The Grey NATO – 230 – Slack "Crew & A" #1
Published on Thu, 09 Mar 2023 06:00:00 -0500
Synopsis
Jason and James discussed Jason's recent COVID-19 rebound infection and read through listener-submitted questions on various topics like travel and family life balance, dream vehicles, risky activities, diving gear recommendations, favorite aspects of the watch hobby, driving uncommon vehicles, and hopes for the upcoming watch year. They also shared book and video recommendations towards the end.
Links
Transcript
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| James | 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 230, and it's proudly brought to you by the ever-growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support, and if you are listening and would like to support the show directly, please visit thegreynado.com for more details. Hey, Jason, how are we doing? |
| Jason | Well, I've been better. I, uh, you know, we, during, during the, the real pandemic shutdown, we did what we call the isolation tapes. And I think today is actually a legitimate isolation tape because I now actually have COVID. Yeah. And actually this is a rebound. We recorded two 28, I think even two 29, uh, when I was in kind of the first phase of this after my trip to Polynesia and, uh, And then that went away and I, I tested negative and then, uh, it kind of rebounded as it's, uh, as it's known to do. So I'm, I'm kind of in the second phase of it and it hasn't been, it hasn't been horrible. I really can't complain compared to how some people have had to deal with this. But, uh, um, it's, it's, it's a bit surreal to having lived through, you know, the pandemic as we all have for the past three years to, to get it now. And like, you know, all the things you read about, you know, loss of taste, loss of smell, fatigue. I mean, I've experienced it all and it's kind of like, It's like visiting a place that you've always only read about and then you experience it. Yeah. It's pretty crazy, but I'm upright and, and I'm just, I'm just trying to lay low. You know, I, I just kind of sit around the house and, and really try hard not to, not to, you know, really try hard to fight the urge to, to exercise or, or do anything, you know, even shovel snow. I've unfortunately had to kick the shanty out of the house to shovel snow and we've had plenty of it. So, yeah. But, uh, |
| James | Yeah, here we are. Well, that's a bummer, man. I hope you're feeling sharp and kind of back to normal soon. You know, I try not to do too much that you don't have to do, I suppose. Hopefully it's a single rebound. |
| Jason | Apologies in advance for any coughing or raspiness during today's episode, which looks like a fun one. Yeah. I do have to give a shout out to a listener, Matt, a local guy, actually, who dropped off a book for me in my mailbox that kind of was going around on on Slack as something I might be interested in, given my recent trip over to French Polynesia. And it was kind of a fitting book to read while isolating here. And it's a book called An Island of One's Own, or actually there was another edition called An Island of My Own, which I think is the version I have. And it was written by a guy named Tom Neal, who was a New Zealander who was living in Rarotonga and decided that he really wanted to live alone on this tiny island in a coral atoll in the Cook Islands. Wow. So he got dropped off there. This was in the 1950s and 60s. And this is like, this is like the tropical version of Dick Preneke. I think you'd love this. The book is hard to find if you'd search for it online. The used copies are all very expensive. So thanks to Matt for, for dropping that off. Uh, Ghoshani and I read it aloud back and forth and plowed through it in like two days. And it's, it's excellent. It's very Preneke-esque and all the things that he does and builds and he makes a garden and domesticates some chickens and you know, goes fishing and, patches up an old boat that he finds and whatever. And it's, uh, it's really, really good stuff. So, uh, yeah, thanks again to Matt. And, and, you know, if you ever get a hand on your hands on this book or kind of looking for that type of story, it's a, it's a good one. |
| James | That sounds great. Yeah. I, uh, I clicked into the article you linked if, uh, you know, I'll have to keep my eye open for that book. Maybe you get lucky at a thrift store or something like that. Yeah. |
| Jason | Right. How about you? What, uh, what's new with you? You've got a shortening approach here to, uh, to some time away at watches and wonders. |
| James | Yeah, yeah, going to be doing the watch is one of the things in less than three weeks at this point, which feels crazy because we just, you know, it's been six months of kind of preparing the Houdinki scope for another round of this, you know, with so many new people and all that kind of stuff. So that's going fine. I think, you know, we're organized and pushing towards the goals on that front. There should be a ton of coverage. Like I said, we won't be doing an episode. TGN won't be doing an episode that week, but If you're not subscribed to the Hood and Key radio feed, go ahead and subscribe to that as we'll be doing daily episodes from the shows. So there'll be four episodes from Switzerland proper. There'll be a preview episode coming out the week before the show. And then my guess is we'll probably do a follow-up show or two after. And that should give you a good opportunity to also kind of get a better feel for some of the new folks who haven't, didn't kind of exist within the world of the podcast when we had it going previously. but that's one of the things on my list. Beyond that, I got back from the Utah, New York City trip and I've just been hanging out at home, you know, dealing with some snow. We had a good dumping here a little while ago. It felt kind of cruel for the, you know, we got back on a Thursday or on a Wednesday night from New York and then I think like the first day that I could have actually slept in, I guess it would have been Saturday morning. We had a ton of snow and I was quite bitter about it, if I'm honest. Um, but other than that, yeah, just, uh, you know, hanging out at home with the Pelagos 39. I'm just absolutely loving it. You know, it's in, and then it's also nice to have the kind of the return of formula one. This is a spoiler. If you didn't watch the Bahrain race and you're waiting for whatever reason, a jump ahead, 30 seconds, this is your warning. Uh, but it was pretty awesome with just to see something interesting happen. Obviously red bull got one, two, not interesting. I would say almost epically boring. You know, a real bummer for Leclerc and his run, but man to see Alonso after making a move that I think a lot of people were kind of like, is this a late stage move? Is it going to work for him to go to Aston Martin to fill Vettel's role and to see both of the drivers from Aston Martin have a great race, but to see Alonso on the podium and like just having a lot of fun in in what can be. a pretty boring race when it's just for stapping 30 seconds ahead of everybody else. Yeah, I loved it. I cannot wait for the next race. I'm super pumped about this season. It's such an easy sport because of F1 TV. This is going to sound like an ad, but it's not, but it's such an easy sport to follow that I feel like that's a portion of why I watch it every weekend. It's just like, it's so, it's so simple. Oh sure. It's like Netflix. Um, I don't have to really like you. I opened the app. It tells me when, what the schedule is for the whole weekend. if you miss something, you just go in and watch it like it aired. It's it's it's yeah, it's it's good and we have a nice F one channel on the slack that's going and and that's been great. So yeah, no, no real complaints. A nice to be home after a trip, of course, and then otherwise just laying low organizing gear, making sure every, you know, checking boxes, you know how it is when you when you've got kind of the big the big show ahead and you've done this isn't your first rodeo, so to speak. |
| Jason | I mean this is no, |
| James | Very familiar territory. Yeah, to quote my good pal Will Holloway, this is my second rodeo. Yeah, no, I figure that it's got to be double digits, not for Watches and Wonders or SIHH, but if you factor for, you know, we're probably at, I've probably done like 10 or 11 shows or maybe 12. I'd have to go back and count. Started going in 2013. Yeah. to Basel and a few years later started going to SIHH, and then of course we missed some because of the pandemic. But yeah, it's definitely... I don't have any stress over going. I have stress over how well we can execute. There's a certain pressure where like if I don't get my ducks in order, my boxes checked, I let a bunch of others like a downstream of letting people down. Yeah. And that ends up with letting down the audience, which would be the biggest bummer. So that's where the pressure is right now. So just trying to stay organized, more organized than I ever have been in the past, and I think, but I think we've got the gear and the plan and the tastes and the rest of it to make it happen. So I'm always looking forward to the show, see some friends, catch up with people I haven't seen in a while. In past years, this would have been our chance to go get fondue on a night where it felt like the wind might carry us into Lake Geneva and we'd never be seen again. Right. But so I miss that kind of stuff. The icy beer. Yeah, that was crazy, right? Yeah. That was 2017? Yeah, I think so. January. Yeah. Yeah. So that's back when SIHH was, and I think like you can listen to it, it would have been on one of the earliest TGNs. Yeah. All Luxed Out, if I remember correctly. Yeah. Might have been episode one, wasn't it? We started in 16. So maybe it was 16. Yeah. Oh yeah. I don't know. January. The memory is foggy. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, we went for fondue. What's that spot called? Bain de Paquis. called. I look back on that time with fun, but man, things have changed a lot since then. We have a big chunk of kind of the main topic, so we shouldn't reminisce too much. I mean, we can do some of that on the other side of Watches and Wonders, our first episode in April. So what are you wearing today? Do you want to jump into some wrist check? |
| Jason | Yeah. So the past few days I've put on the Omega Seamaster, the 2254 reference. This is the old one that I got just before Christmas. Haven't worn it in a while. I've been wearing the Blancpain for quite a bit. And I just kind of all the talk lately about kind of thinner watches. And I pulled this one out again and actually put it on the bracelet for today. And boy, it's, I mean, it's, it's such a great watch. You know, it's, it's, uh, you forget how, how good this era of, of Seamaster was. And then this particular reference, we've talked a lot about this watch. |
| James | So a beautiful dive watch for sure. Sword hands for the win, of course. Yeah. For me, not surprising. And I think risk check might be a little bit boring on my side for the next little while, but it's the Pelgos 39. I just I haven't taken it off. I'm wearing it on an Erica, so I'm sleeping with it on. I absolutely love it. It's keeping great time. I think I like it more like a little bit more every day. Yeah. Every time I look down on it and I find like a new like I was out for a sunny day, went to a snowy park, but only like a beautiful kind of sunny day here, we went to a park and I was just sitting on a park bench and just admiring it. So definitely, definitely still enjoying the watch. It's making me rethink a lot of the other watches that I have, like they feel redundant at a certain point. Yeah. So we might continue the sell off, although the Aquastar is not selling for whatever reason. I've got it listed in the Slack buy, sell, trade channel. At what I thought, I mean, let's be honest, the first number, which I've now dropped it twice, so almost more than 20%, I thought the first number seemed pretty fair compared to what they're listed for online, but maybe none of those are selling either. It's a tough thing to price an LE and a semi-obscure one at that point, but maybe we'll need to find a buyer for it at some point. |
| Jason | It's the thing that's paying for the Pelican. We probably need to jump into our main topic today, which was kind of a last minute idea that you came up with yesterday and then it really caught on fire. Want to kind of introduce it first? |
| James | Yeah, for sure. So we've obviously stuck, especially if you're a supporter, you know that we've stuck to a certain format for Q and A's for a long time, which is record the voice memo into your phone and then send us that, and we kind of air it like a radio show would, where it sounds a little bit like the person's calling in. And I really like that, but it's something that we've made the fifth episode of the month. So if you're a supporter of either level, the $5 a month or the $100 a year, you get access to another feed that includes that episode. But we get kind of a never-ending conversation on the slack that kind of bounces between people asking each other questions. And I thought, well, it might be kind of fun to do a bit of like a rapid fire thing where we just do it in text. One of my favorite podcasts these days does this a lot, where sometimes they have an actual call-in show, but most of the time they just field a handful of questions towards the end of the show in text. And I didn't want to leave that off the table. So this is a little bit of a test. I thought we'd get 10, 15 questions, something like that, and I think we capped it out around 50, like when I closed the thread this morning. And some of them are really fun, and the goal here would be to be essentially as quick and easy with the responses as possible. Obviously, I'm not known for my lack of verbose responses, but I'll do my best. But I think we just dig into it, and I thought it would be fun to see if it worked out see how people would enjoy it. So it kind of flips the idea on the head, because this is going to go in the in the full public channel. But it gives you an idea of of kind of the headspace for the slack, like where everybody's thinking, right? And I think it's a kind of a fun highlight of just the personalities and and the specificity and and the kind of passions that the slack are kind of capturing. So you want to dive into it with this first question from Evan? Yeah, let's go for it. Alright, he says, as travel ramps back up for you, what do you do to ensure you have time and energy to put into your family life and feel connected with your spouse and kids? I'm starting to travel more for work, and my wife is gone one night out of the week right now, and it's tough to feel connected on the level that we want to be. That's a great question, Evan, and this will be a tough one for me to be really quick on, but Jason, I'd love to hear how you make that work as well. |
| Jason | Yeah. I mean, for, for, for me, it's fairly simple. Uh, and for Ghoshani as well. I mean, we both work from home. We're, we're seeing each other every day. She's upstairs, I'm downstairs. And, uh, and so, you know, we make time in the evenings. We, this time of year, it's sit by the fire, read a book, chat, catch up on the day in the summer. We're out on the patio in the garden, you know, having a beer or whatever. And then, uh, and most of our travel these days, um, is planned and we do it together. So we're not doing much, uh, much of that separately. So for the sake of brevity, I mean, that's kind of where we're at. What about you? You travel a lot more, so you're gone on your own. |
| James | I do travel a lot more. The nice thing is I would say that in a similar manner to what you said, like my wife also works from home, so we spend most of the days together as much time as possible. We haven't grown tired of each other yet. The big thing for me is I do, when I'm traveling, I'm in travel mode. and it makes me a bad tourist. People will write in and go, Oh, James, you've been to Geneva so many times. How can, like, what things should I check? And like, I can tell you to go to Hours Chocolate and the Mad Gallery and, and go have fondue on the pier. But otherwise, like if I go to Geneva for work or I go to New York for work, it's very seldom that I do something that's not work related. Yeah. I try and work 12 hour days, go to bed tired, wake up tired. I'm a big maniac for working on planes. It's one of the main reason I have an iPad. if you're done your work and you go to the airport, the moment I sit down in the lounge, I start working. Yeah. And the minute I get onto the plane and either the flight attendants aren't paying attention and aren't gonna shout at me or you get to whatever altitude where you're allowed to have a electronic device on your lap, I start working. And that's so that when I get home, I'm allowed to decompress and decompressing with my family is such a pleasure. Yeah. whether it's with my wife or kids or all together. And then the other thing I found is I try and take my weekends very seriously. I think about what I wanna do, how we can do things together, what activities we can get done, what sort of things we can share, what sort of things will give people the space they want. It's a collection of pseudo introverts here, so not everybody wants to be in everybody's face all the time. But I would say the big thing is, for me, when I'm working, I'm working. Yeah. Yeah, I don't mind. I don't mind going out and catching up with people and but I in many ways I see that as work and if I go out and if I'm on a trip and the day the social side of the day is really long, I still have to get back to my hotel room and get whatever the work is done because otherwise that key and it's fine. You could push it back. It's not like it's not like I'm on some crazy deadline. That's like really tough. But if you push all that back and you come home on a Thursday and now you got to work into Sunday, just to keep up, then I think you start to really burn the ability to really invest in those experiences. And sure, maybe things are a little slower during the winter, but I take this really seriously in the summer where that could get in the way of the cottage, that could get in the way of a great day of snorkeling. You only get 10 of those a year. The really good days at the cottage, maybe 10. So I just try and keep all of that stuff in perspective. All right, thanks for that, Evan. We'll jump into another one, which is addressed directly to me. So I'll read it. This is from Michael M. He says, how's Cod M going, James? And that's a Call of Duty mobile. And I owe Michael and the TGN clan on Call of Duty many hours of gameplay. It just hasn't linked up that well. Michael, the answer is it's going pretty well. Most of Michael's question is probably teasing because I have said several times that we would play together. We friended each other. We tried to play a game and I don't normally play with sound. Um, I don't find that it adds a lot to the game unless I'm playing a very high level game. So a lot of times I play this on my iPad with pocket casts in the background, playing a podcast. And I never play with team speak, like where you can talk to the other people on your team, but, uh, drop me a DM on, on Slack, Michael, and we can, we can, uh, we can get a game, game or two going on. I promise to find my AirPods for that one. Want to get to this next one there, Jason? |
| Jason | Yeah. Uh, this is from, uh, a user named, uh, swimming Ramey who asks, How has big who asks, how has being famous in the watch slash diving world impacted you both positively and negatively? I'm speaking for myself. I mean, I, you know, I'm famous is a bit of a stretch I suppose, but I guess you and I are both having been in this industry long enough. We probably have some name recognition and real world recognition. And honestly, I have not experienced almost any negativity at all. I think it's always fun to, you know, It's, it's a little disconcerting, but, but also fun when I'm out somewhere and somebody says, I know your voice. And then they like know you from, from TGN or, or, you know, if I go to like a watch event or some sort of local event and hear that I used to write for Houdinki or that I'm with the great NATO or something, people will, will be very friendly and pleasant. And that's been nothing but positive. I love that aspect of it. Um, if there is a negative to all of this, uh, you know, being in this, this business, um, it's, occasionally you get people that want you to, um, you know, they'll, they'll tag you on Instagram or they'll, they'll ask for, you know, kind of, uh, favors with regard to kind of getting exposure and things like that. And I think in some respects that's innocent enough and that's fine. Um, but, um, when it's done in a, in a very kind of blatant way, um, that just doesn't feel authentic. Uh, it's a bit bothersome, but you know, that's, that's such a minor and very rare occasion. Um, all in all I've, I've just enjoyed, everything about this, this whole ride. |
| James | So what about you? Yeah, I would say one definitely not famous. I'd say have some notoriety, right? Is maybe a better term for it. Um, but I mean the, the watch side of it, I don't think I have any, I don't think I have any perspective on like the diving world. I'm not known in any way. I would say it's like 95% positive. I get to do this as my living. Right? Because people have been kind enough to support me and give me chances. And even once I got to a point where maybe my work was a known quantity, then, you know, support the work and praise it and share it and be part of it. And a lot of you guys are the ones that are saying really nice things on the Pudinky comments and that kind of stuff. And so I would say it's largely been a vastly positive experience to be able to call this a job. Like my living is almost a ridiculous concept. I mean, it's pretty close to what I wanted to do when I was a kid. And I think I always loved the idea of simply following my passions or curiosities and then talking about it or sharing it to be able to do this at sort of a professional level and foster the friendships, especially from the TGN side, but also for years of working in the watch industry, you know, lots of really great people. And then I would say the only side of it that ever feels not negative is the wrong word, but doesn't feel like it aligns with my personality is the, the constant, um, ability for people to connect with you, specifically like through Instagram. Oh yeah. So I'm still, I feel like in the last six months I've like been trying to find a balance where I'm not letting people down, but it also like doesn't get in the way of being creative, like just draining the battery. So other than that, I would say that it's been a wild ride and I hope that it doesn't stop anytime soon. |
| Jason | All right. Uh, next one from, uh, Ross slash offset crown, uh, asks us, When you guys travel, how do you carry and organize extra straps, tools, and spring bars? |
| James | I don't typically bring any. If I have a watch on a NATO, I might bring another color NATO, like if I want to switch from gray to green. |
| Jason | I think specifically he wants to know about straps, tools, and spring bars though. |
| James | Yeah, but I don't travel with that because I would probably only travel with one watch. Oh yeah. Is what I meant, but otherwise I would probably, you know, there's like little zippered pouches in my camera bag. That's where I would tuck in a NATO or something like that. |
| Jason | Yeah. |
| James | Yeah. |
| Jason | How about you? Yeah. I just use my dop kit, you know, my, my kind of bathroom zippered kit. I keep extra NATOs in there. I generally don't change straps. And typically I take my chances with spring bars, but I do, I have one of those little tools. I think I got it from Oris on a press trip years ago. It's like a small little spring bar tool and that fits nicely in my dop kit as well. So that's about all I do. Yeah. Don't do a lot of that. |
| James | Yeah. That's a good, good suggestion, Ross. I should probably carry spare spring bars. |
| Jason | Yeah. And you can get those little tubes, those little plastic threaded, you know, capped tubes that you can put a few in. I guess that would be good. Absolutely. |
| James | Yeah. I also have a lot of those. Yeah. Tape them. I also have a lot of those little They're like little metal canisters that you put on a key chain, like sometimes they have earplugs in them if you go to a Formula One race or whatever. I have several of those. Some just have like, you know, Benadryl and a painkiller or something just in case. That's a fun question. Next up, we've got another one from Swimming Remy, who says, you can have one vehicle under $50,000 gifted to you, but you have to keep it for the rest of your life. What is it and why? You want to take a stab at that one? |
| Jason | Gosh, you know, this was harder than I thought it would be. And this is probably a cop out. Um, but I've, I've always loved the, like an old Jaguar, like an E type. Ooh. Okay. Yeah. I think for the rest of my life, you know, here, especially if I was living here, the, the seasonal aspect of driving a vintage car, you know, I could opt for something that's more year round and rugged and, and all weather. Um, but I think it's kind of like skiing or diving or these seasonal activities, like to have something you can kind of put away and anticipate taking out again. Like if I'm keeping it longterm, my only caveat would be, I need to have a nice big garage to keep it in. So, you know, all winter long, I can, I can tinker with it and kind of build up to that, that first drive in the spring. And I think something, something kind of old and classic and collectible, uh, you know, like an old Jag or something would be, would be how I'd lean into it. I think, you know, I, my easy answer would be, you know, give me an old Land Rover, which I already have. Um, but I think in this regard, yeah, I'm going to say like an E-type and a garage to keep it in. |
| James | Yeah. I mean, an E-type for 50 K is going to be tough. |
| Jason | But yeah, true. Yeah, true enough. But maybe, maybe if it's one I can get crazy expensive, need some work. And if I have that garage, I can then like spend the rest of my life literally restoring it. |
| James | Yeah. Yeah. I love that idea. Yeah. A Jag would be fun. You know, I'm doing Amelia, Amelia, you see the XK one twenties, which is kind of the entry level car for Amelia, Amelia, but they look like a blast. Those cars are so fun. Yeah. For me, it would be a, give me a little red alpha, uh, coop. Oh, sure. GTV 1750, you might be able to find one for 50 if we're talking 50 US. Yeah, it's not gonna be the best one, that car would need a little bit of work, but it wouldn't be the worst year that I think 50s in the middle of the sort of Hemings Haggard evaluations for those just a little a little alpha, preferably with a H pattern, you know, four or five speed with a little high revving motor. I think that would keep me entertained. It wouldn't be fast enough to get me in a lot of trouble here and I think along those things, like I don't think I look out of place with that as my car. Yeah. If I could snap my fingers, I guess on, on a more modern, easier to understand, like a, a Z three, three liter. I like those BMWs had threes quite a bit. The early Zed four is like the Clive Owen Z four Zed four is wherever you're comfortable with. Those are a lot of fun too. So it'd be something in that vein, although I understand those are two vastly different cars. 50 grand, yeah, I could give you 30 cars. Yeah, right. Small and fun. Yeah, exactly. Small and fun. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Let's get into another one. This one's from Kai, who asks, how do you like your burgers? Or if not burgers, describe your favorite sandwich, be as detailed or not as you like. Jason, are you much of a burger guy? I don't think I've ever seen you eat a burger. |
| Jason | It's been many years and I've given up most meat anyway. So it wouldn't be a burger and it definitely would not be like a veggie burger. I just, I can't do those anyway. They just, they don't You know, if you're going to go burger, you got to have like a real burger. I discovered a sandwich I really liked that I've been making for the past couple of years. And it's, uh, it's a weird one. This is a may sound a little posh, but, um, it's called Penn Banya and it's, you make it with like a baguette, like a crunchy baguette that you slice in half, you know, uh, crosswise, open it up, lay it open. And then you put olive oil, um, like tuna that's been packed in olive oil. Then you put, um, like roasted red pepper capers, some red onion, Okay. Kind of just drizzle a lot of stuff in it and then you sandwich it together and then you wrap it tight in plastic wrap and tinfoil and then you, you put it in the fridge with like, you make a few of these, you put them between two sheet pans and put like, I put like dumbbell weights like on top of it to smash them together and then they sit overnight and when you take them out, they're all kind of a little bit soggy and like easy to eat. You unwrap them and like, oh man, that sounds real good. That's, that's been like, a go-to sandwich that we've been doing for the past couple of years. It's got that weird take on a banh mi. Yeah, it is. It has that same sort of feel to it. That banh mi is a good sandwich, too. That's a good one. Oh, man. |
| James | Top quality sandwich for sure. Yeah. Look, I could do a whole podcast about sandwiches if I needed to. We could do an entire episode. Probably just start a whole show about food I like. But if we're talking burgers, I've become a real jerk about smash burgers. So In-N-Out or Shake Shack, my preference is In-N-Out, but I'm not taking anything out of the Shake Shack world. they make both are just incredible. You would not believe how excited I get when I get to an airport now and they have a shake shack. I found one in Denver the other day. That's good. That's real good. And I like that I can make smash burgers very easily at home and it uses less beef, which is which I'm a fan of and they're just a slightly different preparation and that sort of thing. But I'm at the point now where like if I go to a restaurant, even a restaurant known for its burger, if it's not that style of burger like a smash style burger, I'm moving on moving on to something else. And then if we're talking sandwich, I'm a I'm a real real knucklehead for beef dips Hmm, give me beef dip on a nice soft piece of bread like a soft baguette with the au jus I'm in for sure. All right Next up, let's hit one from Keith W. He says, I believe James may have had the opportunity to own both a DOCSIS Sub 300 SR and a Professional at the same time. As someone who was thinking about picking up another 300, I was wondering what his experience was with dual DOCSIS 300 ownership. Did he stay the course or did he end up going back down to just one? I did have both for a little while, a 50th anniversary SR and a 50th anniversary Professional. I really wanted to try a Professional and I got that one from Jason and I sold it. I probably had it for a year. maybe a little longer and sold it to a buddy of ours and he's still got it. I feel like in my mind I will own every Doxa Color eventually, but Sea Rambler in the 50th anniversary is my favorite. I think if I wanted a Shark Hunter, I'd try and get a Carbon at some point. I think that combination I like so very much. But yeah, I think they were redundant. And I wanted to discover if the Pro, which is the classic one, it's the one you see in the movies, it's got the look, the feel, it's like that's full Doxa, that's Doxa like to a T in a 300 Pro. And I wanted to experience it and you wanted to sell it, so I bought it. It's all easy and that's how I end up with a lot of watches is when it's easy. But I gave them both a run, I enjoyed both very much and it's simply a question of the SR kind of matches, the Sea Rambler that is, kind of matches my overall taste. I thought it was a little bit more versatile with straps, orange, not being limited, but kind of goes in a different direction. That said, I mean, I do miss that watch when I see pictures of it. So I don't think you can go that far off. That's part of the fun of Doxa too, is the kind of character colors. Yeah. |
| Jason | Yeah. They all have a definitely a different vibe. I think that the Silver Dial, the Sea Rambler just has that more Classic sort of vintagey conjures up a certain thing. I think the black dial, the shark hunter feels more kind of serious and almost military spec. And then the orange one is, it's a very specific, I mean, it's very classic Doxa, but it feels like it feels Cousteau. It feels, you know, blue meridian. Uh, you know, it just, it feels like sixties, like, you know, Kodachrome, you know, whatever, middle of the middle of the ocean on a hot day sort of feel to it. So yeah, it's a good one. Yeah. All right. Next one's a bit of a longer question from Nate Phipps, who asks, uh, talk about the Rolex curve. I feel like I've heard you and Jason mentioned this phenomenon offhand, but I could be mistaken. Basically your take on the evolution. Many go through regarding Rolex, the vague awareness of it as a luxury brand with even a hint of disdain, then awareness of its prominence in the watch world and a vague notion of its quality as a time piece. And then onto full blown fandom and respect where your feelings transcend its cultural prominence. and understand it as an important part of the history of tool watches and watch tech. As someone who has only relatively recently gotten into watches, about two and a half years, Nate has always felt a tension around the brand as he's gotten into the hobby. I'd love to hear your take on this phenomenon. James, this is a real thing, right? I mean, it's been talked about. I think we've touched on it. What's your take on the trajectory of Rolex appreciation? |
| James | Yeah, I think they call it the Porsche pole in cars. when you get into the enthusiastic layer of watches, the noise surrounding Rolex, the praise, the constant conversation, the obsession over what seems like minute details, all of that can feel like, why does anyone care so much about such a ubiquitous product? And I think that breeds some Well, I'm... I have different tastes. I would buy an Omega, I would buy a Seiko, I would buy whatever. You go in different directions to try and establish that you're not just another Rolex talking head. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | But if you stay in this game long enough, I can understand not loving every Rolex that they've ever made, but I don't understand how you don't fall in love with this brand. Yeah. They are the brand, not in watches, they are like the brand of brands. Patagonia, maybe, if we give them another 40, 50, 60, 70 years, we'll start to like enter the same sort of zone where like you could, you could be obsessed with Rolex and not even care about watches, right? Just their arts, just the science, just the culture. You could just be a fan of the fact that they've essentially built one of the most vertically integrated, tightly controlled and obsessive creations in the world. Even if you don't necessarily care about watches or appreciate the idea of luxury, which is fair. Yeah. right? Like if you think it's if that if that end point, the idea that all of this obsession is going to make a $10,000 item or a $15,000 item that no one really needs. Absolutely. But I think you eventually get to a point where you really respect the brand. And then you find an era that hits your zone. For me, that's five digits. I like the older stuff just fine. It's always been outside of my price point and the new stuff with the ceramic, it's just a little bit shiny for my taste, beautifully made The six digit stuff is better made than a five digit stuff. That's how Rolex operates. They only ever change in a step forward with the movement, with the bezel, with the loom, with the whatever. That's how they always do it. And I think once you've been in the game long enough, once you've been in the obsession long enough, you start to separate the product from the people who buy it. Yeah. Right. Like you see this with, if you're just getting into cars, you might think like, Oh, a Miata is like a hairdresser's car, a woman's car, like whatever. And then you learn, oh, it's also like the most raced vehicle in any weekend in North America. And like even Corvettes have a different type of bag. It just kind of like boomers with Hawaiian shirts and gold chains, and that's who buys them. Then you learn like, oh no, there's like 20 subcultures of Corvettes. At a certain point, you do get a wide enough view to see what Rolex has managed to do, to see how they operate their company, to see how they support watchmaking in general, Swiss watchmaking in specificity, and then this, the technology, and I think it becomes kind of undeniable. What I would add is Nate, you coming in two and a half years ago is probably one of the hardest Rolex curves there is because two and a half years ago, even to now, let's say four years ago to now, the hype has never been higher. So I think that first stage of not really understanding where people are coming from would have been even tougher when I got into it in 2004, 2005. I think that there was just, you know, we were seeing steal everything at multiples of whatever price, a watch that was unattainable in a way where you felt like if I work really hard and get a promotion, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I could get there eventually and get one. But I think that's been really complicated by sort of the hype cycle and the, you know, what people are now calling the everything bubble of the last few years. And it'll be interesting to see who's left in three or four years. and what their perspective is. Cause I think it will, it will return largely to what it was before. Um, but if, if you're not sure of Rolex, I would say attempt to zoom out and understand, like go to Wikipedia, actually read about the company, not just a single product or whatever, you know, people are buying or selling at Daytona for right now. And I think it's, it's just a fascinating thing. Cause there's nothing else like Rolex, not in the watch industry or anywhere else in the world, like Patagonia, especially with their recent move into essentially operating outside the scope of, of normal business constraints would be in my mind, one of the closer options that comes to it. But there, there, you know, two companies that seem very focused on an actual long tail, you know, the, the Patagonia thing was, would we make the same decision today in a hundred years? |
| Jason | I think there's, there's watches with a capital W and watches with a small W. And I think if you, if you view a Rolex in the, in the first regard, that's where all the baggage comes in and you have to read through all the, the hype and the blogs and the reviews and the auction results and that sort of thing. But if, if you look at it from the lowercase w watch and you put one on your wrist, um, you can really appreciate, you know, how well they're made. You can kind of dig into their history a little bit and see what the brand stands for and all the stuff that they've accomplished and, and on whose wrists they've been worn doing amazing things, et cetera. And I think, you know, you need to kind of separate those two, those two things. And, and also I think what's nice about Rolex is that, it's a brand that it means different things to different people. There's a Rolex for everybody. I mean, that, that sounds like a slogan, but, uh, it's true. If, if you're into, you know, let's say you're really into the history of mountaineering or, or let's say you're a diver or whatever, like that's the Rolex for you. You can, you can, you can go very deep into that and appreciate it and love it and own one, um, or not and still, still love the brand. But, um, if you're someone who likes, uh, you know, gold watches or, or, you know, whatever the history of, you know, watches on president's wrists or whatever it might be like, there's that Rolex for you. If you like leopard print chronographs that, you know, there's one for you there as well. So, um, I think that's the curse and the, and the beauty of, of the brand. So yeah, in the end it is just a watch. And if you, if you don't like them, don't feel bad about not liking them and just move on to something else. |
| James | Yep. I would say you want to make it cheesy, find your Rolex and that could be a model or it could be just your view on the company. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | A lot of what's said about Rolex is outside of Rolex's control, and I would try and get to what their message is. And you might get a better feel for how the company operates and what they're up to. And like I said, find your generation, find the model that you like. You don't have to like everything, but there's a lot of stewardship around the brand that I find very interesting and compelling and long lasting. Fun question there, Nate. And let's get to one from Dean. He says, although I hear you chuckle from time to time, I've never heard either of you bust out laughing. Is there anything that got either of you so tickled that you couldn't stop laughing and had to edit it out of the show? I don't know that's ever happened. Nothing comes to mind. Nothing comes to mind. No. Yeah. We're both very serious people. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, it's funny because most of the podcasts I listen to are comedy podcasts. And I feel like that means when I sit down, I don't feel like I have to be funny. Yeah. Also, I don't believe myself to be like, I have a, I think I have a wide sense of humor, but I don't believe myself to be an especially funny person. I love to laugh, but I'm, I don't have to be the one creating that. And oftentimes I'm laughing at myself in, in many cases, but I don't remember any time where it's definitely happened. I'll probably on one of like when we were really tired, one of the ones that we recorded at a show or like when we were together and you just kind of get on a tangent, but I can't, I can't, nothing leaps to mind. I'm sure it's happened. I just can't recall. Maybe we need to have a comedian as a, as a chat guest sometime. You know, I've worked on it. There was a couple there a few years ago, but... And we have some people who listen who are connected to some... I'm not gonna put anyone on blast, but who are connected to some people that I believe to be exceedingly funny, like among the funniest people I've ever come across, but... Yeah. Yeah, it's an interesting thing. I really like not feeling like the show has to be funny to succeed. I listen to a lot of new podcasts and it feels like they're trying too hard to be funny. |
| Jason | Or shock or something, yeah. |
| James | Yeah, or shock for sure. And I think it's one of the things like you and I in our relationship, like we don't really trade bits back and forth. I do with lots of kids, like guys I grew up with and that kind of thing. But like we're not really mean people on our private conversations. Like a funny thing is a funny thing and you get a chuckle out of it. But yeah, I would say for the most part. Yeah, nothing leaves in mind. Deep question, though. I'm sure the next time it happens, I won't edit it out. How about that, Dean? That's how we can answer your question. All right. Next up, we've got one from Watch Cows Dive. Some people consider ice diving crazy and dangerous, but in reality, it's fairly safe if you prepare accordingly. What is the most dangerous or high risk activity that you knowingly put yourself into? |
| Jason | Man, I mean, the the obvious answer is like driving your car down the down an interstate in the U.S. is probably a pretty, pretty high risk compared to a lot of the other things. I mean, you know, the Watch Cows Dive is our buddy Jeff, who I met here actually on the ice diving weekend. And it's it's a good question. I think You know, a lot of people do consider a lot of sports dangerous. I've been watching a lot of cave diving videos lately for, for whatever reason. And of course, uh, did the ice diving this winter. And I think, you know, a lot of these things, they aren't adrenaline sports. They're actually sports that involve a lot of meticulous preparation to mitigate risks ahead of time and have plan B and plan C. So they, they aren't a crazy and B yes, there's some danger involved, but not, you know, not in ways that you can't overcome driving on the, on the interstate aside, I would say, in terms of like an adventure sport or something I've done, I remember, you know, I've done a bit of caving, not cave diving over the years. And Kashani and I were in Belize, uh, in the jungle. I don't know how long ago, probably 10 years ago now. And, and we hooked up with a couple of local guides and they took us to this underground cave and it felt, I certainly trusted them, but it felt sketchy. I mean, we weren't, we weren't roped up. We had helmets and we took some provisions with us and, multiple lights, but the, the trek through the jungle was kind of slippery and muddy. And, you know, they told us not to grab onto trees for, for balance because there could be snakes and whatever. And then we got into the cave and I think we were six, 700 feet underground and squeezing through cracks and whatever. And I got really dehydrated and it just, it felt, it started to feel like one of those things, like if I break my ankle down here or something, it's, uh, things could really go, go in a bad way. Um, so I think that was probably the most. kind of high risk activity I've done outside of, you know, kind of deep, uh, decompression diving, um, which again, you can mitigate the risks out of to a large degree. So James, I would say, you know, you've, you've driven some cars fast. I would, that's probably pretty, pretty dangerous, huh? |
| James | Yeah. Look, that's, but that's both the most, probably the most dangerous and the most irresponsible I've ever been in my life. And as I get older, I still want to drive like that. Um, but I do it in places where if I wipe out, it's just me. That's why I enjoy the canyons in L.A. so much, and it's why, you know, I wouldn't drive a certain way if I was on the road with cyclists or otherwise. But I've definitely absolutely taken it to the limit in press cars when I shouldn't have. It's just irresponsible. And, you know, it's a gray matter thing. I'm sure mine's still developing at 36. Yeah. You know, I think I come by the need for that type of entertainment, honestly. I haven't always been responsible with it. Uh, it's gotten better as I've gotten older, but yeah, definitely the most dangerous thing I do is, um, what I would call driving for sport, like where you go out for a drive. I'm not one that's known to have a, uh, you know, an incredible sense of self control when the right markers are in place. And that's why I, you know, I think we actually get to this question a little later in here, but like track driving training, all that kind of stuff is great. And also I made a conscious effort when I bought my daily for Toronto, the G to buy something that like I couldn't really get myself into trouble with. Yeah. It's not that fast. It's I I'm entertained because it's a six speed, that sort of thing. But I try and consider all those things. And eventually I'll quote a quote unquote, I'll be old enough, mature enough and have enough money to buy something like a little not too fast alpha. |
| Unknown | Right. |
| James | And that'd be good. But I mean, I would definitely be that guy you'd see on if you, if you talk to me 10 years ago, I definitely could have been that guy you see leaving a car show and deciding to do a burnout and then crashing into a crowd. Oh man. like it's it's it's ugly but i also don't want to be the guy that looks down on people who make that terrible decision yeah in the moment and crash their car hopefully nobody gets hurt blah blah blah but like yeah i've spent time in seven 800 horsepower cars and the the thrill the thrill is in in the speed right so right right it you know that that's the math and then the other thing i've talked about on the show a couple times so i won't belabor it but I did a bunch of kind of irresponsible solo hiking in BC, you know, not being fully prepared, not really telling people where I was going to be and then putting myself into, you know, not high Alpine, it's the North shore mountains or, or, you know, that sort of thing. But there were definitely days where I go like, Oh, that was, that wasn't sketchy. That was like the dice were in the air and I got lucky. Yeah. It was that sort of thing. Yeah. But never with diving. That's why you can train for everything. I'm terrified of diving. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Um, in a way that I'm not for hiking or driving a car fast or something like that. And it always made me whatever talent I had as a diver, which was limited. Jason has dove with me. It was, it came from this very healthy respect of like, I, this is not how I want to go. |
| Jason | Yeah. And I think I have that. I flipped that for me driving is, uh, driving itself is not terrifying. I think speed is as maybe it says I'm getting older, but I'm just, uh, it makes me very nervous. Like, I remember doing the, uh, did some press trip with Balmain Mercier, where we were on this track in France with these guys driving Shelby Cobras. And I was just getting a ride around a track on a old, you know, whatever, 420 powered shell, you know, Shelby Cobra. Yeah. 427. 427. Sorry. And it was open top and I was in the passenger seat with a helmet on. And it was, I I've never been more scared in my life. I mean, it was utterly terrifying. I mean, this guy was a professional driver and he was, he was very talented, but man, was I scared. |
| James | Wow. Yeah. Right seat is tough. Yeah, somebody's driving fast, even if they're a race car driver, I have a lot of trouble with it and I knew that I had gotten to a certain level of being chill behind the wheel because my dad will let me drive in places now. Oh sure, like since since I moved to Toronto and there's definitely a time where like my dad taught me how to drive and then I think he was like, alright, I'm good. We'll go in two different vehicles. You psycho. Yeah, he never said that to me. If my mom's listening, dad didn't say that to me. He's always, of course, been very sweet, but I think he didn't love My need for speed. And I'm not sure, maybe he had it when he was younger. Yeah. Um, but yeah. |
| Jason | All right. Another dive question here. Um, from beer and I, this is a Kelly chum of ours. Uh, he says, uh, now that it's coming up on diving season, for those of us that don't have a nice diving certification, have your gear recommendations changed since our open water certifiable episode? Boy, that was way back. Um, you mentioned a good bit of stuff in that episode, but it's been a few years and any new bits of kit that you're particularly fond of for diving? BCDs, regulators, scuba knife, brand of safety sausage, whatever. James, have you upgraded your kit? Maybe not since that episode, but was there anything you changed not long after you started diving that you were glad you did? |
| James | Nothing's changed since we talked on that episode because I think I had my full kit then. Yeah. And then the only thing that I've changed since then, because I haven't dove much, I talked about this, I think, on the last Q&A for the supporter side. I kind of paused my diving while my kids were young and I didn't wanna blow whole weekends for two hours in the water. But my wife is getting certified later this month, so that should be great. We should get back to diving. But last year, because I've been teaching my daughters to snorkel quite successfully, they really have taken to it at the cottage, but I replaced my mask. I used to have a Cressy Mantis, a fine mask, but I broke the little retaining clasp thing on the side in a manner that I lost a little piece and it can't be fixed, and I could like glue it, but then what happens if it comes off underwater, that kind of thing. So I bought a Hollis M1 and I love it. It's an expensive mask in the world of masks, like that's a jump of three or four X for me from a Cressy to this. So it's not, you're not up into the world of like the atomics. I used an atomic with the high end lens for a couple of dives on Clipperton, and I was like, oh my goodness, this is the best. I can see everything. I like it a lot. How about you? I mean, you're, you've had things come and go, but I feel like the last ones that we talked about were dry suits. |
| Jason | Yeah. I mean, dry suits aside. I mean, I, I, I haven't listened to that open water certified certifiable episode in a very long time, so I'm not sure what I recommended then, but I would say, you know, I still have, uh, most of my original equipment. Um, from when I started diving, I would say when I first got into diving, I was wearing a jacket style BC and quickly moved to a, a back inflate kind of wing style. Um, And then, um, when I kind of got more into tech diving, I, I changed my, my BC to, to one with metal D rings and the ability to, to put a double tanks on the back. So I went to a dive, right. Transpac, which has been a wonderful BCD. So if you're looking for a really versatile travel one that can also do a little bit of tech diving, that's a great BC. And then probably the best move was I started out diving and I had this, this pair of yellow Maris Avanti fins. And I was always getting leg cramps for my first few open water dives. And then I went diving with my buddy, Chris in Milwaukee, in Lake Michigan. And it was like my first or second open water dive, like post certification. And, and I came up from the dive and I said, my leg was cramped. And he like handed me his old set of green force fins that he got when he started diving. And I haven't looked back. They're they're wonderful fins. They're not for everybody. And every time I put them on, people are like. What are those crazy things? They look like, like frog feet and they're very small and whatever, but, uh, that was a good upgrade, but no, I, I think diving is one of those sports where if you buy, you get good advice and kind of buy things patiently and with some research, like it'll, you'll have it for many, many years and, and you kind of becomes part of you. So that's, uh, that's the way to go. |
| James | Good question. For sure. Next up, we've got one from Michael Harris, who says this time of year, everyone is doing predictions, which are almost always wrong. This is part of the fun, of course. Instead, I want to hear what you all are hoping for from the coming watch year, trends you would like to see grow or die, or what long lost model do you want to see revival of? Most of all, what are your watch buying and selling plans for the year? Good question, Michael. I would love to see more titanium. I feel like we're on a real titanium kick. We're seeing it being accepted by other brands. I'm super excited to see whatever else Blancpain has in store for the 70th anniversary of the 50 Fathoms. Jason, I may have taken that directly from you, but I know that they have a couple more stages ahead, and I'm excited to see something that maybe in five or six years I could buy if I get lucky. And other than that, I would say I would love to see brands, big brands, announce a formalized way of managing wait lists. You know, Rolex has gone through the process of doing CPO, And I would love them to go to the other side and say like, we're now managing what the secondary market might look like in their own way. But I would also love them to say like, well, now if you go to a dealer, you essentially actually get like a deli number. Oh, you go in and take the little number. And I would love it if maybe they gave you a little card that had a QR on it and you could take the picture with your phone and it would tell you, well, you're 1200th in line. It's a good idea. And at this today's production rate, you'll get it. in this window of time. Porsche does this with cars, and there's no way that Rolex can't conceivably make this all happen, but I would love to see them lead, or Patek, conceivably, but somebody lead on the concept of watches that will be waitlisted. Some watches won't be. Patek, there's lots of higher complication stuff that aren't gonna be waitlisted, but I would love to see someone take a leadership position in demystifying the idea that one dealership has an Excel spreadsheet, another dealership has their 10 favorite clients. I understand that could still factor in how you get on the official list, but some sort of an official list, I think, would help people understand the process and just what the scale is, rather than... I don't think this kind of mystical element is helpful to anyone. |
| Jason | Yeah. I love the Delhi number idea. I think that's genius. I think that would be a huge step. |
| James | people don't mind waiting in line if they have an idea of when, like even when you go to Canada's, like when I went and got my passport, they think they're pretty clever because they've got six or seven different numeric code options. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | So like I had an R number, but there was others with a Y numbers and some with a D and others with an A number, but you can sit there with your phone and like hit the lap button every time they call someone up and figure out that like Oh, on average, one of these appointments takes three and a half minutes. Right. And, and that's how I weathered the two hours I had to sit there and wait for, to get my passport. Yeah. Um, and I think that just makes me more comfortable with the waiting process. And I also think it would breed some trust in a world that right now, again, feels kind of nebulous. |
| Jason | Yeah. Yeah. That's good. Um, just real quick, I don't have any specific trends that I'm hoping for, but there are, there are kind of two or three watches that I'd love to see, um, be released, um, this year or sometime soon. And one is the, Um, kind of that classic twisted lug, you know, Royal Navy style. Um, I would love to see them reissue that I've, I've caught rumors to that effect that, that something might be coming, probably completely unfounded. Don't know. And then, you know, wearing this 2254 today, I'd love to see them reissue that. And maybe it's one in the same, maybe it's kind of something in between the two. Um, I think that'd be cool. And then, you know, wearing this 2254 today, I'd love to see them reissue that. And maybe it's one in the same, maybe it's kind of something in between the two. Um, I think that'd be cool. And then, you know, wearing this 2254 today, I'd love to see them reissue that. Finally, and I think we've talked about this before, like a smaller sized regular issue, not an LE Blancpain 50 fathoms, you know, kind of along the lines of the very first one. Yeah. New grail for sure. Cool. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason | So as far as buying and selling plans this year, I'm kind of in a consolidation mode. I've sold five or six watches over the past couple of months and that trend is continuing. I'm sort of shedding stuff I don't wear and that feels good. But nothing, nothing is on the buying horizon for me. |
| James | Yeah, as far as buying selling going, I've got the Pelagos and it's definitely gonna be the watch I'm gonna wear from now through the summer, aside from when I'm reviewing something or whatever. Yeah. And I think that that will probably cost me to sell a lot of other stuff in the coming months. There's stuff that I'm gonna keep because it fits a specific slot. But right now, I feel like the non sentimental side of my collection is kind of too big. Yeah. And could be kind of trimmed down a little bit. So yeah, if you're keen, I'll be selling those on buy, sell, trade on the Slack, of course, and open to reasonable offers. But yeah, at this moment, you don't just, I'm not going to make a business out of it. And there's now there's the whole, and people in the States are dealing with the same thing where anything over 600 bucks is essentially you have to report it and you pay taxes on it and the rest of it. So there's an accounting side of it that I don't want to really go too deep into. I will if, you know, to pay for the Pelagos, but beyond that, the headache starts to grow and, you know, maybe you could sell to a friend or something like that. All right, next up, we've got two questions from Tom. First of all, he asks, if there's one thing you can improve in your already cool lives, what would it be? And now that you've said it, what's holding you back from doing it? What would be your answer for that, Jason? |
| Jason | That's tough. That might take a little more thought. By and large, I'm pretty content with my life. I think I would like maybe the opportunity to I don't know about take extended time off, but take the time to do things in a longer form way in general, not just writing, not just, you know, professionally, but you know, dig in and do a long road trip or do it, have a project that takes a longer period of time. I think I've always been in this mode of writing a novel. It was probably the longest form thing I've done and that in the first novel took 18 months. The second one took about six or seven months to write so that that's long for me, but I'm talking things that it requires some patience and some, more forethought planning and just, you know, take my time with, um, I'd realize that's a pretty nebulous answer, but I don't have anything specific. What about you? |
| James | Boy, yeah, I would, I, you know, I think we've talked, I've talked about this on the show in the past and I am making strides to do it, but yeah, just to develop a better work-life balance, especially with the summer ahead. I, you know, I think I went pretty heavy in the last several months. I would love to make TGN better and more inclusive and more kind of all encompassing of a, of an experience. in the coming years. And that would probably be, you know, continuing the pace we're on now for the show, which can be a lot at times, but it's my favorite thing. Events, you know, meetups, hangouts, that sort of thing. You know, we're not going to become a merch brand. We'll keep on that in small quantities, of course. But I think the goal here is to have fun with the community of people who also want to have fun on kind of the same wavelength. And that's what we're seeing with the slack. So I think we're making good headways there. And then if we're talking about something that would just be kind of cool. Improve Tom might be a tough word because it's not something I need. I have a lot of stuff I don't need, but I would love to get to a point at some point where I could have a vintage car. It doesn't have to be fast, doesn't have to be expensive, preferably something I could work on myself, but I don't have the space right now. I don't have the time right now and I don't have the money right now. So those are some of those are fixable. Money's usually fixable time. On the other hand, I'm at a point where I feel like I trade a lot of my time for money, and that can be a difficult thing to deal with as you start to get a bit older. Um, so I'm not, I'm not sure that I'm willing to make a time investment to get a car that I then won't be able to drive, which has kind of helped me back from some options that have come up in the past. But yeah, we've, we've talked about this kind of stuff before and I think that's where I would land. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And the second question from Tom, he says, what gives you the greatest thrill in the watch hobby? Is it searching for new watches, owning them, using them like they were designed? having something personal on for you to remember events or meeting like minded people. I mean, for me, it's the community and it's the learning aspect. Those would be the two things I like the most, especially about our community, the TGN community, is the ability to just constantly learning different perspectives. And then if I find something that piques my natural curiosity, being able to know that the Internet's there and I can just like rabbit hole. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | That has not lost any appeal. It's what brought me to watches the first time I started to read about them when I learned that there were some watches didn't need a battery. And it's still what brings me to what I think is probably my best work for Hodinkee is just one that follows some curiosity rather than a new cycle or something like that. |
| Jason | Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely not the watches themselves for me, Tom. It's definitely the people and the experiences. Not even so much, you know, the ability to wear a watch on an experience, but what watches have brought to my life, um, in terms of the people I've met and the, and the places I've been able to go has just been, I wouldn't have changed a thing. It's been, you know, you know, diving with Sylvia Earl, Lauren Balesta, you know, um, trips to Iceland and all over. I mean, it's, it's just been, and then of course, uh, as we saw in Chicago last year meeting, uh, the TGN community, I mean, it's just, you can't replace that stuff. And then the Slack group and organizing get togethers and dive outings and just It's, uh, it's all about the people and the experiences. And so little of it is really about the objects themselves, which is, which is really funny. It's, uh, for, for something that is so based around, um, objects, but I guess you could probably say that about any hobby too, right? Like vintage cars or cooking or anything like that. So, yeah. Yeah. Good couple of questions, Tom. |
| James | All right, this next one is from David Krauser, who wrote, you both have talked quite a bit about driving cars. Do you have any thoughts or experiences driving a less common type of vehicle, such as planes, motorcycles, snowmobiles, rickshaws, etc.? Any particularly interesting story worth sharing? I joke that if it's got a steering wheel, I'm in. Let's do it. You know, I really love driving tractors. I've made a concerted effort in my life to not do the motorcycle thing, because I don't have the self control at all. Luckily, the insurance was so expensive when I was a kid that I wouldn't have been able to get on a bike. And now that I'm older and have a great driving record and could easily get on a bike for not that much money, I know that I would crash very quickly, I think. The other thing that I absolutely love, I maybe get a chance once or twice a year now, but I grew up driving boats. And there's something real nice about being out on the lake just after dawn, it's glassy and you've got a speedboat. Oh, sure. Yeah. It's good. Yeah. So that's a good vibe. But I know no specific story, um, for that kind of stuff. I don't, maybe I've been on a snowmobile once or twice. The new ones look like a, like a real good time though. They do. Yeah. How about you, Jason? You ever, you have a motorcycle in your past? |
| Jason | I've never driven a motorcycle. I'm ashamed to admit. Um, it's appealing to me like a little small bike, like on some kind of back country roads I think would be, It would be really cool. No, I, I had this experience when I was writing for gear patrol in the early days, I was able to, I drove a tank. It was an Abbott. Oh, it was an Abbott FV433. What did they call it? A mobile gun or something. It was, it was a legitimate tank. And there was a place, there still is a place here in Minnesota where they have a bunch of old tanks that you can drive and they have a, like a course, like a muddy course through the forest where you can pay some money and go and spend a day. I mean, driving a tank and I didn't think I'd like it as much as I did, but it was an absolute blast. I mean, this thing was loud. It belched, you know, diesel exhaust and it, you know, I think we drove over like ruined cars and through mud pits and I don't know, it was, it was a thrill. It was really cool. Um, there's a story somewhere out there, uh, that I wrote for, uh, for gear patrol about the experience. And I think I got connected through. Gosh, do they have a PR rep? That would have seemed strange, but yeah, somebody reached out and invited me for the day to come and do it and write the story about it. That's great. Yeah, that was, uh, that was pretty wild. That tops pretty much anything else I've driven. |
| James | I had two, two things came to mind when you, I don't know why they came to mind when you mentioned it. Well, I don't, I knew, I do know the one, one thing I would love to drive and I'm just putting this in there so I can put it in the show notes and maybe, maybe manifest this out into the world that Jason, I could borrow one of these at some point it's called a Sherp and it's made, I don't know where it's made somewhere in a cold state. It might be Minnesota. I don't know, but it's this crazy self contained vehicle with like, you know, a six thousand mile range that can for that can go into water. It's really hard to describe, but I'll put a story. I would love to drive a shirt. It's a really fascinating thing that they've driven like across Siberia unsupported. Yeah, man, I want to drive a shirt pretty bad. And then the other experience that I will say that I loved, loved, loved, loved is before the pandemic, I spent a lot of time in New York, in Brooklyn. I was staying in Brooklyn in Crown Heights, and I was there like the better almost 50% of my year. And when I was down there, they had a service called Revel, and if you live in Brooklyn, you either love or hate Revel. And it's essentially like Bird or Lime, like one of those scooters, but it's like for an actual moped, an electric moped. I believe they're made by a Canadian company that starts with an N, the actual model, but it was like they just littered them around the city and they weren't as problematic as the way people treat the kind of razor scooter style ones, like where they just leave them on the street and in people's front yards. You had to park this like a motorcycle, but you paid next to nothing. You'd get up on a Saturday and go like, oh, I'm gonna go to the other side of Brooklyn for donuts, and you'd go the whole way on a little electric moped that just did the speed limit. and that gave me just enough of a dose of the the like motorcycle thing. Yeah, but it wasn't fast enough. So I had to just chill. I had to relax. Yeah, and you could get two people on it and my wife and I could could, you know, head up into into wherever Peter pans for donuts or whatever on the other side of Brooklyn and and then come back and it was geo fence. So you couldn't take into the Queen's. You couldn't. I don't believe you could like ride it over the one of the bridges and rip around Manhattan for a while. Yeah, but you got the whole kind of vibe of like you know, popping in and out of traffic, you weren't supposed to use a bike lane. So you're part of the flow. That's a lot of fun. Yeah. And if you're competent and feel confident in that and you visit the city and maybe I assume the program is still going. Yeah, I would say bring a hair net. They offer them to for the helmets. Oh sure. Or be that guy who doesn't have the helmet on. I did that a couple of times and then kind of talk myself backwards from that dumb position. Yeah, but super fun definitely. So that stands out as some like for something where I wasn't doing anything like it was there's abject risk, but beyond that, right? It was pretty good time behind the wheel. |
| Jason | Let's let's let's make a sure pap and I'm really into this. I was just looking it up. Let's sure I was just looking it up there. It's actually Ukrainian designed and headquartered. Okay, but the US headquarters are right up the road here, Bemidji, Minnesota. |
| James | So, all right, that's why I thought it was Minnesota. There we go. They look like a good time. You can drive over like a four inch tree or five inch tree. Yeah, like I said, you can climb a jersey barrier. They're wild. I'll put a couple sherp links because I've done like Matt fair did a big story on them kind of a little while ago and for road and track and and that kind of stuff. So there's some good stuff out there. But yeah, sure, it looks like a real good time. Yeah, it's a bit of an apocalypse vehicle. Yes, they're smaller than you expect. Like when you see a human standing next to them, you go like, oh, that's it's not the size of like a minivan or it's more like a minivan than it is a motor home. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that'd be super fun. But you know, we're well over an hour now. I don't think we got to Man, a third, maybe a third, maybe 10 questions. All right. So now we know what we'll do when we need a topic. We're going to dig back into these questions. I do want to say a sincere thanks to everybody who threw up a question. Clearly, we're not good at just keeping it light and buzzing through these. Some of these questions really required like an actual answer. They weren't all, you know, kind of light lifts, but there's some really fun ones that we have on the list. So stay tuned for this when we need a spare episode, or maybe we want to do something extra. We're going to go back to this list. So A big thank you to everyone. And of course, if you want to be involved in these sorts of conversations, we suggest joining the Slack. You've got two options. It's $5 a month. That also gets you access to the listener Q&A. So you get a vocal sort of recorded audio Q&A each month. Not bad value there. And then, of course, if you want to get in on stuff like early notice of the merch and signed TGN NATO, you can go to the $100 a month package. But swing by thegreatnado.com if you're keen on such things. And other than that, let's jump into some final notes. Give your voice a break there. |
| Jason | Yeah, it's starting to go here. Um, I've, I've got a fun one. This is a movie that just came out recently, um, called the other fellow. It's a documentary, um, that was put together by a James Bond fan. Um, an author who, um, researched all of these people around the world that have the name James Bond, like real people. Um, and no way. And it's a really poignant, sometimes humorous, sometimes deadly serious, Documentary about the blessings and curses of being named James Bond. There's an african-american guy from I don't recall somewhere in the u.s. Who? was arrested and served time for For murder there was there's a swedish guy who took it so seriously that he actually changed his name to be James Bond And he has like a whole museum. There is there's some aspiring actors There's a guy who changed his name from James Bond because he was so tired of the baggage that came with it It's, it is really good. I, I wanted to watch it just out of my own love of, of kind of the bond universe, but I was surprised at how honestly good, good a movie it is. And, um, so definitely check that out. I think I watched it on Apple TV, but I think you can get it on Amazon or other places as well. So check it out. The other fellow. Very cool. Um, yeah, very good movie. So. That's awesome. |
| James | Yeah, that's such as such a fun idea for documentary as well. Definitely give that a give that a watch. Yeah, it's fun. Right? What do you have? Yeah, mine for this week, you know, with a certain event happening again, I don't want to give away Formula One in case anyone it's it was just five days ago by the time this comes out. So but with a certain event happening at Formula One at Bahrain, I think it's cool that they officially kind of the embargo lifted on the Valkyrie reviews. So the reviews of this new like genuine, cutting-edge, Adrian Newey-designed hypercar from Aston Martin. And of course, a friend of the show, one of my absolute faves, Henry Catchpole, was there to do a first drive for Hagerty, and it's an awesome video. This is a car that I kind of didn't think would see the light of day, and in many ways just kind of discredited, thinking, like, how does Aston Martin, a brand that, like, financially has had a lot of hard times in the last two decades, How do they put together a project like this and actually sell what's only gonna be like 235 cars? But it's a fantastic video. I mean, it's a Henry video, so they're always fantastic, but it's a fantastic video within the scope of what this car is. And some of the points that he makes about these sort of generational leaps in terms of vehicles, Miura, McLaren F1, Bugatti Veyron. And if Henry's feeling like it's on that level, then I think there's some credence to knowing something about the the car. And you know, it's just, just a great video. It's a solid 23 minutes. I watched pretty much every video that came out about the car in the last couple of days. This was probably my favorite for sure. Uh, so kudos to Henry for making that. And there's, there's like some really interesting tidbits about the production. Like Adrian Newey is the guy that, that, um, designs, uh, Red Bulls F1 cars. Oh, so he's like, he's an absolute genius, especially when it comes to things like aerodynamics and packaging. Huh? And this project was picked up by Aston Martin. And like one of the tidbits that they give out in the video is like when they passed the car's lifestyle of the car, the life role of the car on to Aston Martin, it included like the wing, the rear wing would be replaced every 25,000 miles. Because in F1 and Adrian Newey's world, you replace the wing every race. Oh, Yeah. And they're like, yeah, the wing, the body work can't be a service item on a road car. And it's a, it's a really fun video. It's definitely the first time I've ever seen that. I can remember at least Henry's swear on a video. I think the car, the car kind of, you know, he says it kind of scrambled his brains a little bit, but I highly recommend it. And, and digging into this car is like, it's like one of those fun things like digging into the XJ220 or the McLaren F1 or yeah, or the Miura or, or even they make a, an allusion to the SR71 in this that I think is interesting. If you watch the video, it's a fun moment. So, highly recommend it and kudos to Henry for putting out just a fantastic video about the Valkyrie. |
| Jason | Awesome. I seem to remember they had the Valkyrie in the background in no time to die. Like, the car has been around a while, right? So, this is kind of the first chance for people to drive it. |
| James | I think you're right. I think it was in the background because, of course, the last, like, Conceptual Aston to be included in a bond was the the DB 10. |
| Jason | Yeah, it was it was in the queue like when they visited Q. It's in like a wind tunnel. Yes, exactly. |
| James | Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's cool shadowy. Yeah. Yeah, there it's it's a wild piece of packaging for sure beautiful details and just exciting, you know, yeah with the with the AMG project one kind of taking its sweet time. I mean, I think the Valkyrie was something like nine years in development. Poor Aston, but it's cool to see them have this cool car come out at the same time that it looks like they're going to be pretty interesting in this season of Formula One. Nice. Yeah, check it out. |
| Jason | It'll be in the show notes. We'll watch it right after we're done here. All right. Well, before my voice goes, as always, thanks so much for listening. If you want to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grab a new TGN signed NATO, please visit TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout, as always, is Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive. |
| James | And we leave you with this quote from T.S. Eliot who said, Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. |