The Grey NATO – 206 Re-Reupload – New Watches! Pelagos 39, Diver's Sixty-Five 12H, And The Steel Doxa Army

Published on Tue, 13 Sep 2022 12:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

The hosts discuss several new sports watch releases, including the steel Doxa Army, the new 39mm Tudor Pelagos, and the Oris Diver 65 with the Caliber 400 movement. They analyze the designs, specs, pricing, and how these watches fit into the respective brand lineups. One host is auctioning off his Doxa Sub 300 Poseidon edition to raise money for a children's charity in Sri Lanka. For final notes, one host recommends a book about the construction of the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier, while the other recommends a YouTube channel that modifies children's ride-on vehicles with powerful engines.

Transcript

Speaker
Jason Heaton Hello and welcome to another episode of The Grey Nado, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 206 and it's proudly brought to you by our growing TGN supporter crew and we thank you all so much for your continued support. If you'd like to support the show and you aren't already, please visit thegreynado.com for more details. James, second episode back from our summer break. It's starting to feel like back to school time or something here. We've done a few this week.
Unknown Yeah, it sure is. Yeah, this will be our third recording this week because you're going away this weekend and into the next. And it works out fine to do a Friday recording. Should be a nice light topic. You know, we're talking about new sports watches, so it's not exactly the hardest show out there. I wanted to say a big thank you for everyone who kind of Rocked up to the last episode and we great numbers on that episode. And we were so thrilled to have Kim on to talk about the book and to be back after the summer break and the rest of it. So just a, you know, a continued thank you for keeping the show in your list and, and, you know, downloading it the day it comes out, all that kind of stuff, uh, means the world. And it turned out to be a great episode. I think I hope, uh, hope Kim's. happy at the way it turned out and, uh, and the, the book gets the recognition it deserves.
Jason Heaton Yeah, me too. I mean, I, I heard from several people who kind of rekindled their interest in, in picking up some Fleming books and, uh, and just the bond universe in general. And, and, uh, you know, sadly, I think Kim's book isn't available in the U S for, for quite some time. I think she told us in the interview that, uh, it was gonna be early next year, which, um, um, who knows, maybe there's some back back channels, people can work to get the book. You and I were fortunate to get that advanced copy.
Unknown Yeah, I do wonder if maybe like Kindle or some of the other ones that aren't necessarily distribution based would be available, or maybe that's how the licensing works. Like for them to have the Kindle, they have to carry the paperback or all that kind of stuff. But if it looks like it's not going to come out in North America and some other spots until later, we'll mention it again when it does come out and keep an eye out on that and just give people a heads up. But yeah, 205 came out nicely. The books were added. And to your point, I also did the same sort of thing where I listened to the interview and edited it for the, for the episode. And then like immediately on my Kindle went and bought Casino Royale. And then yesterday I was, I was, um, I was just feeling like I needed a little break. And I started watching Goldeneye, which I don't think I'd watched since I was going to say 11, 12, something like that.
None Wow.
Unknown Yeah. And I actually don't know if I ever saw the whole movie. Like, I think I might've seen an edit of it on TV or maybe something taped to a VHS at a friend's house or something like that. And I really enjoyed it. Credit to what you and Kim were saying in the interview. It does hold up and it's pretty good. I mean, I don't know. I'll go through the other Brosnan ones. There's definitely a couple in there I've never seen, but that one works out really well. Bean's a solid bad guy. It's got the, kind of the big set pieces and the, you know.
Jason Heaton The stunts are off the charts.
Unknown I mean, they're some of the best. Yeah. Some great ones. I enjoyed it quite a bit. If, uh, if, if you think that they don't necessarily carry the same execution as a Daniel Craig bond, for example, the tone's different for sure. The nineties are different than, than when Craig came along, but they're, they're lovely and they're a little bit more goofy, but not to the point that's like distracting. They're just kind of. Right. A little bit more funny, a little bit more, you know, there's, there's little site gags and stuff going on with Q, like the, the guy getting stuck in the phone booth and that kind of stuff. And it's all, it's all kind of funny. And I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a, it's cool. I do agree with the car being a weird, a weird sort of thing as they move into the BMW stuff to see him in the, you know, that, you know, the kind of second opening of GoldenEye where he's in the DB5 outside of Monaco. Yeah. It really feels perfect. Yeah. Um, and having driven those roads, that's a lot of fun. I haven't driven them in a, you know, in a DB five or a three 55, but, uh, some good roads out that way for sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I mean, it makes me think that, that, you know, as we're digressing further into this, uh, more bond talk, but it makes me think that the, um, the first film of each of the bond actors tends to be kind of their best. I mean, live and let die was good with Roger Moore. And of course, Dr. No was fantastic. Uh, golden eyes, casino Royale. on Her Majesty's Secret Service, which was Lazenby's only film. But yeah, it's like they hit a high point early. Dalton only did two.
Unknown So yeah, I think I've only ever seen the second one.
Jason Heaton Yeah, and his were his are worth watching again. You know, he was he was kind of that reboot that that Bond needed and kind of had that gritty tone that that people really loved about Daniel Craig's version. So yeah, definitely worth going back and checking those out as well as the books. So that's I guess I guess we can leave it there with with the Bond talk and kind of a trail over from from 205. But yeah, we got good response on that episode.
Unknown We did. And the truth is, on my side, I didn't get up to that much other than working. Like since we recorded 205, we've done a Q&A, which will come out in a couple days, a few days before this episode. For those of you who are on the supporter side, you'll get the Q&A. It was a really fun one. But yeah, I haven't gotten up to a ton. I've just been working a bunch. You know, obviously, there's a bunch of new watches out this week, including a couple that we're going to talk about in a minute that I spent some time covering and really thinking about and trying to understand and that kind of thing. So that was kind of my whole week.
None Yeah.
Unknown Um, was just, uh, just getting back into the flow of work. How about you? What have, what have you been up to? I know you're, you're looking forward to a getaway pretty imminently.
Jason Heaton Yeah, we, you know, um, end of summer, uh, it's a good time to kind of do, do a camping trip. We, we haven't done one yet this year and, uh, you know, Labor Day weekend's obviously a big outdoors weekend around here. So we decided to kind of, delay it slightly. And we're actually going to leave on Sunday, um, kind of after the, the big crowds kind of head up North and go up and spend a few nights camping in a couple of state parks along the North shore of Lake Superior. We're going to, um, you know, crash out in the back of the defender. Uh, you know, we've got that cool moon shade awning and, uh, and kind of a little mattress that we put in the back and the camp stove, and we're going to do a lot of hiking and, Um, the weather looks promising from, from this distance that they're calling for like cool nights and, and kind of lukewarm days, which always makes good, good hiking weather, good camping weather. Just hope the bugs aren't too bad, but yeah, it should be, it should be fun to get out in the woods. Um, you know, we've had a great summer, but just haven't, haven't done that type of stuff that we used to do so much more of. And so I'm really looking forward to it.
Unknown That's great. Yeah. I'm glad to hear it. Uh, definitely. Uh, I may be in a tent this weekend as well, but it'll just be up at the cottage and Doing that kind of stuff with, uh, yeah, with the kind of last, last weekend of summer before kids are back in school and all that kind of stuff. So it's a good, a good trip for sure.
Jason Heaton I've got, um, I've got a little bit of news. Uh, this is kind of exciting actually. And I've been, I've been trying to time this, uh, just right with a couple of weeks that I'm at home and can kind of pay attention to it. Uh, I'm actually auctioning off a watch, a pretty interesting watch for a good cause. you know, I won't, I won't bury the lead here that the watch is actually my Doxa sub 300 diving star Poseidon edition. So this is the yellow dial diving star that Doxa made back in, I believe it was 2018. Um, they made 500 pieces, uh, in collaboration with the dive equipment company Poseidon, and it's a really cool watch and, uh, I'm auctioning it off. So as, as most of, you know, uh, from, from TGN and from my sub stack and Instagram, et cetera, um, I'm, I've spent a lot of time in Sri Lanka. My wife is from there and I even set my first novel there. And also if you've paid attention to the news over the past few months, you might know that Sri Lanka has been going through some hardships in terms of their country's economic crisis and political crisis. And, you know, we saw it firsthand and it's just gotten worse since we left back in April. You know, they've just suffered from a lot of fuel shortages and power outages, and there's been a scarcity of medicines, including like rabies vaccines, which is something that I needed while I was there. But most critically, it's like food shortages. And I just was trying to kind of figure out a way that I could do my part short of, you know, reaching out to family and friends there to contribute something to, to some efforts. And a good friend of Gashani's and mine is actually has started a real grassroots project called the New Gagoda Children's Meal Club. And what they're doing is they're providing, lunches for school children at two schools, um, and then hoping to expand further with, uh, with funds that they can raise. And it's really extraordinary when, when I learned about, you know, what it takes to kind of feed these kids and, uh, you know, for 50 cents in us money, which is about 170 rupees, uh, on the Sri Lankan side, they can provide a lunch for a child. And currently they're able only to do this once a week with their current funding. So, I'm hoping that by, by getting some good bids and auctioning off this really cool docs, I can raise, uh, some decent money that I can then contribute to the new bigger to children's meal club. And they can start, you know, just feeding a lot more kids and expand it beyond just those two schools. And certainly, you know, with any type of charity or fundraising that you see these days, and let's face it, we're all inundated by this, whether it's Sri Lanka or Ukraine or anything else. Um, you know, we get a little bit of fatigue. from, from reading about or hearing about this stuff. And I understand that. So if anyone has any specific questions about where the money's going or how this operation is working, I'm more than happy to answer questions. You can send me a direct message on Instagram or write to me at, uh, you can write to the gray NATO at gmail.com if you want to ask me about that. But in terms of the auction itself, I'm planning on, well, as of this episode, which goes up on September 8th, I will actually be, uh, the post will have gone up on Wednesday, September 7th. And, um, people can just bid by directly including their bid in the comments, or you can, you can privately direct message me or email me and I'll add your bid to the kind of growing comment list. And I'll try to keep the highest bid at the top of the comments. So people can just kind of check, but be sure to kind of scroll through and look. And then I'm going to close the bidding on Monday, September 12th at 12 noon central time. And, uh, and then, you know, I'll work with, with whoever got the winning bid to collect the funds and I'll ship the watch right away wherever FedEx delivers at my expense. But if you do live outside the US, you'll have to pay any import duties if your country charges those. So that's kind of the scoop. I don't know if I missed anything there. If you have any questions, like I said, just hit me up with a question. This watch is really cool. Like I said, this was a pre-production Sub 300 Diving Star. So it's actually an unnumbered edition. Comes in the original Doxa tube with extra links on the bracelet. Um, I'm going to throw in a new isoframe rubber strap for it. Um, and, and this watch I've actually used all over the world, including in Sri Lanka and Ghoshani wore it on her wrist when we were diving in Sri Lanka a number of years ago. So it's, it's been all underwater, several places around the world. Um, and it's still in good running shape. It has a few marks from, from regular wear, but yeah, it's a, it's a really cool, one of a kind, a great piece from, from DOCSIS history.
Unknown That's rad. Cool idea. Great watch. And a chance for someone to get a watch. They can't just go out and buy too. Yeah. Um, all, all while supporting, I mean, what has to be a pretty, pretty straightforward thing to put your money towards kids get the right. Yeah. It's not that hard to understand. Yeah. I hope, uh, I hope people show up in force on that, especially if you're keen on, uh, on a cool yellow Doxa. Yeah. Good idea. Yeah. I like doing these every now and then these, uh, these auctions, I think they work out pretty well. Um, and when you have, you can make some difference and really what do you lose a watch that you've got? right you've had your time with and that sort of thing but somebody else gets the the warm and fuzzies and the watch at the same time yeah kind of win-win yeah definitely all right well um speaking of watches uh how about a wrist check yeah for sure i'm wearing um the fairer aquamatic thurso wow i wasn't expecting that so i've actually had this watch for a while kind of too long i have so many watches in for um hands-on that i have to catch up on so i'm making kind of a concerted effort to put those on my personal calendar and actually get it done. Yeah. And the cool thing is, it's not that any of these don't deserve a hands on the certainly the fair is a great example of a really cool dive watch that offers a vibe that like an SPB doesn't, or, you know, Seiko citizens, that kind of thing don't really replicate, I would think the closest you could get to something like this might be from Zodiac. It's just a ton of color. Yeah. Um, but the, the Aquamatic was a line they announced a while back. I think they've been loosely hard to come by, but they seem to be mostly in stock currently. And they're these like really punchy, vibrant 38.5 millimeter steel dive watches. Yeah. So 20 millimeter lugs, um, a hair under 12 millimeters thick and 45 millimeters lug to lug. So a really nice size. you know, it's fair. If you, if you've come across their watches, they really do a lovely job from, you know, what is it? Maybe $800 to about $2,500. If we're talking like an auto Chrono limited edition, that sort of thing. But the sweet spot is definitely probably like 800 to $1,500. Yeah. And Jason, you've had some experience with their stuff. I've had in several of these over, over not this exact model or anything, but several of their models over time. And, and, and I like it. I think it does exactly what it says on the tin, which is like, it's just this kind of bright, bold, colorful dive watch. Uh, that's nicely made and doesn't cost a ton of money. Um, they come in a few different versions. Obviously the Thurso is sort of the silver white dial with mostly light blue, green kind of teal accents, and then some orange additional accents. This is what fair kind of does best is they can find all these weird color combinations where in your mind you go like, I don't know how well that would necessarily work. Yeah. I would also assume that they probably have a certain following with certain models that have exact colors of various sports teams. Like there must be a sports team that has this teal and white.
None Oh yeah, I think the big Miami Dolphins.
Unknown And orange. The Dolphins, thank you. There it is. Yeah, right. I'm so bad with sports, but yeah, like I think the colorways are pretty fun. You know, you can get it on a fitted rubber or a bracelet if you want, and it's a thousand bucks. I like it. I'm impressed so far, like I have been with their other stuff. I don't think it's something that's like very hard to understand. It's this Lita SW200 automatic. So again, pretty, pretty straightforward. And they've got a few different colorways. If you wanted to, you know, try something that, that wasn't the, the Thurso color, color version, there's four watches in the Aquamatic collection. There's one that's more dark blues and reds. There's one that's black and red and light blue. And then there's like a white, kind of icy blue-green glacier sort of color called the Freshwater, which I think looks really good too. And they have really nice legibility and the loom's really good. You know, I'll have a whole thing for Hodinkee, of course, but this is what I've been wearing. It's put me in sort of a weekend mood, which I really need. And yeah, you know, thanks very much to FARE for loaning me one. And I promise I will get a story out as soon as possible.
Jason Heaton That's, uh, that's really cool. I just like, um, I can't say it's my personal taste, but I, I like brands that are like really stretching the boundaries and just being wholly original and fares always done a good job with that. Um, yeah, really cool. I would definitely opt for the freshwater version personally. Cause I'm, I'm not quite into the, the really bold, um, combinations, but, uh, yeah, they all look, they all look really sharp.
Unknown Yeah, I think the freshwater would have been my first choice, but for photos, I really thought that the, um, the Thurso would shine. Yeah. It's just a lot of color. It's going to jump off the page, that sort of thing. But for me, as much as I love fair and enjoy their stuff, I do wish occasionally they would take something like this Aquamatic dive watch and just do like, call it the boring. Like, I don't mind being told that maybe my taste is too, a little bit too boring for some of these brighter colors, but do one in a couple tones of gray or, or, or that sort of thing. You know, give me, give me, give me something a little bit more conventional. Um, but I do, I do love that. This is how they've kind of found their corner of the market is by doing these kind of bold, colorful, interesting watches that, that offer kind of, um, a vibe that you're not going to get, like I said, from your average Seiko or citizen or, or other micro brand. Right. Yeah. They're out here doing their own thing, which is super fun.
Jason Heaton Uh, what have you got on wrist? So I, In honor of one of the watches we're talking about today, I decided to pull out my only titanium blue dial dive watch with a helium valve and 500 meters of water resistance, and that is the Scurfa MS21. It was a very limited edition of their Diver 1 that they only made 100 of in 2021. Paul Scurfield, the owner of Scurfa, does this every year. He makes what the MS stands for, military spec, and he does a limited edition of this every year. And so it kind of hearkens to, you know, what you might expect from a CWC or something where it's, uh, you know, it's a fully hashed, uh, bezel and the big sword hands. And, and, you know, this one has a titanium case. He's made MS versions in the past with steel cases. And it's just, you know, I posted a photo on Instagram and somebody was like, you know, scurvy has spoiled me for other like affordable dive watches and, and, and people just, I get it, love scurvy stuff. And it's, The bezel action on this thing is better than any kind of, I mean, this watch is like a, I don't even know what they retail for these days, four or $500. I mean, they're just insanely affordable. And for what you get, the bezel action and the loom and the crown smoothness, and you know, it's titanium with a helium valve. And look, we've talked to Paul. Paul's like the real deal. I mean, he's tested these watches in saturation decompression chambers. He's a real enthusiast, a real collector. He knows what he likes in a watch. And I don't wear this enough. It's, it's just such a fantastic piece. Um, and I put it on a, on the gray Erica's original kind of MN style strap with the white stripe down the middle. And it really looks good. It came with a great blue rubber strap, um, that I don't wear very often, but, uh, it looks just great on this gray, this gray elastic strap. So.
Unknown Yeah. Great pick.
Jason Heaton I love that one. Yeah. Cool. Kind of a poor man's Pelagos, which is why I, why I decided to, uh, to wear it today.
Unknown Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. And with the Pelagos tag, do you want to get into the main topic?
Jason Heaton Yeah, let's do it. You know, Geneva Watch Days was this past week. And while there weren't a ton of kind of sports watches or dive watch specifics that came out of that event over in Switzerland, we wanted to talk about kind of some recent release sports watches, including a couple that came out of Geneva Watch Days. So we made a short list.
Unknown So where do you want to start? You want to start with the Doxa? Yeah, let's start with the Doxa. Yeah. Yeah, I'm pumped for this one.
Jason Heaton Yeah. So this is the Doxa Army. You might recall that there was a ceramic version that was done in very limited numbers, uh, last year with watches of Switzerland. And, you know, it was, it was a very muted, um, kind of high-tech, um, black colorway version of the Doxa Army that, that rare historic piece, the Doxa released back in the early seventies. Well, well, here we have the steel version and, and there are kind of two versions of it. There's the, the bronze version with the kind of hunter green, bezel, and then there's just the full stainless steel. And both are just super cool. I'm partial to the green and bronze. I think it looks just spectacular.
Unknown Yeah, you know, I think we're going to have some disagreements on this episode today. And I think this will be my first one. I don't like the green and the bronze at all. Oh, really? Not even one bit. But I do really just like the standard steel one. Yeah. So you're looking at a 42.5 millimeter case. It's about 12 millimeters thick, 300 meters water resistance. It's stainless steel. It looks like an army. It, uh, you know, it, it walks like an army and it wears like an army. I, I really liked this idea. I think that they've done a lovely job. I I'm looking forward to eventually seeing one in person. Um, and, and the other thing I like about these is what I like about a bunch of the docks is so you can pay 20, 50 on a strap for the steel bezel or 22 50 on a strap with the, um, the, this is a rubber strap with the bronze. And then on a bracelet, it's 20, 90 for the, the steel. And then it's 22 90 for the bronze. Um, I don't think you can go wrong with any of these, but that's also cause I don't think I would wear the rubber or the bracelet. I'd put it on a different strap immediately. Yeah. Either a, a much more thin tropic ask sort of rubber would be great or a NATO or an Erica's or something like that. But man, for 2050 for the base one, yeah, that is a really fun watch for the money. I like it a lot.
Jason Heaton Yeah. It's, it is very cool. I mean, just, just looking at the photos on their site, just the basic kind of hero shots straight on. Almost renders. They, they just, um, they just pop off. They, they pop off the page. Um, I, I like it on the bracelet. I love this particular version of the Doxa bracelet that has that, the, all the, the links start to taper out as it integrates with the case. Um, it just looks super good. And you've tried their rubber, right? You've, you've tried the rubber strap. Um, it doesn't work for my wrist.
Unknown It doesn't work. Okay. There's too much rubber. Oh, okay. Like it's, it's both too thick and has too much of its own shape. And then, because it has to fully integrate with the case. It doesn't allow for any articulation right at the case edge, like where the lug bars are. I think if you have the right wrist, if your wrist is maybe a little bit less bony than mine, or maybe a little bit wider around, it could work fine. But it's not to my liking. It has nothing to do with the quality of the strap or the clasp or any of that kind of stuff. It's all fine. It's FKM, very similar to what you'd find from Zen or otherwise. But there's just a little bit too much of it for me and the watch. My preference would absolutely be, like I said, any number of basically any other strap, for sure.
Jason Heaton What always strikes me about, you know, DOXs in general, and looking at this one too, it's just the wearability. I mean, this is a 42.5 millimeter watch in diameter, and if you consider that number, you think it's a big watch, but like 44.5 lug-to-lug, that's just downright wearable for almost anybody, and then less than 12 millimeters tall. Um, yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Unknown Yeah. And it's got a date. It's a Swiss automatic movement. They're not clear on their website. My guess is that means it's a Salida, but I don't want to be say something that's unfair. It could be either way. I don't think it makes that much of a difference between Salida or Etta, but it's one or the other. Um, and, uh, and yeah, I think for the, I think that they hit the right price point with these. I think that this brings legitimate competition to what you would pay for a 300 T at 1890. I think this is a more interesting, more fun, especially if you're already in the docks world. Maybe you've owned a 300 or 300 T or maybe you already have one or either. This gives you a completely different vibe. And I, you know, I love the little army logo. I love the tan dial. I think all of it works. I think they did a really nice job and I think at two grand a hair over two grand feels just fine for what it is these days.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. But you're not feeling the bronze.
Unknown You dislike it or you just, it's not your favorite. You know me, I don't like two-tone. Oh yeah, I don't mind. I think the green with the green insert with the green rubber is a nice look. But for me, green has been so trendy for the last like 18 months, but it's starting to tie it start like I'm starting to tire of it. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Um, it's not that it's bad or it doesn't work. I think it actually works really well with the cream color way. But for me, like to, to see a bronze bezel on a docs is just weird. Like it doesn't, it's incongruous.
Jason Heaton It threw me. Yeah.
Unknown Yeah. Um, and I just, I just think the, the, the steel one that's kind of closest to that theoretically what the original would have looked like without that kind of baked oil finish. Yeah. I think it's rad. Uh, you know, this is, this is the kind of thing that people were mimicking and sort of, making weird Seiko socks and mods and stuff to try and get to. And then of course we saw the, um, the synchron stuff a couple of years ago. And now we have what I would, you know, what, what you could kind of call the full, the full fat Doxa army. I love it.
None Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. Good one.
Unknown I think that's a good one. Definitely worth a, worth a peek if you're in that zone. And, and like I said, you know, I think they like that's, that's what half of what the, the, Uh ceramic one cost.
Jason Heaton Yeah, very reasonable. Yeah 2000 I think docks is in that sweet spot of uh, you know, once you start to creep up over two grand You start to take a much more critical eye I mean not that you can't take a critical eye to a watch like this, but you you just start to really Hem and haw and then I think 2000 is that that barrier that a lot of watch enthusiasts have that they think you know Yeah, this is good.
Unknown And you know, we we talk a lot about the the sub 300 and it's 2500 and I think at 2500 competition is a little different than a 2 grand. I still think both watches have a lot of merit. I still adore the 300. I love mine and you don't get a lot of wear out of it, but I think that they've added something to the lineup that's not only distinctive, but also pretty well priced within its placement. Yeah, true. Next up, well, let's not bury the lead. Let's hit the Tudor. Yeah, sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Very different watch, of course, than the Daxa Army in almost every respect.
Unknown Yeah. So Tudor has announced a 39 millimeter Pelagos. This will not be news to anyone who would listen to TGN. You would have heard this. Uh, the moment it came out, I wrote a, uh, a story for Hodinkee as quickly as I could that morning. I had no previous, you know, kind of advanced knowledge in any way of it. You know, now as, as I'm sitting here, there's almost 600 comments on the story. Um, I think that, um, Tudor has found an ability to occasionally really get people excited about something. But there, you know, there's always a caveat, like you haven't seen it in person or how is it different than this thing? Or how does it compare to here or that? And I think we're seeing a lot of that with the Pelgos 39. So the fast stuff, and you can definitely read the post, but it's 39 millimeters wide. And then it's just a hair under 12 millimeters, 11.8, 11.7, something like that. And 200 meters water resist, no HEV, currently only offered in double black. So black bezel, black dial, and it has a red, Pelagos signature. Other than that, it's within the same format as a Pelagos. So it's fully titanium. It has a ceramic bezel insert that's loomed. It comes with a titanium bracelet and the rubber strap. I will note that the titanium bracelet doesn't come with the self-adjusting like trick Pelagos buckle, which is kind of a shame. I'm sure we'll get into that because I know how Jason feels about the watch via his sub stack. And I've finished my post, but it'll go up a couple of days before this episode, the hands-on will go up a couple of days before this comes out. I would say the biggest thing that I want to say to anyone who's really interested in this watch, because that's me, I'm very interested in this watch, is it doesn't really look like it does in the renders. In a shadow where there's not direct light hitting that brushed bezel. So like the Pelagos that we know has like a super matte everything, like Teflon matte. Right? Yeah. No, no shininess, no real, they have a, I would say they might have a texture in the right light.
Jason Heaton It reminds me of the Plastidip that I just did my defender wheels with in a good way. It's a great, yeah.
Unknown Yep. So it has a little bit of, um, of a, yeah, sort of a paint like, um, almost like you would expect in some ways for it to be a little bit tacky, but of course it's not, it's ceramic. Yeah. Whereas with the, with this new one, the, the, the bezel insert has been radially brushed and what it does is it interacts with light in a way that's not at all matte. Yeah. And so in the, in shadows and that sort of thing, it definitely looks a lot like a smaller Pelagos. It has a deep black bezel, a very black dial, you know, square markers, big hands, enough dial texts, that sort of thing. But as soon as you hit it with the flash for a camera or, or stand next to a window, the side, the side of the bezel that's grabbing light is gray. It's a, it's a, it's a much brighter iridescent gray that also grabs like color from around the room, a tree outside the window or the color of the paint on the wall, that sort of thing. This is all stuff that I saw when I went to a Rolex here in Toronto. And I had maybe a little less than an hour with the watch. And that's the main thing I would say is like, obviously there's probably not many ways in which currently somebody would buy one of these without seeing it in person. You'd probably have to go to the store to buy it. Right. Right. But I would say like, as if you listen to what I'm saying today, I'm super impressed by the watch. I really like it. I admit, I do wish they just made a smaller, normal Pelagos. But this watch makes a few decisions, both in the brushing on the bezel, the change in water resistance, the lack of an HEV, and the clasp. The HEV and the water resistance, I don't really care so much, especially because you get it, it's thinner, right? Considerably thinner. But I do miss that clasp. Like for the $350 difference, they could have, I think they, I wish they had just made it the same price and offered the trick clasp. Maybe it couldn't be miniaturized to that extent. Maybe they didn't want it to be too close to the 42 millimeter line. Who knows, right? Who knows why? But what they did make, while it hits differently than a Pelagos, I do really like and I think I might need one. I'm still trying to decide if it's worth selling a few watches to make it happen. And also, I have lots of time. My guess is these will not be easy to get for a while. Yeah. And I can be patient. That's okay. I had an hour with one and really enjoyed it. The size is incredible. But what I would say is it hits more like a Submariner or a vintage Submariner or a vintage Tudor Sub than it does a Pelagos, if that makes sense.
Jason Heaton Sure. Yeah. And I think therein lies my disappointment in this. I, I, I, the Pelagos to me, it was always the, you know, their absolute, you know, top of the line, no holds barred watch. And I think to keep that name on the dial and kind of keep the, the general appearance of it and then shrink it down. I thought, why not just make that watch available in a smaller size? Like some other brands do. Um, you know, you, you could get smaller planet oceans, you could get smaller super oceans from Bradley, um, with, with the same spec, um, but just for smaller, smaller wrists or people that prefer a smaller form factor. And I think the stuff that I miss, I don't miss the water resistance or the HEV. I, I would prefer that it had those just because, flagships or flagships.
Unknown Yeah. Like why, why it's like if you buy an S class that has to have 30 airbags or whatever, like why not? Like I get it. I don't, I don't necessarily disagree.
Jason Heaton My analogy was, you know, they don't make the defender 92 wheel drive. Like they make the one 10 four wheel drive, you know, it's, it's just because it's smaller. It doesn't have to be less water resistance. I'm sure Tudor has tested this watch well beyond 200 meters if you know, and they could have made it 500, but like, I'm just wondering like, what's the decision making process? to eliminate these features. I don't know.
Unknown My guess is it's more that they wanted to make a conventional Pelagos, which I know is exactly what you just explained. Your kind of problem with the conventional Pelagos is that it is somewhat more conventional. It's a little bit closer to just another dive watch. For me, I loved the aesthetic. I adore the size. And really the only thing that I wish, like I said, that I would change myself would be if it could be full matte. Like if they could just make a 39mm version of the blue one, and if it's a question of case thickness or HEV, sure, leave the HEV off. That's what I saw in my mind, and when I saw the thing come out that said a 39mm Pelagos, I was like, Oh my goodness. Take my car. It's a small Pelagos. Right. Like let's, let's do this. And I saw it in person and I don't think I like it less. I like it way differently. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't, it doesn't hit like, um, like a blue Pelagos. It's a little bit more like, like in, within the, the, the two brand sphere, it feels more like, um, a 7,900, like a modern 7,900 series that, that crossed with a, with a Pelagos, if that makes sense, like a Tudor sub.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I feel like this one just is, it's a bridge too far. You know, it's like they took too much away the matte finish, the, those carved out, um, chapter ring.
Unknown Oh, the Ria. Yeah. The different.
Jason Heaton Yeah. The, the HEV, the, the, the, the clasp, you know, there's just, there's just, they've, they've kind of stripped it down or detuned it, um, to the point where it, it's just disappointing to me. I mean, visually it still looks nice when I'm glancing at it on the screen. Um, but if I held the two side by side, I just know I'd pick the 42 all the time. I just wish they just made a smaller version. I mean, I, I, you know, that's all I wish. It's not that it's a bad watch.
Unknown I also want to be clear, like sure. It doesn't have the spring loaded self adjuster. It does have T fit, which is really nice. And, and if, if the Pelagos class didn't exist, it's not like we'd all be going, you know, T fits not enough. Like I, this would not bother me as a day to day everyday watch, but you know, one, maybe once a year, once every two years, if I went to put it over a wetsuit, I'd go like, Oh, the normal one, I could just close it. Yeah.
Jason Heaton You know what I mean?
Unknown Like it would just adjust to it. Yeah. Um, so yeah, this, this like, just it, I would say that the clasp in my mind is a higher order priority than 300 meters of more water resistance that I can't use and an HEV that I'll never use. But I do understand your point. And the, the only, the only retort that I have to the idea that this is, A lesser Pelagos is like, it's literally a lesser Pelagos by design. Yeah. And you can still buy one of the other ones.
None Yeah.
Unknown Right. Right. And it is weird that one of us doesn't own one of those.
None Yeah.
Unknown I've come so close so many times.
Jason Heaton Well, I had one, I had one of the first generation, the two line ones with the ETA movement in it. And, and looking back, I wish I had kept it. I sold it on to our friend, Paul Hubbard. Not sure what's become of that watch. Paul, if you're listening and you still have that, let's talk. Um, but I think that might have moved on from his stable as well. But, uh, yeah. And then I did borrow the blue one for, for a few weeks. I've taken a diving and all sorts of other things. And, and I guess if I were to go back and pick a Pelagos for me, the blue is, would be very tempting, but it's gotta be the LHD. I mean, that one just stole my heart. You do love the LHD. The red, um, date wheel that the red text on the dial that's slightly creamy loom. I know we're not talking about the LHD, I'll digress a little bit and say that'd be the one for me. Come on. We're talking Pelicans.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for me, it's, it's the weird, the weird thing is like, uh, as much as I, the, the blue is my favorite has been my favorite for a long time. The 39 is enough for me simply with its lug to lug. Yeah. Because it means I could wear this watch every day. I don't own a Tudor and it's been a brand that's been on my mind for years. I've come really close to a couple of different ones, a black Bay, Navy blue. You know, there, there were times when, the credit card was like half typed out. Yeah. That sort of thing. You know, the, I was most of the way through the PayPal process, that sort of thing. I think this one does it for me. And you know, as much as I, as much as I love and respect the main Pelagos, I also know that this is the one that would actually work on my wrist and in my day to day. And I know that if I bought a blue Pelagos, I would wear it a lot in the summer and then not that much the rest of the year. Sure. When I, when I've got a sleeve, when I have a jacket, when I have, when I'm doing stuff where I'm going to slam it into stuff, that sort of thing. Whereas this, I, this feels more everyday to me and it makes the compromises in my mind fine because I know that it's still a full spec dive watch. It just isn't, it isn't the same sort of flagship that the, um, that the, the standard one is. And, and yeah, it's funny because you could almost look at this like the Submariner to the Sea-Dweller with the Pelagos, the standard Pelagos being a Sea-Dweller. Or you could look at it the other way where this is kind of like Tudor's Sea-Dweller for the 58. It depends on which way you want it to go, that the analogy doesn't really hold up in either direction. Yeah. But you know, when you see these things, especially with Tudor, they have so many watches now, I want to figure out a way to organize them all in my brain. Um, and, and kind of explain like, well, this is this, and that's how this fits. And, you know, you used, uh, uh, the, that, you know, the Defender 90 doesn't go two wheel drive just cause it's smaller. Yeah. In my mind, this is the new Defender. Yeah. And the, the previous one was, you know, the, the one that they stopped making six, six years ago or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, you know, they're from a similar bloodline, but one was clearly made to be more casual, more, you know, exemplary of modern uses rather than something that was tied to a time and, and kind of a usage case that a lot of people don't necessarily have. Yeah. Uh, you know, the, in my, in my story for hooding key, I've got a thing that says, you know, arguably off-road vehicles are way more popular than off-road driving and dive watches. The aesthetic of dive watches are, is more popular than diving will ever be.
None Yeah.
Unknown Yeah. Right. And I think that's, that's where we get this.
Jason Heaton I think I always loved that Tudor, Tudor made that commitment to a no holds barred true diving watch that could do anything, you know, not even, you know, not even stopped by a saturation, dive, you know, decompression chamber kind of thing. But.
Unknown And luckily they're not going, it doesn't look like they're going away.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And in the end, I mean, brands are, you know, these are businesses, these are companies and they're looking at ways to sell products. And I think to make a smaller version, I noticed in their advertising for this watch, you know, a lot of the imagery is women and smaller wrists and things. And I think by making a smaller watch, maybe they're also saying, you know, some of these new buyers expanding our consumer base might not include people that care about an expanding uh, clasp or especially not the HEV if they even understand it in the first place.
Unknown So it's like, you know, most, most of the people who write the marketing copy don't understand. I'm not throwing that shade just at Tudor, but literally everyone.
None Yeah.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah. The funny thing is, is I think Tudor needed this watch in their lineup. I'm just, I don't know that it needed to be a Pelagos. Does that make any sense? Yeah. Right. Like, like the, the, the really weird thing. And I feel like I've said this about a different watch. Somebody will, will bring it up in the comments, but like this could have been a black Bay pro. And the Black Bay Pro could have been called something else.
None Yeah.
Unknown True. Right. Like this could have been the thing that kind of sat between a 58 and a Pelagos, which is what this does. Yeah. But I'm just, I'm, I'm, I'm not surprised. I'm just, they, they went with the Pelagos name and clearly, especially for people who love hardcore dive watches, that does kind of, that carries a lot of weight because they've, they've, I think they've been making the best modern dive watch in the world since 2015. Yeah. Right. I'm, I'm thrilled by this watch. Um, I definitely like, I don't disagree with your points about, how it kind of waters down the concept of a Pelagos, but I think they may have set out to water down the Pelagos a bit to make it a little bit more palatable to a wider audience, like you said. If I can make it happen, I'll buy one of these. I don't know how long I'll wait. I would love to have a Tudor. If it takes so long that I can't get one that a blue one comes out, that's okay too. A blue one would be rad as long as it wasn't, the bezel wasn't too shiny, but that's why I would lean towards the black. I don't mind the black shining to gray, but it typically blue when it's like really iridescent, but not glassy. It goes kind of purple. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure this will be a meaningful release for a lot of people in sort of the TGN orbit. Um, so if you get one of these, I'd love to hear your impressions, how they kind of compare to mine or, or kind of the other thing. And I said, this is my thing for my story for Hodinkee. The other thing I'm really, really interested in is this is a $4,400 titanium dive watch with a manufacturer semi-in-house movement and, you know, a pretty standardized feature set. What's the competition for this watch? There's no titanium 300M from Omega. Right. Right. And a steel one is about $700 more. Yeah. Right. Arguably a better movement or a more high-tech movement, you could say. Right. And some high-tech, some more high-tech materials. But like to go titanium in the 300M, you're going to the box.
None Which is true.
Unknown Nine, 10 grand, something like that. Yeah. Right. There's not that much. Like I dug around for a little while, but like Oris Aquas are 43.5 and they're half the price. Right. Right. And then there's no like directly competitive tutor, right? Like you're $3,800 for a BB 58 on the strap, 47, 25 for a full fat Pelagos.
Jason Heaton If you're looking at specs on paper. Yeah. I guess if you're looking at, function or kind of similar feel or use case, you know, I guess the competition expands a bit. I mean, if you're not totally hung up on in-house movement, you know, you know, I don't know, you could go to some sort of a titanium Seiko or some kind of a sin. I know that Sugg posted, you know, a U50 or whatever.
Unknown I mean, there are U50 pro.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Um, but, but yeah, you're right. I mean, if you want titanium, you want in-house then, then the, the competition dwindles.
Unknown It's also like, we're not, we don't sit here and tell you $4,400 watches are cheap. You know, this does very similar things in my world to what my SPB does, like for my wrist at four times the price, but at four times the price, I think Tudor's kind of saying something. Who would like to do this with them? Cause I don't think, you know, sure you spend less on a Longines Hydra Conquest, but nowhere near as sort of appealing. Right. uh, in many ways and doesn't have, uh, the in-house movement. It's, it'd be a swatch at a base movement in that. Um, yeah, there's not like a, there's definitely competition, but there isn't at the price point, like where I think a natural shopping cross shop would happen.
None Yeah.
Unknown It's, it's kind of an interesting thing. I'm, I, you know, I'm, I'm really curious to see if you're in the market for one of these or you want one, what else is on your list? Right. Cause I think that's where the math will be really interesting. Cause for me it would be 4,400 bucks about the roughly in the range of the price of the carbon Doxa. Another watch I absolutely adore. Um, it's also right in the price range of the S three or two that I already own. Yeah. They're basically the same size. They're both Matt ish sort of dive watches. The S three or two is more water resistance. It's steel. Sure. It's not the same. And it has the GMT, but like what, how many watches can I have that kind of have the same place on my wrist. Yeah. And I almost think if I make the leap to the Pelagos, I'll be paying for it by getting rid of all the watches it would replace, which to be honest is what going to happen if I bought a blue one, you know? Right. It was always going to be like, I want, if you buy something like a Pelagos, I want to wear that like 300 days a year. Yeah. I want to have it on all the time. Uh, so yeah, maybe, maybe I can make that happen. Who knows what the demand is going to be like, judging by the popularity of our introducing story, it's going to be through the roof. So it'll be kind of an interesting time. But, uh, and any other thoughts on this, Jason, like, like for you, or like, did this kind of make you go, Oh, I'm going to go buy a 42 mil?
Jason Heaton Well, it certainly made me reconsider the Pelagos. I hadn't, you know, it's a watch that was just sort of, it was there. It was always there. It always lurks in the TGN kind of background. Every, almost every show, you know, we seem to talk about a Pelagos. And so it was almost just, I took it for granted. And then when this came out, it kind of forced me to look at the whole Pelagos line and think, man, I, I really liked the 42. It makes me like the 42 better. Strangely. And I think it might for me to reconsider, like making the, like making, getting an LHD, like something that, that could be a goal of mine, you know, with a, with a couple of creative trades or, or sales sell-offs or something. It's like, Hmm, you know.
Unknown It definitely had me looking back at it, but I do, I just have to always tell myself like, you love this. I took it, I took a 42 blue diving in Mexico when I was with a blog to watch. Yeah. And it's amazing on the rubber and it's a fantastic summertime watch. And then I just, it's the lug to lug. I have to tell myself 50 millimeters lug to lug is too much. Yeah. And the, the drop to 47, 46 in that space makes all the difference for me to wear a watch all the time, fall asleep with it on that kind of thing. Yeah. And, uh, and I, as much as the blue one just remains a very cool, very pretty watch for me. And I get the appeal of the LHD totally.
Jason Heaton If you consider, I don't want to keep trailing this on, but I think if you look at what you like about the Tudor Pelagos in general, rather than just if you, if you want to watch of a certain size that fits your wrist, well, uh, there are any number of options at 200 meters and, and a certain lug to lug and, and whatever. Now, if you want the Tudor name and you want the in-house movement, then obviously you have to go this route, but. Like if I were to buy this, I wouldn't feel like I'm getting a Tudor Pelagos. I feel like I'm buying it for a size and a general aesthetic, but not the aesthetic that I really love. Wouldn't you feel that if you've got it, wouldn't you look down and say, man, I miss that cutout Rio and I, you know, the spring loaded clasp. And like, wouldn't you, wouldn't you kind of like have that niggling feeling? Like I kind of settled only because I wanted to watch of a specific size. You're buying it for the size less than the appeal, the absolute, you know, no holds barred, you know,
Unknown Yeah. I don't, I don't disagree with what you're saying. I think that I do buy watches for their size. Yeah. I love a Doxa because of the way it fits. I love an SPB because it fits so much better on my wrist than a triple seven.
None Yeah.
Unknown Right. But you have to love the look, right? The size is paramount. And I do really like the way that look, because the look is still very Pelagos. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It works for me, but I also totally understand the argument as to why it wouldn't work for you.
None Yeah.
Unknown And you also have the extra like half inch of wrist. Yeah. Yeah. For a full size Pelagos.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I should retry one because actually my wrist has shrunk quite a bit in the past year. So maybe it doesn't fit me anymore. Maybe we should talk again after I try one on.
Unknown Yeah, for sure. Well, I mean, hopefully you get a chance to see one of these in person. Yeah. Because it's one of the main things I tried to communicate with my hands on is this is not a watch to take off its render. Yeah.
None The render is not inaccurate.
Unknown Yeah. But it's only one type of lighting. Yeah. For a watch that, that you're used to having no finish or that's not fair. A very specific type of finish that absorbs light. Yeah. And now it doesn't. And, and the renders make it look pretty matte and the bezel isn't.
None Right.
Unknown That's all. Yeah. It's, I don't think there's something wrong with the renders. It's in some of the photos, but look at the wrist shots from my story, from what Logan posted into the original, uh, introducing he was, I think that was the first live photo of that watch on the internet. Uh, I believe monochrome already has a hands on, uh, so you could check theirs. And I think you'll see that whereas, there's a very little light gradient in a normal Pelagos bezel. Yeah. From the bright side of the bezel to the dark, it's almost the same. Yeah. Whereas now there's this much wider gradient where you can actually have a blown out segment where you might not even be able to see the marker. And then it comes all the way down to a deep black on the other side. So it's just a totally different effect and something that I think you're either going to like, and then this watch is awesome. Or are you going to go, no, no, no. It needs to be like the others and they still make the others. So that is what it is. Cool stuff. I'm happy for, for Tudor and man, they've, they've put out some, some of the year's biggest sports watches. They're having a great year. Yeah, definitely. And yeah, before we, we talk forever about the new Pelagos, you can tell I'm pretty excited about the promise of any new Pelagos, especially one that, that kind of carves a new path for it. But I do, we do want to make sure we chat about another one, which is the first kind of serially produced in full, in full production. Oris Diver 65 with a caliber 400 movement. I think this is kind of an interesting piece. It's at a solid price point. And interestingly, it comes on a 12-hour bezel.
Jason Heaton Yeah, the Diver 65 caliber 400. Such a... I love this watch. It's a very striking aesthetic. It's amazing what a difference even just the bezel makes. I think the bezel on the Diver 65 was actually one aspect of the standard diver 65 divers over the years that I've kind of looked at sideways and kind of thought, eh, I don't know, it's, it's a little busy or I don't care for the font they used this. Okay. This clears that up for me. I, I, I mean, okay. Movement, huge deal that that's the big talking point here and whatever, but visually the bezel just it's, it's so cool. And, and you know, I recently acquired the Benruss and so I'm kind of all about 12 hour bezels these days. You have one on your SKX mod. Sure do. I don't know, just visually, it's such a minimalist watch and it's just very symmetrical. It's very clean looking. I love it.
Unknown Yeah. So they had previously put a caliber 400 in an LE for Hodinkee, that one with the kind of army green dial. That was, I think from last year. And then this is the first time they've put it in a main watch. And I think it's interesting because it's still Diver 65, but of course it doesn't work as a dive watch with this bezel necessarily. I don't think it matters because what they've made is just a great everyday steel sports watch. Yeah. So you get the solid movement, you get a 10 year warranty, a date at six with a black, it's a color matched date wheel. So it's actually quite subtle. And then like you said, the rest of it's quite minimal. It's white markers with white metal surrounds, white metal, white hands, a simple seconds hand, and then this great 12 hour bezel. And I think it just works. So it's 40 millimeters wide, 48 millimeters lug to lug, 12.8 millimeters thick, including the crystal and it's a hundred meters of water resistance. Uh, you know, not, not a hardcore dive watch necessarily, but that doesn't take away its ability to be great everyday sport watch. We were talking about Tudor having a great year, like look at Oris is having a pretty solid year too. They've got a bunch of interesting special editions. They've got the pro pilot caliber 400, uh, the X, uh, which I think is one of the coolest, um, non dive watches to come out this year. Uh, really fun. And then now they've got this, which brings that movement that people seem pretty keen on and certainly seems like a big step up from. Uh, your other options in a, in a diver 65 and then it was $3,500 on leather 37 on, on a bracelet.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And, and I love the fact that Oris kind of goes in these divergent directions with a lot of color and a lot of innovation and whatever on kind of the Aqua side and the, and, uh, some of their pilot watches. And then they've maintained the course with the diver 65 with its aesthetics, you know, it's their, their retro piece, but now we get the best of both worlds where you get this. This great movement. I mean, it truly is. I mean, I know it had some teething problems that apparently were cleared up with, um, with some aspects of it, but you know, we're talking if you do have issues, I mean, there's a 10 year warranty. Um, I believe it's a 10 year service interval cycle, right? Anti-magnetic. I mean, it's a five day power reserve, which is no small thing. If you're someone with a collection and you, and especially with a automatic watch that has a date function. I mean, if you could take this thing off from, you know, Thursday and pick it up on Monday. I mean, not that any of us want to do that, but you know, if you're kind of rotating through your collection, it is nice to pick up a watch that you haven't worn for several days and be pleasantly surprised that it's still, uh, it's still right on time.
Unknown Yeah. A solid piece, good price point for what you're getting. Right. I mean, we've lots of other brands have been praised for where they kind of hit the market when they go to their own movement. And sometimes those movements, like the tutor stuff is 70 hours, which is great. It's better than 40. Yeah. There's five days. Yeah. Right. Right. I think there's a lot of value in these. It's a super aura sort of thing. And I'm, you know, we're both suckers for 12 hour bezels. I think this will be like a, a longstanding popular sort of option in the range. Cause I don't know how many people were buying a diver 65 to like go take diving all that time. Right. Right. Like it's one thing shirt to keep it on in the water. Yeah, no doubt. A hundred meters water resistance. You're good. But like to, to actually use as a dive watch, I don't know. I'm, I'm not sure I've got the, um, the original Houdinki LE. And it would make a fine dive watch on the right strap, of course. And I've certainly splashed around in it before, but in my mind, you wear it more like you wear sort of just an everyday sports watch. And I think in this case, being able to do the second time zone and have the great power reserve makes a lot of sense.
Jason Heaton How does the riveted bracelet hit you? I know that's been kind of a divisive issue with this.
Unknown Yeah, people care. Maybe there's something with my wiring in my brain. I just don't care. I didn't really care that much when Tudor did it. I don't really care that much when Oris does it. My wife wore that watch for some time. So we sized that bracelet to her wrist. Yeah. And in the process I was a little sloppy pulling the pins out and I bent a couple of them. So I'm not sure that bracelet is going to come back to my size anytime soon. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a, it's a watch I would wear on a strap or a NATO and it works really well on both. Um, cause it's super thin, the, um, the hand wound version that they made for that first one. And then you get that nice ghosty bezel. It kind of wears differently than almost every other watch I have.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Really cool release. I mean, you know, and speaking of Oris, you know, you were talking about competition to the, the Pelagos. And as I was kind of thumbing through or virtually thumbing through the AORUS website just now, you know, they do make an aqueous titanium date. And I'll be curious to see if one day they, they migrate the caliber 400 into a watch like this, because that would be, I mean, it's a bigger watch, of course, at 43 and a half millimeters, but you know, they do make a titanium version. It would be very interesting to see what they would price that at, if they put a caliber 400 in a watch like that, because that's such an appealing watch anyway. Absolutely. In titanium, that size would be mitigated a little bit, and Orises don't have really long lugs, but I know I'm digressing again here, but it's... Yeah, they wear big, but not poorly.
Unknown Because I've talked about that Dermeister talker a ton, which would be the same, if not a very similar case. Yeah. Yeah, no, great stuff. And I mean, the fun thing is, like, the Geneva watch days can come and go and not have a single watch that really falls into the the kind of TGN sphere. Right. But this year we've got three absolute bangers. We have the new Doxa Army in steel for what I still think is a fantastic price. This new Pelagos from Tudor, which I think will be divisive, but entertaining and it's still a Tudor dive watch. It's not a bad thing to have more options. And then finally the always growing, ever growing Diver 65 line finally gets a kind of a standing caliber 400. And it's with a 12 hour bezel. Also feels like the kind of watch we've asked for in the past.
Jason Heaton Amazing. I mean, good episode. We've got three like core TGN brands, three, you know, great kind of dive or dive adjacent watches. So, uh, yeah, really fun episode kind of feels like we're getting back to our roots here.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and, and, you know, I said it for Tudor and for Oris, but the truth is the same for Doxa. Like these brands that we like that are hitting, hitting really hard under five grand are, are doing really good work this year. You know, we, we talked about this on, Either the last episode or the Q and a I'm doing, you know, they're blending together in my mind, but like talk about a year where you're spoiled for choice. Oh, there's a great dive watch out there at a great sports watch out there at almost every price point, right? Like you can go 200 bucks up to whatever you want, whatever you're comfortable spending.
None Yeah.
Unknown And there's some awesome stuff out there that you can wear and really enjoy and, and, and should serve you really well. So can't complain with any of that. Uh, how about a little bit of final notes, put a bow on it. Definitely.
Jason Heaton What do you got? Yeah. I recently listened to an audio book. And, uh, just a really fantastic book. And I, as I dug more into the author, I found that Chris Terrell is quite, quite a guy himself. Um, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a He's, I believe in his fifties, maybe even sixties now. And, and he has quite a background in kind of adventuring. In fact, he passed the Royal Marine commando, he's British Royal Marine commando entry course, and he was the oldest to do so. And he did it not necessarily to join the Marines, but almost as a kind of a journalistic sort of endeavor to something to write about. And then he, he spent a lot of time in war zones as a war reporter. And so his training kind of came in handy and, For this book, How to Build an Aircraft Carrier, he shadowed the construction and outfitting and sea trials of HMS Queen Elizabeth, the kind of the flagship in the Royal Navy, in Britain's Royal Navy. This is, you know, state-of-the-art super carrier meant to, you know, be all over the world transporting and serve as a base for F-35 fighters. And anyone interested in kind of big things, what was the show? There was, it used to be a show called, Well, how they build it is one thing, but there was like something about like big, big stuff, you know, like big machines. Sure.
Unknown I feel like growing up, we had a couple of VHSs for mighty machines. Yeah. Yeah. Stuff like that. Giant dump trucks with 20 foot wheels.
Jason Heaton Exactly. I mean, the scale of an aircraft carrier is just massive. And the idea of actually building one with the miles and miles of cabling and the, you know, sheer tonnage of steel that they use to construct these things, it's just, it's just remarkable. And this book doesn't just go through like literally how to build it. It talks about the, you know, the crew and the training of the crew and kind of the different personalities. You get to know the, the chef who, who feeds everybody and, and the sheer quantity of food that they have to bring on board to feed people. And, you know, the captain and, and the issues that have gone wrong with it, you know, uh, during the sea trials and the flight tests for the F-35s and It was just a really, really good book. So if you're, if you're into, I wouldn't even just say machines and, and naval stuff and boats. Um, but just anything, you know, there's a lot of human interest stuff in this book too. It was really an enjoyable read and, and, you know, having listened to the audio book version of it, the, whoever read it, uh, was fantastic as well. And I really enjoyed kind of listening to it on a long drive and, uh, definitely, uh, definitely recommended reading if you're, if you're into a good nonfiction piece.
Unknown Well, that's great. That sounds awesome. There's probably a ton to learn there. I, sometimes you, you look at something that big and you go like, well, you don't actually think about someone having to make it or the years that it would take. Or like you said, like all the wiring, let alone the rest of the construction. And when you hear about that kind of stuff, or even when you see the way that like large airplanes are made and how much goes into that and you go like, man, this, the cost and the complexity is off the charts. How does it float? Yeah, exactly. Well, there's that too, right? You look at it and you go, no, no, that can't happen. Yeah. And they make them so big now when it comes to aircraft carriers, for sure. Mine this week is a YouTube channel that I've been watching for the last maybe month or two. I'm sure a handful of you know these guys already. It's called Grind Hard Plumbing Co. And they've kind of made a name for themselves. They've got like one and a half million subscribers, but they've kind of made a name for themselves by doing these hilarious car builds, which is a thing on YouTube. But what they do is a lot of it is kind of wrapped around Power Wheels cars. So those little tiny kids cars, and then they'll put a 50 horsepower dirt bike motor in it and actual long travel suspension, and it'll go 80 miles an hour or something like that. And so they've got a bunch of these, they did like a little, uh, Porsche GT, uh, three with a KTM four 50 motor in it. And like an actual, you know, like real steering wheel and actual suspension. Uh, the one I've been watching recently is they had, I don't actually remember where they got this boat. But it's a, it's a little tiny boat, a metal boat. Um, it's in the same proportions as a larger boat. I'll put it in the show notes. It'll make more sense, but this is probably a five and a half, six foot long little boat. Um, that was maybe made for a demonstration or something. And they install a hundred horsepower jet boat motor in it. Oh my gosh. Wow. And, and you can like one person can barely sit in it. Like your knees are up around the steering wheel. And the proportions look very strange, much like an adult sitting in a power wheel. It's that sort of thing. And recently they did an episode as well where they raced everything at their property. So like a series of power wheels, they have, um, these kinds of weird modifications to things like, um, uh, snowmobiles and trikes and race bikes and things like that. And it's all, I like the, it's kind of hilarious. And the editing is kind of a little bit frantic. I just think it's hilarious, you know, Barbie Jeeps with full engines and suspensions. It's all kind of silly, but like they're not taking it that seriously. But the quality of their work, like watching them fabricate various elements of roll cages and figure out the motor and how to put it there. And like, I find that all that kind of stuff fascinating. It's not going to be the same as building an aircraft carrier, but it is very entertaining to watch. And these guys have a fun attitude and the channel is super, super entertaining. So that's a grind hard plumbing co on, uh, on YouTube. And I'll put maybe two or three of the, my favorite videos in there. If you want to check that out. Um, it's a, it's fun and it's not too, um, it's not too like YouTube-y if that makes sense. Oh yeah.
None Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Good stuff. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Interesting theme to our final notes here. We're, I think we often overlap. Like we do a lot about like, you know, rustic cabin building, we overlap there. And then, and then this one is, Oddly similar, I guess you're building an aircraft carrier and like building a boat. They're like on the opposite ends of the spectrum, but they're kind of in the same.
Unknown Yeah. Right. Cool. Yeah. You could, you need a fleet of these around the aircraft carrier. Great. Um, but yeah, you know, as always, thank you so much for listening. If you want to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grabbing yourself a new TGN signed NATO, please visit TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout is Siesta by JazzArc via the free music archive.
Jason Heaton And we leave you with this quote from Marcus Aurelius who said, The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.