The Grey NATO – 241 – Our Favorite Small Watches
Published on Thu, 01 Jun 2023 06:00:00 -0400
Synopsis
Jason and [SPEAKER_00] discuss smaller watches, specifically 38mm and under, in this episode. They go through several watch recommendations in that size range from various brands like Tudor, Seiko, Oris, Rolex, and more. Jason shares his experience wearing the CWC Melor 72 and [SPEAKER_00] talks about the Seiko Dolce SACM 150 as options for smaller watches. They also mention some vintage and micro-brand options, as well as express a desire for brands like Omega, IWC, and Bremont to offer more sub-40mm models. Overall, the episode provides an insightful look into the world of smaller, more proportional watches that often get overlooked.
Links
Transcript
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| [SPEAKER_00] | Hello and welcome to another episode of the Graynado. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 241 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're listening and interested in supporting the show, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. Hey Jason, how's it going? |
| Jason Heaton | It's going pretty well. We're coming off the holiday weekend here and it was nice weather for a change and Got outside quite a bit with some biking and gardening and a little bit of kayaking and that sort of thing. So, um, yeah, pretty feeling pretty chill today. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | How about you? Yeah, not too bad. We had a bit of a busy weekend here, drove down to Pennsylvania for a wedding. So we went down a very, very early Friday. You know, it's about a, we did a little under nine hours, uh, came back Sunday afternoon and then had Monday, you know, it's not a holiday here in Canada. So kids back in school, that sort of thing where we had the Monday off. So just kind of kicked around. The house got a few little errands done, um, you know, still sorting out some stuff for the eventual move later this summer. And otherwise just kind of staring down the barrel of another cottage weekend right now, at least as we're recording this Tuesday morning, weather's looking real hot, real sunny. So it should be good. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Same here. Hot week. It's crazy that we're at the end of May. May seems like it was a really long month, not a bad month, but just, uh, Just a good long month. I mean, it's just kind of feel like it's been May for a while. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, we were in Scotland back, I think we got home on the 4th. So it just seems like ages ago. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yeah. By the time people are listening to this, it'll be June. Yeah. And last week's episode turned out pretty good. You know, holding it a day for the Aqua star, uh, was a good time. But, uh, other than that, my time has been largely tied up with, uh, either doing not that much yesterday on the holiday or driving back and forth from, uh, from Pennsylvania. Luckily the Jeep made it without really breaking a sweat and, uh, What did you get up to with, uh, with some of your free time this weekend? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, it's, you know, the growing season is so short here that, uh, we've just been really going at the garden in earnest and did, uh, the weeds grow faster than anything else. So we were weeding quite a bit. I went and, um, there's a big, big heaping pile of free mulch, uh, not far from here. So I, I filled up the back of the Land Rover with, uh, with free mulch and came home and spread that around. And, uh, Uh, you know, the, the defender is still in the shop having those electrical issues sorted out. So I've been driving the, the little one, the series, the short wheel base, and I needed a way to carry, uh, a kayak down to the lake near our house. So I just had some scrap lumber in the, in the garage and went to the hardware store and got a couple of, um, odds and ends and built a, uh, built like this bracket or rack that kind of just sits in the, in the bed. Cause the tops off now, of course. And. So then I can rest the, the front of the kayak on the, on the windscreen, top of the windscreen. And then the back, I just strapped to this, uh, this sort of wooden rack that I built. And I'm pretty, pretty proud of how it turned out. I think it's, uh, it's going to serve, serve us well this summer, just getting to and from the lake with, with a couple of boats. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | So. That's great. Glad to hear it. It looks hilarious in the photos. I love it. Yeah. It looks like it's more boat than car at a certain point. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And, and I sit tall. I, the top of my head's actually above the windscreen in this, not, not my eyes, but the top of my head. And so when I had the kayak on top, when I was on the maiden voyage, so to speak, my, my head was like inside the cockpit of the kayak. So it was kind of a weird, a weird way to drive. Maybe not all that safe, but it's a, it's a very short drive. So worked out well. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | keeps the hair out of the wind, I guess. Or maybe in some different type of wind, some special vortex. That's always something I have to learn every year where you can take those panels off the Jeep, the front ones. And you do it because you feel like, oh, this will be great. And we're like having a convertible. And even with a hat on, the ears burn in a couple of minutes, those first couple of really genuinely sunny days. Yeah. I'm sure I will, I will forget what I just put on tape here and burn my ears on the way up to the cottage this weekend. So we'll see. Yeah. Look, we've got a fun show ahead doing, doing a chit chat to kind of a, to balance out last summer. We did a whole episode about, was it last summer? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it was June 2nd. I looked it up last year. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yeah. Last summer we did a whole episode about big watches and now we're following it up with kind of small watches. This is a pretty common question that we get from the crew, and it's a big topic on the Slack, and we get it in the Q&As that pop up for each month and that sort of thing. So yeah, the main topic today will be small watches, but let's kick off the watch talk with a little bit of a wrist check. What have you got on today? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I kind of thought I'd go with the general theme of today's show, and I pulled out... I've got this CWC, the Melor 72. It was kind of this commemorative Watch that CWC produced, um, in commemoration of its founder, Ray Malore, um, in 1972. And, and so it's, it's basically a reissue of the watch that they made in the tens of thousands for the British army. Actually all branches of the, of the UK, uh, defense forces, you know, it's a little hand wound thing with a tonneau shaped case. I think it's a 35 millimeters across. So, you know, as, as we get into kind of our, our main topic today, I've got this on risk to kind of remind me what it's like to wear, to wear a smaller watch every once in a while. How about you? What are you wearing? |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Anything small today or... No, it's not small. It's actually a watch I've had here for a few weeks, but I've just been so busy dealing with other hands-ons or whatever that I haven't even sized the bracelet. So this morning, I was like, all right, new week, we're gonna size the bracelet on this thing and actually give it a run. I'm shooting a video for it later this week. And that's the new Seiko Prospect SPB381. It's the Dive GMT. Oh, yeah. So this is a 42 millimeter steel Seiko Dive watch. It's 13.3 millimeters thick it's 48.5 millimeters lug to lug their thickness is a little bit thinner on their website I'm not sure how they get to that number. I measured it myself several times Maybe it's a question of the crystal like with the aqua star last weekend I think they when they reference the thinness of the case or thickness of the case they do so with not counting the crystal Oh, yeah, kind of a weird choice, but that's that's how they do it and maybe that's how Seiko's gotten to I think they have like very high 12s, 12.8, 12.9, something like that listed on their site. But it's 13.3, including a slightly raised but flat crystal. You know, if you know your Seikos in these sorts of price ranges, I don't think you'd be surprised in any way by the build. It's, you know, nicely made, priced from about $1,500. There's a special edition at $1,700. The 381 is green with a gold GMT hand. The 383 is black. I think we talked about these on a past episode. I wrote a story for Hodinkee about them. And we got one in with the plan of doing, you know, like a proper full review with a video, the rest of it, probably in about a month's time. But I figured I'd give you guys a little bit of a sneak peek. It uses a 6R54, so it's a collar style GMT, 24 hour display is on the RIAT, so you still have a standard, very Marine Master-esque sort of bezel. And uncommon to the Seiko world, this has a ceramic bezel insert. So a lot of the Prospect stuff, that's not the direction they go. It's either aluminum or like with the 14Xs, the 20 mass stuff. It's a steel engraved sort of insert. Yeah. It's very Marine Master-esque in its proportions and the dial design. The loom is, of course, incredible. And the only other thing I would add is, you know, this is a $1,500 watch and it's got... The only thing that I've kind of found that surprised me about it was the bracelet uses pin and collar. Oh. Which is like, you know, something you'd see on a $200 Seiko. Yeah, right. It's not like a big deal, once it's sized, who cares? It's not like it's going anywhere. I think it's a fairly sturdy design. But if you don't know what you're up against in terms of how to size that, and it's the same one where the center link has one opening that's wider, that has a little channel that the collar slides into, and then the pin threads through that, and the collar maintains the tightness of the link. It was fine, but at this price point, I think the world's kind of gotten used to having single-sided screwed links. where you just include a screwdriver, you buy one for a dollar on Amazon or whatever, and then you're good. But other than that, I've been pretty impressed with it. And going from the Pelagos, which weighs nothing, to this, which is quite heavy. It's a lot of case, it's a lot of bracelet. It's something that my wrist keeps going like, man, it just feels heavy. And it's not. It's not an especially heavy watch. It probably weighs about the same as an SKX or one of the new SSK GMTs. It's similar in sizing to something like that with a bracelet. Um, but yeah, so just, just kind of getting, uh, getting into wearing this. I like the green dial quite a bit. The yellow gold accents. Cool. It's got a date at four 30, but it's kind of subtle in its execution being, um, white texts on a dark background. And like I said, the loom solid, I'll probably take it up, uh, to the cottage this weekend and get it in the water and that sort of thing. It's a, it's a nice little treat to have a new, new Seiko diver on the wrist for the summer. It's kind of a good vibe. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, this is handsome. I mean, I had, I had one of those Marine master three hundreds. you know, that they've kind of spun off in several directions over the past few years with limited editions and whatnot. And I've always liked this, this look. I mean, it's, it's, it's very distinct from, you know, the SPBs and the, and the SKX kind of mode. It has those kind of broad shoulders, but still somewhat sleek. Yeah, this is a, this is a neat watch. And I like the green. I'm not a real green watch person, but on this one, it looks super sharp with that kind of stoplight style. Sweep hand kind of sets it off nicely. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yeah, the coloring is really nice, the green solid. It's also nicely matched between the dial and the bezel insert. Stay tuned for more on the Seiko Prospex XPB381. But that's what I'm wearing this week. It doesn't align with our general topic, being that it's, you know, several millimeters bigger in terms of width and then kind of what we're doing. But you want to get into the main chat? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I think it's actually kind of a good segue to go from what you're wearing to this, because, you know, when we talked about larger watches, uh, about a year ago. Um, I think our, our general idea was that, you know, small watches are trending, you know, everyone's kind of talking about this return to sanity, um, with, with small watches and are they here to stay and that sort of thing. Um, I still tend to wear larger watches more often than not. Um, but, but I've, I've kind of grown kind of a small collection of, of what I would call smaller watches. And when I do put them on after wearing a big watch, Um, whether it's the Blancpain or something like that, it's, uh, it's kind of refreshing. It kind of feels good. And then I'm like, ah, I should do this more often, you know? |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yeah. I kind of see it as like different flavors of the same thing. Like maybe we all have our favorite flavor of ice cream or I'm not really a huge ice cream guy, but let's use that as an example. But every now and then you try something else and it's kind of a, a refreshing sort of change or, or, or that's where maybe it's, maybe it's, you know, you, you don't eat the same meal every single day. Yeah. And I think with, with a watch, if you're in the mode of having several, it's Panerais and big Breitlings and all these sorts of things. And a lot of those pushed 45, 47. Some of the earliest like micro brand watches I bought were 45 millimeter. That's true. Ocean sevens and Benares and that sort of thing. And they were all kind of following in sort of an interesting trend towards like a larger watch with kind of, I would say an oversized presence. And like we said in the episode about a year ago, like Oversized watches or large watches have a certain vibe, right? Like they can be so much fun. Yeah. But I think there's also a lot of people who got into watches in the same time as us and prefer and even did at the time a smaller watch or have grown into understanding kind of the range of watches that are out there and, and focus more carefully on something like a smaller watch. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. And I think, I think we've probably each developed our own sweet spot. uh, in terms of sizing, I think I trend a little bigger than, than you on kind of my wrist tolerance for, for larger watches. You've, you've, as we've learned in the past few episodes, I mean, you've, you've really settled into wearing the Pelagos 39 quite a bit. And I get the sense that 39 also, you know, with your Explorer two and a few others is probably your sweet spot. If I, if I, if it's fair to say, and I think mine is probably between, I'd say I like, I like kind of 42 to 43. Um, but I, I go up to 45. So where we landed on, on this episode, initially we were going to do 40 millimeters or less, but then, you know, then you pointed out that there's just a lot of choices. I mean, 40, 39 and 40 is a very popular kind of size. And so we're, we're going a little smaller for this episode. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yeah. We talk about 39 millimeter watches a lot, whether it's the Pelagos or a Black Bay 58 or, you know, Baltics, you know, five digit Explorer two stuff like that. And I think. it's a little bit more interesting and it gives the show a little bit more focus if we say it's 38 millimeters or less. Yeah. So that does knock out a few smaller watches that are really nice. Like a Zen 556 is 38 and a half. Seiko has those solar divers. Those are also, I think, 38 and a half. You get like at 39 millimeters, you get watches that aren't from Tudor, of course, like an Aorus, you know, ProPILOT 400X. Those are all great. but we're focusing on watches that I would say are like actually like we know to be small, or at least on the small side of the current conventional sort of sweet spot. Yeah, I would agree that that my zone these days is 39 to 40 something like that between the Braymont, the Rolex, the Tudor. But it is really fun to wear a smaller watch. And I think that's what we can dig in with here. I kind of designed my side of this list for watches that I actually like to recommend to people. Maybe not always to buy, but to know about if they're asking about smaller watches. Because if the watch itself is small, it opens up the type of format. Because if you think like a big watch that's a pilot, like say a big pilot, that's a huge watch because there's so much dial. Yeah. And if you go to a similar sizing and it has a bezel and maybe some case edge and that sort of thing, it can wear a little bit smaller visually on your wrist. And I think you get the inverse of that flexibility with smaller watches. So where would you start with maybe a recommendation for a great example of a smaller watch? |
| Jason Heaton | You know, where I'm going to start is one of kind of the ones that really caught my fancy recently. And that is the the Tudor Black Bay 54, which the name just bugs the heck out of me because it's, it doesn't go with their conventions of Black Bay 36, Black Bay 41, et cetera. I mean, the 54 is actually a 37 millimeter dive watch. And when I tried that on, when I was over in Scotland at the Tudor retailer, I was quite smitten. I mean, I think that's a really handsome, well-sized watch. And to your point about, you know, having a rotating bezel or a little bit more case around the dial, that one, does have that. And yet it still kind of looked pretty darn good on my wrist. I can't quite explain why, but, um, it's just, they just kind of nailed that one, I think. And I think for, for somebody that's either looking for a smaller watch, or even I would say if you're used to bigger watches, don't, don't look past that one. If you're, if you're in the market for something, cause it does wear well, it's cool. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yeah. I mean, I would say they've specifically much like they did with the 58, they've kind of specifically gone for people who kind of already understood the vibe of the vintage Rolex, vintage Tudor stuff, and went to kind of modernize that in some manner while also respecting kind of design language and the whole Black Bay of it all. And I think the 54 does a great job of doing all of that while also even just being two millimeters, feeling quite a bit different than a 58. Yeah, yeah. Especially on the rubber, I think it's a really compelling watch. It's one we've talked about quite a bit. I could definitely see it continuing to be quite popular with them. It's only a few months old at this point. So it'll be interesting to see if the next one's blue, which of course was the second phase of the 58, or if they'll go in a different direction, if they'll do a silver one, if they'll do a gold one, uh, or if this'll be because of its sizing seen as being kind of just outside the sweet spot. So it gets a lesser number of iterations, you know, kind of hard to say at this point. |
| Jason Heaton | I'm looking at our list and a lot of them are not dive watches, but, but I think while we're on the topic of, of the Tudor, There's something about whenever I wear or look at, or, you know, try out a smaller dive watch. Um, and I owned a, one of the original rotto captain cook reissues a few years back. That's a 37 millimeter. And then just last week we talked about the Aqua star model 60, which is 37. And there's something. Giddy is the wrong word, but when I put it on, it's, it's like this little thrill. It's this weird, it's like a miniaturized version because I think we, or I am so used to seeing big dive watches. That format is kind of made for, for big watches. And then when I see a, a, a smaller dive watch, they're, they're fun. They're just, they're really fun. They, they look, I don't want to say they're like a toy, but they, they just kind of feel neat on the wrist, whether it's, you know, one of the, the Oris ones or, you know, like I said, the, the model 60 or the, or the tutor, I mean, they're just kind of neat. They're kind of fun. I always want to keep looking at them and playing with them. They're, they're, they're so kind of nice in the hand, you know, |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yeah, I think that's it's an interesting thing to add because there'll be some folks listening to this that that are interested in smaller watches because they feel that's what suits their wrist best. But if you normally wear something a bit bigger, even something quite a bit bigger than 38 millimeters, there's a certain fun kind of like this, the very similar thing that we said about considering larger watches. There's like a certain fun in the big watch in the ploprof. And on the inverse side of that, there's like a certain amount of fun to something like a model 60 or vintage skin diver or just a smaller watch in general. Yeah. I think I'll kick mine off with where I think the size is even more important. Like if you wear a dive watch and it's a little bit big or a sports watch and it's a little bit big for you or maybe it's a little oversized on your wrist, I think that's kind of like a conventional way of sizing such a watch. Like you might wear a sweatshirt that's a little bit too baggy or something like that. It's not like out of style. Yeah. But the thing that always looks weird for me is when you've got way too much dress watch for your wrist. Yeah. Like a big dressy watch. Very strange. Uh, you think of some of the really big IWC Portofinos. Yeah. And you'd see them on someone's wrist and you go like, man, maybe that was, that watch was like meant for Schwarzenegger or something like that. It doesn't work for you and me. |
| Jason Heaton | Or like that Rolex, the 1908, right? It's just, something's wrong to my eye. Like I want it to be small. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | It's big. Yeah. Yeah. I think, I think that watch would make more sense to me if it were smaller because everything that's referencing would have been smaller. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm gonna kick it off with this Seiko. I've talked about it before. It's the Dolce, the SACM 150. Oh, yeah. And it's probably the small... It's definitely the smallest modern watch I have, but it's also probably the smallest watch I wear with some frequency. It's 33.5 millimeters wide. Wow. And if you... It's so thin. Yeah. But if you put it on a strap that matches its thinness, it just disappears on your wrist. Yeah. It's really easy to wear. It's about $300. It has a high accuracy quartz movement. And if you just wanna have a dress watch for the occasional dressy event, or put it on the correct strap and go jeans and a t-shirt and maybe like a pair of loafers, I think this is a great option. It's super elegant, it doesn't overpower your wrist, and it kind of, it has that like jewel-like quality of a small watch, where there's something kind of precious about it. But despite that, it's only $300. It has a beautiful dial, drilled lugs, so you can pop the strap really easily. I'm a big fan of this watch for sure. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And I didn't realize it was that small. And it brings up the question for me. What do you, you know, everybody kind of has their upper end of a watch that they're comfortable on their wrist. But what, what for you, is this the smallest you would go? I mean, you can't get much smaller, especially in kind of a quote unquote men's men's watch. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Right. I think for a round watch, this would be pretty close to my floor. Yeah. Like maybe, maybe another millimeter 32. It would depend on the watch. If you go to a square watch, then I think all bets are off a Cartier tank or, or, or similar. Right. I think it could be really fun. A small panther with the right outfit is a great look regardless of the size of your wrist. You know, Keith Richards wore one and looked awesome doing it back in the day. Not that I could wear most of what he wears, but I think I could maybe pull off the panther and maybe not the scarves and stuff, but yeah, I think it has that sort of vibe. And I think with the right, with the right sort of outfit or the right sort of scenario, it's just a great option. And it doesn't, it doesn't have to cost you a ton of money to have that experience. |
| Jason Heaton | You know, I've wondered if in the past few years as brands are, are doing more and more, you know, reissues, uh, especially the dive watches. I think, you know, when Rado came out with that Captain Cook at 37 millimeters, I remember seeing it at, uh, at Baselworld and, and really quite liking it a lot. They did a great job with that watch. And, um, they also released a big one at the same time. And I remember thinking that one's just off the mark. The small one's the way to go. But when I look back at some of the kind of reissue smaller watches that I've tried, I've wondered if brands are a little gun-shy or if they're like worried that something that small will sell. And I think nowadays we're seeing a little more boldness in that regard, you know, witness the Tudor. But I think back to one that I owned years ago, which was the, do you remember the Glycine Airman? They called it the, The number one, I think they called it. It was, it was based on the very first airman from 1953. Yeah. And it was like 35 or 36, I think. And I had that watch and I loved it. Um, but I remember getting rid of it distinctly because it felt too small. And looking back, I kind of think I might think differently now. I, um, I have a little more tolerance for small watches and I'm wearing this, the CWC today, which is, you know, to your earlier point, you know, there's, there's a bit of case around the dial, so it, does feel like it wears a little smaller as opposed to, um, something like that on ordain, um, the model one, um, which is another one I was going to mention, which is 38. Uh, and I wore that around Scotland a bit and have that. And that one's all dial, you know, like a lot of white, it's an off white dial. So it looks, looks bigger on the wrist. And, um, I can remember also owning a vintage Seawolf Zodiac and, and those, I think that goes below my minimum. You know, I talk about minimum sizes and those were 35 millimeters, as were the earliest Bathyscaph, the old Blancpans from the, from the sixties. And I think 35 is too small for me. I think 36 is my, is my cutoff. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Okay. Well, I mean, in the same vibe as your CWC, not, not identical, but in a similar vibe, there's the Hamilton Khaki Pilot Pioneer Mechanical. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Right. Plenty of words. Yeah. But that one, they just measured as 33 by 36. Oh. And looking at the case, it has to be 33 wide because it's quite a long case. Oh yeah. Yeah. Comparatively. Right. And I mean, if you want a smaller watch that probably still wears, like that's almost where like more lug to lug is going to help because 33 is not a very big watch, especially for a sports watch. That means it has a little tiny dial. Yeah. Very, very vintage old school sort of wrist presence. Yeah. You know, at 845 bucks, if you aren't really that interested in something like a khaki field mechanical. That's another good one to mention at 38 millimeters, kind of the classic smaller watch for the last few years if you didn't want a diver. I think this Pilot Pioneer mechanical is kind of an interesting thing. I've not tried one on. I don't know how it balances on the strap. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I agree. I think so much of watches in this size range, whether we're going from, you know, let's say 35 to 38, Um, so much depends on how much case surrounds the dial. And I think, you know, another one that totally that I see on our list is the, like the IWC pilot 36. I mean, to me that is, it's like almost a, an, an ideal of what a wristwatch should look like. I think that size, I'm so glad that they came out with that watch in that size because it harks back to the, the Mark 11, you know, kind of their, their late forties RAF flyers watch. I mean, just, just a beautiful watch with a lot of dial, super legible and at 36 millimeters, you know, you'd think, boy, that's a tiny watch, but I can remember trying one of those on and, and boy, I'd, I'd love to own one of those. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Those are great. Yeah. And I think just like the first watch on your list, it's almost like an elemental design. Like if you think of a pilot's watch, what you're thinking of is this aesthetic. Yeah, yeah, true. And when you think of a field watch or even just the simple ideal of a sports watch, you're probably thinking of a 1016 Explorer. At least that's what I would be thinking of in my mind, and you've got on the list the 14270, which is just a more modernized kind of take on that same ideal. And I think these are both kind of not like perfect, nothing's perfect. Everybody's going to have like it's watches. It's all aesthetics essentially. Yeah. And, and I think these watches do kind of stand out for the longevity of their aesthetic, whether or not the brand necessarily originated that aesthetic. Right. |
| Jason Heaton | You know, now we've seen, you know, the latest 36 millimeter flavor of, of Explorer coming back and people are overjoyed to see it again. And, and I think, uh, You know, that's just a size in that watch that belongs in Rolex's lineup. I think they need to have that size, you know, it shouldn't have gone away and I'm glad to see it back again. Let's see, what else do we have on our list? We have, well, I guess if you want to stay with Rolex and even Tudor for that matter, you know, we've got, I mentioned the 54 and then of course there's a 36 and a 41, but we'll skip over the 41. But then on the Rolex side, you've got the Oyster Perpetual in a number of smaller sizes. I mean, you can go down to 28 millimeters, which is, is well below my threshold, but you know, 34, I haven't handled a 34, but you know, the 36 would wear very similarly to, to an Explorer. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | For sure. Yeah. Just with the different dial options, right. You can get something that feels a little bit more modern with like a brush blue. I don't actually know that these are viable. I don't, I just don't know. I don't, I don't know that many people who like are hunting for a 31 millimeter OP. Right. Maybe you can walk into the right store and pick one up. Yeah. Maybe not. I don't know. You can use the little configurator on Rolex's website. I want to say pricing's like around five to six grand. If you wanted one watch and it had to be in this price point, that's a good option. I think something like the IWC is more interesting. I think a 14270 is a little bit more interesting, but I can't really fault someone for liking an OP. It's just a simple, straightforward watch from one of the brands in watchmaking, and they definitely offer a lot in terms of doll color and sizing and that sort of thing. And to come in at, you know, significantly less than the price point that most people attribute to a Rolex these days is also kind of that model superpower, even up to the larger sizing. Yeah. For me, if you can't get that like Bahama yellow in 36, I'm less interested. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | You know, going back to smaller dive watches, a brand that has done a nice job and, um, you know, which is kind of an about face from their, you know, kind of their, their previous sort of mode of operating is Breitling, uh, with the super ocean 36, you know, great smaller size. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | I haven't seen this one in person. Um, but they currently offer a few different versions. It's, it's that sort of, um, 60s style, late 60s style with the, uh, you know, kind of double Ria, a nice dished dial. I, yeah, I think these are handsome, you know, Breitling makes a really lovely watch. So I don't think this would be any different. And it's another option at like five grand. So if you want like a luxurious experience, This one gives you some color options. Certainly you'd have strap and bracelet choices, that sort of thing. And yeah, I can't really fault the choice there. There's a nice stylish looking watch for sure. |
| Jason Heaton | You know, and that brings up the question as I look at our fairly extensive list here. A brand that I'm not seeing represented, and I'm curious if you can think of anything, is Omega. They don't seem to do much in the way of smaller stuff. Now they've got a few Planet Oceans that are smaller, but is the smallest they go 38.5 nowadays? |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Uh, we double check. I had a speedy reduced on there because it's a popular option, but they're 39. So when we dropped it down to 38, um, it kind of changed. Let's see what we've got here. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. We, we kind of just took a pause to kind of peruse quickly the, the Omega website and I'm not seeing a 37 and a half millimeter planet ocean available anymore. I'm not sure if that's still around. Gashani has the kind of when they originally offered that, the chronograph version she still has hers and it's a it's a tall but small watch um but i'm not seeing i'm not seeing anything uh in that smaller size nowadays and that's a shame i think you know they used to even make the the bond uh kind of blue seamaster also in black uh in in quartz not maybe an automatic in in a 36 millimeter size which was kind of a neat offering |
| [SPEAKER_00] | quote unquote boys size, people would call them. Oh yeah. Also not really a phrase that's being thrown around these days, but yeah. And they also, of course, used to have a 39 millimeter pointed ocean, which they don't anymore. It seems like they were ahead of a trend or missed the trend on that one. Uh, and if you go in now into their men's selection and just kind of filter for up to 38 millimeters, it's a few constellation models. and a Prestige, none of which really speak to me. I find the Prestige kind of generic, like we complained about on a recent one. If you took Omega off the dial, that could be anything, including from a lot of other Swatch brands. And then the Constellation, for my math, is a little bit baroque. It just doesn't really match my style. But yeah, not a zone that they're hitting really hard these days, the smaller sports watches. So yeah, we talked a little bit about Hamilton in the zone of other, you know, swatch brands. I like the Mido Commander Shade a lot. I wrote it up when it first came out a couple years ago. They still do a steel version and the rose gold version. I think if you want like a watch that's having a lot of fun but isn't that big of a watch, this is a nice option. They're still like a little over a grand. 37 millimeters. Uh, I like the rose gold one. If they made a yellow gold one, I'd like it even more. I want to say they had a yellow gold model for the first year that it came out, uh, which I believe is 2018. And, um, and yeah, that's, that's another one that I've enjoyed quite a bit. The other one that stands out at 38, which is, you know, for the purposes of this episode, kind of the ceiling has been a good one for a while. It might even be good, a good option for someone who wants a smaller watch that, that will fill their wrist nicely would be the no most club campus. Oh yeah. know, 38 millimeters, but it's all dial, so it wears pretty big, and it's gonna have that kind of Nomos longer lug to lug length. But at 1650, hard to argue with the quality there. Nomos makes a fantastic watch. I think this watch is having a little bit more fun than something like a Tangenta or some of the other more stoic Bauhaus kind of stuff. Uh, I like the dial on these. I like that you get loom. I like that the, you know, the case back is blank. So you can get it engraved. This is all good elements. And I think the price point's excellent as, as a brand, you know, normal says moved deeply into their pneumatic stuff, the D series movements, which are in-house and that sort of thing. Whereas the, something like a club campus is going to use an alpha base, which is a movement produced by the brand, but based on a design that, you know, pre-exists normal says, uh, arc. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. And, and Gashani years ago had the, uh, had a club. not the club campus, but the club. And it was a, it was, I believe it was a 36 millimeter one, but the lugs were just too long for her wrist. So, you know, buyer beware. I, you know, definitely a watch you probably want to try on, especially if you're, you're a smaller wristed person and you're looking for a smaller watch. If you're someone with seven plus inch wrists like me that still wants a smaller watch probably would be just fine with those long lugs. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yeah. And then, you know, jumping back to Seiko, there's of course the new Seiko five series, the ones that kind of look like an SKX as of this year, they make a 38 millimeter version, a few different colors. I'm sure they'll continue iterating upon that. And so that's kind of in the same zone as an SKX013, you know, the 37 millimeter version of an SKX007, also a very popular watch. And if you can snag one of those, I can't imagine you being unhappy with it as long as you're not expecting, you know, incredible timekeeping from the 7S series movement. The other one again in the 7S series movement that I've recommended to a lot of people, my siblings have them, my cousins have them. These are those SNK series Seiko 5s, the previous generation before they all started to look kind of like SKXs. Yeah. These ones just look like conventional sort of small pilots or field watches. Man, there was a time when these things were all day long for under a hundred bucks. And kind of like what's happened to 007s and I assume 013s. is they've just gotten more expensive. They're not making them new, so people are selling off the stock that they have. I found an SNK with a black dial. I think it's an SNK8 something or other, kind of a pilot-y style watch, 37 millimeters, 180 bucks on Amazon. Wow. Still not a bad watch for 180 bucks, but I do remember buying them for like $70. Really? Wow. Yeah. Yeah, because I think I bought one for a Hodinkee story not that long ago that was you had to spend under a hundred dollars. And that's the one I believe that my sister has. |
| Unknown | Oh, okay. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yeah. With a nice kind of sand, like a tan dial. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. You know, when we had our, um, episode, I think it was a couple of episodes ago where we polled the Slack group about brands we don't talk about, um, that they'd like to hear about. Um, one of the ones that we got the biggest response about was, uh, Christopher Ward. Um, and, and in the spirit of, of keeping an open mind and looking more at their watches, which, um, which I've, I've been doing lately. you know, you put on our list, uh, the C60 Trident Pro 300, which is 38 millimeters and nice, a nice looking dive watch. But you know, when I hit that link and go to this page, I mean, they have a lot of watches in 38 millimeter and I'm seeing some 36s too. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yeah. I linked the, like the filtered page for their smaller cases. So there's at least 50 models here. Uh, and a lot of them look really good. You can actually get into a Trident Pro for under a thousand dollars if you don't mind, uh, like a strap versus a bracelet. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. The Sandhurst and this Dune and, uh, Sealanders and yeah, really handsome stuff. And I certainly know, uh, you're spoiled for choice with, uh, with kind of sub 38 millimeters. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yeah. The Christopher Ward stuff looks solid and that you can't really argue with that price point and they have a ton of stuff in there. So if you're curious about their offerings, be sure to hit the link in the show notes. It's kind of like a list of options. And then in, I guess in a, like a loosely similar vibe, we'd also have like the Baltics. Right. Obviously the AquaScaf's 39, so it's a little bit too big for this conversation, but the MR01, which is sort of a dressy sort of watch that they produce, it's like 554 euros and that's 36 millimeters. Super popular. I've had, I got to see a couple at a windup last year. They were kind of across the way from where the TGN booth was. Really nice people, really impressive watches. You know, you can't really argue with it from a cost or, you know, kind of performance standpoint. And, and I guess, speaks for itself because the MRO one, at least according to their websites, entirely sold out. So maybe that's when you've got to kind of jump on a list. Right. Yeah. That's a handsome one. |
| Jason Heaton | Um, and then what about Oris? Uh, another one of our kind of favorite brands that has a real depth to their, to their lineup. I mean, we've got, we've got the, the big crown pointer date, uh, which you can get in a couple of different sizes and then, and then the diver 65 as well. Uh, and an Aqua's, I mean, who would have thought, you know, the Aqua's I always think about as a big dive watch, but they make a 36 and a half millimeter one as well. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | They sure do, yeah. If you're listening to this and you're going like, guys, stop talking about dive watches, like the Pointer Date at 38 millimeters is a lovely option. You can get them in both, you know, Salida or Eta base kind of options, or the Caliber 400 series. I think they even do one in solid gold, if that's the zone you want to get into. But for, you know, something like $2,200 to $4,400, there's a lot to like there. I think that Aquus Date, the little one, I had the upcycle in back when that one first came out. So it uses a recycled plastic dial that everyone's kind of unique. They have this sort of kaleidoscope kind of trippy pearlescent effect. And I think if you just want to watch that's entirely different vibe than a Pelagos or a whatever, but the pricing and the quality makes sense, then those 36 millimeter or 36 and a half millimeter Oris Aqua States are like $2,500 and I think they make a lot of sense. Yeah. Yeah. They're cool things. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Especially on the bracelet. That's where I think the bracelet, because it's a proprietary lug, go with the bracelet, get the rubber on the side and you've got a nice option for a watch that's not going to wear that big. It'd be a great watch to share with a partner who maybe also doesn't want to have a huge watch all the time. It's hard to really pick one thing from Oris these days that's like their sweet spot. They've gotten really good at doing a whole bunch of different things. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. You know, earlier we talked about kind of the Rolex Explorer sort of aesthetic, um, in, with regard to Oyster Perpetuals and Explorers and some of the Black Bays. Um, if you're looking for a more affordable option, the, uh, the Laurier, another brand we've talked about in the past, the Laurier, um, Falcon, uh, they're calling it the series three Falcon, uh, is 36 millimeters and has that kind of 10, 16, vibe with this beautiful waffle dial comes on a tapered bracelet. So that's that's another good option. And that one is so it's $499. I mean, can't can't go wrong for for kind of a solid little good looking field watch in that same vibe. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yep. And then I would say to add into that in into a similar vibe, you know, in the micro brand space, if you're willing to wait or get on a list, Hallease Universe is a really nice thing at 38 millimeters. They wear nicely. They have kind of a longer tapered lug. They work really beautifully on the bracelet. 735 bucks, I believe. But again, I think that they're kind of always sold out. So you have to kind of play the game, learn them, learn the format, the rest of it for that kind of thing. Man, they had a gorgeous version just come out as a collaboration with Topham. Oh yeah, beautiful. Jewelers with a white dial. Man, what a thing. I'll put that in the show notes. It's so stunning. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | What else? We have a Timex Q here. I mean, talk about budget watches. If you just want to kind of dabble in small watches to see if they're even for you. I mean, it's not a bad place to go. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yeah. They also come in like so many different versions, all for about $200. Yeah. I'm a big Q fan. You know, I've talked a bunch recently about the three time zone chronograph. But if you want something that's like a lot of weird color, or maybe you wanna try a gold tone or something in that space, you can get a really nice looking Q Timex with a 12 hour bezel. So it's nice for travel, a great sort of vacation watch. And again, like 200 bucks, you want a rainbow one, they do that. You want one that's like bright pinks and blues, they've got that. You wanna just kind of standard black dial with a day date, they do that too. There's a lot of variety here. I mean, and this is just filtering for ones between 36 and 37 millimeters. And I just think there's so much fun for that money. The bracelet's really entertaining. They give you that sort of integrated bracelet feel. They aren't. It's more of a hooded lug sort of style, but I think that these are a lot of fun, especially I'm looking at this new one in 36 millimeters with the white dial and the full rainbow finish. That's just such a blast. These things are hilarious. I like them a lot. And nicely made, keep easy time, that sort of thing. Timex Q for sure. |
| Jason Heaton | I mean, that, that kind of rounds out the, the, the, the list we compiled. Um, and there are many, many more that, that we're obviously forgetting. And then you've got this whole realm of vintage watches. I mean, if you want small, like vintages, all the old, uh, like, um, you know, the old Hamilton's that, that they made for LL Bean and for, you know, kind of the military issue stuff. I mean, these are like endless, the, the, the number you can find on eBay. I remember I was in down in Iowa and I stopped at a little jeweler on the main street in a small town and they had a couple of old watches for sale and one was a Weiler. I don't know what specific model it was or whatever, but it was like $35 and I bought it just on a whim and I hardly ever wear it. I think it's like 34 millimeters, but it has kind of a cream white dial and so it wears slightly bigger and it's kind of fun to wind up with that kind of loud ratchety sort of old hand wound movement. Vintage watches have their own feel in general, because a lot of them have that kind of bubble crystal and lots of dial, slim bezels. But it can be a challenge to find straps for old watches too. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yeah, it can be. I mean, tell me about it. Over the past couple of years, I've picked up a couple kind of inexpensive Bolivas. And if you want a small watch experience, like go with a tonneau or rectangular shaped Boliva from the 40s, the 50s, something like that, they don't cost that much. you can definitely do the gold watch thing with that, but do your homework and see if you can find one with a bracelet, like whether it's like a, an expansion brace, like a, a Spadell sort of like flex bracelet or, or otherwise. Yeah. Because yeah, when you get down into like 12, 13 millimeters, you're picking from like weird straps that definitely aren't real leather on Amazon or having somebody make you something. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And the case tolerances aren't conventional. So you start to get into some of these things. I mean, look, The vintage thing... The reason we didn't pack this list with vintage options is one, the supply is singular. Retro watch guy might have a cool watch that fits the parameters of this, but it could be gone by the time the episode comes out, right? Yeah. So a big appeal, a big part of the vintage watch thing is hunting them down and finding them. And we see this... We have an excellent vintage watch channel on the TGN Slack with the most knowledgeable guys and gals in there. And there's just tons and tons of options, but it's always the good ones are at the end of a hunt or you get lucky. Like I got one of those bull of us for $60 at a garage sale near my cottage last summer. Yeah. Does it keep good time? No, no, no, no. Right. Is it cool and fun to wear? Yeah, absolutely. For an evening when it doesn't really matter if it's out by five minutes after dinner. But yeah, the, you know, vintage watches are, are a proverbial can of worms of course. Yeah. So always be careful either who you're buying from or make sure that it's so cheap that it doesn't matter. Right. Yeah, I don't know. I think genuinely small watches, which we'll call 38 and under for the, again, for the purpose of this episode, there's a lot on offer that just don't typically get covered because just like when we started in this world, everybody was talking about 45 millimeter stuff, and then now we're kind of all talking about 39. And look, I'm part of that problem, if you see it as a problem. I'm a big fan of that size range. But there's so much more out there, and you can have a smaller wrist or taste for a smaller watch and not really be that limited in options. Like your favorite watch might not be available. Like let's say you wanted a planet ocean or a speedy. Yeah. You're, you're, you're a little out of luck at the moment. Yeah. Maybe, maybe look and see what they've made in the past few years by something secondhand. But otherwise it doesn't really matter from 200 bucks or, or man, you can go down to like some really fun little Casio's that are well under, you know, 38 millimeters look at like an AW 500 uh you know with with the little map on the dial and that sort of thing those are just you can you can have a whole lot of fun and not spend that much money but you can also go for a luxury watch experience spend the appropriate amount of money but get something that suits your your kind of taste for proportions yeah right um before we kind of close out um are there any watches i mean you know we talked about omega and and the demise of their smaller dive watches um any |
| Jason Heaton | specific watch or brand that you'd like to see come out with a smaller watch, um, you know, like a sub 38 millimeter watch in the, in the near future. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yeah. I mean, for me, I think it would be something like Omega. You know, I, I would love to see a smaller, I mean, we've said this before, this is not like revelatory, but, um, I, I would love to see a smaller, thinner take on the pointed ocean. And you know, I think it makes sense. Like if they're selling them so long, they've stayed in the model line for years, then yeah, keep the 43.5, keep the larger ones. But let's go back to, yeah, even just 40, I think would be, it would be a plus. Yeah. Right. Right. Just make it a little bit thinner. Their movements are a bit on the thick side. So, I mean, you're one of the greatest watch brands in the world. You can engineer a solution for something like this. And then I hope we see a continued move from IWC into these lower numbers, the 36 range, for example. I think they do such a beautiful job. And then finally, and talk about a little bit of a broken record, but I'd just love to see some sub 40 stuff from Bremont. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Yeah. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | a big fan of their watches, love the aesthetic of almost everything that they make out there. But so much of the stuff, especially the cool stuff is 43. And I've been down that road. I owned a 43 Solo in white. Now I have a 40 millimeter S302 GMT that I absolutely adore. It's a great watch that we've talked about a ton, but I would love to see very similar stuff like that. I think they could really do awesome stuff at 38, 39. Right. And, and help open up the line in a few different ways to, to more people. And I think they do a great job at 40 when they do it, but I'd love to see, and who knows, maybe it is a, like a technical thing, but an MB at 40 or 39 would be really cool. |
| Jason Heaton | Like really, really cool. Yeah. I think on my side, I think, you know, kind of going off the 70th anniversary of the first dive watches, I think. And also the Tudor Black Bay 54. I'd love to see what Blancpain has in store for the rest of the year. You know, they've been kind of teasing out these commemorative pieces to commemorate their 70th anniversary of the 50 Fathoms. And like I said earlier, the original Bathyscaphe I think was a 35 millimeter watch. And I've handled one, a vintage one once, and it's a tiny watch and maybe they certainly don't have to come out that small, but you know, I have the Bathyscaphe, the Houdinki edition from a few years ago, and that's 38 millimeters and I wear it Ghoshani wears it more than me, but when I wear it, I mean, it's a lovely size. I mean, it's a great sized watch. I'd love to see them do something like that in a more of a commercial sense or a less limited version for folks because it's a great size for them. And then Zodiac, I also mentioned the Seawolf, the original Seawolf. I had a vintage one years ago and found the 35 millimeters a little too small, but do a 36, do a 38. I think it'd be cool. I think it'd look great in that format because it's a nice looking watch. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yeah. And they sit at a great price point as well for what you get. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. Well, I would love to hear what other people figure they really like for the smaller watches stuff. They're interested in brands they wish would make a smaller watch. You can let us know, of course, in the comments on sub stack, or you can get into the big chat on Slack with the TGN crew. You know, we're pushing a thousand people in there. It's nice and busy, lots and lots of channels. If you're in there and only using the default channels, be sure to search them out. There's a bunch more. Yeah. I haven't really figured out a way to auto add everyone to all of them, which we probably don't want in the first case. But there's a bunch of different conversations going on there. At this point, it's a good little chunk of my evening to catch up and try and be part of some of these conversations. I love that when new people are joining, they're kind of saying hello and offering a little bio and how they found the slack and this kind of stuff. So it's been a lot of fun. I think we'll have a really good conversation in the episode chat channel. about some smaller watches that we like and maybe some that we missed. Of course, Jason and I will have missed some. There's probably thousands more than we got to on this episode, but I think it's a fun topic and one that certainly comes up pretty frequently among the kind of broader TGN mind space. Yeah, definitely. All right. Some final notes. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Well, speaking of the Slack group, my final note is more of a public service announcement that I learned about through Slack. Before I went to Scotland back in April, I kind of put out a request on Slack for ideas about, um, you know, traveling with, with my iPhone and how to best get cell coverage while I was over there. Cause you know, I've, I've got AT&T as my cell provider and you can certainly do their international package or roaming, which is like 10 bucks a day. And that adds up if you're gone for two weeks. And so, uh, several people, uh, recommended an app called Airolo, A I R A L O. Um, that's an app you download, you set up an account and, uh, and they provide, uh, kind of E-SIM, uh, activations for, for phones that have, you know, E-SIM capabilities, which is most phones these days. And, and I, I did that. Ghoshani and I both did it for our phones and it was a great option. We, uh, we downloaded the app and signed up before we went. And then when we got off the plane, we just shut off the SIM that's kind of built into our phone and switched on the Airolo. uh, virtual kind of e-sim and, uh, and it worked flawlessly for the whole trip. Uh, the app tells you how much data you have left and we certainly didn't, did not lack for data. I think we weren't sure how much we would use, you know, posting photos and keeping, keeping up with people back home. And so we each bought a 20 gigs, a 20 gig package for $35 each. And I think we each used about two gigs with, with pretty healthy usage. So could certainly pay far less and still get away with, you know, probably two or three gigs for a, for a couple of weeks trip. And that's not just in the UK. I mean, Arrow Low, you know, if you go to their app, there's any number of countries you can choose from and, and get an eSIM with a local cell provider. So, um, thanks to the crew at Slack for recommending that. And I just wanted to cast that out wider to, to anybody listening that maybe wasn't in on that conversation. Uh, if you're traveling internationally a fair amount or just have a big trip coming up, uh, definitely check out Arrow Low for, for eSIM options for, for international coverage. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | That's great. That's very cool. I didn't realize until you dropped this into the final notes that it was an eSIM. Yeah. I thought that you signed up for it and they sent you a SIM and then you're like switching SIMs with the little tool. Oh yeah. And then of course, if you're on an iPhone 14, the current one in the US, there isn't a SIM tray. The Canadians, we still get SIMs, but you know, with it being an eSIM and something you can just do through the app, that feels pretty clever to me. Yeah. Cause you could almost forget until you're, you know, waiting for your flight. Right. and sign up for it. And that is a much better price than I'm paying. I mean, I'm, I'm, uh, I gotta be one of Rogers, which is our, one of our cell providers. I've got to be one of their favorite clients when it comes to overages for travel, you know, uh, March is always a three or $400 a month, that sort of thing for the bill. So it might be better off to, uh, to consider something like this. That's a, that's slick. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Very cool. Yeah. What have you have? Yeah, mine this week is a brand new review from Harry Metcalf. That's Harry's Garage on YouTube, one of my favorite car channels. Nobody really does the level of like depth and specificity to a car review that Harry does. He really takes like time and effort and obviously his background in the automotive journalism space kind of goes without saying, especially, you know, if you know some of the projects and the platforms that he's worked on. But he's been doing Harry's Garage for some time. He also now has Harry's Farm. And he reviewed the new Ineos Grenadier, a vehicle that is very popular among kind of the TGN, again, kind of like the TGN mindshare. It comes up on the Slack and we get emails about it. I get DMs about it on Instagram, like whether or not, Oh, is this interesting? What do you think of this? Where's this going? Like I've got my deposit down. We've had, you know, people on the Slack be able to go on drives in them and that sort of thing. So I think it's a very interesting vehicle. And I think this is, if you're going to watch only one review, Harry's probably going to give you the most reasonable sort of day-to-day use. He has it for a week on-road, off-road, you know, goes over everything from the weight to the specs to the, you know, the build and what things can be added to it and that sort of stuff. I think it's interesting, of course, this is a fellow in the UK tried to get Land Rover to sell the Defender rights and everything to him when they stopped making the previous generation, which is kind of the last of the old school defenders. Land Rover declined that, so he decided to make his own company. He built it out in an ex-Mercedes-Benz factory, and I think it's kind of just in the last year or so that actual models have been coming off the line, and they've got some out to journalists and that sort of thing. So an interesting review if you're in the mode of possibly wanting a modern take on a vehicle that's not that modern, like a previous gen defender. I think this could be kind of an interesting thing. It'll be interesting to see on top of that what their distribution is like, what the pricing is like in different places. I think these things start around 70,000 British pounds, which could translate pretty wildly differently to different locations based on taxes and importing and safety testing and the rest of it. So it can be quite an expensive thing to put a vehicle into multiple multiple areas. But yeah, I thought it was a good one. It's kind of the first review that I've given the full time to watch all the way through. And I'm a big fan of Harry, I met him at the Quail several years ago and had a nice chat about old Lamborghinis with him. He's just a nice dude who knows a lot, and who's kind of seen enough to have a perspective on just about any type of type of vehicle. So a good one. And if you don't know Harry's garage, definitely worth a subscription. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I, you sent me that link, uh, over the weekend and I watched it and it is interesting and I like his delivery. I like his kind of sober, very unaffected, you know, it's, it's, it's never about him. He's not the center of the video. Like, you know, a lot of car videos, it's a big personalities and I think he just tells it like it is and kind of his pros and cons and what he likes and doesn't. And it's really quite refreshing. Uh, and I liked his take on the Grenadier cause it's a vehicle I've been curious about for years since they started talking about it. So that's a, that's a good recommendation. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Yeah. When I, when I watched the video, I kind of thought like, man, if this came to the States for the right price, I could see you having one. Yeah, I could too. It'll, it'll, it'll come down to what they end up like if it lands in six figure. Yeah. I don't know if you're six figure car kind of guy. Absolutely not. |
| Jason Heaton | No. And I've got two Land Rovers. So, I mean, if I kind of want that experience, I'll, I'll stick with what I have. And, and funny little side note, I've got a friend Myron who I've talked about before runs Rover Haven straps. He's of course, he's had a series two, a Land Rover for 20 years, rebuilt it twice. I mean, he advised me when I got the series three. So he's deep into Land Rovers. Um, and he had actually plunked down a deposit or, or put his name on the list for a Grenadier when he saw it. Cause it was like, this is, this is what I've been waiting for. And he waited and waited and waited. And finally his number kind of came up and they started talking to him about the final build and the price and whatever. And he, you know, he was saying, uh, you know, it was pushing $80,000 and And then he priced out a new Defender, which he had originally been a little cool on, but then he went and drove one and specced it out and it came in less. So that's what he ended up ordering, but I thought his perspective was interesting too. But yeah, I'll be curious to see how they roll this out in terms of dealer network and service and reliability and all of that as the year goes on. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | Well, look, I can't remember specifically if we have anybody in the TGN kind of sphere that works for any else. I know of someone who does. I don't think they listen to the show, but if somebody's listening and there's going to be a drive or whatever, hook Jason up. He can travel a little bit to go check out the new Grenadier. We can do an episode, that sort of thing. Yeah, that'd be fun. I think this is one of the few scenarios where TGN could count as a press platform for a You know, look, if you got supercars, you know, hit me up for sure. But I think people would people listening to this, these episodes would probably rather chat about the INEOS Grenadier or something similar. Yeah, but I think that could be a lot of fun. I would love to figure out if there's a way to get to get on the press list, borrow one for a test drive, maybe drive it all the way to your place or you drive it up here. Yeah, we do an episode from one. I mean, we could have a good time with it. I just I don't know what their kind of press network is like. I should probably reach out to the person. I know that Also that then knows someone who works directly for them. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | I love that idea. Well, cool. All right. Well, that, uh, that does it. It was a fun episode. Um, smaller watches, uh, definitely, um, get into, uh, comments, whether it's on the, the sub stack show notes or, uh, the Slack group, um, you know, jump into the episode chat and tell us what you think, which watches we missed, which ones you like, which ones you'd like to see. But for now, as always, thanks so much for listening. And certainly if you do want to subscribe to the show to support us and also get in on Slack and maybe even pick up a brand new TGN signed NATO, please visit TheGreyNATO.com for all those details. Music throughout a siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive. |
| [SPEAKER_00] | And we leave you with this quote from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who said, the size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. |