The Grey NATO – 213 – Estate Sale Speedmasters and the New Leica M6

Published on Wed, 26 Oct 2022 16:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

In this episode, Jason and James discuss a variety of topics, including Jason's recent trip to Germany for the Leica Oscar Barnack Awards, where he got to experience the work of renowned photojournalists and try out the new Leica M6 film camera. James shares his experience of acquiring a funky Omega Speedmaster Mark III watch from an estate sale, which he found incredibly charming and nostalgic. They also provide updates on James' recent trips, the new TGN supporter benefits for 2023, and Jason's recent acquisition of a vintage-inspired jacket from Standard H.

Transcript

Speaker
Jason Heaton Hello and welcome to another episode of The Graynado, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 213 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 if you'd like to support the show, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. James, you're on the road, kind of on a second trip since we spoke last.
James I sure am. Yeah, I've been in three places. If the audio sounds a little bit different, you know, we're kind of just doing our best with it. But I'm currently sitting in a high rise hotel over downtown L.A. I'm here for an Omega event. I actually don't know what the watch is. We're recording this during a lunch break so that I don't mess up with the schedule. But we actually find out what the watch is in a couple hours. Of course, by the time this episode comes out, the watch will be a known a known thing. But I'm in L.A. I was home for a day. and a half. And before that I was in Germany with Leica and I had a brief stopover in Geneva before that for just a few hours. So, but that's what the last week has been, uh, essentially, uh, for me, uh, as this is now Tuesday. So yeah, I guess it's been a little, a little over a week that I've been going, but I'm excited to be home for a few days. I'll be home by the time this episode comes out. The LA trip is just barely two nights, um, just because of the travel window, uh, that worked out. We mentioned the supporter bundle at the top, and obviously we've come to the point where the first annual year, if you signed up very early on last year for the $100 annual kind of bundle, your re-up is coming up. So we wanted to get into just a brief overview of what the next year will look like. We're not going to do like a brand new strap for everybody or anything like that. It's a little bit more spread out this time. So we're going to maintain the two tiers of $5 a month and $100 a year. And basically the big addition to either is going to be, uh, there's some, some special stuff for the a hundred dollar a year, but the big addition is a Slack for TGN. So we've been testing this for a little while. It will be available no later than December 1st. I would think sometime in the middle of November, you should be able to get your email if you sign up. So a $5 a month gets you obviously all the episodes. So the free four episodes a month and the Q and a, and now you get Slack access. So you'll be able to have kind of an ongoing. Slack platform, I looked into obviously a few different options, but I wanted something that was a little bit more fluid and less tied to a single episode. Uh, so we're going to go with Slack. Uh, it seemed to be the thing that had the largest window of use, like, like I assumed most people had had some experience with it over the last few years as I have. And Jason and I had been using it for years for our own sort of side chat. Uh, so the Slack access for TGN will be super fun. We're really excited about it. And that's kind of the, one of the main. new benefits. And then at $100 a year, you have the same as the $5 a month. If it's your first time signing up either from a $5 or from a free subscription up to the $100, you get your choice of a new strap in 20 or 22 millimeters with the custom buckle, our color gray, etc. This level also includes a discount on the TGN shop. So when we do our kind of merch releases, there's a special discount for those with the $100 a year level. And then you also get early notice for events, shop additions, any other special news coming to the show. We'll first go to the $100 a year crew. And then finally, we have kind of two final twists on the NATO thing. One, if you only got your one strap, like everybody did, and you wanted the other size, those will now be available for sale. We'll send an email out with those details. So if you want to get a 20 and you have a 22 or the other way around, you'll be able to sort that out. And then the very last kind of step here is you'll get essentially a replacement warranty. So if you manage to wear out your NATO. Uh, let us know, send us a picture. We'll sort out some details and we'll, we'll get you another strap. So we see it as kind of the calling card of the, the TGN crew is having, having the strap, uh, with the, with the sign buckle. So we want to make sure everybody's has a, you know, a tidy one that they like to wear. And that's something that we'll be, uh, we'll be moving forward. So there it is. That's the new $5 a month and the new a hundred dollar a year for, you know, 2022 into 2023. And if you have any questions, you can always email us at the gray NATO at gmail.com. All of these benefits will essentially kick in starting November 1st. Like I said, the Slack will come out sometime in November. Some of these travel things have just pushed away the last final bits of our testing in making sure that the signup process is pretty easy, but you'll get a link. So if you're a supporter at $5 a month or $100 a year, I think the Slack's going to be a bit of a game changer in terms of some closeness and being able to keep the chatting going.
Jason Heaton Yeah, there's a lot to digest here, but I do think that the Slack channel will be the most significant and noticeable kind of upgrade to, to TGN coming into the new year. And I think for those of you that are used to using Slack as, um, I don't know what you'd call it, like a chat platform, um, say in your work or, or even socially, or, you know, Kashani and I use it. She's working upstairs. I'm downstairs. We're using it all the time. This is something that, you know, James and I will, will certainly have visibility to and pop in and out as we can. It's kind of a further attempt to build the TGN community, kind of what we've done in the, in the sub stack. Uh, comments on each show. Um, we'd, we'd like to kind of make that more. Accessible on, on a daily or more spontaneous basis. So, you know, and then the other thing is, is the ability for our a hundred dollar a year folks to, to buy additional straps. I think, you know, up to now we've gotten emails from people saying, you know, I ordered the 20, but I've got a Seiko that takes a 22. Is there any chance I can buy a second one? And so I'm, we're pretty excited about that and being able to offer that to our listeners.
James Yeah, it's mostly a small tweak to, to the plan. I think, like you said, the Slack is kind of the big one. I'm really excited to be able to get in there. Uh, you know, the, the comments are great for that. They're for comments and maybe a straight reply, but they're not like incredible for conversations. That's not what sub stacks necessarily for. And this way, I think we already know a handful of you guys pretty well through Instagram, DMS and emails and the rest. And now we can just make it kind of one centralized place where if you just wanted to share a link, you're not just sending it to, Heaton and I, you know, you're sending it to the whole crew and that sort of thing. And I'm pumped. And then the changes to the strap, I think just makes sense. Uh, now that we've learned about shipping and the rest of it, but otherwise, I mean, it's the same thing. If at a hundred bucks a year, you're paying what? Like eight bucks a month, which is something like a dollar an episode for Jason and I each. Um, I think it's worth that much. Uh, that's why we're comfortable asking for it. And if it's your first time and you've been on the, on the ledge, then you get a strap as well, which is pretty fun.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And good luck wearing out those straps. This warranty. Yeah, I think so. It's a fun idea. I'd love to see, I'd love to see some, a few people come in with, with worn out straps. I personally can't say that I've ever worn out a NATO strap. Um, they get pretty ratty, um, but we'll see, you know?
James Yeah. And then the last thing in terms of housekeeping, before we get into the bulk of the episode is that we have something special coming up in the first, uh, several days of November. I can't say a whole lot about it, but this is kind of the first teaser. It's a special project. It's something we're really pumped about. So if you're, not normally subscribed or, you know, you don't necessarily pay attention to when the episodes come out. This one's going to come out at its own time. And it's something that we're, we're really excited about. We'll have more details on next week's episode. But yeah, I think between the changes to the supporter packs and, and this little teaser, I think that that's pretty much the housekeeping for two 13. What else have you been up to these days, Jason?
Jason Heaton Yeah. I mean, compared to your kind of jet set lifestyle, I've been able to kind of settle down and enjoy some fall weather here since, since we got back from Bonaire, gosh, just, just over a week ago, you know, it was chilly when we first, first returned. And we kind of huddled by the fire for a couple of days, but then we've just had this, this glorious kind of sunny fall weather, you know, the colors are, are in full palette here and the trees and, and just been able to enjoy some time outside. So, know, we've done a couple of bike rides. We, we rode to our favorite brewery, um, just a couple of days ago and sat outside and had some beers and, um, we've been grilling in the backyard and, and then on, on Sunday, there's, there's still a hardy group here of kind of vintage car buffs that get together for a cars and coffee event. That's, uh, it's roughly every other week from late summer into fall. And I think they're going to do another one. here in early November, you know, they kind of do it right up until their salt on the roads for, for a lot of the guys that store their cars away. But that was a lot of fun. There were, uh, there was a good contingent of land Rovers. And by that, I mean, three of us, um, that were there, that was really cool. And some, some other fun stuff. And then, uh, and then just a total, you know, out of left field thing, um, we got noticed that there was, um, kind of a cool watch for sale at an estate sale. And, uh, we'll talk about that in a little bit here when we get into our risk check, but, uh, I, I do want to mention that I got a delivery yesterday from our friend Wesley at Standard H. Um, if you might remember back at windup in Chicago, back in July, he was kind of teasing or showing off some prototypes of his new jacket that he developed called the Targa Florio jacket. And, uh, I tried one on at his booth and just fell in love with it. So, you know, it hit his site last week. I placed my order and it arrived yesterday and I put it on and it's It's awesome. I mean, I, you know, I, I can't say enough about how fun it is to have these, these kind of legitimate sort of friendships, relationships with people that have been on TGN. I just feel so like this sense of, not that it has anything to do with TGN, but the sense of pride when I look around and see, like today I'm wearing my observer, um, denim pants from, from, uh, from Robert Spangle. And, uh, you know, I got this, this, uh, jacket from Wesley and it's just, it's, it's fun to see these, these small, um, kind of small tier, you know, one man designers doing this cool stuff. And, and this jacket is really awesome. I know that he's, uh, he's already sold out of, of several sizes and colors, but, uh, you know, stay tuned to, to standard H website and pick one of these up if you're at all inclined. Cause it's, uh, it's really cool.
James I saw that on your Instagram. I was immediately jealous. That looks great. Yeah. I was impressed by when I saw it in person, actually just, just by chance, I'm sitting here in my hotel room in the XK sweatshirt. Oh, I wear a lot. Uh, I picked it up while we were in Chicago as well. And, uh, it's, it's become kind of a staple for me. So, um, I'm a big fan of, you know, my, my luggage is basically this sweatshirt and a bunch of his t-shirts as well. Uh, so it's been good stuff. Yeah. Speaking of getting a chance to buy some cool stuff, a big shout out to everyone who wrote me about buying their scurfa, be it an MS 22 or otherwise. Um, I did take essentially the first offer for, uh, an MS 22 that came my way, which was from Brad. a huge thank you to Brad. It's actually, uh, I'm getting updates on my phone. Um, as we're sitting here recording it, it should be delivered this afternoon in Toronto. So I'm pretty pumped to get home to that tomorrow, uh, to a nice MS 22. So a big shout out to Brad for that.
Jason Heaton Another former TGN guest doing his own thing there. That's a, that's awesome. That's a, absolutely.
James Yeah. I mean, we say it all the time. We should probably make it happen before like two twenties, two thirties, but we should have Paul back on the show to talk about, especially once we both, Once I've got mine and then I've had it on my wrist for a bit, uh, that might be a good, good idea for a future episode. I mentioned on the last episode that I was, I had bought this anchor power adapter and I saw in the comments, a few people were talking about like, you know, let us know how it is, how you have, after you've actually used it. And honestly, it's, it's exactly what I wanted. It's perfect. Oh, good. I have it with a small extension cable, like a small braided extension cable. So I can find a plug that's convenient in the room. And then centralize where to connect my devices. It's the right size. It can stay in the port in an airplane. But again, the extension cord makes that relatively a non-issue anyways. You can just plug the extension cord in and have the charger tucked into a pocket on the side of your bag or something like that. So just a very fast update on that. I'm thrilled with it.
Unknown Oh, good.
James Yeah. It definitely simplified the, the wires and cables and plugs and that sort of thing for, for travel, which has been really nice the last little while.
Jason Heaton Curious what you do for, kind of plug adapters, you know, when you're, when you're going to Europe or the UK or wherever that has different plug styles, what, what's your kind of go-to solution for that? Do you just have a kind of pile of those things and you take whichever one's appropriate?
James I have that Targus system. I mean, now it's been ripped off by so many people, but it's a little cylinder that has all three types. Oh yeah. Yeah. Uh, EU, UK and US. Yeah. But all I take is the EU one. I mean, that's where that's when, if I'm changing plugs, it's usually that. Yeah. Uh, so I just take the one, And because the anchor is a hundred to two 40, I don't need a converter. I literally just need the ability to make the plugs the other kind. Yeah. Um, after that travel last week, uh, I was home for like 36 hours, I guess. So, uh, it was great weather. Uh, jet lag was under control. I'm actually feeling it quite a bit now that I've, I've come three hours in the other direction.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And are you, uh, once you get back home, are you going to be there for awhile or do you have more travel coming up?
James I'm home for like six days.
Unknown Oh,
James And then I have I have a little smaller, more chill trip, I think, between D.C. and New York coming up. OK. Yeah, I think that's all I've been up to. It feels crazy to talk about it because it all feels like one day. How many airplanes could I possibly have been on in the past little while? And it's funny because I just feel like I'm not I'm not getting my travel legs back. Yeah. Uh, it, it felt harder than I think, I think it should. And even now I feel like I'm speaking like a crazy person into the microphone and not making a whole lot of sense, but you want to jump into some risk check? Yeah.
Jason Heaton I mean, given all your travel, what have you been wearing? What, what was your, what's your go-to piece, at least for this trip?
James Originally I wanted to take the Serica GMT.
Unknown Oh yeah.
James Which was the, which is the 8315 and it was supposed to arrive in time for me to take it to Germany, which would have been perfect. My trip got pushed forward a day because I needed to go to Geneva briefly. So it arrived as I left Toronto, right on time, kudos DHL, but I messed that one up. And so going to Geneva and then on to Wetzlar for the M6 launch, I just took the Explorer 2. It leaves nothing to be desired. I don't have to explain it to anyone. It was nice and easy. But when I got back, I came back to the 83 15 waiting for me. So this is their new GMT chronometer. We just spoke a bit about it on a previous episode. Uh, you know, I don't, I don't really know what to say. Like if you go ahead and read my review of the, their past stuff, I like it the same way. It's, it's an incredible size. The fit and finish is pretty good. The bezel's really nice. The loom is good. I think the aesthetic's awesome. I love that it's, it doesn't have a, like a dial branding. Um, and then it uses a SOP rod, a collar style GMT. which I think at $1,500, I don't have a big argument about, uh, you know, Soprod makes a great movement, obviously a very reliable, simple workhorse sort of movement. The GMT function makes a lot of sense for 1500 euros, 1575, I guess without VAT 1890 with if I guess if you're in the EU, um, but I'm, I'm impressed. It looks like they're going to be delivering in January, just a good looking, straightforward GMT watch that again, I just credit them because they're not in any way trying to make it look like a GMT Master. I don't have anything against it. I actually really liked the GMT Master. It just sometimes feels like a shorthand for making a GMT watch. And this proves that you can be more interesting than that.
Jason Heaton Yeah. It comes on like a nice kind of vintage style leather strap, right? Is that what you're wearing it on?
James Yeah. So I have it on. Yeah. It's their handmade leather strap. So it's a 20 millimeter strap that tapers to 14. It's made in France. Wow. I'm not huge for a black strap, but with the black white bezel.
Unknown Yeah.
James Doesn't really bother me that much. I got to grow up at some point and wear a black strap every now and then. Um, I'll, I'll put some shots in the, in the hands-on for Houdinki on like a couple other straps because the, the kind of simplified language and sort of mid-century vibe, like as you'd expect, it just, it takes any strap you want to do NATO. That's fine. You want a tropic. It looks pretty crazy on a tropic. I tried that just before I left with it. Nice kudos to them, like I said, on the previous episode, but now that I've had some time to actually wear it around, people notice it, the black whites, like punchy, but inoffensive. I think it's cool. And they've done a nice job. And I think, you know, looking at what things cost these days, the price makes sense.
Jason Heaton Nice. Good. Yeah. You've been able to put some things through their paces in appropriate ways here with the Anker power plug and a travel watch, given all the time on the road you're spending. That's great.
James You, on the other hand, less of a plan to find this week, such as a watch you're waiting to get in the mail. Let's hear the back. I think this might actually be a good portion of the episode, a good chunk of the episode, because it's kind of a neat story.
Jason Heaton Yeah. it is a funny story. I, you know, on Saturday, um, Saturday's Ghoshani goes and plays badminton at, at our local Y she's been doing it for years. And there was a woman that she plays with who is a bit of a garage sale, a state sale buff. She goes to a lot of these and then she, yeah, I, I don't really have the patience for it. I think it's one of those disciplines, if you can call it that, that require, you know, that you go to a lot, you kind of put up with, you know, a lot of disappointment and just keep your expectations low and walk away with nothing 99% of the time. And so we never go to it. I, you know, they're always crowded and kind of smelly and whatever. So, um, but, uh, when Ghoshani got chatting with this woman before she left, she said, Oh yeah, you know, I was looking at this estate sale. It looked pretty interesting because there were, the guy used to collect cars and, and, um, and he had some watches. And so Ghoshani said, well, if you see any interesting watches, send me some pictures. So she came home. from playing badminton on Saturday. And she said, Oh, you know, this woman sent me a photo and do you recognize anything in this photo? And I kind of pinched and zoomed and I see this familiar looking blue dialed watch in the, in the case, um, amidst a sea of, you know, Elgin's and wall fans and, um, Hamilton pocket watches, which are great, but not, not my personal interest to collect. Uh, and I knew right away it was, it was some kind of a funky sea master from the early seventies. And so, Oh boy. We just were like, Hey, this is close to home. Let's, let's go take a look at this. Because for one thing, you know, depending on where you live, you might see interesting watches more regularly. I suppose, you know, you always hear about people in New York, you can go down to, you know, certain areas of town and there's just cases full of old, cool stuff and flea markets and things. But around here, we don't, we don't see stuff like this regularly. And so we, you know, we jumped in the car and, and drove over there. It wasn't too far from home and yeah, I'll cut to the chaser. It's actually a Speedmaster Mark three. Ooh. This is a watch that, that, you know, Omega made in the early seventies. It followed on the heels of obviously the Speedmaster pro and then the Speedmaster mark two, which is a watch that I know you love and I love. Um, and, and when they got to the mark three, it was, it was around the time that the automatic chronograph, not to mention quartz powered movements had kind of taken hold. And, um, we're talking, I think 1971 and, This is a watch that does not resemble a Speedmaster at all. I mean, it's, it's just a crazy, um, bit of kind of 1970s design that, you know, nevermind Minneapolis. I mean, I, I would say you'd probably be hard pressed to find another one of these kind of floating around at estate sales anywhere, you know, whether it's New York, London, probably even Geneva, cause they're, they're just so weird looking. Right. But I wasn't, I was just immediately drawn to it and the, and the price was really good. And so, We made an offer. We were there like an hour before they were closing. And, and you know, the guy's like, yeah, you know, if you, if you know, if you want to, if you want it and can get back here with, with the cash for it, you know, it's all yours. And so we're like looking, you know, I looked at my watch. I was like, okay, well we got to kind of dig in the, in the sofa cushion to hustle. Yeah. Um, to, to, to get the money for it. So we kind of went running around and showed up there just as he had kind of locked the door and, um, and took possession of it. And, you know, I gave it a good wind up and tested out the chronograph and everything seemed to work okay. And, uh, so we came home with it and this thing is just, it's a wild watch. It definitely is not a watch that I think if I had seen, you know, on watch recon or, you know, any of the kind of watch sales sites, whether it's the Houdinki shop or whether it's a retro watch guy or anything, I'd be like, ha, ha, you know, fun. Those are fun. Those are funky watches, but I'm not going to, I'm not going to buy it. But for some reason, finding it in the wild, kind of in the case, you know, amidst all this other stuff, it was like magnetic.
James I like had to have this thing. It changes the appeal when you come across them in person. Yeah. Or like even when you meet a friend and they're like, Oh, I have this and they pull it out. And like, it's a watch you, you maybe even know tangentially or, or, or from another reference. But then, then like when it's in your hand and they're like, Hey, it's this much. And you're like, I have that much. Yeah. It could be mine. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Exactly. And the fact that it was kind of in this estate sale that was being sold with a person's life's remnants and things that they were, you know, selling off that they had collected for many, many years. And this guy admittedly, um, you know, and I'm not, I'm not just saying this based on my own experience, but, uh, you know, I heard this from the person who was organizing the estate sale. He was a bit of a hoarder. I mean, this place was Florida ceiling, like odds and ends, weird stuff, you know, like, probably a hundred toy tractors, hundreds of old license plates. He apparently, he used to own a car lot, like a used car lot on kind of a main street here in Minneapolis. And, and so he had a bunch of cars that, that he was also selling, but those were offsite somewhere. And the only one he had onsite here was an equally funky. So he obviously had weird taste early seventies. It was a sob. They called it the sonnet or the sonnet. Some people 1974. Yeah, for sure. Saab Sonic. It was the sports car that Saab made that, you know, was a very sleek looking car. Didn't look like anything else Saab made before or after. That was sitting in the garage, kind of heaped with stuff on top of it. And that was for sale. And I did not make an offer on that one. Between that old Saab and this watch, I was like, okay, I don't know who this guy is, but he obviously led an interesting life and kind of had interesting taste. And so I walked away with this thing and, you know, let me just kind of, slow down the pace here and maybe describe the watch a little bit for people who aren't familiar with it. We'll certainly post a photo of it on the notes page on Substack, but this is a huge watch. It's across the case, kind of our traditional measurement is 43 millimeters thereabouts, according to my calipers. It's 52 millimeters. I say lug to lug, this thing doesn't really have lugs. And then it's a whopping 16 millimeters tall. If you're familiar with the flight master, uh, kind of the more famous sibling of this that Omega made, I believe from about 1969, you know, or, or maybe 70 up until the mid seventies. I mean, it's a similar case. This, I think some people call this like a, like the Darth Vader helmet case. It has these immense sloping sides and sits very tall on the wrist. And then it kind of tapers up to this. It's almost like if you look at it from the side, it looks like the cone of a volcano. Um, with the, you know, the opening for the dial at the top is quite, quite a bit smaller than the, than the circumference at the bottom of the case. And, um, it's, it's incredibly heavy. I haven't, I haven't weighed it, but, uh, it sits very top heavy on the wrist. Uh, it's got kind of a typical rattly old Omega bracelet with a fold over clasp that is 22 millimeters wide at the, at the, again, doesn't really have lugs, but at the case and tapers down to a 16 millimeter clasp. And. It just looks the part. I mean, it looks early seventies. This is, this was Omega's experimental era. They were making watches like this. They were making the plow prof, the big blue. Um, and then to top it off, I think the real cool thing about this watch, the real selling point is this beautiful kind of shimmering Royal blue dial that that's on it. They made three different variations of this, made a silver dial with some blue accents. They made a black, more kind of conventional black dial version. And then this blue dial that has a white 12 hour sub dial at the bottom, a dual register sub dial on the left side, which is a 24 hour display with a running seconds inside of it, uh, which is really cool. And then a date window on the right, obviously. And then what's really neat about this is that this was Omega's first automatic chronograph movement, and it was based on a Lamania 1340 and This is the precursor to the famous Lamania 5100. So what that means is that it's a, it's a, it's a 12 hour chronograph with the minutes on the central sweep. So it's got overlaying central sweep hands. The white hand is for seconds. And then it has that orange painted airplane shaped minute counter hand that sweeps around the middle once per hour. And, uh, There's just so much of interest to this watch. You know, it's like, it's like stuff we've talked about, you know, you and I like weird things. We like Ploprofs, we like Doxes. I mean, this is, I think this takes the cake. I don't think there's anything weirder that I will ever own than this Speedmaster.
James Yeah. I think that's definitely, you know, what people say, funky, right? It's super funky. Yeah. Yeah. I do think that like it does align with what you, you know, you have a, an acceptance of a larger watch, even especially if that largeness brings some sort of charm. Mm hmm. Uh, to, to the package and, and yeah, I get it. I think they're, they're really funny kind of interesting takes on a speed master.
Jason Heaton It's, it's just a lot of steel. When I look at my wrist from the side, it's, it's absurd how much steel there is. I mean, you know, I've worn tall watches. I mean, my, my docs at T graph is, is a chunky thing that the bentos, uh, from Aqua star that I have is a, is a, a big, tall, heavy watch, but nothing compares to this thing. It's just, it's just this slab of sloping steel that, that kind of rises up from the wrist, almost like a, like a depth gauge or a wrist compass or something you'd wear diving or something. And, you know, I had a watch years ago, gosh, it was 10 years ago. That was had the exact same dial and movement as this one. And this was the, the Seamaster chronograph that was built kind of overlapping at the same point as this one. It was the, Uh, it was the 176.001 Seamaster Chronograph. And I wrote that up for Hodinkee back in, gosh, I I'll link the article here. Uh, when did I write that? The date on this is September 20th, 2012. So we're talking almost exactly a decade ago. I had a very similar watch. Um, and I regretted getting rid of it. It went to, uh, I believe a friend of James Lambden's at the time. And I remember seeing it when I went to New York on a subsequent trip and, okay. kind of had that twinge of regret. And, and so now I'm kind of happy to have, have this thing back on my wrist. I've been wearing it. What are we, we're recording this on a Tuesday. I've worn it nonstop, uh, ever since I got it mid afternoon on Saturday and it, it keeps remarkably good time for an old watch. This thing is just beat up. I mean the crystal, if you look at it in, at a kind of an angle and the light catches the crystal, I mean it is just covered with scratches and it's like a mineral glass so it's not like you can't polish it out like you could with an acrylic crystal it's just like there's actually a deep like crack across it and then a lot of scratches and then that sloping case which typically would have like this nice radial or you know comes like a sunburst finishing to it is just non-existent anymore it's just covered with scratches so this guy this guy wore this watch and i i love that about it i mean it's just it really is beat up and and I, I can't help but wonder like who, who went into an Omega dealership or, you know, retailer back in what, 73, 74 saw this in the case. And so I saw all the options and thought, I want that one. And I'm not just going to like wear it. Like we do these days where you kind of wear it in rotation as something kind of fun once a month, but like this guy wore it every day. I mean, you can tell it's not a very practical day-to-day watch just because of the weight. And you know, he's probably clunking it on stuff all the time. whatever, but it, uh, like I said, it runs well, keeps good time. The, the central sweet pan for the seconds kind of hangs up every now and then. So, you know, probably needs a service, but I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna wear it, have fun with it for awhile before I get it serviced.
James Yeah. I mean, there's, there's, there's just that special charm to, to a vintage watch, especially one that did have its own life. Yeah. And it's not a safe queen. You don't have to feel like you need to baby it if you want to wear it out on a, on a Saturday evening and just have it be your watch for that night, then it's all part of the experience. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't have to be this reliable, perfect timekeeper or like adventure companion. It can just be an old watch. Yeah. True. You know, I got that earlier this summer. I got that silly bowl of a, at a garage sale for 75 bucks. Oh yeah. Yeah. And I think when I put it on the, um, on the time grapher, it's like, you know, plus two and a half minutes a day dial up. Oh, man, you know, it didn't it didn't go great. I'll see if I can get that to be more accurate. But, you know, it could definitely use a service. But I wear it for six hours at a time.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah.
James You know what? The other thing I really like about this is, you know, the of course, like the famous story of that JLC that was found at a thrift store. Oh, yeah. You know, and eight dollars or whatever it was, the person paid for it. Like, I love the idea that that stuff's still out there. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, that's the same thing with that silly Bolivar. Like, I just like that. That's there's still stuff out there that that captures some of the vintage, like the era of the time. Right. But without the preciousness that we've now given it. Yeah. Right. Like this Speedmaster is still Speedmaster. So Omega still great watch and everything, but like, you don't have to treat this like it's something that you're eventually going to take to auction, uh, you know, because it spent its life in some guy's sock drawer. Like it spent his life on his wrist.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. And because it was kind of sold alongside all of this other stuff, it kind of felt like I was buying, stuff. I felt like I was just kind of buying, you know, if I'd put together a basket of license plates and toy tractors and Oh yeah, this watch, that's kind of how it felt rather than this considered decision about, Hmm, is this a good financial choice? Can I make my money back on this? What's the resale value? You know, it was just, Nope. Hey, this is a cool old gadget item, whatever that this, this nameless kind of cool guy who had this old sob in the garage was wearing every day. And, uh, Absolutely. Yeah. That's, that's what was fun about it.
James You didn't feel any pressure to like buy a couple of license plates or an old family photo where he might have the watch on or maybe like a tie that would match or something like that.
Jason Heaton I was tempted to go back the next day. You know, it was closing for the day when we ran in with our cash to buy it. And I really would have loved the chance to kind of sort through other stuff. Cause I thought, what if he's probably got like old, some old dive gear in the garage or something, but just didn't have the chance. And you know, I suppose if I really wanted to, I could, I could get in touch with the estate sale person and say, Hey, you know, cause the guy's still alive, actually. Like he's living in a retirement home and you know, just go and like, is it possible to meet this guy and ask him some stories about, you know, when he bought this and what he wore it for?
James Yeah. Take a microphone. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Get them on TGN for sure. That's cool. Great story, man. I love, I love that. That, like I said, that that's, that's still a possibility.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. They're out there. I mean, everybody, anybody listening, you know, they're I look, I'm not, I'm not the guy who goes to every estate sale all weekend long every weekend. This is, this is a one-off and you know, you can, you can do it too. It's, uh, they're out there. So absolutely.
James Well, Hey, you want to get into a little bit of a download from Germany?
Jason Heaton Yeah, let's do that. I mean, that sounded, it sounded like an interesting trip. I very different from, you know, the trip you're on now with Omega or, or a little side trip to Geneva. I mean, this was, this was for like a camera and you've done it before, but, um, was it as, as cool and fun as, as I could imagine?
James Yeah, no, it was great. I mean, there's no trip like it in my mind, especially because for me, like I'm barely a photographer when you compare me to the people who the other people on this trip, like some are fine art photographers, some some, you know, just shot the cover of Rolling Stone. Wow. You know, these are working photographers, high level street photographers, artists, you know, I take pictures of watches and cars and like, it's fun. I like it. It's fine. I don't labor under the under any sort of even casual delusion that like If things changed, I would suddenly be an amazing art photographer or something like, I think that would be, you know, like changing sports, uh, compared to what I do now. So it's a real treat for me to go somewhere where I'm very much a dilettante. Yeah. In, in almost every description, like I've, I've a pretty good understanding of their cameras, so I can keep up with like a technical, I can't say like, uh, during this, can I, so I can keep up with a technical kind of consideration of of what's going on. So the, this event, much like the one last year was it's, it's a, an annual event. It's a few days in Vetzler at lights park, which is the headquarters for Leica. It's where a good portion of their manufacturing is done. It's where the company is run from. They have a hotel on site there.
Jason Heaton What part of Germany is this in? Sorry.
James So this is in Vetzler, just North of Frankfurt. It's about 45 minutes North of the airport. Okay. Uh, pretty easy. All things considered, you get a nice little run on the Audubon. Uh, so I got to do, you know, 170 plus in a Mercedes-Benz Metris van driven by a man who I'm not sure had ever driven before. But certainly wasn't afraid to, you know, stoke the other upper limits of sixth gear in the van. Anyways, the event's over a few days and it's a mix. They invite in all sorts of people who work in the Leica retail chain. So people who own Leica stores, support the brand in various ways. Then they bring in a range of influencers and they bring in kind of people who have either shoot their gear or have some sort of an otherwise commercial aspect. And I guess I would fall into the third one, maybe a little bit of the second one. I'm not sure. You know, Houdinki obviously has a relationship with Leica. We've done a camera with them in the past. Uh, you know, we carry some of their stuff in the Houdinki shop. It's one of those few trips a year where I just kind of operate as like an ambassador for Houdinki. Yeah. I'm not there with like a specific story in mind or a need to get a certain set of photos. And the main goal here is, you know, they usually do a product announcement of some sort. And then they do the Leica Oscar Barnack Awards, which I'm just gonna say LOBA moving forward, but that's what they are. And these awards have been gone on for a long time. There's a really prestigious panel for the jury. Shout out Dominic, who said hello while I was there. It was a pleasure to finally meet. Basically they pick a winner for the year and they pick a newcomer. So it's like somebody who's young or kind of new to the field. And you basically have to submit your own work and, you know, fill out a series of questions and that sort of thing to be considered. You don't have to shoot Leica. It's, it's not at all what that's about. Um, neither of the people who won this year shot Leica, uh, to make their images. This is a celebration of documentary photography at the highest possible level, uh, from Leica's perspective. And then what comes with that is you get a camera and some support and then galleries, the Leica galleries of which there will soon be 30 around the world, run special exhibits of the work. So it kind of brings these working photographers into a kind of select world for their sorts of work and that sort of thing.
Jason Heaton It sounds very different from a kind of a traditional quote unquote, press trip where it's just about like, we're bringing the press in to show a new product. There was a, there was a press, there was a launch event, but, but you said there, a lot of the people there were just photographers and ambassadors and people connected to the brand as well as journalists that were there for, for a new product, right?
James Yeah. And I mean, like last year there was even less of a product angle. It was mostly the Lobos and they announced like the Q2 reporter, but they announced the Q2 reporter kind of like almost like an aside. Yeah. Um, this year the big announcement was the M6. which understandably is a big deal in the last four or five years. It's become one of the most coveted film cameras you can possibly think of, especially within the 35 millimeter space. And they stopped making it in the eighties. And I mean, it's a really simple pitch. They're just making it again. The things that they can improve because their manufacturing has become better. They've, they've made better. Uh, like I had one retailer explained to me that on a quote unquote original or earlier era, M6, the film advance lever is pressed or like stamped metal. Whereas on the new one, it's milled brass and then hand finished. Uh, so yeah, they announced a new M6, which is a film camera. For those of you who don't know the Leica M series, it's a range finder film camera that would represent like one of the most popular and successful, well-regarded like photojournalism cameras ever. definitely within the Leica space, but then moving on into other spaces, you know, the history of the M series takes you all the way back to the Erleica, which was essentially the first camera that could just be held in your hand and take a photo. It created street photography. It created reportage photography. And this would be a sort of the Zenith before digital really started to affect the existence of these things. There were film cameras that came after that and Leica has continued to make other film cameras with MP, for example, but Bringing back the M6 kind of is a nod to the fact that a lot of people have been into this camera. It's become very valuable. And years ago they were, you know, it's, it's kind of like a vintage watch, you know, years and years ago that fewer people knew about them. There wasn't this big following. They traded at a more humble price point and now they've become somewhat more collectible and special and desirable. And there were several photographers there that, that, you know, were known for shooting M6, developing the film and then putting it on Instagram. Uh, so there were some, some really cool ambassadors. They had, uh, Joe Greer there was IO Greer, who's a fantastic American, uh, kind of, I would say his street photography is a part of it, but he's kind of expanded into some like lifestyle aspects. I'd be surprised if the first time I'd mentioned Joe on the show, but, uh, I got to meet him. Finally. I followed him on Instagram for some time. A really nice guy, you know, takes a lovely photograph, of course. And then they also had, uh, John Sipol, who's a Tokyo camera style. He's, he's a very successful, uh, kind of photographer in Tokyo who has an Instagram feed where he takes pictures of people holding their camera often like us. Uh, but not necessarily. Uh, so he was there and he likes to shoot film and that sort of thing. So it was an interesting thing that way. They had a bunch of people as far as guests, like myself, um, some, some of whom were at last year. So I got to reconnect with some, some friends and some who were new, uh, all kind of. Yeah, like working high level photographers from all over the world, uh, who are part of the, the sort of like a network or system. And so the two, like an Oscar Barnack award winners, the main award went to a woman named Kiana Harry, uh, who did a series called promises written on ice left in the sun. And it was, it's chronicles her work in various parts of Afghanistan, focusing on Afghan women and how the war has affected them in their lives. And it's this like very arresting, like classic photojournalism style work. I'm not going to sit here and describe a bunch of photos. Just hit the link in the show note. This is something I really enjoy being able to promote once a year, as long as Leica decides to keep inviting me out. But Kiana's work is really impressive. You know, she hails in some fashion from Toronto. So that was fairly exciting. And the work was really interesting to get her sort of perspective on what was going on, especially with, you know, our recently talking about Afghan style, which has kind of a different perspective on, on what, you know, has gone on and life in Afghanistan and that sort of thing. And this one kind of follows a pretty wide, uh, swath of her experience in the country. So the work is incredible jaw-dropping even to see on a, on a decent monitor, especially a large screen. And then the newcomer award winner for 2022 is this young guy, Valentin Gopal. I apologize if I'm not saying that last name correctly, but, uh, he does a series called young adults in the times of Corona. He had started university when the Corona virus pandemic kicked off and he was encouraged by a mentor and his teacher and such to kind of capture what that, what his experience was in photography. And he shot all these like incredible images of just people during the time that, that they were in lockdown or, or thereabouts. And again, it's just like aesthetically really beautiful, very life driven sort of work. Um, I highly recommend checking both of these photographers out. They did a really beautiful job and it was a, it was really a treat to not only see their work kind of be shown in a big medium, but also to have them like sit and talk over their thought process and why photography. And especially for me, like I find when I talk about photography, I'm talking about the gear.
Unknown Yeah.
James it probably speaks to the, my, my level of photography, just not being that high. Uh, when it comes to like an art form, these people have no concept. Like they, they were not, there was never a mention of like, Oh, I chose this lens for this or that. It was just like, it was about the interface between them and their subjects and how their presence changed that or how they approached really difficult scenarios where you probably shouldn't take a photo, but to know when and how and, and how much translations involved, like, With Kiana being able to say that she could speak the language and obviously know the territory, it was like she was able to translate that into a different type of photography than you or I might've gotten. It was really just a fascinating thing. And I have a love of photography of all types. I feel like my Instagram has really kind of indentured me to lifestyle style photography and to see stuff that's a little bit closer to kind of the classic core of photojournalism. is always exciting, especially because so much of that, it feels like it's celebrated as a past hood. Like you look at great photos from a war or from a famous event or, or whatever. And, but these were just made in the last few years and they represent like real struggles and experiences and that sort of thing. So it's a beautiful and like really humbling as someone who carries a camera, a camera that's, you know, significantly better at taking pictures than I ever will be. Uh, but it was, it was a really cool and, and, you know, Like always, a huge shout out to Leica for including me in the event. It was a treat to experience the photographers that were on the trip, experience the photographers that won the awards, all of it. It was really special.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it sounds amazing. And you're right. I think, you know, we're so used to hearing about the great photojournalists of the past and looking at some of the incredible images that came out of World War II or the Vietnam War. Um, but to see some of the work that's, that's being done nowadays and even coming out of the Ukraine conflict or Afghanistan and the work that Robert has done and others. And, um, it really is inspiring and it is interesting to kind of. Almost, you know, get the camera itself out of the way and just look at what the result is, you know, look at, um, the artist who's, who's composing the photo and finding that image and then, um, kind of what, what the result is. That's amazing. I guess I had a question too, when it comes to the M6, were you able to try it out and run a roll of film through it?
James Yeah. So we actually, uh, they had, uh, apparently the most film 35 millimeter film stock, like in one place that they knew of in Europe, possibly further. Um, and Cinestilli had a ton of, uh, film there. So, um, I had an M6 for like an hour. Oh, and, and shot a roll of 400 D I put some of it on my Instagram. I'll put a shot in the, in the show notes, if you care. Um, I, I enjoyed it. I mean, I, I guess I thought that it would perform something like portrait 400, which of course is like a very clean, straightforward look. Um, this is a little higher noise, definitely higher grain and a lot more color, more kind of the film has its own color versus what you're shooting. Uh, but no, I had a really good time with that. And the camera also came with a, like, Along with the camera, they announced a lens, which is a shorter 35 millimeter Summilux, a 1.4 Summilux. So the normal 1.4 Summilux is an aspherical lens. It's a fantastic 35 millimeter lens. Really lovely. This one's a little shorter in terms of how far it comes off the camera. It's based on his design. Boy, Leica folks are going to get mad at me, but I want to say it was from the 60s that Leica just hadn't produced in a while. So here you don't get the aspherical lens. element, but you do get the one four and the end result is a lens where if you run it wide open at one four, let's say it has quite a bit of character, fuzziness, uh, sort of a glow, that sort of thing. If you stop it down as you do with most lenses to get the best out of them, it gets quite a bit sharper, more like you'd expect from a Lux, but you're paying roughly in the same money as a Summicron, which is kind of the level down from a Lux typically, uh, the F2 Summicron stuff. So those are about $4,000. I actually don't remember the exact because they were saying prices in Euros, US. I had four or five different currencies discussed. The M6 costs like a Leica M cost. Yeah. So we'll have all the stuff in the show notes and that sort of thing. But the only other brand I can think of that reminds me in any way of Leica and their ability to kind of do the product thing, but also then do something about what the product enables, I guess, is kind of like what Rolex does with the Laureates. Oh, sure. Yeah. And you know, I feel that's like direct philanthropy. I don't think you could call making a camera philanthropic, not directly anyways. Right. It's a commercial endeavor. It's that sort of thing where they, they seem, they have this uncanny ability to kind of promote both at the same time without having one seem like, like it's priority was so much deeper than the other, you know, photography is the goal here. Their cameras are one way to do it. And, and, uh, I, I like their outlook a lot. And I mean, I don't, I adore the camera. I've had my M 10 in my hand. I, this is the same effect it had on me last year when I got back from, from the, the awards last year. It was just like, I just couldn't put my camera down.
Jason Heaton Oh, that's great. I mean, it sounds like an amazing trip. And I think to, to have a trip like that is a bit of a palate cleanser probably after, you know, just sort of drinking from a fire hose with, with watch stuff for, for so, so much time and. you know, especially the past few months, you've been so busy with releases and the watch world. And then to kind of take this, this, you know, 90 degree turn to, to something completely different. And that actually inspires you. That's, uh, that's amazing.
James That's really cool. Yeah. You want to dig into some final notes, put a bow on it.
Jason Heaton Yeah, let's do that. Gosh, I don't know where this, uh, where the one I have really fits in with, with today's discussion. I feel like it's tangentially related to kind of both our discussions and that my Omega and, uh, and the Leica thing in some weird way. Okay. This is, uh, this is a video I've watched a couple of times on YouTube and, uh, it's a condensed version of a longer film. And it's about, uh, a pair of brothers, the Leland brothers. And I think our Australian listeners are probably familiar with the Leland brothers. They had a popular kind of regular adventures kind of entertainment show for, for many years back in the seventies. Um, but this one in particular is, is a shortened version of a video about a trip that they did. in, uh, two Land Rovers, um, in, uh, these were, uh, I believe series two, a Land Rovers that they took up the Cape York peninsula in Australia. This is in Northern Australia, very remote region. Um, I believe it might be close to the Northern most point in, on the, on the, uh, in the country of Australia. And, you know, to me, this is like, hearkens back to, you know, you know, we all like to romanticize the old days of adventure and talk about how things are not done this way anymore. And, and this is just one of these nostalgic films where these, these two kind of DIY, you know, Australian brothers, they're, they're very good natured. They're out there just roughing it. And, and this is just impossibly difficult terrain. I mean, these guys are going where there are no roads there, you know, they've got these massive mud tires on these old trucks. Um, they've got a boat on the top, they're pulling a trailer, um, What's really striking is that, um, one, if not both of the brothers brought a spouse and a baby. And so while, while one of the guys is like testing the depth of a, of a river to Ford or, or digging a, you know, with a pickaxe to kind of dig a trench so that the Land Rover can get through it. His wife is like standing there in a dress and like slippers, like bouncing the baby on her shoulder to kind of keep it from crying. And I'm thinking this is like, this is full on like wilderness adventure with Um, they're talking about redback spiders and, you know, all the critters that are there that, um, could potentially, uh, kill you. And then just sort of the way that they have to overcome the obstacles along the way. I mean, they're, they're, they're, you know, prying tires off of rims and patching them, you know, by hand and, um, you know, winching and fixing, you know, broken teeth on a differential. And, and I guess if there's a watch element to it and a speedmaster element, one of the guys you can see. while he's laboring awake to patch a tire, you can see he's got a Speedmaster on. And it's funny to see because we often think of the Speedmaster as kind of a space watch, certainly a rugged watch, but not the kind that you'd want to take on kind of a muddy overland adventure for fear of breaking it or flooding it or something like that. So that was really cool to see. But I think, you know, if anything, it's kind of like you're like a trip inspired to come home and pick up your camera. Watching this video almost made me think to myself that Even, even this old series three Land Rover that I have is, is exponentially more capable and rugged than I ever give it credit for or will ever exploit. And, uh, you know, it just kind of filled me with a bit of pride for the vehicle, but also, you know, kind of inspire me to, you know, maybe, maybe next summer take on something a little bold and a little bit more adventuresome with, uh, with either that or the defender and kind of go out and, and, and do something where you don't exactly know the outcome of. So really, really fun to see. Yeah.
James Man, this looks great. I clicked the link very briefly and actually crashed my internet while we were recording. Oh, that's not a good sign. I will watch it at a time when I'm not also recording. Yeah. But it looks awesome. And yeah, from what you're saying, it sounds like a great view. So a good final note for sure. How about you? Mine this week is a book that I'm about halfway through and really enjoying. It's called Rogues, True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels, and Crooks by Patrick Radden Keefe. Uh, he's a prize winning New York times bestseller, uh, author of say nothing and empire of pain. This is, this is a collection of his work. So it's, you could call it short stories, but they're like published articles about real things in life. It's everything from people who forge $150,000 bottles of vintage wine to, um, a woman that was involved in a shooting. And it turns out it wasn't even her first one, huh? Exposing money laundering at a Swiss bank. being in Vietnam with Anthony Bourdain. It's really just a collection of these incredible stories that the title kind of says it all. Grifters, Killers, Rebels, and Crooks. I really found it fascinating. There's a great story right at the top of a woman who was the sister to someone who had become the Netherlands like most notable crime boss. Oh, wow. And then eventually flipped on him and like how that worked. Huh. And how the trial went and the rest of it. He has a really fantastic writing style. It's very straightforward. Very detailed and and you can tell that like these stories must take years in some cases to put together The wine forgery one alone that sounds interesting so much work to put all of it together, and it's all fascinating I haven't hit a dud yet I'm I think Kendall told me about 50% of the way through the book 52% something like that, and I'm just loving it So I'm not gonna spoil anything else if you if you like nonfiction and and Delivered in somewhat shorter pieces than say a full book I highly recommend checking out Rogues by Patrick Radden Keefe.
Jason Heaton It's killer. Yeah, I'm definitely going to. This looks, uh, this looks really, really good. Yeah. Good, good pick.
James Yeah. And there you go. I guess that's, uh, that's probably enough to keep you busy for a week, eh?
Jason Heaton Yeah. It was an eclectic episode. We, uh, we hit a lot of different points here. And, uh, as always, thanks so much for listening. If you'd like to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode, I'd love to see the comments on this one or consider supporting the show directly. and maybe even grab a new TGN signed NATO, please visit TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive.
James And we leave you with this quote from Elie Wiesel who said, Sometimes it happens that we travel for a long time without knowing that we have made the long journey solely to pronounce a certain word, a certain phrase in a certain place. The meeting of the place and the word is a rare accomplishment.