The Grey NATO – 278 – Rolex & Tudor Predictions (Also: To Catch A Slack Thief)
Published on Thu, 28 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400
Synopsis
Jason Heaton and James Stacey discuss the recent scam incident on their Slack community's Buy, Sell, Trade channel, where a member took advantage of others by taking money without sending the watches they had agreed to sell. They outline the steps they took to address the issue, including contacting the scammer and eventually getting the affected members refunded. They also discuss plans to implement new protections for the Buy, Sell, Trade channel to prevent such incidents in the future.
The hosts then share their predictions and wishes for new releases from Rolex and Tudor at the upcoming Watches and Wonders event. They speculate on potential updates to existing models like the Explorer II, GMT-Master, and Black Bay lines, as well as new complications or materials like a potential Moon Phase or Annual Calendar model from Rolex, or a carbon case or ceramic model from Tudor to tie into their new Formula 1 partnership.
Links
Transcript
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| 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 278, 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're listening and you would like to support the show, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. My name is James Stacy, and I'm joined as ever by my friend and co-host Jason Heaton. Hey, Jason, how's it going there? |
| Jason Heaton | Uh, pretty snowy actually. Yeah, we're getting, uh, it's better, I guess I'd say better late than ever, but I think it's a little too, too little too late, uh, in my eyes for winter's arrival here at the very tail end of March. But I think it'll be gone by the end of the week if, uh, temperatures hold like they've been all winter. So, um, but other than that, yeah, doing, doing fine. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I mean, same here. I mean, we were on the other side of some drama in the slack, which I guess is what we can get into. I figure most people on the slack, you know, it's, 1500 or so of you that are listening, definitely asked for us to talk about this. Yeah. Yeah. We, you know, after two and a half years of, of basically operating, not largely on good faith, but just being, making a nice kind, you know, sort of walled garden. We had someone come in and decide to try and take advantage of a few, of a few folks in the sales forum. And, and it's been a bit of a learning lesson for Jason and I, you know, we're, we're learning as we go and want to offer a big shout out to Chris Soule, our moderator. Uh, you know, we, we should hear from crystal on the show pretty soon, but, um, yeah, it was kind of an interesting experience. Jason, I don't know if you, cause I, I caught up, um, a little late, like I was probably an hour behind when things were recognized, but, but basically the easy thing is, is I'm not, we're not going to say the guy's name. Uh, it's been handled. He won't be back on the slack. We'll get to the resolution in just a few minutes, but we had a problem with this person. kind of just not operating in good faith or being kind, kind of being dodgy, that sort of thing in the BST. That's the Buy Sell Trade channel on our Slack. And also, just kind of in general, we had some reports. He kind of butted heads with a few people and that sort of thing. So he was kind of already on... It's not like we have a strike system or whatever, but he was on our radar, right? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, he'd kind of run afoul of a few of our guidelines or rules that we have. We have kind of a simple set of buy, sell trade rules in terms of how you post, um, watches or other items that you want to sell. And he was defying some of those rules and given a few warnings and he would correct them in some cases and others not. And, you know, in retrospect, I suppose we might've been a little too lenient on those cases, but then things sort of came to a head when, um, he actually did scam a few of our members and basically sold them on watches that he had no intention of, of delivering and kind Took the money and ran, as they say, which kicked us all into high gear and jumped on it. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I get a message from you and I'm kind of like, wait, what is this about? And you're like, just check the Slack. Like, what are you doing? And so I go on the Slack and like, yeah. So we had a number of users basically say that they had active deals going on with this party and then suddenly his account was gone. Had deleted his account. We had very little like you know, information from slack. They give you nothing. Subsec gives you even less than nothing, presumably for privacy concerns and that sort of thing. So we started collecting data. I wanted to try and understand the problem as best as possible. It's not my first time. I've personally been scammed and messed with on what you seek and other sort of forms. Sometimes it kind of comes with the zone and you could just kind of deal with it and hopefully you didn't put money into the world. But sadly, we had you know, eight or nine people who would put some money into this space. Luckily, not giant sums, but nevertheless money, right? And obviously this is very stressful for Jason and I, because people pay for the slack and we've run essentially two and a half years with almost no problems. Everybody's on very much the same wavelength and then you have some sort of a bad operator, somebody coming in in bad faith. And so we did what we could to kind of understand what the scope was, how much money we're talking about, how many people, that sort of thing, and what the methodology was. And in the process, the Slack itself, everybody on the Slack just started chiming in, wanting to help or support or offer data that they had from interaction with this fellow previously. He had had some positive or like some normal quality sales, buying and selling on the Slack previously. I can't imagine that this dude signed up on the Slack with the express goal of scamming people, because if he did, he's just an idiot. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | We had his name. We had his address. We had his phone number. With those things, Google really lets you go nuts on people. So I had devoted some time to trying to understand what I could about this fella. There is always some risk, and that's fine. We're okay with there being some risk. We just don't want the Slack to be more risky than, say, using Watch You Seek or Reddit or or those sorts of stuff. So obviously, there are a few things that we need to change about the kind of rules, regulations, and reliability index, the way in which you can kind of have some confidence in who's actually buying or selling a watch. And those updates are coming. This episode comes out on Thursday, and by Friday, we're planning to relaunch BST with new protections in place. So it'll be a little bit more difficult to get going, and there'll be a few more hoops to jump through in the process. That's definitely on our radar, and that was largely our main goal. We wanted to do what we could to make the affected parties whole, whether that be them being able to claim their money back or some other option. And then the other side was we wanted to make sure that we put whatever plans we could in place so that this couldn't happen again, or if it was actively happening again, people would have a set of rules and guidelines to help protect them from this sort of behavior. So those are in process. If you're listening to this right away on Thursday, those are in process and will be implemented shortly. And if you're getting to this episode a few days later, they're already up and running. Please read the guide in BST if you're interested. I think it's still a great place to buy and sell watches. We've had a huge number of, I mean, these few sales don't even represent an aggregate of a percent in terms of the number of sales that have gone through there. But we're going through this whole process and I you know, I've got the fellows email address, I've got his phone number, we know his address, that sort of thing and I kind of like I calm down. I don't make great decisions when I'm angry and I was pretty angry and stressed about this whole scenario for a couple of days and then I don't know, maybe two days or two three days after it happened. We just figured we'd reach out yeah, just to see like like we wanted to be a hundred percent sure that that this wasn't like his account got hacked or you know he agreed to a few sales and then something terrible happened in his life and He went offline. I mean, deleting the Slack account is pretty clear, but you want to be sure. And let's be clear, I'm not a tough guy and I genuinely don't play one on the internet or even our Slack. Our Slack, the thread was several hundred messages. And when we get to the outcome, people really gave me a lot of credit for muscling my way into this guy's world. And I really didn't. The message was very benign. Arguably, I just, I genuinely believe that. threats on the internet are valueless. They don't do anything. Your best chance in a scenario like this is to appeal to someone's reason or their self their sense of self protection, which was the goal with my message, and I simply said, you know, it looks like this has happened. Would love to get your side of the story, but also everyone who's affected who can no longer reach you anymore is speaking with the FBI via and like I shared the same link that we shared with everybody who was affected by the cyber crime thing that the FBI, where you can report a complaint and I sent the the Instagram, I sent a DM on Instagram because this guy followed me on Instagram, such a weird criminal and and he saw it and blocked me and I was like all right. Well, he saw it and I got a response and I figured out I'll just I'll spend the next couple of hours just kind of bothering him, not mean like not being mean or like threatening in any way, just like a nuisance. did the same thing to his email, maybe with a little bit more detail about what was going on and kind of where I saw this going. If he didn't make some sort of option and the whole thing I was just asking for is like your best case here, because it's not enough money to change your life. The best case here is just to refund it yeah and try and make these folks whole to kind of lower the damage that could be done, you know in the future and and then sent the email, maybe a half hour later, sent a text message with the same sort of data directly to his phone, kind of left it at that, and then went on and a few minutes later, people started getting their refunds. So he ended up refunding all of the money that he took and such. There was no way he had a plan in all of this. I don't really get it, but it definitely wasn't something that felt super thoughtful. But in the end, as it sorted out, everybody got their money back, which is I don't know that there's a better outcome. I mean, the better outcome would have been this didn't happen at all, but we can't always adjust for every single person being sweet and understanding and not a predator. And so with that kind of constraint in mind, I think that a refund is kind of your best possible outcome to this scenario and everybody got their money back. And we'll tune up the rules for BST, but I thought folks might enjoy a little bit of the background. As much as I really love the memes on Slack about me being a tough guy, I was compared to several of my favorite characters from Heat, which is a very high moment for me in a very stressful week. I genuinely believe at times zero threat is somewhat more menacing than a threat when you're expecting one. And in this one scenario, it worked out in our favor. So I'm very thankful. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it was definitely a cautionary tale for everybody that buys and sells watches on the internet and especially in our... Or buys and sells anything on the internet. Yeah. And our Slack group is largely run on goodwill and a sense of community. And so this sent a bit of a reverberation through the community and everybody was understandably kind of shaken by it. But then I think on the other side of the coin, it really demonstrated the the strength of our community in how many people came forward to, you know, give information, give advice, um, countless people offering to help reimburse those affected. Yeah. And then, you know, we all kind of leaped into action. Um, those of us kind of behind the scenes to kind of reconfigure how we're going to relaunch buy, sell trade. We pulled it down. Of course, uh, it's, uh, as we mentioned, it'll be back up tomorrow as you're listening to this on a Thursday. Yeah. I mean, all things considered, I think it was, it was a good outcome. And, and, you know, you mentioned the FBI and I think, um, you know, beyond, um, beyond the threat of contacting the FBI, um, as kind of a public service announcement, um, we can direct people that if you are affected, you know, hopefully not in the future on our TGN slack by cell trade, but anywhere, um, you can go to ic3.gov, which is the, the FBI's internet, uh, internet crime complaint center. And, allegedly they do take this stuff seriously and they do look into complaints. And so there's a button right on that page that says file a complaint. You can go through and fill that stuff out. So we do encourage people that, you know, if you are affected anywhere on the internet with things you're buying or selling to, to give that a look. And it certainly worked in our favor, at least as a, as a sort of a deterrent, I guess, or, or some sort of a mild threat if you want to call it that. Um, |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I mean, it was a it was a bummer that it happened in the first place, and I genuinely feel bad for like the stress that it brought on the folks that were financially affected by the outcome. And certainly it was a stressful couple of days for you and me and Chris. And, you know, we're actually expanding the moderator team. We'll have more news on that in the future just to, yeah, just to grow confidence in the platform. The one thing that I'm more sure of than ever, and I was already, I thought 100% sure, but it's just this is the best group of folks in the watch world. Yeah, all together, all hanging out, all having a good time. And, you know, we had one fraction of a percent of the population decided that they would take take advantage of folks kind of goodwill and trusting nature. And it didn't work out in the end, which feels like a win for us and for, you know, rational, thoughtful human beings. But I guess I'm sure it's a shout out to say that if you're on the slack and were involved in this process, whether it was providing feedback, whether it was offering to do the GoFundMe thing, whatever layer, just a big thank you from Jason and I and Chris. The community is incredible. You guys are so much fun. And I don't care about a lot of things if I'm really honest in my life, but I care pretty fiercely about TGN and the core of TGN has in the last couple of years become this slack. And it was really interesting and kind of heartwarming in a non internet sort of way to see the way that folks kind of responded to this. You know, we, we said for a long time that this feels like being on a watch group 10 years ago online. And I feel like we, we got another real slice of that here where it luckily, you know, it worked out the way it worked out and I'm happy with that. I'm happy with how we handled things, but I'm just really impressed by this group. So I did want to give that a bit of a highlight and let people know that we took it really seriously, you know, BST was brought down almost immediately. We addressed from every angle the sort of scenario and in the end it worked out. I don't know if it will work out like that again in the future, but hopefully we should have more checks and balances in place to prevent the sort of predatory behavior that happened. So yeah, that's the outcome. I'm thrilled to say that it was positive and it was a really nice highlight of all the great things that this community has kind of brought to it, brought upon itself. You know, I can't, I don't think Jason and I can take much credit for it. It doesn't take much work to turn on a slack. It does take a lot of work for people to have for a whole community kind of hang out and be on the same wavelength. So we can take one, one small fraction of that credit, I suppose. And the rest for all of you. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, so true. And here's hoping we have a quieter week this week. So far, so good. I mean, I think at least I know for you, I'm your, your neck deep in watches and wonders prep and, um, a certain degree. I guess I'm also working through kind of scheduling and that sort of thing. There's a concurrent show in Geneva running alongside Watches and Wonders called, awkwardly named, Time to Watches with a number of other brands. And so that's sort of putting some complications. |
| James Stacey | It's a good show. It's a dumb name, but it's a great show. Zin is there. Marathon is there. There's a bunch of great... It's a huge hall and it's like visiting a small show. I highly recommend it if you're in town, but it is a weird name. It's always been a weird name. |
| Jason Heaton | So yeah. Um, you know, here we are recording on a Tuesday. The, um, our kind of slack drama died off last Friday, which made for a more relieved weekend, um, for us certainly. But yeah, here we are, uh, moving forward in a, in a calmer week, a happier state of mind. And, um, yeah, I guess other than that, I, um, I recently, I actually, it wasn't recently, it was a couple of months ago. I was asked to contribute, kind of do a Q and a session with giant mouse knives. for their blog on their website. They call it knife styles. It's their journal. And, um, it was kind of a Q and a about, you know, my work and kind of my history and adventuring and diving and that sort of stuff, as well as kind of my history with knives, obviously, given that giant mouse is a knife company and our good buddy, Jim worth is a active member of our Slack community and a long time listener. We've met him at wind up, uh, just an all around great guy, Jim, uh, in kind of concert with, um, my, My appearance on the knife styles journal, um, has kindly offered a 25% discount on giant mouse knives to TGN listeners, um, which runs now. Um, actually it's active now as we're recording this, but he extended it through Sunday for those of you that are catching up and, you know, listening on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday or Sunday. Um, and you can use the code, uh, all caps, TGN 25 off. Oh, FF for 25% off. And that's a, That's a really nice deal. You and I are both fans of Giant Mouse and Jim has offered discounts in the past to our group and has kindly offered it again. So thanks for that, Jim and to Giant Mouse. And thanks for having me on The Journal. It was a lot of fun. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, The Journal thing is really cool. The knives are incredible. I've been a lifelong knife nerd. And when you get past some of the big store brands, you end up into brands like Giant Mouse. The designs are great. I've got a couple of their knives here. I also really like As much as I love the knives and I do, and I like to carry a knife as much as possible, obviously you can't when you travel and you can't if you're going certain places, concerts or just places where knives are inappropriate, especially within say the Canadian context here. It's different depending on where you live, of course, but the one that I carry all the time, which I got at wind up just last year is the giant mouth cap lifter slash pry bar. Yeah, and they make these in a few different materials. I have the one in like a brushed titanium, and I absolutely love this thing. It has obviously a cap lifter, as it says, and it's a little bit of a pry bar. It has a bit of a grip on one side, and then it has a little channel that you can hook into a belt loop or a strap and loop your keys into it, so it can kind of hold it in certain places. I really like this. I have it with me most of the time. The pry bar is enough of an edge to cut right into an Amazon package, like what I would normally be using a knife for anyways. Yeah. They just make awesome stuff, and Jim and Giant Mouse are not only active elements in the greater community, they're at Windup. Jim's a huge watch guy, they have a great staff, but also the product is killer, and he's been part of the TGN crew and supporting that for a long time. So a good shout out, and always keen to offer a little discount, so you can't complain on that front. 25% is awesome. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, I touched on watches and wonders and kind of our prep and getting ready for that in a couple of weeks. Um, that's our topic for today, but before we jump into it, let's, um, let's do a quick risk check. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. What have you got on? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, I guess, um, you know, we, it's kind of an interesting segue. It's not watches and wonders related, but today I'm wearing my Blancpain 50 fathoms, the big 45 millimeter titanium one that I've had for just over a year. I got it last year before I went to French Polynesia with Blancpain. Um, but I kind of wore it in honor of, last week's big launch of a 42 millimeter version of the same watch, as well as a gold version in both blue and black dials. And this was, this kind of took the watch world by storm. I think everybody was sort of waiting for a watch, you know, they had the act one last year, which was a 42 millimeter in steel, but as, as the owner of a 45 millimeter titanium, I can say the comfort of it, even on this big size is tremendous. And I can imagine that the 42 millimeters even more so. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I got a chance to see these when I was in New York. I swung by the office during over March break and Mark Kosler, it's my coworker and easily one of the greatest watch photographers alive currently, he was shooting the watch and I grabbed the black version and the blue on the bracelet. The black one on the tropic strap is pretty great. I think what you'd kind of assume. Yeah. It's a little thick, right? They're just shy of 15 millimeters, which feels thick, but because the titanium On a strap, it didn't feel so bad. It felt a little bit bulkier on the titanium bracelet, which is an option, I guess. You still get a date at 4.30 and it's a canted date, so it aligns with the alignment of the marker rather than the natural alignment of the dial, which is something we've been talking about with those new Seiko's. It's how much we like the fact that they rotate the date display so it aligns with the rest of the text on the dial. Blancpain doesn't do that here. Bezel action was really good. Legibility is great. It just looks like a 50 fathoms, but it's a touch smaller, which I think is super smart. We don't typically get into, not arguments, but major discourse over pricing on a brand new watch. I'm much more interested in pricing in the real world, like in secondary markets and that sort of thing. What do you think of this? I think we're talking $16,600. To me, that struck as actually high. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, it's, well, the 45 millimeter that I have that, you know, just in, in, in full transparency, uh, I was given by Blancpain as a gift for moderating a panel, um, that I did in French Polynesia last year for them, um, is an $18,000 watch. So, you know, more, I guess, um, if you're looking at the 42, obviously it's going to be less, it's a smaller watch. Um, it's, it's high. I mean, no matter what, which way you look at it, we did talk to Mark Hayek when we interviewed him last year. about the possibility of Blancpain doing a more affordable version of a Fifty Fathoms for those of us that have been kind of craving that and kind of a throwback to their history making every man dive watches, so to speak. He said that's probably not in the cards given the brand's positioning. And I suppose, you know, the movements are very impressive. These are 120-hour power reserve in-house, anti-magnetic, et cetera, et cetera. So these are high-end watches with great finishing. 16,000 is expensive. Yeah. That's, that's, it's not a cheap watch. |
| James Stacey | I don't know why, but I thought that like, if you're going to, if you're going to do one and maybe they have another one in the future, maybe one that's a little bit more simple in some metric. And, and to be honest, maybe the more simple option is the Bathyscaph, but you know, offhand, I don't know the exact pricing of the current Bathyscaph range, but that includes everything from, uh, you know, a smaller diver with a date all the way up to like a triple calendar diver that, you know, it's a very, It's a strange line of watches. It's cool. I really, I am very much a fan of the bathyscaphe stuff, but yeah, I thought 16, six felt like a lot. I would have thought they would want to go a little bit closer to the, the natural home of like the price point for the Submariner. Obviously. Yeah. The, the movement you're getting a five day power reserve. It's a four Hertz movement. And to be fair, I said it was close to 15. These, these fractions do matter to people. It's 14 too. So it's much closer to 14 than 15. But that is a little on the thick side for a dive watch with a date these days. It's considerably thicker than, say, a Submariner, or if you're going titanium for titanium, it's considerably thicker than a Pelagos 39, for example. But yeah, I think they're gorgeous. This is obviously a style that I really like in general. I think it'll be fun to see how these are received, how they hit the market in the secondary pricing, what they cost. used if you wanted to go that route, but I think the sizing works really well. The forty two, I would actually say, and you can see the pictures on Mark's wrist is Mark. His wrist is, I think, a little bit bigger than mine, and it doesn't even look like forty two. It's a nicely balanced thing. It has these weird twenty one point five millimeter lugs, but of course I think at point five you can probably fit any twenty two mil strap you've got. It's just it would be a concern more for the bracelet, which would be very specific. So I yeah, I think the the lug sizing is weird, but in person, is it going to matter? I don't know, probably not, you know, especially if you're buying it on the bracelet and wearing it on the bracelet, the lug with doesn't make any difference at all for me, a nato nerd. It would make some difference, but I know a twenty two would look just fine in a twenty one five. I'm on record. I would love to one day own fifty fathoms. I think in my mind, I still want something closer to like the mil spec tribute that houdini did and and you know previously that that belong pond did on all on their own. Um, they'll speak to me, uh, a little bit more concretely, but I do, I do think that these just, they look really good. It's worth checking them out just for the photos. If you happen to miss that news. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, that was a, that was kind of big news last week. Um, and certainly they sneak that in just, uh, just ahead of watches and wonders, you know, a few brands kind of come out with new watches to kind of capitalize on the heightened attention, um, around this time of year. Yeah, definitely. Speaking of brands we'll be seeing in Geneva, um, Doxa is not at watches and wonders, but they are, um, of taking appointments, I guess you'd say, at one of the hotels in Geneva. And we both will be seeing that. Pretty excited for that. Looks like that's what you've got on today. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, today I've got my Sub 300, the Anniversary Sea Rambler. For whatever reason, I think we were talking about watches on a recent Q&A maybe, and the Doxa thing came up, and I was like, you know, it's been a little bit too long since I wore that, and I've been wearing it for a few days. I just love it. It's great. looking over their lineup and preparing for what we might see at Watches and Wonders released. I was looking at the other colorways. I still really love the SR, but something in a Shark Hunter I think would be pretty fun too at some point, having owned a Pro and an SR. I also just have such a fondness for the yellow. It's a great yellow. Yeah. Yeah. You can tell I didn't have a ton more to say about this watch. So we've already devolved down to just general Doxa colors. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, I feel like, um, you know, the Sea Rambler it in particular, it, it, it feels like the most nostalgic of, of kind of the Doxa subs for some reason that sort of silvery dial always makes me think of late sixties, early seventies, kind of, you know, Kodachrome, images from, you know, dive expeditions, Stan Waterman, et cetera. Totally. And it's also a very summery watch. I mean, we were just talking about the kind of rotten winter weather that we're getting late here in March. And, um, you know, maybe you're wearing that will, will some warmer summery weather to arrive soon. |
| James Stacey | I can't wait. It is a little warmer here this week. So maybe I'll take the, take the credit for that and give it to the Daxa. So, but yeah, that's what I had on. And, uh, and then I guess that brings us right into a discussion of, uh, of what's coming up for watches and wonders. So In the past, we've done different versions of these sort of prediction ones. The truth is that I pretty much know... At this point, I think I know what almost every brand is launching, except for three brands, which is Tudor, Rolex, and Patek. Patek, I think, is kind of outside the scope of TGN for the most part, and it's difficult to guess. There's just so much going on with that brand. They can come from kind of any... Look at what they launched last year and try and guess this year, good luck. But We always have a good time with Rolex and Tudor. Tudor's very deeply a TGN core concern, so we figured we would do... We've got a few predictions each of things that we think that are possible, and then we've each come up with a wish that if we could maybe run the brand for a day or get what we were hoping for, that would be the wish segment. So Jason, you wanna kick it off with Rolex or Tudor? I'll start with Rolex. Yeah, it's fun. Alright, so give me a prediction for Rolex 2024. I get worse at this the more years I've been doing this. Last year, I wasn't close on any metric. I don't know that anyone guessed balloon dial Datejust or whatever, but still. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I mean, I know that, you know, Rolex kind of did some wacky stuff with jigsaw puzzles and different colors and that sort of stuff in the past. Uh, you know, odds are we'll see some other sort of funky, colorful thing from them this year, which, which feels so not Rolex, but nowadays it sort of does. Um, but, but last year also saw the introduction of their 1908 collection, which, um, was a bit of a surprise for a lot of people. It was sort of a throwback to Rolex dress watches of the past. They got rid of the Cellini name, the Cellini line of small, rather beautiful dress watches, but not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Rolex and they introduced this 1908 collection. And I kind of see them expanding that. I think they'd be kind of crazy. In fact, I would say this is probably my most confident prediction that we'll see something else in the 1908 line. And specifically this might be more of a, I don't want to call it a wish, but this might be a bit more of a long shot. They might just do stuff with sizes and dial colors and things like that. But yeah, I would love to see them do like an annual calendar moon phase in that watch. Um, like a real complication. Yeah. Like a complication in that, in that case with that dial. And, um, I think it would be a perfect fit. I think, um, I think it'd be a hot seller. I think, um, you know, collectors would really go for that, especially if it was smaller. The, the 1908, the one that they released, I believe was 39 millimeters last year. You know, something a little, little smaller would be neat, but I think also that 39 millimeter that they came out with, if I had one gripe about it was for the type of watch it is, it felt a little too expansive across the dial. And I think filling that space with, you know, a nice, a beautiful moon phase display, um, maybe annual calendar, you know, apertures in the dial, I think would fill up some of that space and look, look really sharp. It's it's look, this isn't a watch that's in my wheelhouse by any means, um, for more reasons than one, but, uh, I do find it quite a bewitching watch to look at. I do like the look of it and I'd love to see them do a complicated version of it. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I don't disagree. Uh, you know, I, I think it's interesting because It's a brand that people don't necessarily think of for moon phases. But the truth is, of course, you had the 8171, the Patalone that was quite famous with that and still remains like a super rare, super collectible, very special sort of watch with a great moon phase. And then there was a modern Cellini from just a few years ago that also had the moon phase. So I think that could happen and it would make sense. for them to... Because theoretically, it could be the same or very similar movement to what they were using previously. So yeah, I like that pick and I think it's possible. I think it would be cool to see... Last year, they did the simple dress watch version, and then this year, yeah, if they went annual calendar, if they went even maybe even further or who knows. But I think something cool in the 1908, something to really establish it as a a watch for someone who loves watchmaking, rather than a watch for someone who wants a dressy Rolex. Right, right. Yeah, I think that's a good one, an interesting pick for sure. Yeah. All right. Let's see, my first prediction for Rolex is I think we will see a slight massaging of the current Explorer II. |
| Unknown | Oh. |
| James Stacey | So I don't think we're gonna see new dials, I don't think we'll see a carbon, I don't think we'll see a RLX, the brand's titanium, but I think we might see it come to 41 millimeters to align with the Submariner and kind of more closely unify the overall like specs and offering of the professional lineup. Yeah. It seems to be something they've been doing over the last few years is just kind of slowly massaging stuff to a similar case size for the core lines. And the Explorer 2 is always the sort of outlier to what the brand is up to. I personally, I mean, like if we're getting into wishes, we could go a different direction with the Explorer 2. I do think this would be an interesting home for titanium, for the brand. Oh yeah. Being that it is a sporty watch and it is a watch that's very different from the Submariner in the Daytona. But yeah, that would be kind of my first, a very easy one. I think that we'll see a slight, I think we'll still have the big orange hand. I think it'll be a white and a black dial, the big maxi markers, all that kind of stuff. But I think we'll have a sort of adjustment of the proportions, you know, moving forward. |
| Jason Heaton | That's a good prediction. I think. And it's a very Rolex prediction or it would be a very Rolex move. You know, they'll they're, they're known for, you know, everybody kind of has this high anticipation. Then they go to a meeting and they're like, we've slightly trimmed down the lugs and added a bit of a bevel here. And it's like, everybody's kind of looking and looking and looking and then, Oh yeah, I kind of see it. But yeah, you're right. That's a good, that's a good call. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | You know, and last year was a big year for both Tudor and Rolex in terms of news and impact of the new product and the stories and the conversations around the celebration dial, around the jigsaw dial, around the BB 54. And I would expect them, I think it would be acceptable if they had something like of a more quiet year or slower year as far as a giant release. If I was them, I'd be saving the big release for September. If Tudor's kind of big move currently is F1 with the RB Visa Cash App team, then closer to the end of the championship, you could see something, I think. Granted, Tudor's very difficult to pull on, and they don't typically operate within the confines of partnerships. They could release something now and just have it actually hit the market closer to the end. I don't think that the brands run on the same strategy necessarily, but that is Kind of what I'm thinking is, is sort of a massaging of the Explorer 2. What do you figure for another Rolex prediction? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I've got this is a, I guess you could call it a wish more than a prediction. I, my confidence is fairly low that this would actually come to pass, but I did see, I have seen, I guess on the interwebs, um, a few kind of mock-up photos of a white dial Explorer 1, you know, just like a 36 millimeter Explorer with a white dial, I think. I think it would look sharp. I know that, you know, I, I do like the look of white dial Rolexes in general. Um, certainly your Explorer too. Oh yeah. Um, but you know, when they've done, you know, oyster perpetuals and things in, in lighter color dials, it just looks, it just looks great. And I think an Explorer with those big, bold numerals, uh, with a white dial would, would, would be really sharp. And I think it would add a dimension to that family of watches that would draw in some people that maybe, well, like myself, find the Explorer a little bit, a little too sober, a little too kind of predictable, boring, if you want to use that word. Um, I think a white dial would kind of give that, give that family a little bit of a zing, but again, I wouldn't hold my breath. I think that might be a real long shot as opposed to my first prediction. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I think that's a good one. I mean, I think it's one of those things where people would absolutely love to see it. It's probably right on the line between a prediction and a wish. Yeah. I think if that was on the horizon, we might've already seen it. Oh, you know what I mean? Right. That's true. Uh, just, you know, the, the retailers, you know, we're recording this on March 26. I assume retailers are seeing some retailers are seeing the product, the new product roadmap this week, next week. Yeah. And that's usually where the leaks come from. Um, I don't usually love the leak because I think in the last couple of years we've also had people who like doctored the leak. My final prediction, again, not, not a really, not like blowing it out in any way. I think we'll see a new color for the GMT. |
| Unknown | Hmm. |
| James Stacey | whether it's a new version of the black, or maybe it's the green black of the left hand, but now in a right hand, something like that. |
| Unknown | Oh, yeah. |
| James Stacey | They did the two tone and the solid gold last year. I could see that with a different bezel color instead of the black gray. Maybe just another bezel option. I think a solid gold with the Pepsi bezel would be pretty rad, right? Yeah. |
| Unknown | What about a Coke? |
| James Stacey | Or a Coke? Yeah, absolutely. We haven't had a Coke proper since the 16, 7, 10. Yeah. And I think I have no... I don't think it matters what color they pick, they will sell all of them. These are just... It's a great watch if you're... And if you can get it for what Rolex says the price is, it's really hard to disagree with the everything of a modern GMT Master, probably my favorite six digit Rolex these days. Yeah. They fit really well, they look great. I'm not a Batman guy deep down the blue black, but I like the you know, the previous, uh, black bezel with the green GMT hand. And, uh, you know, I've appreciated the newer versions as, as they've come out. But I think, um, I think we could see another, like a, let's call it a color extension of the GMT. Again, not like a super exciting prediction, but this is kind of where I think the brand might go this year. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. Good. All right. I've got a big wish. This is a, this is a big wish. It is absolutely not going to happen. All right. You know, actually, before I say that, I, one thing I was looking at before we started talking today was, I was looking to see what anniversaries Rolex might be able to celebrate this year, um, in terms of, I guess it would be 1954 or 64, 74, et cetera. Um, couldn't really find anything significant unless you, you look at the 1954 Baselworld, which I think officially was the year that they introduced the Submariner at Baselworld. But regardless, um, didn't find anything, but I was thinking back to the seventies and I was like, wouldn't it be cool if Rolex surprised everybody and launched a new oyster quartz, a Datejust oyster quartz with that integrated, uh, bracelet style that is so hot these days from so many brands from Tissot to Chopard to, you know, IWC and Audemars Piguet, et cetera, something like that, like a more kind of edgy seventies ish Datejust with a high precision quartz movement in it. I think it would just, I think it'd be so hot. I think it'd be so cool. I mean, I, I, I, I'm a, Look, we're both fans of quartz watches in general, and I think high-accuracy quartz, whether it's from Citizen or Seiko or, you know, Grand Seiko, are just really cool. Breitling, etc. I think the return of an Oysterquartz might have a bit of traction, at least among, you know, enthusiasts and nerds. So anyway, look, I don't think it'll happen. It's a major wish with a capital W, but there you have it. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I think that's a fun choice. It's also like, On paper, if you didn't know the history of the oyster courts from back from one thousand nine hundred and seventy seven, you wouldn't know its connection to some very TGN sort of endeavors. You know, the oyster courts was worn by Peter Habler and Reinald Messner when they did their first unsupported, you know, no oxygen push in one thousand nine hundred and seventy eight of Everest, which is a pretty cool back story for a courts watch and for a guy, you know, that's largely known for wearing a one thousand nine hundred and fifty five and those great photos deeply not a attack or a show power, you know, being a courts right movement. I think that's a fun, super fun idea. I genuinely don't. I don't think we'll see it. It'd be that would be like a big surprise. Yeah, but at least it'd be fun to write about right. I mean, whereas like the two things I mentioned, like we'll cover it for sure. Whatever comes out, we're writing about it, but like a slightly massaged Explorer to and some new colors for a GMT aren't as exciting as a brand new courts integrated bracelet sports watch from Rolex. Yeah, And then when it comes to my wish for Rolex, it's actually just for them to take what I think is probably my favorite feature set on a Rolex currently and put it in a slightly smaller watch, and that would be like a 36 to 40 millimeter Sky-Dweller. So I absolutely adore the Sky-Dweller. They're expensive because they're either mixed or fully precious metal, but the actual functionality, which I think most people didn't do enough reading when the watch came out to even understand what it does, and how it works with the turnable bezel, like the bezel is essentially a switch or coordinating switch for the annual calendar and for the ability to jump time zones. And I think fitting that functionality into something that at a distance could be worn like a Datejust would be awesome. The current is 42 millimeters. It's quite big in person. And I think even just down to 40 where they have a Datejust, and of course they have Datejust that go smaller, but something in the thirty six to forty millimetre space and like I don't think we're necessarily going to see this, but thirty six to forty and fully steel, so like essentially I'm asking for the cheapest version of the sky dweller would be very fun. I think it's such a cool name. It's an incredibly cool complication set that other brands aren't doing and it's absolutely worth taking a closer look, but I do think the forty two when I see them, I always think like pretty big watch on any wrist. |
| Jason Heaton | And it looks big. Like you said, it looks big. I mean, every time I see pictures of it, it just looks like a chunky, big watch. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | So I think it'd be really cool to see them bring out the next generation of the Sky-Dweller and offer it in more than one size, especially because their whole website is all about, you know, kind of configuring watches now. Like you go in and you kind of pick your size for Datejust and then the dial color and the this and the that. And I think that would align nicely with with the Sky-Dweller, but imagine for me, if you will, a steel version that still has the cool bezel design function, all that kind of thing. Black dial maybe, or it could be a white dial, or whatever, a nice blue dial, but something that really from 10 feet away looks largely like a Datejust, I think would be quite a compelling piece of product for them. |
| Unknown | Yeah, I like that. Yeah, good pick. |
| James Stacey | All right, so that's Four guesses and two wishes for Rolex. Let's follow it up with Tudor. Do you want to go first? |
| Jason Heaton | Sure. Yeah. I mean, you know, you talked about briefly about Tudor and Rolex with regard to Formula One. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. We're on the same page largely for them. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And I think, you know, Tudor, given that they announced their partnership in Formula One, you know, sponsoring a team, the photos that were shown of the drivers wearing black bays just didn't quite sit right with me. I was like, okay, you know, dive watches on drivers felt a little bit Um, kind of phoned in and I thought this is a case where they will, they'll, they're, they're holding their cards. They're waiting for a big, big event, like, you know, watches and wonders to release something, um, really formula one related. And I think it'll be, uh, something in like, you know, we've talked about this, I believe in a Q and a, or maybe the slack crew and a, you know, like a carbon case Pelagos chronograph, like what they did with the Alinghi Red Bull team. I think, look, you've got the Red Bull connection. You've got a really sporty, very sort of cutting edge technology in terms of case materials, um, in a, in a chronograph, which would makes perfect sense for motor sports. I'm not sure they would use the Pelagos as the base for that. Maybe it would be a carbon cased. Oh, I don't know. Black Bay Chrono or something, but, but I just feel like they've got to do something modern. You know, what was that watch they did years ago, a few years back? It was at the fast rider, the fast rider. Yeah. Um, Yeah. Ceramic. Ceramic. Right. |
| James Stacey | So, you know, they have history with, uh, that was a partnership with Ducati. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, that's right. Yeah. I could see them doing something, you know, in, in sort of that vein. So yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll see. But yeah, that's my first prediction. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I mean like both of mine basically aligned very deeply with yours first. I think we'll see a quote unquote production version of the watch that Daniel Ricardo is photographed wearing, which appears to be a bright blue dialed ceramic black Bay. |
| Unknown | Mm. |
| James Stacey | I don't think that's a big pitch. I think that's something people... Literally, when the watch came out, people were saying, like, eventually we'll see this. And I think we probably will to some extent. And I think if you're gonna make a watch with this F1 tie, I agree that the Black Bay is a weird home. The ceramic makes it feel more Formula One, like with an advanced material. But deep down, while I do think we may see a Blue Dial RB Visa Cash App Ceramic Black Bay a la Daniel Ricciardo, great title, I think at the same time, I do think that we might see an a modern take on a chronograph for motor sports. Yeah, yeah, I know how general that sounds. It's very similar to what you said. I'm in full agreement. I think that it could be something like a carbon heritage chronograph. I think it could be something like like you said, like a version of the Pelagos that is less for sailing and more for racing in some way, and I think there's a bunch there's obviously about two dozen ways you could go about this. like aligning a product from their catalog with Formula One. But in my mind, it kind of needs to be a chronograph unless they're worried about the Daytona connection. Oh yeah. But the brand does not have a Daytona. Right, right. You know, the Black Bay Chronograph could be a great home for a carbon case, or maybe we see a ceramic version of that in this, the ceramic one that the team has been wearing is like a hint towards now we'll have a ceramic. Yeah. black bay chronograph for visa rb cash app i'm not really sure i mean obviously we're not sure we just flat out don't know and i'd be like obviously we've got friends at the brand i don't even ask they can't say right right you know we're we're two three days after uh the australian grand prix and yuki sunoda did quite well uh a great you know he was in the points which you can't really complain about. And so I think, I think, yeah, there's, there's some buttons they can push there. If it was totally, I think the, the like down the middle option would be, yeah, something with a cool carbon case that they haven't done before that can connect very deeply with this, uh, you know, run into, um, Formula One. Yeah. So what have you got? You got another one, you got a wish. What are you feeling? |
| Jason Heaton | Another prediction? I think, you know, given kind of Tudor's playbook or track record with the way they spin out versions of their watches, I feel like a It's only a matter of time before we see like a Pelagos dark, you know, whether it's the Pelagos 39 or the FXD, I mean, we've seen Tom place, um, get his, uh, his, uh, FXD Pelagos, um, DLC coded, um, as, as did watches of espionage and they, they look just amazing. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Um, I feel like there's gotta be an official version coming. It just, it's a natural fit for it, whether it is the FXD or, you know, the big Pelagos or the 39, like you have, I think, uh, I think they'll call it, I I believe it would be called the Pelagos Dark if they stick to their naming conventions. If that's kind of the route they go, as they did with the Black Bay collection, they did, you know, Black Bay Dark. And then I think the Black Bay Black was just a black dial. I get confused about the dark versus black in their collection, but I think it'll be a Pelagos Dark is where I'm going. |
| James Stacey | I wouldn't be surprised if we see some sort of an expansion of the Pelagos 39. Yeah. So I don't disagree with that, whether it's maybe it's a blue dial to go with the larger of the blue, maybe it's a 39 LHD, which would be very cool, right? Yeah. And would just follow the playbook. Yeah. So I think that makes it more of a prediction, certainly. For me, I think I can move on to the Wish. Obviously, for years, we've talked about the Pelagos GMT, which at this point, I don't know that we'll ever see. I would argue like they might actually be missing the moment if it didn't happen this year for GMTs, if you really wanted to make the hype play. The one that... And I've talked about it before, and this is gonna be my prediction for Hodinkee, so you'll see a render of it in the next week or so on the site, but it's a 36 millimeter Ranger with a 12 hour bezel. That's my wish. Wow. Yeah. If I'm trying to think of tutors, I would actually turn around and immediately text Cole and be like, all right, How do I get on a list? I don't need to be first, but I'd like to register my interest to buy one of these. 36 millimeter Ranger, or it could be... I mean, arguably, it could be the 39 with a bezel, I think would balance out a little nicer. 39 wouldn't bother me, but I think a Ranger with a 12 hour bezel would be a genuinely interesting, fun thing. It would be cool, you could call it the Ranger 2, which would be like a nod of another generation, but also two time zones. I think it's the best functionality for a field watch is a 12 hour bezel. And I think that the brand could really make like a watch that would suddenly kind of command a category. |
| Unknown | Yeah, I like that. |
| Jason Heaton | I think it'd be really cool. I'm really warming up to the Ranger line in general. I just, I love the look of the Ranger. I'm not sure it's a watch I could own, given my proclivities for bezels and pushers and things, but... And you already have a 14.27. |
| James Stacey | Exactly. Yeah, yeah. It's probably more likely that we see just a 36 millimeter version of the current. Yeah. I don't think a 12 hour bezel's at all likely, which is why it's in the wish. Right. But I think it'd be awfully cool. Yeah. I think it'd be awfully cool. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Well, I mean, I'll kind of wrap things up and I think you touched on it as well, and I think it's a watch we both would love to see, and that is some rejuvenation of the heritage chronograph that was kind of Tudor's re-entry into the North American market, you know, back in whatever it was, 20, 2012 or thereabouts. Speaking of 12 hour vessels. Yeah, exactly. Um, what a cool watch. And I think now, you know, they've, they've got a proven track record with, uh, like an in-house chronograph movement from the black bay chrono and, you know, move that over to the, the heritage chrono, um, make it a little slimmer, maybe, you know, refine the sizing. Uh, what a cool watch. I mean, I've always loved that watch. I loved the black and orange. I loved the blue and, um, You know, they could just kind of refine that and re-release it. It's definitely a very iconic watch from their heritage, uh, you know, going back to the seventies, um, and would fit nicely into their lineup. But I think, you know, if that's what, what makes its way into the, you know, the things we talked about with Tudor in terms of playing up their formula one interactions, um, all the better. So anyway, big wish there. |
| James Stacey | We'll see. And then, I mean, just for simple clarity, because just to avoid the comments, we are aware that the Black Bay Chrono doesn't use a strictly in-house movement. It's a Breitling-sourced movement. But obviously the brand, especially with the new manufacturer that launched last year, I don't think it's outside the scope of what they're capable of to make a chronograph movement. So I don't disagree. It'd be neat to see them claim that as another, like, manufacturer element. um, to have that. And then you have to assume if they're, if part of that business is selling movements to other brands, that they want a chronograph. Yeah. Yeah. So very cool. I, I agree. I like all those. I, I, I'm always pumped. Like tutors, the one I'm most excited about, it'll be 8 30 am on the 9th in Geneva. I will be sitting at the hotel. Yeah. just frantically refreshing my computer, super pumped to see what they come out with. Even if it is, quote unquote, a slow year or a light year, I think it's still... They're still gonna have something interesting. And then they've just been, quote unquote, firing on all cylinders for the last few years with a lot of really interesting releases. And I don't know that they're... I think it would be hard to top the 54 this year. Yeah, true. from last year and arguably I'd say they don't have to, but I think we're right in thinking that the home we could be dead wrong to be clear. We'll see and we'll talk about it after the show for sure, but I think I do think that the home of some focus of this year will be the formula one connection. Yeah, and if it doesn't happen at watches and wonders, I think that'll be strange, but it would hint that there'll be something bigger coming later in the F one season. We're only three races in Um, so there's still plenty of time to, uh, to announce stuff and, and, and that sort of thing. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Last year felt like a real dive watch here for them with the FXD launch. Um, but we attended and then of course the black day 54 and refinements of the, the other black bays. Um, so yeah, you're right. This feels like a, like an F1 year for them, like a chronograph motor sports kind of year. We'll, we'll see. And we will certainly wrap all this up after the show. I think that, that it's one of my favorite episodes is kind of rehashing everything, uh, the week after. Watches and Wonders dies down. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, totally. Just to reiterate what we said before, we will not have an episode the week of the show, so that's the week of April 8th, but we'll be back with an episode recapping the show for April 18th. So give us a little bit of leeway on the timeline there. We have daily podcasts coming from Hodinkee, so if you're looking for watch content, watch discussions, I'm sure I'll be on at least a couple of those episodes. By all means, check that out. It'll be on Hodinkee.com, but TGN will take a little break, so we'll have an episode on the 4th. We won't have a show on the 11th, and we will have a show on the 18th. I hope that's super clear. And we'll see. I mean, I think every year we've been wrong, so I don't have to feel bad. I think that you can expect our guesses to be probably mostly wrong, which is part of the fun, but we'll recap everything from Tudor to Rolex to Doxa to uh, every, every brand that we get to touch on that we love. So seeing as many of those sorts of brands as possible, I'm super pumped to seize in as always. Uh, it should, should be a great show. Uh, I am talking quickly because I'm very stressed about it going well. So it's been, it's been a very stressful, like couple of weeks trying to get everything ready for this. But, uh, look, I think that's a, that's a pretty solid one. We got a few minutes left for final notes. You want to jump in? You've got two, so feel free to go first. |
| Jason Heaton | I do have two. Um, Um, you know, people may have seen in the kind of the outdoor press, uh, in the past week or so, um, that, uh, a woman by the name of Jasmine Paris, um, who's from Scotland, uh, became the first woman to finish this obscure and very grueling endurance race called the Barkley marathon. And, um, I had never heard of it. Uh, as, as I kind of went down the rabbit hole about this race, uh, I find it utterly sadistic and incredibly, um, fascinating. Uh, this is a, a foot race put on in kind of the mountainous terrain in Tennessee. Uh, there's a, uh, state park there called frozen head. Um, that's kind of in the, in the wilderness there surrounding of all things, a state prison, a maximum security prison. Um, and the Barkley marathon was inspired by a prison break by the man who shot Martin Luther King jr. Um, and it led to a manhunt in those same mountains and the founder of this Barkley marathon thumbed his nose at James Earl Ray, who escaped and said, you know, he was wandering out in the woods for over a day and he only managed to get eight miles away. He said, I could do a hundred. And that led to the creation of this race. Um, that is very obscure, very strange. Um, it's a dollar 60 to enter. They only take 40 or 50 people. Some years, nobody finishes. It involves navigating through the woods. Incredible, like double the height of Everest in terms of elevation gain. You have to find books in the, in the woods and tear out the page with your race number to bring back and prove that you did the route correctly. Very strange, very grueling. And in my kind of looking into this, I came across this documentary film from 2014 called the Barkley marathons, the race that eats its young. And, um, it's, uh, you can rent it various places, but I found it, uh, in its entirety on YouTube. And, um, it's great. It's a great film. Um, and it'll leave you like awestruck by the people that, that managed to finish this. It's just utterly, you know, for someone who's training for what I consider a fairly difficult endurance event in a couple of months, like this, this just, just blows it away. I mean, it's just incredible. So yeah, check it out. Really, really fascinating. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Back when that doc first came out, um, I remember getting pretty obsessed with the Barkley. I guess this must've been just before we started the show. Cause I don't think we ever talked about it on the show. I don't think so. I mean it's definitely among the most insane organized races in existence. Yeah, typically lately it's been, I believe, for the last year. I believe they ran it first in eighty six and it's usually around this time of year. So as you see someone, they just finished it and it's usually it's a it's always a hundred miles, but it's done in five laps, almost like the petals of a flower. Yeah, it's absolute insanity. So like I mean the world record is 52 hours, three minutes, eight seconds, which is 2012, and then Jasmine set in at 59, 58, 21. I highly recommend reading and watching anything you can get about it because it just gets crazier. The registration is always very strange. Like Jason said, it's $1.60 to apply. Sometimes they only allow you... Like it'll be... Registration is open for one day. Sometimes you have to submit a pack of cigarettes as part of the fee, it's all these sort of crazy sorts of things. License plates, I believe, were a submission factor for some time, like license plates from your state or whatever. It's a really, really genuinely fascinating, truly insane sort of ultra marathon and all the ultra marathons are crazy, but these are like like Jason said, like borderline completely masochistic. Yeah. Super impressive that, uh, someone has, uh, that Jasmine was able to finish it just completely insane. |
| Jason Heaton | With 90 seconds to spare because the cutoff is 60 hours. I mean, just, just, yeah, truly amazing. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Good stuff. Highly recommend you dig it in, dig into it. But, uh, um, my, uh, pick this week is actually a very self-serving one. Just a few minutes ago as we were recording, we launched a talking watches that I'm exceedingly proud of. Um, it is live now on the site. Maybe by the time this episode comes out, many of you will have watched it, but it's a, with a Hurley Haywood, who's an American race car driver. He won Daytona five times. He won Le Mans three times. He won Sebring twice. He has titles in a couple other championships like different cars, IndyCar, that sort of thing. I've known of Hurley and we met once back in 2017. And then I got the option earlier this year to go down to Jacksonville, Florida, just back in January. For those of you who follow my travel and what we talk about on the show, to chat with Hurley at the Brumos collection. He raced with the Brumos team for much of his career. What's notable about Hurley beyond his incredible, arguably the greatest endurance race car driver of all time, or at least in the running, certainly from the American context, is he has a 50-year history of being aligned with both Rolex and Porsche, two of the most notable brands in the world regardless, certainly watches and cars, but also in the racing world And, uh, just a fascinating, really kind, incredibly talented guy with some of the coolest like race one watches I've ever come across. He was lovely. We had a great day together and I think the video came out really well. |
| Jason Heaton | Amazing. Yeah. I'm going to watch this right after we click off. I, you, you're right. This published as we were recording. Cause I looked before we started and it wasn't up and I'm scrolling through right now. This, uh, speaking of Rolex, uh, dress watches, this Cellini that he got as a gift from Rolex is a pretty wild watch, isn't it? Wow. |
| James Stacey | Absolutely wild. Quartz Cellini with hinged hooded lugs. It's... I believe the reference is a 6633, but knowing me, it could be a 3366. Wow, wow. Amazing. Not a four... No brain for four digit numbers, sadly. Yeah, no, it's great. I mean, it's majority of it's Rolex, obviously because of his career, but there's a story in there that you really need... I don't wanna give it away, I didn't give it away in the text, but one of the watches, and it was the one that he was wearing, that he wore to the shoot and left with, with this 16 to 20 Datejust, white dial Datejust with Roman numerals, and the background story from this one is really, really good. I highly recommend it. It involves a Timex that he shouldn't have been wearing, a phone call from the president of Rolex and all this kind of stuff. It's really fun stuff. Oh, that's great. Super huge fan. And it's one of those ones where like I showed up and it was almost like zero work to do the whole video. Oh, yeah. My team was incredible. Joe and Jonathan shot this one. They'd been hanging out with Hurley for the last couple of days because they went to the 24 hours of Daytona with him, where he still is like a huge figurehead in the sport. Yeah. And it was it was just a great experience wall to wall. And genuinely, I would say that about ninety nine percent of time in my career, when a piece of content comes out, all I feel is relief that it's done never. I'm very seldom proud of it or or feel like I want to, you know, pat myself on the back or that sort of thing. But with this, I'm I'm pretty happy of how we were able to capture Hurley, especially, but there's a lot of like archival footage in the video. It's really nicely, but the team did a great job. I'm not saying I necessarily did a great job. Hurley was awesome and my team did a great job and the video came out really well. So Check that out if that sounds interesting. If you're either into the watch side or the automotive side, and I assume if you're listening to this, you might be both, but it's a, it's a goodie. And I had a blast getting a chance to do it. |
| Jason Heaton | Can't wait to see it. Congrats. That was great. I remember when you went down there, it was like less than a 24 hour trip. |
| James Stacey | I mean, you were there and back and in Florida for like 18 hours. Wow. All right. Your next one. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Speaking of Porsche and and Rolex and watches in general, um, My buddy Paul Andrews, who actually designed the covers for both of my novels. He's a London based graphic designer, very talented guy. He'd launched his own website selling some of his designs on t-shirts, largely motor sports and horology themed. It's called modern thrills and it's modern dash thrills.com. And I just, I'm encouraging people to check it out. I actually ordered a couple of shirts from him the day he launched it. And, Just wanted to kind of spread the word cause it's great stuff. He's, he's got, he's got a real knack for kind of wink wink sort of tongue in cheek designs that play on, uh, sort of nicknames of, of kind of well-known Porsche cars, you know, whale tails, et cetera. Um, as well as, uh, you know, he, one of my favorites, one of the shirts I ordered is actually, you know, the back of Paul Newman's Daytona where Joanne Woodward had inscribed drive carefully. Uh, he changed it slightly to dive carefully. the same typeface so like it's it's total inside baseball like this sort of stuff yeah that's great he's got one with like a regatta timer sort of aperture kind of a nod to that style of watch etc so really really cool stuff um always my t-shirt drawer is already overflowing with great designs and fun shirts um and i can't wait to get these couple that i ordered from him and add to my collection so check it out congrats paul on on launching that |
| James Stacey | Very cool. Yeah. Love a good t-shirt. And I scanned through some of these when you added it to the show notes. And yeah, like you said, the kind of tongue in cheek inside joke sort of thing is great. Yeah. Yeah. Great. Well, look, that's an episode. We're over an hour. I got to get to editing this and getting it already so we can keep on pace for what's going to be the busiest couple of weeks of the year. But looking forward to seeing you in Geneva pretty soon. We've got one more episode before we take a week break. We've got a great guest lined up that we're both very excited about. And, uh, yeah, just a big thank you to the crew for, uh, handling the recent drama as well as they did. And it worked out nicely, thankfully, and, uh, looking forward to having BST come back better, bigger and better than ever. And if you're keen on being part of the show, check it out at, uh, thegraynado.com. You can support us there and get into the slack as well. Uh, beyond that, thank you so much for listening. And music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive. |
| Jason Heaton | And we leave you with this quote from Abraham Lincoln, who said, The best way to predict the future is to create it. |