The Grey NATO – 243 – Traveling With Your Watches (Packing, Picks, Theft & More)

Published on Thu, 15 Jun 2023 06:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

The hosts discuss their approach to traveling with watches, balancing the desire to wear prized timepieces with concerns about theft, border issues, and situational awareness. They share tips on which watches are suitable for different travel destinations based on perceived risk, how to transport multiple watches securely, and considerations like carrying documentation or receipts. The conversation covers personal experiences, anecdotes, and insights from other sources on responsible watch collecting while on the road.

The episode provides a practical guide for enthusiasts looking to enjoy their watches across various travel scenarios while exercising appropriate caution and preparedness to mitigate risks. The hosts aim to help listeners make informed decisions about which watches to wear, carry, and how to pack them based on factors like location, perceived danger, and personal comfort level.

Transcript

Speaker
Unknown Hello and welcome to another episode of the Graynado. A loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 243 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 we doing?
Unknown I'm doing pretty well, yeah. For an introvert, I've got a very social, social calendar these days. Uh, actually today. You're a busy guy this week. Yeah. And well today as we're recording is Ghoshani's birthday. So everybody out there can say happy birthday to Ghoshani. Huge happy birthday. Yeah. Well, I guess by the time this episode goes up, she'll be a couple of days into it. But anyway, yeah. So we've got some folks visiting from Australia, actually Sydney. And, uh, and then later this week, uh, another friend comes in, um, and, and his, her brother is visiting the U S from Sri Lanka. So, We're going to take them up north. We've rented a cabin along the north shore of Lake Superior for early next week. So it's a lot of stuff happening. A lot of fun. Very cool. Yeah. Speaking of busy schedule, we've got to, I mean, we're firming up wind up plans.
Unknown Yeah. So we're going to be at wind up in Chicago. That's July 15th and 16th. It's a weekend. We'll be camped out for some office hours at the Citizen booth. We'll let you know the times as those become available, but that'll be Saturday afternoon, so the 15th. Then we're recording a live podcast early on Sunday morning, the 16th, with the guys from Worn and Wound. But kind of the big news, the one we're really excited about, is we're throwing a TGN meetup with Citizen on Saturday, the 15th, after wind-up closes for the day at Great Central Brewing. It's not that far from Venue West. I believe you could pretty easily walk or take a short car. We'll have more information to follow, but we're going to have a hangout there and some goodies and some fun stuff that's going on at that sort of event.
Unknown So yeah, we've got a Slack channel devoted to wind up Chicago now. Um, so all the folks that are in the Slack community, um, are actively making their travel plans and asking questions about what, what to bring in terms of watches and what the show is like. And, um, yeah, should be, uh,
Unknown Should be a good time. Yeah, very much looking forward to it. Just a month away at this point. So firming up to the final travel plans and that kind of thing. But it's going to be great to be back in Chicago and hang out with y'all. One note is we were planning to take next week off again because both Jason and I are traveling and have a pretty packed schedule. But we came across a special recording kind of in our archives that we never ran for reasons we'll explain later. But that will feature in a special episode next week. So stay tuned for Episode 244. It's a deep one, and I think it'll be good. Yeah, I think so, too.
Unknown Yeah. What else? What else have you been up to?
Unknown Yeah, not much, man. Just working and went up to the cottage. And, you know, it was Le Mans weekend and they launched a new Rolex. Oh, yeah. It was just kind of busy, you know, keeping up with that kind of stuff.
Unknown I saw that story break on Hodinkee and knowing Rolex, I'm guessing you had no advance notice and had to write it on the fly at the cottage.
Unknown Some of my kind of plugs in the industry told me something will come at Le Mans. Oh yeah. But the word on the street was that it was going to happen kind of in the evening. So if you were following Lamont in EDT, in my time zone, it started at 10 a.m. and ended at 10 a.m. And I think they were talking about when they said evening, I did the dumb thing and assumed they meant evening in my time zone, which why would they? Like really stupid on my part. And at about noon, I got a couple messages and it had dropped on Instagram. And I said, oh, I guess they meant like Obviously, the race started at, you know, 4 p.m. So by 6 was evening in France. So quickly jumped on the computer and, you know, good use of the new Wi-Fi at the cottage and got a story up. What do you think of the watch before we get... I mean, we don't have this on the notes, but it's probably something worth chit-chatting about. Yeah. 100th anniversary of Le Mans, sort of special Daytona, with a reverse Paul Newman-inspired dial. So it's a reverse Panda. It has kind of the funky text on the sub-dials, but it's white on black, It's got a little red 100 on the ceramic bezel insert. And then it has a, for those of you who are big Daytona nerds, you'll know that the 41 31, the most recent movement is a 12 hour maximum measure, which is kind of inappropriate for a 24 hour race. So now we have the 41 32, which has a 24 hour totalizer at nine o'clock, which I think is kind of maybe the coolest part about the whole thing. It's such a Rolex thing to do, to go like, Oh wait, we can't put out a 12 hour watch for a 24 hour race. Let's Let's modify our brand new movement with a special little modification so that we can get 24 hours.
Unknown I think it's a really, really cool watch. In fact, I've been largely agnostic when it comes to Daytonas. I just don't... I'm like, eh, yeah, high quality. It's cool if I get to see one in person, it's fun to play with and whatever, but never really wanted to see one on my own wrist. And this was the first one that made me... Or the first modern one, at least, that made me sit up and kind of like look closely at it. It's a, it's a beauty. I like, I like all the little elements. I think they, you know, to my eye, they could have gone a little further. Like I think I saw on Instagram, somebody had said, Oh, if they'd only made the, the, the minute track on the dial, like in red, you know, on white, kind of like the Paul Newman or, um, I, I feel like the numerals on the sub dials, like could have been a little more exotic, like the Paul Newman's they did more with like the markings, but look, that's all splitting hairs. I think it's a, I think it's a beauty.
Unknown Yeah, I think they did a nice job, and I think what stood out for me, obviously, this is not a watch that I figure you or I will ever own. It's kind of cool that they went with white gold as well. I think it says, it speaks to the whole kind of like hundred thing, but between the white gold, the dial, the hundred on the bezel, I could take it or leave it, whichever. I agree that my guess is there's like a Photoshop or a render somewhere of one that's even more Paul Newman-y, we'll call it, and maybe they just went, it's too much. Yeah. you know, like their comfort zone for calling back to their past is like using some red text on a dial, right, right, right. Or, or making something like the 1908, like a full on sort of traditional model, um, with, with it being the brand new Daytona, the most modern one they've got. I think that this is kind of the most you could expect from them. And, and truth be told, like I'm not a Daytona guy. I love the vintage ones. Um, but I've, I've never been, you know, I'm, I'm kind of hit or miss on chronographs in general. Yeah. I'm, I'm the only weirdo out there that doesn't, you know, love and pine for a speedy. Yeah. I think they're beautiful. I love seeing them on other people. They might, they might arguably be the Eames chair of, of watches, right? Yeah. The Speedmaster. Yeah. But I, for whatever reason, I've never been like, I absolutely have to have one aside from maybe that Japan Ellie, right. With the gray dial. But with this one, I, I really liked the, the sort of tweaks they've made for the 2023 Daytonas, the brand new references. And I think this is a really cool way of like shouting out to Lamar and, and the brands like history and then I think the thing that people don't realize is obviously not only is it a Paul Newman inspired dial, but like Paul Newman has a impressive foray at Le Mans in that he won first in class, second overall in 77, 79, something like that. It's a cool watch to have as a Le Mans call out because there's not like one or two sort of overlapping elements. There's all sorts of stuff stacked on top of each other, especially if you're really deep into your Daytona stuff. I think there's even more context there than would hit someone who's, I'm a little bit more of a dilettante when it comes to the, you know, the encyclopedic knowledge of Daytonas.
Unknown Yeah. And as someone mentioned, I think it was in the comments on, on your Hodinkee story about this watch. They said, you know, that they were kind of glad that Rolex didn't go, I think that their term was, you know, they didn't go all Omega, you know, like Omega when they do a reissue, it's like you could scarcely tell, new watch from an old one. I mean, they've recreated the Speedmaster, they've recreated some dive watches and whatever. So to your point, I do think that Rolex has a comfort zone and they do like to kind of say, look, we're still making modern watches, but we'll give a nod with this or that on the watch. And they did a really nice job with it.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah. So I'll include my story in there in the off chance that you missed the new Daytona. I'm also hoping to be able to see one in the next little while. So I'm hoping to be able to do a hands-on at some point. So, so yeah, other than that, I'm traveling starting Sunday and I'll be back before the next episode airs. So we have this sort of two episode run and, and, you know, with the travel on the horizon for both of us, and then, uh, even just some, some recent stories that have kind of come out on the internet, we thought it'd be fun to do a whole topic about travel and traveling with your watches, which believe it or not, I, I, when you first suggested it, Jason, I thought, I thought we'd already done something like this. And obviously it's something that comes up a lot on the show. But I went back and we haven't done like a specific episode on like how we travel with our watches and what some of the tips are. We did a Q&A recording just recently. So those of you who are on the supporter side would know from that episode because it's live that like we're getting more questions about like our comfort zone of traveling with certain watches due to crime and theft and that sort of thing. And I had a friend who was robbed in the last week in New York of his watch and phone and camera. So it is kind of like a going concern. So I definitely want to get to that. And that's going to form kind of the main topic today. But before we jump in, you want to get to some wrist check? Sure.
Unknown Yeah. I've pulled out my old Speedmaster. I haven't worn it. You were just talking about the Speedmaster.
Unknown It's a 145012? 022?
Unknown 012 from 68. I think April of 68 was the exact date. And yeah, I don't know how long it'll stay on my wrist. I never considered this a real summery watch because of the Uh, but I don't know, kind of enjoying wearing it. And I put it on the, you know, last week we talked about the Artem, uh, the new kind of softer, more pliable sailcloth straps with, with this kind of tailless fold over deployant. And I've got it on the green one, the kind of the khaki green, I think he calls it. And, uh, it looks pretty darn good and it's, it's fun to wear. So that's what I'm wearing today. Very cool. What about you? It looks like you've got something about the polar opposite of that.
Unknown Couldn't be more different. Yeah, for whatever reason, I've switched back to the Apple Watch Ultra. It's just a great tool for productivity, but I really don't wear it like a watch, if that makes any sense. I actually wear it on my right wrist. And that's not just because I would be wearing something else on my left. I didn't even put anything on the left. I just, for whatever reason, I've gotten used to having it on my right wrist. I like the fact that, you know, I've got Danny when we were recording this. So Danny's my colleague at Hodinkee, Danny Milton, and he and I are essentially, you know, keeping the site scheduled and the rest of it, which is, you know, not a small task. He's currently in Tokyo for a Patek event. So I have the ability to see what time it is for him there. And also another, I have it set up for three time zones currently because we have several watches that, you know, that are kind of popping up based on Geneva's time zone. So yeah, it's, it's super handy for that. It means that I don't miss things because I typically keep my phone on silent. I don't like it beeping. Admittedly, I'm probably, it's a square peg round hole in terms of getting me to be more productive. but it does kind of get the trick done if you smash the peg hard enough, I guess. Yeah. It's a nice tool for a workday, but it's definitely not the kind of thing I necessarily want to wear to the cottage or something like that, you know?
Unknown Well, and it would make a pretty darn good travel watch too, I suppose. I see a lot of them on airplanes and whatever, and that sort of leads to our main topic today, traveling with watches. I think, you know, what kind of inspired this topic was we do get a lot of questions in the Q&As about our comfort levels when we're traveling. And personally, my comfort level has evolved. It's changed.
Unknown I don't know about you, but... It's funny because I don't know if you saw this and this is what inspired it or it's just on the horizon because of our travel, but our good buddy Mike Stockton wrote a really nice story for Fratello just this week, I think, when we were recording this two days ago. Oh, yeah. About how to travel with your watches like a pro. And I don't think... You and I know how to travel with watches for sure. I would probably still defer to Mike. Yeah, the guy travels a ton. He understands, you know, he's also been burned quite famously coming into Switzerland during Basel world and having to pay for his taxes on a bunch of his personal watches. Yeah, and I think this is a must read in my mind for that for what we're doing today. If you want to pause it right now and read two things, it would be Mike story, which is on Fratello and it's in the show notes. And it would be at least part one of Watches of Espionage's look at watch crime, specifically London, LA, that sort of thing. Because I think these are the two things. Mike does a lovely job of explaining how his relationship with traveling with watches has evolved even since like 2019. So if you want to get into sort of the required reading for the rest of this episode, these would be the two. Because I align really strongly with Michael in that my relationship with traveling with watches has changed a ton. Yeah. Man, when I first started going to Baselworld and I didn't understand any of it, there was definitely times I took every watch I owned. I took 12 watches or whatever it was to Baselworld. I could wear a different one every day, I could have a different one in my pocket. Every time I cross paths with a friend or wanted to show one to Ariel or David at a blog to watch, you have all of them. And now, man, it's polar opposite. Even for this trip this weekend, I'm thinking like, yeah, maybe it's the Apple Watch. but I love the idea of kind of like Michael does and like Jason, I know you've done for a couple of years, the watch you plan to wear plus another kind of more simple option or more under the radar option. But let's start right at the top. In my mind, when you're looking down the calendar at a trip, how carefully do you plan your watches or do you just kind of pick one and that's your watch for the trip? We talked about this a bit for Scotland.
Unknown Yeah. I mean, you know, crazy, you know, that's the most recent kind of bigger trip in my memory and I, you know, I, it, I almost felt foolish because, uh, the, the amount of agonizing I did over which watch or watches I knew I wanted to take more than one. Um, but yeah, it largely depends on not only where I'm going, but what type of trip it is. And, and we can get into this on a much deeper level as we go through this, but you know, if, if it's a very urban trip, maybe to a new city. Uh, it's a different mindset than it is Scotland, which was a road trip through largely rural areas. I knew I wasn't going to be interacting with a lot of people other than at the beginning of the trip when we had that, that meetup, in which case I wanted, that's, that was really the reason I wanted to bring a couple of watches along. Totally. To answer your question, I, I do spend a fair amount of time leading up to a trip, probably an equal amount, if not more than, than what I do when I'm planning, you know, the shoes I'm going to bring or, or, you know, how many pairs of pants or something like that. And, uh, yeah. I mean, I think I've got kind of my method of transporting and wearing, you know, kind of dialed in, but when it comes to like, which watches. Yeah. A lot of it's driven by activity and kind of the venue or, you know, the geography of the trip.
Unknown Yeah. I think you, you kind of have to, yeah. If you consider where you're going and then if there's any like governmental concerns. Yeah. Border concerns. Right. Which seems to be less of an issue for Americans.
Unknown I've never, I've never weighed that consideration. I've read about Mike's horror story. You've talked about the Canadian border restrictions.
Unknown The system which they no longer want to do. Because I used to be able to take my watches to the Canadian Border Security Agency and register them. Not even register them, they would verify that the serial numbers were real. And I could have a piece of paper that I carry. Yeah. And it was the first time where I was going to be traveling with, I think I had three watches cause I was going to trip. I was going on the trip for one of them and then needed one for something else I was producing during the trip.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown And it's way down in the basement in Toronto, in Toronto's airport. And I found the office and like went to buzz in and they're like, what are you here for? And I said, Oh, I'm, I'm here to get a BSF four or seven or whichever it is. And they're like, yeah, we don't do those anymore. And I was like, well, huh. I'm traveling with my watches and they're like, yeah, you need to travel with receipts. Oh my gosh. Um, that show where you bought it and, and that sort of thing. So I, I, at this point that that's a major, so that's kind of like my second concern. And then my third concern is like safety. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, we, we can get into the reality of those scenarios or even trying to gauge where each of us kind of sits on that. We can get to that in a minute. But I think the first thing to consider with that, that kind of comes down to all of this is, are you, do you, maybe with the exception of something like Scotland, Well, let's say you and I were going to L.A. in the next couple of weeks for something. Or Chicago. Or Chicago, okay. So Chicago, you don't have to cross a border. Yeah, yeah. How many watches would you take to Chicago if it wasn't wind up? Wind up's kind of a weird scenario because that's one of those times where I'd be tempted to bring three, four watches because people will go, oh, I want to see the Pelagos, oh, I want to see this or that. And you go like, well, Now I now I'm, I'm like very staunchly become like a, the one on my wrist plus one in the bag that is of a lesser value or, or it could be seen as like a workout watch.
Unknown Right. You're right. I mean, I do generally, I like to follow as closely as possible this notion of, you know, wearing the primary on my wrist and then having, I don't even call it a backup, but the number two watch in like typically in my dop kit, which is more often than not, if it's a, longer trip like Scotland or, or let's say I'm going to the UK or whatever, or even French Polynesia or something. It's, it's in my, uh, checked luggage, assuming it's, it's a watch that, you know, I don't think I've ever lost luggage completely. Like it usually comes back. Yeah, me neither. But, but like a watch that I'm not as concerned if it, you know, high value, if it gets, uh, lost forever, you know, when we talk about Chicago, like I remember last year, even, even at wind up, uh, I brought a couple of watches, uh, in a small role and you know, we, we did a fair bit of walking. We walked around, we walked from our Airbnb, we walked to venue West and, um, a few other places. Uh, and you know, it's a big city. Uh, I think the crime rate is somewhat healthy there. And I just think that having not been a victim of, you know, a mugging or anything like that, like I do, read about these stories and I don't want to be naive about it, but I have, I've had this false sense of security up until the past couple of years. So, so yeah, you know, I try to imagine the scenarios and kind of use a lot of as watches of espionage points out, you know, situational awareness. Oh, for sure. You know, just, just paying attention to surroundings and avoiding certain scenarios. Uh, and that largely informs which watch I'm bringing. And, and I, I think when we talked about it on the Q and a, there was this idea of, Cause I think somebody had a question about traveling with a GMT master. And my, my response was, I'm not sure which watches are safe anymore. I don't know if, if someone's seeing a Pepsi bezeled, you know, Seiko across a room, you know, if you're a ne'er do well, who's set on stealing a watch, if, if that matters, if it's on the, the Seiko style Jubilee bracelet with a Pepsi bezel are thieves that, uh, discerning or knowledgeable that they can make out the difference across a room.
Unknown I don't know. My guess is it's some could, some couldn't. Yeah. Some will care, some won't. Yeah. You know, I think like we said in this Q&A recently, like it's a question of also the extent to which you make yourself known as a possible target. Yeah. Yeah. This is why, again, my comfort zone. And look, a good buddy of mine recently had his watch, his camera, and his phone stolen. They broke two of his fingers.
Unknown Wow.
Unknown Oh my gosh. When I wrote him, because I saw it on his Instagram, I half expected him to say like, oh, I was in some place that wasn't Midtown New York, but it was Midtown New York. And this is a guy that carries Lycos and I do that all the time. I just think that the longer I do this, the more I want a sleeve and the more like if you've caught up with me in the last little while, I always have some sort of a bag on me. Whether it's a little alpaca that I can put stuff in that keeps things out of my hands, out of my pockets, or this peak design collapsible tote for like $25 has become like a go-to. Is it fashionable? No, not really. It's essentially like a, you know, a textile version of a shopping bag with a zipper at the top, but it's small and it's not that much, there's not that much difference in terms of weight and handling for me to put my camera in that and put that on my shoulder versus just having the camera open on my shoulder.
Unknown I think too, you know, a lot of our travel experience, uh, over the years, um, you've more recently than me, but we're, we're with, um, brand press trips or, and a lot of those are around kind of a tailored scenario in a fairly luxurious surroundings where other, a lot of other people are around with watches, which I think to a certain degree presents some, some risk because if, if anybody knew about the event that that would totally prime target. However, um, they're largely sort of insulated from, you know, just, just random strangers walking up and, grabbing you or whatever. Um, so I, I think trips like that can lull you, I guess, into a false sense of security, but also it's a different sense of planning. Um, if I go on a trip with, it's been a while, but if, if Rolex invited me on a trip, I wouldn't hesitate to wear my submariner. And I did when I went to, Oh, totally. In fact, I think it was a loner sea dweller when I flew to Cabo Pulmo down in Mexico to go diving with Sylvia Earl and, you know, driving on sort of rugged, you know, it was an hours drive, uh, through kind of the countryside up the peninsula there to get there. And I'm, you know, I was wearing this expensive, you know, new Rolex on my wrist and didn't really think a thing of it. If I did that trip on my own, kind of in a rental car where I, chances are I was going to get lost somewhere. Uh, and this isn't a commentary on Mexico specifically. It's just out of the country with, with something expensive and recognizable. I'm just not sure that I would do that sort of thing with a Rolex anymore. Like, like everybody loves to, loves to envision, you know, traveling the world with it, with a Rolex, like some photojournalist, you know, war correspondent or mercenary or something like that. I just think those days might be behind us. Do you travel with your, you do travel with your Explorer too, a fair amount, don't you?
Unknown I do. Yeah. You know, it always depends if I'm on a press trip and it's going to be what I would call like a kind of a closed loop scenario where I'm not necessarily just like walking a city at night, which I enjoy doing. Yeah. The other thing that's big for me is a sleeve. a sleeve, and then if today I was planning to take my Explorer with me down to New York or whatever, it wouldn't be on the Jubilee or on the Oyster. Yeah. I'd put it on a NATO. It's just lower profile. Right. Sure, somebody might be at the stoplight standing next to me when I check the time, and it's very clear that it's at least a great fake, if not a real Explorer, and I'm screwed. Right. Right. And then the other thing that I sometimes think about is like, how does the watch cascade into other stuff? If you steal my watch, it's like, okay, If I'm not hurt, but like if that extends to a camera, my wallet, my phone, possibly my passport, which I carry on me, that's becomes a much bigger issue for me to say, get home for me to continue working. The loss of my Explorer 2 wouldn't mean I couldn't go to work or that I'd have to go to the consulate to get home. These days, when I travel, I would rather not worry about it. I'd probably lean towards the Mido or the Pelagos. or the Aqualand or the CWC, like we just spoiled for choice. It's like talk about privilege, right? Uh, to have the Rolex in the first place, but also to have options when you can't wear it.
Unknown Exactly. And I do think about, um, you know, I, I used to kind of be of this mindset of like, ah, you know, cause this question has come up for years. And even before that, I think totally people talking about it in the watch community. And my attitude has changed so much because I think in the old days I used to be, ah, just wear it, be discreet, you know, keep track of your surroundings. But I want to be able to wear my, you know, in this case, like Submariner, um, on adventures. I want to, wherever I travel, I want to wear my most special watch so I can put the memories on it. Now I think a little more differently about it and you're right. We are privileged with the choices that we have. So I guess that raises the question like of your collection now, what would you call, and you just mentioned a couple of choices already, but what would you say is kind of your most versatile or best go-to all-purpose travel watch? The Bremont. The Bremont, okay. It just does everything. On a NATO? It makes a big difference, doesn't it?
Unknown I think so, yeah. In my mind, the Bremont on a modern Tropic with the rounded end link or a NATO, you're done. Yeah, yeah. I have a great bezel. I have excellent modern lume. It keeps incredible time. It looks good, but it's clearly not a Rolex. but I don't think I'm losing anything in terms of fun experience. That watch feels kind of adventurous, but also sort of like Britishy elegant at the same time. That's also a watch where in many scenarios, if I just popped on a leather strap, I could wear it almost in any given setting. It has that versatility. You and I also aren't gonna be most people's first target, admittedly. I mean, like we're not necessarily like hulking monsters of guys, but we're also not small, right? We're not small. And, and, uh, you know, I have, uh, I have, uh, what's a term I can use on the show. My, the resting look of my face is one of, uh, soft anger, something like that. So yeah, I don't, you know, there's always these concerns, but for me it's probably the, the 302 or I don't know that I would be, um, I would have any concerns wearing the tutor, the Pelagos. Yeah. But I feel like the Rolex thing, the thing where they become this target, the same sort of target that people attach to Patek or, you know, diamond encrusted whatever, is Richard Mille, right? I think the Richard Mille, the Patek, the Cartier stuff was there previously as they were like rich people toys.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown But I think the Rolex thing is like a 2018 and later sort of event where these things rose in value so extremely. Like, I don't think a polar dial Explorer was a target when I bought mine. Yeah. What does the watch have to be worth in the secondary market so that when you fence it, knowing it's stolen, so you get maybe 50% of that value. Yeah. At what point is it not worth the possibility of that robbery going poorly?
Unknown Yeah. Yeah. And if anyone out there is a reformed, uh, criminal or knows anybody, I mean, I'd, I'd love to get the perspective and I'm, I'm, I'm totally sounds like I'm joking, but I w I would be very curious cause we're very focused on this, this probably naive notion that, that you know, people that steal watches are, you know, pay attention to values. They know the difference between a Seiko and a Rolex.
Unknown Maybe it's just a rich guy. You take everything off the rich guy. You can. And, and that's, that's life, right?
Unknown Yeah. It's he's wearing a watch. I'll take my chances. And it's a numbers game, you know, where like, I'm going to, I'm going to hit five guys today. And if even just one of them has a nice watch, then I'm maybe, and maybe that's all it is.
Unknown The other person that I really wanted to ask, but he's currently in Ukraine and I didn't want to, you know, belabor his life in any way as Robert, right. Has traveled a ton. carrying nice cameras. And also with his military background, he's very considered in the way that he dresses and the gear and how he carries it and the rest of it. So I think there is, I'd love to speak to any, you know, I would love to speak with watches of espionage more directly about some of his stuff. Maybe we'd like disguise his voice. I don't know. And then Robert would be a great resource. And I would love to also speak to, um, you know, someone who deals more directly, whether it's on the law enforcement side or otherwise. So there's definitely an expanding story with this kind of stuff, but we wanted to start at the basis. And as far as the like general safety and the rest of it, don't make yourself a target. And, uh, and, and definitely if it's something where like, you're not super comfortable, I would, you know, dial that back, uh, to a point where you are, if that means wearing a much more modest watch, like kind of who cares. Right. Right. Right. Moving on a little bit, let's play something like a game. Would you travel to the following locations with your Rolex on your wrist? Let's say if we were going tomorrow, so summer, New York City. No, I would not. Okay. I'm a yes on New York, even despite what happened to my friend, but I would, I would probably be wearing a sleeve.
Unknown Yeah. I guess it depends on if, if, if we're okay, you know, I'll, I'll meet you in midtown. Let's go for a walk or let's walk to central park and around whatever. But yeah, in general, New York, probably not. I might, take it in a pouch, like in my shoulder bag that never leaves my side if I'm planning something very specifically watchy. But I almost think it wouldn't be worth the trouble. So I guess I would say no. What about Paris? Paris? Gosh, I haven't been to Paris in many, many, many years, and I don't remember. I would probably say no there as well.
Unknown Yeah, I'm a no on Paris, but I've been a no on Paris. My first major press trip was to Paris, and I remember somebody saying like, hey, if you're going and you've got like I think at the time they assumed I would just have a Rolex or whatever, but the person who was giving me some advice said like, don't go on the subway with it or put it in your pocket. Yeah. Oh yeah. And, and now I think when you read these stories of, of some of these cities that are kind of at least have a high profile for that type of crime, it's Paris is one of them. Oh yeah. And Milan. What about the other big one? London.
Unknown London. I keep hearing horror stories about London. So I think, I think that's a no as well.
Unknown Yeah. I would be a no on London as well. I'd be wearing an Aqualand in London. Yeah. or the Mido or something. There's something like genuinely under the radar. I mean, the Aqualand literally says like, you just leave me alone. Yeah.
Unknown Yeah. Especially that blacked out one with the loom dial. It's like, it looks both kind of tough and cheap and kind of like... Yeah.
Unknown You don't know. I might be crazy.
Unknown Yeah. I think, you know, my kind of secret weapon watch, and maybe it looks a little too kind of MOD spec Rolex-y, is the CWC. I mean, whether the quartz, I've got an automatic as well, but like, That often becomes my go-to travel watch. And like, it's very fitting in London. I've visited the CWC guys in London on Mile End Road. And I know I've worn that all over, um, on a NATO strap, obviously. I'm not sure, again, going back to my earlier point, like I'm not sure if, if, uh, you know, a potential watch thief sees my CWC across the sidewalk or something, if they're, if they're going to think that's, that's, that one's worth taking, but it's often my go-to for travel. Yeah.
Unknown Yeah. What about, uh, what about Sri Lanka?
Unknown Strangely? Uh, yes. Um, there's not a lot of kind of street crime. Uh, I mean, there's petty crime, like, you know, out of a hotel room or, or whatever, if you, you know, leave stuff out, um, on a beach or something like that, but not, not on your person. So I have worn my Submariner there on several occasions and wouldn't hesitate to, uh, even now.
Unknown What about, um, Geneva?
Unknown I mean, yeah, I, I would, but it's, again, I haven't been there since probably 2019 or so. And I'm not sure if things have changed. It's starting to, I don't know. You've been there a lot more than me, especially recently. I mean, what's your, what's your vibe with Geneva?
Unknown I've never felt like, obviously if you're on Rue Mont Blanc and whatever, if you're, if you're right in the high street areas, I think whatever you or I would own would be worth a sliver of what the 10 people around us had on their wrist. Right. Yeah. And I do enjoy the, the non, quote unquote, like fancier parts of Geneva, like where you can get a doner and a beer at one in the morning before you go back to the hotel to write a story. Yeah. I've definitely felt that like the spider sense thing. Yeah. We're like, all right, I'm, I'm either being watched or they would rather I'm not coming into this part of town or, or that sort of thing. So, I mean, that, that can happen. Um, I probably would not hesitate to wear the, the Explorer two in Geneva, but I would probably also again with a sleeve. Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't, I wouldn't necessarily have it out. What about your hometown? What about Toronto? Yeah, I have yet to feel unsafe in Toronto. We've definitely had a few scenarios where you could tell something was going on, but not based on me. It's just you get that feeling sometimes, and I feel like you're at as big a risk as at any point in Toronto these days, just going on the subway. Yeah, that's kind of how I see it. I'm also curious, moving away from the sort of crime stuff, when you travel with watches, do you travel with any sort of paperwork?
Unknown I never do. Never have. Never have taken border issues into consideration despite, um, your stories. And of course, Mike Stockton's a famous story in Switzerland. Um, nope, never have, never have done that. Now, given what you said earlier, um, are you planning on, do you take receipts? Like when you take this trip to the, to the U S in a few days, are you, are you going to be taking those receipts with you?
Unknown If the watch is over about a thousand dollars. Otherwise, if it's more than a thousand dollars, I carry something that shows that I had the watch. whether it's a receipt, something that shows where I bought it. I've got files on some of my more expensive watches that show that I paid taxes with FedEx when the watch came into the country. Wow. Yeah. Some simple stuff. And then with the Pelagos, I just have the receipt on my phone so that if somebody goes like, where's this and how'd you have it? Just something so you could sit there and have a rational conversation with somebody rather than why do you have four watches in your bag?
Unknown Yeah. So that raises a question. I'm curious when this I don't want to call it a confrontation, but when, when this occurs, like at what point during your re-entry into Canada does it happen? Is it when you're presenting your passport at border control, they look at your wrist?
Unknown Um, quite possibly, but it would just be when you, when you, again, it's not unlike the crime thing to a certain level. It's like, how much of a target do you make yourself? Yeah. And you, you do your passport thing and you say how much you've got with you and if you have anything to declare. the big concern, but you'd get up there and they'd notice whatever you've got on your wrist, they know it's worth some money. They look at your thing and you didn't declare anything. Maybe your shoes are really nice. Maybe it's this or that, who knows, but you give them a reason and now you have to have the conversation. Yeah. In my experience, they're more concerned about why I'm going in and out of the country for work and especially not that I stay in the country. And also once the typically, once they find out I'm going to take photos of a watch, that's so specialized as a job, they just go like, well, I mean, How many of these knuckleheads are there? Yeah. Roll their eyes. Yeah, exactly. It's a lot of that kind of stuff. You're going where for what? Yeah. Okay. When are you, when are you leaving my country? And you go like in two days and I'm like, all right, fine.
Unknown Let's move on and talk about how we, how we carry multiple watches. For sure. And, and, and on where, you know, on your person or, or in a check bag or whatever, like how, let's say what, what was your last trip? It's kind of significant trip. Geneva? Maybe. Yeah, sure. I guess Geneva. Okay. Geneva. Like let's say you took your, you know, two watches. Let's say, let's say you're taking three watches. Let's do it that way.
Unknown Okay.
Unknown One's on your wrist. Where did the other two live?
Unknown Um, and the other two I have, um, I have like a Rolex, a little snap Rolex case. They, they gave out at a Basel world in the past, like brown leather. Yeah. Um, it holds two watches. Uh, I'll use that. Or I, I really liked the worn and wound EDC, a fold case. Yeah, it just depends on I think an Aqualand might be a touch too big. I'm trying to remember what I even took to Geneva for watches and wonders. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I probably I probably had the Mido and a couple other things. And yeah, I like that worn around case quite a bit. I use that pretty frequently. It tucks in in a variety of places in a camera bag and does pretty well. I would pay more money for one that had like magnetic protection just because I'm putting the it's in your cameras, it's in your laptop, it's in your batteries, it's in your headphones. Yeah. So here's a request. If you know of a pretty good like two... The two watches would be plenty. One to two watch case that would offer magnetic protection as well for the watch. Put it in the show notes, let us know on Slack, that sort of thing. The other one I really like, if we were going down to the one on your wrist plus one other, are those like Vaults, the Vario SG, the Oakley used to make them. They're just those zippered EVA style case with some foam in the middle. When you buy watches now, depending on the watch, sometimes that's what it comes in. I've got one from Topper Jewelers, from my SSK. I have so many of these around. I know that we have a TGN listener and a supporter who brought some up for us to wind up last year and that sort of thing. So I have a ton of those and they're really handy. If you just want one and you know that it can go under cameras, it can be at the bottom of the bag where it'll kind of interact with the ground, That sort of thing. So those are kind of my options. Do you, do you, do you do anything different? Like occasionally I'll use a roll. Like if I'm going to lunch with somebody, like the first time I went out with, for lunch with Thomas Holland from the Throttle House, I took a bunch of watches and I have like a big roll that that's fine if I'm just driving across Toronto, but.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah. I've got a couple of kind of a smaller four watch rolls that are nice if I'm traveling with any more than, you know, if it's, if it's a two or three spare watch, uh trip and that's pretty rare these days but if it's if it's something kind of watch related where i'm getting together with other people that i want to you know we want to share i'll use that but i'm i'm totally with you on the on the worn and wound and unfortunately unfortunately i don't have any left i um for a long time i had yours and then i think i sent it back to you and then i had another one of my own And I think I sold a watch and I think I used it as packaging or as a little kind of giveaway with the watch. And now I'm without them. So I need to buy another one because I always found that kind of perfect because it folds pretty flat. It holds two watches. It is. You know, it's pretty protective.
Unknown Or watches and tools. Yeah, yeah. Watches and a couple warranty cards to show where you bought it. All these sorts of things. Yeah. It looks like it's the ADPT EDC watch fold, 61 bucks. And they currently have them in teal or black. So maybe, maybe pick one up at windup. Yeah.
Unknown Oh, there we go. Great idea.
Unknown I'm going to have to spend some money in Chicago.
Unknown So this, this may be sacrilege, but when I'm, I'm going super minimalist and I have kind of a watch on my wrist and then a second, uh, the second is often my CWC quartz diver or, uh, the scurfa, um, MS 21. And both of those watches, I have no qualms about just tucking in my dop kit, you know, my zippered bathroom kit. And it's, it kind of just lives in there rattling around with all the other stuff. I mean, I'm not that concerned about a scratch here and there. I mean, both are courts. I'm not worried to worried about impact. Um, it's pretty well protected in there. It's kind of a padded, padded dop kit. Uh, and then that goes in my checked luggage. And then when I get to the hotel, it lives in the, on the bathroom sink or whatever. And if I want to wear the watch, I pull it out. But, um, otherwise it's something like the, the EDC, um, fold over from, from, from morning. Well,
Unknown Yeah, I do something similar as far as the Dopp kit. I don't ever check luggage. I don't think I've checked luggage since 2017, 2018, something like that. And I'd rather deal with hotel laundry occasionally than checking a bag and not having it when I go to a show where I need everything that's in there. So that's fine. That doesn't really bother me and I don't have to worry about checking it, but I will occasionally throw something in a Dopp kit or or just in what might be some kind of a pouch that's available. And I find that if it is gonna be rattling around, cause I don't mind it getting a little bit of like toothpaste debris or on it or whatever, but I don't want it like interacting with a razor or something else that might be metal. So I'll just wrap it in like one of the TGN kerchiefs. Sure. Yeah. Just give it, it doesn't weigh, it doesn't add any weight. It's kind of nice to have one of those in the kit anyways. I have like a little two me one that like zips flat and is clear on the inside. Yeah. Which every airport except Heathrow accepts as a plastic bag. I can't explain why. And that's a full of all sorts of random stuff that's in there. And then I'll occasionally have a watch, but it'll be kind of wrapped up in a, in a kerchief and then just kind of corner tied at one end.
Unknown What about straps, extra straps and tools? What do you, what do you carry if any?
Unknown Yeah, these days I try and limit that as much as possible. If I'm traveling with one of the ones that's 21 millimeters, like the Mido, It came with three straps, so I'll grab the leather or the mesh and toss it in the other side of the watch fold or something like that. Yeah. And then if I wanna switch it, I can, but the last few trips, like when I went to Geneva, the number one watch was the Pelagos, because I was going to Tudor's manufacturing beforehand, I'm gonna get the watch engraved and the rest of it, and I just put it on the bracelet. Yeah. Travel for me is a perfect time to have the bracelet. Yeah. And especially with something like the T-fit system on the Pelagos, the fact that I can go somewhere and then suddenly I don't normally... I normally eat like one and a half meals a day. You go on a press trip, you start eating three meals a day and you're drinking maybe more beer and stuff than you might normally at home. It's nice to have the T-fit for when the wrist is a little bit bigger at the end of the day. Yeah. And then the only exception would be if I was picking something like the Brahma, where I don't have the bracelet and don't really care to add one. And at that case, then I might lean on a MASH, I might lean on just a NATO.
Unknown Right.
Unknown And with the brand one, it's 20 millimeters. So I could bring a few Nados and swap them around.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah. I always have a couple of extra Nados, um, in the dop kit. I think they just live in there. Um, I've got so many, obviously a lot of gray ones. And then I have a little tool. I think it was, I think it's an Oris branded tool for many years ago that has, uh, like a, what do they call it? Like a little poker for resizing a bracelet or drilled through lugs. Pin tool. Yeah. Pin tool. Um, and then a small fork and they're kind of nested in each other and it's a very small knurled little thing that lives in my dop kit as well. And it's come in very handy, especially even with, with other people's watches, you know, somebody wants to try a different strap or, or something. Totally. Yeah.
Unknown Yeah. I have, I have a tool. I, there's a few different tools that I like to have certainly any, just something with a flat edge is really nice. Yeah. And obviously you can't travel with a knife, so a watch tool can be pretty handy that way. But, but for my specific favorite, the one that I actually keep like in my little Alpaca which is where like my passport probably would be that sort of thing. Like really central to my main, my main like kit when I'm traveling, uh, stay tuned for final notes. Cause that's where my pick will be. I didn't realize it's embarrassing. I didn't realize where it was for sale, but I have a very similar one and it looks like, uh, uh, it's very easily sourced and it's one I've had for a really long time. So I'll get to that in, uh, in final notes.
Unknown Nice. And then, um, have you, have you ever, uh, you ever shopped for watches when you're abroad traveling or different cities? Like have you bought, have you have any memorable sort of purchases that you've made?
Unknown Probably only when I bought the moon swatch when I was in Edmonton recently. But the truth is people realize this when they write me and they go, I'm coming to Toronto, I'm coming to Vancouver. Can you recommend a great watch shop? And I can give them two or three suggestions, but I genuinely don't like watch retail. Yeah. a Point me towards the nearest retail location when I'm traveling. Like, unless it's a Uniqlo because I forgot a belt or I need a white t-shirt. Yeah. Like, I'm not shopping when I'm traveling. Yeah. Yeah. And then, you know, with something like Moonswatch even, like, I only bought that Moonswatch because there wasn't a line. We walked into the Swatch one at the West Edmonton Mall and was like, hey, do you have any Moonswatch? We got most of them. Yeah.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown Because, yeah, which one do you want? And now I never wore it. Mars doesn't suit any strap. I never wear it. It just sits in the box. Yeah. Yeah. And it's kind of like a nice footnote to a weird time in watches, right? Yeah. But if I bought Jupiter, I think I could have put that on a Grenado and wore it, right? Yeah. Yeah. Right. Can't win them all. How about you? Do you, do you, I don't know that you love to shop when you're traveling either.
Unknown I really don't. Um, the exception is if it's a, it's been a long time, but, um, on a couple of occasions when I've been in Europe, I like to, you know, if you're out strolling the streets, I love looking for like a little shop that has vintage watches in the window. Uh, and. Oh, sure. You know, I'm sure you get that in New York. We just don't have places like that in Minneapolis, but I remember, um, fairly vividly. Uh, one of my very first press trips, if not my first was, uh, of all places I got invited to Glashutte by Lange when I was writing for gear patrol back in like 20, 2009 or something. And, um, I was in Dresden and it was, I think my first day there and I had some time to kill and I was walking around Dresden. And I happened upon a little vintage watch shop around the corner from the hotel I was at. And I bought a watch. I bought a Glashütte. It was a vintage one from the sixties. So when it was GUB, the kind of East German watch conglomerate. And it was a lovely little, little watch that kind of looked like a Senator sixties that, you know, from the current day Glashütte original.
Unknown And I sold it. With the sort of like squarish case and stuck out lugs?
Unknown No, it was a, it was a classic little round case with like no cool, like a small watch, but like all dial, like a kind of a silvery white dial with that script plus who to name on the top, little stick hands, stick markers. Um, definitely not my style at all, but it was a neat memento of that first trip. And it was very, it was quite cheap. Um, and then the only other, well, I don't know if it's the only other time, but when I was in Japan on a, on a Seiko trip many years ago too, I went to, I It was a Seiko trip that I was on with, um, with Robert Yan from Fratello and a few other, um, kind of international press folks. And I remember we went to the, there's a big kind of indoor mall with a ton of vintage watch shops. I think the place is called Jack road. And they just had hundreds and hundreds of everything from old plow profs and speedmasters to British military watches and whatever. And I was really tempted. I was almost overwhelmed, so I didn't buy anything there, but I did go to the grand Seiko boutique. in Tokyo and I, I bought a grand Seiko and I remember I was actually on the phone with Kashani cause I wanted to watch that we both would like and enjoy and wear, um, and center pictures and whatever. And it was a lovely experience. Now that was a retail experience that was really memorable because you know, they, they gave me a little small pot of green tea and I sat in a little private room and the woman was showing me watches. They, when I bought it, they wrapped it in this lovely, uh, of Japanese silk scarf, and it was very much a ceremony. It felt really, really nice. And although there's a watch I almost never wear, but it has a certain memory to it, so. That's great. Yeah, that's my only experience shopping for watches, but yeah.
Unknown Yeah, I think if I went to Tokyo, I would also attempt to bring home a Grand Seiko of some sort. Yeah. It feels like a fitting little thing to do for sure. Yeah. I'll get to Tokyo someday. Yeah. All right, you want to jump in on some final notes and put a bow on it?
Unknown Yeah, I've recently gotten hooked on uh, a series on Netflix called tour de France unchained. And it's, it was a French produced show, uh, about the tour de France, very much in the style of, uh, drive to survive the, the formula one show. And I think a while back you had posted another series about tennis. I can't remember what it was called. Match some match point match point. Um, which I haven't started, but I might even have that name wrong. I know there was a movie with Paul Bettany called match something. No tour de France unchained. It's that kind of insider look documentary series about the, I believe it's the 2022 tour de France. So last year, the big pro cycling race, uh, they follow closely a couple of riders and a couple of teams very much in the formula of, of drive to survive, um, kind of some talking head interviews interspersed with, you know, some dramatic footage from the race. And, uh, and they follow kind of the. ups and downs of various riders and injuries and, you know, bad days and good days and whatever. And, uh, sure. It's well done. It's really, uh, really good show. So if you're into, into cycling or even if you're just have a passing interest and like this sort of show, um, I, I do recommend it. I'm about halfway through it. So it's called tour de France unchained on Netflix.
Unknown Okay. And I did double check it's break point break point for everybody who's like James screaming at their, you know, like considering sending an email at the break point. Match point was a good movie too, I think. Paul Bettany and who's the woman?
Unknown Rachel McAdams? No, I can't remember. Oh, now we're going to get that wrong too.
Unknown 2005, Scarlett Johansson. Oh, okay. All right. Okay. I don't, I don't know. Woody Allen director. I didn't realize that was one of his.
Unknown Okay. Wait a minute. It wasn't Paul Bettany. It was Jonathan Reese Myers. Oh boy. We're okay. Better quit while we're here. Yeah.
Unknown I don't even think I can cut around all that. It's too integrated. Yeah, exactly.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown Alright, for my final note this week, it's travel themed and it's this spring bar tool that I've been carrying for several years. I wanna say 2013, 2014, it was like the press gift giveaway, give out thing at Baselworld from Tudor, was one of these little tools and it kinda looks like a long metal pill, like it's kinda pill shaped and it has these rubberized grip rings around it and each end has a cap that you unscrew and pull the tool head out, flip it around and screw the cap back on to secure it. So the one side's a fork, one side's a pin, it's just the right size, and as it turns out, the hood and key shop carries it. Oh, yeah. So theirs comes with a little brown leather case for it, but I've been using one of these long enough that the fork tip on the one end is worn down. Oh, sure. Just years and years of using it. I really like it, it's super useful. This is the one that if you want a travel tool to leave an adopt kit, this thing has never so much as gotten a second glance, it just kind of floats around in the bottom of of a little kit bag that I have, and I really like it. So that's the Hodinkee shop, the silver spring bar tool travel size for $45 includes a little leather case. And I think, uh, I, if I can't find the, the exact appropriate tip, I'll probably just buy another one at some point. Um, as I I've been super happy to have this nice and very appropriate for today's episode. Totally. Yeah. Well look, as always, thank you 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 yourself a new TGN signed and very travel-ready Greynado, please visit thegreynado.com. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive.
Unknown And we leave you with this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said, Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and make a trail.