The Grey Nato - Ep 23 - Collection Inspection Vol 3

Published on Tue, 06 Dec 2016 09:04:08 -0500

Synopsis

This episode begins with the announcement of a holiday giveaway of a special edition Seiko SRP diver watch. The hosts then discuss two watches from their collections in a segment called "The Collection Inspection" - James talks about his Bremont Solo watch, and Jason covers his Aurus Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter watch. After that, James shares details about a recent diving trip to Bonaire where he tested some new gear like a dive computer and fins. In the "Final Notes" segment, the hosts recommend various long-form articles and videos including a piece on setting a cross-country driving record in a Morgan three-wheeler, the origins of hard-hat diving, the Trieste's record deep dive, and an analysis of the Air France flight 447 crash.

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacey Welcome to episode 23 of The Grey Nado, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, gear, and most certainly watches. I'm James Stacy.
Jason Heaton And I'm Jason Heaton. Before we get into today's main topic, James has some details on our holiday season giveaway. James, what's the deal?
James Stacey Well, I mean, we could take very little credit for this, but I am really excited. My pal and colleague at a blog to watch Max found himself in a pickle when he was gifted a second Seiko SRP diver. So because he's a good and generous dude and also a fan of kind of TGN's big love for Seiko divers, he wants to give away this spare watch to the TGN audience, which is amazing. So now we have our first giveaway. Oh, and also this isn't some garden variety SRP 777. This is actually the Patty Edition SRP A21. Awesome. One of the most fun versions of our favorite watch of 2016. The rules for the giveaway are going to be super simple. At some point in this show, Jason is going to let you know a special code word, basically like an Instagram hashtag. Then we need you to go to Instagram and follow Max. He's at WatchMax, W-A-T-C-H-M-A-X, and our account at TheGrenado. Sometime shortly after this episode, episode 23, goes live, we will put a specific giveaway post on the TGN account. Comment on that post by tagging one friend, we recommend like your favorite adventure buddy, and use that special code word hashtag that we'll tell you later in the episode, and you're entered for the giveaway. The giveaway will run until December 31st. There will be a huge worldwide countdown to mark the end of the giveaway, and also perhaps New Year's Eve, and we will select a winner and contact you on Instagram. Be sure you're following both accounts. So what an amazing giveaway. And Max, thank you so much for the generosity. And yeah, we can move on with the show. Be sure to stay tuned for your code word hashtag for Instagram.
Jason Heaton Yeah, this is this is super exciting. So thanks a lot to Max and good luck to all of our listeners out there with the with the contest. Moving on to today's main topic, we're going to do a third installment of the series that we have called The Collection Inspection, where James and I discuss a particular watch from our own collections. And previously, we've done two previous volumes of this, this being volume three. James has talked previously about his Omega Seamaster Professional and his Helios Tropic, and I tackled my own Rolex Submariner and my Bremont Supermarine 2000. Today we've each picked a different watch, about which we're going to wax poetic. James, which one did you pick for today?
James Stacey I picked a watch not unlike my Seamaster, which had been in my collection for a long time. I picked a watch I've had for quite a few years now, the Bremont Solo. It's the 43mm, the white version. I got it around Christmas 2012. And yeah, so that's the one I've got. What have you picked for today?
Jason Heaton I guess we've got sort of a pilot's watch theme going here for a couple of divers like we are. I've got the AORUS Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter, which is a watch, of course, we've – I think we talked about a little bit. I brought it to Vancouver for our TGN Summit over the summer. So yeah, a couple of pilot's watches, pretty cool. I happen to really love your Solo. I mean, I know I saw it in person when I was in Vancouver, and I think I've seen it at Baselworld. Something about that white dial on that watch, it's every time I see a picture of it that you post on Instagram, it's just, it's just so striking. It's just such a minimalist, beautiful watch.
James Stacey Yeah, it's kind of razor sharp, but it's very like aesthetically, maybe traditional is the word I want. You know, like it kind of has the same sort of razor sharpness as like a Pelagos, but not that kind of stark stop sign sort of aesthetic. Yeah. And at 43 millimeters, it's roughly my largest watch. certainly the largest that I wear frequently. And I find that it's just kind of become my go-to big watch. It's super comfortable because, you know, I love the Bremont, the triptych case. This is an early version of the white dial, which has a screw-down crown, which is a nice addition, not at all important for the way that I actually use or kind of kick around with the Solo. But, you know, the watch has been fantastic for quite a few years and I've banged it into all sorts of stuff. And that that hardened steel case really takes a scratch. Well, it looks really clean. And and yeah, I just I really adore the dial. It's kind of a matte with a bit of a silver in it. It's a strange white. It's a very different white than my Explorer 2. And and then, of course, you get kind of white metal. I think they might be white gold, but I don't remember specifically, you know, numerals and then kind of luminous elements at 12. three, six, and nine in a date. I love the legibility. I think it looks great on a gray NATO, on a green NATO, leather strap.
Jason Heaton White dials really take straps well, and you've certainly mounted it on quite a few. I think, it's funny, when the Solo first came out, I can't remember what year they introduced that watch, but it was, it just didn't do much for me. And, you know, since that time, my wife, Ghoshani, actually, she got the 37 millimeter version with the black dial. and she wears it fairly often. It's a great watch. It's kind of risen to the top of the heap, close to the top of the heap for me when it comes to Bremont watches. I think it's, you know, it has that great, they kind of targeted this at that sort of IWC Mark series sort of aesthetic, you know, the classic pilot's watch. And yet they did it in a really original way, like I think Bremont just has a knack for doing. You know, they take these sort of classic forms, like the Supermarine with a dive watch and the Solo with a pilot's watch, and they keep the aesthetic, but they kind of do it in their own way. And of course, the build quality on these is always so good.
James Stacey Yeah, I really like the finishing is relatively simple. You know, it's mostly brushed. You can actually now buy a polished version, the Solo slash PW or PB, polished white dial, polished black dial. You know, I saw that at Basel last year and certainly not to my taste. Yeah, just because I loved brushed steel and I really like the the case while You know straight on is quite simple from any angle being the triptych case. It's actually, you know, it's nice It's a three-piece case where the lugs are built into the top segment which also kind of mounts the bezel and then below that you have kind of the middle barrel which on the on my solo is a kind of black PVD and And then you have the case back, which is a display case back. I wouldn't have paid extra to have the display case back. The movement they use, while it keeps fantastic time and has been very reliable for me, doesn't need to be seen, in my opinion. It's kind of like my Zen has a display case back. I just don't need it. And I think with a pilot's watch, you could have kind of, that's a nice canvas for a cool design, the steel case back. But yeah, they make, so this is a 43 millimeter version. And they make a 37, which you mentioned Ghoshani having, which is a very cool watch. My buddy Paul has one of those, which I think is really neat. And at that size, it really has a very, very much a vintage appeal, especially if you're used to wearing a big watch. Right. And then just last year, they announced the Solo 32, which is a specific ladies model. So it's a chronometer, but in 32 millimeters, it's also a very nice style. Certainly again, Bremont's first specifically ladies line. So the, the solo is kind of expanded. You have in the 43 millimeter side, you have the, the white and black and polish the white and black in brushed. And then of course you have the solo CR, which one is I've never actually seen in person, but that uses kind of a cream marker and hand. Oh, I do like that one. On a black dial, which I think would probably look really smart in person. Yeah. For me, it's all about the, uh, the white dial. You know, I had seen, When I decided to buy this watch, I had been heavily weighing the S500, which is the first Bremont that I kind of borrowed from the brand for review and a watch that I still to this day really love. But, you know, I found it quite thick on wrist and certainly if you wear it with the bracelet, it's quite heavy. And when I saw the Solo, you know, I thought, oh, it's a black dial pilot's watch. It looks very nice. And then I saw the white one and it's the way that the the kind of polished markers really play with the light against the relatively matte back of the dial. And then you get some little bit of red accents at 12 and on the seconds hand. Lume is like a BGW-9 so it's effective but not like dive watch. Yeah. I'd love to see them grow this line. You know, you and I have talked about this a lot and we always kind of, I always have my fingers crossed I go to another Basel will they do a GMT. I think it would be really cool to cross an MB2 with a solo and then do the 12 hour bezel, not unlike the kind of special edition they did with, I think it was Timeless. Oh, sure. Yeah. But again, just maintain the white dial, the aesthetic of the white dial, which I think is so clean. And I find, you know, you can put this watch on, I have like an alligator leather strap. And then if you want to wear a blazer and a sweater and kind of do like more of a professor look, it still seems to work despite being kind of a big watch. Yeah. And then on a NATO, I mean, I've worn it, I've traveled to many, many places in the world with it as my go-to and current, you know, worn all day watch. It's very tough and easy to wear. It fits under a, fits under a shirt cuff without too much trouble.
Jason Heaton And, uh, it's a, it's just a treat, you know, I'm curious about the, the screw down crown because, you know, for one thing, I guess I'm curious, um, how it came to be that, that the solo had a screw down crown at the beginning. And then they went away from that because so many of Bramont's don't have screw-down crowns, even from the beginning. I remember, you know, the Alt-1C and the, you know, the chronographs with the inner bezel and pretty much everything except the Supermarine series doesn't have a screw-down crown. So I'm just curious, do you know the story behind that?
James Stacey I don't know the backstory. Actually, you know, shortly after I, well, no, I guess not shortly, but you know, sometime after I bought the watch, I think there was a time where I was maybe the only guy kind of on Twitter and Instagram posting photos of it. aside from, you know, Braymont's press images and such. Yeah. And a guy that I followed in the UK, he bought one and then wrote me, you know, Hey, is yours a screw down? Mine's not. And then I think he reached out to, uh, to Braymont and they said, yeah, the, the early ones were, and, uh, and the later ones are, it doesn't affect the water resistance. And yeah, I don't think it would bother me if mine wasn't. Uh, but it's, I guess it's kind of interesting that, you know, being an early one that it is. And, uh, you know, as, as a kind of dive watch fan, you kind of, have this mythos that you have to have a screw-down crown. Right.
Jason Heaton It's interesting too that you mentioned that this was your first white dial watch. I wonder if it was a kind of a gateway watch to your Explorer 2, which of course is your other white dial watch, which of course is a beauty that we've talked about before.
James Stacey The Seiko World Timer, which is, I guess you would say the Seiko World Timer is like silver. But on wrist in sunlight, it very much feels like you're wearing a white dial. I do like a white dial and I think the Solo kind of kicked me out of a funk of pretty much just sticking to black dial watches with BGW9 or C3 markers very much, you know, within the range of an SKX or something like that. And now I've got a Blue Tropic, I've got the World Timer, I've got a yellow Autodromo. So I guess yeah, if maybe maybe it was not only kind of a kickoff point for liking and enjoying white dials, but also just more more variety in general.
Jason Heaton Yeah, no, it's great. I mean, I, it makes me think that I need it. I don't think I currently own a white dial watch. And every time I see them, I'm just so drawn to them. So yeah, need to correct that at some point.
James Stacey Well, I think one of the my easily my favorite aesthetic element of my Explorer II, which is the white one, the 16570 Polar, is the black surrounds. Oh, yeah. On the markers and the hands. I absolutely adore it. I just think that on white is such an awesome look. Yeah. And the white solo manages to copy some of that simply because the markers and hands have a polished face. Mm-hmm. So when they're not catching light, they look quite dark against a white background, the same way that like a polished hand or face disappears against a black background.
Unknown Right, right.
James Stacey It actually stands out. It goes the opposite direction with a white one. And when you combine that kind of element with what I would argue is simply one of the best crystals I've ever come across that's domed. Yeah. Lots of watches can get away with a fantastic you know, very anti-reflective flat crystal. I mean, you look at my Zen 144, and you only know there's a crystal there because some of, there's some little scratches in the AR. Yeah. Otherwise you can't see the crystal at all. Yeah. But with the Solo, it's a, it's a slightly domed crystal and then it's something like, I'd have to go back and check my notes, but it's over a dozen layers of anti-reflective coating. Oh, wow. And each one is like hardened or polished. to really ensure like the best possible optical performance. They're really crazy about the crystal. Yeah. And you see that on the Supermarine because that has a fairly domed crystal and you look at it and you go, there's no way that watch could be as anti-reflect, like that crystal could be as transparent as it is in photos. Right. Then you see it in person. It's just excellent.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I love, I love the Bremont domes, especially when you look at them from profile. They're, they're, they're just a perfect, just an ever so slight dome. But yeah, you're right. They're much more legible than so many other domed crystals I've seen.
James Stacey Yeah, and I find that you get a really strong legible face on the Solo in both the black and the white, but certainly the white just kind of uses that polished white metal marker and hand outline to its advantage as far as just pure contrast.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it's a great watch. And of course, we're both big fans of Bremont. I think a lot of times they do everything with sort of a wink. They love the adventure. aspect of watches and sort of the, they respect the history of watches that are used for, for adventure. And I think that that, that definitely appeals to me.
James Stacey Yeah, for sure. I've, uh, yeah, like, like I said, it's been, it's been a great watch. You know, I, I bought the bracelet and I know like on, on with your Oris, the strap is, you have to be kind of careful what, what you use as far as the strap because of the size of the watch. Yeah. And I actually can't explain why the bracelet for the, the Solo is fine. It's very nice. It's a nice steel bracelet. relatively simple, but super sturdy and nicely made. But I'd like never wear it on the bracelet. It feels it feels like it triples the weight of the watch, both visually and just, yes, the actual weight of the watch. Yeah, so it looks nice, especially with the white dial on a bracelet always looks good. But it's it's too much. You know, I really like the actually the OEM brown leather strap. I commented recently on Instagram, that The strap had held up so well over so many years, you know, it has a nice kind of curved edge that fits into the shape of the case and the lugs, but doesn't actually sit against the leather. So it still looks like a leather strap should, like with that gap. And it's just worked out well. It's very comfy. And the one that it came with was nice. I mean, I think if I was recommending somebody buy a Solo, I wouldn't tell them to go and get the bracelet. It's great on the Temple Island, their rubber strap, and it's really good on the house leather. And, you know, it's a nice brown, kind of Breitling style brown leather strap with contrast stitching that matches the dial really nicely. And then really, you could even do away with all of those options and just wear it on a NATO because it's just very comfortable that way.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I remember trying that bracelet on my Supermarine 2000 and, you know, Like you said, it's certainly a high quality bracelet. The aesthetic, it's that sort of, if I remember right, it's almost like a Speedmaster style with that little thin, which has never really been my favorite style. I'm just kind of a classic sort of three link guy. I don't know, for some reason, Braymont's worked really well on straps. And I think the solo with that white dial and just all the elements that you talked about, just it goes so well on I don't know, anything I've seen you posted on.
James Stacey Yeah, for sure. I mean, I'll, uh, I'll take it. I'll, I'll be sure to get a few pictures of the watch up around when the, this episode comes out, but, uh, certainly there's tons in the history of my Instagram and you can find my original review on, uh, on a blog to watch. But, uh, let's take a look at this, uh, pro pilot altimeter. So this is a, uh, you know, it's a, a strangely complicated watch. It's a huge watch. I saw it in person. You brought it to Vancouver. It's really big. It's big in every dimension.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah, I think it's my biggest, heaviest watch.
James Stacey For sure. It's massive. I would say it's also fairly different from what you normally wear, because it's quite modern in both its aesthetic and its technology and that sort of thing. So what kind of led you to even selecting that watch from, you know, AORUS makes so many watches you could choose from, many great watches.
Jason Heaton Yeah, you know, it really wasn't on my radar much at all, though I did I did pay attention to it when it first came out, when the announcement came out, and I thought, you know, neat idea. I mean, you know, for those that maybe aren't familiar with this watch, the ProPilot Altimeter, what really sets it apart is that it incorporates a mechanical altimeter within the watch case. So it's a, if I remember correctly, it's actually the first, you know, to get hyperbolic about it, it was the world's first self-winding watch that incorporates a mechanical altimeter. Previously, I remember going to Basel when that brand Breva, which is a very small brand, introduced a couple of watches that had an altimeter in them that used this sort of similar concept of barometric pressure used to tell altitude. But those watches were extremely expensive, for one thing, like really, really expensive. And they were hand-wound, in-house movement, you know, all sorts of things. This is just a whole different animal. These, these watches are somewhere between, I don't know, three and $5,000. I can't remember what I paid for this, but, um, much more reasonably priced than, than Brava was. And, and apparently the world's first automatic, uh, watch with an altimeter in it. And, um, I, so I, you know, going back to what attracted me to it, I I've always liked or us as a brand and I've always liked the, their pilots watches. Um, and this one carries forward a lot of the aesthetics that the rest of the the big crown pro pilot family has. It has these sort of radially knurled band around the bezel. The crown is really deeply fluted. The bezel looks really cool. The bezel looks really cool. It has this vaguely, I guess what I really like about it is, you know, as much as you and I are both divers or whatever, I'm at heart, I'm really kind of an aviation geek. I've always loved, you know, jets, fighter jets, flying. planes, pilots, all that kind of the gear and all that that goes along with it. And I think what Oris did with this watch is they somehow, they somehow captured that in a watch. It's kind of like what we talked about in our last episode about the Autodromo Group B where Autodromo really captured that sense of rally racing in the 1980s in a watch without being overly literal about it. And I think Oris kind of has accomplished the same thing with this watch. where you get this radial knurling around the bezel, these big crowns, you know, without any sort of goofy, you know, overly literal logos or, you know, airplane shape to this or that, or propellers for seconds hands or any goofiness like that. I think it just looks like a tool. And I first got a chance to try out this watch because Oris had invited me on a press trip a couple of years ago to Ambry, Switzerland, where they do an annual fly-in. And they do some really great flights where people can go up with a number of different airplanes.
James Stacey I've seen pictures. It just looks unbelievable.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it's a beautiful setting. Ambri is in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, kind of in the south. And they do this annual fly-in that Aura sponsors. And when I was there, I was lucky enough to be one of the people that was selected to fly in a Hawker Hunter, which is a It was built in the fifties and sixties and seventies. It's a, it's a British plane that was used by the Swiss air force. And it's, you know, it's a legitimate cold war era fighter jet that, that, um, I think it's subsonic, but you know, um, you know, nevertheless, it's just a really cool fighter jet. And so I got to go on a flight in this, in this jet off this little airstrip amidst all these beautiful mountains. And, um, I, they lent me this pro pilot altimeter to wear. Um, you know, just for this, this, the few days that I was there and, you know, it was under the auspices of testing it. And certainly I probably glanced at my wrist a couple of times while I was up on the flight, but you know, let's face it, I was, I was more enthralled with the flight itself and the watch, but for sure, I don't know, somehow being on that trip with that watch sort of imbued, it's sort of, it's sort of like a smell reminds you of a place. And I think that the watch sort of reminds me of that trip and reminds me of that experience. And it sort of embedded that sense of adventure and flying and, and just that whole experience. And so I think it kind of endeared me to the watch. And after the trip, I bought one and I wear it quite a bit. Having said all this about flying and aviation and pilots watches, this watch actually, I think works much better as sort of a sports watch and all around sports watch. You and I took it, um, on our hike up to St. Mark's when I was in Vancouver for the TGN Summit over the summer. And since then, I also took it to Colorado and did some hiking in the mountains in the Rockies there. And it's remarkably accurate and, you know, as it should be. I mean, mechanical altimeters have been around a lot longer than the digital ones we find in like Suntos and Garmins and things. But it works really well as a hiking watch. I mean, if you're in an airplane, chances are you're in a pressurized capsule. You're not going to get a true reading of altitude. And I'm guessing most pilots aren't glancing at their wrist when they're flying for altitude reading. So even though it has this pilot-y sort of vibe to it, I find it works really well as just kind of a cool watch to wear in the mountains.
James Stacey Yeah, no doubt. I mean, it certainly looked at home hiking around in the mist of the Pacific Northwest when you're here. The dial has a fantastic kind of three-dimensionality to it because of how recessed the indication for the altitude is along the kind of circumference of the dial?
Jason Heaton Yeah, I mean, the construction of this watch is really interesting because what they've done is they've sort of suspended the mechanical automatic watch movement, which I think is a Salida movement, sort of in a bowl almost that rides or is suspended above a bowl on which the the needle for the altimeter spins. And then the altimeter unit is actually in the bottom of the watch case, which you're right. It lends this incredible detail. There's, there's a lot of numbers going on in the dial. I mean, the entire outer, um, track is, is the altitude track. And then you get this like Valley in between this cutout section where the altimeter needle spins and then the watch dials in the middle. And yet it all really remains remarkably legible for, for as busy, I guess, as it is.
James Stacey And being, you know, 47 millimeters and some 18 millimeters tall. I mean, you have a big wrist. It's not, it's not like it looks crazy or anything. It looks fine. But what do you, how do you wear it? How do you, how do you find that it's most comfortable? Does it work on a NATO? Something that big?
Jason Heaton Well, so the strap it came on is really awesome. And I think it's the same strap that, that they also use on a lot of the other ProPilots. It's a sort of a woven textile that's backed with leather and And then it comes with a really cool deployant clasp that, you know, it's a fold over clasp, but the way that you release it is very much like, and it's modeled after an airplane seatbelt buckle. So you kind of get your fingernail under it and then you just pull it up and it comes loose. And it even says, you know, lift, like at the little section where you lift it, which, you know, having said what I said earlier about them not getting too gimmicky that that's probably as close as it comes, but I don't think it's over the top. And I think it was clever. It works really well. And the strap looks really good. They, they, they sell two versions of the strap. It comes in like a drab olive. And then I've got the, it's sort of a silvery gray, but this textile color, I, again, it's that notion of capturing sort of an aviation vibe without being too literal. And I can't quite put my finger on what that textile reminds me of. But the strap is great. Um, the unfortunate thing is that the fact that it's backed with leather doesn't make it great for, for hiking and things like that for too much because it's, um, you know, if you get sweaty and stuff, you probably would ruin the leather. I've tried it on NATO. It's, it's just way too, it's way too big. It's way too heavy to wear on NATO, but currently I've got it on a, um, it's actually the strap that came on, on my supermarine 2000, my Braymont. It's, it's, it's, The one that Bremont sells with several of their watches, it's a, I don't want to call it a NATO style, but it's a, it's kind of a one piece strap that has a loop on one end and then the Velcro that loops through it on the other end.
James Stacey Oh, sure. I think they call it their Zulu.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, so originally Bremont was getting it made by Carl Evans over at Gas Gas Bones. And then I think he ran into some sort of, uh, volume issues and it was outsourced somewhere else for a while, but I think he's back to making them for Bremont and I'm not sure which version I have here, but it works. really, really well on this watch. I think it fits it nicely. It's a good balance for the, just the heft of the watch. So that's working for me at this point. But I noticed on their website, actually, that they sell this version with a bracelet, which I think would just make it incredibly heavy.
James Stacey And they also announced a new version recently, didn't they?
Jason Heaton Yeah. So I was looking at their website for kind of some specs and things in preparation for today's show. You know, they still sell the same two versions that they always have, which is one that comes in with a feet scale and one with a metric scale. But then I noticed that they have a third version now that is, I think it's sort of a limited commemorative edition that pays tribute to like a Swiss mountain rescue team or something like that.
James Stacey See, I mean, the new one kind of looks like all the other ones, but it has like a little Swiss flag on the dial. And then it's what a PVD coating, kind of a medium dark black.
Jason Heaton Yeah, and I think it works. It looks really different than the others. Yeah, I think it looks really cool. It's really cool. It gives it more of a kind of a tactical look to it.
James Stacey Yeah, and it works well with that, like, hyper, you know, aviation gauge sort of, you know, I think of all the pro pilots because of that altimeter, it looks so much like a piece of aviation equipment. Yeah, yeah. It's just kind of pulled right off of the, you know, dash of some plane and then minimized a bit. Yeah. And do you know roughly what the price point is? I'm wondering if maybe it's within the same, I think it must be within the same vein as the Solo.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I think, I think both our watches today come in right around 3,800, just, um, just below 4,000. Is that about what the Solo is as well?
James Stacey I actually don't know what the current price is on the Solo. When I reviewed it for a blog to watch, it was, uh, let's see, 4,100 USD. Hmm. Okay. So my guess is in that four years, it's gone up a couple hundred bucks. If I were to really wager, I'd say probably $43.95, something like that. Sure. Plus or minus the bracelet. What they actually sell for in the store, I don't know. I don't know like what the retail kind of discounting experience would be on either an Aorus or a Braemont. Yeah. Certainly you can buy Braemont stuff and probably Aorus too on like cruises. Right. And then you're not paying taxes, that's gotta be a great way to buy the watch. Yeah. Or at least a great way if you already know the watch you're looking for. Yeah. But I've seen Mike, the guy that runs Bremont for the US, I've seen him on various cruises, so I know that they must move some watches that way, which is a pretty attractive way to buy a luxury good, because you do pay a handful in tax, or at least you would as a Canadian. Yeah. I'm not, you know, I'm assuming you would as in the States as well.
Jason Heaton Oh yeah. No, I think it's, it's definitely a viable, um, great way to buy these things. Um, you know, I've certainly trolled the duty free shops when I've been traveling and, uh, it is a good way to do it regardless. I mean, $3,800 for this pro pilot is, it's pretty, it's pretty impressive for what you get, uh, in this watch. You're going to find something like it for.
James Stacey Exactly. Yeah. Similar. I mean, like it's one of the rare watches a watch reviewer could go out of their way and say like, oh, this is a fairly unique watch.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And whenever I wear this, you know, everybody kind of knows, not everybody, but you know, a lot of people in the watch enthusiast community, I guess, know Oris. But Oris has this real knack for just keeping price points low while creating pretty interesting watches. I mean, that dive watch with the depth gauge was really innovative and that's pretty inexpensive as well. You know, you can get the really great dive watches from Oris for, geez, I think you can get them for, you know, not much more than a thousand bucks, uh, in some cases, but, uh, they're great. And whenever I wear this watch, it is, it just, it's like driving a really fun convertible or something. Like it just kind of brings a smile to people's faces. People get curious, they look at it, it has just enough kind of interest to it. Um, you know, it's got, little splashes of red and yellow. Of course, there's the whole backstory and kind of the technology behind it. So it's, I would say it's, I wear it quite a bit and it's a watch that it's just, it's just fun to wear. I mean, it's not practical. It's not something that fits under a shirt sleeve by any means. Um, but it's, it's a blast.
James Stacey I love it. Great watch. Really, a really cool choice. And I, you know, I think that basically wraps up collection inspection volume three. We brought a couple of pilots watches out of the, uh, out of the watch case. And I think both are great watches. And I kind of see how both kind of suit our taste. In other watches as well, like with mine with the with the white dial and such and yours with kind of the crazy complication. And then you of course, you've got your emergency too. And it's kind of a big tool-ish, piloty sort of sports watch. And you know, I think that's well within the vein of your kind of collecting sphere.
Jason Heaton Yeah, we tend to not stray too far from our I guess our core values, I guess, so to speak.
James Stacey Don't I know it. We'll get into dress watches in a few years, have to start up a different podcast. Yeah, right. The gray flannel suit, we'll call it. The gray crocodile strap. Yeah, right. So yeah, if you have any experience with a Braymont Solo or an Aorus Pro Pilot, whatever, or you have a question about either of these watches, and now you know that one of us has one, please, thegreatnadoatgmail.com, send us your questions. I reply to every single email. And the ones that I'm too swamped or too frazzled to reply to, I forward to Jason. So that's the way that works. And please send us your questions if you've got them. We'll be back in just a moment with some new business.
Jason Heaton Okay, so it's time for new business, but before we get into things, uh, let me tell you the code word that James mentioned earlier in the show for our holiday giveaway. And that code word is WATCHMAXTGN. So W A T C H M A X T G N. And if you put the hashtag in front of it in your Instagram post, we will be able to find it. So WATCHMAXTGN.
James Stacey James, what's new in your world? Oh man. So I went down, um, A rabbit hole on flashlights. So I guarantee that a lot of the guys, theoretically some women that listen to TGN, know a lot about flashlights, but it's something that I only ever have dabbled in long enough to find one that I like and then I quickly back out. Because it is one of these like slippery slope hobbies where you're like, oh, this $40 flashlight is so much better than the $10 one I got at, that work gave me. Yeah. as a gift or that somebody gave me for, you know, it uses two double A's or plugs into USB. And then before you know it, 40 is like, Oh, I really need this one made by a guy in Ohio. And he mills the case by hand. And then you're into like the Chris Reeves things with the knife and you're buying a $400 flashlight. And I know that I'm that person that does that. Oh yeah. So I just, I knew I wanted a brighter flashlight that was USB rechargeable. even if it just had like okay reviews, that was fine by me because I don't like use a flashlight all the time. I'm not like in search and rescue or anything. But I wanted to have one that like I could throw in a bag when I go to Basel, you walk into an Airbnb and it's pitch black, or you're trying to find that stupid Swiss power port somewhere around your room. And just something like that. And that wasn't too big, but also not like a key chain size thing. Yeah. So I dug around and I almost bought some stuff from four sevens and I almost bought some, uh, I almost bought some, some stuff from Mac army. And then I came across these, uh, reviews for kind of a Chinese made light called the Xan flare F one. It's made by a company called gear best, which is like, if you imagine an Amazon for random semi random tech items out of China. Yeah. That's kind of what GearBest is. You know, I bought a Mi Band, a Xiaomi Mi Band. It's like a fitness tracker from them. So that's the only reason I knew GearBest. But the Zanflare is kind of their swing at copying the best elements of these more expensive flashlights and kind of building them into something that they offer for a much lesser price. Yeah. And it just so happened that when I came across the page, it was also in like a pre-Black Friday sale if enough people bought it. And enough people had already bought this light. So it was like, I think I got it for $30. Oh, wow. And so, I mean, it's super powerful. It's not too big. It's a nice kind of simple black metal flashlight. It's an aluminum body. So yeah, I got it for 25% off. It's on for 40 right now. Max output with the correct battery is 1240 lumens. Wow. Which is 3x what my dive lamp does at 400. Yeah. And then it has kind of a tail switch and a thumb switch to take you through the modes. So there's kind of a nice way of controlling because there's variable brightness. Some of these rechargeable lights, you have to like take the light apart to get to the rechargeable part, like where the port is for the USB cable. This has like a ring about mid-flashlight that you unscrew and it just uncovers Oh, very cool. The port in the ring is double, is gasketed on both sides. Wow. And it uses, uh, yeah, uh, aluminum body and it has a charge indicator and, uh, it, it'll remember the last brightness you had it on via the tail switch.
Unknown Wow.
James Stacey So it'll kind of jump back and forth to the way you want to use it. And yeah, it does something like 1240 lumens and then ramps down when the light starts to heat up. So you got like 30 seconds or something at that. Hmm. brightness and it brings it down to, I guess, a more reasonable 500. And like I'm currently borrowing a flashlight from a buddy that does 220 lumens. Yeah. This kind of nice model from Phoenix called the E35. And Phoenix has upgraded models of the E35, which are, I think in many ways, what the Zanflair is copying. You know, this is kind of your traditional like pocket sized flashlight. It's maybe four or five inches long. and maybe a roll of nickels around. And it works really well at 220 lumens. So I think the 1240 is like, I guess if you wanted to blind someone. Oh, sure. Signal an aircraft. I'm not sure. Like, yeah, just, but you know, that flexibility is nice. And certainly the, the, the rechargeability is, is kind of key for what I wanted. And, uh, all the kind of flashlight forums had various reviews of them and people seem to really dig them. So. I've got one of those coming in the mail and then a couple batteries from eBay. So I'm not sure you want to talk more about flashlights, but that's what I use. I mean, do you have a flashlight that you love or are we closet flashlight guys?
Jason Heaton I don't, I don't think, I don't know. Well, I didn't think I was, but you know, when you were talking about it, I was, I was thinking about this collection of, of lights that I have. And most of them are, are, you know, dive lights. And then when, when I came to Vancouver and we were diving there, I brought my, um, probably my best light, which is a light in motion, Sola 800, which is just so, so much fun to use. Yeah. I mean, it's, they're bomb proof, you know, underwater lights that you can use as like a video light or just as a regular hand torch for looking for octopus and stuff like that. But, um, uh, you know, I've, I've got kind of a cool Hollis, uh, led three that I use for diving, kind of a smaller one. And then, um, kind of the two that, that you can use top side that are Probably the brightest ones are also light and motion and they're called the Gobi lights and they're really kind of quirky lights. They have kind of a weird target market because light and motion does bike lights and they also do dive lights and this is sort of the merging of the two. So these, you can carry them in your hand like small flashlights but then they have mounts that you can put on like arms for diving, for like putting on a tray with a camera. Okay. Or they have like mounts for mounting to like a bicycle handlebar or your helmet And I think they're like 600 or 700 lumens.
James Stacey Yeah, it looks like they run between 500 and like 850, depending on the lamp.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And then you can get like spot or flood lenses for them. So they're pretty versatile lights. I don't use them much, but you've kind of inspired me to dig them out and charge them up because they're really sturdy. They're really versatile. They're very light. Um, and I should use them. I think when I got them, I thought, oh, these are dive lights, but, um, I think, I think they'd have some good use topside as well. And I like your idea of tucking a small one in a bag. Maybe it's not the Gobi. Maybe I need to start, uh, heading down that rabbit hole that you went down and pick up a nice small flashlight.
James Stacey I'll send you a Zanflare F1 the next time it's on sale. Yeah. Yeah, seriously. We'll just be blinding people around the streets of Geneva. Those cold, cold walks home from a meeting or something. Yeah, right. But yeah, I find it pretty handy. Like I often have the use the LED on my phone. Oh, yeah. To do a little bit and then you realize just how much nicer it is when you, you know, I'll grab a headlamp, which is typically my go to flashlight around the house is a headlamp. You know, you're fixing something under a sink. Right. Or you're digging through a pile of something in a storage locker and you really want to be able to see what you're going for. I love a good headlamp. But the yeah, we'll see what I get out of this. Maybe it was $40. with the battery, you know, not well spent. But I'll report back in case anyone's interested. And of course, we'll include links in the show notes. Yeah. And how about you? You just came back from some diving. How was all of that? Good trip?
Jason Heaton It was a good trip. You know, it kind of incorporates a lot of what we do. We talk about a new business because it was an experience. But then I also got a chance to test out some new gear. My wife and I were in Bonaire, which is one of our favorite places. I probably talked about it before on the show. For sure. It's down in the southern Caribbean. And we were there for a full week, kind of over the Thanksgiving week here in the U.S. And we were there to do a kind of a commercial photo shoot for a company called Deep Blue that makes digital dive computers. And they had sent along five different colors, color versions of this new dive computer that they've come out with called the Cosmic Plus, which is a computer I think we talked about quite a while ago. I think that was a new business probably back in the summer. But I finally got a chance to dive with these computers down there. We did about 15 or 16 dives over six days, all shore diving. So there were no boat charters involved, which is really what I think is the beauty of Bonaire. It's one of these great southern Caribbean spots with really healthy reefs. But what makes it fun is that you just rent a pickup truck and drive up and down the coast with tanks in the back. and throw them on your back whenever you find a good spot on the beach, and wade into the water, swim out to the reef, and dive as long as you've got air. And so we just did a lot of that. We took a lot of photos. I think Ghoshani took 1,700 photos, of which we have to weed down to somewhere between 20 and 30 for delivery. So it was a lot of work. Most of our diving was to take photos of these new dive computers. which I'll say I'm quite impressed with these dive computers. The Cosmic Plus, the cool thing about them is, you know, it's a pretty competitive field when it comes to dive computers, and it's pretty bold of a small company in Taiwan to try to kind of reinvent the wheel. But what they've done is they've made this computer, you know, it's digital. It's got a big, bright digital display. All the functions, all the settings are set through via Bluetooth. via an app on your phone. So you set up, you know, whether you want feet or meters, the time of day, how conservative you want the computer to track your dive. The algorithm, sure. The algorithm that it uses, you know, there's a number of settings that you kind of dial in via the phone app.
James Stacey If you've, like you and I know, like I use a dive with a Suunto Zoop. And to change those settings on the Zoop. Yeah. You know, you're kind of mashing these buttons that aren't exactly, you know, they don't give you any tactile feedback.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey And you're trying to figure out going, you know, it's nested menus. So you're going back and forwards through menus to try and find everything to get it the way you want. And you can change the algorithm on a zoop. I think it's one, two or three. And, you know, in terms of level of conservatism, and of course, when you go back to get your dive logs to write it down, that's a pain because then you have that Yeah, plastic guard that protects the screen is all fogged up. So you're having trouble figuring out, am I in the menu? Am I in the log? Right. I imagine that this is a pretty refreshing experience where you just kind of do what you normally do and flip through your phone and get everything the way you want it.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it feels very modern. It feels like next generation because I've, I've dived with the Zoop or the previous version, which was called the Gecko for many, many years. And it took a little bit of getting used to, but the, um, the cosmic, uh, You know, the setting on the phone is nice, but then what happens is when you get it on your wrist, the display is really bright, works really well, especially in darker conditions. It's a little hard to read in really bright daylight, but even kind of toggling through the menus on the computer itself was really simple to kind of put it in nitrox mode and dial in the percentage of oxygen that you've got in your mix. Oh, cool. Yeah, the safety stop countdown has this feature that I just wish Suunto I mean, they should just do it. Um, it counts down minutes and seconds. So if you remember from your zoop, it's like you go on a three minute safety stop and it's like three, two or one minutes. And you're like, you have no idea where you are. And, and this thing just counts down. It's like, starts at three minutes and two 59, two 58, two 57. And you can just watch it.
James Stacey And that three minute countdown on a really cold dive.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah. You're you're, you have to stop moving roughly. Yeah, for the safety stop, or at least limit your movements. And you can feel the blood start to cool in your hands and your arms and your feet. And you're just like, Oh, I really hope that that three becomes a two.
Jason Heaton Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So there are a lot of a lot of things I really liked about it. It's got kind of a neat NATO style Velcro strap, not unlike the Bremont one that I was telling you I have on my on my oris right now. So, you know, really, really a fun a fun way to kind of test them out and take a look.
James Stacey And do they charge on USB?
Jason Heaton Yeah, so it's a USB charger with a magnetic attachment.
James Stacey Oh, okay. So no little, like, rubbery flap that's going to flood? No, no. That's great. Oh, cool. Okay. Yeah, it just sticks to the back. And how many dives or minutes diving for battery life?
Jason Heaton So I think I got, so when it's fully charged, I think I got about two full days of diving off of it. Oh, wow, okay. So roughly five or six dives. in very warm water.
James Stacey So enough for any normal person to go out for a day and then charge it that night. Totally, totally.
Jason Heaton Now I haven't... Ah, very good, cool. I haven't tried it on, you know, the cold dives like Great Lakes or up where you are. Yeah, that could make a big difference. So I'd love to try it out there, but, you know, so far so good. It was cool to try. And then on my other wrist while we were down there, I had the Unimatic Modelo Uno, which is a watch that we talked about in our last episode. I saw some photos. It looked great. Great. You know, it was funny to have this ultra high tech, modern dive computer on one wrist and then this really minimalist, retro, no date, uh, you know, dive watch with a bezel that just has like a zero marker, just a little pip and no numerals on the other wrist. It was, uh, it was quite the stark contrast, but it was, it was fun. You know, I mean, uh, as you know, you know, when you wear a good, a good dive watch, diving, you really hardly even notice it. It just, it kind of wears well, um, doesn't snag on stuff, easy to read. Um, and you know, held up well all week. It was, it was really fun to wear. So I'm going to be doing a review on Houdinki of that unimatic. So, um, you know, maybe by the time this episode airs, we'll, we'll have that up or, or within a few days of it. So, uh, very cool. Looking forward to reading it. And then the final bit of, of new gear that I was trying out on this trip. Um, I, you know, for years, almost since the beginning of my diving career I've dived with these fins called force fins which is from a kind of a quirky small company in California that custom molds almost pairs per order you know to order when you when you order them and they're kind of funky frog looking short little fins that I've loved for years but you know my wife slash photographer was hoping that she could get some fins on me that would show up a little bit better in photos, maybe get a little color. So I kind of scouted around and read some reviews and I picked up a pair of scuba pro twin jet max fins in bright yellow. Nice. And I was a little skeptical because the advantage of the force fins is they're, they're small and fairly light, but they have a completely open foot pocket in the front. So you know, you're, you're not only your toes, you can wiggle your toes, but almost the entire front of your foot. is free. So it really eliminates any issues with cramping while you're diving. Um, so I was kind of worried about going to a fin that is a little bit more closed at the front, but the, I had no issues. The, the scuba pros were wonderful, great power, slightly positively buoyant, which is different than the force fins, which kind of always had my feet sinking if I was just sort of hovering. Sure. And, uh, you know, the spring straps easy to pull on and off. Um, I, I loved them. They're great. Cool. Yeah, really nice. It was a good week. We did, you know, mostly reef diving. We did a couple of dives on a wreck there. And, uh, yeah, like I said, just... Any wildlife highlights? Um, you know, we saw, I mean, Bonaire is all about kind of the smaller stuff. You don't really get many big things. I mean, we saw a few turtles. We saw, um, you get, uh, like cuttlefish there. Awesome. You get, uh, I don't think we saw an octopus on this trip. But you get like flounders and scorpionfish and lionfish, which are invasive down there, but they're still kind of kind of fun to see. But you know, I spent so much time posing with this stupid computer on my wrist that you just don't get much time to be looking. There could have been a whale shark behind me for all I knew.
James Stacey Yeah, I guess it's not tourist diving when you've got it because it's so much work to shoot underwater. Yeah, you have to get coverage. Otherwise, you'd start all over again on the next dive. Yeah, yeah, I guess that makes sense. And you can blow a huge amount of time and gas. Yeah, just kind of holding your position. Yeah. For the lights and the camera and such. But that's a, that's really cool. I'm jealous. You know, I haven't been in the water for a while. Certainly not tropical. I was just looking at my images from a year ago, you know, Google, Google photos, like, Hey, look what you were doing a year ago. And I was diving in Mexico with the Pelagos and the Haleos Delphin and the Oris 65. And I would love to be doing a little warm water diving. So that's That's great. I'm definitely jealous. And I'll be less jealous when your winter returns. Well, it's coming. It's coming. Yeah, no doubt. You feeling some final notes? Yeah, let's move on. Cool. So I'll kick this off. I've got my first one is a post by guy, auto writer, Zach Bowman. He and another guy whose name you may recognize if you've been into cars for a while, Alex Roy. went and drove the L.A. to N.Y.C., the Cannonball route, roughly 2,900 miles in a Morgan three-wheeler. Oh, jeez. Which is, you know, a car that's basically, they're still making like it was 1945. Or 1940, I suppose. And the title, so this is on thedrive.com, fantastic car website that's popped up. It's where Alex Roy does all his writing, and I've enjoyed, really, really enjoyed all of his recent posts. His co-driver for this endeavor, Zach Bowman, wrote a great piece called, I Set the L.A. to N.Y. Record in a Morgan three-wheeler. And then the byline is, and it was absolutely terrible. I can imagine. So this is a car that's like barely room for two people to sit in it. I mean, you would drive it for 20 minutes and feel like you probably aged a couple of years. And these guys drove it across country. And I won't say the time, it's in the post. And then of course, for those of you who know who Alex Roy is, he at one time held the all time record for NYC to LA, the kind of Brock Yates cannonball in a highly modified BMW M5 at 31 hours, four minutes. And a couple of years ago, a guy beat that time and actually came in, I believe at 29 hours, 51 minutes, I want to say. And so, I mean, this is all done, there's like a kind of secret society that curates people claiming to have done this. The kind of, you know, so originally the cannonball, if I have my facts straight, the cannonball was set up by a guy named Brock Yates to protest the onslaught of speed limits across the highway system of the US. And his plan was to show that you could drive at ridiculous speeds safely. across these great roads. And so they did it a number of times. And it's where you also get was the movie with Bert Reynolds, a cannonball run is kind of that kind of makes more of a joke out of the whole thing. But certainly if you go back and read up on Brock Yates, if you're interested in it, and then that record kind of sat dormant for a long time. And then Alex Roy was involved with some of the early gumball rally stuff before it was maybe as broey and rich guy as it's become. Yeah. and then took his uh this really nice e39 m5 that's full of all sorts of tech and an additional um you know gas tank it's modified to go very long distances at very high speeds and do its best to avoid uh police detection and uh and set his time 31 hours 4 minutes he wrote a book i believe there was a documentary when the statute of limitations for basically all the GPS records would show you how fast you are, where you're going and when.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey So they had to make sure that the, all of that had kind of cleared before they talked too much about it. And he's since then done, he's done the run. He holds the record for a Tesla as well. And now the record for an open top vehicle, a three wheel vehicle. And I guess specifically a Morgan three wheeler. So I, you know, I guess you could modify uh, aerial Adam or something and try and catch their time. But, uh, really crazy. And when you read this post, it's bonkers how terrible it sounds.
Jason Heaton It sounds horrible, but I even think that that trip trying to set a record, I mean, that's a long drive. And even, you know, even the, even earlier records that, you know, roughly 30 hours, that's such an insane time to do that number of miles.
James Stacey Yeah, I think you start, I think you break into the respect area if you have a very fast car and you come in under 40 hours.
Unknown Wow.
James Stacey But yeah, so it's basically you need the better gas tank, you need to know your route very well. Yeah. And then you get into the legal issues of like you have to know what states have reciprocity with your license. Oh. So it's preferable to have a license from a state that doesn't have reciprocity, so you'll just pay the money. Oh. But of course, if you're talking about And I don't condone any of this, but not that it matters one way or another people are going to do it. Some of these guys going 160 miles an hour. Oh, sure. They're not giving you a fine for that in any state. I assume they just take the car. Yeah. Or at least send you to jail. So, I mean, you have to be kind of smart about it. And certainly in the old days of cannonball run and some of the other kind of cross country races that popped up or, or, or coastal races that popped up in its wake. People were using spotting planes. Oh, wow. And dummy cars, sending cars out ahead, things like that. Lots of radio contact. And now technology can help a lot with that. And certain states allow you to use all those various technologies. So it's just a question of how legal do you want to go to kind of chase this dream of the 70s and illegal road races and things like that. And this is technically you're not racing anybody except the clock. which maybe it's just as crazy. I don't know. But yeah, certainly he's done it in a Tesla, something like 90 plus percent of it on autopilot. Which is bonkers. Yeah, really cool. Like he was trying to prove a point that that autopilot was better than the average driver.
Unknown Wow.
James Stacey Certainly better than the average driver. And now in a three wheeler. And I mean, please, please go read Zach Bowman's piece because it's funny, but it's also like I drew comparisons to reading about people, you know, climbing mountains. Yeah. Where every moment is just pure misery. And then they start to get close to the end or the top or whatever. And you start to feel giddy and like kind of you're losing your mind at certain points and you're remembering things you've never thought about before because your brain is so bored. Yeah. And, you know, it's a it's a funny and kind of it's beautifully written, the post. So check that out. That's that's kind of my my first share for the week. Jason, you've got a long read or two for us as well, don't you?
Jason Heaton Yeah, so I've got two long reads for my final notes this week. The first is, it was a really cool long form article that was written by a guy named James Nestor, who I had heard of previously because he's the author of a great book called Deep, which was about freediving. I encourage anybody to check that book out. But this article is called Unfathom This article is called Unfathomable, and it really focused on this bit of history that I wasn't aware of, although I'd heard of the names of the people involved. It was kind of about the origins of hardhat salvage diving, which really came about because of a number of circumstances, but basically there was a shipwreck in England. It was kind of a warship. uh... that sank just outside of a harbor in fairly shallow water by kind of our divers terms about eighty feet deep but uh... in those days it was pretty well inaccessible to anybody and but it had a lot of uh... a lot of very valuable stuff on board that you know the government really was eager to get back and so these two brothers charles and john dean kind of put their heads together and came up with this idea to use like a brass helmet mated to a canvas suit that one of the brothers had invented for use by firefighters that never really caught on. And they suddenly had this brainstorm that we could use this to do underwater salvage work by, you know, attaching an air hose to it and pumping compressed air. And so they did all these weird experiments like I don't know if it was like in the Thames River or, you know, somewhere where they were just testing out this system. And ultimately it worked. And, you know, as the story goes, they kind of made great wealth and whatever by salvaging not only this wreck, but they became kind of the go-to guys for salvaging shipwrecks back in the 1780s and 90s. But beyond kind of that historical element, it's kind of a fascinating piece about the relationship between the two brothers and kind of their rise and fall of their fortune and fame and kind of what their, uh, what their good fortune did to their relationship with each other, how it affected their lives. And it, you know, it reads like it's almost Shakespearean in a way. And, and it kind of marries this great historical diving piece with, um, kind of this very human story about these two brothers. So again, great story. It's called Unfathomable, and it was part of a website called Epic Magazine, which I hadn't heard of before, but the format is really cool. It's done in a really nice kind of scrolling digital format with some great visuals and animations that is really kind of worthy of reading on a computer, which, you know, a lot of online articles you just, you know, I'd almost just rather read them in a paper magazine or something, but this works really well in this format. So we'll throw a link in the show notes and you really should check it out. I don't know if you've had a chance to read that yet, James.
James Stacey A couple of people, you know, you included, sent me the link and I clicked on it and I thought that the title was exciting and then I saw the visual and then I started to scroll to get a quick idea of how long it was and I was like, oh, this is intimidating. And it's still in pocket, so I will read it, but I'm I haven't gotten to it yet, unfortunately. And now listening to you kind of summarize it, I'm kicking myself because it sounds really cool. I'm excited to read it either way. So yeah, yeah, good stuff. So yeah, you know, keeping in tune with the diving and the kind of construction and the engineering side and the development of new technologies and that sort of thing. My next final note is from the Rolex Presents series on YouTube, which is just that they're like the Rolex channel. But this is about the Trieste's deep dive. and then you want the one that's in parenthesis extended. So it is 22 and a half minutes long. You know, one of our listeners recommended this to me in email and then I could not for the life of me find the email today to give them credit. So I'm really sorry. I know that I replied to the email. I then watched the video, loved it and wanted to put it in final notes and I cannot give you credit for sending it to me. So if you can just send me another email, I'll get you some credit in a further show. But I've really loved this video. It's essentially just a kind of medium length documentary about the Trieste and about Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard, who, you know, traveled to Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench. Just fantastic. I mean, there's not a lot to talk about. I think a lot of people know the rough story. But Rolex is, of course, very tied to that. And they've produced this lovely, very watchable, if you've got a lunch break or you're just trying to not think about work for a little while, pull this up and even watch it in two parts or whatever with a coffee in the morning. It's great. I loved it.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it's a really great video, James. And just going back to who sent it, it was actually an email that was sent to me by Alan Clark, who is based in Switzerland, actually. So Alan, thanks a lot for the recommendation.
James Stacey Great choice, Alan. Really, really loved the video. And I actually found a handful of other really cool videos on their Rolex channel. So get on there, subscribe, and kill some time someday. Jason, you've got another forest, right?
Jason Heaton Yeah, I've got one more long read. This one, aviation-related. You know, you and I have kind of geeked out over that cliffhanger series that was on an outside podcast about the plane crash in the mountains. So good. Down in South America. This one is an article called The Human Factor. It was actually from 2014, so it's a little bit older, but it's definitely worth digging up and reading. It was written by this famous aviation expert and author named William Langewiesche, and what he does in this article, and it's a really long article, so be sure to set aside a good amount of time or save it, download it for a plane trip or something. Well, you might want to read it on a plane trip. Yeah, I suppose not. It really takes a deep look into the factors that caused the crash of the Air France Flight 447 that was en route from Brazil to Paris and ended up crashing in the middle of the Atlantic. What Lange-Wiesche does is he looks at the flight recorder and the cockpit voice recorder and kind of almost goes minute by minute during the crisis that led to the crash and analyzes the pilot's communication, what was happening to the aircraft, And then using that as sort of a vehicle to discuss what has become of piloting in an era of what they call nowadays the glass cockpit, which is this sort of, you know, planes have changed, Airbus and Boeing have created this cockpit environment where pilots are no longer flipping switches and looking at, you know, electrical and mechanical gauges, but they're actually almost looking at iPad screens. Sure. you know, just looking at feedback that has been given to them by the airplane systems. And what has that done to the modern pilot? It's kind of turned them into more of sort of reactionary in a way. They're sort of reacting to the stimuli that the machine is giving them. And it's more about how they work with each other. It's almost more of a business environment nowadays than it is a mechanical sort of hands-on piloting environment. And while he does you know, note that these advancements in airplane design have really brought down the accident rate and made flying a lot, lot safer. It's also changed the way that pilots interact with each other and with flying. And when crises do happen, they're almost less equipped to react to them. And just a really fascinating story. And anyone that's interested in in aviation in any way would really find this a worthy article. So check that out. It was actually originally published in Vanity Fair Magazine, and it's available on their website. So we'll drop a link into the show notes.
James Stacey Very cool. Well, I think that just about does it, wouldn't you think?
Jason Heaton I think so. As always, thanks so much for listening. Hit the show notes for more details. And you can follow us on Instagram. I'm at Jason Heaton. James is at J.E. Stacey. And follow the show at The Graynado If you have any questions for us, please do write to TheGreyNado at gmail.com. And please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts or grab the feed from TheGreyNado.com. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive.
James Stacey And until next time, we leave you this quote from Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia. The word adventure has gotten overused. For me, when everything goes wrong, that's when the adventure starts.