The Grey NATO – 254 – Experiencing The New Tudor Pelagos FXD In Its Natural Habitat

Published on Thu, 21 Sep 2023 06:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

The hosts discuss their recent experience attending a press trip organized by Tudor watch company to launch their new Pelagos FXD dive watch. They talk about the unique nature of the trip which included visiting the Man in the Sea Museum, meeting former Navy divers, and going diving on a wreck off the Florida coast. They highlight the watch itself and the overall casual, outdoorsy vibe of the event that aligned well with the rugged character of the watch. The hosts also touch on their upcoming trip to France for an event with Blancpain to celebrate a dive watch anniversary.

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Transcript

Speaker
James Stacey	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 254, and it's proudly brought to you by the always growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you'd like to support the show, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. My name is James Stacy. I'm of course joined as ever with my dive buddy and podcast friend, Jason Heaton. How are we doing?
Jason Heaton	Good. Yeah. It's a particularly fun episode here. We just saw each other a few days ago and we're going to be seeing each other in a few more days. So yeah, really cool.
James Stacey	Yeah. I guess you're, you're in the air before this one goes live. Um, and I come out a little bit later for this thing in, uh, in France with Blancpain, but yeah, it's been kind of two back to back. Um, at least I'm assuming. you know, dive watch related trips. Yeah. I still don't have the official word on, uh, on what Blancpain is launching, but I'm sure, you know, given, given the anniversary and the rest of it, that's a safe bet. And then beyond that, yeah, we, we had a great time, a great couple of days in the Gulf coast of Florida with tutor and several other folks, uh, which we'll get to as sort of the main topic of, um, of the show. How was, um, we, we had some struggle getting home.
Jason Heaton	Yeah. A little drama, drama sitting on the plane. Yeah. We had a little bit of drama. Yeah. We almost, uh, it was almost like a charter flight. It was, it was so many of us from the trip, uh, sitting there near each other. And all of a sudden they came on and said, uh, there were some air traffic delays and, uh, some of you aren't going to make your connections and everybody was quickly on their phones. And you did the full sprint across a couple of, uh, a couple of concrete courses and we both made our flights.
James Stacey	Yeah, it was crazy because we're sitting in the plane and they go, well, there's this issue. And every 20, every two or three minutes, they're giving us a different guess on when it would work out. And like they were wildly different numbers. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe we'll sit for an hour. Maybe we'll sit for 12 minutes. Maybe we'll push back so we can get in line to only sit for 18 minutes. So maybe you still make your flight the rest of it. I think I had like an hour and five minutes in Atlanta to make my connection. Yeah. Which, but the, the thing that happened that I think cost us the most time and I've in all my flying, this is new to me. So I thought I'd tell the story, but, um, they told people they could get off, like to get, I guess, to get food or maybe to full on like leave, but there's a deboarding procedure where you scan, I assume they put their computer in deboarding mode. And as you go by, you scan your boarding pass and that registers you as no longer on the flight. Yeah. Well, I guess two guys got off the flight in a huff, then got in an argument with the folks at the counter and wouldn't identify themselves. They wouldn't scan, they wouldn't do what they were told. And they just attempted to leave the airport. And so it became like an air traffic control and a police matter. And then they had everybody like returned to their seats. They looked at the two empty seats. They called for these people's names first and last name. I could have sat there looking these guys up on Instagram. And then said, all right, well now we know who we need. And they like left and closed the door on the plane and we like got underway. But man, we got to, um, we got to Atlanta at a B gate and I think I had to get to a D gate or the other way around. Yeah. And the train for the Atlanta airport was down or on like supplemental service. Like it wasn't running as fast as it, or as normally as it should. So if you know, like you basically, come down out of a concourse, one of the numbered concourses down into a long tunnel that connects all of them. And you can walk that tunnel or you can take the train along the side of the tunnel. And the train is infinitely faster unless you just have to go one concourse. But the issue was, it was kind of like twofold. I needed to, I think I had 14 minutes to get from, like when I said goodbye to you and everybody else we were near on the plane, I just started running. I don't think I've run that hard in years because I really did want to get home. I didn't want to deal with having to get in line with Delta and sort out the next flight. And so far the app hadn't rebooked me. So I thought like, Hey, the app believes I'm going to make it, I'm going to go for it. And I got down the escalator. And of course, because the trains are slow, the hallway, the tunnel is full. Yeah. It's like, I'm running hard enough to like my vans are squeaking on the floor when I'm like deacon around people and try not to like you know, crash into somebody with my roller bag and the rest of it, but I just made it. Wow. Um, I just made it to the end. And it was so obvious that I had been running that the woman I sat down next to this really nice woman from Atlanta, who's going to a wedding in Toronto this weekend. Uh, she gave me her water. She's like, ah, you're what's going on. I was like, I just ran to Concord. She's like, all right, you can have my water. It's got to look ridiculous when you're like comfortably sitting in your, in your seat.
Jason Heaton	Yeah.
James Stacey	Some six foot three knucklehead covered in sweat, like looking kind of angry and disheveled, like shows up and sits next to you. She was very nice.
Jason Heaton	Yeah. My transit wasn't quite as dramatic, although I did walk very fast and I got, I went from one plane right onto the next. And then my concern wasn't a huge concern was that my, my checked bag with all my kind of soggy dive gear and some other stuff in it, dirty laundry, I guess, wouldn't make it back. But I figured just going home, they'll deliver it a day later. Um, but man, to my surprise, Delta, you know, hats off. They, they got that bag on the, on the plane with me, which, which was shocking because I think it was like a 20 minute turnaround.
James Stacey	So. Cause you, you texted me like I made it and I was like, I'm in my seat.
Jason Heaton	I couldn't believe you were in your seat already. That was crazy.
James Stacey	Yeah. I don't think I could have moved any faster, like without hurting somebody or yourself. Like if the wrong, if the wrong, you know, older folk with a Walker, like stepped into my lane at the wrong moment. We were going to have a multiple car pile up in, you know, in the concourse between C and D. Yeah.
Jason Heaton	I saw you disappear into the distance as I was hustling to my gate. That was crazy.
James Stacey	Yeah. So that was, that was a bit of drama. And then I got home late that evening and, um, and then, uh, family's ill. They've got, uh, there's kind of a cough going through the fam. So it's been kind of a busy week doing work and kids and doctor's appointments and that kind of stuff. So always a treat to sit down and take a little break and chit chat with you. And we've, we've got kind of a fun one coming up. What else has kind of been been on your radar since we recorded the icebreaker episode, which weirdly kind of worked out. People seem to enjoy it.
Jason Heaton	Yeah. And I did too. I I'd like to do some more of that kind of a sort of off the wall episode. That was, that was a good time. And, and, and people did seem to dig that. But since I got home, Uh, you know, I mean, it's been kind of back to back to back trips. I had Ecuador and then Florida. And then, uh, I leave, we're recording this on a Tuesday, leave tomorrow for France. And I'm going a little earlier than you. I've I'm moderating a panel discussion about Blancpain's ocean commitment program on, on Friday evening at the hotel where we're all staying at. So I guess the, the folks that are coming in earlier, we'll be attending that. I'm not sure who that is, if it's more of the European. journalist crowd or whatever. But, uh, I'm doing that Friday night, so I've got to be there Thursday to kind of button up some details about that. And then I guess I'm doing a little diving again on Friday morning in the Mediterranean. So my, my, my gear is barely dry and it's already packed again. And then, and then we've got the big main event, which is on Saturday evening, which looks pretty, pretty wild. I mean, you know, the tutor trip was a blast and we'll get into that, but it was, It was so fun for a number of reasons. This trip will be fun. It'll be interesting, but I believe it's going to be on a very different kind of level of luxury, you know, south of France and they're talking Michelin star chefs and dinner on an Island and that sort of stuff. But we'll, we'll get to all that, uh, I guess next week and next week's episode. Um, but other than that, I, you know, if you remember back in July at wind up, I did that morning dive, um, courtesy of Ben Ruse, uh, and worn and wound and, A lot, a lot of the same characters that were on our dive boat in Florida were also on that boat. And I wrote up a story for Worn and Wound about the new Benrus and it's finally launching. It will have launched actually by the time this episode goes up and we'll throw a link in the show notes to my review of that. But I, I just really like what Worn and Wound did with the photos and then they put together a really nicely done video of, of our day of diving, which, which is really cool. So we'll share that with, with folks, but man, July seems like ages ago. I mean, doesn't it?
James Stacey	It really does, man. Like, I mean, yeah, I moved in July and it feels like I've been here for a while at this point. And then like with, it's crazy how the, like maybe it's just me, maybe you feel the same way because we spend enough time together digitally. But like, I still feel like I haven't found the pace I had before the pandemic. Yeah. Like having two or three trips in a month feels untenable to manage the rest of the work. And I know that like my workload changed several times over the pandemic and I do different stuff now than I did before. It was significantly different. Yeah. But like back in the day, it wasn't that much of a stretch to spend 10 days on the road. Right. And it really isn't to be honest. But yeah, I just feel like I haven't, I haven't like figured everything out yet. Like normally I would already have my bag kind of packed. I still haven't unpacked from Tudor, which means my rag is sitting with my clothes in my bag.
Unknown	Oh, wow. Yeah.
James Stacey	So all those that's going to take some time. Luckily, I'd like I'm only in I get in Saturday morning. Yeah. To this thing. And I go back Saturday, Sunday morning. So I only need like one and a half outfits. Yeah. I'm considering only taking a camera bag. It depends on how much recording gear we end up needing. Yeah. Right. But at this point, I am on the edge of like putting a camera on top of a spare pair of jeans and a T-shirt. and showing up to France like that. Yeah. And thankfully, uh, this is, you know, you never really know, especially with a brand like Blancpain, a big event, it's not black tie. So I don't have to do the tux thing. It's like, I think it's actually like casual chic, which is, uh, which is kind of a plus, right. Um, kind of a little bit easier to, to manage this time of year. Um, but yeah, I think, I think it'll be an interesting trip. I agree.
Jason Heaton	Yeah. I think the word chic is being overused these days. In fact, I'm still never quite sure.
James Stacey	It doesn't mean that much. Like you can't say casual. Like you obviously don't want people showing up in track suits necessarily. Right. Yeah. But yeah, like I, I don't, I don't really know what the, what casual chic would have been called 10 years ago. Probably maybe casual chic, maybe 20 years ago. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I assume we're like, you know, that's a blazer.
Jason Heaton	Right. Right. Yeah. But they did say bring comfortable shoes. That was the, that's been, they always say that and I never do.
Unknown	Yeah.
James Stacey	Right. I will probably wear the loafers that look the best and hurt the most. Yeah.
Jason Heaton	All right. Well, I'll be seeing you Saturday, Saturday afternoon at the, at the hotel. That'll be, that'll be fun to catch up again. And hopefully we'll get to do a little bit of recording there, but stand by for that. We're still working out some details. So.
James Stacey	Yeah, that may happen or it may not, but I also think the person that we might be able to chat with would be fine to do on zoom as well. If they end up busy, they're a very busy person. Yeah. But Hey, if we bring the gear and, and even if they're not available, maybe we can, we can get an episode in while we're in the same room anyways. Yeah.
Jason Heaton	Yeah. Let's try for it.
James Stacey	All right. How about a little bit of risk check?
Jason Heaton	Yeah, sure. I mean, I'll go first. Mine's a, mine's a bit of a no brainer. I'm, I'm, you know, uh, dressing the part, so to speak for this week, I've got, uh, I've switched out my tutor from last week. I've got my, uh, 50 fathoms on the big boy, the, the titanium, um, uh, diver, uh, that I got back in, in February before the Polynesia trip, and I think that's going to be my go-to for the trip. I've been debating that or the bathyscaphe, but that's been glued to Ghoshani's wrist lately, and she can be with me in spirit here.
James Stacey	Yeah, I have no idea what to wear. I don't have something appropriate. I don't have a 50 fathoms scuba. I certainly don't have a 50 fathoms in general.
Jason Heaton	Yeah, yeah. Hopefully we'll see some of this, the 50 fathom scubas at some airport swatch boutiques or maybe in France or maybe at the event or something. I'm sure a few people will be wearing them. I would guess.
James Stacey	I don't know. Do you just wear like the Aqualand? Like something that the, you know, like I used to always have a G-Shock that I wore to press trips when I didn't have the host brand thing. Scurfa. Hmm. Yeah, I could do the Scurffa, I could do the CWC, could just wear the Pelagos. Like, what do they care?
Jason Heaton	Yeah, right.
James Stacey	They probably don't care at all. Yeah. And if it, you know, knowing I don't have a 50 fathoms and then sometimes you go on these trips and you get there and they make you sign some paperwork and you just, they hand you a watch for 24 hours. Right, right. Which I don't think is the vibe with this one. It doesn't seem like that. Probably too many people coming on this trip as well to do something like that. But yeah, I've got, I've got, I've got some options here.
Jason Heaton	How about the Mido? I haven't seen the Mido in person. That'd be a cool travel. Kind of, it feels sort of South of France. Yeah. Yeah.
James Stacey	And it's Swatch family. Yeah. Yeah. So maybe, maybe the Mido on like a slightly fancier strap.
Unknown	Yeah.
James Stacey	Uh, something like a, maybe a bit of a leather. I don't know what I've gotten 21, but I can certainly find out. Could put it on the post style canvas as well. Right.
Unknown	Yeah.
James Stacey	But yeah, currently on my wrist, uh, while we're recording, this is actually the new Bolivar Oceanographer GMT. Uh, so these launched last week. These aren't a super big secret. They had leaked some time ago. They were on the TGN Slack, but I'd signed the NDA and I respect embargoes. So I didn't kind of lean in and do that one, but I have all three actually on my desk. So there's a steel Pepsi with a 24-hour bezel. There's a steel root beer with like IP plated gold with a 24-hour bezel. And then there's the one I like the most, which is the Lume Dial, which has an IP coated like gun metal, polished gun metal case. Yeah. And then the bezel and the dial are fully luminous.
Jason Heaton	Yeah. These are, these are pretty cool. This was an interesting, uh, sort of iteration of, of the oceanographer, which is a watch that I've, I've liked quite a bit over the years. And I just did, I didn't see this one coming. I'd caught wind of it. Um, like a lot of people, but, uh, yeah, the loom dial one is it's, it's quite different. That's a neat watch. And I like what they did with those very three-dimensional, uh, hour markers to kind of incorporate them in with the 24 hour scale.
James Stacey	Yeah. It's a, it's a good job. Um, Very readable, uses the Miyota 9075, so it's a Flyer GMT. Looking at $1,300, I think it's actually $1,295 for the white dial, $1,350 for the ones on the bracelets. Currently, it's an exclusive to the Hodinkee shop, which I'm actually just learning as I scroll down into our intro. I should probably have known that in advance. Yeah, and it's the three versions. I like the lume dial one the most because it has a dive bezel. But obviously if you're buying this to be kind of a travel watch that you could also wear in the pool or diving, if you wanted that sort of thing, all three are going to do the job. They all have 666 feet of water resistance, you know, a little nod to the devil diver, very much. I think in the range of, of like, if you were keen on a Doxa and you wanted one with a, with a GMT, this is pretty compelling. And it also puts the flyer GMT from a brand that people know into a great price point. Right? Like Mito does it, but it's not like the, the, the Mito Oceanstar GMT, the Houdinki LE that we were just referencing. And, and yeah, it might be, might be the right pick to take on this, on this trip. They do it. And that's more like just under $1,400 with three straps and, and with an ETA, you know, movement, this uses the Miota. It's a little bit less expensive. I just think more great competition in the GMT space. Yeah. Especially when it comes to a flyer. So I like it quite a bit. I'm wearing it on the rubber that it came with, because I want to give it a fair shake. I really can't warm up to most rubber straps that have, you know, the fitted kind of stiff element next to the case. I've complained about it on Doxxas and many other brands. So I've been wearing this. It's quite comfortable. It is a nice strap. I don't love the aesthetic of the strap. I think this is just a watch that needs a NATO. But yeah, it's been good. I've been enjoying it and I'm working on a story for that as we speak. Very cool.
Jason Heaton	Well, uh, I guess with all that out of the way, we can, we can really dive into, um, so to speak with, uh, with Tudor. I mean, just kind of a rehash of our trip.
James Stacey	Yeah. The launch of, uh, a new FXD that a lot of people seems like the, the chorus line is that it's not new. Hmm. Um, I, it's such a weird thing to pick that, especially with a brand like Tudor, like they release a watch and then they release a different color later. Yeah. Yeah. Like I remember getting really hyped about the Navy blue, BB 58, which was like mechanically touch points, all of that identical to the standard one. But with this, it is a slight rethinking of the format that was offered by the MN at the end of 2021, where we now have a conventional dive bezel and it's all black. Granted, those aren't big changes over the standard one, but it is an FXD in black, essentially with a normal unidirectional elapsed time bezel.
Jason Heaton	Yeah, I, I think, um, I, I understand people's perspectives when they say, Oh, it's just, it's just black. And, you know, I think that's, that's a bit of a flippant comment that, that I don't exactly agree with. Um, but I will say that I think, I think Tudor has a really smart playbook that they go by, um, with, with a lot of their watches, especially in the black Bay and, and now in the Pelagos family with, you know, they have these options where, you know, we know that they have, We know that they've made an FXD chronograph for the Red Bull racing team that we talked about not long ago. Um, you know, you can see that maybe in the future coming to kind of the standard Pelagos FXD, you know, they can go blue, they can go black, they can go black case, which, which was my guess. I thought this was going to have a black case. I thought it had this sort of, you know, Navy special ops sort of, um, uh, vibe going on. I thought they'd go with a black case, but. To be honest, when I first saw this watch, when they unveiled it, and I was expecting a black case, I looked at it, I looked at it again, and it really has a different look than the blue. The blue, I will admit, I know everybody loves the blue, the blue always felt a little too bright, maybe a little toy-like, maybe a little, I don't want to say plasticky, but for some reason the black just has a seriousness to it that really resonated with me. And, you know, I've made no secret to you and anybody that was listening down in Florida that I want one of these so badly. I mean, this is, this is, this is, uh, this is my favorite Pelagos by far. And I've had, I had the first generation I've tried and dived, you know, other, other versions. Uh, this one sings to me. This one's really cool. And part of it is, I mean, I just loved wearing it. I loved how comfortable it was. I love that strap.
James Stacey	Yeah. The new, the new strap. So the, obviously the blue one came with a blue Velcro and, uh, sorry, let's be fair hook and loop. I actually don't know if it's Velcro and then the, uh, like a long rubber single piece style strap and the new black version, which people are calling the USN, which I don't think is... Makes a lot of sense to me necessarily, because there isn't... Unlike with the MN, where it was kind of specifically designed, this seems more referential in many ways. Yeah. I'm not saying it's not... There aren't folks in the Navy that could have this watch or a version of this watch, but more... This is... In my mind, they probably should have called it the Pelagos FXD Black or something like that, just to make it a little bit clearer. True. We now have several watches that are called the Pelagos FXD. And I almost wondered, do you think that some of the feedback would have been different if they had gone blue, black, and then the Red Bull ones? I think it was kind of smart to go blue, the wilder Red Bull ones, carbon case, new color scheme that we don't see on Tudor otherwise, this kind of purpley blue and red. And then do the kind of core, this is our modern sort of mil sub. you had the special bezel complication use for the Commando Hubert. That's not here. This is a very conventional, like in many ways, if you want to say, and I've said this in the past, I've said it in my, in my write-up for this new watch, but if the Pelgos 39 is essentially there like modern 9401, the Tudor sub of today, then this is in many ways kind of the next step beyond that. Aesthetically, the two next to each other looks so similar. Yeah. Yeah. And I love the 39. I prefer the 39 still to the FXD, but the FXD is a cooler thing with the fixed lugs, the fully graduated bezel, great loom. I was just very impressed by it. It wears just like the blue one. It's a long watch, toe to tip, but it's not unwearable. I don't think that it's too big necessarily. And I think as long as you're happy with the strap and that sort of thing with the fixed lugs, obviously, I think it's definitely a compelling thing. I would still lean towards just how nice the 39 feels on my wrist. It's just the right size. It feels like an everyday watch. But I can't fault you or really anybody else for, again, kind of like appreciating the same thing that I liked about the 39. It's so conventional. Like this is the FXD kind of at its most conventional. Normal bezel, black dial, very matte. feels very much like, like in, in many ways, aside from maybe the red Pelagos text, which feels very 39. Yeah. This does feel like a, uh, a direct evolution of the original two liner that you had.
Jason Heaton	The thing that people, and right, rightfully so, uh, the, the reservation, some people have, and I get this it's, you know, well, you don't get the great bracelet option or, or rubber strap. And I, I get it. Um, you know, the, the Pelagos bracelet is arguably the best in the business. Um, but there's just something about a fixed lug or fixed strap bar, whatever you want to call it, um, diving watch that really sings to me. And I think it's, it's just that purposefulness and just sort of the quirkiness of it. You know, it's, it's like you can only, you can really only dress down this watch, you know, and, and I can see just, just wearing it on a, on a comfy, that strap was very comfortable, the hook and loop that came with it as well as any other NATO would be great. And it's just, I just feel like if I had this watch, it would be, and you know, here, here we go. You know, it's the comment I make about every single watch. It's like that I like, it's like, I would wear this all the time, but I think I would, I think this is kind of like, you know, I'll go for long stretches with the CWC on. And I think it's because it's, it's so, you know, once you, you put like a nylon strap on it, um, it, it almost, uh, it dresses it down to the point where you don't feel like you're wearing a luxury piece and you almost feel compelled to just kind of do everything in it. And with, with less worry, And that's how I kind of feel about this one.
James Stacey	Yeah, I mean, that's largely how I how I've operated with my P39 since I bought it. I wear it all the time. It's made most of my other watches somewhat irrelevant. More and more, I really do appreciate a just a simple, modern, wearable watch. And that for me has become this format of like it's legible. The bezel is awesome. It's very comfortable and it's lightweight. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think I think they've done a nice job. Obviously, the release was Sort of an interesting thing because you kind of have to trace the arc of how a trip like this is even possible from a brand like Tudor. And in many ways, it's our buddy Cole. Cole Pennington, who's been on the show several times, used to work for Hodinkee, kind of left that side of the industry, moved to Switzerland, took a job with Tudor. And we're starting, like, I think this is an exceedingly Cole sort of trip that he put together with the team at Tudor, where this is a part of Florida, of the states that Cole knows really well. calls a huge fisherman and a diver, just general sportsman. And then to see not only that layer, but then the layer on top of that, of the man in the sea museum, which we can get to. And, uh, you know, the folks who were in attendance, not from the press necessarily at the, at the event, whether they were kind of member or, you know, um, folks there in honor of, uh, of the Navy history with Tudor and the rest of it, it was, it was interesting sort of thing. Maybe the right way to start would be, Well, probably the others on the trip. I don't think I've been on a quote-unquote press trip like this in the past, right? We had a bunch of folks from the same sort of circle that we're part of with Cole previously. And it was fun to see folks. Once you run down the cast, you mentioned a cast of characters, which is exactly what it was. Yourself and myself included.
Jason Heaton	Yeah. This was the first time I've been on a bigger trip like this in several years, probably before pandemic, maybe even before that, where Um, every time I turned my head, there was somebody new that I hadn't seen in many years, or maybe even hadn't met, you know, Adrian Barker from, from about effing time and Jack, um, Andrew McCutcheon, um, also about effing time and time and tide, of course, uh, you know, Bryce from, from monochrome, uh, just a bunch of people from the industry, Ariel Adams, et cetera. But then you had this, this other contingent of, of people that I'm very proud to say are, are, you know, devoted, loyal, uh, TGN errs. And that's, you know, Justin, um, uh, the restorian, We had Nacho, who also writes for Fratello. He was there. I know he's a TGN guy. Chris Soule, of course, our good buddy. Moderator Supreme. Yeah. Ben Lowry. Of course, Cole. Asha Wagner was there. It was just this wonderful blend of people. And I think, you know, I'm sure viewed from a distance, this must have looked like a strange trip because we had this big group. It was a big group of people for a watch that when many people saw it, they're like, it's black. What's the big deal? Yeah. Um, this felt like the right mix of people and type of trip for the type of watch that they were introducing because of the general theme of it and the enthusiasm that was brought to it, um, by all the people that were there. I mean, we had a lot of what I would call in the most affectionate way, nerds, you know, like Navy nerds, dive watch, nerds, dive nerds. Um, and boy, we had a blast. I mean, you could just, the excitement was palpable when we were at, at the event at the museum that we'll talk about here. and then also diving. It was just, it was such a great crew of people. And I had such a good time talking to everybody.
James Stacey	Yeah, I agree. It was, it was nice to see all these folks. These are folks that largely we only get to see, um, you know, at wind up, right. Yeah. Right. Uh, is, is probably the normal one, obviously when it comes to folks like, uh, others from our direct industry, you catch up on trips occasionally. Um, but it was, it was an awesome chance. And then, you know, they had a pretty nice loose itinerary that kept everything to roughly one day.
Unknown	Yeah.
James Stacey	where we started our morning at the Man in the Sea Museum, which if you're ever in this area, in Panama City Beach area, even just generally in the area of Florida's Gulf Coast, go out of your way to swing by this museum. I think it was like $5 or $10 a head. I glanced very quickly just to remember to make a note. Not an expensive thing, but you pull into the parking lot and they have Sea Lab there. among several other submarines and underwater habitats. And then inside is jaw-dropping. I think you could spend a year in there and the best you would do is probably end up getting a job, you know, leading tours or something like that. Like it's just a very, very cool space. The whole trip sort of had this like casual energy that aligned really nicely with the FXD, right? Of course it has this tie to military diving, to mil-sub, to modern sort of spec ops, that sort of thing. But on top of that, it is this casual watch that you wear on a, uh, you know, a fabric strap and it doesn't look out of place with dive gear or with jeans and shorts and a t-shirt and the rest of it. Uh, and I think that aligned nicely to do it at this sort of, um, really impressive museum. Uh, but you know, not, not a fancy place, right. By any stretch, certainly not within the realm of like Swiss watches.
Jason Heaton	No, And, and that was so refreshing. Um, you know, for one thing, you know, a lot of brands kind of really lean hard into the connections with, you know, whether, um, legitimate or tenuous, you know, the kind of connections with Navy SEALs or, or the Navy or elite dive units, et cetera. Um, and I think Tudor sort of threaded the needle or, or, or walked the, the, the tightrope here with enough of kind of a little bit of like, all right, we're going to show you this, this, sort of cool video, uh, at the start of things with, you know, lots of Navy divers wearing tutors, which is fully legit and is really cool. And I, I totally get off on that sort of thing. Um, and then, then they had these guys, these, these legit old guys from the sea lab era, UDT guys, CBs, et cetera, um, kind of mingling around, talking, sharing their enthusiasm, uh, you know, teaching, teaching us about various elements of the museum. You know, we had the presentation, Um, and just was kind of on, on visual overload at the museum. And then like we go out in this scorching, humid parking lot and they had a tent set up with this, you know, kind of simple, but great sort of very golf themed, uh, lunch for us. And then off, off to the diving.
James Stacey	I think I was eating quesadillas in a parking lot. I was a happy kid. I had a screaming cold diet Coke doing great with C lab behind you, you know,
Jason Heaton	It was, it was really special. And the museum itself, you know, you mentioned, uh, fantastic, encouraging people to go there. And I, everywhere I looked, you know, the thing about a museum like that is you have, you know, big stuff. They had like, you know, hyperbaric stretcher and they had, you know, tanks and dive suits on mannequins, et cetera. And then like you, you lean in close and they've got all this like little stuff. And, and some of it was just mind blowing. I mean, I was, Uh, there was a whole wall that was dedicated to operation Ivy bells, which was this, uh, I'm such a nerd about it, but it was like this. Clandestine operation back in the early seventies, uh, in which, um, Navy divers were locking out of submarines at the bottom of the sea over, um, off the coast of the Soviet union, tapping, uh, you know, seabed communication cables, um, for many years until, uh, until a double agent, uh, blew the, blew the operation. Um, but they had this like little kind of tangled piece of metal, almost like shrapnel with Cyrillic writing on it that was recovered from the bottom of the sea from this operation. And one of the diving suits used. And it was like, I was like, this is like history come to life here. This is stuff I've read about. There's books about it. Um, and here it is. And, and it was just such a thrill, um, to, to chat with these folks. And then, and then the, the dinner that night, which was, which was great. It was on a rooftop of a restaurant nearby. Um, And, and, you know, some of the guys were there too. And I was chatting with this guy from the Seabees who's dived under the North pole out of a submarine and lived on a South Pacific island for a year, building a pier. And, um, you know, he just had great stories to tell. And I just feel like the overall atmosphere of the trip really superseded any specific about the watch. The watch kind of just spoke for itself, which was cool.
James Stacey	The funny thing is, and I don't want to overstate it, but I do think if anybody is going to overstate it, it would be us. It's like, obviously you can go back and listen to the Cole episodes on the show. And obviously the big thing that he brought as far as like a motto to what his time at Hodinkee was always read the case back. This trip had like a case back sort of feel to it. The watch is great. I don't, I don't really know. Like I loved the blue FXD and it had a weird bezel and was blue. This is black, still has the fully graduated bezel, but now it's, you know, the lapse time. I think this is a very solid product. It's offered for the same price point. All of this makes sense. It's just another FXD, um, that has a cool history underpinning with, um, the 9401 and other issued watches and stuff like that. I get all of that I think is relatively simple. But if you spent the time like you did to go look at some of the walls in the museum or speak to some of the folks that like clearly weren't there as members of the press. But as soon as you said, hello, they were like these incredibly friendly people with awesome stories. You're like, Oh, this is just, one of the most Cole experiences of my life.
Jason Heaton	Yeah. It felt like a giant episode of TGN, like done live at a certain, at a certain point.
James Stacey	Yeah. I mean, or, or, or almost like what we could aspire to be in terms of meeting some of these people and their stories. And, and obviously, you know, I got, man, I got, we're sitting chit chatting with this guy, um, retired, uh, Lieutenant William Jeb and he was on, on, in a shuttle with us. going to the Man of the Sea Museum, and he was saying like, oh, I was on SEAL Team 1 from, you know, like 64 to 69. And I was like, oh, wait, that's when Moki was on SEAL Team 1. Yeah. And for those of you who don't know, years ago, I did a Talking Watches with a fellow named Philip Moki Martin, who is one of the founding members of SEAL Team 1, one of the most remarkable people I've ever met. I'll put it in the show notes if you haven't seen it. It's one of the things I'm most proud of in my career working in watches, and really all of the praise would go to Moki and to our video team. Uh, it turns out Mr. Jeb was a Moki swim buddy in the seals. So they were good friends. He had actually seen him just a couple of weeks ago. So I got to see some like up to date photos of Moki and that kind of thing. So it is this kind of like cool, small world, um, full of interesting people. You just have to, yeah, you have to be ready to turn the watch over and find the somewhat deeper story. And it was a great trip. I mean, that's the easy thing to say in the press trips are not a dime a dozen, And it's not something I necessarily take for granted, but you know, we've talked about this, Jason, you and I in the past and it's come up on the show. Like sometimes you go like, what's the point of this? Right. Right. I don't need something to be fancy. Like I'm good eating lunch in a parking lot. That's, this is fine. Yeah. Um, I'd rather do that next to C lab than, you know, on, you know, a yacht somewhere or something like that. But yeah, I, uh, I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed the watch. And then obviously the day kind of culminated in, the groups being divided based on who could dive. And that was kind of a, not a prerequisite, but an added element for this trip was if you were a diver and then another group got to go snorkeling and apparently they had a pretty good time. Yeah. We went diving. So we piled on how many divers were there? 16, 17, 15, 16, maybe around that. Something like that. Yeah. That's at least in the ballpark. And so we went diving on a spot called the Jeff a hovercraft, which is a, you know, an aluminum structure, hovercraft, technically a prototype of a modern, um, like military transport hovercraft for moving things from a ship to the shore. I don't remember how long they said it was, maybe 70, 75 feet, something like that. It was in about that much depth of water.
Jason Heaton	Yeah. I think it was 95 feet long by about 40 some feet wide.
James Stacey	So, yeah. So, uh, obviously it's kind of like two rails with a central hull in the center or like a plate in the center and it would have operated on a skirt, which is no longer present. Uh, really, really cool. But we, we got out and everybody got in the water and did some diving. And, uh, the dive was remarkable. I wrote, I ended up kind of retuning my whole story to focus on the experience of, of diving. And you and I were buddied up and you were taking photos of, uh, of folks underwater. So we splashed in first for the group and you know, not great viz at the surface, maybe called 10 feet, maybe 15 feet. And then as we went down the anchor line, it got a little bit better, but whatever was good of the visibility was Not ruined, but occluded by about a billion, like sardine and scad. I've never, like I've dove a lot of different places. I've also dove places where I thought they had a lot of like biomass. So like a certain species of fish, there'd be a ton of them. I've never seen anything like this. It was like being in a bait ball.
Jason Heaton	Yeah, it was. Um, and you know, the way that, uh, this dive operator divers den kind of structures, the dive is the, they get to the site. Uh, the dive master splashes in first goes down, uh, fixes the line, uh, the downline and then, um, and then runs a horizontal line from that to the back of the boat, to the stern, and then up to kind of your downline. So you jump in, go down, swim down to the wreck. Um, and I remember he came back up and was kind of explaining, he said, well, there's a bit of current, um, and there's a lot of fish and, uh, just, you know, to those maybe a little less, less experienced. Um, it can get disorienting and indeed it does. I mean, if you, if you're. kind of down there, they're just like whipping past, like swirling around you in just an absolute wall of fins and scales. And, you know, like you kind of, it's one of those situations where, you know, you know, your bubbles go up, that's up, you know, the opposite is down. Um, but sometimes you like lose sight of the wreck. I mean, it was, uh, I wouldn't call it dangerous by any means, but it was just distracting.
James Stacey	Yeah. Well, definitely did not feel dangerous or even sketchy. It was actually pretty, pretty straightforward diving. But if like you and I would be four or five feet apart, And I would see you one moment, take my camera. I board one of those oceanic housings that you talked about previously, which I can, I can chit chat about as well. But, and then I would be like, Oh, that's a cool photo. The light's right. I can like you had your big camera. So there was always some light like, um, from your lamp. Right. And I'd go to grab my camera. And in a split second of doing that, you know, a wall of fish would entirely cover my view of you, um, as they went by, uh, you know, and then you'd be in a ball of fish or in, in, you'd be surrounded. You'd be like, one, how are they not bumping into me? That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. And then all of these small bait fish, the, the scad and, and the sardines and such were being hunted by a slightly larger fish. These are maybe a foot, a little bit longer than that called a Spanish mackerel. So if you were in the ball and then suddenly the ball disappeared, a mackerel would go by like, yeah, they were very reactive to these, these predators. I really enjoyed the dive. I had a good time. It's hyper green. They call it golf green, but it's like almost oppressively green. It's not like water I'm necessarily used to. It was very warm. And then I had this oceanic housing, which I said you talked about in the past. It's their new iPhone housing. So I had my iPhone 12 in there. I was able to snap some wrist shots and some shots of people fiddling around. Uh, it was a loaner, so it went back with you to make it easier to, to return to them. But I'll definitely be buying one of those before I do my next sort of watch related dive trip for sure. Very, very nice product. I was impressed by it.
Jason Heaton	Yeah, definitely. And I, I, the photos are, are a blast to look at. I mean, all your photos, my photos, like any photo that anybody took, like you see them, it's like you see like Is that so-and-so behind those fish? Like you see a leg, you see a face, you see, you know, a watch or something. And then it's just like this, these fish, which really added to it. I think if it was just a, a bit more of a, an empty sea, um, and the wreck, I don't think it would have been as, um, as interesting a dive. I mean, the, the wreck itself was, you know, it was kind of cool, but it wasn't a really remarkable wreck as wrecks go. Um, so I think the fish really added to something and then And then, yeah, the green is greener than I've seen. I mean, in Ecuador, it was it was pretty green a few weeks ago. And then the Great Lakes are usually pretty green. But this was beyond that. This was like very emerald. So hence the name, I guess, the Emerald Coast.
James Stacey	Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And if I mean, and up north of where I used to dive in Vancouver's the Emerald Sea. Oh, yeah. And, you know, there's it gets super green up there as well. So, you know, kind of fun that way. But if you want to see my photos and that kind of thing, my story's on Hodinkee now. uh, dispatch diving with the new Tudor Pelagos FXD. And then, uh, Jason, you'll have a story, I assume for substack at some point.
Jason Heaton	Yeah, that went up this morning. We can, we can throw that, that link in as well. Um, Oh, nice. I had fun. Uh, you know, speaking of watches, I, I got to wear my, uh, my old Tudor, the, the Snowflake 9401. And so cool. And I had that on that Elongapo metal cuff and, you know, talk about a conversation starter. I mean, everybody wants to, some people hadn't, hadn't heard of that, that band or, or knew of it. Um, and they'd look at it and be like, what is that strange band? And I did a little, uh, impromptu, uh, description of it for, for Andrew McCutcheon for the Time and Tide, uh, Instagram and was kind of explaining it. And then lo and behold, and that was the first night, which was, which was a fun night. We were on the beach, uh, kind of having bonfires and barbecue and playing cornhole and that sort of thing. But, um, and then at the museum, there were several, uh, old vintage Tudor subs that had the same band on it, which was. which was fun to see. And then, um, I took a diving and you got a shot or two of that underwater, which was just kind of fun to document. I mean, that's a watch that, uh, I certainly had refurbished. Um, but it's always a little bit of a risk, I guess, where you take a vintage piece underwater. So it was, uh, felt fitting to do that. And I had a watch on each wrist and kind of one old and one new, which was great.
James Stacey	And it looked so good underwater to see that one underwater alongside you know, the dive computers and, and, you know, pretty much everybody on the boat was wearing one of these new FXDs. Uh, yeah, it was, it was a fun one for sure.
Jason Heaton	Yeah. And speaking of that, I mean, really neat opportunity for, um, for everybody to try out the new watch. I mean, I I've, I've been on kind of a few dive press trips where, you know, they let you wear the new watch, but it's usually only two or three people with it. And this was a full boatload. And I think I'm sure the snorkelers did too. So, you know, they had, uh, uh, you know, a couple dozen sample watches that were, Used, you know, in, in the water, which was a really neat thing for, for tutor to offer. So, uh, and then, you know, great to see some, you know, newly minted divers. I mean, we had, uh, we had, uh, Rico from Rico's, uh, watches podcast. Um, he was a shout out Rico, freshly certified. We had, um, uh, Blake, Blake Bettner, our, our good buddy from worn and wound that we've done a couple of collaborative podcasts with, uh, at windup. Um, Blake, you know, he got certified just before this trip. He did great. I mean, um, So yeah, really, really fun to see, you know, people taking to diving and then being able to, to have this opportunity to dive these new watches.
James Stacey	So yeah. And, and to do it with some of the folks that we know pretty well from the Slack, like it's one thing to see your quote unquote, like work buddies to see you, to see Andrew, to see Nacho, to see, you know, all these folks that we get to see at watches and wonders and that sort of thing. It's another thing to have this other layer of like, yeah, the folks that we know and love but don't get to see quite as often, or certainly even in this setting necessarily, was super fun. I mean, just to get to sit and chit-chat with Asha was incredible. It was a really good time and not really like a press trip, I guess, that I've been on before, and probably not one that I'll see repeated anytime soon. It was nice. It was quick. Can't complain with a dive. Had to run a little bit in the airport, but made it home on time. Can't ask for a whole lot more than that, eh?
Unknown	Yeah.
Jason Heaton	Yeah. Well, thanks, uh, thanks to Tudor and definitely to Cole and congratulations, buddy, for, for pulling this trip off. Cole, you did a great job. Uh, if you're listening to this, um, you know, the trip came off without a hitch. Everybody had a blast and, you know, speaking for James, you know, we, we both, um, we both just really, really enjoyed it. It was, uh, it was a highlight of the year for sure.
James Stacey	Yeah. I mean, when your other option is, um, and I'm, I'm in no way complaining about this. I it's actually one of my favorite ways to do this, but normally when Tudor launches a new watch, I either go to the Tudor store in Toronto or to the Rolex HQ in Toronto and you get 30 minutes with the watch. Yeah. Which is the most efficient kind understanding of, of how people really just want the hands-on photos. Uh, Rolex and Tudor have been really, really good to me in the last few years in, in allowing access, whether it's to, the new FXD when it came out, the blue one, or even the Le Mans Daytona more recently. But if you're going to go a step further than this and try and do something that applies some context, some vibes, some backstory, the rest of it, I think they did a nice job. And I also don't, I can't remember the last time that you and I like spoke at length about like the structure and effectiveness of a press trip. Yeah, right. So maybe that's not always the thing. Usually we're just there to talk, chit chat about the watch. Yeah. In this case, I think it's a fairly easily understood watch. I got some questions on my Instagram, like, do I like it more than my P39? I think no, but it would be, you know, it's yet another one of these ones that feels like a top five for the brand right now. Yeah. I do think, Jason, that you should probably get one of these just because we can finally close the loop on talking about you getting a Pelagos at some point.
Jason Heaton	Yeah, I've been holding off. I mean, I think I think, uh, like I said earlier, this, this is the, this is the Pelagos that, that finally kind of ticks a bunch of boxes for me. It just, uh, there's something about it. And you know, that's the thing about watches. A lot of it is intangible and very subjective, of course. And for some reason, this one feels a little less, um, I don't know, the Pelagos feels, it's always felt a little bit, if not sterile, almost like flawless to the point of like, I wanted some warmth of some sort. And maybe it's the strap, maybe it's the, configuration. Maybe it's the bit of red text. I'm not sure what, but it, it just, uh, yeah, it, it, it definitely does it for me as far as that family of watches goes.
James Stacey	Yeah. Solid, solid trip. Cool watch. I get it. Um, and in some ways it makes me like my P 39 even more, um, having had both of them kind of in hand and on wrist, uh, for the day. Um, just, I re I remain a fan. I think Tudor is doing some great work. It's, it's super easy to like what they're up to these days. If you like sort of modern, semi-serious dive watches, right?
Jason Heaton	Yeah, and here we go. Quick turnaround, you know, we get a chance to catch our breath and then off for another, I suppose, link to a certain degree to a Navy, a different Navy with Blancpain, although they did some work with the US Navy as well. And it's a big anniversary for them with a new dive watch. So yeah, it's been a good year for dive watch lovers. Let's put it that way.
James Stacey	Yeah, I would agree. I think it's been a great season. for folks. And the nice thing is, is we're still seeing great watches at lesser prices as well. Obviously just recently, the Scurfa MS23 sold out in the blink of an eye. And that's very much a similar formula, similar level of thought towards the execution of a certain price point, just a different price point than the Tudor. And in one where I don't think you're paying to see a certain name brand on the dial, I still love and really enjoy my Scurfa. And these watches just feel more and more relevant. Maybe this is how we're all going to move beyond or brands might end up moving beyond the whole like vintage faux vintage, new vintage conversation. Yeah. It is by slowly promoting watches that have this sort of razor sharp clarity of, of like a modern design. Obviously the snowflake hand is, is a throwback for Pelagos. Um, and, and for tutor at large, but I wouldn't, it's one or two throwbacks. I find it for me, the, the, the vintage effect thing really comes down to, uh, like font and coloring. You know what I mean? Like these Bolivars, the oceanographer very much feel like vintage inspired, but then you have it with a loom dial and an IP coded case. And you're like, well, this is a kind of an interesting hodgepodge. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Lots too. I think it'll be an interesting year to look back on, like when we do the year end stuff and talk about our favorite watches and watches that surprised us and the rest of it. I, it'll be interesting to kind of compare that to other years and see, you know, what, what's kind of of the, of the interest at the moment. Right. Because I don't see the FXD as being the tutor for everyone. That's probably still the BB 58 or the 54. Yeah.
Jason Heaton	And there were a few 54s kicking around on this trip. Pretty good watch. I got a chance to wear a Christoph. He's the, tutor, um, marketing sort of, uh, major Domo over in Geneva. And he was wearing, um, he was wearing a 54 and I got to wear that, uh, during dinner one day. And yeah, that's, uh, that's the black Bay for me, which is a strange thing to say. Cause it's, it's the smallest, but, um, I don't know that one's, uh, that one's super cool.
James Stacey	Yeah. I would have some trouble if they did a 54 without the guilt. Oh yeah. Because that would mean that I could almost combine two or three watches from my collection, sell them off and try and get my way into one of those. Yeah. But the funny thing is, I don't know if it's just you, if you were just looking head on at the 54, can you tell it's a 54 and not a 58?
Jason Heaton	I think the bezel is the big differentiator. I think that's the giveaway. It is very noticeable. The lack of minute hashes between one and 15 or zero and 15. Um, to me, that's the giveaway, I guess. But size wise, like you put it on the wrist and you don't feel, you don't feel 37, you know?
James Stacey	Yeah. I find that the, the thing that stands out for me is that it, whether it's, it is in number or in effect, or probably the answer is it's both. It's so thin. Yeah. Like seeing it on your wrist. I go, oh, there's no way that's a 58. Yeah. Yeah. Like that's how I would tell has such a thin case band profile.
Unknown	Yeah.
James Stacey	And otherwise, yeah, that bezel stands out in a big way, almost the opposite of a fully graduated bezel in many ways. Obviously I would say, you know, Unimatic takes it to its logical end point by having just like the tuxedo marker or whatever, but yeah, cool watches. They've got a killer lineup. I mean, it's a brand we talk about a ton and obviously they're getting a bunch of attention on this episode because we were both down in Florida, but I don't feel like it's necessarily a new trend for us to be on top of it. And then to be fair, it is kind of fun to have, uh, see a friend kind of succeed in that world. I mean, I'm, I'm largely inclined to enjoy most of their watches, not all of them, but most of them. Um, but it is cool to see Cole, uh, you know, make the leap from kind of one side of the industry to another and, and seemingly, you know, seem to have found a good home for his talents.
Jason Heaton	Yeah. Yeah, definitely. It's a good fit for sure. And thanks again, Cole. Yeah. Great. Good. Good job, buddy.
James Stacey	Totally. And if anybody listening has any questions, you can always leave a comment on the sub stack for this. You can also drop into the Slack, whether you're currently a member of the Slack or would like to, you can get in by supporting the show at greynado.com. You'll get an invite. And if you have any questions about the new FXD or really anything else, you can drop us an email at the greynado at gmail.com or leave a comment either in the Slack or on a sub stack. And we can get back to you with more information. You can also leave me a note on, um, on Instagram, I made a post for the watch. So happy to answer questions if we miss something, uh, as always, uh, beyond that, Jason, you want to jump into some final notes?
Jason Heaton	Sure. Yeah. Um, this is sort of related to also to, uh, a TGN listener, a friend of the show, uh, Jr Seeger. It's a new series on Netflix called spy ops. And, uh, it's a multi-part series about a variety of, uh, kind of clandestine operations that have been undertaken over the years by, you know, CIA, MI6, et cetera. Um, and the first episode is actually about operation jawbreaker, which was the kind of right after nine 11, um, the CIA made an effort to push into Afghanistan to kind of track down the perpetrators and Osama bin Laden. And, uh, they put together a small, uh, eclectic team of folks to, to kind of make the initial push and gather Intel and get, get things going over there. And one of the guys on the Jawbreaker team was J.R. Seeger himself. And he is interviewed fairly extensively on this first episode. And it was fun to see him. His voice is familiar from some other things where I've seen him. And he's an all-around good guy, former CIA guy and 81st Airborne before that. And it's just an interesting show in general. I mean, beyond even the first episode I kind of dug into, I kind of skipped around. And there's another episode about Um, the exfiltration of Oleg Gordievsky, who was a double agent working for MI6, uh, behind the iron curtain, um, during the cold war and, and this extraordinary story of how they managed to, to get him out, uh, smuggled him out of the country when they were feared that his, uh, his cover was blown. So, uh, you know, if you're into kind of real life spy stories, uh, check out spy ops on Netflix.
James Stacey	Oh man, I got a notification for this and immediately just added it to my list. I'm like, well, we'll get to this at a, in a lounge or something up in the next little while. So I should download some of that to, uh, to the tablet and watch it on the flight over. That'd be great. Yeah, for sure. Very cool. And always nice to see a Jr pop up somewhere. He's been such a strong supporter and a frequent emailer, a very interesting topic. So, uh, that's a, that's very cool.
Jason Heaton	All right. Well, that's mine. What do you have this weekend?
James Stacey	Yeah, so mine is actually a new album from a band called The Beaches. And if you're hoping to just hold on to the last little scraps of summer, I highly recommend checking out this album. It's called Blame My Ex. I got into this band. Yeah, it's a great title. It's a foursome of women who I believe the band founded in like 2012, 2013. They're from the east side of Toronto, which there's an area called The Beaches. I don't know if they're all from that, but I believe that's where the name came from. I actually found out, weirdly enough, I found out about them because someone in, whether someone in the band or in their representation, really unlocked Instagram marketing. I kept hearing the hook for months, and I would get 10 seconds of it. And then finally, I heard it as I was going through reels, and I was like, I need to hear the rest of this song. and found the band on Tidal, started listening to it. Turns out, I really enjoy a bunch of their past albums. If you don't want to start on the brand new one, go ahead and just put on Everything is Boring. It's an absolute banger. Really great. They're sort of a poppy take on indie rock. In some ways, there's elements of it that are very like Courtney Barnett. They go in a few different directions, and I really like the way it comes together. I'll play a little bit of it for you now. And yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm a big fan. Uh, the song's been great and kind of a constant in, in the, uh, the Jeep, as we drive places up to the cottage, the rest, uh, we've had a beaches playlist all summer. So to have the full album come out, uh, has been pretty good. So if, if you're looking to add something and you want something a little bit poppier, a little bit more uptempo, to enjoy these kind of final days of warmer weather before fall hits kind of in earnest. I highly recommend the new album Blame My Ex by The Beaches.
Jason Heaton	Very cool. Reppin' Toronto as well. That's awesome. And, you know, for the importance of music to us, and I'm sure to many of our listeners, I suppose we should consider doing a music-focused episode at some point. We have Film Club and we've had Book Club and, you know, who knows? But yeah, good to see music pop up in Final Notes every now and then.
James Stacey	Absolutely, yeah. I've enjoyed the band quite a bit, so I figured it'd be worth a share. And I was a little short on stuff to chit-chat about. I've been mostly working or traveling, so that's been the vibe. And then I realized, oh wait, I've been listening to this album as I work or travel for the last while. So it's a good one. I think by the time this show comes out, the new album will have been out for about a week. So not too stale at this point, but I hope you guys dig it.
Jason Heaton	All right. Well, fun episode. We'll definitely have a good one next week as well, I hope. Um, and we'll be seeing each other in a few days, but, uh, until then, as always, thanks so much for listening. If you want to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grab a new TGN signed NATO, please visit thegraynado.com. Music throughout is Siesta by JazzArr via the free music archive.
James Stacey	And we leave you with this quote from Jacques Cousteau, who said, uh, the sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.