The Grey NATO – 229 – New Divers From Sinn, Seiko, and Citizen

Published on Wed, 01 Mar 2023 15:00:00 -0500

Synopsis

The hosts discuss several new watch releases from Citizen, including reissues of the Ecozilla dive watch and a new model with a full lume dial. They also talk about Seiko's new Sumo solar GMT dive watches and Zenit's new titanium T50 dive watch collection with interesting details like a bronze gold bezel option. The hosts share their wrist checks, with one getting a highly anticipated Pelagos 39 soon. They also discuss a Top Gear video about a company that customizes Toyota Land Cruisers for NGOs, and a new Netflix tennis documentary series "Break Point" in the style of "Drive to Survive" about Formula 1.

Transcript

Speaker
Unknown 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 229 and it's proudly brought to you by our ever-growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you'd like to support the show and aren't already, please visit thegreynado.com for more details. James, a big week for us. This is the third time we've talked this week. We've got the busy schedule coming up.
Unknown Yeah, it's a busy time of year. So this is, we're going to do a shorter episode for this one. We weren't actually going to do an episode. We were pretty seriously considering just taking the week that this one would like the first, you know, play of March off. But thankfully the watch world provided us a topic with some of our favorite brands launching some pretty cool watches. So we're going to do a shorter one. You know, every now and then we do really big episodes. We call them mega sodes. I'm going to call this a short a sode. I spent the morning shoveling and I shouldn't complain cause I think we got about half the snow that you guys did.
Unknown Yeah. We've had like this two day snow event and uh, it's, we're pretty well buried in here. I got out this morning before, before we recorded and had to rake the roof again. I mean it's getting old, you know, we're almost to March and it's, I believe we're in the top, at least in the top five snowiest winters. on record here in the Twin Cities, which is saying something. So yeah, it's impressive, but it's also a bit tiresome by now.
Unknown Yeah. Let's get on with the spring and summer. We had a nice taste of spring here for almost two weeks. It was, you know, it was above zero. We had a couple of really, really nice, I would almost say warm days and it was lovely. And I was just like, Oh, should I get the bike out? Put some air in the tires? Yeah. No, the answer is no, James, you shouldn't. Uh, so fair enough. And then, yeah, shortly after we record this, I still have to pack and do a bunch of planning, very early next morning, I'm on my way to Salt Lake City and then to Park City after that for a photo shoot that I'm there for a day and then I go to New York. So I was looking at the weather and it's warmer currently in Park City, which I didn't expect than it is here in Toronto. Oh, yeah. And then, yeah, the only other thing I've got to chitchat before we dig into the news from some of these great brands with the new watches is a big thanks to Matt and Greg from the Spirit of Time podcast. They had me on The episode should be live by the time this one comes out, so hit the show notes, I'll link to it, but they had me on for their sort of, I guess, the second time that they've done like a preview of the Formula One season. Oh, wow. And we ended up talking for a couple hours about all sorts of watches, including some of the stuff we'll talk about on this episode, but also about Formula One and all that kind of stuff. So if that sounds interesting, if for whatever reason you need more of my voice, the Spirit Time guys were Really just so much fun to sit and chat with a nice way to spend an evening Have a drink that sort of thing and we had a good time So if you're keen on more or if you're or if like me You're looking forward to formula one season starting very soon. It's I'm looking forward to the weekend I get back from this trip will be the first race. So Check that out and hit it up on the show notes and a big thank you to a Matt and Greg for having me on It was awesome. Oh, can't wait to hear that. Those guys are a lot of fun. Yeah, they're having a good time You want to jump into some wrist checks?
Unknown Yeah, sure. Um, boring. I'm a, I'm a broken record here. I've still got the Blancpain on. I'm, I'm, I'm very well considering just, uh, you know, just tucking everything else away in a safe somewhere and just, uh, just wearing this all the time at the current rate. Fire sale. Things will change. I'm sure. And you know, next time it'll be different, but who knows for now it's the same. How about you? What are you taking on your trip?
Unknown Um, on the trip I'm taking the Mito Oceanstar GMT, the LE we made for Hodinkee, obviously changing the time zone, although I'm only there for like a day. So it's not that big a deal. but that's my kind of broken record. That's what I've got on. It's the watch like between that and the scarf. It's what I'm wearing basically all the time. Yeah, just really, really in love with both of those. The one fun note, though, is just after we record this after talking about it and writing about it. At this point, I could probably publish a coffee table book about the Pelagos 39. My ticket came up, so I'm getting one. Oh, man. So I should be able to go pick that up probably in the next two hours, and I'm looking forward to it. So I'll probably like, let's face it, I'll probably wearing that. Yeah. But I'll take the needle with me too, as I like to have a travel watch when I travel and that sort of thing. But I'm pumped. I put in, kind of put in my interest in September and waited in line and now we've got one and I'm really excited.
Unknown Yeah. It's kind of the opposite of an impulse buy. But on the other hand, I think you've vetted this watch adequately. I think it's such a known entity and I can't imagine you'll be disappointed. I mean, I'm sure you'll just wear the heck out of this thing. Can't wait.
Unknown Yeah, definitely on the concept of an impulse buy, it's not. This would be the most I've ever spent on a watch. And a big thanks to the TGN supporter Slack, because that's where I sold a few watches to kind of do a, we'll call it an upward consolidation to get to this. But yeah, I think it's going to be great. It's definitely going to be on my wrist as much as possible for as long as possible. And I'm looking forward to putting just a solid patina of scratches into that titanium. So it should be good. Obviously, if I have any news beyond that, it'll be in episode 230. Nice. Cool. But speaking of new watches, you want to want to get into the latest stuff, man, we got through everything in seven and a half minutes. That's good. That's good. Yeah. Want to kick it off with some some stuff from citizen.
Unknown Yeah. New watches. Um, you know, fun episode. We've got, we've got Seiko citizen and Zen and uh, yeah, let's kick it right off with, uh, with citizen because you know, they had a couple of releases recently, um, that they're kind of throwback pieces. You know, citizens has been revisiting their, uh, their back catalog and you know, we saw the Orca recently and then even further ago than that, there was the, I guess what you call the, the challenge diver, um, that little titanium one that you and I both kind of liked and reviewed. They've brought back the so-called Ecozilla, which is the name that collectors and citizen fans gave this watch back in... Gosh, when did it first come out? It must have been the mid-2000s, you know, kind of the forum days, the heyday of the forums. I think so, yeah.
Unknown 2005-ish, I want to say. That's definitely my footnote for it would be, yeah, like probably more like 06, 07 when I first started to really hit the forums. Yeah. But for all I know, there was an earlier model, but I don't think it could have been a lot earlier. No.
Unknown So, yeah. This is... From all I can tell, this is almost a virtual copy or reissue of a, of an existing watch. And in fact, if you go to their website, you can still find kind of the original ecozilla for sale side by side with these two new additions. And one of which is a, you know, this full olive tone watch, kind of an olive strap and dial, you know, color accents. And then the other one is this this really striking blue dial with a yellow minute hand and a yellow strap, which I'm not sure I could pull it off long-term or regularly, but it's, uh, it's certainly a, um, a striking piece and it feels very summery, um, to my eye. You know, what's cool about this watch is it's a citizen, you know, is so good at kind of doing this style watch. It's a very avant-garde, very modern looking piece as opposed to, you know, a lot of what, what Seiko does, which feels a little bit more traditional. Citizens always leaned hard into some of these really modern pieces and, and you know, the Ecozilla is, is one of those watches. It has a left-hand crown. Um, it has the really kind of funky bezel style, which almost looks like, you know, I know that the name ashtray has been given to some other watches in the past, but, but it looks like where you'd balance your cigarette on those little indentations. Um, Oh, it does. Yeah. Uh, around that big chunky bezel, uh, kind of a knurled ring that holds it all together. And then that integrated really long, thick rippled rubber strap. I mean, this watch is anything but subtle. Oh yeah. Um, Yeah. And it's $595. So it's, you know, this is, this is kind of like, if you want like a modern, you know, solar powered, you know, beat up where anywhere kind of dive watch. Uh, this is, this is something you, you'd be hard pressed to find anything better.
Unknown Yeah. I think like within the same zone is what we like about the Aqualand. Yeah. You know, this is, is this a similar price point? Like you said, it's 600 bucks for the blue yellow one and about 675 for the full green one. They're 48 millimeters. So like, this is your, This is relative to watches, of course, but it's a relatively inexpensive way to get in on the big watch experience. You want that weekend watch. You want to take it. Maybe you're taking it. Man, how much fun would one of these be to take diving, right?
Unknown Oh, yeah.
Unknown They do time and date, and it's a solar powered system being an eco drive, and then both are 300 meters water resistant. I just think it's cool that they're still making these. They can't be their number one watch. but it's awfully cool that they still make it. And I think if you want that big watch experience in like an Aqualand doesn't really do it for you. Or, or of course you can't easily buy like they're not retailing the Aqualand in North America currently. Whereas these you could pick up from their website or conceivably go, go to your favorite department store, see if they have it, maybe even get yourself a sale. Right.
Unknown Yeah. And, and speaking of the Aqualand, you know, kind of our, our, our beloved full loom dial JP 17. Um, They haven't yet released that yet for North American sale, but they did come out with this other one. The name is kind of clumsy, of course, the BN0227-25X, which is a full loom dial version of, how do I describe it? Kind of that squarish case titanium piece that that came out last year. It was quite popular. One of them had a blue camouflage dial.
Unknown Oh, sure. Yeah. I don't remember the nickname for it at the moment. I'm blanking.
Unknown It's a wild watch. And this loom dial version is really cool. I actually like it better than the first couple of releases of this case shape. And from what I recall, this watch wears really well. It's quite thin. It's a 200 meter water resistance. So not like a super deep diver. in titanium with this shape case, very square, very comfortable on the wrist. And then, you know, I'm just such a sucker for loomed aisles. This is a, this is a great piece. So, and, uh, five 95 again. So, you know, citizens kind of crushing it with these really, really kind of modern, you know, crazy, uh, dive watches that, that are just fun to wear. Great. Great.
Unknown Just in time for summer. Sorry. It took me a minute to find it on their website with the orange hand. Yeah. Oh, this is sweet. All right. Hit the show notes for this one. if you... I think this might be my new recommendation for the big watch experience, because these being square, they wear well on a variety of wrists. They wear smaller than you would expect, despite being 46 millimeters. Right. And super titanium for 600 bucks. Yeah. Man, I like that. That's cool. Yeah, yeah. The straps are really good too, because that looks like an identical strap to the Aqualant, which is just bulky, but somehow very comfortable. Yeah. Yep. I, you know, always nice to be able to talk about, um, new watches in general that, that are like in the TGN world, but from citizen, especially just cause they do something, nobody else was making watches like the, uh, the ecozilla or, or, or the, the, these big square ones.
Unknown Yeah. The one I'm waiting for. Um, I, I, I had an ecozilla kind of one of the first gen ones, uh, years ago. And, um, the mistake I made is I bought it after selling an autozilla. If you remember the autozilla with automatic version. Similar in style but bigger and the the crown stuck out further and then it had this locking mechanism where you could remove the Bezel to clean it out and it came with a strap extension in the case and it was a really serious piece It wasn't terribly comfortable to wear the ecozilla was kind of a light version of it I'd love to see them bring back the autozilla. So I'm just throwing that out there. I know I know citizen leans hard into eco drive these days, but Anyway, yeah, just cool watches all around
Unknown definitely cool yeah for sure good good job on that citizen happy to be able to chit chat about them and yeah it might might be worth getting in this um this other loom dial one in for for some coverage that looks like a lot of fun yeah cool stuff wild wild cases i'm here for it especially with summer on the horizon all right let's uh why don't let's kick over to seiko um why don't why don't you introduce this one because i was looking um kind of looking up some details about this watch and you covered it uh covered the release for houdinki these are sharp Yeah, so this is essentially a sumo, which many of us would know in terms of the size. They're 45 millimeter dive watches from Seiko, called sumo due to the shape of the 12 hour marker, which looks similar, I guess, to the kind of clothing that a sumo wrestler wears.
Unknown I didn't realize that was the origin of the nickname. That's awesome.
Unknown To my understanding. I could be wrong, and I mean, it's all word of mouth with Seiko nicknames, but I do feel like I was on that thread on Watch UC, 12 years ago, or maybe more like 10 at this point, when that was named the Sumo. They're really quite handsome watches, but the thing to know here is it's a solar GMT movement. And I just think it's a 200 meters water resistance, it comes in two different versions. It's the SFK001, which is blue, and the SFK003, which is green. And so being the solar powered, it's also a flyer GMT. So you're getting a lot here in terms of both convenience and functionality. And let's go a step further and say that it's also a dive GMT, not a GMT diver. So it has a 60-minute elapsed time bezel. You use it just like a normal dive watch. And it has a 24-hour scale, which kind of nicely nestles in around the markers. They're applied markers. They have really nice-looking dials, date at six, and then the ability to jump the local hand, which I think is great. Look, the 45-millimeter sizing is big. Nobody's gonna say that it isn't, but if you don't mind a somewhat larger watch where you get a chance to try it on, they're just they're just packing a lot into eight hundred dollars. Yeah, it's seven hundred seventy five bucks for these with a bracelet and it's you know, it's in the current generation bracelet. So it's a solid end link. These take a strap pretty nicely. They have drilled lugs. You can I'll put the story from hooding key that I wrote in the show notes, of course, but you can check on the kind of close up, like especially the blue one, I think is really good looking.
Unknown Very good looking. I love both colorways, but the blue is particularly beautiful.
Unknown They both have orange accents, nice looking dials because the dial has to have some sort of a texture because it's kind of glassy for the solar. So it doesn't quite look like a normal Seiko dial, which I think works to its credit. I like, like I mentioned, I appreciate the way that they've integrated the 24 hour scale using only odd numbers and nestled right in with the markers. Yeah. which I think is clever. It's a nice use of color. Yeah, they're a little big, but I also think that, and I said this in the story, I think that it's interesting that we might then be able to see this movement in other watches, right? So put this in an SPB, put this in a Seiko 5, you could get a lot done, assuming the movement fits in a smaller case with this movement. I'm I think I said the same thing years ago when I reviewed the SUN 023, which is a kinetic GMT with local jumping. Yeah. Like that's a 47 millimeter watch and a great experience diving in Hawaii, which is what I did with it. But as a day to day watch, I just don't have the wrist for it. Right. Not even close. Yeah. But take that movement and put it in something a little bit more casual, right? Like imagine this is a little bit closer, like what we were talking about in our watch pitches. Like what if you put this movement in a Moen case? Oh yeah, yeah. That's just a ton of watch.
Unknown Oh yeah.
Unknown There's a ton of watch. Yeah. So I was pumped for these. I like what it's... I like what we're seeing from GMT currently between what Etta's made available and bringing the price down on local jumping mechanical. And now you have Seiko halving the price of something like the Mido, but in quartz, solar, that sort of thing. And then, of course, we're still seeing just the early, just the beginnings of what people are gonna do with the Miota. GMT movement. And then of course, if you go even a price level down from that, you have the, the SSK GMTs, which, you know, 450 bucks for a collar style GMT in a, in an SS, in an SKX style format, pretty, pretty appealing stuff these days. If you're, if you're into travel watches, especially those with dive bezels and that's right up my alley.
Unknown Yeah. And, and, you know, I don't know if it's just pure coincidence, but here we are kind of coming out of a couple of years of very limited or no travel due to pandemic, et cetera. And we're seeing just this embarrassment of riches nowadays with with GMTs really, really good to see.
Unknown So those are these are super sharp. Yeah, I think it's a good one from Seiko. Seiko also has their like announcement, their session announcement for the spring in a couple weeks. So I think we're going to have another stuff to talk about. Yeah. This is such a fun time of year for watches because everything's new. Yeah. And you know, sometimes stuff comes out in the fall like with the Pelagos 39 or whatever. So much of it is February, March, and to have... I'm not gonna see a ton of stuff at Watches and Wonders that's necessarily directly in our wheelhouse, so much more expensive stuff, basically. Yeah, yeah. To have the Citizen, the new stuff from Citizen, the new stuff from Zen, which we'll get here in just a moment, and then more and more great stuff from Seiko, that's just a good time to be into watches. We've been saying it for a couple of years. It's been a couple of good years, for sure, especially from Seiko and Citizen. Yeah.
Unknown And let's move over to Germany here. This news just dropped yesterday, the day before, right? Danny covered it on Hodinkee. And of course, you pinged me right away when these popped up. These are some sharp intros from Zinn.
Unknown Yeah. And this kind of blew up into a threaded chat on the Slack. I had seen an email that I wasn't sure if it had an embargo. I was in the middle of something. So I didn't open the email, but I saw some new stuff from Zinn. I thought like, oh, we'll figure out a way to cover that. And then I saw it blow up on the slack, like suddenly there was a bunch of messages in one thread, all based on the Zen launch. And I was like, Oh, I'll go back and read the email and read the email. And they launched a handful of new watches, but the flagship or the new thing is a new T series diver. So you'll remember from a few years ago, there was the T1 and the T2. They were a little bit more expensive. They're titanium, they have captive bezels and for whatever reason, they just didn't quite take off.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown You see them around, and I think it was in the last couple of years that they were finally fully, quote unquote, discontinued. Nobody just says, like, we're not making this anymore, but they weren't on the website. And then, of course, we had the U50, which came out in the last two years and is, man, my timeline, because of the pandemic, it might have been a little bit longer than two years. I'm trying to remember when I had it, but a fantastic dive watch in steel, a U series is steel, the T series is titanium. So this is now a T50. So it's 41 millimeters, 12.3 millimeters thick, 47mm lug-to-lug and 20mm lug width. So very similar in size to a U50. And they're offering three versions. One in full titanium, it's grade 5 for you titanium nerds, and it's tedriment treated, so it should be pretty good for scratches, even being titanium. They're also making a version that has a gold-bronze bezel. So gold-bronze, despite the naming order there, is a mostly bronze gold. I think it's 10% gold or nine carats, something like that. And then they're doing an L E of 300 pieces, which is fully gold bronze, the, the bezel and the case and comes on this really good looking textile strap. All of these are in the show notes. I recommend you check them all out. But the, the, the really fast rundown is the standard model. I already told you the size is 53 grams for the case. So very light. They're just shy of four grand, so 3840. Currently, watch buys are showing the same price for a rubber strap or the titanium bracelet. So don't be a nimby, get the bracelet, obviously. Granted, the watch launched yesterday, so it could just be a translation error. Who knows? The other thing that's cool here is there's no use of red. It's a very monochromatic application of color, and you get sword hands. So where the U series has U series hands, these hands are very similar to what you'd see on the UX, if you know your Zins. really well. I think these are exciting, but I also feel like there's a big jump in price for titanium over the already arguably perfect U50.
Unknown I didn't get any time with a U50, but what I remember from my days with a U1 was that it struck me as a very heavy watch. I'm guessing the U50 didn't quite have that heft to it, but I think having a titanium version of one of these watches would just make it such a sweet spot in terms of comfort.
Unknown I... Yeah, I definitely agree. I guess what's surprising is like this feels like they made a watch that lies right between a Pelagos 39 and a Pelagos, right? It's 41 millimeters, it's 500 meters water resistance, it has that captive bezel system, so it's a little techie. Yeah. Really, really good looking watch, I would also say, which is... Zins are genuinely usually quite aesthetically pleasing watches, and there's something very stop sign-esque of the U series. And this is a little bit warmer with the sword hands, a little bit more like traditional dive watch in some ways. But it doesn't use a bezel insert. It's a formed metal bezel, like an engraved metal bezel. I think these are good. I guess I was just a little bit surprised by the price point, which is more than $1,000 over a U50. And I guess that puts it, what, within $800 of a Pelagos 39?
Unknown Yeah. I've often felt that Zins are, if anything, underpriced for what you get.
Unknown I don't disagree.
Unknown Yeah. They seem so over-engineered and you know, if you run down kind of the spec list, I think that captive bezel, the kind of push to turn bezel is really a neat thing anyway. And then they always, well, not always, but with this one particularly, not only do you get the 500 meter water resistance in a, in a high grade titanium case, but they have that, uh, moisture absorbing capsule that Zin's used for so long. Neat little feature, you know, overbuilt, certainly you, you do get a lot with Zin and I'm not sure if this is a price correction or if you know, or if they're trying to make a move up market or what, but I guess aesthetically with this watch, I have to say I miss a splash of color. I miss a little bit of red.
Unknown How do you feel about that? I don't, I don't think I miss it in my mind that there's something about the standard titanium, the T 50 base, not with the gold bronze bezel or the full gold bronze, but the base one, there's something very two, two, five, four about it. Oh yeah, it doesn't have a wave dial, right? It's a little bit more chill than that, but the sword hands, the clarity, the sizing is very close to that of a 2254. I think these are going to be successful. Yeah, look, everybody's going up market a bit these days. So like if Seiko can move prospects from what we used to talk about in the 777 to something like the SPB or even better, then I don't see why Zen can't make the push in charge for the hardened grade five titanium, and I don't think they're out of line. I expect that there is going to be some price sensitivity for a brand that's a little bit difficult to see in person. Yeah, true. Right? Because my guess is if you saw this watch in person, you'd go like, oh, this bezel is really good. And the AR, you know the AR on the crystal is going to be next level just because that's how they operate. And the fitment of the bracelet is going to be great. It'll be comfortable and lightweight. but they are, they can be tough to see in person, depending on where you live. And if you live in the states, I don't know that you can unless watch buys brings back their road shows, which I'm sure they would like to do, but pandemic and everything else. Right. So I think they might have an uphill battle translating that price to Zen buyers, but I don't think the price is necessarily insane. Yeah, you're talking to a very biased fellow at the moment, who's hours away from getting his Pelagos 39 for me. I think these are exciting, but The two millimeters is a big part of what I've got in the Pelgos 39, is going to 39 millimeters. It's a little bit thinner as well. You always decide what you're paying for. I'm not necessarily a big in-house guy, but obviously if you go Tudor, you're getting into the manufacturer movements, which is not a purely in-house movement. It's a shared platform that they share with other brands in some ways. But Yeah, I don't know. It's a plus or minus. I like the Tudor, and obviously that's the one I've committed to and I like. I am very excited to see them continue to make reasonably sized tech for modern dive watches, and I think this one nails that really well.
Unknown Yeah, good stuff. I mean, they had a couple of other kind of limited release. They had a U50 with that kind of distressed decorative dial, which I think is sharp, but I think the real talking point here, the real Big release were these titanium 50s, the T50s.
Unknown And what did you think of the full gold bronze one? Not my thing. I think it's a very handsome looking watch. It is handsome. Not mine either. It's too brown. Yeah. But the photos of it are great. It has this textured dial. The strap looks really nice on that textile strap. I made that note in our... I wonder if they'll sell me that strap separately. I like it a lot. Yeah. The strap looks great. But if you like a bronze or a brown tone watch, looks great. Yeah, like really, really good. Yeah, I'm very excited to see them in person and I'll get a chance in Geneva as in is gonna be at the time to watches sort of side thing. It's like not part of watches and wonders, but it goes on at the same time in a different part of Geneva. And that's how I got to see the stuff from last year. So I was emailing with them and I have an appointment to see their stuff. So I should get a chance to see these in person and take some pictures, that sort of thing. So if you're waiting for more coverage, you're gonna have to wait like a little bit more than a month if you want more notes from me, but I'll do my best to see and shoot and definitely put out a hands on for the like a quick hands on for the T-50. Very cool. Yeah. Good name to T-50. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Gordon Murray's new car and all that kind of stuff. I like it. Cool. Yeah. Awesome. All right. We're cooking through this one. You want to get into some final notes?
Unknown Yeah, let's do it. I like the efficiency of this episode. This is actually a one that I meant to talk about for quite a while and I can't remember who sent this over. I want to say It was probably Cole Pennington because it feels like a very Cole Pennington kind of link. But, um, this was a sure does a YouTube video that I watched a few times. It's called this secret dealer sells white Toyotas that save the world. And, uh, it's from top gear. So, you know, this is no great secret on the internet. It's about a visit to a garage in Gibraltar, kind of a stockholding company that, that takes kind of, you know, bog standard white Toyota, you know, J series, J 70 land cruisers and, and pickup trucks, you know, all white, very bare bones. And then they outfit them, uh, and paint them and, and customize them for various NGOs and companies around the world that, that just kind of wanted this style of Toyota to use for, you know, uh, humanitarian work or, um, you know, war reporting or, you know, whatever it might be. Um, and it's, I think what was so appealing about watching this was for one thing, I love this vintage and style of Toyota Land Cruiser. So cool. But to see a garage full of brand new ones, and then to watch this video where they're disassembling them and taking them apart and adding winches and, you know, uh, rooftop racks and roll cages and making them into ambulances and all of this kind of thing. It, you know, for someone who's used to like, bloodying my knuckles, you know, trying to free up a rusted fastener on my old Land Rover. I'm so jealous to see these guys getting to tinker on like a brand new, beautiful white Toyota Land Cruiser. It's just enviable. It's just, it's just delicious to watch. And, uh, I have a feeling a lot of people have already seen this, but if not, um, it's a treat and you're going to love it.
Unknown Man. I haven't seen this. This looks great. It makes me wonder, could we register some sort of an NGO for TGN and buy one or two? Import them under some sort of humanitarian effort for podcasting or something?
Unknown Yeah, I think so.
Unknown Yeah, let's do it. That's so cool. Yeah. As soon as I clicked the link on this, it went directly into my pocket. So I'll probably be watching this, you know, sitting in the lounge tomorrow in a connection in Denver. So I'll definitely do this. It's only six and a half minutes long too. This feels like Yeah. Every now and then Top Gear does put out something that it's like six or seven minutes long. And I go like, Oh, I really wish this was 40 minutes long. Like, yeah, right. Take the, take the, uh, the, the special Toyota on a trip or something. All right. What do you have? So for my final note, this week is actually something I didn't know existed until last night. I was on, like I mentioned previously, uh, the spirit of time podcast, and we were talking about drive to survive and kind of the effect that that show has had. It's a documentary series. If you don't know that covers the previous season of formula one, but presents it as sort of a high end docudrama. So there's there's sort of reality show elements and documentary elements about the previous season. So the next season comes out in just a few days at this point. And on top of that, I was saying, you know, this is kind of it's a nice way to get into a sport that you don't necessarily understand to be presented the human side of it and to be explained by some professional who's told like, no, you need to dumb it down, explain it to someone who's never watched Formula One before. And I knew quite a bit about Formula One before drive to survive and loved it. and, you know, almost with complete and normal James Stacy levels of ignorance. I was like, you know, I've experienced tennis firsthand and I kind of wish that they did like a tennis drive to survive. And these guys, I think they thought I was kidding at first, because it turns out the producers of drive to survive, do a tennis show on Netflix that premiered recently. It's called break point. And my wife and I watched the first two episodes last night. I love it. It's the production quality is absolutely five star. and it follows these personalities of like the next generation of tennis behind all the names, you know, the people who have won everything for the last 20 years and it's all these new folks and it talks about their struggles at various grand slams while it explains the sport. I'm loving it really watchable. Yeah, it's called a break point. It's on netflix from the same people who did drive to survive and if you I don't even know if you have to like tennis. I mean that would help.
Unknown Yeah,
Unknown But like, I'm, I'm the, the most casual fan of tennis, uh, in that I've been to a couple of matches because of watches, but like, I don't sit and watch tennis when it's on. Um, so if you're in that zone where you can appreciate the athleticism, um, and that sort of thing that the show will do the rest of the work for you.
Unknown Nice. That's a great one. I can't wait to watch that. Yeah. And, and not to be confused with point break, which is, uh, the Keanu Reeves, uh,
Unknown Patrick, which is a fantastic movie, which was then remade into a less fantastic movie. But the Keanu Reeves one is legit.
Unknown I just watched it recently. I think I think I'm not going to say more about it because I think it might make it onto a film club in the future. So nice. Not bad.
Unknown I mean, Keanu Reeves, he's got a big year ahead of him, too. So we got another John Wick coming out. Apparently it's three hours long. Oh, my gosh. So, yeah, I'll watch that twice in one day. Why not? All right. All right. Someday we'll do a whole podcast, but we could do just a Film Club just with Keanu Reeves pics.
Unknown Yeah, we'll have to start theming them. That's a good idea. Clint Eastwood, Keanu Reeves. Oh man, Clint Eastwood. So many to pick from. All right. Well, that was a microsode, I guess we'd call that one. A swift episode with some good stuff in it, I thought.
Unknown Yeah, a little over 30 minutes, I think, by the time I edit it down. I hope people don't mind, but you got a really long one last week. And I feel like this is the meat and potatoes of what would have been maybe just a more chatty episode, right?
Unknown Right. Yeah. Well, as always, thanks so much for listening. If you'd like to subscribe to The Show Notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grab a new TGN signed NATO, get into the slack, or, you know, pick up one of the watch cap bundles if they're still available, please visit thegraynado.com. Music throughout a siesta by JazzArr via the free music archive.
Unknown And we leave you with this quote from Bill Watterson, who said, there's never enough time to do all the nothing we want to do.