The Grey NATO – 288 – Slack Crew & A 2024 // Part 4

Published on Thu, 13 Jun 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

The podcast hosts, Jason and James, discuss a variety of topics submitted by their listeners. They cover fun hypotheticals like building the perfect pizza and planning dream adventures, as well as more practical questions about watch trends, vintage vs. new watches, and finding the right strap/bracelet fit. The conversation is lighthearted and engaging, offering insights into the hosts' personal interests and perspectives on the watch world.

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacey Hello and welcome to another episode of The Gray Nado, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 288, 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. And if you're looking for a best pal to make a podcast with, I recommend a fellow named Jason Heaton, but he's currently busy because he's my co-host for this episode and 300 other ones over the last few years.
Jason Heaton How's it going, dude? I'm doing well. You know, I was thinking like just about to head off to the UK here tomorrow night. And I'm like this, what is it about June and July every year is like the time of the time of year you want to like chill out And like sit in the backyard or like you go to the cottage and it gets so busy. I think everybody kind of gets whipped up into this like productive mode. And I just feel like being pulled in 10 different directions. It's all good stuff. It's all fun stuff, but it's like, it's just nutty.
James Stacey Yeah. My, I mean, you know, just with the way work's going these days, my summer's changed three or four times in the last two weeks. Um, so yeah, it's a, it's definitely becoming significantly busy. I think like, I think if you go back, I don't think, cause I can remember saying it several times, I'm quite confident if you go back and listen to the episodes in January and February, you'll hear a lot of me in the first five minutes of the show saying like, I can't wait for summer to slow down a little bit. Yeah. True. Yeah. Speaking of things coming up this summer, we do have wind up plans. We had a nice meeting with that team and with the team from Citizen last week. So we're going to be doing something essentially 10 a.m. on Sunday at Venue West. It's going to be a breakfast. It's going to be a chitchat with some folks from Citizen, and it's going to be a chance to peruse the show. I'm a notice with all the details and also a link to RSVP, but it should be really fun. We're looking over things like menu and, and, and, you know, just, you know, what people are going to eat and drink and that sort of thing. Um, but it'll be a nice couple of hours to hang out and a chance to see the show in a less busy state, which I think is actually a pretty big perk in my opinion. It gets crazy there. And I would just say, uh, you know, if you're interested in, in coming to the breakfast on the Sunday, It's going to be around 10 o'clock. It's going to go for a couple of hours. Uh, just make sure you're on the sub stack list that you're subscribed. So if you're a listener, um, but you're not subscribed to the sub stack, maybe, maybe just go in and get yourself a free account. Obviously you can use a paid account if you want. We got some cool stuff going on. You get in the slack, the rest of it. But if you just want to make sure to get the invite for this, feel free to, um, sign up for an account so that we can make sure we've got your email.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And it'll also be in the show notes, which comes via email as well. So it's, uh, Oh, true enough.
James Stacey Yeah. Yeah. Good way to get access. Yeah, I would say probably as soon as next week we'll have that link in the show notes.
Jason Heaton And to further entice folks, you know, Citizen's got some cool swag planned. We've got something small to give away and there'll be some cool new watches to look at. So yeah, it should be good fun. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
James Stacey Yeah, I mean, what, you get too much going on for some free breakfast and a nice little hangout? Yeah, right. Yeah. Man, other than that, it's been a busy week. We had something kind of a huge kickoff in the Slack, something you and I have been working on for some time, but it is a Slack secret. So if you want to check it out, I would suggest you move pretty quickly as there's a time frame on that. Yeah. And then other than that, on the weekend, I went to a huge antiques market. So there's a big one in Aberfoyle, which is like maybe not quite an hour from where I live, and they do it every weekend and then twice a year they do like a super one. Wow. With like a hundred plus more booths and tents and all this stuff. So Sarah and I went there for, I mean, it starts very early in the morning. We were there for several hours just looking at, you know, everything from furniture to art to tons of watches, nothing crazy as a nice kind of thick case 300T. Aqualung. Really? Wow. The case was very polished, like almost insanely so, as was the bezel to the extent that I don't even think there wasn't even that much text left on the bezel, but the dial was awfully nice and the price was pretty good. But I didn't get an awesome feeling from the seller, so we kept moving. Cool watch, though, nevertheless, and tons of pocket watches. And also, if you were in the market for a Bulova or a Caravelle, or something like that. It was, you know, you were chock-a-block, you had a lot of options. And you got some cool patches, I saw. Yeah, that was kind of the fun was I was able to snag two diving patches from Ontario. So one was for like the Hamilton, which is the kind of the closest city to where I grew up. Yeah. It's like, you know, just down the water from Toronto. It was like the Hamilton Submariners Diving Club. And it's this really cool patch. And then I put on my Instagram, so some people probably saw him. And then the other one that I grabbed for you is a triangle patch, which is quite a cool design. That's for like Tobermory salvage diving. And seeing as you dove for a project that I led in Tobermory a few years ago, I figured I'd grab that for you.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And a triangle patch. I mean, I think if we ever do a patch, I think triangle is kind of a cool way to go. Triangle could be good, man. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. Yeah. Then you got some camera gear, too.
James Stacey Yeah. And then I got lucky because I'll talk more about this when we get to final notes a little bit, but I did get lucky. I'm in the market for like a long or very long lens, but I'm keen to keep the price crazy low because it's like to take pictures of squirrels and birds in my backyard and at my cottage, like not not important stuff at all. Yeah. Yeah. And then I got lucky where I just came across one of these booths at the Aberfoy market that had like a box of lenses. And they had an M 42, which is a screw mount, very simple to use lens, a 200 F five, six, I guess. Uh, so I picked that up and, and weaseled my way into a deal for some extension tubes as well. So I'm, I'm having a good time with that kind of stuff, but I can dig a little bit deeper into, into that and final notes. Cause it's part of a part of this week's a suggestion at the end of the show.
Unknown Oh yeah.
James Stacey And you, you've obviously got some travel coming up tomorrow. We're recording this on, on Tuesday, you leave for your big English hill climb adventure. Yeah. On Wednesday. Yeah. Feeling pretty good? You and Ghoshani pretty pumped?
Jason Heaton Yeah. I mean, it's, you know, what, six months in the making? I think it's, you know, it's go time. I mean, whether I'm ready or not, it's just time to go do it. And I think we have some fun planned around this event, which is, you know, really only about five hours on Sunday morning over in Wales in the Brecon Beacons. And, you know, that'll be certainly a grueling thing. And the weather looks cool and misty, and I'm sure it'll be very windy and That's okay. Cause I, I kind of do well in, in rotten weather strangely. Um, but then yeah, after that we've got, uh, we've got some R and R planned, uh, down in the Gower Peninsula, which is this lovely area of Wales. I've been told that a few Welsh friends have told me, uh, is a must see. So we're going to drive down there the day after the fan dance and spend a couple of days in what's called a shepherd's hut right near the sea and, you know, walk the beaches and hang out and just rest my legs, that sort of thing. Um, if a few people on Slack mentioned that, that they, they might be around in Wales, there's another one or two folks that are actually also doing the fan dance and that'll be fun. Um, but yeah, if you're going to be in the Brecon Beacons, if you're UK based and that's an easy trip for you and you want to say hi, I can't guarantee I'll be in any shape to be, you know, very lively after doing it. Um, or, or even very, very present or looking around for folks. But if you, if you recognize me and see me do, do come and say hello and Um, yeah, it'd be fun to, uh, to see some TGN folks there. And then we fly back home late next week and lo and behold, our buddy Mike Pearson, um, kind of set up a little quick ad ad libbed visit to Christopher Ward. Who's on the way back to Heathrow airport. So we're going to pop in a, in Maidenhead and, and kind of get a quick tour of Christopher Ward's headquarters there. Uh, the day before we heard about that. Yeah. So that'll be, that'll be fun too. So. Yeah, I think I'm ready. You know, I kind of, I think I mentioned, I kind of messed up my knee a little bit doing my hill sessions about a month ago and was a little worried that was going to torpedo my efforts this week, but I've pretty well recovered. I think it kind of made the decision whether or not to go full weight bearing for the fan dance. A pretty easy decision. I'm going to, you know, obviously carry a pack with food and water and some supplies, but I'm not going to go the full, you know, 35 pound thing just to, Just to save my, my joints for future endeavors. But, uh, yeah, it should still be, still be a good challenge. So yeah. Can't wait. Sounds great, man. Yeah. Let's get on with it.
James Stacey Yeah. And then what else you got going on? You've got some more travel. Yeah. Quick note. Um, get home and turn around and head back out.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Like the week after I'm back, uh, I I'll be out at, um, topper jewelers in Burlingame, California. We've, you know, we've mentioned topper before. They're kind of, uh, you know, part of our little, small community. I remember bumping into Rob at, uh, you know, Bramont events and things like that. So, you know, toppers, a huge retailer out there in the, in the Bay area. And every summer they do a dive watch event and have some kind of a speaker or a meet and greet session. Last year they had Becky Kagan shot there showing some photos. Um, and I've got big fins to fill because, uh, I'll, I'll, I'm the kind of the guest speaker for that program. And that's on the 29th, it's a Saturday and it starts at 5 30 p.m. And they're doing like a social hour kind of a meet and greet. I'll be doing a very short presentation talking about my channel islands expedition and showing some photos. Uh, and then they, they do, they said they do this like, uh, kind of trivia, kind of like pub trivia, but this is going to be dive watch, um, specific trivia for which they, you know, they have giveaways, uh, kind of some cool swag that they give away. And, uh, I'm looking forward to seeing how that goes and I'll be, bringing my, my dive gear out. Cause I'm going to be diving the next day in Monterey with my, my friend Kev. Do you know where in Monterey or not yet? I think it's going to be at Point Reyes. And, um, there's a place called the Whalers Cottage. I was actually there last summer and it's just stunning. Uh, topside. I didn't dive there, but he and his wife were there that same day and they were diving and he always sends me pictures from there and it looks, uh, it looks just, just amazing. So we're, we're going to do that on that Sunday, uh, before I head home. So if, um, If you happen to be in the Bay area and you want to come to Topper for that event, I'd love to see people there. And, uh, Topper will have kind of some promo stuff going on on their social media and on their website as the date approaches. So be sure to, to check out Topper on Instagram and I suppose Facebook and, and just maybe check their website in the coming week or so. Very cool. To get the details. Yeah. So busy month of June here, all sorts of weird stuff going on, but yeah, good, good stuff. Blink and it'll be July. Yeah, exactly.
James Stacey And then wind up, here we go. And look, I want to keep things moving because we've got part four of the Slack Q&A for 2024 coming up in just a few minutes time. Want to dive into a little bit of wrist check first?
Jason Heaton Let's do it. Fittingly, I guess I'm outfitted for my UK trip. You know, I debated which watch to wear for the fan dance and I'll have a Garmin on one wrist. I really want to kind of track this whole effort in terms of elevation gain and distance and all that stuff. And so I'll be wearing a Garmin on one wrist. But then fittingly, I thought I'd wear my 1995 issued Royal Navy diver from CWC because this is, uh, you know, kind of an event that was inspired by the, the special forces selection March for the SBS and SAS. And, you know, there's a good chance that someone who owned the watch that I'm wearing, uh, possibly did this at some point back in the, in the nineties and we'll see. But, uh, yeah, that's what I've got on my, my courts, uh, Royal Navy diver on a gray NATO. So that'll be accompanying me over there. Yeah.
James Stacey How about you? I decided to swap my Pelagos 39 onto the rubber, so it's now in summer mode, as I like to say. So that's what I've got on. So just the standard 39 on the black rubber, I would absolutely... I would just be so thrilled if... I mean, preferably Tudor, but hey, if Everest or somebody like that wanted to jump in and create some other colors of this exact strap, because it's a Tang buckle strap, it's very straightforward. So the only real challenge is, is I really like the way that the stock rubber looks, because it uses kind of like a Daytona, it uses the end links from the bracelet. Oh, yeah. And for me, that's like a very distinctive Rolex Tudor sort of look that I've come to really enjoy. And I've tried this watch on other rubber straps, and it loses some of that appeal. But I would absolutely kill for a green rubber or something like that to go with this and kind of warm it up a little bit. But I just love it on the black. It feels very summery. Pelagos 39 for me today. Super cool.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Well, Slack Crew and A. I mean, this just keeps rolling along. We're getting a lot of mileage out of these.
James Stacey Yep, absolutely. So this is part four. At this point, I'm not sure why I'm explaining it. The last one was one of our most popular episodes of the year so far in part three. But basically, our normal Q&A, if you're listening and you're not on the paid side, every month we do a paid Q&A, like a fifth episode that uses audio recordings from the Slack crew, kind of works like a radio call-in show. And that's how we do it. And then every now and then, we did this once in 2023, and it led to a couple of great episodes. We did it again in 2024, and we're now in part four. We asked the Slack crew to kind of flip the whole concept on its head and just submit a ton of text questions. And we just kind of buzz through them. So for folks who don't want to record the voice memo, it's a nice kind of thing. It also is fun because this is published as a standard episode. So it's not behind the paywall and it gives you an idea of kind of what's going on in the slack and where their heads at. And it's a, it's a wide, it's a wide swath that these questions kind of run. So we've got kind of two very similar starting questions. So I guess maybe just read them together. I think that's a good idea.
Jason Heaton Yeah. They're both strangely pizza related.
James Stacey So you know what? Maybe the way to do this would be we answer Sean's question about the takeout order, which I assume he means if not pizza. Oh, yeah. And then Sean will still get his answer because Watch Cows Dive asks, I have fresh pizza dough, a heated uni and an unlimited variety of toppings. What will your one pizza be? So maybe we start with our preferred takeout and then switch to a pizza and that that would kind of cover it. Yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah. So you're getting takeout. What's your what's your move? What's your your normal kind of run?
Jason Heaton Well, I've got two, um, two options. One is, um, there's a really amazing Ethiopian restaurant not far from our house and we get takeout there maybe once a month, every six weeks and it lasts several days. Um, I, I just, I've, we've really grown to like Ethiopian food. It's a lot of food and it's just like a variety of like you can get, uh, kind of, it's kind of adjacent to, I really don't want to insult Ethiopian cuisine. Um, but if you want sort of a comparison, it's sort of similar to like a, an Indian style curry where you have a lot of kind of different items that are served with a starch and the starch in the case of Ethiopian food is, um, it's kind of a, a spongy sort of rolled up flatbread that you put the food on and then kind of almost eat with your hands. And, um, so it's a lot of like lentils and vegetables and you can get like chicken or, you know, meat choices and whatever that are usually in some kind of a nice gravy or spicy sauce. So that's, that's one. And then the other one that I liked that I haven't had in quite a while, uh, it's a little harder to find. Although now that I think about it, it's probably just need to look harder is, um, bond me sandwiches. Oh, kind of that Vietnamese style sandwich. I suppose there was some French influence cause it's usually served in like a baguette. It's got some, you know, you can get kind of variety of toppings, but it's, uh, or fillings, but it's, um, It's usually got some carrot in it and like a nice spicy sort of oil or dressing that's in it. And you can get it with tofu, you can get it with chicken, you know, like fish sauce. And, um, I really, really liked banh mi. In fact, now that I mentioned that, I'm kind of in the mood for it. So yeah, those are my, those are my two go-tos.
James Stacey Yeah. Nice. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, look, look, banh mi is incredible. I'm trying to think of what my favorite would be. Right by the office, by Hodinke's office in New York, in kind of the edge of Chinatown, Soho, there's a spot called Banh Mi, Saigon. Yes, I remember that. It's pretty incredible. I would say the bread's like crapped and crunched sort of hard. So it's going to like rip up your mouth a little bit, especially if you're hungry. And like me, I just inhale food. Yeah. But that one stands out. Man, yeah, good Banh Mi. There's an incredible spot on Queen West, maybe. not too far from collective arts in Toronto. I don't remember what it's called, but you could find it on Google maps. And I've, we had a couple, you go for a nice long bike ride, end up in that part of town. You're like, Oh man, everything's going to be okay. Yeah. Yeah. Get, get a crazy spicy behind me and go eat it in Trinity Bellwoods park. Pretty good.
Jason Heaton Let's do it when I come.
James Stacey I don't have that many complaints. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's see. I can offer up several. I love takeout, but more specifically, I like it because it means I probably don't have to do dishes. I'm the dishes guy in our household. And I have realized the kind of ugly thing about myself is I will go to Uber Eats so that there's fewer dishes. My kind of go-to is, look, I mean, it's a ton of sushi. I'm a big, big fan of sushi. Definitely, if it was financially OK, I would eat sashimi every day. That's how I would start my day is with a bunch of raw fish. It's just I love it so much. And if we're getting in there, the go-to is toro, which is fatty tuna belly. I just adore it. That and uni, but who doesn't like uni? I mean, only people who haven't tried it don't like it. And then otherwise, the other really common one, and this is kind of a shout out for not specifically the Canadians in the audience, but the Canadians from the eastern half of the country, is swish LA. There isn't really every every state or country has something kind of similar to this, but even like Western Canada, it's it's about it's a whole different restaurant that has this sort of place in people's life, but it's a casual dine in restaurant or or dine out that specializes in rotisserie chicken and french fries. Oh wow. They have tons of other stuff, but the rotisserie chickens are I mean, I ate one yesterday. It's great. French fries are incredible. You get a bun, you get the chalet sauce. And I think if you grew up in Ontario, you probably either grew up in a family that loves Swiss Chalet or just hated it. My wife and I are always trying to figure out what the US equivalent of Swiss Chalet is. It's probably Boston Market. Oh, okay. Give or take. Okay. It's in that vibe. You know, like you eat for about $15, $20. It's not fancy food, but it's very consistent. Yeah. Like I can't fault anyone for loving something from Boston Markets. And for me, it's a quarter chicken white with fries from Swiss Chalet. That's the order. They do great ribs as well.
Jason Heaton I mean, the name Swiss Chalet made me think fondue or something or raclette or something, but I wasn't expecting a chicken and fries.
James Stacey It's kind of a Tudor style building is how they used to make them look. It all kind of looked borderline Swiss. Now they're like, there's nothing Swiss about it. And I'm sure a Swiss person would find this absolutely hilarious, maybe even offensive. I don't know. Because in my mind, because of the way that I grew up and everything, like Swiss food is a quarter chicken with great French fries. And of course that's crazy. Oh, that's good. But yeah, so that would be my answer to that one, Sean P., and I hope that helps. We can jump right into Watch Cows Dive. All right, pizza's ready to go. I'm trying to remember, Jason, do you... I'm trying to remember if you and I have ever eaten pizza together. We must have at some point.
Jason Heaton Possibly in New York. Had a slice of pizza somewhere. I think we went to that place also near the Hodinkee office that does the pizzas. Oh, Prince Street. Joe's or John's. I can't remember the name of it, but... So what do you dig on your pizza? Yeah. I got it. First of all, I got to throw out an apology to Jeff. I mean, given his, the name of his, uh, his, uh, tag here, watch cows die. The guy is in the dairy industry. So my apologies, Jeff, I I'm not eating cheese. I haven't for several years now, but you can still get, you can still make a good pizza without cheese. And so I'm going with, um, kind of a thinner crust, like, uh, you know, if we're doing it in like a wood fired thing, uh, I'm not exactly familiar with an Ooni. I'm guessing it is something like that.
James Stacey Yeah. It's like one of those, like small single pizzas at a time. Yeah. Wood fire, like propane powered, but it gets crazy hot.
Jason Heaton So I want that blistered kind of crackery, crispy thin crust thing with plenty of olive oil on it. Um, I like, uh, I like, um, artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomato and olives and basil. Um, okay. If, if I'm going to go to Mediterranean, yeah, I used to, you know, look, I used to like cheese a lot, whatever. And I think on this type of cheese, I still like olive oil, olives, artichoke, goat cheese, um, basil, some mushrooms, maybe shallot. Um, and you know what? I'm not a huge, I don't, I don't do sausage on pizzas, but I could do like, um, I could do anchovies. I actually like anchovies on pizza. I know a lot of people don't, but anchovies and pizza is real good. So that's, that's where I'm going. It's gonna be a real salty kind of olive oil heavy with, with some interesting vegetables on there.
James Stacey Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Nice. Okay. How about you? Yeah, for mine, I'll be very clear. I'll eat a pizza with just about anything on it. I'm not wild about... I don't mind black olives. I definitely prefer green. I'm not wild about black olives on pizza, because that's all you can taste. Yeah. Yeah. I do feel the same way about peppers, but that goes with all food, like a green or a red pepper, like a bell pepper. I'm not against them, but if you do a salad or whatever with green peppers on it, that's all you're tasting. Yeah. It totally takes over. So other than that, I'd say go nuts. I'm not against anchovy. I'm not against pineapple. I don't need it on a pizza. I probably wouldn't go out and order pineapple on a pizza, but I'm not against it. I would say the go-to, if I was ordering a pizza for myself, it would be pepperoni, hot peppers, and then In just to make up for the fact that you're not eating cheese, give me a second type of cheese. Oh, sure. Yeah. Like give me give me nice, nice pepperoni cups. Give me a hot peppers or jalapenos, something like that. And then do like on top of the mozzarella. Do like provolone. Oh, sure. Yeah. Like I'm also just fine with cheese and pepperoni. I don't care. Yeah. Pizza. It's awesome.
Jason Heaton Yeah. There's there's a place in town here called Pizzeria Lola that we used to go to quite a bit. And they did a pizza called They have some really inventive pizzas. If you're in town, check that place out. But they've got one called the Boise that is, um, as you might predict, it's like a thin sliced potato with, um, like Gruyere melted Gruyere cheese and then dill or Rosemary or something like to season. It's like a very simple pizza, but like, I don't know, something about that. Yeah. It's really good. So.
James Stacey Yeah, I don't mind a weird pizza. I don't mind a conventional pizza. I don't mind a cheese pizza. Yeah, it doesn't like, it's just pizza. I'm pretty good with all of it. I try not to eat too much of it. I ate a lot when I was younger. Oh, same here. Now I'm getting too old to pack too much pizza. I'll just end up having a heart attack or something, but I do like it for sure. So thanks very much for that question, Watch Cows Dive. And the next one we've got is from ROG, who asks, what adventure would you go on and what watch would you wear? You have any budget or he says no budget. So I assume that means I can spend as much money as I want. In some worlds, that means you have no money. All of the training is done and there's no constraints, such as like children, length of journey. So it's just the dream vacation with no complication or the dream trip with no complication. And we need to pick one watch from the collection and arguably one that isn't. His example was like, you could go to the ISS wearing a Speedy. That's pretty cool. You could drive London to Singapore in a Defender or a 911 wearing a VC Overseas or climb Everest in your Explorer II. A fun question, a little bit on the complicated side, but I think we can get all these moving parts together. Jason, where would you go? What would the adventure be? Let's start there. Yeah.
Jason Heaton All right. So this one's wild. It's totally out of left field. And I think the hook that I got stuck on was all training is done because this one would be a lot and a lot of training. And it's going to surprise you probably. Barkley marathons. I'm going to do the Barkley marathons. All right. So we talked about, um, the Barkley marathons a few shows ago, and it's this kind of crazy, um, very demanding niche, uh, endurance event that takes place in frozen head state park in Tennessee. And it's, um, it's multiple marathons and like 29,000 feet of elevation gain, you know, up and down Hills and through brambles and the woods with no trails and you have to navigate and you have to collect pages out of a book, um, to prove that you did the right route and that sort of stuff. It's not something I, will ever do likely. Um, but you know, given, given the, the kind of the, the criteria of this question, I think, um, I think assuming my, I'm in, I'm in shape for this, all training is done and no constraints. Uh, I'm signing up for the Barkley and uh, yeah, I got a couple of watches in mind, but I'll, I'll hold off on that. What, uh, what are your adventures or adventure?
James Stacey Yeah. The, the, the one that I'm obviously we've talked about doing the tour de Mont Blanc. Yeah. Um, and that would still be very high on the list. I think for something that's maybe more fun, a little bit more novel, that sort of thing. Recently, we were asked a similar question to this, and I said that I would wanna drive the entirety of the West Coast. Yeah. And I think what would be really cool is do that drive, but drive either to McKinley or to Aconcagua. And then so, you know, you'd get the cool drive in and in the neat car or whatever. And then from there, maybe go and, you know, do a mountain or two. Yeah, I think that that would be kind of kind of the direction I would go like, I want to say like a Porsche to car, but it's a it's automatic. It just it's not going to be my adventure. So if we're really talking budget, no budget at all, like I have NASA money, I'd have Porsche make me a Dakar with a six speed from the GT3. Yeah. And maybe the GT3 motor so we could get the RPMs up. But otherwise, yeah, just get out there. No budget. I mean, you get a Dakar too. Anybody else want one? We'll go down a little convoy. and we'll put roof tents on them. And then we'll, we'll, I don't need to top out on Gawai. Like that's, you know, it could just be some cool mountains and take some cool photos and otherwise just drive around on, you know, assumed roads and that sort of thing. Like a top gear sort of adventure, but then add some physical stuff at the, at, at, you know, kind of the middle point. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Oh, that sounds perfect. Love the Dakar.
James Stacey Yeah. Yeah. Could be. Yeah. I mean, me too. I'm a big fan. It's just for whatever reason, I don't think it would be as much fun in an automatic. Yeah, I just don't. Yeah, I agree. Granted, they only make that car in an automatic.
Jason Heaton Yeah. All right. What about your watch choices? What are you going with there?
James Stacey If I was just going north-south, so not changing time zones, I'd probably just go with the Pelagos for this, I think, just because I'd want to look back on those photos and have it be that watch. But it'd be the Pelagos or the Explorer 2. And then as far as the watch I don't own, Yeah. I mean, like he kind of took what, like it would be that VC overseas, the, the Everest Ellie, I think would be pretty cool.
Jason Heaton So that kind of feels like the same page for that one sports watches, doesn't it?
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey A little bit. It's in there or the Huracan Storado or something like that. Yeah. How about you? What would the watches be?
Jason Heaton Yeah. I think I'd go with an FXD, something light, something kind of bomb proof from my collection. But if I were to, if I were to like buy one that isn't in my collection, to be honest, I have this weird, idea that like a fitting choice for the Barkley Marathons would be like a Casio F91, you know, like the simplest kind of little slim, lightweight digital thing that, you know, is indestructible, but has a stopwatch on it. So that's, those are my two strangely polar opposite choices.
James Stacey Totally. The other one that would fit for me, I think would be like, if I got the Breitling back. Oh yeah. The Aerospace. I think that'd be a good fit for, for kind of a trip like this for sure, where you're kind of managing different, different elements. So yeah. That's a fun one. Thanks very much for that question, ROG. Next up, we've got one from Andrew who says, I have this thing in my head that I called the McQueen wrist shot. It basically dictates how I collect. I refer back to the shot of Steve McQueen with his Rolex sub and outside of the Monaco, I consider this his signature watch. Anytime I consider buying a watch, I think about when I'm photographed in it, is that a McQueen wrist shot worthy watch? Meaning, is that what I'd consider a signature piece of my collection, a watch that most people would always remember me wearing. Long story short, what is your McQueen wrist shot watch, whether it's in your collection now or not. So, uh, Jason, uh, what watch, or maybe we do one or two watches, whatever's good for you. Do you have that? You kind of think like, this is one that I I'd like to be photographed. Like you build those memories. You can look back at the photos, that sort of thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I kind of, I kind of thought about this as like, um, It's a watch we own that maybe defines who we are, how it kind of reflects our style. Like, um, and I think, sure, it's probably, it's not certainly not the watch that I wear the most, but when I think about like, if you were to kind of take a snapshot of me at a point in my life with a watch on, I think it would be something like my, my vintage T graph on a bone strap. I feel like that just kind of captures a lot of, of, you know, who I am and what I'm about. Vintage kind of tool watch, you know, not too precious. Um, dive watch of course, but then on a bone strap kind of, it's a hint at a certain kind of quirky style. Um, I guess also, you know, obviously I've been a CWC fan for awhile, maybe something like that on a, on a gray NATO. I think it would fit, you know, and I think you'd see that and you'd be like, yeah, sure. I get it. That's, that's who he is. So yeah, that's where I'm going. What about you?
James Stacey Yeah. From my side, I think it's probably the Explorer 2 is the reasonable answer. Yeah. But I think that that could be one. I think the Pelagos 39 could be another. But it also could just be like a Seiko dive watch, something simple, easy, fun. Yeah. The Doxa. Yeah. I like all of these when I do look back at a photo and say, like, oh, I was wearing that. So I was wearing my 007 in that one or whatever. Yeah. But I think within the confines of the, like what I think Andrew's going for with this would be my explorer too.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I would say that that's you for sure. Yeah. All right. Next one we have is from Ariel and his is kind of a longer question framed by an experience he had. So he says, I wear a Seiko SPB 147J as my daily beater. My wife got it for me as an engagement gift. I've worn it almost every day for a few years, free diving in the Dominican Republic, kayaking around home, hiking trails in Sedona, wrenching on my motorcycles. and barely put a scratch on it. Then one day as I'm rinsing, rinsing it in the shower after a day on the sea, bam, it drops on the tile floor. It's got a little ding in the bezel where it's no longer perfectly round at nine o'clock. Frankly, it's imperceptible to anyone but me and I'm not precious about my things. Uh, if I'd whacked it, getting it back on the boat or steadying myself against the side of a cliff on a cool hike, I wouldn't care, but something about the way it happened just bugs me. So Ariel's question is if it were either of us, would it bother you? Would you have the bezel replaced and does it matter how it got dinged up? James, what's your feeling on this?
James Stacey Would you get it fixed or would you just leave it? As long as the bezel turns, I wouldn't fix it. I like the dent. Yeah. Even if the dent got there in a mundane way, it's a day-to-day watch, which means it's with you in all the mundane times as well. Yeah. You know, this isn't, you know, like maybe the Garmin, you would only take that out for an adventure. But like a night, a Seiko dive watch is meant to be worn every day. And the fact that I think it's kind of sweet that you were servicing it, like caring for it and rinsing it off in the shower, it's obviously sucks that you dropped it. If the bezel was seized because it was that bent, I would probably replace it. Try and keep the old one, maybe, you know, sit it on my desk as a little trinket or something like that. But otherwise, if it still turns, I think the dent's kind of cool.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I agree. I actually did something similar. I was doing my open water pool session. This was before I even got dive certified. And I was like, I really, as many people do, you know, I want to wear my dive watch while I'm getting certified. And we were doing that first day of pool stuff where I think it was like a tired diver toe, or we had to do a swim test or something. And I, I really bashed it along the edge of the pool. And I was like, Oh, I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do this. pool, like that kind of textured cement on the, on the lip of the pool and a pretty, pretty sizable kind of ding, like a big scrape, uh, along the side of the bezel. And it always bugged me like as long as I had that watch. Um, but it was a memento of that, even though it wasn't during a proper dive, uh, it was, you know, a memento from, from getting certified and looking back. I mean, if I still had that watch, which now I wish I did, uh, you know, I just left it. Certainly, I took a hit on it when I tried to sell it because I had to take close-up photos and, you know, be upfront with the fact that it was damaged. But yeah, no, I say you just keep it. Like James said, it's your everyday watch and that's evidence of it.
James Stacey Yeah. And I mean, the other thing is, let's say this is something that you want to change. My suggestion would be don't replace with the same bezel. Keep that bezel and if you want to switch back to the dive bezel, but try all the bezel mods that are out there. Maybe you want a 12-hour bezel. Maybe you want something loomed. Maybe you want something fully graduated. There's tons of other options out there. And if you're replacing the actual frame of the bezel, the bezel itself, not the insert, then adding an insert isn't going to be a big cost. I would buy both from one outlet, and then you should be able to pop off. I mean, the bent one might be difficult to take off, so that's worth considering. But if it still comes off and all that kind of stuff, then maybe this is an opportunity to kind of jazz it up, but still have the original there that you could pop back on. Yeah. It's one of the kind of the pluses of a bezel. Yeah. Cool. Thank you very much for that question, Ariel. Next up, we've got one from Joshua. He says, can Jason give us any hints on what's coming next for Tusker? I'd be curious to hear about how he's preparing for the next literature adventure in the series and congrats on the success of Sweetwater.
Jason Heaton Yeah, Joshua, thanks for the question and for your kind words about Sweetwater. You know, I'll admit to a bit of burnout after I published Sweetwater And, you know, obviously it was, it was great fun and all that, but I think the kind of the publishing process and the marketing and you know, the shipping and all that sort of stuff, it kind of like I needed to break from it. And I think that's when I took up this fan dance, more physical challenge. And that's kind of been consuming my thoughts and energy for the first half of this year. And so I really haven't thought much about a third book, although I've had a couple of plots in mind and I've, I've written out some outlines and stuff and then, you know, they're, they're, living in the back of my brain and then kind of a document or two on my computer. But, uh, I just feel like also I'm not a great fan of like, I think James, you talked about this on our last episode, like doing computer work or anything in front of a computer during the summer. Yeah. And writing to me feels like a fall, winter, early spring sort of activity. So maybe this winter I'll, you know, when it's kind of dark days and I'm more content to kind of sit by the fire with a laptop on my lap, maybe that's the time to, to dig into a next book. But for now it's a, I'm kind of on hiatus. So yeah, that's where it's at.
James Stacey Yeah. Yeah. And I too, I'm looking forward to the next installment, but some patients never hurt here. So we'll all work together to wait for that for when it comes out. But I agree. I don't think I would take on starting a book in June. Yeah. Uh, I would, I would be procrastinate. My brain would want to procrastinate that into September, October. Yeah, sure. Yeah. So next up we've got one from TC. He says, here's one I think about occasionally. We always talk about watch sizing in terms of case size or lug to lug. What about bracelet or strap sizing? Do you prefer loose fitting or tight fitting? Do you ever agonize over dialing in the fit to your preferred spec? I can jump on this one first. Yeah, I mean, I definitely don't prefer loose or tight. It just has to fit a certain way, which is probably somewhere right between the loose or tight. Probably my taste trends more towards tight versus loose, if it was, say, a spectrum of zero to 10. And then agonizing over dialing in the fit. Yeah, to a certain extent, I don't know that agony would be the right word, but it's definitely a concern when I get a watch and I can't quite get it to fit right, where I'm noticing it all the time. It's one of my favorite things these days to harp on is bracelets should all have micro adjust. And that's largely because your risk kind of changes throughout the course of the day. Mine certainly does, especially in the summer. I don't think that this is novel. I like the ability to change it up, but I've definitely... I would say where I've had a problem is in getting straps for certain watches, and then I'm between the two holes. Yes, yeah. And sometimes that's as easy as carving a new hole, cutting a new hole in the strap, but other shops, I can't do that. And that can be a bit of a bummer when like, especially if the strap is kind of expensive or it's not quite right. And you're like, man, we're talking about two millimeters. Yeah. Would like really kind of sort this out for me. So, you know, I think it definitely happens. Jason, where do you, where do you land on this? Do you, do you have a specific kind of way of telling if a watch is the correct, you know, you sometimes you see people like slip a finger under the underside of their wrist just to see if there's like that right amount of gap and that sort of thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah, that's, I'm definitely on the loose side of, of that argument or that preference. I think there's, there's nothing more claustrophobic than like putting on a, especially a bracelet watch. That's too, that's too tight. And it's just, I just have the sense like, okay. Yeah. Then you notice it all the time. Yeah. You notice it all the time. And loose bracelets can be annoying, especially with a heavier watch. But like sometimes you'll get a watch that, you know, maybe you don't wear on a bracelet very often and then like you put it on and you know, it's just, you're just going to do it short term. And if it's a little bit kind of floppy, there's, there's kind of a certain look that goes with that too. It's kind of hanging low and you know, um, I don't mind that so much if I'm wearing it for a specific activity, obviously I want it to be pretty snug, but, but I can't stand too tight. And then the thing I struggle with often, um, with even like a NATO strap is NATOs are usually pretty easy to dial in a good fit, but like you ever get that with a NATO where you're, you're between holes or it's just not quite right. depending on where you set it. And then I'll like slide the NATO forward or back, like under the head of the watch, thinking that that will correct it. And of course it doesn't, it's the same circumference, right? It's just, it doesn't, it never quite works, you know? Um, if it doesn't fit, it doesn't fit. But, um, yeah, I think that's where, if you're really crazy about, um, getting the proper fit, you might opt for something like one of those, uh, I haven't worn one in a very long time, those kind of purlon style straps where it's like those braided belts that you could use to be able to get or while you still can get, um, kind of infinitely adjustable.
James Stacey So if you're, if you're really concerned, I like a purlon or that, you know, like even some of like the Amazon fine link mesh straps, I've got have that little fold over tab element, like on 15, $20 Casio's with a bracelet where there's a little foot that the bracelets that you can open a little tensioner and then slide the foot, and that gives you a ton of flexibility in terms of just making small, very small adjustments to that kind of thing. So that's probably the direction I would go with either of those. But yeah, I think it's probably a fairly common thing. It is a bummer if you get one that's a watch you're really excited about and you just can't quite get it to fit the way you want it to, and it's not like a question of the proportions, it is the strap, whether it's the way the strap or the bracelet's made or shape of your wrist or whatever. It can be a pain for sure. Yeah. All right. Next up, we've got one from Jonathan. This is a little bit of a long one, but I think that it's pretty easy to track. So, in an industry where planning a new watch can take years, not months, I've been curious about how trends get started, rise and take hold in a fashion that seems somewhat cohesive and coordinated. An example being the current move towards smaller case diameters or the annual slew of on-trend colors, be it salmon green, ice blue, brown, etc. It seems like it would be difficult for brands to take advantage of a trend when the planning for their watches is a long-term project. Further, the ecosystem of brand, media, celebrity, ambassadors, enthusiasts, general population, industry personalities, and more seems like a complex one. It's sometimes hard to tell who is originating the trend, who is amplifying, etc. Would love to hear your perspectives on how a trend like the apparent desire for smaller watches gets started and how it takes hold when the planning for the product is done on such a long timeline. So that's an interesting question, Jonathan. Jason, anything kind of leap to mind on that? Yeah.
Jason Heaton And I actually wonder if, well, I have two thoughts on this. One is, you know, whether or not watch brands are responding to future trends or anticipating future trends, or actually if they're actually creating them is something that I guess I'm not entirely clear on. I think it's a bit of a blend of both. But, you know, like we were seeing kind of a renewed interest in, in fashion and I suppose even music and things in kind of the seventies and eighties styles and fashion kind of seems to work on a faster timeframe than the watch business. But I do think that there's, there's definitely overlap. But I also think that in terms of design, I think some of the bigger brands and certainly micro brands and smaller brands can respond fairly quickly. I could be wrong on this, but more quickly than they would, if let's say they're developing a new movement. I think if you're kind of developing a new platform, like a Odysseus from long or something that takes, you know, whatever it took, you know, six years or something to develop that whole watch platform. I think if you were to like say, Hey, you know, these, these colored dials are kind of in like, you could turn that around in a dial six months or a year, if you're a company like, you know, Rolex with their OP or Omega or, or case shapes or, Um, that sort of thing. I think they could probably turn that around fairly quickly if, and respond within, you know, from one Basel or sorry, from one watches and wonders to the next, you have kind of respond to trends fairly quickly.
James Stacey What do you think about that? You know, obviously watch brands spend all of their time, understand, trying to understand what their audience wants to buy. And I think what you see is, is brands test the waters by, by introducing new lines. So there might be a core watch, right? or a core brand or a core identity for a given brand or identity for a given line from a brand, like in Rolex, every professional watch kind of has its own vibe. And then within that, you might see them experiment in ways that that derivate in a direction to kind of test that market. I think you see this more with Tudor in, obviously, put out a 58, saw that it was good, started doing more 58s, put out a 54, saw that it was good, maybe we get more 54s, that sort of thing. And I think the dial color thing is an option for brands to suddenly be able to move faster. If you have a fully developed watch, the movement and the rest, and you're talking about going from a black dial to a green dial, maybe adding a green bezel, not a big deal. Like you said, Jason, I think... So there's kind of like a playbook or a toolbox, and one of the tools they can use to keep up with trends is by making dial changes or maybe changing the finish of the case. or taking a case that's a known element from their producer and having them make it in a different material, titanium, carbon, ceramic, whatever, right? As far as the sizing thing, the sizing thing is interesting because the sizing just goes back and forth. Watches are big, then a while later, they're smaller, then they go back to being big, then a while later, like if you go to the 60s, they were a certain size, and then around the 70s, that's when we start seeing plow profs and like more avant garde design, And it all just kind of reflects the media theory that's present at the time. And so the trend we're seeing right now is just, in my opinion, is just a continued focus on mid-century design. It's just the focus is shifting away from steel watches, steel sports watches. So suddenly, if the focus shifts away from there to other timeless designs that make sense in today's kind of zeitgeist of fashion, then that's why you get a Cartier's popularity. That's why you get some interest in interesting little stone dial watches from the 70s and maybe early 80s. And I think once that focus starts to shift in the vintage world, the modern product starts to catch up. Yeah. And then what you see is when that focus in the collector side shifts to that area, that's a product that these brands are going to want to start replicating in some way. The sizing thing is like how tight our pants right now. Yeah, true. Right. And like totally different now than three or four years ago. The sizing thing just is a pendulum that swings back and forth. It's constantly reflecting what the current, the absolute up-to-the-minute taste is. And if they have a watch already in the lineup to suit that taste, that's probably the ideal outcome from a business standpoint. But it's where you get a watch that can be kind of magical. In my mind, I think of something like the Black Bay 58. or even in some ways the Pelagos 39, but the 58 made a much bigger splash when it launched. And I think if you're able to not only reflect the sizing, but the trend as it happens, like launching a 58 when they did, you can be very successful. So it is, it is a little bit of a fortune telling sort of a clairvoyance that's required to thread that needle. Every brand, you know, if they keep taking enough shots might eventually thread it. Sometimes they're a couple of years early, right? quite famously, the Royal Oak didn't work in 72, but by 73, 74, 75, 76, it started to pick up.
Jason Heaton Well, and that's, uh, that kind of, uh, makes me think of, of the, the recent trend of, you know, integrated bracelet steel sports watches and how we've, we've seen this, everybody from, you know, Bremont with, um, with their super supernova and, um, you know, everybody from, from Tissot with the PRX to IWC coming back with the Ingenieur, Christopher Ward, And I think like who, who kind of kicked that off most recently, like the, the recent trend for that. And then how quickly did a company, I don't know why I keep thinking about the Tiso PRX, but that watch seemed to like come out at kind of the perfect time. Like people liked that style, but like that was an affordable one. And I think the courts came first and then automatic. And it's like, I felt like they responded pretty quickly and they had something like that in their back catalog, of course, from, from history, but like they were able to like capitalize on this trend in an affordable option. And I'm sure that will wane. Yeah, I would say G Shock did as well.
James Stacey Yeah, right, right. With the Royal Broke or the Royal Joke or whatever, you know, nickname you've assigned to it. Their timing was good and they won because of it. I would say Tissot, I would actually say Tissot was a couple years late. Yeah, yeah. You see when a brand understands enthusiasts by how quickly they can keep up with this. Like Tudor gets it when it comes to dive watches. So much so that I would say they've actually modified the pace of of the fascination in vintage-inspired dive watches. I think they've extended that trend by leaning into it so effectively, and I think they've underlined it and made it their own in many ways. I think Seiko's doing some great work in understanding the interest and impact of recreating something great from their past, but the 143 came out in 2020, not in 2013 or 2015. And it would have worked in... By 2015, it would have worked, right? We already had the Black Bay out. We already had the Longines Legend Diver. We already had the Oris 65. The path had been cut already. And you look at some of these brands, and you're like, how did Longines just thread that needle to essentially be one of the first brands to say, like, oh, we're gonna recreate something from the mid-'60s, late-'50s, right? So I agree it's a fascinating question, but my guess is that when it works, it's because somebody in the company, somebody in the business, someone who makes decisions, has their finger on the pulse. That's a long and complicated answer, but also kind of a complicated question. I think a lot of this originates either at the cutting edge of tastemaking, which would be actual collectors, not people who write about watches, although sometimes those are the same people, but real collectors, real aficionados, And then it trickles down and you start to see it in what people are buying and what's getting more expensive at auction or in the secondhand market. And then I think that starts to reflect on new product.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I mean, good, good stuff. I think this, I mean, this actually, some of these questions could obviously turn into full, full length episodes.
James Stacey Oh, this one could have been an episode for sure. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Yeah. You think you got time for one or two more maybe? Yeah.
Jason Heaton Let's do, let's do two more. Got one from Carter Pennington who asks, If you had to start a new podcast that couldn't include a single topic that's regularly brought up on TGN, what topic could you fill 60 to 90 minutes of airtime talking about? What would the podcast wrist check equivalent to be? This is a fun one.
James Stacey This is a fun one. But like, I talk about everything I'm into on this show. So like, if we're to, if like, if even something that's like we, we keep to a specific episode, like film club.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey I don't, I don't even know. I'm not sure that there's any topics left in my life that I don't talk about on.
Jason Heaton No, no hidden weird hobbies. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Model trains or something. Yeah.
James Stacey I mean, I wish I, Carter, I genuinely wish I had a better answer. Like, Oh, you guys don't know this, but I'm a world-class stamp collector. I would do a podcast about stamps. I just don't like everything that I'm into. That's literally why we made TGN was just to capture whatever Jason and I were fascinated in.
Jason Heaton I've got an idea. And I think, um, you know, look, I took his requirements fairly loosely because we have brought up almost everything we both do regularly, but not in great depth. And for me, I've even got a title for it. I'm going to call it the constant gardener. And it's going to be a podcast about very amateur level gardening, because it is something that I spend, Ghoshani and I spent a lot of time doing here. You know, trial and error and a lot of mistakes and whatever. But like, I think, gardening has become kind of a passion of ours. Um, and it's something I enjoy greatly, but I, I'm certainly not an expert. I don't know the, you know, the Latin names for anything in our garden. Um, my garden boxes look very cobbled together and bad. Um, we have a lot of weeds, but I think it's something that, you know, when you, when you go at in, go at it from that level, um, it could just be a fun thing. I could, I could probably talk, I'm not sure I could do it for 300 episodes like we've done TGN, but I think I could kind of do, a gardening podcast at a very low amateur level and just talk about the trials and errors and foibles and things that we've done here. Um, and in terms of a risk check equivalent, I think it'd be something like new blooms for that week, you know, or it's like what, what, what opened up, uh, at that time of the year, maybe what seeds you planted or what, what pests you've discovered in the garden that are eating your, you know, your strawberry plants and stuff like that. So yeah, that's where I'm headed or, or Land Rovers, but I do talk about that probably a fair bit. So I'll have to set that one aside.
James Stacey Yeah. I mean, like that's the natural thing that comes to my mind. It's like, Oh, cars or maybe music or film or, you know, like, I guess, I guess it's something that comes up on the show and I talk about, but never in detail. Like, I guess I could do a podcast about like call of duty mobile or something in that space. I'm just not really sure. Um, cameras, I guess, but I talk a ton about, I kind of do do a podcast to a certain extent.
Jason Heaton Well, that's, that's a fun one to think about. if this doesn't work out for us, TGN will shift gears, I guess. Yeah.
James Stacey I mean, fair enough for sure. Thank you very much for that one, Carter. I apologize that I didn't have like a better answer. I just, I pack everything I'm into into this one show. It's probably why I don't have two podcasts. Yeah. Right. Right. All right. Let's wrap it up with one from Sam Wilkinson who said for the same price, would you get a vintage Doxa or a new Doxa? He says a reissue. So I guess we're talking for simplicity, we'll say what a, uh, Vintage 300 thin case or 300 reissue from 2017? Yeah. Does that change for different brands like Seiko or Aquastar? Jason, where do you land on this? I don't actually know. I feel like you're into vintage watches when the opportunity is just right or when the watch kind of has to be vintage. Yeah. You don't have like a motive behind everything where it's like it has to be vintage or it has to be new. It's like I couldn't see you necessarily spending money on a brand new Navitimer, but I get the old one.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Right. Totally. Totally. And I think, let me just say this. I think there is perhaps no cooler vintage watch than a vintage Doxa. I think every time I see a vintage Doxa, you know, in whatever shape they come, they are just beautiful. It's kind of like old Land Rovers. I think the worse they look, the better they look. And, Um, you know, I, I own one vintage docks. I've, I've had a couple others in the past and the beauty of this vintage one that I have is that I had it restored and I am able to take it diving, although I don't do it regularly. But, um, I just think they're just the coolest vintage pieces and, and look, I've got, uh, multiples of, of new kind of reissue docks as well. And those are kind of my go-tos for, you know, rough duty or for diving and whatever. But I don't know if you can find a vintage dock. So there, there are just few things that are, that are better than that. Now, when it comes to other brands, I mean, I think vintage is always cool, but my hangup is I need loom. I mean, even more than water resistance, like I cannot stand.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton You know, I was wearing that 6105 Seiko like for a while. I was like, Oh, I'm getting back into this watch. And then I go to bed and it's like three in the morning and I'm kind of, I roll over awake or something. And I like to look at my, look at the time and I can't see it. That just bugs me. I, you know, I want to take it camping. I want to take it, I want to wear it when I have jet lag and I just need loom. So that's, that's usually my, my hangup when it comes to vintage. I think that makes sense. What about you?
James Stacey Yeah, I mean, I think at this point, if the right vintage Doxa came along, I would be on board, but it would be... That watch would have an entirely different context than my modern Doxa, which I can just wear like a normal watch. Yeah, yeah. But at that point, it's basically a new Doxa. I don't really see a huge difference between the old ones and the new ones. Vintage ones are cooler and more expensive, but the new ones are more reliable, better made, and Yeah, quite cost effective, especially if you look at something like the price point of the 200 T. Yeah. So yeah, I would probably for docs. I mean, look, if you've got a thin case pro and really nice neck and the price is right, I'm in for sure. That's a very cool watch and one of the few genuinely vintage watches that I would love to own a vintage sports watches that I would love to own. But my fascination for vintage watches is in more of the like romantic dressy stuff that where the vintageness of it doesn't take away because it doesn't need to be sporty. Yeah. Yeah. I like my sport watches to be modern, ready to go, take them out of the box, wear them, jump off the dock, all that kind of stuff. Yeah. Yeah. I can't, I don't love the idea of having some beautiful doxa on my wrist being at my cottage and then being like, Oh, I'm going to pop this off. Cause I'm going to jump. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Yeah. So I think in this case I'd be leaning towards new, um, but I don't typically think of watches in that way. Like Occasionally a vintage watch kind of makes its way to me, and that's how they seems to work for you. Yeah. Yeah. They find you to a certain extent, and then it's the right watch. And certainly there's a lot of watches that I guess could now be considered vintage at 20 years that I spend a lot of time looking at, but I would be treating those like modern watches, not like a watch from the 60s or 70s. Right. Yeah. Cool question though. I mean, I don't know. It would depend on the watch, right? Yeah, yeah, definitely. Well, look, this was really fun. I hope people enjoyed the questions and the answers. We had a great time with it. We've got, I mean, definitely enough for a part five. So we'll get to that at some point.
Jason Heaton Yeah, these are fun to have in the fun to have in the hopper. We can pull them, pull them out every now and then. And yeah, we probably have one or two more to go.
James Stacey I would say, yeah, at least at least at least one left, which would be great. But for this episode, let's jump into a final notes and we can put a bow on it. Yeah. You want to go first?
Jason Heaton Sure. Yeah. Um, you know, I'm often weighing luggage. Um, you know, maybe not something a lot of people do, but like when I, when we take long trips to visit, uh, Gashani's family in Sri Lanka, or if I'm going on a dive trip, like I'm, I'm often maxing out the luggage limits for airlines, um, which, you know, is either 50 pounds or 70 pounds depending on which airline and if you're doing domestic or international. And so we had this old, luggage scale. It was like an analog one with just like this kind of flimsy dial that would spin around and you'd have to hold it and somebody would have to squint and look and say, I think it's around 48 pounds. Um, so I finally decided to like look for like a new one, like a small packable one you could take and just use easily. And I found one on, uh, Amazon from, uh, this, this brand that I think kind of specializes in these kind of small quirky electronics and scales and things. It's called e-tech city and they make a digital luggage scale, uh, for like 11 bucks and you know, it has kind of a webbing strap with a hook and you just hold it in, you know, in your hand and it has a digital readout on top and it's good to 110 pounds, which is kind of crazy. I think that'd be difficult to lift. Um, 110 pound suitcase and I'm not sure a suitcase could even hold that much typically, but, uh, it's really handy and it's packable. So, um, yeah, it's look, this isn't the most scintillating final note, but if you're in the market for something like that, or if you're like weighing, You know, kind of anything. Like I think the reason I got this at this time was because, you know, for the fan dance, there was this, this weight requirement for the pack you carry. And I thought I wanted to take something along so that I could be kind of meet the requirement and needed something that I can take along to check that. But, um, it's going to get a lot of use for, for kind of dive trips and things like that. So yeah, e-tech city luggage scale comes in different colors, 11 bucks. Yeah, really kind of a no brainer if you need something.
James Stacey Yeah, totally. I mean, that's one of those things that like you realize you need a couple days before you're traveling. Yeah. You go on Amazon and there's about 2000 of them. Yeah. And you're not really sure which one. So it's like at least you bought one, you tested it and it's $11. So when you need a luggage scale, we've got you covered.
Jason Heaton Yeah. What else are final notes for, right? Exactly. Yeah. All right. Yours is a little more interesting.
James Stacey Yeah, mine's pretty nebulous. I'm going to give you that. I do have a link to a video, but my suggestion is one that's based in some in me relearning something in the last little while. So those of you had followed the kind of moves in my camera world as I've stopped using my cue and I've switched over to an SL2, which is a bigger, beefier sort of upmarket camera from Leica. But the interesting thing is for the first time in since I dropped and broke my Sony 6500 with the 24-18 Zeiss on it. I broke the lens, the camera was fine. I now am back to having a mirrorless body that I can put almost any lens I want on it. And I forgot how much I enjoy this nerdy part of photography. It's not useful for watches. So if you're a fellow watch photographer, stick with modern gear, keep it nice and sharp, all that's fine, you're good. But for everything else in my life, I like vintage lenses. If I'm taking pictures of my family, if I'm kicking around at my cottage, if I'm going on a photo walk on an evening or going somewhere cool on the weekend, I will take almost always a vintage lens. And back in the day when I was first starting to experiment with other camera platforms that weren't strict DSLRs, so I went from a Canon 5D into a 6500 Sony and all of a sudden with an adapter that costs almost nothing and man have they gotten cheap adapters. You can put almost any lens on. Now keep in mind you can't put like a modern mirrorless lens on a different mirrorless body. Usually the gap between the back of the lens and the sensor is too narrow. So it is really about adapting older lenses to a new body. But there's two pluses. One, it's a lot of fun. Two, these lenses typically, not always, but typically cost basically nothing, especially compared to a modern autofocus lens. I spoke earlier in this episode saying that I got a 200 millimeter Hanomar F5-6 for $20 Canadian. Amazing. That's about 13 bucks. Yeah. And I own, just looking over my shoulder here, probably six or seven other vintage lenses. There used to be a pretty good photography swap meet in Vancouver where I was able to find like of 50 1.4 from Canon and FD, and that adapts really nicely to just about anything and could basically be one lens. If you're putting it on a crop sensor mirror to list body, keep in mind the multiplication factor. So a full frame would be one to one or one X, I guess 50 millimeters would be 50, but some camera lenses would be 1.6 or it can even be up to double. which will change your focal length, making your 50 and 80 or 100, which could be to your liking or not, right? But I'm really throwing this out there that if you're at the point where maybe you feel like you've gone as far as you can go with your phone in learning photography, and you want to try something new, but you're not really worried about taking the most clinically accurate, razor sharp iPhone style photos, but with a better camera, Find yourself an inexpensive mirrorless like I've seen Sony 6000 because people use those as webcams now. So that's the price point that a 6000 is that maybe not a 6500 or 6300, but a 6000. That's still a ton of camera and then go out and find a few lenses. I'm a big fan of Canon's FD range. That's you're talking about decades of great lenses. Nikon has even more because they didn't change their mounts multiple times. Jason would know this. And then I also have a huge fondness for M42 screw mount lenses, especially the Pentax Asahi Super Takumar stuff. Highly recommend all of it. None of it's a fortune. Like, look, if you want to get into a Canon Dream Lens, an F 0.95, that's been adapted to a new mount. Sure, you can spend several thousand dollars on a vintage lens, but I think my, my Helios, I think my 55 Takumar, I think we're all talking about 50 or $60 lenses. Wow. Yeah. And there's so much fun to use and you will learn a different style of photography where in my mind, it gets me closer to a manual experience, but I don't have to mess with the cost and deeply fussy nature of film. So I can put an old lens on, I can buy lenses at garage sales, you can trade them to friends. They just don't cost that much. Yeah. So you don't really have to be that worried about them. And the results are really fun and you'll, you know, Sure, there's not autofocus, but any of these cameras have something that's called focus peaking, where you can be turning the focus ring on the lens. And as something comes into focus, whatever the lens is focusing on or the sensor is focusing is now focused on will be outlined in red or yellow or whatever color you decide. Red's pretty common. And it makes using these lenses that don't have autofocus really good. It's a little bit more difficult or it's a skill set you'll have to learn that's different than an iPhone, but it's so much fun. If you love the photography stuff and you wanna get into it, you wanna go a little bit deeper, but you don't think that you need professional gear or professional results, kind of, you can still get great results, but it won't be the same workflow. This is a level of nerdiness that I absolutely adore. I am spending an hour of my night every night looking at vintage lenses that are in my area, and it was the number one thing on my list when we went to that antiques market was to try and find something long, I did learn, you know, since I got it, 200 is not enough. I'm going to try and find a 400 somewhere. Yeah. And we'll go from there. But I highly recommend it. I'm including a video from YouTube that I found, which comes from a channel called Zenography, which is seven tips for successful mirrorless photography with vintage lenses. If you're looking at spending whatever Fuji's asking for an X100 currently, people are already using like digital film effects in those cameras to make them look like they were shot with older hardware. cut out the middle man and shoot it with some older hardware. And a final fun fact is some of these old lenses, like the Helios 44, are still so good and produce such an interesting image that they're used in modern filmmaking. There are several segments of Dune II, which are very obviously shot with a Helios 44 or something very similar, because there's only a couple lenses that make that bokeh, and it bothered me throughout the entire thing, and then I had to go and search it. And sure enough, they use cine adapted lenses, vintage lenses and MKBHD has done this before. You get a swirly kind of dreamy bokeh, which is the out of focus element behind what's in focus in your image is called bokeh or bokeh, depending on your accent and ability to pronounce things correctly. And it's just so much fun. So I'm just sharing it because I find this to be super fun. It's one of my favorite like nerdy things to get into right in there with like buying speakers I don't need, but at least with lenses, I can use all of them. Uh, and it's very easy. You can buy adapters for 20, 30, $40 on Amazon and mount a ton of different lenses to your camera.
Jason Heaton Yeah. That's a, that's a really good note I think because, um, yeah, and it makes me think that, uh, you know, I've got a pile of old Nikon lenses that I got for my Nikon film cameras and, and we have a, a Z seven Nikon and also a Sony a seven that we use quite a bit and I'm sure I could get an adapter for the Sony, but I've, I've got an adapter for the Z seven and we have used some of the kind of the modern Nikon lenses on it. But, uh, Yeah. Good idea to try the old manual focus stuff.
James Stacey My whole process on photos would change so deeply if I wasn't doing it for work. Yeah. You could, you could just have, I could have most of the fun that I get from a very expensive thing like the SL2 or the SL2 with an AF lens, multiple flashes, like the whole kit, all of that could go for a simple mirrorless and a couple of interesting lenses and you'll get some great photos. And it is one of those things where you got to take a few hundred images. You got to get your 10,000 hours, just keep shooting. You're not going to like the first few, the focus is going to feel like it's a huge pain, and then it'll start to click. And there's some incredible tips on the internet as well. And if people have any questions, let me know in the photography channel on Slack. Happy to dig into it. And there's also some incredible photographers in there who will give you even better advice than myself. Awesome.
Jason Heaton All right.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Well, Fun episode. Yeah, thanks again to everybody who, way back when, put in questions for the Slack crew and we'll keep chipping away at them. So yes, we had some fun ones today. And 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 TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout is siesta by JazzArr via the free music archive.
James Stacey And we leave you with this quote from Seneca who said, nothing to my way of thinking is a better proof of a well-ordered mind than a man's ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company.