crazy. The condition it's in. Oh yeah.
Jason Heaton I know. And it was only four nautical miles from where Frank Worsley, the captain, you know, he was there, they're kind of crack. navigator, um, you know, he recorded its final position using a sextant on the ice when it went down and they found it like within four nautical miles. And I don't know how far the ship would have drifted over a 10,000 foot drop to the bottom of the sea, but that's a pretty narrow margin of error. I mean, that's incredibly, uh, drop like a stone. Yeah. Yeah.
James Stacey My apologies to anyone here. Here's some, uh, you know, clomping around in the background. My rabbit is, uh, I don't know, upset with me about something. So I've now banished him to the hallway should be a little quieter.
Jason Heaton Well, I have a similar scenario here and you know, no noise yet, but apologies in advance. If you get any, uh, loud meowing or, or noises here where I think I might've mentioned with regard to my, my fragile Lego models here that, that were cat sitting for two quite young cats this week. Um, a good friend of mine who's actually a veterinary anesthesiologist at the zoo here in Minnesota, he and his wife are on vacation in Belize and they dropped their two cats off here last Friday and we've got them until next Monday. So it's a, it's like zero to two cats again. You know, we, we lost both of our cats last year and they were quite elderly and these two, one is nine months old and one is nine years old. So still, So it's, it's been an interesting, uh, adjustment for us over the past few days, but a blast. I mean, we love having cats around and it's, it's just so fun, but my gosh, they're up at four, ready to eat and play. And, you know, I'm, I'm burning through batteries on the little laser laser pointer toy, uh, which is a great way to tire them out, by the way. But, uh, yeah, it's a lot of fun and so far so good with, with the Lego models. No, no, no million pieces of Legos on the floor yet. And I know I could just put them away to, to protect them, but I'm, I'm kind of curious to see what, what becomes of the Saturn five, if they even take interest in it. Space buff cat.
Unknown Yeah. Taking, taking the chances there for sure.
James Stacey Well, Hey, you want to jump into a, some risk check watch talk, that sort of thing.
Unknown Yeah, let's do it.
Jason Heaton Mine's kind of boring. I talked about the Vertex last week. I'm still wearing it. I guess it's not the watch itself. Isn't boring. It's just the fact that I'm a repeat, uh, repeat wearer this week. I did switch it over to a striped NATO. So kind of one of those old school striped bond NATOs. I think it came from Maritac. It's an old one, kind of one of their thick kind of cool NATO straps and still loving this watch. I mean, it kind of, it really, it's, it's grown on me and I've done, you know, I took it hiking over the weekend and it just kind of fits right in. It wears really well and it's keeping excellent time. So yeah, that's that's what I've got on. You've you've got your new acquisition on again, I think.
James Stacey Yeah, especially with our, you know, friend of the show, Cole Pennington and Hodinkee launching watches in the wild last week. So good. Which is all about the, you know, the, the, the birth of the Seiko monster and how it kind of became this sort of base for these, um, tie LE additions, including like yellow monsters and some famous stuff. So I'm still wearing my monster. I absolutely love it. I did, um, buy another Seiko. I found I found it's a weird one. I'm not sure I could have picked something further from a monster follow up my monster purchase. We have it because I can't decide if it's the right size for me. I really bought it on curiosity. And it was enough that I'll need to make a story out of it to get the value out of it. But I think it'll be a fun story and a real change of pace for me. As far as not only this, like do you look at the last couple segos I bought have all been dive watches. And this is Not a diver in any way at all. You know, outside of vintage watches I have, it might be the least water resistance I've ever purchased in a watch. It's almost none. So yeah, that should be fun when it comes in. It's supposed to come in, I think, the day this episode airs, so in a couple days time. But I'm looking forward to that. But otherwise, yeah, I'm just... Every time I look at another watch, I just think, wow, the monster's already running. Yeah, right. And I went to the Toronto Aquarium yesterday and it just kind of works there too. I got some pictures of of it with sharks in the background, that kind of thing.
Unknown Do you still have it on the bracelet or have you switched it?
James Stacey Yeah, I had it on a NATO for about a minute just to try it out. And I was like, yeah, this is okay, but I don't want the bracelet. So yeah, it's still on the bracelet. Nice and chunky.
Jason Heaton Do you think that'll be your summer go-to? I know last summer you were, I think it was Aquastar and Synchron, right?
Unknown I did the Synchron a lot. Synchron too, right?
James Stacey And the Synchron, the military.
Unknown Hard to say.
James Stacey You know, I definitely going to be wearing it a lot this summer, just because it's so easy. It's definitely not someone I have to worry about. And the loom is helpful when you're in areas that don't always have power, tents and such. So yeah, we'll see. We'll see. Who knows, really. Got lots of, you know, blessed these days to have lots of great sort of dock jumping watches to pick from. Yeah. Man, I can't wait for that season to come back.
Jason Heaton No, yeah. No, I can't wait too. I mean, it's... Not long now. I mean, it was hard to believe, you know, we were hiking on, uh, I guess it was Sunday and it was, it was a nice day. It was very melty, lots of snow still in the woods, but it was, you know, in the mid forties Fahrenheit. And I was telling Ghoshani, I said, you know, it's hard to believe in two, three months time. Like it's just gonna be lush and overgrown. And I mean, nature just responds so quickly in these Northern climates. The, the window of growing time is so narrow that, that the plants just, uh, just claw for every bit of warmth and daylight. It's, uh, it's so exciting for sure.
James Stacey Yeah. Well, Hey, I think for the main topic today, we're going to talk about the latest new releases from Bremont. They just did their townhouse, uh, digitally, uh, that, that was used to be one of our favorite events of the year, the Bremont townhouse we'd done, uh, in London and New York previously. And then with the pandemic, they started doing them digitally and that's what they've continued doing, uh, this year, which I think is a good choice. And it meant that, you know, a lot of people can see the watches all at the same time. doing that digitally. And there's a handful of new watches. So I think that's probably what we'll jump to next. But I do want to say, like, if any of you were waiting for kind of a download on the new Omega stuff, swing by Hoodinkee Radio and Hoodinkee's website. I'm writing hands-on for most of the new watches. And I did a whole episode with Nick and Danny about the new pieces. I don't know that we need to rehash more of that here. You know, there's some really cool stuff, certainly. but I'm definitely on record already about it. Jason, I do hope that your local Omega spot has an Ultra Deep that you can check out sometime soon.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I can't wait. I noticed that my buddy here at the Omega dealer from whom I bought this white dial Seamaster, I noticed he was in Miami as well and he posted a wrist shot of himself wearing the Ultra Deep. So when he gets one in, I will definitely go check it out and try to resist the urge to sell a few watches to buy the titanium one. I think it's, it's so cool.
James Stacey They're so cool.
Jason Heaton They're kind of silly, but in such a great way, you know, there's some point at which not to get sidetracked here, but there's some point at which, you know, watch, I think watches the kind of ride the fence and are like, okay, it almost hits the mark, whatever. But like, if it's so over the top, it's, it's, it's just cool. You know, it's just a, and that ultra deep is just like, okay, no holds barred. We're, we're shooting for, world records and big chunky things. And it's just, uh, it is what it is. And you just have to admire that. And I think it's awesome.
James Stacey Absolutely. And then looking at the new Bremont releases, where, where do you, where do you think you'd start with this, the new jet stuff or the Williams stuff?
Jason Heaton Gosh, well, you know, I guess where they started was, uh, when we can kind of touch on it, the Williams Williams racing, you know, this is their, I believe their second year, uh, as a sponsor, as a named sponsor on the car, uh, for Williams racing deal. Yeah. It is a big deal for, for a brand that, you know, is, is relatively small as Bremont to have like their name on a, on a formula one car. And I know they're very proud of it. They've had a couple of Williams cars actually in the wing. I've seen pictures of that and that's a, that's really cool for them. But yeah, that, that chrono was sharp. So the, one of their releases was this the Williams racing chronograph, which a very handsome watch. I think there's, there are elements of, of kind of Zenith in there, a little bit of, little bit of Daytona, I guess, but in a very Raymond package, right?
James Stacey Yeah. No, it's, it's a handsome thing. It's, it's a mix, you know, Raymond's chronographs have really evolved to be these, this very wide range of, of things that all kind of have a similar style, which I think is kind of interesting because the, the, if you take any one of them and kind of compare against any another, they do change kind of significantly. So this one has, has more of a feeling of a, of a, of a supermarine, right? Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, you know, with, it has a tachymeter bezel in black, it's this, it's really beautiful color way. You know, it also kind of reminds me of some of the AC stuff they've done previously.
Unknown Oh yeah.
James Stacey Right. Um, you know, and, and I think this is a great place to start, you know, it's another, another like 43 millimeter watch. Um, but it's in, it's in the, the guys, it's a little bit away from an alt and a little bit more towards a, a, a supermarine. And so in, in, to my eyes anyways, would you agree, Jason?
Jason Heaton Yeah, I think so too. And I was trying to think what is so different about this than other Bremont chronographs. And it's the, it's the configuration of the sub dials. They, this is, I believe their first three, six, nine chronograph they've done by compacts, you know, nine and three. Um, but then the others have had that more traditional 7750 layout with the 12, six and nine. And I think that's where this kind of leans more towards, you know, how I described it at first, almost a bit of a Zenith or Daytona vibe. And I think that's where I, I got that is, is it, it's very Bremont, but then it has this, this, this different sub dial configuration. And then the, the Panda look with the flash of color, I think it's, it's a super sharp watch. The only, I guess the only, um, quibble someone might have is the size, you know, 43 is a big chunky watch. And on this, it'll be a big heavy watch too.
James Stacey So, yeah, I mean, it's, it's very Bremont that size has been them since the start. Yeah. But they are starting... We both have S302s at 40 millimeters. Yeah. They're experimenting with other sizes, but I think maybe the core in their mind is still a 43 millimeter sports watch. And the photos are just... It's a really, really good looking watch. It's yet another just solid looking chronograph. And I like that they didn't go too hard to make it about racing. Yeah. Like it, it absolutely looks like a watch that somebody would wear at a racetrack. Totally. Yeah. But it doesn't, it's kind of, they, they skipped all of the gimmicks. Right. Where the dial has to look like a speedometer or, or, or that sort of thing. You know, it's, it's a little bit more down the middle as far as an offering. And I could see someone who doesn't have that much of an affinity towards Williams or even formula one, still picking this one. Yeah. You know, the, the only real clear part is, you know, it's got a big signed rotor that has sort of a wheel aesthetic to it. Yeah. Um, but I, I think it has a, a very general broad appeal, um, in terms of the execution and the colors and, and, and that sort of stuff.
Jason Heaton Right. And then they, then they have this, uh, box set that, that they're releasing as well, which is two watches. And the second one I didn't, they didn't really highlight much during the townhouse video, which was really well done by the way.
James Stacey We can link that.
Jason Heaton It's this time only piece that, that has a bit of air co to it in terms of the shape of the case. And it's, you know, it's a three hand watch. Um, but then it's, it's pretty dynamic. It's got the Williams colors, a lot of blue, a beautiful, uh, I believe that's an Alcantara strap, um, the blue strap that's, that's on it. Uh, and then they've packaged that one with. I believe it comes with a wheel nut from one of the cars that was raced last year. And then the, the chronograph is, is a slightly different version. So this is, it's that chronograph we just talked about the Williams racing chronograph, but this one has a DLC case and not quite as much of the color treatment as the, as the standard one does. So. You know, if you're really into Williams or really into Bremont and you want to pony up the, it's going for, I'm looking at the UK site, it's, you know, 15,000 pounds. So that's a big outlay, but, uh, that looks cool too. I don't know if they're going to sell the, the non chronograph version separately, or if that's only part of the box set.
James Stacey Yeah. So it's like the, the chrono is, is essentially the same as the other, just like you said, in a different color way with the black case. And then the FW44 is the Airco based one. So it's 40 millimeters. And I think they both look really good. It's an interesting idea, like maybe one's for the racetrack, one's for dinner after, like the kind of duality of it, I'm not sure. But I do think it makes sense. And I think this is the one where, you know, like I said, the previous one that we were looking at with the steel case, you know, the standard brush steel case has sort of a generalist appeal. I think this kit is for the, you know, Williams, you know, diehards. This is some fan work for sure. It's very cool. The black case with the bright white dial, I think works really well, especially with the... And the ceramic bezel insert, and then the sort of bluey, tuxedo-y dial with the suede strap on the FW44. I think they both look really good. Yeah, I agree. They're cool. Yeah. Next up, we've got... So a new series of Jet. So Jet is what they've called in the past, they're kind of, again, watches with a blacked out treatment, the black case and such. And now we have an Airco Jet, which I think is gorgeous. the S502, so, you know, big dive watch and an S500 Chrono all in the Jet series. Which one of these kind of speaks to you, Jason?
Jason Heaton I'm a big fan. I love the S502. I think this is kind of a throwback to, you know, that first S500 kind of evolved, you know, and to see with that all black, I'm not usually an all black watch kind of guy, but for some reason on this big, like, Braymont dive watch. It just looks so good. And then the pop of color from the, from the GMT hand, that's the one for me, the, the supermarine chronograph. I wanted the supermarine chronograph for years, but I'm, I'm still not totally on board with, with this version of it. Um, I think it does look better in black cause it shrinks it a little bit, but the S five Oh two is the one for me. I think it's, it's just killer. How about you?
James Stacey Yeah. I mean, obviously I'm a sucker. I ponied up for the three Oh two. So it's probably the 502, but the chronograph, especially in the video, they've got, you know, they've got a loom layer in the, you know, the, the bezel insert is also fully loomed and it just looks very cool. You know, the black, white, gold, I don't, I don't really like gold accents on stuff typically, but this does look good. It looks nice and subtle. Again, a big watch for me, it's absolutely this Airco Mach 1 Jet. This is the sort of one where I would absolutely... If I needed another Bremont, if I didn't have the 302, which I absolutely adore, this would be on my radar. This is a great looking watch, sort of in the same head space as a ceramized IWC, in my mind. It's a nice use of a black case and dial, but then there's no faux lume here, like faux tan coloring, it's white. on top. A little bit of red accent at the end of the minute and seconds hand and a few spots around the re-ut. And I just think this makes sense. It comes on a really nice looking strap that I think will fit the 302 and I may need to buy. It's this green sort of canvas style strap. I like these. I like this a lot. I enjoyed this watch as a steel version, especially the Mach 1 where it's a little bit more sporty classic. And yeah, I think all three work really well, but for me and my wrist size and my general taste, it would be this Mach 1 for sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And you know, I've always seen the Airco as their kind of smaller, little bit less rugged feeling watch. And this one kind of inches more towards rugged. I mean, just the addition of a black case ticks it up and immediately pricks my interest a little bit more than than even the standard Airco. The size, it's a very elegant watch, but this renders it more sporty, especially on that strap. So that's a real winner. I do like that one.
James Stacey And that one's going for about $4,000. So right in the vein of where they normally start. I think the brand starts around $3,600, $3,700. So if you're eyeing a Bremont and you'd like something with, again, everyday wearability, but kind of a different, a little bit oddball, I think this is one to keep on your radar. Yeah. It's a good looking watch for sure. So that the jet series is quite a bit bigger now. I mean, famously they've had the U2 kind of the slash five, one jet, the alt one P two jet. And then I don't think they ever called the alt one B a jet necessarily.
Unknown Oh yeah. How about the, uh, the supermarine descent too?
James Stacey So I remember back in the day they did the S the special edition supermarine descent.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey you know, it was a blacked out case, a black dial and then like mint green accents. Yeah. And that was on, on the, the gen one aesthetic for the, the supermarine S 500. Right. And, and then now they've, they've kind of updated it this time. It's a GMT. So it's called the descent two. It's, um, it's a buy kind of a buy metal, a two color option. Again, you still have the lollipop hand date at three, a big sort of, oversized markers for a lot of loom. And then you've got the GMT hand in there as well. And the color way for the GMT hand is this sort of pale sort of sky blue. Um, and then they've got that on the strap as well. I don't love, uh, uh, you know, two-tone watches, but I mean, this isn't an ineffective design in any way. It's a cool big GMT. I think, I think I'd still lean towards the new 500 GMT. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. This one is, It's a very handsome watch. It's not to my specific taste. I, there's a few things I I'm, I'm with you. The, the, the bi-metal thing, you know, I, I, for a while I was trying out the Oris, uh, diver 65 chronograph that had some bronze in the, in the bezel. Um, Oh yeah. Yeah. And you know, it's a handsome look. It's just, it's not something I want to look at every day. And then on this Bremont, the, the Arabic numerals don't, I, I'm not loving that as much, but the things I do like about it are titanium case. Fantastic. I love that idea on a big watch like this. Um, and then that, that light blue is, is a real master stroke. And I love that strap. I mean, I'd love, I'd love to put that strap. I don't think it would quite work as effectively as it does on this watch. Like on my, uh, S 2000, I just think that that light blue is just so sharp. I have a kind of a ribbed NATO. That's that color. And, uh, and I think this, this strap is great. And of course they make a great rubber strap. So I think it's a handsome watch. I it's just, it's not my personal taste.
James Stacey I think it's a smart addition to the S 500 lineup because they didn't, you know, they didn't have something that looks like this and now, and now they do. And it's the GMT. I think this, this absolutely helps to round out the lineup. I just think I maybe I'm more used to the core or it's my two-tone thing. The titanium is really cool. And it is neat that this is the follow-up to what was previously the brand's first limited edition. Oh, yeah. As far as dive watches go, the original Descent. And the original Descent was a colorway for the most part, which I think is how you can kind of see this in terms of how it sits in the lineup. So it certainly makes sense to me. It would be one I'd like to see in person and maybe the kind of goldy accents would kind of hit me the same way they do on some of the great tunas. where I kind of almost like it with some gold. Right.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Right. It can work. Right. Right. And it's, it's tough to look at a render and go like, Oh, absolutely.
Jason Heaton Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah.
Jason Heaton So, well, I mean, you know, to stay in the bronze theme, the next one we can talk about is the bronze Argonaut. Um, and the Argonaut, you know, I've, I've been on record of the, of the armed forces collection is my least favorite. I think, I think you're a fan. I'm, I'm not as much of a fan of the Argonaut, uh, as, as most people, I guess, And then I'm, I'm, I'm a bit over bronze now, I guess. So this one was a bit of a miss for me. Um, but you know, again, I mean, I, I might be in the minority on that. I know bronze is hot and people love a good two crown, uh, dive watch.
James Stacey I think that the standard Argonaut is actually like a, a pretty kind of sneaky, cool watch. If you've, if it suits your wrist, it sits a little high. It's not that it's necessarily thick. It's a 42 millimeter, you know, with the stainless. Um, and I reviewed one a while back for a hood Inky. So I'll throw that in the, in the show notes, of course. I think that the update they did a little later, the Azure blue one with the orange minute hand was pretty rad. It had a bit of that Cousteau IWC vibe. It was like, you know, you could get it on an orange rubber. The funny thing is, is the only problem in my mind that the Argonaut has, and this is in my mind also works with the bronze one, is that the Supermarine exists. Yeah, true. So you could, you could have the, the full fat 500 meter Supermarine at 43 millimeters. but it doesn't wear like a 43 millimeter watch. It really does sit down low on your wrist. And with the rubber strap, I never found it to feel crazy big. And then of course, in my mind, the one to have is, is from the 300 series at 40 millimeters, very wearable kind of everyday casual, but very capable 300 meter dive watch. And I think that the Argonaut kind of sits between the two as, as kind of like a fun alternative. And with that in mind, the bronze makes sense to me. I wouldn't, the bronze wouldn't be what I would buy. Um, I have yet to really fall in love with a bronze watch.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah. They kind of, they're fun for a couple of days or, or when you've got them. Um, but I, I always end up going back to a steel watch. It's not that different than most black watches. I just, I like a steel watch. I think that's, that's maybe what my zone is, but I, I think these make sense. The blue and the bronze is a great combo with the orange accents on the Ria and the matching Uh, so yeah, I could see these being certainly popular and I could also see them looking pretty good with some tarnish.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And, and I, I think that I was just noticing on the, on one of the crowns, they have kind of the cross hatch, which I, to me, isn't quite as, um, on the nose as some of the other kind of super compressor adjacent watches that are trying to emulate the original super compressors. To me, I see like bronze or, you know, copper dive helmet, uh, window plate, you know, like with the, the cage that goes across the front.
James Stacey Oh, yeah. Which works.
Jason Heaton Which works with the bronze. I think that's kind of a cool nod. And I think for a dive watch, bronze is a good nod to kind of the maritime uses of that metal, that alloy.
James Stacey Absolutely. And that rounds it out for dive watches. It's nice to see them do a bunch in the dive watch space, right? And I think I see a lot of this as, and disagree with me if you do, Jason, but a lot of this feels like line extensions to me. You know, the, um, aside from the Williams racing Chrono and then the Chrono that's in the box set where they are kind of doing something that's its own new model. Yeah. Otherwise we're looking at jet versions of mostly watches that already were around. Uh, Supermarine Descent 2 is of course a new watch, but it's within the Supermarine family and the rest of it. And then I think the same with the bronze Argonauts are it's these, they're kind of filling out the lines, which I think makes a lot of sense.
Jason Heaton It does. I think they're showing maturity as a brand. I think, you know, for so many years it was, new this, new that. Oh, it's a new family. It's the Airco family now. And it's the Armed Forces Collection. And at some point you have to kind of have to settle. And I don't mean settle as in like, you know, get complacent. I mean, settle as in sort of just get comfortable in their space and to kind of just offer different versions of existing watches shows, I guess, a certain maturity of the brand itself.
James Stacey Yeah. And we're hoping to have the chance to have some folks on from Bremont, you know, later in the year, maybe even get out to the wing and see that. Yeah. When, when it makes sense to do so. And my question then would be like, how much of this is, is literally coming from retailers who are like, this is what our customers are asking for. They want more black watches. They want, they want a two-tone Supermarine. They want, you know, more stuff in, in the Brown space. Like I, I do wonder how they decide because this is so many watches. I mean, they could, they could have just launched the Williams racing set and the jet a five Oh two. And I think that that would have been, that would have been enough for them. But I think this shows that maybe they're under more pressure to expand the line from actual retailers. And that's just, I'm reading, I'm making up a few sentences and then reading between those lines. I don't have any grounding for this. I'm just trying to, you know, trying to understand the headspace. And then they do, there is one final LE that we haven't talked about, and that's an LE based on the Arrow chronograph called the Dambusters limited edition. And I think this is, I mean, the backstory to the Dambusters is fascinating. So even if all you learn from reading about this watch is the historic raid of the Dam Busters. So if you look back, basically the watch is a special anniversary edition for the 80th anniversary of the Lancaster Bombers who did this Dam Busters raid. So they're going to make 232 watches and it's dedicated to the 617 Squadron and done in partnership with the Ministry of Defense like a lot of these, the HMAF sort of stuff is.
Jason Heaton Yeah. This is, this is a sharp watch. I have the standard arrow. Um, and I love a good mono pusher chronograph. I think, uh, this edition with the, the kind of the, the faux aged loom, the different hands and the Arabic numerals, I think it, it works. I mean, I think it's, uh, it's going to be popular for, for chronograph lovers that, that kind of want that vintage kind of, you know, world war two type, Uh, chronograph. And I think Bramont just sits so comfortably in that space. You know, they've, they've obviously got a really strong footing in aviation watches, uh, and then their own kind of background doing limited editions, uh, with regard to, to world war two planes, you know, Spitfires and Mustangs and things like that. And, and this one's cool. It's almost $5,000. It's 49 95. And, uh, it does come with, with a pair of cufflinks that were, um, made with aluminum from the original airframe of one of the Lancasters, which is, you know, cool. I'm not a cufflink guy. I don't really wear French cuff shirts, but you know, Hey, if you are, and I mean, can you imagine, you know, piecing those two together, what kind of a story you could tell at a fancy dinner?
James Stacey I mean, it's pretty fun. So 232 piece limited edition is a nod to the speed at which the planes had to fly 232 miles an hour. And according, at least to the copy from Braymont, it's been a while since I read about Dan busters, but they had to fly at 60 feet. to bounce the bomb at exactly 500 RPM when it was dropped. Crazy. And then it would slam into the dam. Wow. Um, so this is definitely something to look back on and a point of pride. And of course the Lancaster is like an all time great plane. I, you know, as a kid, I, I growing up near the Canadian war plane heritage museum, uh, they have one of the only flying Lancasters in the world. Um, I believe there's two, maybe three, there might be a third now. So that was always something to see. It was quite an event to have one go over at an air show. They used to do an air show every summer, or they do an air show every summer. And it was always exciting to see Lancaster, to do a tour and walk through it. I'd always planned on possibly one day doing one of the, they'll take you on flights. I don't know if, I genuinely don't know if they still do this, but up until a couple of years ago, they did. It's quite expensive, but you can go for a little flight around, you know, just above in the skies over Caledonia, Ontario. Yeah. But that'd be, it's super exciting and that sort of thing. And this is a, this is a neat sort of tribute and to have the cuff links made from the, the metal from the space frame is an interesting thing because that's of course something that they've done as their sort of big L E's every now and then. And once a year, maybe a little bit less than once a year, they've been doing these ones where the watch incorporated a piece of this. And I think this is an interesting evolution where it makes the watch a little bit less precious, like a little bit more of something I could see someone buying and just wearing all the time, rather than like some deep collector's thing that only a certain group, even within Braymont's audience, truly understands. And then to have these cufflinks, which yeah, most people might use cufflinks a couple of times a year, a few times a year, some people way more often. And I think no matter how often you use them, it's just kind of a cool little footnote, especially if you're wearing the watch at the same time, like you said. Yeah.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah. A neat thing and a neat sort of evolution of their using a piece of the history in the watch formula.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I think that wraps up the new releases from them. And I think it was, it's a pretty tight kind of release this year, but a strong one. And like you said, it's very much a line extension, but a strong showing. I think the jet stuff, you know, goes a long way towards, you know, what you can do with a simple kind of color change and a few tweaks. Absolutely. Do you have a favorite? S502. Yeah. I'd wear that 502 all the time.
Unknown It's such a cool watch.
James Stacey Yeah. And I think for me, it'd be that Airco Jet. Oh yeah. I think if they'd said, um, previously, like if, if it had just been a little thing I got on WhatsApp or whatever, like, Oh, we're, you know, extending the Jet series. I would go like, Oh, well, okay. Yeah. Yeah. And then to actually see, hopefully get them, see them in person sometime soon, but to see them come out and, and you know, we'll, like I said, we'll link the video, the presentation video. Yeah. Um, they do such a good job with that. Yeah. It's well produced and it's conversational and they have an attitude that's so different than the, I've had to do a ton of these and I have to do a ton in the next two weeks, these digital presentations in advance of watches and wonders. And most of them are like plagued with tech tech issues. Even the prerecorded ones, like they don't start or the audio is out of saying, or, or the, you know, the chat on the right is out of sync with what's happening in the video and the rest of it. And the Bremont ones just kind of like work and they have a tone that is not at all like a PR company or the heads of a company sitting down with their with their watches to tell you about them. It's just, they just do their own thing. It's super casual, but the execution level is really high. So I'd say good on, good on Brahma. The 2022 stuff looks pretty solid. I'd be interested absolutely to see a few of these in person, especially that Williams racing Chrono, probably a little big for my taste, but I don't think, I think it's just a nice refinement of a few different things that they do really well into one watch and, and to do the, the, you know, car brand collaboration, or in this case, a racing team collaboration Um, without having the dial say Williams and the strap say Williams and all of it just shows like it's, it's a nicely sort of reserved take on it.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I agree. And, and good timing to the, the, the new season formula one season starts, I believe this weekend and we'll see how Williams does. I mean, the past few years have been pretty hard on them, but, uh, you know, hopes brings eternal.
James Stacey So if this, if there's a year that some, that anyone listening wants to get into formula one, I think this is a great year to do it. Yeah. It's a bit of a blank slate for a lot of the teams. There's been some, obviously some driver shuffles and the rest of it. And if you're not sure, and you want an interesting way of recapping last year, the fourth season of Drive to Survive just recently launched on Netflix. I'm two or three episodes in at this point. Oh, yeah. I like to watch an episode in the evenings. And it's become a real reality show. It's about these dramas and tensions and the rest of it. But I do think it gives you a very specific look at what it is to run one of these teams and how much pressure are on the drivers. And it communicates a human side that like seeing a clip of an incredible pass or a big crash doesn't. Right. Right. So I, yeah, we've talked about drive to survive in the past. It's been a final note selections and the rest, but the fourth season so far is really good. And, uh, and I think this coming season of formula one is going to be really exciting. I'm planning for the first time to like buy a subscription to, I guess, TSN in Canada so I can watch it. Um, and, uh, I know at least one of my brothers is doing the same, so it might become like the first a sporting event that I actually follow and, uh, and kind of absorb on, on television. So I think it's going to be, uh, an exciting season and obviously huge, huge, uh, you know, props to, uh, Williams. I hope that they have a very successful season. They've got a couple of great drivers. If they can get the car to be competitive, then I think it's anyone's game this year for sure. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And then one last kind of coda, uh, on Braymont, um, I caught, I subscribed to the, the, watch pros newsletter, um, that comes out daily. And there was a big long interview with Nick English, which is worth checking out as well. But, um, as kind of a little side note to that, there was a link to Peter speak Marin, who's, you know, such a respected British watchmaker who had his own brand, uh, which he then sold to a different company, which, and it still kept his name, but he now does the naked watchmaker website, which dissects and kind of analyzes different movements from all brands, you know, high, high end, low end, everything in between. And he did a dissection of, of Braymont's new proprietary movement, the ENG 300 that they worked on with, with the Swiss movement maker THE. And I think this was something that would be of great interest to people that have followed Braymont's trajectory and have been interested in kind of their move to making movements in England. And, and he, he does it in a very clinical, very objective way. And he's such a, a, skilled and respected watchmaker that I think if you have any questions about the ENG 300, it's kind of a good way to kind of see what his take on it is and how it's all built in the wing. So check it out. We'll put a link in the show notes.
James Stacey Yeah, it's a big, it's a deep dive. Yeah. It's very impressive stuff for sure. That's a great site to cover just to watch in general. Yeah. I just learned a lot about movements that like it's kind of opaque from an industry standpoint. Right. And it seems like he's just operating from the love of movement design in many cases and taking them apart and understanding why they work and how and the rest of it. Yeah. So pretty good stuff for sure.
Unknown Yeah. All right. How about some final notes? Yeah, let's do it. Go ahead. Why don't you take it?
James Stacey Oh, I'll go first. Okay, let's see. Mine is a recommendation via Matt. Matt sent us an email about a story published to a website called Beside and it's called The Unlikely Art of Backyard Adventuring. And so many of you listening will know this guy, Beau Miles. He's an extreme athlete and a successful YouTuber and a writer. I think he'd be an incredible guest. If any of you know Beau, maybe, you know, drop him a DM. Let him know. We'd love to have him on. But he recently wrote a book called The Backyard Adventure, which is described as an ode to the life-affirming wonders of calloused hands and sore feet. And basically the story covers his kind of start in the world of extreme extreme many things. There's all sorts of stuff. But one day while kayaking in a very dangerous locale, I don't want to give anything away because it's a nice story. It's well written. And I think you actually kind of want to dig into it. But he witnessed something that really made him question his connection to how much he's connected adventure with being in unsafe places, operating in relatively unsafe ways, the risk, the cost, the distance from home. And so he kind of developed this idea of like, um, uh, making adventures much more minimal in terms of the expertise that's required in terms of the, um, distance and the travel and such. And, and the end result is, uh, is, and he's done a bunch of these for his YouTube, which you should absolutely subscribe to. Uh, it's a fantastic one, but, uh, it's, it's a great story. He's got on a sweet Seiko. I highly recommend it.
Jason Heaton Huh. That's cool. I haven't heard of him, um, but it sounds very TGN. I think we've talked about kind of the concept of a micro adventure or adventures for kind of everyday people. And I think that's, uh, that's definitely in our wheelhouse. So I, I look forward to checking that out.
James Stacey Yeah. And like some of it, some of it's stuff that he does with his son and I'm just what anyone could go for other one. Like he did a video, a really beautifully produced video. I watched it just before we started recording where he lives on his block, as he describes it in his thing. It's kind of a rural UK setting. His block is a mile. So what he did was he did a marathon in 26 pieces. So it's 24 hours of marathon. And then between each mile, he would do a task at home, like something he had been meaning to do. And I guess this spawned other people doing the same thing. It's super fun. I highly recommend his YouTube and this story. I'll put everything we talked about in the show notes. I think if you dig what Jason and I do, but you'd like to see somebody who are spending more of their time actually doing stuff and less thinking and learning about watches, I think Beau Miles is a really good thing to add to your content scope.
Jason Heaton Nice one. Yeah. Well, I've got an interesting one that I stumbled upon because I subscribed to Patagonia on YouTube and they always put up such a great videos. And then a number of listeners and followers on Instagram, uh, also recommended it as well. So I, they, they, Patagonia does these, these wonderful short films oftentimes on their YouTube channel. And this one comes from them. It's called game Hawker. And it's, it's such a, an interesting topic. It's about a guy who's a Falconer, uh, you know, and that, that always has struck me as such a medieval, old fashioned. Yeah. Occupation if you call it or, or avocation, uh, you know, people that are devoted to, to working with raptors, you know, hawks, falcons, eagles, owls, I suppose. And in this case there's a twist to it because this is, uh, this is a guy who's, he's African American. I believe he's based in somewhere out West. I can't remember. I think it's like, you know, Wyoming or Colorado or something. And, and he's, uh, he's become this respected figure in this, you know, very arcane niche field of falconry and he's traveled around the world. He's spoken at different events. He meets up with people in, I think there, he was in Poland or Hungary or something. And, and you know, they have these get togethers and they, he travels with the birds and, um, and the way that he trains them in his house and kind of his story of how he got there is, it was just fascinating to me. And it's another one of these, stories where you get a glimpse into somebody who's doing something that is so different from anything I'm exposed, I've been exposed to or interested in. And yet you see this, the depth of commitment and knowledge and skill. And it just makes me shake my head. And I think, you know, what else is out there? I, uh, you know, falconry is, is just fascinating. I love Raptors anyway. I love to watch them and read about them and just watch them in slow motion and see photos of them. I think they're just the most amazing creatures. Uh, and then to actually kind of work with them, these, these big, you know, extremely honed predators, you know, sitting on your arm and then, and then flying and catching something and bringing it back and, and whatever, it's just a beautifully done. Uh, and, and you know, who knew that Yvon Chouinard used to be involved with falconry? I mean, he appears briefly in this video. I mean, is there anything this guy hasn't done? What a wonderful dude. Um, so he's in it as well, but Sean Hayes is the, is the, subject of this great video.
James Stacey So check it out, GameHawker. GameHawker and the unlikely art of backyard adventuring. Find it all in the show notes. I think that's a show, Jason.
Unknown I think so too.
Jason Heaton As always, thanks to everyone for listening. If you want to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode, and we encourage you to do so. Or if you want to, maybe you're considering supporting the show directly. And if you do, you can possibly even grab a new TGN signed NATO. Please visit TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout the show is Siesta by JazzArr via the Free Music Archive.
James Stacey And we leave you with this quote from Henry David Thoreau, who said, Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.