The Grey Nato - EP 19 - Watch Accessories
Published on Tue, 11 Oct 2016 09:06:47 -0400
Synopsis
The hosts discuss various watch accessories like NATO straps, leather straps, rubber straps, bracelets, tools for changing straps, and other useful items for watch enthusiasts. They also cover some new gear they've acquired like a Breitling Emergency watch, backpacks, and travel bags. In the final notes, they recommend checking out the documentary "Gringo" about John McAfee, the Fire Beaner multitool carabiner on Kickstarter, and a video of Chris Harris driving a Jaguar E-Type at Goodwood.
Links
Transcript
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| James Stacy | Welcome to episode 19 of the Graynado, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, gear, and most certainly watches. I'm James Stacy. |
| Jason Heaton | And I'm Jason Heaton. Today's topic is watch accessories. That is tools, loops, winders, cases, travel bits, bracelets, pretty much anything you could add to or use with a watch. James, I think, you know, we got a lot to cover here. Let's jump right in. I think maybe the best way to organize this is to kind of nip off, you know, different categories one by one. And I think the logical place to start is probably with straps. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, let's do straps. |
| Jason Heaton | Under which, you know, there are categories within that category as well. I mean, I think, you know, given the name of our show, The Gray NATO, I think you and I are both big NATO strap fans and You know, I'm wearing a NATO strap right now, and I'm guessing you are as well. For sure. A lot of brands out there. I've got a bag. I've just got a massive Ziploc full of NATO straps, and every time I think I've got enough, I see another cool one or another color or some size that I need that I end up, you know, buying another one. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, NATOs are kind of a strange thing because it actually, I don't know, I don't know about you, but it took me quite a few years to come around to NATOs. Yeah, me too. When I first got into watches, it was all about the bracelet. And then I quickly kind of learned that depending on the time of year, bracelets aren't that great. And, you know, when you first, at least when I first started, I was starting with very entry level watches and the bracelets could be very rough. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | I think too, I think bracelets are, you know, they're, well, now I guess we're going into bracelets, but I mean, I think bracelets are easy to kind of, the easy thing about bracelets is taking on and off, but I don't think they work well in really sort of active situations, which is I think where NATO straps really shine. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, for certain. And yeah, like I said, it just took me a while to get to, get to NATO's, but now that Now that I'm there, it's easily my favorite way of wearing a watch. And you can go, just by changing the color, you can really change the kind of vibe of the NATO from kind of eccentric with, say, a bright red or a yellow, to something kind of more stoic, like the gray, or a little warmer, like a brown, or a sand, or, you know, khaki. They all have kind of their own topics. And I think anyone that follows my Instagram knows that my general kind of NATO of choice these days is from toxic NATOs. just based out of Colorado, a gentleman named Terry, who I had the great pleasure of meeting this past week. |
| Unknown | Oh, cool. |
| James Stacy | But, uh, the, the toxic stuff is just, it's kind of the hardiest NATO that I've come across. Great hardware, much nicer hardware than your standard $10 Amazon or eBay NATO. I used one, you know, for pretty much the entire summer. So all sorts of sweat. I took one on each trip up, uh, up Baker. Uh, I used a NATO or I, sorry, I guess one, one trip was, uh, uh, toxic Royal, which is like a NATO, but it's, it's just a single piece. Oh yeah. With a, uh, a soft loop, like a soft keeper at one end. And then the second time I used the rubber NATO, which we've spoken about before, certainly. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, no, I'm, I've got a toxic on as we speak here. And, uh, it's like you, I mean, I pretty much worn one of the three or four toxic NATOs that I've, that I own all summer in both 22 and 20 millimeters. And, uh, you know, the first thing that struck me about the toxic Nados is the, the, just the buckle alone is it's, you know, it's big. I mean, so many Nados that you get have these kinds of flimsy little buckles. And I think maybe that's just based on tradition. I think some people like that. It kind of has that, you know, like if you look at ones from kind of the classic brand, which is Phoenix out of the UK, which arguably made the original G10 strap that we've come to know as the NATO strap for the British Ministry of Defense. Yeah, for sure. You know, you look at those, those Phoenix straps and line one up next to a toxic and it looks, you know, the hardware looks fairly flimsy. I mean, they're great straps. I love the Phoenix straps, but, uh, yeah, I think, I think as NATO straps have become a more popular and you're getting more brands out there, the companies are actually kind of one upping each other with, with hardware, I think is where you can kind of make a difference. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, I think it's hardware and then you could there's definitely a difference in the sort of weave if you've seen the kind of expensive NATO from Omega. It's much more like a seatbelt sort of weave. Yeah, very nice strap, but there's just simply no aside from having say a branded strap for your Speedmaster, there's really no reason to spend that much on a NATO. You could have a whole collection of NATOs for that much money. Yeah. For me, I think I have three brands that I wear with some frequency. I really like the toxic ones. They're my go-to. And then I have a handful from Crown and Buckle. Oh, yeah, me too. Which I like quite a bit. Their premium NATO is really nice. The hardware is sewn in, so it's a little bit more secure than something that uses a spring buckle. yeah like the uh like the toxic that's a little bit more classic nato to have the sewn in buckle um and they you know you you have choices when you buy that strap as far as the uh finishing of the buckle and those sorts of things and i've been very happy with those and i've bought those for uh friends or people who want to try a nato or their first few natos and then i have a a couple of the phoenix g10s and they're simply fantastic and i think if you're wearing kind of a military a true military watch that's kind of the nicest way to do it is on the correct strap. That said, like I said, most of the time I'm reaching for a Toxic and I'm looking at my watch box now and, you know, of six or seven watches that are out, seven of them are on Toxicnadoes. So that's, that's just, and it's, you know, there's something that just kind of works about them. I really love the hardware. I love the, the way that if, if you do use them hard enough to get some fraying. Just burn them. Yeah. Just hit them with a lighter just for a split second. it seals it right up. Just a really nice quality strap for the money. I like that they're, you know, based relatively local in North America and I kind of like the attitude of their website. If you haven't been to the ToxicNATO's website, be sure to check it out and we'll throw a link to anything we talk about. To make it clear, nothing that we're talking about tonight, we've not been paid by any of these people. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it's just all stuff we've |
| James Stacy | It's been all trial and error. You know, these are all brands that we've purchased and supported in some way or another. And, and, you know, these are products that we own via the conventional methodology. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. You know, speaking of toxic, I mean, kind of when I first got into watches, the NATO strap of choice that I think was kind of the toxic NATO of its day, we're talking just probably, you know, five, six years ago was the, uh, the Maritak, uh, straps, um, NATO straps, which you could buy through, I think in the US or whatever, it was like, you know, broad arrow.net. I think it was through the military watch resource. Maritech, you know, I think they still make a great NATO strap. They're, they're very tough. It's a really tough nylon. The weave is very different from almost any other that I've seen. And it almost has a bit of a sheen to it. It's a, it's kind of a tighter weave. And I think, I don't recall, but I think their hardware is sewn in as well. And those are the straps, you know, you'd always see on like the marathon watches and they just had a real sort of I don't know, military sort of feel to them, very, uh, sort of credibility that kind of came with, you know, the watches that, that were generally sold on them. I think you got, you know, the MK2 watches, the, uh, and the marathon watches kind of came stock on, on Maratek straps. And, um, I still have a couple of Marateks. I, for some reason, I think the aesthetics of them didn't quite do it for me. So I was kind of happy to see, you know, brands like Toxic and Crown and Buckle kind of stepping up with, I guess, you know, bigger Corduroy, I guess is sort of the look that, that I like. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, I would agree. I think, uh, I think the Maritac ones are certainly nice. And I have a couple of Maritacs that I like that are quite long. Yes. For diving. Yes. Yes. To get it around the forearm of a dry suit. And then I also had a, um, a Maritac, I believe it's a Maritac, a single piece Maritac that I used for like a year straight before I decided to buy anything else. You know, it's a soft keeper at one end. Uh, so you don't have your typical two buckle design or two keeper design for folding it over. Yeah. it's it's nice. There's nothing there that really catches on a sleeve. And I think it's just kind of the modern it's the most modern expression of a NATO for kind of a military application is with the kind of soft keeper, which is, you know, another kind of sideways loop of the of the nylon webbing. |
| Jason Heaton | Do you like you know, you brought up length and I think length is something that varies a fair amount between these brands that we're talking about. Like when I look at the I've got a 22mm Toxic NATO on right now and I've got like a 7 1⁄4 to a 7 1⁄2 inch wrist and I don't have any tail that I can tuck on this one. It's almost the perfect length to kind of fit through both of those keepers and just touch the top of my watch. Whereas the Maritacks are quite long, the Phoenix ones are fairly long so you can actually double it back and tuck it under and I kind of like a little bit of tuck. I think I kind of like the look of it. as well as what you mentioned earlier about just, you know, fitting it over a wetsuit or a dry suit. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, for the for the toxic ones, I have just enough to make it back to the second buckle. Yeah, my wrist is about seven inches. And then yeah, with the Phoenix, there's not quite as much I found. So when you fold it over, it doesn't quite clear that second buckle. So you don't it doesn't sit as low. Yeah. But yeah, I like I like ones that are a little bit longer for the utility. But for day to day, I found that the standard size from toxic suits the size of watches that I wear and the size of my wrist so that I just have just enough to get it back to that second buckle and tuck it down. So you get that. I like the visual look of the fold over. I don't know why I like it because it's added bulk and typically I don't like added bulk in anything. Yeah. But there's a certain utilitarian kind of vibe to it that I appreciate. |
| Jason Heaton | I guess we need to clarify something here. When you're talking about tucking it, are you the type, so there's two ways to tuck. You can tuck in or you can roll it back over the keeper and under this the second keeper. |
| James Stacy | How do you do it? I roll it out but I go back through first and second keeper. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh you do? |
| James Stacy | Yeah so I don't I don't try and like feed it under itself. |
| Unknown | Oh okay. |
| James Stacy | Like I keep so it's still going out and over but then it goes right back under the other keeper. |
| Jason Heaton | So it's going under both keepers? |
| James Stacy | Yep it just the the toxic ones on there, the standard size toxic one, if you fold it over and the crown and buckle ones, if you fold it over, I have just enough to get it. If I tug on it and get it nice and tight in the, in the first keeper, the, the fold over. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | I've just enough to get the tail back to the second keeper. |
| Jason Heaton | Ah, okay. I get it. All right. I, I'm, I always fold in on itself. So, um, that's interesting. |
| James Stacy | I've had leather ones like the, the Braymont leather, NATO and that one I like to fold in. It just seemed to treat the leather seemed to go that way more easily. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | For whatever reason. Yeah. And it had a little bit less. So there's no way the Bremont one for me wasn't going to make the second keeper. So you just tucked it in and it sat relatively flat that way. |
| Jason Heaton | Now the other NATO strap that we've talked about on the show a few episodes ago, I think it was when I was out in Vancouver. was the so-called Zulu diver. The 328. Yeah, the one from Bonetto Cinturini that we learned about through Farlius on Instagram and bought through Watch Gecko. And that's another just fantastic NATO strap made of rubber that I think you and I both have both gotten a lot of use out of. And that's one that I've worn. I haven't had it quite as long, but I would say almost as regularly nowadays as I do the toxic NATO. And it's holding up you know, really well. |
| James Stacy | How was yours holding up? Uh, yeah, perfect. You'd have no idea. It wasn't brand new. I took one watch on a trip I went on this past weekend. I took my, the vintage SIL Vanna Diver and, uh, wore it on that NATO and it was perfect. I mean, I like it a lot because you can, you know, unlike a fabric NATO, it doesn't just soak up all your sweat. So I think there's a longevity factor there, certainly just because it's made out of rubber. I really liked the hardware. I like the price. They weren't that expensive for what you're getting. Like, and I honestly think this is, this is the sort of NATO that could really sell someone who doesn't like NATOs. Yeah. Because they're super comfortable being rubber and they're not stiff. I mean, and they also, the stiffness doesn't change, so there's no breaking them in. They're just the same every time you put them on. They also seem capable of holding a very large watch, which not all NATOs are. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Although I find if, If it's a tall watch with a really tall case back, like I've tried the 22 millimeter on my Supermarine 2000 and it doesn't work. It's too, maybe it has to do with the positioning of the spring bars in relation to that tall case back. But the way it wraps, there's like this big, the loops, you know, the difference between the bottom strap and the top strap just kind of create this big loop on each side that just doesn't quite work. I think it works better for me on sort of a It doesn't matter necessarily the diameter of the watch, but it works better for me on flatter watches. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. But I find it anything from, I think, you know, it's about a 37 millimeter case on my Sylvana all the way up to say, you know, 44 on an SRP 777. Yeah. Really comfortable way of wearing a watch. And because there's a bit of a texture to the rubber, like a horizontal line across its surface, it has a bit of the aesthetic of nylon. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Uh, which I like quite a bit as opposed to if, you know, if it was just smooth, I think I wouldn't like it as much. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I agree. And I think even in photos, sometimes it actually looks like a nylon strap too. Yeah, for sure. So speaking of rubber, maybe we should move on to, uh, to rubber straps. Any, any favorite kind of aftermarket rubber straps that you use? |
| James Stacy | Um, I have a couple of isoframes or an isoframes from, you know, like Benares has their version of the isoframe. I don't have any preference between the actual brand and any of the ones that have come with various dive watches I've purchased, but I don't mind an isoframe. Typically I find them too thick just for my taste visually. So again, I have kind of a bony wrist and I find that when you take a watch like a Benares More, I have a Benares More 42 that I really love to wear, especially on a leather strap, it works quite well. But you put it on kind of a chunkier strap like the, uh, like the Isofrane. Or this is the same thing with the Tropic, the Hallios Tropic. Mm-hmm. It almost feels like you're wearing more strap than watch. Yes. Yeah. With the Sylvana, you sent me a Tropic rubber that I absolutely adore. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, yeah. Old Tropics are so cool on certain watches. They're just so cool. |
| James Stacy | It's so comfortable. The texture's really cool. The way that it plays with light is excellent. I just really, really like it. It's really comfortable. And, uh, on, on an old dive watch, it looks really cool. |
| Jason Heaton | I'm kind of waiting for someone to release a kind of a new version of a tropic, you know, that almost mimics it exactly, except with a different material. I think that's the only downfall of those is I think they, uh, they can get a little stiff. I think some of them are a little stiff around the edges or they get brittle over time. They get brittle. Yeah. Um, and I know that there was, I can't remember who had it. A couple of companies have tried to make modern tropics and I think they're the one that comes on the Oris Diver 65 is sort of a tropic, tropic-esque strap. You'd know, right? You, did you have? |
| James Stacy | Yeah, the Oris, the Oris 65, the 40 millimeter with the kind of cool hour markers. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Has a tropic style rubber strap, although they've kind of made it their own. It's not exactly like the one that you sent me. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | And it's a nicer rubber and it's very, uh, it conforms very nicely to your wrist, but it's just not really the same overall aesthetic. I mean, the one that you sent me has this kind of, uh, ribbed edge and, uh, has a keeper. And then the underside has this rather complicated diamond pattern that keeps as much of the rubber off your wrist as possible. Oh, I love that. Yeah. And vented. So it doesn't get sweaty underneath. And if you're wearing an old dive watch, it just looks so cool. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. You know, it's like having the right wheels on an old car. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | And I really do like the one that's on the Aorus. There's nothing bad to say about it, but it's just not exactly the same thing. They're just kind of two different things. |
| Jason Heaton | I think the real key and you talk about Isofrane and you talk about Tropic. Now, these are straps that came out of a certain time period and the Tropic was kind of the strap of the 60s and the Isofrane, I think, was more of the strap of the 70s. You'd see it on Ploprofs and, you know, I suppose some of the Eternas and things like that. And on those watches, they looked good on big dive watches. I think they looked good. The, you know, super sea wolf and things like that. The Tropic was more of the, like you said, the Silvana, you know, like an old sub and old, you know, Seamaster 300, a little more, you know, modestly sized sort of real vintage dive watches. And I think the key with those was, you know, the ISO frame doesn't have a taper. So if you get like a 22 millimeter strap, it's thick and it goes 22 all the way to the buckle. Whereas the, The Tropic, you know, if it's a 20 millimeter strap, I mean, it'll taper to like 16 or something at the buckle, which sounds, which sounds dainty, but I think it works. I think they kind of, they, they, they knew something back then, you know, it looks really good. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, for sure. I think it's excellent. I'm trying to think if there's any other, Oh, I've, I've used a, um, a Hirsch rubber straps, or you'll be able to hear me like rummaging around in my box here. This is, um, I know I've talked about this on a previous episode, |
| Jason Heaton | I've had a good Hirsch rubber strap, now that you mention it. |
| James Stacy | So yeah, I've used, it's called the Hirsch Pure. And I don't remember where I bought it, but everybody carries Hirsch. So just Google it. It comes in a few different colors and it's your kind of stock, straight lug, nicely rounded edges. I want to say they're worth about $60 before any promo codes or sales or whatever at your favorite spot. Yeah. And this is actually quite nice. I've used this on my Zen 144. And it works really well, very comfortable way to wear the watch in hotter temperatures. Yeah. Uh, and for the money, uh, cause what does a Tropic, if you can find an old Tropic, what, what's that going to cost? |
| Jason Heaton | Well, I think they're pushing a hundred bucks, 80 to a hundred bucks. I think now maybe 60, I don't know. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. So, I mean, if you're not running a vintage watch. Yeah. But you do want a kind of clean looking rubber strap. No, you know, it has no design, no patterning, no any, you know, there's not like tire treads or something cut into it. Yeah. I think this is what I like the most. It's a high-quality rubber. It's very smooth. It's a little... You know, when you rub your fingers against it, it's a little... Not sticky, but, you know, it has, like, some purchase. It's grippy. Yeah. Which may or may not work for the shape of your wrist and the balance of your watch, but for the money, I don't think you're out a lot if it wasn't ideal. It has kind of a nice spring-kept buckle. Two keepers and the far keeper, the one closest to the buckle, is actually secured by two little shoulders. Oh, I like that. It stays kind of in place, which is a nice feature on a more modern rubber strap, especially one that's, you know, these are a little longer than something like a, like the, the Tropic. It's probably a full centimeter longer on the tail. So yeah, the Hirsch Pure I've used and have been quite happy with a 20 millimeter in black. I think they also come in navy blue and a nice, like really bright doxy sort of orange. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, okay. Yeah, I think I've seen that. You know, I think the kind of the benchmark, well, I don't know about the benchmark, but you know, there are a few OEM straps, you know, branded straps that come from the manufacturers that came on watches that stand out in my mind for particular quality. And I think, you know, going back to, you know, arguably my first kind of cool watch back in the eighties when I was a teenager was my old Seiko, whatever it was, 7002, and it came on the Z22 rubber strap that has come on every Seiko dive watch since, you know, the seventies, which they kind of recently upgraded actually to more of a silicone strap. Like we got on our, uh, SRP turtles. Yeah, for sure. But, but I've always found Seiko dive straps to be just fantastic. I mean, some people would argue that they're too long, but I think for a diving strap, it's, it's a great length. You know, they're the ones that invented the, accordion venting that allows you to kind of take up the slack when you're diving with a strap on the watch. I don't know. Seiko does a great job with rubber straps. I think the strap that came on the one that stands out in my mind was the rubber strap that came on the original Planet Ocean back in the mid 2000s, which I think the later rubber straps that they've done, they've kind of tried to emulate leather with some stitching and it doesn't quite work for me as well. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, I know the one from the Planet Ocean had kind of a V-like shape from the lugs. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I love that look. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, those are really cool. Yeah, and those are great straps, no doubt. I would actually disagree with you about the Z22. Yeah? You don't like that one? I got one that came with my SKX007. Sure, yeah. And I've worn it diving, and when you're diving, it works fine. It's great. But otherwise, I find them really difficult to wear. They're quite bulky due to the venting, so they start to feel a bit like the isofrane oh yeah and then i just found the um the overall like maybe it was the edges are kind of rough and i mean it's not an expensive strap but the one that comes with the 777 yeah is a huge leap forward in my opinion it's like velvet oh yeah very soft it's really nice yeah and that watch holds its um its weight a little better on those vents i like the one that comes with the 777 a lot i i less like the kind of wave strap that came with the 007. I, you know, I very quickly, that's a situation where on the 007, the isoframe works really well or just a really long NATO. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh yeah. Now you must've had that Omega strap that I was referring to. Did you have that on your 2254 Seamaster? Did you have that rubber strap? |
| James Stacy | They made a version for that. They did. It's quite expensive to buy separately. So I have a speedy bracelet with being the 2254-50, it's on a speedy bracelet. Oh, sure. So I never, you know, I flirted with the idea of buying the rubber a few times, but it's a, it's a fitted rubber. So it fits to, you know, it's like a fitted end link. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | And I find typically those rubber straps where you can't sit the watch flat on a table. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Can be a little annoying. The exception is the rubber strap that I have from my Explorer 2. Oh, oh yeah. From, from Everest straps. Yeah. So that strap has kind of a fitted end link. and holds its shape kind of has actual shoulders that would say lift the watch off a table. Yeah. And that's still fantastic. One disclaimer is that I did not pay for that strap. That was a sample provided by the brand. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh sure. |
| James Stacy | It is a really nice strap and one that I'm very happy with and it wears beautifully and I know we've talked about it before but it violates that disclaimer I mentioned at the top of the episode. Probably one of the nicer rubber straps I've ever come across and it should be at its asking price. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Um, but certainly OEM brands, Omega, Breitling, lots offer rubber straps that cost way, way more. |
| Jason Heaton | So yeah, they almost shouldn't cost as much as they do, but I think because they're branded, they, they feel like they can jack the price up a little bit. And arguably, I mean, they do, you know, they do fit the watch. I mean, they, they're made for the watch. So they oftentimes the design of them is meant to kind of carry through from the watch. I mean, one example would be the, the rubber strap that comes on the Supermarine, the Braymont. Um, I don't know what they sell for separately because it came on the watch, but the, you know, it, it was a great kind of first effort integrated rubber strap for a dive watch for a company that hadn't really done that before. It's plenty long, it's beefy, but it's comfortable and it's pretty supple, uh, has a nice buckle. And then they did that sort of, um, I don't know which I'd even call it, that texture, that sort of ribbing that almost carries through from the the texturing on the dial, which I think is vertical striping on the dial carries into the rubber strap. |
| James Stacy | It's cool. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. The issue I have with rubber straps is, um, I think you and I have, uh, your wrist is smaller than mine, but I think we have similar shapes. It's, it's a flat wrist as opposed to a round wrist. And the problem I have with a lot of rubber straps is if they're too stiff or bulky, they, I get this chafing or this cutting on the sides where the strap comes down. Yeah, for sure. For me, one of the criteria, a strap can be beautiful looking and fit the watch nicely, but if it, if the holes are in just the wrong spot, I'm either wearing it too loose or too tight because of this, you know, this issue that I have, which is another reason why I tend to wear NATO straps a lot. The holes usually get a lot more holes and they tend to be closer together. So you can kind of fine tune that fit. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. That's where I would land on rubber straps is I'll wear one, but typically not long-term. Like I don't have any, any watch that I just keep on a rubber strap. Yeah. I always end up going back to wearing a NATO. I think it's just a much more comfortable fit for me on, you know, with, with any of my watches. And I like the aesthetic better than rubber. Yeah. I could see there being an exception for certain, like if I had certain Breitlings look really, really, really cool on the rubber strap. And, uh, and of course, if you, if you had a watch that, you know, it was, you know, you had something like, uh, the Patek Philippe Aquanaut Twin Time, you know, with the rubber strap option, you don't have a lot of other strap options. Yeah, that's true. So there's some, you know, things like that, but that would be an example of a good problem to have versus a, uh, an actual problem. But yeah, you know, with, uh, with rubber straps, I often find that I only wear them for a day or two and then I switch back to something else. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Now we're kind of coming into fall here. Well, we're well into fall actually. And I, I tend to move a lot of watches to leather, at least temporarily in this time of year. Do you, you don't wear a lot of leather, do you? Um, |
| James Stacy | Uh, not so much. I have a few, uh, leather straps that I like. I have a, a couple from Hallios. |
| Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| James Stacy | These kind of nice, really chunky Corwin leather straps. I have one in brown that, that I really like on, on a 22 mil. I have this kind of really cool, it's their Rally Strap, the Autodromo Rally Strap. |
| Unknown | Oh, yeah. |
| James Stacy | And it kind of has, you know, the multi-hole, sporty, 60s, 70s sort of leather strap design. And it's in this kind of really saturated, rusty red color. Oh, nice. And I like that quite a bit. You know, it can be a struggle to find a watch to match this color, but certainly if you like wearing black leather, which I don't, but if you like wearing black leather, this strap in black would look killer on just about any watch. So that's the Autodromo Rally. I think it's a 20 millimeter. I'm not sure if they offer other sizes, but that's a very cool strap. And obviously Autodromo makes a lot of really, really cool stuff. |
| Jason Heaton | I'm sorry. I hadn't thought about Autodromo, but I have the Prototipo and it came with the kind of that perforated leather rally. And I think if I remember right, when they came out with that watch, they were trying to really mimic the, I can't remember. I think it was called Corfam. It was this synthetic leather material that they put on old Hoyers in the early seventies. |
| James Stacy | Oh, cool. |
| Jason Heaton | And it was, it was meant to look like leather and it had this sort of shine to it that, that actually wasn't leather. And when Autodromo came out with the Prototypo, which sort of mimicked the watches of that era, they, made this leather strap to look like Corfam and they did a great job and yeah I hadn't thought of Autodromo but when you mentioned that I remembered that strap and it is they do make some nice straps. |
| James Stacy | Yeah if you have a watch that you think might fit the general Autodromo vibe check their website they have they have a a few different straps to choose from and I think that they they all look great as as with all of their watches too and then other than that I have kind of a handful of straps that are in that kind of the two stitch variety yeah you know where There's, you know, a little loop on either side up by the lug bar, kind of like the holding key style or analog shift. You know, they, there's so many people offering these straps now. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | And I have a few, and those are great. I find that the watch watches that I would most typically wear on leather don't always accept the leather strap really well. Like my Explorer 2. There just isn't enough room. So you'll, you'll have this lovely leather strap and you'll fit it and it'll look fine. And then you, you go to put it on your wrist. And as the strap rotates, it just cuts in against the case. Oh yeah. And you end up with this like bald patch. Yeah. But I do have this kind of gray suede. And if you go to my Instagram, it's like, yeah, like a gray suede with an off white, slightly off white stitching and kind of a rubberized edge, black edge on the strap. And I believe this is similar to one that Hodinkee sells from their website. And that on the Explorer 2, I really love. I think it's perfect for kind of the fall. And the suede is actually like a thick enough leather that even though the case is cutting into the strap, you can't see the damage. Yeah. Like there's not a different color at the base of the cut, if you know what I mean. Yeah. And that's probably my current favorite leather strap. Otherwise, I'm pretty hit or miss on leather. I find that if it doesn't taper, I typically don't like it that much, depending on the watch. But again, I typically end up going back to either A certain bracelet with a certain watch or just a NATO? |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | I mean, I have bags of leather straps and I, maybe it's the season, maybe I'll start putting more leather on these days, but, um, I, like you, I have a bunch of those two stitch straps, the Hodinkee style straps. And I, I find they tend to work really well on vintage watches. I, for some reason you take like an old dive watch or my old, you know, three 21 Speedmaster and it just looks kind of right on, on leather, even like an old sub or something. But for some reason- They look great on an old sub. Yeah, and I don't know why that is. I mean, dive watches just traditionally just you would never see them on a leather strap, but they just work really well in vintage. So, you know, that or I haven't really tried any leather on my old Doxa T-Graph, but I'm guessing that would look pretty cool on a leather strap. Yeah, I think so. One style that I like is the, I think a lot of people call it sort of the Breitling style. It's sort of a padded leather with a full stitch down each side, but you don't see that very often anymore. I don't know if it kind of went out of fashion with the popularity of the two-stitch, but it was kind of a strap I liked on sort of a more of a, you know, pilot or driver style watch. That sort of padded center with the stitching down the side is a nice look as well. So what about steel? Oh yeah, for steel? Hmm. I mean, you've got, I mean, of course we both recently picked up that Awesome $15 steel bracelet that you got. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, that's the only one I'm wearing these days. That and I'll, you know, I'll occasionally put the Explorer 2 on its bracelet. Yeah. But that's really just, that's like a play for variety more than my absolute love of that bracelet. I just like the way that a Rolex looks on its bracelet. Yeah, I do too. But I really like, I really, really like the, uh, the ZIN on that $15 eBay bracelet. Way more than any $15 watch purchase I've had recently. It's just very comfortable. And I think the aesthetic is perfect. So I think it looks great. But you know, I talked about it in a previous episode, but yeah, that's a cool one. And we'll put the link in the show notes again. |
| Jason Heaton | I'm just not a fan of so many bracelet styles. I guess I'm really picky about bracelet styles and that one hit the right aesthetic. And I think the same with the classic oyster bracelet from, from Rolex. I mean, the, the old, uh, like the old Mark II Speedmasters from the seventies, the, uh, You know, the ones they would put on the Seamaster 300s and the 60s. Omega did a great job then, but I'm not a real fan of their sort of modern speedy style steel bracelets. So there aren't a lot of bracelets that I wear and like these days either. |
| James Stacy | I do occasionally wear the SKX on the Jubilee bracelet. Oh yeah. And I find the secret to the Jubilee bracelet is size it a little bit too big. Like I don't really like my watch to flop around. Yeah. But for whatever reason, and it could be that that Jubilee bracelet just isn't a great example of bracelet. But if you just size the micro adjustment one or maybe two too big on your wrist, just to give it a little bit more space, it takes on this kind of vintage-y wiggle on your wrist, which I find rather appealing. Again, kind of like with rubber, I'll do that for a couple of days and then I'll go back to something else. So I think the fun thing about straps that we're kind of cornering in is they offer a huge amount of variety. for less price than, say, simply buying another watch. Right. Obviously, we're not the first people to ever talk about this or discover this, but you can have a whole box full of NATOs and essentially just pick one that matches your outfit that day or pick one that matches just the watch. Right. Or whatever. And I mean, everybody's going to have their different kind of methodology. But I don't think that leather is better than NATO and NATO is better than bracelet or whatever. It's just you kind of I think everybody should try a little bit of everything to find where they land on the kind of mount spectrum. Yeah. Is it more NATO? Is it more bracelet? Is it more leather? Is it more rubber? And there's always, there's some oddball stuff. Like you can get custom straps made by, uh, Gas Gas Bones. Oh yeah. Carl in the UK. And I have one of those and that's really cool. I have a zero zero, you know, it's a Velcro closure with two leather positioned keepers to mount the watch into what is otherwise kind of like a NATO. Yeah. Really cool a really cool fall option because it's the one I requested you can just he'll make just about anything But it's a kind of an olive green webbing with a brown like a medium brown keeper I guess essentially lug end. Yeah for each side of the watch and that's pretty cool And then you have stuff like the Erica's which of course we've talked to it a few times before Yeah, it's it's crazy. |
| Jason Heaton | I mean, I'm still surprised by you know, I'm not surprised but you know, I'll get someone that you know, I don't know, or you see them at a party or a dinner or something, and they look at your wrist and, oh, cool watch. I love the strap. And they're like, they think that, you know, you're stuck with the strap that comes on a watch. I'm, you know, and I'm always telling people, like, just get a box full of straps. I'll happily change your watch strap if you want, you know? |
| James Stacy | Yeah, for sure. It's a relatively small investment. And yeah, you can get, you can get a lot more wear out of watches you already have because the strap really changes it in, in, in like a very fast way. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Lots of fun to be had with straps and Hit the show notes if you're wondering about any of this and if you get confused or if you have a really cool strap that you think we totally missed, thegrenadoatgmail.com, please send us an email, let us know. I think we're going to move on to, what do you think, maybe tools? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I think it's probably a logical segue to move into tools since, you know, maybe we can talk about strap changing tools. You know, there are a lot out there. |
| James Stacy | Do you have a preferred strap changing tool? There's like a billion. |
| Jason Heaton | I don't. I mean, I think Initially, maybe the first one I bought was probably the best one, and that was one of those Bergeron or Bergeon strap changing tools that comes with, you know, that's nice grip. They aren't like too sharp of edges. The tips are pretty sturdy. But what I found is I, maybe I'm just rough, maybe I'm just a gorilla, but I tend to, I'm always snapping off ends of the fork and ordering new fork ends. And then I've just, I've gotten so many of those kind of cheaper strap changing tools just with straps or |
| James Stacy | You know, just free from brands. Yeah. Like it's, it's a fairly typical giveaway. Yeah. I only have one of those that I really like and it's from Nomos. Huh. And it's, it's essentially the same thing. You know, it has a spring bar tool on one end and a pusher tool on the other. Yeah. Uh, but it, it seems very nice. And for whatever reason, that's the one that I haven't broken or bent or abused in some way. |
| Jason Heaton | You know, which one was cool was that one we got at the, the Tudor event at Basel last year, that little travel one. Yeah, the Tudor one is cool. Yeah, true enough. Super cool. I'd love to see, I don't know if anyone's selling those separately. I don't know where they sourced those, but really cool. Just about, um, oh, I don't know, two, three inches long. It comes in, came in like a little fold over leather pouch and, and it was blunt at each end. And then you just unscrew a cap and, and pull out the tip and you turn it around and it was either a pusher or a fork. And then you just thread it in and off you go. And it was just great. I mean, I just keep it in my travel bag now. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, that's a great that's a cool tool. And I'm assuming we can probably link to at least a photo of it in the show notes. The other one to look at that I haven't seen in person, but from a concept level, I really like is the new strap changing multi tool from worn and wound. Oh, yeah. Did you see this? So it's essentially a thin black bar and there's caps on both ends. And you have tools so you can kind of flip it around, whether you want a screwdriver or a spring bar, kind of a V, like a cutout V or a pusher, but then the center is also threaded. So it comes off into two pieces. So, you know, have two screwdrivers. Yes. Which is so handy. To allow you to change, um, twin screwed end links or bracelet mounts. Yes. So if you've ever had this, like if you don't buy, say two Bergeron screwdrivers of the same size. Yeah. And then you kind of have that like monkey grip where you hold the the one screwdriver with your pinky finger and then kind of grip the case and then with your right hand or your left hand, however, you get the other side because you get these spring bars that have a screw head on each side. I haven't seen this tool, but I am very interested in getting one. So I should probably put in an order. I know that I plan to and I save it to pocket and then I just didn't get around to, you know, actually buying one, but I think that's a pretty interesting tool. |
| Jason Heaton | And then a few shows ago you talked about the spring bar tool that you got to swap bracelets. I don't remember who made that. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, it's the Horofix. Horofix, yeah. So I bought this from a company called Esslinger. And again, I paid their normal price. There was no deal or anything with that. And I think they're just a supplier of various watch parts and tools and stuff. Uh, so from them, I bought a handful of the, uh, Bergeon screwdrivers and then these Horofix. So it's called the Horofix watch bracelet spring bar pliers band tool. And I paid 90 us dollars for it. And there's a Bergeon version. That's I think nearly double the price. It's basically a pair of spring loaded pliers. So they they're biased towards being open. Oh yeah. And then they have a screw set that allows you to set how wide open they can be, like their maximum width. And then you have kind of two screw mounted tips that can slide right into a bracelet point, depress the, then you close the pliers using your hand to depress the two shoulders of the spring bar. And then with the other hand, you just pull the case away. And I'm able to very quickly mount or dismount the bracelet on my, uh, Explorer 2 with no scratches. So I think that's a really killer tool. Uh, it'd be really nice if they were a little cheaper. Yeah. But if you do the bracelet swap frequently, you can do a lot of damage to the back lugs of a watch by just using a screwdriver or something small enough to get into that little space. Yeah. Whereas something like this is designed for, and Rolex also makes their own tool for this, like that's specifically designed for their, their lug width. But that's going to be very expensive. But I know it exists. I've seen it on forums. I just it would also be quite expensive. And I'm assuming maybe you can't even just go and buy one. You'd have to supply one through someone. |
| Jason Heaton | Right. A couple of weeks ago, you turned me on to a bracelet sizing tool. For years, I've, you know, you get a nice bracelet from a Rolex or something, and it has, you know, little screws that hold the links together. But a great number of bracelets from You know, Seiko Jubilee to the one that came on my old Zodiac Seawolf. And more recently that $15 eBay bracelet has the, you know, the pressed pins that, that hold bracelets together. Yeah. Pin and collar. Yeah. And, um, you turned me onto that, the, you know, the little ones that they sell on eBay and I ordered one up and works like a charm. It's great. It works like a, it reminds me of a, like a bicycle chain sizing tool where you just, you know, just, you're just pushing the pin through by just this threaded pin that sort of just pushes out the pin and the link. |
| James Stacy | So yeah, it's kind of like a metal or plastic channel that you lay the bracelet in. And then a kind of screw set pusher that you control by turning a large, you know, thumb screw that will push the link out to the other side. And then then you don't have to deal with the little hammer in the pin or you know, there's 10 other ways I've seen people do it on YouTube that could easily damage the bracelet or, I mean, in worst case, really, you mess up that pin and you can't put the bracelet back together. |
| Jason Heaton | Right. Yeah, I don't remember what I spent on it, but it was the best, you know. They should be under $5. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, it was $5, so. I've had a few of them. The metal one is the one that I would recommend, and then simply take some electrical tape and lay it down in that channel. Oh, yeah. Because they don't do anything to protect. It's just metal on metal with your bracelet. Oh, yeah. And, yeah, that works pretty well. I like that quite a bit. I have some other weird eBay tools as well. I have, um, I think digital calipers are pretty fun to have. You know, I use it to measure thickness and case size from different angles for reviews. But I mean, a digital caliper, at least to somebody with a nerdy proclivity, like somebody listening to a podcast about watches, uh, I think, I think is, is pretty much as some value to just about anyone. And they're very cheap on eBay. They're not great, but they're accurate. So whatever. And then I bought a watch demagnetizer for about five bucks. Five bucks? Wow. Yeah, maybe it was ten dollars, but it's good. I'm gonna say it was an insignificant amount of money. |
| Unknown | Huh. |
| James Stacy | So it's this blue thing that you plug into the wall and has a button on it. If you find that you have a magnetization issue with your watch, I had a couple watches that were magnetized and this was simply easier than going to a watchmaker to have them demagnetize the watches. But what I would say is, if you're going to buy this, then also go on YouTube and learn how to use it. Because you don't just put the watch on the piece of plastic and turn it on. There's like a specific method to using these ultra cheap demagnetizers. So if it's something that you come across frequently, or if you're just nerdy and want to give it a try, they're not expensive. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it's stuff like that, that I think, like the bracelet sizing tool or demagnetizer, It saves you a trip to, you know, to the watch shop. And I, I found the same with, uh, you know, something else I bought, another eBay tool that I got was this Jaxa J A X X A case back opener, which, you know, you can just, it's got little pins, it's got a handle and three pins that you move in or out to fit the kind of the standard case back style that most watches have. You can't open like a Rolex case with it, with the, special tool, the press fit tool that Rolex uses, but most other watch cases I've been able to crack open with this and, you know, it's not something I would recommend just everybody doing willy-nilly, you know, just to kind of peek in your watch in a dusty room or something like that, but on occasion when I've wanted to maybe tweak the regulation on like an old Seiko diver or something where it's running a little fast or a little slow or you just want to take a picture of the movement in your watch or know, if you're trying to sell a watch or something or, or swap a battery in a quartz watch, it's really handy to have. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. The biggest scratch I ever put in a watch is with one of those cheap tools that only have two points. Ooh. Yeah. Um, and I was just changing the battery in a very, in an old Columbia. Yeah. Like enough, like a $40 watch. Yeah. But one of the little mounts, which are made out of a very, like they're made out of like brass or something. One of the little mounts for this wrench popped out and just dragged across the back of the case. And I mean like, Deep, very, very deep. Like no, if this was a watch you cared about, you would have been looking for a new case back if that was possible. Just destroyed the case back. So learn how to use it, learn how to size whatever tool you buy. And then the other one that works quite well with, at least with some watches that have the kind of, you know, lightly screwed on case backs is there's like a, it looks like a slightly deflated rubber ball. Oh yeah. And I bought one of those, again, it's like, I think it was an eBay thing for a few bucks. And then you hold the watch, you know, crystal down in your hand and push this grippy, rubbery ball against the back and turn it. And with a simple vintage watch, it'll just, the case back will come off with no tool, right? So you're not digging around with the edge of a knife or something to try and get in there. Yeah. And I found that worked out pretty well. Huh. The other thing that I really like is, um, I usually keep a small like detailing brush. Oh yeah. So one with a soft nylon. What I'm basically saying here is you can buy ones that are designed for jewelry or watches to clean up your watch, to kind of get the little bits that sit next to the bezel. Just use a toothbrush. Yeah. But you can get a lot of the crud that kind of builds up in the, you know, the little areas of a watch. And you know, when you take like a macro photo of a watch, you start to see a lot of this stuff. Yeah, dead skin. Whatever it is, you know, it'll get in right in that little gap between the bezel and the crystal. Yeah. And between where the bezel meets the case, there's always a bit of like a machining gap. And a little, uh, a toothbrush or in this case, you know, I've currently I'm holding like a little detailing brush does a, does a really great job of cleaning that up and you can get some of the crud out of a bracelet. You know, you're sitting at your desk, you're watching some TV the same way you might care for a pair of leather shoes. Yeah. Moisturizing the leather and maybe coating it depending on your climate. This is the same kind of thing You can you can care for a watch With just a little bit of protection because that kind of stuff that sits on the metal is bad for the watch long-term That's where you get pitting. Oh, yeah, and and other issues because you know stainless steel is only stainless. It's not stain proof Those are situations where for I don't know was a toothbrush cost like two to three bucks You probably buy like five for ten bucks, right? You could just sit there and really keep the watches in nice condition. Obviously, don't buy something that's hard enough to scratch the surface of the watch. Sure. And if it's brushed, don't use a lot of force. You know, that situation, you'd want to be fairly light with your usage. |
| Jason Heaton | You know, a few years ago, I went out to Pennsylvania. There's the, I don't remember what the acronym is, NAWCC Watchmaking School. that's out there and they offered a weekend pocket watch course where you can take a cheap pocket watch and they teach you how to take it apart and rebuild it. And I took the course. It was like a three-day course over a weekend. Oh, cool. |
| James Stacy | And, um, yeah, it was. Is that with a Roland like RGM? |
| Jason Heaton | No, it wasn't with Roland, although I did visit RGM. That's roughly in the same area, right? Same area. Yeah. Lancaster is a great, um, the NAWCC museum is there, the National Watch and Clock Museum, which is a I mean that, I mean that part of the country, I mean it's, you know, beautiful sort of Amish farm country and you wouldn't think it's the hub of American watchmaking, but the old Hamilton watch factories there, the, uh, this great museum, the watchmaking school, you can pop by and visit RGM. Very cool. Um, highly recommend it. But anyway, as part of that class, I bought a watchmaking kit and I did it through, and I think they still sell it. You go to timezone.com and it's like the TZ watch school kit. And we'll throw a link in the show notes. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | I've seen this before. This is cool. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And, and you can just buy this watchmaking kit and I can't remember how much it is, but they had like different levels of kit you could buy. So like they had a deluxe one and then they had a simple one. I think I just bought the simple one and it was a box and it has pretty much everything, all the tools you need to take apart and rebuild a pocket watch. So it was like things like, you know, the, the paper that you, you put between the hands and the dial when you're, you know, setting that, um, the gum, the little gummy pieces that you use to pick parts up. Yeah, for sure. A couple different sizes of tweezers, two different strengths of Bausch and Lomb loops with the sort of the, what do they call it, like the wire that holds it to your forehead, you know, a screwdriver set, you know, just all sorts of cool stuff. And I think it even came with like an ETA, totally undecorated, unregulated 6497 pocket watch movement in some sort of generic watch case for you to practice with. And so I took this course and then bought these tools when I got home. You know, every once in a while, I should probably get back to it because I'm very rusty and I don't think I could do it again, but it was certainly a really worthwhile class to take, but it's also nice to have those tools even, you know, for the loops that they provide and the little tweezers, which can be really handy for, you know, putting finicky screws in a bracelet or, you know, just little stuff like that, changing a battery in a quartz watch or something like that. Um, I can't remember how much it was. It was, it was probably fairly spendy. It was probably a hundred bucks or there. |
| James Stacy | I want to say that the kit's about closer to 200 bucks. Yeah, it could be. It's in that neighborhood, but I mean, you're also getting some tools where if you break the price down separately. Yeah. It's not going to be that different. Like if you, if you decided to go to auto fray and buy this stuff on your own or one of these suppliers, it's still going to cost you. And, uh, do you have a, do you use a loop? Do you care for loops? |
| Jason Heaton | Um, I do use a loop quite often now, especially as my eyesight's getting worse. I mean, if I get a new watch or I just, you know, I want to check some detail or, or sometimes if I'm just replacing a screw in, you know, sizing a bracelet or something, I use a loop. I tend to use the ones, you know, like I said, there's like a 10 times and a 25 times loops that came with this watchmaking kit and those are just too powerful. So I just use the, the simple ones that we've gotten, you know, you and I have probably gotten at watch shows. I think Tudor, you know, gave one out. IWC's, I've got an IWC one. Nomos gave out these really cool sort of wooden loops. Yeah. Yeah. Those are in the little box. Those are nice, but they're all, I don't know what power they are. Three to six actually. Three to six. Yeah. So they're not super powerful, but they're just enough to kind of check some details. |
| James Stacy | I have, I've had a few of those, the like giveaway gift sort of things. And I always give those away to people who have a watch from the brand. I just find that I don't really like loops. I do have a magnifying glass. Oh, yeah. Which is, I think, exactly what I like. My problem with loops, and I have a loop system, a 6x loop system, which is fantastic. It's as good as it gets. Yeah. But even the 6x is typically closer than I want to be. Yeah. And they make a 3x, but then in a rare situation where you do want to get the serial number from an omega lug, which is just tiny. Yeah. It's not quite enough, but my normal use is just a nice magnifying glass because it allows all the light in. Yeah. I find with a loop, and I have a loop that I bought at a mineral and gem show many years ago, a six X, like a little tiny one. It's metal. It's very nice, great optics. And that one, I might keep in my bag for Basel. If you really wanted to pull out a fine detail. Yeah. Now I'm sure I'd take the loop system. It's, you know, it's just an amazing loop, but they're very expensive. Whereas typically I just want to get a little bit closer than holding the watch really close to my eyes. Yeah. and for that a magnifying glass is just perfect you can buy really nice magnifying glasses and they still allow because they're open and because you're not holding your hand or actually around the optics yeah they allow all the light to still pour in so i find while i may not be getting as close to the item i'm getting a much better view of what it is with uh with a magnifying glass so that'd be my only tip with a loop is know, I would say either go on on one of the kind of watchmaker suppliers, Otto Frey, Esslinger, etc. and buy a loop from them, you know, that that'll be up to enough of it'll be high enough level to be useful, or use something like a magnifying glass or maybe a combination of both. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, and I another good tip is, you know, go to like Walgreens or Pharmacy and get like just the strongest power reading glasses. Oh, yeah reading glasses. Sure. |
| James Stacy | That's a good idea As long as they don't give you a headache. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Well, I mean, especially if you're just using it for watch work, um, you know, you don't have a You have your hands are both free and I like that idea. |
| James Stacy | I may do that Yeah, and then yeah, I think just to put a button on this So you were saying you keep all of your straps and everything in various bags It's a mess. I I have um a couple years ago. Um, my in-laws bought me a um a tabletop watchmakers bench. Oh Wow. So Otto Frey sells them and I'm sure other places sell them, but it's kind of a bright wood bench with four little drawers on each side. I would say it's about 10, 11 inches tall off of whatever you put it on. And it has a big space in the center where you can put various tools and items and books. And then a large drawer, which is where all my straps go. And then it has four drawers up each side. that are long, they're over a foot long. This hobby just collects little bits of things. So you end up with a drawer full of spring bars, you end up with a drawer full of bracelets I don't wear, and a drawer full of random end links or spare links that I don't really know what they're for. I didn't realize it was this kind of fair a price, it's $90. and i would actually say if you have like a room where you kind of keep all your watches and all of the various things that go with your watches yeah this is a pretty cool way to to do it it has some kind of a large open area on the top like a desk it has like a panel that pulls out where you can put more things to give you a little bit more purchase but uh if you've ever seen a watchmaker's desk imagine that but like at one-third the size And it's meant to go on top of whatever desk you already have to get your elbows up high enough. Nice. And to bring the work area closer to your eyeline. Yeah. And I've had it for a couple of years and I absolutely love it. When I moved out west, the movers broke it. And my brother, who's handy with all things kind of wood and nails and that sort of thing, he put it back together for me and I've been using it quite reliably since. And it's kind of a fixture in my office. So for $90, I mean, that's as much as some of the straps we've recommended. Yeah. Yeah. I think they're pretty cool. Um, if you have a spot for it, I think that, uh, a lot of people are always kind of surprised when they see it or they don't realize that it exists. Occasionally it shows up in a photo on my Instagram and I get a bunch of questions about it. So that's kind of cool stuff. |
| Jason Heaton | But, uh, I think I want one and Christmas is coming and my mom listens. So I think, uh, add that to the Christmas list. That's great. |
| James Stacy | It's a handy place to store all the, uh, all the various bits and, uh, bits and bobs for all that. So what do you think? Do you think we missed any watch accessories? |
| Jason Heaton | I don't think so. I think we kind of covered it. I mean, we've talked on past shows about, you know, rolls and storage and travel stuff. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. We've already, we've done the travel thing, I think a couple of times. Yeah. And there's tons of options. And I think probably everybody listening has something they use currently. So I don't think we'll go through that one again. Yeah. But yeah, if you think we missed anything, send us an email, thegreatnadoatgmail.com. We would love to hear about your favorite kind of straps, suppliers, tools, bits and bobs, books, whatever it is that you've got that kind of rotates around the world of watches. But I think we've pretty much beaten it to death for this episode. What do you think? You want to move on with some new business, Jason? Let's do it. Let's move on. Alrighty. All right, so it's time for a little new business. This is when we kind of cover anything that's new going on, whether it's trips or gear or whatever, just whatever is new that we're currently working on or enjoying. So, Jason, I know you've got a pretty cool, not so new, but new to you watch. What are you sporting these days? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I scored a watch that I've had my eye on for the better part of probably three, four or five years. It's kind of not your typical WatchGeek watch because it's battery-powered and it's quartz. But I think a lot of WatchGeeks will know this one. It's the Breitling Emergency. It's an older one. It's from 2000. And it is the Orbiter III Special Limited Edition that they made to commemorate the first round-the-world balloon flight, which was completed in 1999. And, you know, if you're not familiar with the Emergency, it's one of Breitling's, I would say, one of their kind of iconic pilots' watches, modern pilots' watches. analog digital display. Basically the top end of this watch is identical to their aerospace, which they've been making since the mid 80s. So it's got the two digital screens, the analog hands, and everything's operated through the crown. But then this module, this watch module actually slides down into sort of this carrier, which is the rest of the watch basically with the lugs and everything. And the bottom half of the watch is an emergency locator transmission or transmitter. So like a radio beacon basically. I'm just smitten with it. This one's actually an unworn edition. I found it on crownandcaliber.com and I've been wearing it for a week straight and, you know, it's, I've never had this much fun with a quartz watch before. It's just, it's fantastic. I love the functionality. I like the look and just, I don't know, something about that added feature of having an emergency locator beacon on my wrist just, you know, it has this sort of James Bond appeal, this sort of gadget element to it that just really jazzes me. you know, fun, fun piece. And, uh, you know, I've got a, I've got one of the, the Breitling Hershey, they called it the Hershey bar rubber straps on order. |
| James Stacy | Oh, I love those straps. I think they look so, so cool. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So, you know, right now I've got it on a toxic NATO, which is going to be hard to beat. Actually. It's kind of a drab all of toxic and the, that brushed hardware kind of matches with the titanium case of the watch. And, uh, so it's a chronometer certified, um, and it's got, you know, chronograph countdown timer, alarm, second time zone, like perpetual calendar, you know, day date. And then it's got this, this antenna that you pull out to, you know, let people know where you are, if you're in trouble, which, you know, you're warned with, you know, many, many warning labels all over the box in the back of the watch, not to do it because of course you'll be fined heavily if a helicopter suddenly arrives and you're not truly in trouble. So I don't, I don't plan on using that, but it did come with, It comes with this big black briefcase that has, you know, big thick manual in it. And then it has this little test unit. It's like a little box with a microphone on it or sorry, a speaker, I guess. And you turn it on and it's just basically, it's just a radio receiver that's always tuned to 121.5 megahertz, which is the civilian air frequency for emergency transmissions. And you turn this thing on, there's a volume switch up and down. and then you press the watch down onto this test unit and it pushes a little pin on the back of the watch, the little test pin, and you get this kind of fuzz and then suddenly it starts to beep and lets you know that the transmitter is working fine. So that's pretty cool. Yeah. It's just, you know, it's one of these absolute geek sort of activities that I could just sit at my desk and like, Oh, I think I should check, make sure my transmitter is working today, you know, pull it out and play with it. |
| James Stacy | The, uh, For those of you who want to see how the Emergency works, or specifically the Emergency 2 in this case, you can actually watch in Season or Series 22, Episode 6 of Top Gear, they actually use a Breitling Emergency up in the Rockies. And it shows you kind of the actual length of the antenna. And I, you know, I had never seen one fully deployed or anything, and I'm sure it's on YouTube. Uh, but yeah, it was, uh, Richard Hammond used one as they were supposed to come and find him in a couple of kind of burly pickup trucks way out in the woods. And I think that the battery died on the watch before they got there. Oh no. Like the battery on the transmission, but largely that was the conceit of the episode is that they were in no rush to come and find him. They just left him in the wilderness. It was a funny episode as, as, you know, as they, yeah. as they do with Top Gear, but it was one of the kind of rare situations. It was the more updated version, the Emergency 2, but I think that part of the functionality is identical. The wire antenna is quite long. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it's, at least according to what I read in the manual for this one, it's the length of your forearm roughly, which is, I don't know, a foot and a half maybe? |
| James Stacy | Yeah, exactly. I guess I expected like the little cap to come off and then like a little antenna. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | like on the top of an old walkie talkie or something, but no, it's this long piece of wire, like kind of relatively loose formless wire. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Because at that point you're less worried about the watch doing anything other than saving your life. |
| Jason Heaton | Right. It's a one-time use only. I mean, once, once it's deployed, you know, Breitling says if it's a legitimate emergency, they will replace the watch. Um, if not, you're in a bit of trouble, but, uh, you know, the, the difference between the, they stopped producing this first generation emergency in 2010. because the satellite system that monitors for emergencies stopped monitoring the 121.5 megahertz frequency and went to the 406 megahertz frequency, which is a more powerful frequency. But it also, what it does, the new emergency, which was designed to accommodate that new system is, you know, there's kind of three aspects to a rescue. And one is the first is alert, locate, and then the third step is rescue. And it's the alert part of it that this watch that I'm wearing will not do. It won't actually tell anybody that anything's wrong with me or that I'm missing. Somebody actually has to know that I'm missing and send out a search party. What this does is it helps to locate me because it sends out this constant pulse for 48 hours that they can then use as sort of a locator beacon to kind of home in on my position, whether it's, you know, on a riverbank or a mountaintop or in a crashed airplane or something like that. So the advantage of the Emergency 2 is this additional, so there's actually two transmitters in that new watch that operate on both of those frequencies. So it still does the location part of it on the 121.5, but it also has this 406 megahertz transmission that will send a signal to the satellites that are monitoring, and then the satellite will then alert local authorities that you know, something's missed, somebody's missing. |
| James Stacy | Oh, that's very cool. Yeah. I like that. That's neat. Uh, I know just seeing your picture of the watch on Instagram had me looking at, uh, aerospace Navitimer aerospaces, the early ones. Oh yeah. Because I love the movement and the functionality. And if you haven't played with a modern aerospace, the current one, they're really cool. They're very lightweight. They make them, I think around 43 millimeters. Certainly it felt wearable on my wrist. Yeah. And you know, it's that cool twin digital, display and you rotate the crown to kind of access the various features. And it works surprisingly well for an interface that essentially has only one control. Yeah. And, uh, I just kind of always have digged the, uh, the older ones and, and certainly the emergency is very cool. And, uh, yeah, I mean, that's a, that's a neat piece. Congrats on finally finding one after so long. |
| Jason Heaton | Thanks. Yeah. I mean, you know, it has that sort of pilot's watch vibe to it, but I think like on a NATO strap, it has this, ultimate sort of adventure watch. I mean, the water resistance isn't great, so it's not a dive watch certainly, but like for pretty much anything I'm doing, that's not diving, you know, I'll wear this and it'll, you know, it'll gives that sort of element of peace of mind with also this sort of geek factor. And so I'm, I'm kind of ready to, you know, hit the trail and, and hike with it. And, you know, along those lines, another, my other bit of new business is I picked up a couple episodes ago, we talked about packs and bags and I recently got a, a new backpack. I replaced my GORUCK GR1, which was starting to get a little frayed and there was kind of a hole forming on the inside, which I could certainly stitch up, but that bag had a few downfalls that I wanted to kind of upgrade from one of which was heavy and also it wasn't terribly water resistant. So I got a Patagonia black hole backpack. It's the 25 liter model and it's, it's a pretty stripped down top loading day pack, very lightweight and it has a kind of a shiny water resistant coating on the outside and sort of this ripstop material. So it has kind of a techie look and I got it in black. So it has this sort of stealth, understated look to it. Nice straps, no waist strap at all. It's pretty minimalist. Um, but it has some nice organization on the inside. It's got a pouch for a laptop. It has some smaller internal organizing pockets. And then it has in the top lid, it has a small pocket for things like, you know, sunglasses or keys or energy bar. And then on the outside, another thing that the GORUCK didn't have were water bottle pockets on each side, which I've really come to appreciate, you know, just taking it on a couple of hikes and, and, uh, it just makes a difference to be able to reach back and grab a bottle rather than having to stop and take off your pack and open it up. So I haven't had it that long, just a couple of weeks, but I've used it a few times and, and, uh, I'm really digging it. |
| James Stacy | It's a really good looking bag. It is, it is. It comes in a bunch of different colors. It also comes in a 32 liter version if you wanted, I guess, you know, 32 is starting to push like kind of general overnight. Yeah. Might make a really good travel bag if you travel fairly lightly. I, you know, obviously check the measurement to make sure that it's not so big that you couldn't, sorry, not so tall that you couldn't get it into an overhead. Yeah, without upsetting the airline or other passengers, etc. But yeah, I mean, Patagonia obviously makes great stuff. And this is a kind of a pleasingly strange looking bag, which I like quite a bit. And it has it has some sort of loops for connecting on on kind of that back spine. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it's got the like the daisy chain for like, yeah, exactly stuff. And yeah, it's it's just techie enough, but it's understated enough. I, I purposely avoided one of the bright colors. I have the penchant for the color orange and I was reaching for the orange bag and I thought... I'm surprised you didn't get the orange. I'm going to get the black. I'm going to get the black. It's super orange. It's super orange. It's orange. And with my orange pants and orange shoelaces and an orange watch, I just thought, you know, I got to ratchet it down a bit and go with black. |
| James Stacy | For sure. Yeah. No, I mean, that looks like a killer bag. And oddly, my first new business is also bag related. I know we've lamented multiple on multiple episodes about the difficulty of finding kind of the ideal bag for show duties. Yeah. So both of my new business items kind of wrap into one. So this past weekend, I got a chance with a blog to watch.com to go to Denver to do a social media takeover for Hyde Park, which is a watch retailer and jewelry company in in Metro Denver. And so while I was there, you know, I knew that I would essentially need the exact same kit that I take to a Basel or an SIHH. So I thought it'd be a good chance to try a new bag. And I had been looking at a handful of kind of very large shoulder bags, kind of large enough to hold a 15 inch laptop, my MacBook Pro and a bunch of gear. So a camera, a few lenses, all sorts of batteries, a flash, you know, a USB battery pack, all sorts of cables, all sorts of bits and bobs. and still be able to easily get it on and off an airplane, etc. And I was looking at, let's see, the Lowepro Urban Reporter 350, which is a very basic looking bag, but had a bunch of kind of intelligent features. But the reviews kind of suggested that the straps to secure the flap were really annoying to work with. And then I came across one from a brand called Tenba, T-E-N-B-A. I've owned one of their messenger bags in the past and thought it was fine. This is called the Tenba DNA 15 and it holds, as you would suggest, a 15 inch laptop. And then it's just an unbelievable amount of really, really intelligent space on the inside. So it has a camera insert that takes up about 90% of the, or maybe 95% of the inside of the bag. So you have a little bit of space if you want to say, cram a scarf or a camera strap or something like that down into the one side. And then the insert can come out entirely. It has all sorts of pockets. It has a rear like access pocket for, um, papers and pens and things like, like an admin pocket. And then the top flap has a full zipper. So with the flap closed on what's essentially a messenger bag with the flap closed, you can actually open this zipper and still access the camera or anything that's kind of in the main compartment of the bag without taking the bag off. Nice. And then the, uh, the flap lid flap thing, is secured by Velcro, but they've got Velcro that's directionally quieter. So if you just open it, it's quite loud. Yeah. But if you pull down as you open it, like if you put it on a table and then pull down on the bag as you open it, the Velcro is almost silent. Really? Huh. It's really cool technology. |
| Jason Heaton | Is that something you knew about or did you discover it just by accident? |
| James Stacy | No, it's like part of the feature list for the bag is that Wow. If you, you know, it's a quieter Velcro. It's not silent. Velcro can't be silent because it has to be mounted to something. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | But if you pull down on the Velcro on the flap, as you tear the Velcro, it's quite quiet. And then when you have the Velcro closed, the Velcro, these two pieces of Velcro, which is, you know, maybe fist sized each, each piece is actually enough to support the whole weight of the bag with the lift handle. Oh, wow. But if you want, you can, you know, not if you want, I mean, by design, there's also these two little, um, leashed keepers that are magnetic but are side clip, so they can't be pulled off going up or down. Yeah. It's just a clever design, so you can pop them off with your thumb, but if somebody pulls on the flap in the direction it's meant to go, up or down, it won't disconnect the little keepers, which is really cool. And then there's some pockets on the outside and around the side, you can get a water bottle in there. And even fully loaded, so I took I probably like 30 or 40 items, raw items in the bag, everything that I listed previously. It would, um, fit under the seat of, uh, the, you know, the seat storage in an airplane. Wow. Uh, upright. So there's just enough storage there for essentially a laptop and that's its maximum height. And then of course it would easily lie down as well. The straps quite comfortable, but basically this is probably the best bag I've ever used for these needs. And I used it all weekend at this Hyde Park watch fair and it worked beautifully. You know, the bag was, I paid 200 ish Canadian, 230 after tax Canadian. So it's probably like 170 bucks American. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | And I love it. It's in kind of a stealthy gray color. I can't say enough nice things about it. I have yet to find a weakness, so I'm very excited to take it to SIHH and give it a real like week-long run for its money, but right now I'm just absolutely blown away. It's a little on the expensive side, I guess, for a bag, but at that price, it's really a no-brainer if it does achieve to be as good as it appeared to be this weekend. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, it sounds like it's the right mix of clever design features without being too kind of gimmicky. I think some bags try too hard to kind of wow you with features, and then a lot of them They're either so specific that they just aren't versatile enough or they just kind of are too confusing to figure out. And this one just seems smart, like that directional Velcro and kind of the access for the interior from the zipper. I mean, it's, those are, those are smart features that you could actually use. And I, I liked that it fits a water bottle, um, a laptop and your camera gear. I mean, those, those are kind of three things that are just kind of handy on a road trip. And, uh, It's very urban looking too. I like that sort of sleek color. It doesn't look too techie and outdoorsy. |
| James Stacy | It's inoffensive. It doesn't look like you're about to climb a mountain. It also doesn't look like you're, you know, carrying insurance papers. You know, it doesn't look forcibly bland. Right. But it's certainly inoffensive and it has like, you know, a strong focus on size. You can get different sizes. The DNA 15 is just the biggest one. Yeah. And I found it just a really nice way to move a lot of gear on an airplane to another place and then use it as essentially my home base at this, uh, this event. So the, the, the event was pretty cool. And I met a handful of listeners, guys, everyone who's listening. It was awesome to, uh, to have met all of you. Uh, probably a few too many people to simply list out, but it was a blast. Uh, Hyde Park does, uh, an annual watch fair, which is like a really mini Basel. So there's about nearly 20 brands that actually sent their own representatives. Wow. And a lot of really, really special watches to this store. And the store has a Breitling boutique and an Omega boutique and then like a really big space with a bunch of brands that all had kind of their own case. So everyone from Vacheron Constantin to Tudor to Panerai to Omega to Vortec to Cartier. I mean, there were just a lot of really great brands and they all had some really, really cool watches because it's fully supported by the brands themselves. It's not just a retail exercise. Yeah. And then anybody who wants to show up to this mall can essentially play with whatever watch they want. So that's everything from, I mean, you could come in and play with a Vortec or an Omega all the way up to, man, they had a Hublot LaFerrari that people are going nuts about. Wow. I mean, you're not going to see that watch everywhere. It's $350,000. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And what's cool is that it was in Denver. I mean, nothing gets Denver, but it's like Minneapolis. We're kind of, you know, neither LA or New York where this stuff shows up more regularly. So that's really cool that it was in Denver. That's awesome. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. And the thing that stands out is not just that it was in Denver, but the quality, the level of watch nerdery within Hyde Park's clients was unbelievable. So it's one thing that I was able to meet 10 or 12 people who really like the Grenado or a blog to watch. It's another thing entirely that they have a whole group of people who just really love watches. Yeah. I met a guy wearing an Oaken Oscar, Burnham, who then the same day bought a JLC Universal Time. |
| Unknown | Oh wow. |
| James Stacy | In steel. Yeah. Legit watch guy. I mean like had the one of the widest spectrums of like value taste I'd ever seen from something like a JLC to Patek Philippe to, uh, you know, Panerai and, and IWCs and, and all sorts. And then of course, within those brands, all sorts of different branches and, and, uh, man, they had some really, really cool watches. They had, uh, the big pilot perpetual. Oh yeah. But the boutique edition for Miami. So all of the loom and the hands are bright yellow. |
| Unknown | Huh? |
| James Stacy | And that watch didn't last the weekend. It sold. Wow. Man, was that a cool watch in person. I mean, like I've seen that watch before and certainly a follow Adam on Instagram and he's, he's got a kind of original version. So I had seen it before, but in yellow, so much punch. Yeah. And they had, uh, they have a, a, a pretty considerable collection of Patek Philippe there. So I got to see a 5270R. I mean, as far as modern Patek's go, that's pretty amazing. And I mean, what a movement and it's a lot of fun to just have essentially as much time as you want to shoot a watch like that. And the Instagram takeover went really well. So lots of really cool watches, everything from Casio to Patek Philippe, literally. And, uh, yeah, they had, um, they had a bunch of watches from the Omega museum collection. So we did, uh, you know, everything from very early Speedmasters all the way up to that, the full gold. Apollo Commemorative Edition. Oh, yeah. So they had some really cool stuff there. They also, out of the back, they just walked out of the back and they're like, hey, James, take a look at this. They had a 2004 Panerai Black Seal Compass. Oh, nice. So, you know, like, it's like, it's got to be 70 millimeters. Yeah. Or more. Maybe it's like 80 or 90. It was huge. Yeah. I took a picture of it next to a 47 millimeter Panerai. And it looks, of course, tiny, but this is one of these ones. It's limited to 300 units. Yeah. And yeah, and it had it was unworn from 2004. They had all the paperwork. And, you know, I posted if you go to where we did the takeover was for at HP jewels on Instagram. Yeah. And if you go there, you can see a picture of like a loom shot because I had my UV flashlight with me and you could see a picture of like the watch in person in the next two. I did like a four foot picture and the watch next to a current 47 millimeter luminor. Wow. Really, really wild stuff. I got a chance to see what may now be one of my most favorite dress watches on the market, which is the new or relatively new Vacheron 1955 Corne de Vache. I love that. And it's a 38.5 millimeter. This one's in rose gold. The original was in platinum. The rose gold's way cheaper, but what a really gorgeous watch. And then you put it on and it's so comfortable. It feels so wearable. I mean, viciously expensive being a VC, but just, yeah, just really, really cool. I had an, I had an absolute blast. And if you're anywhere in that Denver area, or really, if you just really love watches and want an excuse to go to Denver for a weekend, swing by this event, see if there's some brands you're interested in. I would say, even if you have no interest in buying a watch, you're not going to get this level of access a lot of other places. Again, you're there, like you're talking directly to people who work for the brand, same people you and I would see at SIHH or Basel. And it was a really cool event and it was so much nerdier and more enthusiastic about watches than I expected a retailer to be able to create. After having been there for the two days that the show ran, I totally get how they've managed to make a show that the brands actually participate in. Because a lot of brands aren't going to participate, especially not when they have to participate while standing next to another brand or in a room with 20 brands. That's just not something, that's not the way the Swiss watch industry works. But they got a lot of traffic and they got a lot of really cool people coming in and everybody wants to talk about watches. And, and yeah, like I said, I got the pleasure of meeting a handful of people who listened to the show and, and, uh, it was a really fun weekend and Denver's awesome. Definitely has a, an impressive base of watch nerds and some of those guys should really get together and make like a really killer watch club. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, that sounds like a great time. And I love the photos. I'm still, I keep going, going back to that, uh, that black seal compass. What a cool piece. |
| James Stacy | Oh yeah, that was really fun. I mean, they just, this store had been around for so long. It had been around for 40 years. They're kind of an institution in watch sales in Denver. And they had some really cool stuff and their watchmakers were awesome. Nice. They had a big office just full of cool watches, an amazing collection. One guy had a really cool Reverso eight days that had the power reserve as a single digit digital on the back. Huh. Wow. I had never seen it before. solid gold reverso and then you flipped it over and it was an otherwise clear case back with a little circle and it said you know four and that was four days of power reserve it's just super super cool stuff it was a really fun weekend of for like watches and and getting a chance to meet some guys that i you know that we know from instagram and such and that's basically all i've got for new business i'm really thrilled about the tenba And, uh, and I'm, you know, I'm pretty thrilled that you got your, uh, your emergency and that black hole looks great. So pretty solid new business, I'd say. Very good stuff. Yeah. Want to move on to, uh, some final notes? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Let's, uh, let's bring it in for a landing here. I've got just a couple today. Um, one is a, it's a movie actually that you told me about and I just watched it the other night. It's, um, it plays on, plays on Showtime. Um, so I'm not sure if you don't have a Showtime account or how that works, but, uh. |
| James Stacy | You should be able to find it on HBO Go as well. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, cool. Well, the movie's called Gringo and it's the story of John McAfee. And that name might ring a bell to a lot of people for a number of reasons. One of which is he was kind of a pioneer of the computer antivirus, uh, industry back in the early days, like in the late eighties. And, um, then he kind of sold out the business and took his millions and, and tried a few different things. One of which was build a yoga retreat, uh, in the mountains in Colorado. I think he got bored with that, sold everything and then moved down to Belize and kind of just set up this, you know, what struck me watching this movie was it was very much like an apocalypse now sort of setting or like a heart of darkness thing. He, he kind of moved into a jungle compound and surrounded himself with, um, some kind of shady characters, local guys that he was using for security because he was getting sort of paranoid the longer he lived there. And then there was this sort of muddy episode where a neighbor of his poisoned his dogs. So allegedly. Allegedly. And the neighbor turned up dead like a few days later and, um, under very mysterious circumstances. And then McAfee flees the country. And that was another reason why you might remember him because it was all over the news, you know, CNN and every other network was chasing him around and trying to get interviews and covering him and different stories were coming out at different times. And ends up back in the U.S. And just earlier this year, he was on the ticket for running for president under the Libertarian Party. You know, it's like just the most bizarre story. And it was one of these great, you know, sort of small scale, one person documentaries, like a camera and the host or the narrator, you know, the person who wrote the movie. And she did a great job of researching it. you know, chasing, chasing down leads and a lot of sort of back and forth emails with McAfee himself and interviews with some of his cronies. And, um, just really a, a great story. Like I said, it just, it was two thirds of the way through the movie. I'm like, this is, this is Colonel Kurtz. You know, he's, he's gone up the river into the jungle and kind of gone mad. And it's just, it's fascinating. |
| James Stacy | So yeah, it's a, it's a really, really, really crazy, crazy documentary. And if you liked You know, it's not a true crime documentary. It's just about McAfee, a little bit about his history, and then pretty much picks up with when he leaves the States. Yeah. Is when it starts to actually dig in with full details. And you know, he's kind of charismatic and strange in a way that seems appealing, but then they dig in enough and you're like, no, this guy may legitimately be nuts. Yeah. Like, like full on criminal nuts. Yeah. And you definitely get like a Kurtz vibe of like a guy who who is, yeah, on the fringe of both lunacy and society and is just trying to operate essentially external to the law and in some ways external to reality. I really, really recommend it. It's not something you're going to watch with your kids, certainly. Right. Yeah. There's some definitely adult themes and conversations and such, but a really fantastic documentary, which is very simple and straightforward in its delivery. Yeah. And of course, the McAfee story is far from over. So it essentially takes you to now. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, really, really good one. Highly recommended. And then the other the other just fun sort of final note that I've got is it's my latest food crush, which is Justin's dark chocolate peanut butter cups. You know, we don't usually talk about food or drink on the show unless we've got a glass of scotch going, which is often the case. But man, I discovered these on the trip to Glacier National Park. We stopped in at like this little shop in Great Falls, Montana, pick up some provisions for the road. And I found a couple bags of these things. And, you know, I've always been a fan of like Reese's peanut butter cups anyway, but oh, for sure. Like Justin's is the small brand I've seen in the stores. They do like almond butter and, you know, organic peanut butter and all this kind of stuff. And it's like dark chocolate peanut butter cups are, you know, I probably don't have to say any more because if you like that combination, |
| James Stacy | know you probably are either already know what these are or you're gonna run out and get them right after the show because they're just uh just fantastic so yeah i know i'm maybe not everywhere but i know in vancouver they they have them kind of in single packs at uh starbucks oh nice that's where i recognize the name and i've had them they are absolutely addictive nice and yeah for uh for my final notes i've got One video and one kind of cool Kickstarter item. So let's start with the Kickstarter item. It's the, uh, it's called the Fire Beaner by Outdoor Element. And it's, um, it's essentially a carabiner that has a bunch of tools somehow built into it. And it's a really clever design. I would actually just probably recommend people go to their Kickstarter page because by the time you're hearing this, there really won't be much left on the Kickstarter. There's eight days at the time of our recording. And they're well over they won $15,000. They're currently just under 70. And so it's a multi tool survival carabiner. You know, essentially, it has a screwdriver tip, a bottle opener has a kind of a fully protected utility blade, kind of like a seatbelt cutter has a slot for hanging like a ring for your keys if you want. It's made out of stainless steel has your kind of typical wire gate for uh the carabiner and then it uses what's called an ever spark fire wheel which is a very apparently a very reliable simple to use uh fire creation sure and i think they're about 12 let's see yeah 12 bucks it uh gets you in and then i'm sure there'll be a little bit more than that if you don't get to it fast enough and the kickstart is over Uh, so it looks like they're saying delivery will be somewhere around February, 2017. I bought a three pack just because I think they look pretty cool. And I like the idea of having the fire starter and the utility blade and just little things like that. Maybe it's gimmicky. I don't, I don't know until I see it, but, uh, you look at the technology behind the fire starting system, it uses actually like a rod of a certain material. And there's a nice video kind of explaining the product. So check that out. I think it's pretty cool. And certainly I backed it with, uh, my own. few dollars, it wasn't very expensive. Jason, did you get a chance to check out that? |
| Jason Heaton | I did. I mean, who'd think you could reinvent the carabiner? I mean, it kind of reminds me of the, at first it kind of reminded me of the S-biner from, what is it, Night Eyes that you were jazzed about a little earlier in the year. And between those two, I mean, it's a pretty killer kind of reinvention of the standard carabiner with some pretty cool tech with that. So I might pick up a couple of those too. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, I figure anytime that you're backpacking, you probably have at least a carabiner. So this could just be your normal carabiner. And then you have a few extra little tools, even if they're difficult to use in a pinch, they're going to be so much better than not having any of that. Yeah. Like maybe it's not as good as your standard fire starter, but even if it's half as good, it's just built into something you're going to carry anyways. Yeah. So there's some nice redundancy there. And then finally, my last one is a video from Chris Harris with topgear.com. So it's Chris Harris drives his web series and this is his coverage of Goodwood Revival, which is a giant kind of car gathering in the UK around vintage cars. And he was part of a race team that was driving a Jaguar E-Type. pseudo lightweight model. Nice. So not a true lightweight, but they have a term for it. These, um, these ones that have been modified to race in a similar manner to the E-type lightweights. Yeah. I don't want to say too much about the video because I think it's just, it's really beautifully shot and it captures kind of the overall scene of Goodwood Revival, which is very high on my list of things I would love to do at some point in my life. And then it covers some racing and all of it's really cool. And of course, Harris is a great host. It's one of my favorite kind of car personalities. So, you know, hit the show notes or just go to topgear.com and check out their video. Again, that's Chris Harris at the glorious Goodwood driving the Jaguar E-Type in kind of a vintage race series. And they were driving very hard. It really is a fantastic sort of video. |
| Jason Heaton | I'm going to check that out. That sounds awesome. I mean, Goodwood, E-Type, Chris Harris. Can't go wrong. Love it. No, certainly not. Well, as always, thanks so much for listening. Hit the show notes for more details. You can follow us on Instagram. I'm at jasonheaton and James is at jestacy. And follow the show at TheGreyNado. If you have any questions for us, please do write TheGreyNado at gmail.com. And please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts or grab the feed from TheGreyNado.com. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive. |
| James Stacy | And until next time, we leave you with this quote from the great Ansel Adams. In wisdom gathered over time, I have found that every experience is a form of exploration. |