The Grey NATO – 246 – Slack "Crew & A" #3
Published on Thu, 13 Jul 2023 06:00:00 -0400
Synopsis
Jason and James discuss plans for the upcoming Windup Watch Fair in Chicago, including doing a live podcast recording with the team from Worn & Wound, having office hours at the Citizen booth, and hosting a TGN meetup at Great Central Brewing. They reminisce about past Windup experiences and look forward to connecting with listeners in person.
They go through a series of questions submitted by listeners in the TGN Slack community, covering topics like unconventional uses for watch bezels, ideal guest interview subjects, packing strategies for travel, experiences that the podcast has inspired in listeners, and scenarios around forgetting to pack a watch. The questions spark entertaining discussions blending humor, personal anecdotes, and insights into their philosophy on watches, travel, and community-building.
Links
Transcript
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| Jason Heaton | 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 246, 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 yourself, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. Hey, Jason, how are we doing? So it's almost wind up. |
| James Stacey | It is almost wind up. I feel like we've been talking about this for months now. I'm ready to kind of, uh, you know, light the candle and get on with the show here. I think, uh, um, and I hate to be the one to, to, to, to say this, but, um, you know, when this episode goes up or, or this weekend, we are, we're halfway through summer, which is a really sad, sad state of affairs. I mean, I was thinking about that this morning. I got up and it's kind of, you know, we've had a hot summer, but I haven't minded it. I mean, compared to our everlasting winter. Yeah. I mean, just around here, I'm just, I'm just basking in it. Just kind of doing the usual summer stuff. I went kayaking over the weekend and I try to get out for walks and gardening and whatnot. So, um, Chicago feels like, uh, feels like it's become a summer tradition for us. |
| Jason Heaton | Totally. So that's going to be July 15th and 16th. We'll be camped out for office hours at the citizen booth on Saturday afternoon from two till four. Otherwise we're just gonna be kicking around the show. So if you see a couple of tall guys, it might be us. Uh, we might, we should be recognizable very, uh, with, with what we're wearing on our head. That should be kind of fun. Uh, we're also going to do a record. |
| James Stacey | That could be misinterpreted. I don't know. People are, people's imaginations are going to go wild. Yeah. |
| Unknown | Oh yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Like moose antlers or something. Exactly. Those ones that hold the beers with the straws. We're just going to have hats. If you see a couple of guys, tall guys in orange hats, it's probably us. Um, we're kind of showing off a new, a new thing at the show. More details on that soon. We're also going to be recording a live podcast at 2 p.m. with the folks from WarnerWound. But the big news is we're throwing a TGN meetup with Citizen Saturday evening. That's the 15th as after windup closes for the day, 630 to 830 at Great Central Brewing. Come hang out with us and Citizen. Grab a beer. We're working on a little a few different options for bites. Haven't sorted out all that yet, but it'll be good. We're going to have a great time. You don't have to RSVP. You can show up, hang out, have a beer, say hi, and carry on with your evening, of course. And so we're really pumped for that. And, uh, yeah, by the time this episode goes live, I'll, uh, I'll be, you know, packing a backpack and making sure, uh, camera batteries charged. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I mean, I feel like it's going to come and go very quickly. I think, you know, we've got a pretty packed schedule. I'm, I'm doing some diving on Saturday morning with a small group and then, and then off to the show. And then, um, it's going to be fun to, to kind of be camped out at the citizen booth. You know, last year we had our own, booth at the show, which, which was great. We got to meet a lot of people, but, um, our attentions were pulled in multiple directions. And I don't feel like we got time to say hi to as many people as I would have liked to. So hopefully that gives us kind of a grounding and a place to kind of camp out for people to come and say hello. And then we'll also have time to go visit some of our other chums over at, at some of the other brands. So should be, uh, should be great. And then, yeah, we're recording on, on Sunday at two o'clock with, uh, with the guys from worn and wound, which is, uh, they're always fun to hang around with. |
| Jason Heaton | Totally. Yeah. I'm looking forward to all of that. It's going to be a good time. What else is new? How, how, how has your last week been? |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Not as busy as yours. As you said, you've been moving. I've been just, you know, doing stuff around here. Um, you know, tinkering around in the garden and I took the roof rack off the defender for the, the road trip, hoping to, to gain a few miles per gallon. Sure. I mean, you know, you mentioned our mysterious, uh, headwear at, at windup. Well, uh, we kind of got the final piece delivered here for our upcoming summer merchandise bundle. which we'll be announcing probably a week or two after we get back from windup and ready to, to ship those out. I think people are going to be really, really excited to see what we've got. I'm excited for this, this particular bundle. |
| Jason Heaton | We've got some cool stuff, but it's always a good sign when it's something that you and I want. And like the last piece came in today, what I've alluded to came in today or recently and you sent me a photo today and I'm so pumped. I immediately showed it to my wife. She's like, you got to bring me back one. So it's some good stuff. It's a little bit late as far as summer goes, but it does are kind of our, we'll call it a mid year drop. Yeah. And it's going to be useful year round. There's also like a few little other touch points that, that we're kind of excited about. So stay tuned for that. And if you catch up with us at windup, you'll get a little bit of a sneak preview there. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. And then you've been busier than me on the home front. You moved. You're in a whole new place now, right? |
| Jason Heaton | I moved. Yeah. We're in a new spot, different part of Toronto, kind of a different part of town than we were in previously. A little bit more space, which includes, like I said on the last episode, I've got an office now. I'm recording that office. I think the audio here is going to be good. There's no weird hiss. So I'm actually sitting at my desk, two monitors, comfortable chair. I'm in the basement. So the AC is working and functional, but is not in the rest of the house. Currently we're working on that problem as well. It's been a very hot week. It's going to be nice to kind of lock the door and go to Chicago and be like, all right, my problems will be there when I get back. But looking forward to it, the new offices is great. I've ordered a few things for the setup. We got some feedback that people wanted to hear about the new setup. It's in a very preliminary phase enough that I can sit at my desk and use it. The only piece of tech I've added so far, I have some other stuff coming later today, but I went out and picked up a CalDigit TS4. It's a Thunderbolt 4 dock. Yeah. So it's this metal box, not much bigger than say a portable hard drive or an external hard drive. And it has like, you know, 20 some odd ports. So it has one cable that goes to my laptop and charges it, but it takes both of my 27 inch 4k monitors. It takes all my hard drives. It's currently running the audio interface to the headphones and my microphone. It's a piece of kit that's been on my hypothetical list since they launched it a little over a year ago, or maybe even almost two years ago now. But at the time, you couldn't buy them. They were so hard to get that they were actually publishing a schedule on CalDigit's website of when they would be shipping new ones to various retailers. Yeah. They've caught up on that element. And then of course the last little while I haven't really had my own desk. I was sharing a desk with my wife and we didn't have the big monitors. And if you're not going to do the monitors, you don't need a Thunderbolt four doc, et cetera. So the other one I'm really jacked for is like a new mic arm, you know, like the whole purpose of having the desk and that sort of thing is for mostly for recording and editing the show. And I guess for photos to a certain extent, but the mic arm will be a big ad as well. I'm pumped for it. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I'm getting jealous. I, I want to see some photos. We both have battled that, that weird electrical interference issue that, that you had first. And then I had, so I've been, I'm sitting on a much smaller desk and in a not very comfortable chair in a different room in the house. And so I haven't sorted out my, my recording scenario, uh, quite yet, but, uh, but yeah, I'm happy for you. I think, uh, I think I, and many people that listen would love to see some photos once you get that all tuned up. |
| Jason Heaton | Absolutely. We're going to do that either, either via the Slack or maybe, maybe we'll do a little story and publish it to the sub stack just so people could reference it later. The, you know, the, I'm going to be, I'm putting it out there because I've done some test recordings and I can't hear a hiss or a buzz or the problems we were having previously. But if it ends up being there, I'm going to be very sad. I'm hoping it's okay. I can hear a bit of an echo in this recording. I have, I'm working on a few different options for isolating the sound. Uh, it's not a big room, but of course, like aside from a carpet, it's just drywall. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. We can call it reverb or auto tuned or something like that. |
| Jason Heaton | Sure. Consider it intentional, but we'll see. Uh, if this episode sounds a little weird, please know that I'll be improving it over the next several episodes until it's, uh, you know, I'm, I'm still shooting for perfect. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. My brain is a little bit fried. I might be a little bit tired. I went to Rolex today and saw the new, uh, Daytona, the Lamar. Uh, Daytona. |
| James Stacey | Oh man. There's a, there's a, a unicorn, huh? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. The only one in Canada, they don't expect to get many this year. Uh, it's an exceedingly rare watch. Uh, but the moment, literally the moment it was released, I was writing the story and quickly opened up my Gmail and fired off an email to, uh, the folks at Rolex Canada just saying like, Hey, if one comes through the office, give me 20 minutes with it. And they were more than kind to say, Hey, we won. We probably won't get another, uh, anytime soon. So, pretty cool watch. I mean, I think if you're a Daytona guy, it's like crazy cool. Um, you know, I've never been the most ardent Daytona fan, but if I, if I was in that world, this is the coolest modern day. Uh, this is the coolest modern Daytona for me. I love the throwback to the Paul Newman. Yeah. I like the red accents. I love that it's white gold. Obviously it's like not a watch you or I are ever going to own, but it's kind of a cool thing to experience. |
| James Stacey | Right. Yeah, that's awesome. And, uh, you know, I guess if I did have one, I'd have to throw it on like a bund strap or something and go full, full Newman. Wouldn't that be cool? |
| Jason Heaton | I think that's a great option. Yeah. Yeah. Suddenly a bund makes sense to me. Yeah. Right. You pay so much money for that white gold bracelet and then just throw it on a $200 leather strap. Right. But yeah, stay tuned to Hodinkee for that. I don't know that I'm writing the story. We haven't decided yet, but there'll be my photos. So that should be up probably within a couple of days of this episode. So cool. If that's a watch that you'd wanted to see kind of more of and sort of non press images, there's, that'll be your chance. Nice. Speaking of watches, we want to get into some risk check. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I'm guessing you didn't make it home with the, with the Daytona on. So what are you wearing? |
| Jason Heaton | No, I tried my best to, you know, like Tom Cruise slide a hand, but it didn't work out with the knock list there, but. Pelagos 39, I took a meeting at Rolex. I mean, I'm not going to wear something else. And I have a bunch of my watches still in storage from the move. Oh, sure. So they're just somewhere safe. So I didn't have to worry about them during the day that we were moving. Yeah. And that sort of thing. So, yeah, just the Pelagos. The only watches that I didn't kind of box up and put away somewhere, like I said, somewhere kind of secure is the Pelagos and the Apple Watch. It's great. It's really just become my everyday thing. And, you know, looking at A month today going diving. So pretty pumped to get that thing underwater and that sort of thing. Still have to pick a spot to go diving for that vacation. But you know, looking at the eastern side of Central America. So we're maybe figuring that out tonight. We'll see. Nice. Awesome. How about you? |
| James Stacey | I've got an Aqualand on. So this is a Citizen Aqualand. This is from the mid 80s. So it's my old one that I've had for quite a while. And you know, I figured befitting our collaboration with Citizen this weekend at Windup. I pulled it out a few days ago and I've just been wearing it quite a bit. Um, it's, it's become kind of a nice grab and go. I mean, look here, I don't need to justify it to you. You're a big Aqualan fan as well. Um, so yeah, that's what I've, I've got on. It's on that sort of overly stiff original, uh, Citizen strap with the no deco limits on printed on the side, which is, uh, which is always fun. And you know, when I'm struck by with this watch and so few, Other brands do this. I've seen a few Seiko's with this, but the keepers are metal, you know, the strap keepers. And it makes so much sense. I mean, they pinch sometimes. I sometimes get like some wrist hair or something caught in it when I'm feeding it. But other than that, like you can't break them. And keepers are often the part of a strap that just rips when somebody's kind of unthreading or threading a strap over and over again. |
| Jason Heaton | And depending on the rubber and its age, it doesn't rub against itself well. So you end up forcing it, which puts more stress on the old keeper. The metal makes a lot of sense. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So what we always liked about those, uh, the, the, um, Bonetto Centurini rubber Nados was that they had metal hardware. So just like threading it was nice and easy. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | All right. That's a good one for sure. Well, today we, um, we, uh, we should get into our main topic and, and we're kind of revisiting something we've done a couple of, uh, in the past few months and, This was our, what we're calling the crew at crew and a, um, this is part three and, and we'd kind of done this out of necessity back, uh, starting at episode 230 when we were sort of a little short of ideas for a topic. And we reached out to our loyal and vocal, uh, slack, uh, community, uh, and kind of just ask for some questions and boy, did we get a lot of them, huh? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, exactly. So we do the monthly Q and a, which I think a lot of people know about if you pay the $5 or the annual fee, you get a monthly Q and a episode. We'll call it mostly monthly. I'm late on them always, but you get 12 a year and those are all in audio. But what we found is like, not everybody wants to record their voice and send it in and then wait for it to hit an episode. So we thought this was a little bit more like instant gratification. It turns out we got more questions than we expected. Yeah. Uh, so we've just been keeping a file and I think, uh, Jason, is this the last bulk of them? It is. It'll take us three episodes to get through 50 ish questions or whatever it was. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. And I'm not even sure we're going to make it through all of these. I mean, I think we, we, we managed to hit about 10, so we might, we might still have one more, uh, beyond this one, but we'll see. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So we'll definitely see. I think the idea with these is in some scenarios where it's appropriate, we can go a little bit faster through the answer. Obviously I'm not known for my brevity. That's why I got into podcasting. But yeah, I'm excited to get into these. A huge thank you to the Slack crew for throwing out the questions. Why don't we kick this one off with one from Ian R. who says, I'm curious about what unconventional uses you have found for your bezels, chronometers, dive timers, decompression scales, etc. I'm sure that many of us have timed an espresso shot or the seeping of a tea or maybe even pre soaking laundry. But what are the most out there uses that you found? I bring this up after discussion about using a decompression scale to decompress, that's in quotations, after a stressful day at work, treating the stress level as a depth of a dive. I like that. That's a, that's kind of a fun idea. I like that. Yeah. How about you, Jason? Have you ever timed anything really crazy or, or found a special use for a bezel? |
| James Stacey | Sadly, I really haven't. I was, I was racking my brain. You know, I, I, I've never owned a, um, a Breitling Navitimer, but, and I think part of the reason I haven't is because I always felt like if I owned that watch, I would have to be able to explain, or at least use the slide rule bezel, which to me seems like the most versatile, um, kind of tool watch bezel that, that you can, you can get beyond, you know, just a elapsed time thing. Um, but you know, I even wrote a story about it on gear patrol and I still don't understand how to use that slide rule bezel. Um, so anyway, that's beside the point, but you know, other than using just a dive bezel for, you know, how long a loaf of bread's in the oven or steeping tea. Um, or, or, you know, what, I think the length of a TGN episode or whatever. Um, I I've never really used it for anything that's really out there, but I'm loving this decompression scale idea. Um, maybe, maybe it's the Aqua star or something like that to figure out how long it would take after a particularly difficult day or, or something, but, uh, no, I, I can't think of anything. How about you? |
| Jason Heaton | No, I mean, these days, the dive bezel is set to, you know, pip at eight. Little shout out to the crew with that one. I guess that's not really a function, but it does make me think of all of you, which is fine. I think, you know, maybe the closest I've come to using it for something entirely different was I have used a 12 hour bezel to time a very long flight. Oh, like like a flight that I knew was nine hours. And you could put the 12 at the hour of the starting and you essentially have an hour roughly an hour resolution chronograph, which I find super handy. It's one of my, the other like kind of pocket benefits of a 12 hour bezel. Obviously the second time zone is, is the kind of core there, but it also makes for an immediate chronograph based on the hour hand. And if you just want to know, like, you know, the flight is nine hours or nine hours and change, and you just want to be able to wake up in the middle of the night and look and not have to do a bunch of math. The hour hand will point to the elapsed hour. So you'll wake up on a flight, you know, to, Europe or whatever and go, Oh, there it is. So it's, I'm, I'm, I've got three hours left. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | I like pretty handy. Yeah. I'm going to steal that. That's a good one. |
| Jason Heaton | Not anywhere near as creative as a decompression stress bezel, which I like quite a bit. And thank you so much for that. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Next up, we've got one from Matt M uh, who has a simple question. What if we had a dream show guests? So, you know, our TGN chat episodes or interview episodes, um, who would those guests be? And he asks for one living and one deceased. What do you think? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Deceased would be Bourdain, I think. Yeah. I think I, I almost wouldn't have given that answer when he was alive, but with his passing, I think I learned so much more about him and I still haven't watched the documentary. I heard it's pretty hard to watch, but I have gone back with my wife and really dug into a lot of his past work. I think that would be the one because I think he would understand why we love some dumb stuff. He loves some dumb stuff as well. Like stuff I say dumb, like watches don't actually matter. Right. Yeah. But it's about the culture, the people, the stories, the experiences behind it. I think he would get the TGN vibe. And I think he was a pretty like, sure, he wasn't out climbing mountains. And there was definitely a couple of seasons of no reservations where he probably couldn't have run up a set of stairs. But I think he had the spirit of an adventure. He just took his adventure in a different mode than climbing a mountain or taking a camera into a war zone. Like he had that itch. And I think, I think that would be mine if he had passed. If I could, you know, if you could have a chance to chit chat with him, I think there's something, and he comes up in a question later on in the episode as well. Yeah. So I don't think I'm alone in thinking that. How about you, if we start with the deceased, who would you pick from that? |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I mean, you know, I was, I was thinking about how far back could we go. I mean, it could be like William Shakespeare or something, but. |
| Jason Heaton | Shackleton was the big one on my list as well. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Shackleton was high on my list. But I was thinking about Ian Fleming. I was thinking about, um, you know, he, he had a very interesting life, um, and certainly was a, a, a, a flawed character as was Bourdain, um, uh, in, in various ways, but, but lived life fully and, and did a lot of different things. He seems like he was a, well, he was a very good storyteller, um, both in his career as a novelist. And then even before that, when he was working for, um, naval intelligence during world war II and. You know, he just, he kind of had a flair for, for, for life and, and enjoyed a lot of the same things that I do. And, um, you know, I just love to kind of pick his brain about, you know, both kind of his, his methods for, for writing and how he came up with some of the things that he did, but also, um, you know, just, just talk to him about like the different inspirations and different things that he wished he could have done differently, you know, whether or not you're doing it retrospectively and speaking through some sort of a seance retrospectively and looking back and at a life that's gone by, or if he's someone that somehow was still alive, I think he would just be an interesting person to chat with. Yeah. I think that's a great pick. |
| Jason Heaton | How about someone who's living? I had two in my mind, but like I said, I'm a little fried from moving and both of them have slipped my mind. If you could go first, I'll catch up. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're right. This was a tough one because I feel like we've interviewed a lot of like serious heroes. I mean, we've had Lauren Ballesta and Sylvia Earl and I mean, Don Walsh and whatever. Amazing. And I think still pinching myself. Yeah. And I actually think that the person I'm going to mention, we potentially could get probably through a watch brand ambassador connection if we really tried hard. I'm not sure if we will or would, but, um, I'm going to go with Mike Horn. Oh yeah. You know, I was, I was debating whether it would be someone kind of big in the exploration and adventure space or if it would be, you know, someone in the arts or, or whatever, but I I'm always fascinated by him. And, and, you know, we did this interview with Borga Usland, um, over the winter and, and the two of them had done that winter crossing of, of the Arctic ocean. And, and I think Mike's perspective, at least, you know, judging by how Borga was talking about their kind of different ways of coming at things. I think Mike would have a very different perspective. He strikes me as a more of a, well, he strikes me as less. of kind of a meticulous planner than Borger. And I could be completely wrong, but he, every time I see his pictures or the stuff he's doing, he just seems like he just jumps into stuff and he, he can do so many things. I mean, this guy did. Swam or bodyboarded down the whole length of the Amazon. He's, you know, circumnavigated the world using sailboat and human power and, you know, kite skiing. And, um, you know, he's done climbing and I mean, the, the, the guy's just unstoppable and he's, know, I think he's close to 10 years older than me, which is humbling and incredible. And, um, I just think, you know, I, I don't want to do this, uh, chat with him over zoom. I want to like sit down with the guy made preferably on the deck of his sailboat, you know, with a beer in hand, if he drinks or whatever it might be a cup of tea or coffee or whatever, and just, just chat for hours and just hopefully have a microphone going and just, just capture all that. I think it'd be great. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And I think, I think that last part is, is the part that hits me the most, where we've now had the experience with Con Canon and with Walsh where you go, wait, but one hour isn't enough. Yeah. Yeah. Like I, yeah. I want to be on a boat with someone where they can't really get away. Yeah. Yeah. And they got to talk to me at some point. Yeah. Yeah. I think like a Mike Horn would be insane to have a series because he's got too much to talk about. Yeah. which is what we've learned with several of our guests, not just the guys that I rattled off previously. But yeah, I agree. Those are great picks. The one that was in my mind first that jumped to my mind is John Krakauer. Oh, sure. Yeah. I have a million questions. I think it would actually be like a very difficult interview for me to do. I feel like I know Krakauer in some way. I've read everything he's written that I've ever been able to find. And For our world, I feel like he's the Chuck Klosterman where he's been around long enough to start off as something of a dilettante and become an expert through speaking with people at the absolute peak of their power. And I would love, again, I don't want an hour with John Krakauer. I want a week. It'd be so tough. And then the other one that comes to mind is Ed Visters. who I think we could probably get. That'd be a little scary for me. He was something of a hero of mine, remains a hero of mine. His perspective on stuff I find really fascinating. If you haven't read No Shortcuts to the Top, I think it should be in that like 10 books about mountaineering and alpinism. That's worth considering because it's this very like modern American perspective on something that didn't really come out of America, alpinism. But he comes at it with this like level of postmodern pragmatism that I find really kind of exceptional. Yeah. And of course, you know, where war, uh, an explorer to polar dial. That's why I have one. If I've ever been influenced by somebody and I would say, I would go to the extent that like, if I didn't, if, if my life had been different and I hadn't had kids when I did, I probably would have tried my hand at a few pretty serious peaks because of reading his stuff and knowing that like with a certain amount of rules that, you know, the, the, the one that's repeated throughout his book is going up is optional coming down as mandatory. And it saved him a couple of times, probably more than a couple. Yeah. I just say a huge fan. I would love to have him on a show or 10 shows someday in the future. Like we've said with these other guys. Yeah. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Good picks. I mean, I mean, never say never. I think, I think the people we mentioned, um, you know, one day let's, uh, let's aim for it. It'd be cool. |
| Jason Heaton | Totally. Yeah. Thank you very much for that question, Matt M. That was awesome. Next up, let's get to one from Ben E. who says, my question would be regarding getting older and dealing with wearing reading glasses or a decline in vision. This may apply more to Jason than James. Do you find your tastes have changed in watches? Do you ever bother with a date that you can't really see? How much does dial legibility really matter to you? I find myself being drawn to simple, easily readable watches such as the Pelagos, Seiko divers, big sword hands, et cetera. What do you think, Jason? I don't know that you've ever complained to me about your eyesight. |
| James Stacey | Well, I mean, you know, I've had the good fortune of having the same prescription in my glasses since I first got them back when I was 20. I mean, every time I go to get them checked, it never changes. And that's, so I'm, what would they say? I'm nearsighted. So my correction is for distance. Having said that, I'm noticing that my reading is declining a bit, my nearsighted vision. So I do find that that small chronograph sub dials are getting a little tricky. And then what I really noticed, gosh, I was borrowing a friend's world timer a while back and the little cities, I mean the city names were getting a little tricky. And I thought to myself, I think world timers might be off my list now. I don't think I can, I don't think I could, I could handle that anymore. Um, But, you know, fortunately I've always gravitated towards dive watches, which are legible just by definition. I mean, you know, um, especially no date divers. I mean, it's, it's big hands, big markers, everything glows at night, um, oversized watches. So it has less to do with kind of getting older and declining vision as it is just my, my taste in watches in general has kind of led to, to dive watches, which, um, which are more legible. Um, do you have any problems with, uh, with, you know, dates or, you know, do you have a, need for a magnifying date or that sort of thing? |
| Jason Heaton | No. Uh, as far as my senses go, I, the, the two that I rely on the most is I have fairly good, um, like motor skills, fine motor skills. I don't have, if you've ever seen me attempt any sports, you'll know. I don't have great what they call a macro motor skills. I don't know. Like hand-eye coordination. I'm really good doing really fine tasks. Um, and my eyesight is still really good, but I will say that what I've noticed in the last decade, I actually, I fatigue. is a huge problem for me. Oh yeah. I will go to do something. I'm trying to think of an example and I'll realize like, Oh, I'm, I feel kind of bleary if that's a term that people understand, but it's not first thing in the morning. I'm not rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. My eyes are just tired and I'll wake up the next morning and it'll be, you know, nice and sharp and everything's good and all that kind of thing. But I noticed that I fatigue way more in my now late thirties, which is a bummer to say, I guess, Your post about getting old, being cool made me feel better. I've read that, I think like three times, that like it's cooler to be old. But yeah, I think that I noticed the fatigue way more than I used to. Yeah. But yeah, I think it's an interesting question, the eyesight thing, because I think it is something that you know, like when I recommend a watch to my father, I like to recommend like a big dive watch or a very clear dive watch. Um, but otherwise I think the rest of it was just me rambling, you know, perfect Q and a fodder. It's something I think about more like maybe every, maybe this is the same for everybody. I'm sure I'm no different, not special in any way, but like, did you think about being, getting old until like before 35? |
| James Stacey | Nope. No. I mean, even in the, into my forties, I mean, early forties are like prime of life. That's like the best. And I don't know, I, I don't think about it much. Although I do find that in conversations with people of my age, the same, topics get dredged up almost immediately. It's like, I've got tennis elbow and my knee is sore and you know, I'm sleeping more or less or you know, what works and what doesn't and all that stuff. And maybe we just talk about it more as we get older, but I know I'm still feeling pretty good. I mean, but the, the, the reading glasses thing is getting a little annoying because I find that even when I'm changing a strap on a watch now, I have reading glasses close at hand just for the kind of fine fiddly stuff. Um, But you know, I'm not to the point where I'm like wearing them around a chain around my neck. So I'm, I'm fighting tooth and nail to, to avoid that for. |
| Jason Heaton | That's also kind of a cool look though. Yeah. Out there by the defender with the, with the, the little glasses, I don't know, glasses. I think I've always thought like, cause I was a kid, I thought glasses look good. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | I should start thinking about the strategy for what kind of reading glasses I should wear. Maybe it's, I don't want to go bifocals, but I'm thinking like that kind that like they separate at the bridge at the nose and then they're like kind of clipped together. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, sure. Yeah. I've seen people wearing those. Like kind of an architect. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Those are pretty wild. |
| Jason Heaton | But anyway. Or like, I guess the, where did I see those glasses a bunch? Oh, that, did you watch that? We'll talk about a derivation. Did you watch that documentary about the guy who tried to sue Pepsi for a Harrier jump jet? Yeah. Yeah. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So there was a, there was like more than one, which I feel like is a lot. There was more than one lawyer. in this episode who had those glasses that you disconnect and drop down onto your, kind of your, your clavicle. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I feel like maybe you get into racquetball and you're okay with those glasses. Like you're a certain aged guy who's like professional. You're playing racquetball a couple of days a week to, you know, blow off a little steam and you get it in those glasses. I'm not sure. I'm making a lot of assumptions here. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Right. Right. It's a fun question though. |
| Jason Heaton | For sure. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Yeah. Fun where these questions lead. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | All right. That's a cool documentary too. I'll put it in the show notes. That is a good one. Yeah. All right. |
| James Stacey | We've got, we've got one from Scott. Let's see where this question goes. As the watch nerd world clamors for both smaller and thinner watches, along with the cyclical fashion trends and re-emergence of 90s style, do you see this as the time for a renewed appreciation in peak Tag Heuer compared to vintage pre-Tag Heuer? He's talking about six feature watches, like the 6000, the SEL, the 1000, et cetera. 90s tag would also include the first Carrera 1964 reissue and the first Monaco reissue. He goes on to say prices are incredibly low, sizing is pretty unisex by today's standards, and he believes they used Etta or Solita movements with 200 meters of water resistance. They seem largely forgotten in a market looking for the next arbitrage moment. James, what do you think? I mean, should we be looking at 90s tag Heuer? Do you like any of those? |
| Jason Heaton | I think that 90s watches in general are going to become more and more of a vibe. whether it's Tag Heuer or Breitling or IWC or, you know, smaller tutors, stuff like that. But I think what people want when they ask, and Scott, I'm not saying this is what you want, but we hit, these questions are like common. The like, is this the next steel Rolex? Yeah. Is this the next mid-century Rolex? And I think the differentiating factor is there's a cool element and then there's a collectability element. |
| Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| Jason Heaton | And when we talk 90s, we're into watches that were much less of a collectible element than they were in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Quartz changed a little bit of the playing field. And I think with a lot of these watches, if they're actually rare, then yes. But whether or not these will become cool really depends on a lot of things, because I would say we're not at a point where the people the human element of the nineties has become cool. Yeah. When I say Daytona, I don't even have to tell you the other person's name. Right. Right. Or if I say Submariner, you can think of four or five fellows from roughly the mid century, mid century plus that wore it. I think that these are great watches. These nineties tags, there's a bunch in there that are fun for sure. Whether or not I think they'll explode. I think not. It ultimately comes down to, you need all of the boxes checked. the watch has to be good. It has to have been at one point underappreciated like a Royal Oak, right? And people think that the Royal Oak was underappreciated for from 1972 to 1976, but that's not really the case. It was underappreciated until about 15 years ago. And then it was less underappreciated six years ago. Like it takes a really long time. And I think while 90 style is somewhat coming back, the, And some of the aesthetics, even of the early two thousands, we're starting to see again. I don't know that that's actually a resurgence of nineties overall nineties product and shape and style and form as much as it is a response to the sort of web 3.0 aesthetic, the what's called sometimes called airspace, you know, where you have a polished concrete floor, you know, a table in light wood or white marble, a snake plant. I think everything is a response to something else. Right. Yeah. And I'm not a design theorist. I could be dead wrong. And I'd be more than happy for someone to send me an article to read up on. But this is something, Scott, that I'm kind of fascinated with. And I think you might be, too, by asking this question. I think these watches are rad. I think they're going to be collectible within a certain small sphere. Are they going to hit the the peaks of like steel Rolex where crypto guys were buying stuff they didn't understand? No, I don't think so. And even if you just look like, why hasn't 20, why hasn't 2010 to 2015 IWC exploded? Incredible watches, undervalued, really great design, nicely made, solid brand, all that kind of stuff. And I think you need more than just a great product, right? You have a cool cycle. right? Where something is cool when it comes out, it hits market, it saturates, it becomes not cool. Then it leaves the market entirely as a, as a secondary product. And then it starts an arc back up to being cool. You see this a lot in cars. We definitely have seen in watches, cars and watches have two entirely different arcs for something like this. The interesting thing is on is when you hit a new height on a cool cycle, quality almost doesn't matter. |
| Unknown | Mm. |
| Jason Heaton | Right? Like people love old alpha Romeos. It's not because they're well-made. You know what I mean? Yeah. Same with Land Rovers. Exactly. Or in some cases it's not even because they drive well. Yeah. Yeah. So I think it's, it's difficult to predict, but that's kind of my thinking on it, which is maybe a very complicated answer. I think these will be popular, but the fact that other nineties haven't popped, even some five digit Rolexes are starting to get really soft, right? Like some nineties Rolexes, early two thousands Rolexes. I don't know that we're going to see some crazy spike as much as we might see a trend. They might be trendy, that sort of thing. |
| James Stacey | What do you think, Jason? Yeah, I think, I think you're right. And I actually hope that, I hope that they don't become overly collectible because I think they, they provide a great value at their current pricing and kind of accessibility. And the same goes for kind of Omegas from that era, that, that sort of nineties, you know, Pierce Brosnan, Bond, Seamaster stuff like those watches, like, I think they've gone up a bit, but they're still accessible and they're still incredibly great watches, as I can attest to with the 2254 that almost never leaves my wrist these days. And I think the same goes for the tags of that era. I will say, though, that in terms of styling, I don't think a lot of the tags from that era have aged as well. And that could just be my own aesthetic taste. But even if you look at 90s Breitling, I think... They definitely are of the era, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I think they feel like, you know, I had a 90 alpha spider. You brought up alpha Romeo and you know, alpha spiders were cool cars from way back, but you know, mine was a 90, which meant it had the big kind of American bumpers and then it had a lot of plastic on the inside. So, you know, the body shape was great, retained a lot of that kind of classic alpha spider look. But then I think it was a less desirable era just because of, you know, how they kind of Change the inside with, you know, the vinyl seats and the, and the lot of plastic around the dash and things like that. And I kind of get that feeling with, with Tag Heuer from the nineties, you know, that it was kind of a mishmash of two-tone and rider tabs and Mercedes handsets and kind of weird, lumpy looking bracelets. And if that's your, your style, there's a lot of it available nowadays. I think for me, like, you know, Scott, you mentioned the kind of first reissue of, of the Carrera and, and Gishani actually got one from. one of those from that era, uh, from a friend and we still have it actually. It's with another friend of ours now, but it had a beautiful mother of Pearl dial, but it was the classic two sub dial layout, um, Carrera in the small size, like a 36 millimeter case, beautiful watch. Um, and if you can find those, they're cool. Personally, I would love, um, a super professional, the, the dive watch they made, um, kind of one of the earliest tag Hoyer dive watches that came after, um, they changed from Hoyer. Um, just a really, really cool, kind of insider, uh, cult dive watch. So there are some gems out there and, and if they don't become collectible, well, they'll always be accessible. Hopefully. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Solid question, Scott. Thanks very much for that. Uh, next up, we're going to jump into one from Jake TS who says, I know it's hard to rethink products that you like into something that doesn't exist, but you're both bag people were mean bags of carrying things, backpacks, that sort of thing. What's one thing that you wish existed in a bag that you've never seen before or that you wish could be imported into your favorite bag from another design that didn't land for you? And anything hit you on this one, Jason? |
| James Stacey | I feel like I'm pretty well set for backpacks. I've got a lot of them and most of them kind of suit their purpose for me. One style of bag that I like that I wish I could use more is I have this really cool, I guess it goes by a number of names, but like a hold all. Or, you know, like a, a pilot's kit bag or something, you know, where it's just two looped handles, zipper, um, kind of one big compartment in the middle. Oh, like an overnight bag. Yeah. Like an overnight bag. But I find that, um, as good looking as a lot of the offerings are, they all tend to be made of leather or canvas or canvas and leather. Um, and they ended up being so heavy on their own. And then once you start putting stuff in them, they're just too heavy to, I talked about getting old and having you know, chronic tennis elbow. And it's like, if you're carrying a bag like that, that's just, you know, it weighs 25 pounds or whatever, because of the bag itself. And then whatever you're carrying for an overnight trip, um, it's kind of a pain and you're lugging it through an airport. You're getting all sweaty and your arms getting sore. Um, I would love to see a bag like that, like that style made of a lighter weight material. I'm not sure what that would be. Um, maybe it could be something like X-PAC or, yeah, or Dyneema or, or whatever. Um, Uh, and then maybe throw in a kind of a small interior pocket for some organization for smaller stuff, which I think a lot of them lack. But I think I'd love to see that kind of bag come back and more of a modernized form, because I do like that. I do like that style. I'm not a huge fan of, and we, there's a question later, I'm not sure if we'll get to it today, but about travel and about packing. And I think, you know, as, as much as I'd dislike the idea of roller bags, they're incredibly practical and, and there's, there's definitely a place for them. Um, and this is one of those is kind of the overnight or two night trip where you don't want to take a lot, but I don't want to, you know, wear out my arm or shoulder carrying something that's just too heavy. So anyway, that's, that's kind of my, my bit of a ramble on that. What, what about you? What, any thoughts on, on bags? |
| Jason Heaton | I don't know if I've ever come across anything that like doesn't exist in a bag. Um, Maybe it's just because I've bought so many and kind of messed around with so many different bags. But I think, yeah, I don't know that I have a vastly different answer than you did, Jason. In my mind, the ideal is when you have a certain format, like I love my GR1, my GORUCK, but it's a little on the heavy side. And I would love to see it combined somewhat closer to the aesthetic of something from Filson, but maybe in a lighter material. And I know that now we're cross, like, I'm talking about making a flower that doesn't exist here, right? Because the go-ruck is kind of heavy. Filson's kind of heavy. I just love that it zips all the way open and you can just like open it up like a suitcase. Yeah. Which is really handy. It's just a big open piece of space. And then I had a Filson and I really liked it, but it was just kind of a heavy bag. But also in talking about this, like I do wonder, like if you had a lightweight Filson, would it just be like formless? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I've wondered that too, right? Like just sort of, you know, floppy, like, like carrying an empty parachute or something. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Um, I mean the, the goal, the one, the bag that I use the most these days is something similar to a tote. So I have the Toppo gear patrol collab bag, which is a, an everyday backpack, but it also has tote straps. And I really like that if you want to have it under your arm when you're on the subway, that sort of thing. But In my mind, there's not necessarily anything that just flat out doesn't exist. I have a, I have a nice little bag from peak design that I've talked about several times in recent episodes. That's like a packable tote. I would love, that's like a $30 thing. I would love the like $150 version of that, whether it's made out of Dyneema, maybe it has some sort of an internal loop system, like a, like Molly on the inside. Mm-hmm. where I could clip a few things in place. So I knew where stuff was, but that's sort of like option of having a super lightweight bag that I can put, I can fold up kind of like a paper bag and put in my camera bag when I go to a new city. Yeah. And then I can put one camera in there, a few other things, have it all kind of organized. Like I said, maybe there's a structure, a spine of some sort, a hard bottom. There's a few different ways of thinking about it, but I think that's the only one that I would kind of reach out and go like, Oh, that's kind of what I would like to experience. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I think that's where we land on that one, Jake. Thank you so much for the question. Of course, the bags are a going concern, and it's mostly just a problem of self-control not to try another one. I'm really happy with the combo of the three or four bags that I've got currently, which is working out pretty well. Next up, let's hit one from Andy Lombard, who says, Are there any jumping minutes watches? I know of jumping hours and seconds, but what about minutes? Would like that to set the time? Actually, Andy, there are several. Jason, any, any for you come to mind immediately or, or like me, did you kind of have to Google to find a little list? |
| James Stacey | I'm glad you have some options because I came up empty. What, what, what did you find? |
| Jason Heaton | Okay. So the only one that I could think of immediately is the Lange Zeitwerk, which is a jumping for both. It's double digital as, as I believe they call it. Yep. Okay. There was a special edition IWC tribute to, and I'm going to get this wrong, Paul Weber or Paul Weber. I'm not sure. Oh, but that's an insanely cool watch that nobody talks about. It's from 2017. Really cool. And it has hours and minutes in digital format, hand wound. It's probably big, but very cool. |
| James Stacey | Oh yeah. I know that one. Yeah. Right. Right. |
| Jason Heaton | And then the only other one that I've seen in person, and it was the first one that I remembered, was the FP Jorn, which I believe is the Vagabond or maybe even called the Vagabondage. I'm not sure. The 1, 2, and 3, those had digital, at least a couple of those had digital minutes as well, which is a cool feature, but it's digital. So it's not really a hand jumping. Outside of that, nothing leaps to mind. Maybe that Genta that they turned into the Mickey Mouse one, that might've been jumping for the hand for the minutes. But it's dual retrograde for the date as well. But yeah, I think the ones that come to mind for me are all digital minutes and then that's jumping. So I would check out that IWC and certainly the Longa Zeitwerk comes to mind. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Andy, if you've got the budget for the Zeitwerk, go for it. |
| Jason Heaton | Lumen. Get on the list for the Lumen. Oh, yep. There you go. I think they're about two years behind on deliveries for those. Next up, let's hit one from James Vincent, who says, budget, no concern. Where would you hold the first TGN global meetup and what activities will we do? And he added, let's say all the cruise travel budgets were covered as well. So it could literally be anywhere. Jason, you want to go first on this or you want me to ramble on a bit? |
| James Stacey | Oh, man. I mean, you know, my first one is it's obvious. I've got two. I've got a bit more realistic one. And then I've got kind of the dream one. The dream one would be bring everyone over to Sri Lanka. And, um, Oh, cool. You know, there's just no end to the stuff that we could do. They're very, all very TGN, you know, there's the scuba diving and, and safaris and, and plenty of hiking in the jungle and exploring ancient ruins. And certainly in the city, there's, there's plenty to do there. You know, some old, uh, lovely old colonial era hotels and, and good kind of night spots and things like that. So plenty of shenanigans we could get up to. And I, I know enough about the country and of course Kashani does too, that we could, show everyone a really good time, but it is on the, literally the farthest side of the world, uh, at least from North America. So, uh, a bit of a stretch. I think if I were to do something more accessible, um, and you know, it's certainly something we've kicked around and both privately and publicly, and that is a Bonaire. I think another place that a few hours flight from, from a lot of places. I know there are direct flights from, from Amsterdam every day. There's, uh, uh, some short hops from Atlanta that, that go there every uh, at least once or twice a week. Great place, but it's very dive centric. So less, uh, less kind of topside options, but, um, that's another place I'd love to love to bring folks from the TGN community and, and kind of show one of my favorite places in the world. But, uh, but yeah, if we're shooting for the moon, um, uh, well, not quite the moon, but a Sri Lanka would be it for me. How about you? That's great. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I figured you would say you would bring up boner. So I wanted something that I would kind of compliment boner. Yeah. Um, and, and so mine would be a, a drive and tour experience of central Europe. Oh yeah. So Switzerland, Germany, Italy. Yeah. And basically we'd all have sports cars. Um, we would drive a pass, have a great meal, you know, get into Switzerland, check out some watches, go to a couple manufacturers, maybe a museum or two, go have a, we, we, I, we, we would fill, we would buy out the whole pier for the fondue in Geneva. Yeah. Right. Right. Perfect. Like just a whole event. Right. Right. And look, no budget means no budget. So we've all got sports cars. Somebody else parks them. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | We just show up somewhere. Yeah. And, uh, and yeah, but I think it'd be really cool to do. Yeah. Do a little bit of Geneva, do a solid run across the Alps. Um, yeah, I think it would be some sort of, um, uh, you know, maybe a 2000 mile two week drive slash tour of Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Austria, that sort of thing, that area. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I like it. And that, that would definitely compliment kind of a tropical, um, sort of dive and hiking, uh, destination thing. I think it would be really cool to, uh, to do that. You know, I thought you might say, um, and we, we did our first, uh, first and only TGN summit, uh, in Vancouver. Um, I thought you might pull that out. I know it's maybe a little too close to home, maybe a little too familiar, but I'd go back anytime. You know, you know, when, when I was there with you, we, we, we hiked a peak, we, we did some diving, um, had some good, uh, good sushi, um, you know, pretty lovely spot too, but I'm liking the, the kind of Alpine touring thing and, and some, uh, tropical getaway. |
| Jason Heaton | Maybe, maybe when our investor money comes through. Exactly. Yeah. We're, we're, we're seeking round one, get in on the ground floor here, folks. To be honest, the other thing is, is if we wanted to do a little diving on my trip, depending on what we were doing, if it was in the spring, we could go to Green Lake Park in Austria. I can't pronounce this, T-R-A-G-O-B, Tragos possibly. And it's a flooded park, an Alpine park. So that's the one with all the trees, the trees underwater. The park benches. And yeah, we could go do that. Sure. Sure. Right. Yeah. Let's let's add that on no budget, baby. I love it. All right. Well, if you don't know what I'm talking about or my apologies for anyone who can speak and read that language, if I got it dead wrong, as I have in the past, I'll put it in the show notes. It's on my list. It looks like an incredible dive right up there with like Silfra. Yeah. Yeah. So it could be super fun. That was a really fun question from James Vincent. Thank you so much for that. Let's jump into one from Griffin Bartsch, who says, where do you draw the line between packing a carry on or checking a bag? How does the reason for your travel work versus personal, let's say, affect how you pack? Also, have your approaches to packing changed at all since you talked about it in episode 58? Jason, I imagine you're not checking a bag unless you're going pretty far or taking dive gear, right? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, which seems to be most of the reason I travel these days. I mean, sadly, I can't remember the last trip. I just didn't check a bag. I think it might've been, we did a, during the pandemic, we, we zipped down to the Florida Keys and I think we just brought like a, you know, swim trunks and a dive mask just to do some snorkeling. Or maybe when we went to, to Goldeneye in Jamaica, it was kind of similar. We had no diving plans. We didn't take camera gear or anything, but it seems like so many of, of my trips involve. diving and underwater photography, which is just so gear intensive that I always end up checking two bags. It's usually like a Pelican case with camera gear and then a giant duffel with, with dive gear. But man, if I could, I'd love to just do like a two me roller bag and just a small, like a Patagonia 26 liter black hole backpack would be, uh, would be just about perfect for me. And man, I'd love to do another trip like that. Um, that sounds really appealing. You're, you're definitely a carry on guy. |
| Jason Heaton | I'm a carry on guy. Yeah. I stopped packing a carry on or I stopped packing checked bags in like 2017. Yeah. And I think I've only done it once since then. And it was when my wife and I went to Newfoundland last year. Oh yeah. And so we each had a backpack. We were flying on like flair airline, like an ultra cheap airline. Yeah. So you had to pay for a carry on. Um, so we each took a backpack and we packed one of my our normal carry on sized bags as a checked bag. It just made more sense financially. And because there was no connecting flights, that's fine. But I don't actually have a problem with checking a bag, especially if you need it. Like don't be some warrior who thinks there's like valor or whatever in not bringing the things you need. Like I live a life where my normal trip is between two and eight days. which for me, even in the winter, I can do that out of a, an away or a Monos carry on pretty easily. Yeah. The rest of my bag, the, whether it's a backpack or more, more than likely the Tenba, um, is all camera gear. Right. And other than that, I think there's no, yeah, there's no, you don't get, there's no like brownie points or, or like flex points and never checking a bag. I just can't go to Switzerland and then not have any clothes. Yeah. Right. And sometimes you go to Switzerland and it's like Geneva and you don't have any clothes and you're like, well, fine, they've got a Uniqlo or whatever, I'll figure it out. Other times you go to a manufacturer in the middle of nowhere or you land and have to record a video like eight hours later and you don't have time. It's just too much risk basically to not travel with what I need. So I'm at the point now where I have in a way which my rabbit chewed the zipper and I'm very serious about having that zipper repaired. Yeah. I don't want to throw us a perfectly good, really nice suitcase away simply because the zipper doesn't work. But in a pinch, because I knew my wife also needed a carry on sized bag, she had the slightly larger away. It's like the carry on plus. Yeah. And Air Canada changed their rules where depending on what the flight crew wants to do or the check in crew wants to do, they could say that doesn't count anymore. It's all up to opinion. So there's it's like it sucks, but it is what it is. So I bought a Manos, which is a Canadian version, you know, a Canadian brand that's similar to Away. And I'm very happy with that. They're, they're like almost identical. They're great. Buy whichever one delivers to you faster. I don't care. They don't pay for this. I paid full price for it. My buddy Gajan had recommended Manos when I said that my rabbit ate the zipper on my Away. And like, I have not babied that Away for one minute. It's like dented. It's kind of bent, the rabbit chewed the zipper. I'm pretty happy with the way and Monos as far as just accessible light, easy to use, easy to pack, that sort of thing. Jason, I don't specifically remember what we talked about in episode 58. Yeah, I don't either. The last 200-ish episodes, kind of a blur, but I don't think I've really changed my format. If I need a checked bag, I'd be happy to. Otherwise I try and plan my outfits as much as possible. And at this point I only wear like three colors, so it all works together, right? It's blue or white or green, maybe tan if I'm getting zesty. That way pretty much everything works together and I just dress for the climate that I'm going to. That gear is like pretty much locked in and I avoid checking a bag as much as possible because the biggest thing, man, is you get where you're going and you have to wait. Right. |
| James Stacey | Yep. You want to be out the door on your way and you've got to stand and wait for the carousel to start. And then sometimes it adds an hour to the other end. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And I have like a sickness where one, I get upset when I go on a trip and one of the other journalists checked a bag and nobody else did. So we just stand around. Oh yeah. Yeah. Cause you're all on the same shuttle to the hotel or whatever. And I'm like, man, like this is a three day trip. Why do you need a two? What are you doing? |
| Unknown | Yeah. Right. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. If it's black, if it's black tie, I give everybody a pass. You got to move us tux, whatever. Yeah. I also really have this like thing where when I land in Toronto, I am a maniac about getting home. Yeah. Right. Cause traffic sucks. Getting the Uber sucks. Half the time they're like, Oh, you meet me at this airport parking lot. I'm like, no, I'm not doing that. It's not the deal. I'm standing by the sign. Come get me. Yeah. I don't like the idea of standing, you know, getting off, getting off the plane is one lineup. Then you go to customs. That's another lineup. And then I really like, I get a little buzz and it makes me happy and maybe this makes me a bad person, but I like when I make it through customs, I'm done. And I walk past all these people waiting for their bags and I get, I get down. I, I know exactly, I know kind of the right zone of my walk where I click call the Uber. So it kind of shows up as I hit the curb, if everything works out. And I like, I like kind of hitting that. I like trying to be as perfect as I can be on that. I like, yeah. Yeah. You know, in Vancouver, I used to, used to measure time from like, um, when I would get in the car to when I'd be in the lounge, it's all just like a weird headcase stuff. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Yeah. It reminds me of that movie with George Clooney up in the air where it kind of starts out with his tips about, you know, who, Scoping out the people to get behind in the security line and wearing slip off of shoes so you don't have to do laces. It's a good movie. It is. I should re-watch that. |
| Jason Heaton | Early Anna Kendrick, great, great. I mean, Clooney, find me a bad Clooney. Like even if he's bad, it's because the movie's dull. Yeah, yeah. But a solid movie. But there is that whole segment where he's teaching her how to go through security. Right. And how to pack and the rest of it. I don't want to get to that point necessarily. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, yeah. True road warrior. |
| Jason Heaton | But the truth is maybe I'm already there. Yeah. And I just don't notice it. But I love feeling some level of efficiency. It's a smug efficiency at the airport. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Nothing wrong with that. I got everything with me. Yeah. Right. You want to cancel my flight? Go nuts. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Yeah. I'm on the next one. |
| Jason Heaton | Right. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. All right. Well, thanks for that question, Griffin. You certainly got us cranked up with our responses. And let's move on to one from Dave, who says, I love quick-release spring bars, even when using NATOs. What are your opinions? James, do you like them or not? |
| Jason Heaton | If the spring bar is nicely made, I couldn't care less. Not using a tool means you're not scratching the watch or even dealing with the possibility of scratching the watch, which I think is smart. Just make sure they're good spring bars. Same thing we always say, right? |
| James Stacey | Yeah. You're not worried about sort of snagging on a sleeve of your sweater and popping the spring bar looser. You don't have paranoias like I do about that. |
| Jason Heaton | I don't see how your sweater would be under the watch. |
| James Stacey | Well... What am I missing? It just seems like that little... lever that sticks out could catch on something and just pull. Like some arm hair or something? |
| Jason Heaton | I don't know. I mean, at least it's with a NATO, right? Hopefully it doesn't hit both perfectly. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I guess I'm also thinking other than a NATO, I think like with a NATO, I guess the, could the NATO snag that little lever? It just defies my, like I look at it and I think something seems flawed here. It seems like it's going to pop loose. I will say I've had some good, I've had some good experiences with quick release spring bars. The ones that came with the Vertex, the M60 are fantastic. And they put the release lever is on both sides of the NATO on the bracelet, which makes fitting the bracelet. Like it's such a cinch and it's so, so nice. But otherwise I usually, usually shy away from them personally. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Fair enough. Thanks for that question, Dave. Next up, we've got one from Erdem, a little bit complicated as far as the question goes. Let me see if I can break it down. I love the show, writing the occasional videos. I've been a longtime listener and through the Slack, the career experience of TGN even got greater in these last few months. Glad to hear it. Besides watches, TGN got me interested in so many other things, healthy and fun stuff like hiking, diving, reading, and so on. And my question is, if you have any personal anecdotes of experiencing this relationship and its effect on your audience, and if you were ever expecting that it would grow to this level. Jason, I think I understand this question. I mean, I think the one that gets me the most when it hits is when someone puts into the Slack or sends us an email that they got Dive certified. Yeah. Yeah. It gives me the, it's like, it's gotta be 20% of the reason we do the show. Yeah. In some small way. And I know this sounds grandiose. I'm not really sure how else to say it, but in some small way, somebody pushed through a little bit of inconvenience or fear or otherwise, and it's going to experience one of the coolest things I've ever experienced, which is diving. It just makes me happy. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | I don't even know how to describe it. It's, it's the best part of the show. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I, I, I agree. And I think, um, I really got that sense of, I guess, pride in, in what we've built in the community. Um, and just personal satisfaction when we were at wind up last year and met so many people personally, or when we've had the occasional meetup or bumped into somebody that listens, um, and they just talk about how, whether they got certified to dive or they changed their mind about a watch or, um, you know, whatever, they just took interest in something we talked about on the flip side of that. I think I've also learned a lot from listeners, especially since we launched the Slack community, you know, several months ago and as well as over email. I think, you know, I've learned so much through links and personal contacts with people that have written in to share different anecdotes or stories or things that they thought that we'd be interested in. Those have been great. But I think the overarching thing for me is how encouraged I have become. You know, the world can be a pretty, bleak and depressing place if you, if you kind of read the news and kind of look at the divisiveness that, that exists. And I think what I'm encouraged about, um, is how TGN and our community that we've built, um, it, it really shows the value of, of small scale communities and how to me, that's where it's at in society. That's where it's at. Like building, you know, a community of, you know, whatever we've got nowadays, you know, a couple thousand people on a regular basis that are writing in and sharing. This is where, you know, real growth and, um, you know, compromise and learning and value comes and, and, you know, not to, not to overinflate what I'm talking about here, but it's just, it's a really uplifting thing. There there's such positivity in the community. And I think, you know, it's certainly not, doesn't come down to, to you or me. It's really now become something bigger and transcended a podcast. |
| Jason Heaton | So for sure. Totally. No, it's a, it's a, it's a crew. It's why we call people the crew. It's why, it's why it works this way. And yeah, I totally agree. And I was never expecting it to be this to, uh, you know, hitting, hitting on your last question, last part of your question, they heard him. Uh, I thought again, like we would make this podcast and about a hundred people would love it. And those could be like a hundred buddies online. And it would kind of be like early watch you seek sort of days. And there was never a time where I thought I'd see, I mean, we're nearly 5 million downloads. It's all just like, it's crazy to talk about it. Cause it sounds like so braggy. Um, but we're just like, like, so fortunate that it worked out that the timing and the rest of it that Jason, you and I could make the show. And if the show isn't that much work, all things concerned at some work, it's the best work. It's my favorite job. And I just think that getting slowly find these ways of actually interacting, whether it's a windup, whether it's Slack, whether it's email, whether it's just putting a show out there and occasionally coming across somebody who you know, maybe recognizes us or, or sends an email or something like that. It's just been just so rewarding. And at times when I feel disconnected from this world, from the world of whether it's watch enthusiasm or the internet at large, I have like, we have this group you can just go back to and be like, Oh no, it is real people. Yeah. And this is like, if the, if the, if the best that TGN does is a cottage industry of level-minded kind and helpful knuckleheads. I'll be very proud. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Same. Yeah. So it's, it's been good and I'm super happy with it. And, and yeah, I mean, it's a recursive thing where we've got channels where we can talk about fitness, where we can talk about new experiences. I definitely think about like, even, even the way that I approach like products and things like, do I need this? Would it be, would it be interesting to talk about it for the crew? Like it all kind of weighs in that way. Yeah. Yeah, it's great. It's been amazing and not something we ever planned on or really fully understand. But we're incredibly thankful, of course. Want to get to a couple more before we shut it down? Yeah, let's let's do two more. All right. We've got one here from Ken. It's very similar to the the previous question about kind of ideal guests living or alive. He said, I used to think it'd be so cool to run into the late Anthony Bourdain at an airport terminal. After his premature demise, I now hope to one day run into a Heaton slash Stacey. Man, that's hallowed ground. That's a very sweet thing to say. In an airport terminal, hauling along a suitcase full of dive gear, I'm assuming. Who are your airport heroes that you'd like to encounter? Jason, would this be anyone different than what we talked about earlier? You know, maybe a slight twist. I mean, obviously we're not going to see a dead guy at the airport. |
| James Stacey | Let's hope. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I, I read both of these and I tried to kind of put a different twist on this one. But, um, and the funny thing is, is that my, my airport hero was actually your ideal chat and that was a crack hour. Uh, I think, I think to bump into him at an airport would be, uh, would be pretty amazing. I also think that, um, I often have the sense that, you know, these, these mega celebrities, I often wonder if they long for just kind of normal human interaction where you could you know, if you, let's say you bump into, well, sticking with George Clooney since we were just talking about him, like, he seems like a decent, nice, interesting, funny guy who likes watches. He likes to kind of get up to some mischief and travel and, and whatever. If you just saw him in a dark corner of an airport bar, um, you know, you know, fat chance of that, but could you sidle over or would you, you know, let's say he's sitting at the bar and you kind of sit down next to him, like Wouldn't you, I'd love to imagine that, that he could have like a normal conversation if you stripped away all the layers of like, Hey, I loved you in this movie. And what's it like to be this, you know? So I think somebody like that or a Daniel Craig or something would be fun to kind of share a beer with. But I think somebody like a John Krakauer or Sebastian Younger would be a little bit different because they're not kind of recognizable to the public at large. And yet if somebody like you or I saw them at an airport, we'd be like, that's Sebastian Younger over there. And, and like, I wouldn't go and pester, but I think if you were next to him on a flight or at an airport lounge or something, um, you could really have some, some really cool conversations. Uh, so yeah, I think, uh, I'm going to riff off your, your earlier crack hour suggestion. How about you? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I think for me it would be a whole different genre, uh, at the airport. Like, like if we're talking about like, I don't know that John crack hour during a layover would want to chat. right? Yeah. True. Or maybe, uh, maybe even, uh, yeah, exactly. I figured my best chance of catching someone who's just gifted in chit chat would be crossing paths with a comedian I love. Sure. And at that point there's like, the list is pretty big. Ian Carmel would be incredible. I would love, I would love to cross paths with any of the guys. I mean, maybe they don't call themselves comedians, but any of the brothers from MBM, my brother, my brother and me, you know, these are just podcasts that I adore. And I think that in, in that airport lounge, airport bar scenario, I could chop it up with these guys a little bit and have a good time. Tom Segura. Um, I mean like the, the list is kind of long, but I think that would, that would be more of the vibe is I think those folks are so used to always be traveling and their medium is talking, whether they're podcasters or comedians. Sure. I think you, you might hit a zone where you could have a pretty special 30 minutes. with a famous or semi-famous sort of comedian or podcaster or something like that. I think that would be my vibe. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Cool. Fair enough. I like that. All right, Ken, thanks for the question. That's a good little spin on the earlier one as well. Let's get to one more from Jonathan M. who said, you are traveling for a week to a major city. At the airport, you realize you forgot to put your watch on and you brought no spares. Wow. What do you do? I can imagine everything from an excuse to buy something off the wishlist to spending a week without a watch. James, heaven forbid, you're on your way to Chicago and lo and behold, you've forgotten your watch this week. What are you going to do? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I don't even know what the duty-free scenario is for me to hit a shop. I'll probably end up with a Swatch or a G-Shock or something, right? Just so I had something on my wrist. Yeah. If I was fortunate enough to be in a scenario where I came across something I really wanted and it was at duty free, like maybe you're in Geneva and let's fill in some blanks here, I've got a little bonus, I did some side work, I got some money, whatever, I would probably buy a watch. Otherwise, it would almost certainly be like, one, I can't imagine this happening, which is why it makes it a fun question. I don't think I could go to a watch theme, like I couldn't go to wind up with nothing. I guess Citizen would probably be happy enough to loan me something, right? Yeah. Yeah. So I could probably go to wind up with nothing. It'd be fine. There's so many watches there. Right, right. But could you imagine like, you know, going to a Hodinkee event and not bringing a watch? You might get fired, right? Like that might be it. They might just tell me to kick rocks and fly home, right? So I'm not sure. I mean, if I was really forced with, I was traveling and I needed a watch, I'd probably see if I could pick up a, you know, a cool cool Seiko Citizen G-Shock swatch, something like that. Yeah. I'm not going to spend a ton of money, I don't think. How about you? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I suppose if it was if the city I was going to or the place I was going was known for having some interesting vintage watch shops or boutiques or something. And yeah, if I had a little bit of extra money that, you know, I could spend, I might make it a bit of a destination adventure to go and find something while I was there. Airport shopping can be fun. You know, you're feeling a little bit reckless and like, you know, rules don't apply when you're, when you're traveling. |
| Jason Heaton | You've just been hanging out with George Clooney at the bar for two hours. You've had a couple of, couple of drinks, a couple of Wobbly Pops with George. |
| James Stacey | Talking about my new Dyneema hold all bag. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Right. He's been showing you a really cool Omega. Like you, you got to buy something. Maybe he's with you. You don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Do a little shopping with George. |
| James Stacey | He's at the boutique. Yeah. Yeah. But I actually, I do have an experience like this sort of, because it was many years ago. It was actually before I, got into watches, I was writing about watches. And I had this, uh, I had a Nike chronograph. It was like Lance Armstrong branded some sort of digital thing and it was broken. And so I had it sent in for service or something. And so I was traveling somewhere for work, one of my past jobs, and I didn't have a watch on and I was going through the Minneapolis airport and I did wander into like the duty free shop. And I bought a mechanical watch. I saw this, uh, Victorinox Swiss army. It was called the ground force mechanical. Um, it was a steel watch, not a, not a dive watch, but it had kind of big Arabic numerals and kind of a cool sweep hand. And what was most striking to me was that the case back was clear and I could see the mechanical movement, which, you know, nowadays I'd be snobby and say, Oh, I was just an edit. They shouldn't put a clear case back on it. But you know, as, as an endorsement for clear case backs, even on rather pedestrian movements, That got me hooked. Um, it was kind of the first time I'd seen a mechanical movement in a watch. And I remember buying it. It was on a nice rubber strap and I don't remember how much it was. I mean, it was probably fairly expensive for me at the time, a few hundred bucks. Um, and I remember looking at the back of that watch on the flight, uh, wherever I was going and thinking like, there is something to these watches. This is really a cool watch. And lo and behold, it kind of led me to this long and winding path that that I'm still on, you know, the forums and buying and selling and flipping and writing about, et cetera. So, um, that was one time when I did actually do what, what Jonathan is, uh, is asking about. Um, but, uh, yeah, other than, than kind of making it into a destination adventure to find a watch, I'd probably go the route you suggested and get like a G shock or a swatch or something at the airport. |
| Jason Heaton | Hard to beat a G shock, right? Push comes to shove. You're not going to be, you're going to be left needing anything. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's a fun question. Thank you so much for that, Jonathan. And to everybody who's sending questions that worked out for this one, obviously we still have five or six left, plenty for another episode, considering I think we did like seven or eight and we're at an hour and 20 minutes at this point. So you want to jump into some final notes? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, let's do it. All right. Yeah, I'll jump in. Mine's pretty quick, actually. It comes from Warner Brothers Entertainment on YouTube, and it was just suggested to me when I was on YouTube the other day. And it's actually called The Making of Blade Runner. Oh, good. Which, you know, right up my alley, it's like 29 minutes long. Um, the, I wouldn't say that even the production quality of this video is, is good. There is really, isn't even a voiceover. It's just sort of this mishmash of footage, uh, behind the scenes during the making of Blade Runner back in 1982. Um, and it's kind of cool. Like they, they have these interviews with members of the cast and the production crew and Ridley Scott, um, and the cinematographer, and they kind of show what went into set design and costuming and certain scenes that are, you know, obviously very iconic. you know, with Rutger Hauer and, and, you know, squeezing the eyes out of, uh, Dr. Terrell, um, you know, the person who made him and, and kind of all of these things that are so familiar from the movie, it was fun to see the behind the scenes footage, um, from the making of that film. Cause it's obviously one of my top favorite movies of all time. So, um, I wouldn't say, like I said, it's a, it's like an award-winning documentary, but it was interesting to see the behind the scenes footage. So if you're into Blade Runner, check that out. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Love Blade Runner, obviously. So that's a great pick. Mine for this week, keeping with a quick pace, her final notes, is the Collecting Cars podcast, which I went back through the notes recently and dug in, and I think I've referenced it a couple times, but I don't think just as a whole. Obviously, with the move and setting up the office, I was just doing a lot of medial tasks, moving things from one part of the room to another, carrying stuff in and out, driving. uh, across Toronto, back and forth to, to kind of ferry stuff that didn't make it into the moving van. And I had a bunch of back episodes of the collecting cars podcast. And I don't know, it's, it's just, um, it's kind of like, I think it hits what I would hope TGN hits, but just for kind of car nerdery. There's no pretense. These are guys that have afforded and can afford incredible cars, but also by Citroen two CVS. Like it's just about loving cars. And I think that the audio quality is not amazing, which somehow makes it more charming. It feels like a podcast from 10 years ago, the breadth of knowledge and even more so than knowledge, the breadth of the nerdery, the specificity, there's your drinking game for TGN. James said it, um, the, the, Just the depth to which these guys will get into each other, kind of cut it up a little bit, have a good time and just talk about cars and Formula One. I think this is a genuinely special podcast that's on the edge of something way beyond what they expect. They've hit a stride in the last 10 episodes, 12 episodes. And if you're also into Formula One, it's some of the most considered and balanced Formula One commentary out there. from guys that have done not Formula One racing, but have done racing. And I mean, it's also not that common that you're listening to a car podcast and Adrian Newey steps in like some pretty insane stuff. I just can't recommend it enough. If you enjoy cars, if you enjoy Formula One, Chris Harris is the host and Edward Lovett of collecting cars, the auction website or the car sales website, the dealer website is also on there. But the other guys that they have with them, it's incredible. I just think it's a fantastic podcast that kind of flies under the radar because it's not especially flashy. Yeah. It's mostly done over zoom. It's exactly what I want from a podcast. It's just like deep, cool nerdery. And like, I can't tell you the number of times where I was doing something busy. I was busy, I would say. And they referenced a car I had never heard of, which is, I don't want to be like a jerk, but like, that's a bit of a stretch. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | And like to say something, I and then I have to go back and and like Google the car and look at it on my phone and go, oh, that's what that's pretty cool. You know, they did a whole thing on concept cars and there's a bunch of stuff I had never come across in episode twenty five. So it's still early, I think, in their arc. Twenty five. But the episodes are nice and long. Hour and a half, hour and a half plus. I can't recommend it enough. I think Chris is doing a lovely job, but it's a it's a team effort. The whole cast. There's four or five people on most episodes. It's just amazing. I really, really enjoy it. |
| Unknown | Cool. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Well, I've got a long drive ahead of me this Friday down to Chicago. Maybe I'll queue up a few. Sounds like a good one. |
| Jason Heaton | Man, if you get to the one where one of the guys on the show explains, you know the term like Q ship? No. For like the peak of like an S class is a Q ship. Oh, okay. Sure. I didn't realize the background on that and I don't want to give it away. There's a fairly complicated military base story for what Q-ship means. And I know, because I love our listeners, I know some of you listening go like, of course I know what that means. Yeah. Yeah. I always thought it was somehow a reference back to like Bond, like the special one. Yeah. Right. Right. Came out of Q. Yeah. Not even close, James. Not even close. Really cool backstory. Get a little bit of history. These guys talk about all sorts of great stuff. It's an awesome podcast. Uh, and if you're, if you like the automotive side, if you like, when we chat about cars, this is 10 times deeper and a hundred times more specific. It's great. |
| James Stacey | Awesome. All right. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, last, uh, last episode of recording before, uh, before we head off to Chicago and wind up and the next episode will be what we record at wind up, uh, which we'll be recording on Sunday with, uh, a couple of the team members from worn and wound. It's going to be a great episode. I've pushed them to say it'll be a nice long episode. It might even require you like last year to. Get one half of the episode on their feed and one half on our feed. It's going to be fun. We always have a good time. It's probably one of the things I'm most looking forward to at windup is just sitting down and doing that and taking audience questions. Obviously, it's going to be a great night, Saturday evening at Great Central Brewing. Be sure to swing by 630 to 830, grab a beer, maybe a little snack. We're going to have a good time. But yeah, I think it's going to be a great episode and stay tuned for that. So as always, as far as this one goes, 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 NATO, please visit TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout is of course, Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive. |
| James Stacey | And we leave you with this quote from Voltaire who said, judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers. And we'll see you all in Chicago. |