The Grey NATO – 192 – The Perfect Three-Watch Collection (2022 Edition)

Published on Thu, 12 May 2022 07:14:28 -0400

Synopsis

Jason and James discuss how they would spend $10,000 on a 3-watch collection if they had to start over from scratch. Jason proposes getting an Omega Seamaster Professional 300M, a vintage Doxa dive watch, and either a Seiko dive watch or a CWC quartz watch as an affordable, rugged option. James considers several options centered around dive watches he enjoys, such as the Pelagos GMT from Tudor and a GMT version of the Seamaster 300M. They banter about the appeal of resetting their collections and curating the perfect trio within a budget. For his entertainment picks, Jason highly recommends the Apple TV+ series "Slow Horses" starring Gary Oldman, while James suggests checking out "Tokyo Vice" on HBO.

Transcript

Speaker
Jason Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Grey Nato, a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 192, and it's proudly brought to you by the ever-growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And those of you that are listening that might want to support the show and aren't already, Please do visit thegraynado.com for more details. James, your bags are packed. You're ready to fly out here any minute here now, right?
James Yeah, I'm still batting 1,000 on COVID tests. Apparently, I remain untouchable. My luck has to run out at some point, I assume. But so far, we're good. But yeah, I'm actually... So the previous episode was kind of timed around a New York trip and then I was home for, I don't know what is eight or nine days or something. And now I'm back, I'm going back to New York this time just for some meetings. Um, uh, sadly it's a, it's a pretty full schedule. So if you're one of the folks that, um, you know, pings me when I get to the city, uh, to see if I might be around, I don't think I will be this time. Uh, but hopefully, you know, now, now that the New York travel route is kind of open and easily understood, uh, we should be able to make that up. And, and, uh, you know, we're probably, uh, What do you think, Jason? We're probably at least in the zone to start thinking about a get-together at some point. I think so. Maybe after the summer or something like that. And we actually have a pretty exciting in-person event that we can announce soon, but I don't think we can announce yet. So keep in mind for that. And that'll be a little later this year, which will be super fun. But Jason, you know what? I do want to say just before we dig into the show, you had mentioned the supporter crew and such in our little opening, our repetitive opening blurb. If you're on the fence about the $5 a month or the $100 a year, which gets you the strap and the stickers and the rest of it, the last episode of the Q&A is really, I think, something worth considering, testing the waters at $5 a month for. We had a really good time with it, one of the most fun episodes I think we've recorded in a while, eh, Jason?
Jason Yeah, I really enjoyed that. It was, it was a good crop of questions and I think, um, I don't know, he and I just seemed kind of tuned up for that. Yeah. Yeah. It was a long episode too. I think we'll, and it's funny, you know, we finished, I think we did, I don't know, maybe 14 questions or thereabouts. And I think we've got at least that many already queued up for the next one, which we'll record in a few weeks.
James Well, yeah. If you want to know about some of the music that we connect with our watches or who we think would win in a bar fight or that kind of stuff, uh, Net now might be a good time to jump in. We're going to start really leaning into those Q&A episodes, making them nice and long, taking every question, even the silly ones. We really enjoy those. So if you've been on the fence, not a bad time to consider one or the other of the two levels, especially with the five, you could, you know, if you really didn't like it, you could just bounce back to the normal feed. Other than that, Jason, I mean, what's new? You're back. It's been what? You've been home for like 10, 11 days. Are you about back on a normal sleep schedule? They say it's like something like an hour a day that you get back, right?
Jason Well, that seems to be holding true. Yeah, you're right. I think it's been 11 days. And I went to sleep at 10 o'clock last night, got up at about 5.15. So yeah, I think that's fairly normal for me, especially in the summer. It starts to get light around that time. So I can live with that. I'm happy with that. I don't mind getting up early. I just don't like, I don't like early being 1 a.m. So it's, it's nice to be back to.
James I mean, five feels pretty early for me, but I do, I have enjoyed those. So I've been trying, I don't know if I talked about this on the podcast or maybe you and I have just chatted about it, but you know, the pandemic really, like I became kind of lazy in terms of when I would get up in the morning. Yeah. It could be late. It could be nine 30, 10, like later than when I was a kid later than when I was in my teens, that sort of thing. Yeah. And it's just because like, why, like you're getting it. And all I need to do is roll over and make a cup of coffee and put my laptop in my lap and start working. Right. So I've been trying to kind of let the sun teach me how to get closer back to say seven o'clock. I'm not, I'm not going to go crazy here. And I don't mind getting up at six if it's to go diving or whatever, but I don't really want to get up that early. Uh, just because, uh, uh, seven, seven 30 feels pretty comfortable these days. And that's kind of where I'm pushing, but the sun is making it easier to wake up in the morning and be already bright out. Yeah. Kind of feel like, Oh, it's going to be a nice sunny day today. Yeah. Has been a real kind of like positive change over the last few weeks here. So that's good. Oh yeah. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. And then speaking of general timing, uh, we were just chatting before we started recording. It's, it seems like you, you got out of Sri Lanka while, while it was still kind of a straightforward thing, right?
Jason Yeah. I mean, for any of them, anyone out there who's been, watching or listening to the news lately. I think now Sri Lanka is really popping up in the news because the prime minister has now resigned and he's fled to the naval base on the East coast and kind of bunkered himself in there and, uh, full on, um, riots in the streets. And it's, it's a real shame to kind of watch and hear from family and friends over there that see what's going on. You know, I, I don't want to kind of hype up only the bad side. I think, you know, I've talked enough about how, how great Sri Lanka is, how much I love the country. And, um, you know, it's just a shame that these, peaceful protests that had been going on for a month, uh, since pretty much the day we arrived over there in early April have gotten really ugly. And I think it was inevitable. And I think, you know, change is needed there. And, and I don't know, I just, I hope things improve. It's, it's a very, uh, hour to hour situation these days. So we're, we're watching that closely, but yeah, I, uh, we fortunately Gashani and I got out, um, just days before things, you know, things hit the fan over there and, uh, happy to be home, but also, you know, thinking about all of our, uh, our friends and family over there.
James Absolutely. Yeah. No, it's a, it's a scary time. And you've been sending me some updates. I've been catching a little bit of it on, uh, on Instagram as well. So, uh, hopefully this is one of those things where something has to kind of not, not to sound naive and let's face it. I probably am naive on this topic, but we're some things have to change very rapidly to allow a base for something good to come up. Yeah. Yeah. So hopefully that's the case. Obviously, uh, uh, it seems like the whole world is dealing with its fair share of, uh, political problems, but that hits home, especially like both figuratively and literally with you having been there for so long. So yeah, we'll definitely, definitely keep that in mind. And if we see a good way of supporting, uh, the, the folks at Sri Lanka, let's, let's try and find an outcome, uh, you know, kind of true to form with what we like to do. Yeah. Um, other than that, I mean, I, I don't have a ton to report. Obviously I was in New York and then have been back and trying to catch up with, uh, with work, which I really haven't, I'm way behind. Yeah. And then, Technically, I'm supposed to leave for the airport in about 20 minutes.
Jason We should probably dive into the topic.
James Candle at both ends, I think. Yeah, exactly. How about we do a little bit of wrist check? Because you've got kind of a cool watch and a highlight of another cool watch.
Jason Yeah, I've got on a pretty cool watch. It came from a friend over at Citizen. They sent it just before I went to Sri Lanka. I didn't pack it long, but I've been wearing it off and on since I got back. This is the Citizen EcoDrive ProMaster Diver 200 meter, and it's a watch with a titanium case almost like a textured almost looks like it's been powder coated kind of a dark very dark gray almost black titanium case and then it has this blue camo dial and the case shape is that sort of square case with the sort of ears on the corners and almost like I don't know if you remember the the Seiko had that watch called the ashtray back in the early 80s and this was kind of a competitor to that I think from the early 80s Citizen made a watch that was water resistant to about, I think it was 1300 meters or some strange depth rating. And this sort of pays homage to that. And it's a, it's cool. It's a cool watch. It's not, I wouldn't say it's exactly my... Oh, I found it here. Ah, what's, is there a reference number for this, this beast?
James Yeah, it's the BN0228-06W. So I would recommend the show notes. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. This is a really cool looking thing. Is it huge? It's 47.
Jason It's huge in that it's square, but the lug to lug isn't, isn't huge because it's exactly square. And then it's, it's, it's really thin. I mean, it's, I mean, it's only 200 meter water resistant, but for the kind of the width of it, it sits very flat, like extremely flat on the wrist.
James Got a big kind of plow prof style bezel.
Jason Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, and then that kind of knurled crown that citizens used over the years on their like eco, what was it? The ecozilla and autozilla stuff. And, Kind of funky hands, great loom. You know, I'll admit I like some camo when it's done tastefully. This is kind of cool because it's blue. Kind of gives you that like, you know, spear fisherman sort of look to it. Right. Great, real flexy, soft rubber strap and a big chunky buckle. So, you know, it weighs nothing. So it's a fun watch and being an eco drive, it's very grab and go.
James My wife always says that you're good, unless you're maybe in the military or whatever, obviously, but everyone's good with one piece of camo. With pants, stick to just pants. Don't do the shirt as well. If it's a jacket, don't also do the... Just be chill with one piece. Yeah, exactly. So I think a strap or a dial makes a lot of sense.
Jason And this is cool looking for sure. It is very cool. And it's a watch that, like I said, just isn't my taste, but I'm enjoying it. I'm actually, I went for a run this morning. I had it on and it, you know, it doesn't weigh anything. So it was kind of good for that. And, uh, the bezel has this sort of weird, like light, almost plasticky feel almost doesn't make any noise when you turn it, but it's solid. It feels good. So, and then, um, you know, I wanted to mention that, uh, I've caught, caught a glimpse of a couple of new, uh, Aqua lands that citizen has released. And this is part of that legendary, Uh, you know first generation aqualand looking watch they kind of went from the co 23 Reference name to the jp 2000s that came in the 90s. And this one's the jp 2007-17w is the one that i've got my eye on and that's uh It's the one with the full loom dial and it's the old aqualand case. So it's the one with the kind of the The depth sensor that sticks out on the left side. I mean, it's classic looks and then with that that full loom dial I mean, I love this thing. It's super cool watch
James Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it looks like the series is called the JP 200 and it's, and they've added two new models. So it's this loom dial, which let's face it, that's probably the move. Or there's this shiny kind of gradient sunburst sort of bluey dial one. Yeah. I'm just trying to see what the price point is on these. Cause I'm also pretty keen. Yeah. Yeah. 430 euros. So probably probably what was that? Five, 600 bucks us maybe less, you know, Also, every time I'm on their website now to look at that previous one, the square titanium one that you've got, and they've got 20% off. So maybe your deal is just to check their website specifically. But yeah, I think it's super fun to see more of the specifically enthusiast stuff from Citizen. These are not going to be big sellers. These aren't going to be watches that hit their top 20 SKUs. You know what I mean? But for, for folks who really love a dive watch, especially the eighties sort of dive watch, I want to say like a, the, the original was like mid eighties, 85, 86. Yeah. Yeah. And, and it has, the other thing I really like about this is they're still doing it where the buttons almost like with the G shark, the four buttons have labels or the three buttons, but here it's like it's printed on the case rather than being like painted or something. It almost looks a bit like a little, like a light engraving. Yeah. And it just has that like tool-ish sort of not quite tactical sort of vibe. Yeah, these are cool. I would definitely get one of these in for review and do a little diving if I could and that sort of thing. So maybe something to consider over the summer.
Jason Yeah, right. So what have you got on? Actually, I know what you have on. I was going to wear the same thing, but then I switched just to be different.
James Yeah, I got excited because I saw yours. I was like, oh, we'll talk. But Don from Vertex, who we've had on a past episode, check the show notes for that. We've been going back and forth because I really wanted to check out the M60 Aqualion, which you've talked about a ton. We've talked about it a bunch on past episodes. We don't need a ton of detail on this one, but I will be doing a hands-on with Hodinkee, so stay tuned for that. But I waited a little bit because they do a DLC version now. So it's full black, no date, with a bracelet. And honestly, like from opening the container, the watch comes in, which is kind of the only word for it. It's not a box or really even a case. It's a container. It's sort of in the zone of a Pelican, which I think you talked about when we first talked about this watch. And then it's all custom cut foam, straps, tools, little container for spare spring bars, because everything's quick change. So like bracelet comes on and off in 10 seconds. From the get go to wearing it on my wrist for a couple of days, I'm floored. Oh, yeah. I think it's an excellent watch. The lume is incredible. One of the best bezels I've ever come across. The only thing I could compare it to would be something like an Ocean King from Manta, where it really feels like somebody went to the extra effort to not do anything off the shelf. Right. So it's still a micro brand, if you want to call it that. It's still like a $3,000 watch, right? A little bit more actually, because I think it's like 3,000 pounds. Yeah. Give or take. And I think you could spend 20 minutes with this watch and understand why it costs what it costs. The bezel is flat out incredible. It's up there with a Pelagos. It's up there with the Ocean King. It just feels really sure-footed. It's also like to do a... I've talked about this before, but to do a high quality 60 click bezel is pretty difficult. And this one is exactly what you want. The loom is wild. It's obviously great timekeeping with the COSC movement. You know, 600 meters water resistance. It's 40 millimeters. It's not too thick. It's not too big lug to lug. It's got two pin spring bar positions. Oh, right. Yeah. So you can you can kind of tailor it whether it's for NATO or to get this really close fit on the bracelet. It's just a lot of attention to detail nicely made. It's not inexpensive like you know, it's, it's not like you're buying, uh, uh, you know, when any of the many micro brands under a thousand dollars, but it is one of these things where maybe you've had a run of all the watches that are under five grand and you want something a little bit more interesting, a little bit left field or, or more like directly attached to a person in this case with Don and his team. Yeah. And, and I think you start to see the value here. I mean, you, Jason, you and I are fan of micro brands in the first, in the first place. Uh, but this is my first, um, time having a verdict in person for more than about five minutes, I'd seen them on a press uh, a car press launched years ago. Uh, the, uh, the bronze, the early bronze one. But, uh, I think this is a, an excellent dive watch. It feels super high quality, nicely made, nice size, great on a NATO. I'm happy with it.
Jason I think your, your analogy to, to a Monte is a good one. I hadn't thought about that, but you know, this is, these are brands that they, because they're, they're smaller, they're less known. Um, And they're selling into a space that's occupied by a lot of the bigger brands in the tutors of the world and the Bramonts almost. Right. Um, they have to try harder and they do try harder. I mean, you look at the packaging, you look at the, the number of straps and tools and just the attention to detail. And it's like, you realize that, you know, if big brands tried this hard, you know, you, you, you'd be floored and to get it from a brand that's essentially run by one guy. And you're right. I mean, the bezel's fantastic and I don't think I almost think there isn't a watch that has better loom, bar none, than these Vertexes. I wear mine to sleep in every now and then, especially with jet lag, and I can wake up at 2.30 in the morning and look, and it's just glowing like a torch. It's bright all the time.
James Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It uses that X1 Super LumiNova, which can be milled. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So the actual dial furniture is made of loom. That's the easiest way to describe it. It's not loom in a little setting, kind of like a jewel would go in a setting. we're going to you know, uh, proclivity of mine. Uh, I'll like a watch that has good loom, but if you, if you're used to a fresh Seiko with big markers, a monster, uh, you know, a good sake, an SKX, uh, this is, uh, I would say the step above that in terms of brightness. It's just very impressive. Yeah. Cool piece. Uh, you know, congrats to Don on that. Uh, I'll, I'll collect all my thoughts together into a story, which will come out, uh, probably sometime in may. So, uh, stay tuned for that. Uh, what do you say you want to get into the main topic?
Jason Yeah. Um, we're kind of revisiting something that we did, and I think you said episode 33 or something like way 33.
James Yeah. Like, yeah. And it came up in that, in that thread we opened, uh, when you were off for gallbladder issues, we, we asked people to suggest show ideas. And one of them was, you know, when you guys did the perfect 10, $10,000 watch trio, you both picked your Rolex and neither of those could be bought on their own for 10 grand today.
Unknown Yeah.
James So that's kind of the difference between episode 33 and episode 192. We wanted to update this for 2022. It's kind of a nice straightforward watch heavy topic. So again, this is 10 grand and just how would we spend it? If you could snap your fingers and your collection went away and you had 10 grand in your pocket that you had to spend on watches, how would you do it? And the idea kind of being like one that doesn't really leave you looking for any more watches. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So Jason, I've got several scenarios. I think you probably do too. So why don't you start painting us the picture of how this might work for you?
Jason Yeah. I mean, it's funny you say that. It's kind of an appealing prospect that if you just wipe the slate clean, where would you start? I don't know why that's appealing. I mean, I love all my watches, but it's almost impossible to do that because your tastes presumably are attached to watches that you have or something similar. And so I almost can't get away from ones that I already own. And I think my choices here reflect that. I mean, I think most of them, if not, well, no, with a couple of exceptions are watches that I do own. Um, and you know what I decided if I were to start all over again, I'm not going to pretend that I, I'm going to, you know, look for a chronograph or a dress watch. I mean, that's not me. I mean, every time I try that, like it fails, not even a chrono. So I'm, I'm, I mean, I think I have, I do have a chronograph in here. Um, but it's a dive chronograph and I'm just going all divers. I mean, that's what I wear all the time. Yeah. And if I'm not wearing a diver, I wish I was wearing a diver. So I think my strategy here was to go, if you have three watches with, with 10 grand to spend, I wanted to do something where I've got something modern that I wear most of the time that I'm really happy with. That's kind of my, I don't want to say halo piece, but you know, the, the one that is the most special, um, And then something vintage because I do like wearing vintage every now and then I don't wear it very often because of the lack of loom and rarity, water resistance, et cetera. But I do like a vintage piece, especially an old diver. And then like a third one that would be typically something affordable, but definitely something rugged, something that, you know, I'm not going to use the word beater, but you know, a lot of people would use that term. So, you know, to kind of come up with that threesome, what I end up with are variations of what I have and then you could kind of substitute in different pieces from my existing collection that are sort of iterations of the same theme. So I'll start with kind of my first scenario and that is, big surprise, most of my 10 grand will go towards the Seamaster Pro. Having worn mine, the white dial one, since, gosh, what was it, September, on the rubber strap for the most part, Uh, this is a $5,100 retail watch. Now, assuming you could get some of these, if not all, any of these that we're going to suggest either pre-owned or with some level of discount, you know, you can, you can play with it as you will, but, um, it retails for 5,100 on the rubber strap. Uh, you know, having worn this since last fall, almost, almost nonstop, it's, it's gotta be in my collection. I mean, it's, it's, it's a fantastic watch. I think I've teased out enough time. The honeymoon's over and I'm still wearing it. So I think that's a really solid choice. It's, it's a great, um, could be an only watch. I wear it, you know, you can wear it every day. You can do pretty much anything in it. Good water resistance, anti-magnetic, et cetera. And then, uh, I got to go with, with, for the vintage option, I'm going with a sub 300 T Doxa. Now I've got, if I were to look at my current collection, I do have one vintage Doxa. I've got a T graph, the black dial T graph. So I kind of tick that box with my collection, but that that's worth a little more nowadays. So I can't fit that into a $10,000 budget. But, um, in this scenario, I'm going to go with like a sub 300 T, which you can still get for, gosh, I've seen them as low as 2,500 still, but you know, let's say $3,500 for a good example. Yeah. I'd probably go for probably a shark hunter or a sea rambler, depending on kind of the condition. Uh, I'm not a huge orange dial professional fan, so I'd probably go with, with a sharky or a, or a sea rambler. Uh, so that gets me, you know, up tickling 9,000. Um, and then that leaves me, you know, a grand or a little over. So, so then I'm going to go with, uh, my beloved, you know, CWC, uh, that's going to be my kind of affordable rugged piece that, that, um, if, if I go with the courts option, which, uh, retails from CWC new for $675 leaves me a lot of money left over that I can just, you know, buy a ton of NATO straps because that's all it takes. Um, And that's the watch that I would kind of just pack away as a backup on a trip or kind of just wear it for more rough duty. Although I love the watch, I'd wear it a lot as well. But if I wanted to kind of get right up against the $10,000 budget, I'd maybe swap out that CWC for something like the SPB 143 Seiko that you have, which retails for 1200. And I think that would be right at about 10 grand. And I think that would be a really solid, really solid trio. I'd get in my vintage diver, I'd get kind of that higher end Omega and then, um, you know, something from Japan, a good, solid, handsome, rugged Seiko or, uh, that quartz CWC. And that would get me right up next to $10,000. So that's, absolutely. That's kind of my first, my first go at it. Um, what do you think of those?
James I think that makes a lot of sense. I mean, obviously the Seamaster Pro has kind of like really won you over recently. So I think it's, it's a nice update. Cause that's not a watch you would have picked in on episode 33. Yeah, definitely. Right. We weren't talking about that watch. It was in, it was out in a few versions. Now you can get a ton. I'm curious if you were to rebuy that watch today in a vacuum, would you go with the white one again or something? The green, the new green one?
Jason I think I'd still go white. I think it's still the best looking one. I actually, I don't know if, you know, the other ones actually, appeal to me less. I think the green one's cool, but I think I'd tire of it. Black one's a little too shiny, predictable, shiny. Yeah. Oh yeah. And then blue, blue one is too blue. It's a lot of blue. I agree.
James So you remember back in the day when they, when they were doing the 1120 based ones, they had a blue electric dial. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. With, with the sword hands, but it had a steel bezel, like a relief bezel that kind of balances it. The new ones are a lot of blue, especially if you compare them to you know, like the mid nineties bond, like the, the original bond bond Seamaster. It was a, yeah, it wasn't as bright and it wasn't quite as vivid. Vivid's probably a better word. Yeah. So I, I feel you on that one. I love the white for sure. And then a Doxa sub new old.
Jason I mean, I think, I think vintage Doxas, I mean, I think you need one for one thing. I just think everybody that's into dive watches needs like a vintage Doxa. I think it is the, they're the coolest, vintage dive watches. I think, you know, you can get a vintage Rolex or vintage Seamaster or whatever, but once you handle like a vintage Doxa, I think, you know, when I came to Vancouver that time, I brought my, my silver dial T graph, which I don't have anymore. But, you know, you felt that watch, it feels as solid and as heavy and as like awesome as a, as a new one, doesn't it? Yeah.
James Yep. And it's appeal is different than a new one.
Unknown Yeah.
James Yeah. You know what I mean? They're distinct in that they're old. Right. Right. So look, I've got several options here. I made three different options. You can tell it's tough to decide. The fun thing is, is if I was going to reset today and I couldn't have the Explorer 2, I think I'd finally fulfill that role and get into Tudor. Because there'd be no reason to be patient on something that may not exist anymore. So the first kind of trio that I thought up would be the Pelagos Blue, which I've really been eyeing lately. Especially as I start to wear a few watches that are like 41, 42 millimeters, and I go like, why do I think that the Pelagos is too big? This is not. Yeah. So yeah, that may happen on its own anyways. It would be the Tudor Pelagos blue, which is 4750. I love the bracelet. I love the strap. Amazing bezel, great loom. We talk about this watch basically every episode. And then obviously me being me, I need a GMT. Yeah. my options under... That would suit a $10,000 budget that still needs three watches, don't really leave you that many. There's an obvious one, but I think the Black Bay GMT and the Pelagos is a little bit much. Yeah, yeah. I would probably go with the Zinn 144ST GMT, which I owned years ago. Interesting choice. And they're worth about three times as much now, so you're looking at around three grand for a tidy 144, maybe even a little bit more. Wow. Yeah. But that watch would check all the boxes for a watch that isn't a dive watch in my world. So a multifunction tool watch, nicely made, not too big, great on a bunch of straps, really fun on a bracelet, chronograph and GMT. And sure, it's not a flyer GMT, it's a collar, but it is a collar that I found quite useful because it's a 12 hour setup. Oh, right. So you can still kind of jump that hand around or you can hide it versus a 24 hour hand where when you're jumping it, it's kind of a different zone. So that would be my option for the second one. So now we've got a nice titanium dive watch, a solid German chronograph GMT, do it all. And then to finish, this one's a little bit nebulous because it's kind of a changing world, but I would probably just try and find a tidy, fun gold or gold plated vintage watch. So if I could do something like my chronograph Swiss for whatever I have left, 2250, Super. If I could do something like my men's stop with the bracelet, the Buran super, I would just want something that could kind of check the box for nerdy dressy and fun gold all in one. Yeah. Because there are scenarios in which the Zen and the tutor, there are scenarios in which I dress for the Zen and the tutor would be fine, but wouldn't really have a style that I want, if that makes sense. And then the gold would absolutely hit it. So something like the Buran, something like the chronograph Swiss, that would check my vintage box and the gold, which is kind of my favorite zone these days is for vintage watches. And I think that would be my first trio. And that, like I said, depending on what I spent on the vintage watch, I'd be somewhere between, you know, 88, 50 and 10 grand.
Jason Yeah. I like those choices. I mean, I think, I mean, let's face it, you know, your choices aren't going to work for me and probably vice versa. I think we come close in our tastes, but I think your three very much suit you and your tastes. Like, like for me, I'm not into gold. I'm not into kind of a dressier watch. And I, but I think, I think those are perfect. And it's funny because it's almost like watches that, that I feel like you already own or own some, some version of, even though you don't have those, but you know, we've talked about it enough. It's almost like an unofficial James Stacy watch for whatever reason.
James I should probably make that happen at some point.
Jason I'd have to pick between that and the carbon. My issue with the GMT, you know, I, I've realized I used to think I wanted a GMT, but, and then until that Pelagos GMT comes around, my issue with the GMT is odds are when I'm traveling, there's some water involved in some way. Yeah. And then I always think like I do own a GMT actually, I own a grand Seiko GMT, which is a, has fantastic functionality. It's a beautiful watch. I never wear it ever bought it in Japan. I kind of keep it for sentimental reasons, but like the, like that's like a business traveler's watch, you know, and I'm not a business traveler. I'm kind of a vacation holiday adventure traveler. And that usually involves getting wet and dirty and whatever else. So my GMT would have to be something like a dive GMT. And I haven't quite found the perfect one yet.
James You know, the, the, the thing is, and I can say this and nothing more, um, there is something coming out later, uh, that would check some of these boxes at a price point. People aren't necessarily ready for I can't say anything more than that. But you know, it's not watch this space. It's certainly not my our announcement. But yeah, yeah, there's the the options will will continue to grow, I think, for GMTs. And those that can, you know, do double duty on on a vacation, you know, the other one you could do, if you if you really max out your other two budgets, and it wouldn't be one that I would absolutely consider. I still talk about it a fair bit, is that Seiko Kinetic SU1023. Oh, yeah. Right. So that's a big watch, but you wear it while diving. Who cares? Like it's a vacation watch. Who cares if it's... I think it's 46 or 47. Yeah. Never felt big in my life. Nice rubber strap, black case, mega loom, local jumping, quartz, all the stuff. It did everything. I took it diving in Hawaii a few times back 17 or 16. And it was just... It was awesome. Might even in 2015, um, great watch. And I think they're worth maybe five or $600. I think maybe this is like seven 50. Yeah. So that way you could, you could really do, uh, um, my problem is like, I don't want to buy a dive GMT and also have the Pelagos. Cause I'm just going to want to take the Pelagos. This is one of those scenarios where we need that. Um, for those of you who listened to the Q and a, there's a fantastic question about kind of dream modules for watch straps, like those compasses, like the, uh, uh, uh, Breitling UTC things. And I had suggested, you know, a sort of cool titanium clip on or integrated link sort of solution that was just a little digital screen that could show you another time zone and keep up with a dive watch. So maybe that on, on a Pelagos would kind of do it or, or I mean the Pelagos that, that, I mean, talk about a broken record. Uh, yeah. GMT Pelagos of some sort.
Jason Well, you know, as you were talking, I was thinking of kind of flipping around my, my trio, my scenario and, and rather than go with, brand new Seamaster Pro, if I still kind of want that same vibe, you have to remember those Seamaster professionals, kind of the previous generation, actually maybe a couple generations ago, like the Bond era, like late 90s, maybe early 2000s, they actually made a GMT Seamaster Pro diver. Do you remember that? Had like a little red hand?
James Well, they made the blue wavedial one. Yeah. So that was the, with the 1120 base, that was the same, the watches that would eventually become the great white, Yeah. Two, five, three, four. And then the black version of the same watch, both watches that are, uh, were on my list for this challenge, because you can, you can snap those up. I actually don't know what the one with the little red arrow hand would cost or the reference. My apologies. Yeah. But the, the, the great white and the, the, the black version of that same watch, like they're still around for about three grand, 3,500 bucks with a bracelet, probably with most of the box of papers, all that kind of like, that's, that's pretty, pretty compelling combination. Yeah. Of dive and travel watch. I mean, those have a 24 hour bezel, which is a bit of a bummer, right?
Jason Right. But if you go with the dive version with the little red hand, I mean, that's just got the 24 hour scale on the dial.
James And I believe that's local jumping. I'll find that reference for the show notes.
Jason Cause then I could really flip things around. Then you could go like, okay, now I'm ad-libbing here. I'm going off script. Yeah, please. But, but you know, you could, and again, I don't know the exact prices of these, but let's say, let's say you can get one of these Seamaster Pro, early 2000s with a little red hand, the GMT version. You know, if you've got one of those used, uh, which that's the only way you can get it nowadays, um, for let's say three grand, then, then you've got a little more money to play with. Then you could go new Doxa or, or something higher end for, for a newer watch. And then you kind of hit all the, all the scenarios. I've got my travel GMT with sort of the vintagey flavor to it, you know, sort of like an older style, kind of cool watch, get a little faded out. That could be kind of fun.
James Yeah, so this is the... It turns out I was wrong. This watch actually came out later than the GMTs I listed, because it's a coaxial movement. Oh, it is? Oh, okay. Man, this is a compelling watch. Hold on. So it's a mid era Bond, so not the early 90s one, but not the ceramic dial one. Yeah. It's kind of in that zone between. The reference is a 2535.80, so 80 is the bracelet, that's your Bond bracelet. So it's a 2535 S&P 300 M GMT. Oh, yeah. Uh, let's see if I can find what one of those might go for it. I don't know, man. This is cool.
Jason Oh, that is cool.
James Hmm. Now I do wonder what the, if it's a flyer or a caller, I think it's a flyer. Yeah. I believe it would be a flyer if it's using, uh, the coaxial movement. Cause it'd be the same that's on conceivably the PO GMT. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anywhere from, you know, I'm looking at Krono 24, so good luck. If there's one in your area, I think you can do pretty well here, but I'm, I'm seeing everything from, 3,400 bucks up.
Unknown Yeah.
James So a lot of watch for that money. Good looking, super blue, really blue with the bezel. But then you, you've got the, the GMT. Yeah. That's compelling. Good pull. Really good pull. Yeah. Did not hit my radar.
Jason Yeah. What else? You've got another scenario here that looks also compelling, if not even more compelling in my eyes. Yeah. Two or three. Two. I like, I don't, well, I like, I like parts of both of your seconds.
James Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'll blend them. So look, we've got maybe 10 minutes left before I have to jump in an Uber to get to the airport. Yeah. I'm going to buzz through a few of the other ones. So my option two was a Tudor Black Bay GMT, a watch I still adore, fantastic functionality, really in my mind still the go-to GMT watch for anyone, because I just don't know how you get a GMT master these days. Or like, I don't know that I would want a GMT master over Yeah. A black, a black Bay GMT just for taste. Yeah. If we get into a 16, 7, 10, then you're in a different zone. Cause of my love of five digit Rolexes, but the six digit ones, I see them a lot. I think I'd rather the black Bay GMT. And so that's 48 60. And then in this zone, I thought, well, I still need a real true dive watch. So that'd be the, the docks of carbon white Pearl 39 90, which is super fun. I imagine those are two watches that could like kind of exist in the same space, but it couldn't be more different. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And then, you know, with whatever's left there, which is actually not an insignificant amount of money, I figured you got to balance this out in my zone with something of a dress watch, something with a gold case. So this is that weird little Seiko 33 and a half millimeter quartz with the high accuracy quartz, the Dolce SACM 150. And I just said like, and then let me spend like another four or $500 on straps. Yeah. Because it's got drilled lugs. It just begs for different straps. This is what you wear and don't even notice. It's really handsome. super easy to wear, right? Yeah. And a watch that I'm still really very much enjoying and just trying to figure out the most fun way to write a story about it. And then the other, the option three, which is kind of a fun one. And I think there's zones where you could kind of take one from all of these options, but it would be the carbon white pearl and a Breitling aerospace, probably the early... I couldn't get a full gold one for this money. I think it would cost me like 11 grand, is what I've seen those go for, for the full gold aerospace, which is super fun. Hilarious, but super fun. Well, it's because they're on a full gold bracelet. At that point, the weight of the metal comes into play. But an aerospace, I think you could still get a 56062 or maybe even one a little bit later than that. Still 40 millimeters, still really thin. No backlight. You've got to go to the newer ones or even up to an Evo to get the backlight, but I could deal without and that would be a travel watch, a sports watch, a running watch, my chronograph, all that kind of stuff. And they're like, I think 1500 bucks is a fair thing to say for those, but they're kind of all over the map. It'd be a question of finding one. And then if you got lucky and there wasn't competition, you could make an offer and that kind of thing. And then I've got a ton of money left here. If I do the white Pearl and the aerospace, like the better part of five grand, I think it would hunt down an interesting, um, Cartier tank, something courts, maybe a Vermeer, a must, a Cartier, there's something with a cool dial that I could put a ton of different straps on. I think you'd have to hunt to get one for five grand. Like you could get something really small for probably two or three, maybe even less. Sometimes I see them for less, but to get one kind of in the mid, mid-size range. And, uh, and that kind of worked, I think then imagine, you know, the white Pearl, the aerospace in a Cartier tank is kind of, you're, you're playing three games at once. That's not, none of those are happening on the same field.
Jason That's crazy. That, that Cartier then would actually be the most, spendy of the, of the trio for your 10 grand. I think you could make it that way. Probably the one that you'd wear the least. That's, that's a, that's an interesting kind of flip of the equation there.
James Yeah. I mean the truth is like, I think if I was starting all over again, the first call I'd make would be for Pelagos. Yeah. Yeah. And then, and then I would, I would, I probably, you know, hope to just come across a good, a GMT that's, that's of interest to me. And then, yeah. And then I would spend the rest on like just quietly, like I'd be watching whatever, retro watch guys got for gold, you know, all that kind of stuff and just kind of snapping, snapping that kind of stuff up. But I think that's kind of where my mind is today on, on three watch stuff. I think if you're, if you're in a scenario where, yeah, you had to reset your collection, uh, or that sort of thing, I don't know that you can, it'd be, I don't think I could do a three watch collection today and not end up with a tutor. Yeah.
Jason It's the easy thing, right? Yeah.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason I mean, it's such an interesting exercise and, and for some reason, like I said, it's, it, it, it's appealing. The idea is a very appealing. It's almost like, We should have like a big fire sale and just purge, purge our collections and whittle it down. But I don't know, you know, what happens is, you know, the rest of my collection now actually become sort of, like I said, these iterations of the same theme. So I could substitute my tornic Rayville for the CWC or this old benthos I've got for the T graph or like a Braymont for the sea master, you know, so. I think what we're talking about here aren't very specific watches necessarily. It's taking that budget and finding watches of a specific genre or type.
James Yeah. And I mean, the truth is, let's say if this number was five grand, I would have just said, get me an S302 and a dressy Seiko. Because I still wear that Braymont a ton. It does dive and GMT really well, it's just the right size. So any one of these ones in the $3,000 to $5,000 range from my picks could easily become a Bremont. That's kind of the pinch hitter in that scenario, whether it was maybe too difficult to find something else or whatnot. I hold that Bremont right up there with the Pelagos in my mind, a very focused, easy to wear, I think really handsome looking dive GMT, which is my preference. Cool. Well, you want to jump into some final notes so we can maybe not miss my flight.
Jason Yeah, definitely. I'll go first. I, um, my jet lag time, uh, was spent, uh, binging a bunch of shows. I mentioned this, uh, last time we, we had a proper episode. Um, and one of the, the series that, that we watched was slow horses. And, um, this is, uh, a very, uh, high recommendation for me. Um, I read the book, I think I had talked about even the book a while back by, uh, Mick Herron. Uh, he's written a whole series, um, of the kind of the slough house is a books. These are very kind of clever, witty, very different takes on kind of the spy novel genre. And this, um, the series on Apple TV, uh, based on the first book is just fantastic. And, you know, starting off, I was, I was skeptical, you know, as I always am when, when a movie or show is made out of a book, but, uh, it's, it's perfect in terms of location and casting. And I think just kind of the general tone. And then of course, uh, Gary Oldman is, is, oh my goodness. I mean, he's always good no matter what he does, but like having seen him in Tinker Taylor playing George Smiley and then here playing Jackson lamb in slow horses, like it's couldn't be a more different character, but he, he nails that as well. And then there's this guy who plays a river Cartwright, um, kind of the, maybe you call him the main protagonist of the story. Uh, he's played by Jack Loudon. who I think I've seen before, but I can't place him, but he does a bunch of stuff. Yeah. He's, he's good.
James So I, I, you know, I just finished this as well. I absolutely adored it. It's it's such a razor sharp take on like modern, like even the bureaucracy or the internal politics of being part of a modern spy outfit. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And there's these different levels and there's a lot of like prestige and looking over, looking down at one's nose at people who've made mistakes and, And then you have Lamb, who you don't really understand. He seems like an oaf, a louse, you know, just kind of a trash dude, right? And it turns out that's not accurate. It's just that he's at a point in his life where he doesn't really care about first impressions.
Unknown Right.
James And it turns out he plays this kind of interesting role. I think the casting is incredible. I really like Jack Lowden. It took me a little while to realize what was hitting for me with his performance. And it's because it really feels like Simon Pegg. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Who I'm a huge fan of. Yeah. He kind of looks like he could be a Simon Pegg's brother or cousin or something like that, especially with the hair, the way he is. If you see his picture on Google image search or whatever, you're kind of like, no, this guy's a bit of a shape shifter. But the way he looks in in this definitely hit. And and I love the specificity, you know, the building where they shot Slough House is the actual building that McCarron would walk by. Yeah. When he was writing the books. And and the fun thing is, is this isn't one of those ones where you watch the first season and then you're going to have to wait two years for the next one. The second season's already shot. Yeah. I noticed that. And it should come out. There's no, I don't believe there's at least when we're recording this, I don't believe there's a release date, but we shouldn't have to wait super long for it. But I, I co-sign what Jason said. This is a must watch. Um, not one for kids, like some really fantastic bad language, but other than that, super watchable, slow and patient, um, with, with all sorts of good payoff and great writing. Yeah. Fantastic stuff. What do you have? My pick for this week is actually also a show that I've enjoyed because I would have talked about Slow Horses either at the top or as my pick. I'm now about five episodes into Tokyo Vice, which a couple of folks sent us emails about because Michael Mann is involved with it. So I got a lot of DMs when this was announced, like, oh, it's, you know, it's Ansel Eggert, who was the lead and baby driver doing a show based on this book called Tokyo Vice. The show's being kind of run and set up by J.T. Rogers, whose name you might know. He has quite a history in stage plays and other stuff like that. And then Michael Mann is one of the E.P.'s. It's this like super patient, deeply character driven look at a young man, young American man who decides to move to Tokyo to try and become a crime reporter at a newspaper that's never hired a foreigner. And in the process, he's kind of likable, but also is an outsider. And so people on both sides of the law, cops and the Yakuza kind of attached to him as friends. And it becomes this kind of complicated noir with a love triangle and some other stuff. And I'm really enjoying it. It's not a run and gun. There's some violence for sure, but it's not, it's not a cowboy, you know, it's not a heat. It's not something like that. Um, it's a little bit more patient, a little bit more deliberate. And if you're either a fan of kind of crime, novellas like this or or if you just love Tokyo as a setting. Yeah, I think they do both of those elements really well. And as good as Ansel Eggert can be or is, I think he's OK in this. But it has Ken Watanabe, who's just like one of the best. And then there's a handful of people who are kind of new to me, including Rinko Kikuchi and Sho Kasamatsu. My apology for the pronunciation, but their performances are can't I can't really look away. Not only not only are you kind of drawn in by the subtitles, but also these, these performances and the writing is really strong. Um, yeah, I highly recommend, uh, Tokyo vice. I think you're better to start with slow horses if you just want something to hit. Yeah. The first couple of episodes of slow horses are really slow, like almost intentionally. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, you, they kind of highlight the boredom of those, these people's jobs and what their existence is now. But, uh, yeah, both of these, uh, absolutely recommend both winners.
Jason Yeah. A couple of good picks. Where's Tokyo vice playing?
James Uh, HBO. Oh, okay. Cool. Yeah. So, uh, definitely worth it. And the sole horses, like you said, is Apple TV. So those are, those are your options. I think these days everybody can get everything. Well, not everywhere in the world, but most places. So, uh, I would say either one of these is worth the subscription for the month. And then you can decide if there's other stuff you like on there.
Jason Cool. Well, that was a fun episode and, uh, I don't think you're, you're hopefully, hopefully you're not in jeopardy of missing your flight.
James My Uber should be here in four minutes. Oh, there we go. Uh, so I'll, uh, I'll save the file and, uh, and I'll download your side of the chat when I get to the airport and hopefully make it through customs. Awesome. As always, you know, thanks so much for listening, uh, for, for everything that you guys do for the show and supporting Jason and I, uh, be it directly through the supporter system or just sending emails and doing the Instagram stuff and listening to the show and sharing it with your friends. We appreciate all of that. If you'd like to subscribe to The Show Notes, get into the comments for each episode, and maybe even consider supporting the show directly, which can get you, you know, a TGN signed NATO and a sticker and that kind of stuff, please just visit TheGreyNATO.com. And music throughout is Siesta by Jazzer via the Free Music Archive.
Jason And we leave you with this quote from E.F. Schumacher, who said, Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.