The Grey Nato - Episode 03 - In Too Deep

Published on Tue, 01 Mar 2016 08:49:21 -0500

Synopsis

This episode begins with a discussion about dive watches - their history, evolution, and enduring popularity among enthusiasts. Jason and James share their experiences and favorite dive watches to use in various situations. They talk about criteria for a good dive watch, like legibility, water resistance, and features like a rotating bezel. James mentions some of the new watches announced by Bremont for Baselworld. As the episode progresses, they discuss their recommendations for travel watches at different price points, both for vintage and modern watches. James also shares his thoughts on books like "Cold" by Bill Strever and "Solo Faces" by James Salter, as well as recommending the Military Watch Resource forum for enthusiasts interested in military watches.

The conversation covers topics such as the continued appeal of dive watches, their practical use even today, features that make a good dive watch, and factors to consider when choosing a watch for travel or adventure. The hosts share their personal experiences and preferences, providing an engaging discussion for watch enthusiasts.

Transcript

Speaker
Jason Heaton Welcome to Episode 3 of The Grey Nado, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, gear, and most certainly watches. I'm Jason Heaton, a Minneapolis-based freelance writer for a number of gear, travel, and timepiece publications, including Gear Patrol, Hodinkee, Revolution, and Men's Journal.
James Stacy And I'm James Stacy. Based in Vancouver, I call myself a professional enthusiast, and I write about watches, cars, and almost anything else that catches my eye for a blog to watch.com, nouveau magazine, and more. Right off the top, we want to thank everyone who is listening, commenting, and sending us questions. We really appreciate all the love, and we'll actually be answering some of your questions later in the show. If you're enjoying the show, please take a minute to leave us a review in your podcast app of choice, as this will help us get the word out and grow our audience. Speaking of growth, Jason and I would like to extend a huge thank you to Hodinkee for the early and all too kind coverage. Huge respect for what you guys are doing, and we really appreciate the love and all the new listeners you brought to the show. Finally, for all of those who asked, we now have proper show notes. Uh, starting with episode two, there's no need to carry a pen and paper while listening. Just swing by soundcloud.com slash the Grenado and expand the show description for the episode to view the complete notes and links for everything we spoke about. With that covered onto our main topic, dive watches.
Jason Heaton All right. Well, today's main topic is one that is near and dear to both of our hearts. Both of us being divers, um, our favorite dive watches. We'll talk a little bit about our criteria for what is a good dive watch. Maybe a few pet peeves and some memorable experiences that we've had diving with watches. Uh, James, you know, we, we both know as probably a lot of the listeners do that, that dive watches probably aren't used. Well, we, we know they're not used as, as serious instruments anymore by the great majority of, of people that wear them. Uh, but it certainly hasn't diminished their popularity. And so it kind of seems like a good jumping off point to ask why dive watches still attract people. Why, why, why do you think James or what attracted you about dive watches?
James Stacy For me, I mean, the dive watch functionality was kind of specifically tuned. They took a watch and they tuned it for diving. And that's like a 50 or 60 year old idea that's kind of more or less been locked in place from the basics. And as it turns out, I think the longevity of the dive watch doesn't have that much necessarily to do with diving. Certainly, the creation and popularity of dive computers should have kind of killed the dive watch if that's all it was. But I think the concept of a dive watch simply makes for a better overall sport watch. So it's very tough, legible, you get a screw-down crown, water resistance, the elapsed time bezel is just as capable as timing a pizza as it is, say, a dive. Yeah, I agree.
Jason Heaton I mean, I think, to me, the word that kind of jumps out when I think about a dive watch is honest. I just feel like nowadays and even going back in history, so many watches have been created to sort of either make a statement or to impress you with a complication or a series of complications. But a dive watch is just such a brutally simple creature and it has such a simple job to do. And I think the fact that they were designed with this singular purpose has kind of led to this popularity of the entire genre of watch that we now know as the tool watch, which kind of followed from there. You know, you get watches that were designed for, you know, caving. You get watches that are designed for, you know, sailing and other very specific purpose built watches. And I think, you know, when the dive watch came on the scene back in the 1950s, it was kind of the dawn of that era. And Rolex, of course, was a big part in that development. But I think the other brands sort of caught on. And I think that that popularity just sort of continued to grow. And even today, when a watch is arguably more of a fashion accessory, people still seek out that sort of purpose built aspect of a watch. What have you dived with? What do you enjoy diving with? What would you like to dive with? What are kind of your favorite watches that are out there these days?
James Stacy Yeah, I've got kind of a stack of dive watches that I like. Some I've actually not dove with, some that I have. As far as ones that I have dove with, what stands out is the Tudor Pelagos I took out recently. I think that's about as pure an expression of like as modern a sport watch as anyone could need. Hugely capable, obviously the titanium is going to get beat up if you actually use it for frequent diving, but I don't think that's going to slow the watch or its functionality down and you're not going to scratch that bezel. Huge respect for the Sea-Dweller. I love the Submariner, it's never been something that really spoke directly to me, but the Sea-Dweller on the other hand, because of its history, I really like. And I like that they still basically make the same watch today and there's no shortage of the last two generations in the pre-owned market and they're a great value.
Unknown in the
James Stacy Despite that, you know, great legibility, it's very thin. It's kind of a great everyday watch and maybe a little bit of a flawed watch from the dive standpoint. It's something that they addressed with the Planet Ocean, I think, beautifully, which has a great bezel that stands up off the case and gives you a lot of room to grab it. And it turns really nicely. It's just, you know, one of the better bezels out there on the dive watches. And certainly the Planet Oceans are serious dive watches from really any measure.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I would agree with you on the Pelagos. I think it's a really superior, modern dive watch. I know you're also a big fan of a couple of the smaller brands. One of your Vancouver mates up there runs Helios, and I think you've got one of his watches.
James Stacy Yeah, I've dove Haleos a couple of times, and I have a Tropic that I've had a couple times in the cold water around here, and that's a great watch for a dive. It works really well in a rubber strap. The bezel offers enough grip to be used with a glove or, you know, bare hands. The other one that I would suggest, if somebody wants, like, an actual watch to wear every day and dive with and spend under $1,000, obviously look at the Haleos, but also consider Squala. Their 50 Atmos case, you know, it's a legacy design by any other brand. This would be a watch that would cost way more money, but Squala has a history as rich as any dive watch company, any Swiss dive watch company. And the, uh, the 50 Atmos is such a fantastic case design, you know, it's profiled so that the widest point of the case is the bezel. and beautiful legibility, great luminosity, and a fantastic bezel. And I dove a couple times with the 50 Atmos, and it's a great dive watch by any measure, let alone if you want to start throwing in price points where I think it's about $800.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I've got a squalor as well. I've got the 101 Atmos watch, which is that much more sort of 70s lugless design. And I agree. I mean, I would say it's probably not my favorite in terms of usability, but it's The fit and finish for the price of it is pretty outstanding, and Squala does have a great history. I profiled them for a piece on Hodinkee a year or two ago, and it kind of really allowed me to dig into what the company was all about. They've kind of stayed pure to their roots, and yeah, it's a really cool company.
James Stacy And beyond that, you know, Squala, Halios, obviously my big love for the Pelagos. What's on your list? What have you really liked diving with?
Jason Heaton Yeah, I've actually, uh, I've dived with quite a few. I've probably taken over a couple of dozen different watches diving, and I've sort of come to the conclusion that there are sort of two schools of, of dive watches. And I used to be a bit more of a sort of a purist or a snob about dive watches and think, Oh, if you can't take it underwater, it's not perfect for diving. Um, it's not worthy, but as you mentioned with your 2254 Seamaster, um, there can be a certain appeal or allure to dive watches that maybe maybe work a little bit better topside than they do underwater. And so I've sort of softened my stance on that. And so I've sort of got two schools of thought, or I've got two sort of families of watches that I like. And on the one side, I have the real tool watches. And in that realm is where I put my obvious love for Seiko, which if anyone checks out my Instagram feed, you'll definitely see that come through. And I've dived with several Seikos from the big emperor tuna, tuna can piece, which I think is just probably the most uncompromising tool watch ever built. I mean, it's, it's, you know, sits tall on the wrist. It wears like, like a dive compass or a depth gauge, you know, just strapped on your wrist with the ceramic shroud and the one piece titanium case, super long strap. Um, so, you know, Seiko's are great. Um, I, I think Rolex is still our great, uh, tool diving watches. They just have sort of a, They have so much baggage attached to them now that I always think twice about wearing them on a trip. But in terms of just fit and finish and pure quality and just knowing that something's going to work when you put it on, I still reach for a Rolex occasionally.
James Stacy Oh yeah, you don't get that reputation that Rolex has, especially with things like the Submariner and the Sea-Dweller. You don't get that from nothing. You can't just create that with marketing. Otherwise, every brand would be going for that.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Oh, exactly. You know, Omega, you mentioned your Seamaster and the Planet Ocean. My first sort of high-end dive watch, and the one that I actually wore when I got certified diving, and I happened to scratch it up on the side of the pool doing my pool sessions, was the Planet Ocean. And I still have a love for that watch. I sold it years ago, but I still point people in that direction. But in terms of other Omegas, a couple summers ago, I took the new Seamaster 300 Master Coaxial diving around the wrecks around Isle Royale up in Lake Superior. And it's just a fantastic watch. It has that mix of vintage allure with the modern capabilities. It's really legible. It's got a great bezel, a nice bracelet. And I don't know, it was a fun watch to dive with. And then last summer I had the new Sea-Dweller up in Lake Michigan doing some diving. And again, you know, the Sea-Dweller, I would tend to, if I were spending my own money, reach for a Submariner, just because I don't need that extra thickness. And I certainly don't need a helium release valve, but there's just something that when you put on a Sea-Dweller, you're sort of, I feel like you're putting on all this, this great, cool history that, that comes with it, you know?
James Stacy Yeah. It's kind of the Speedmaster of dive watches in some ways.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Built for a really specific purpose and just really does its job well. Um, on that other side of the fence I was talking about, um, in terms of, sorry, I guess people call them dress divers. I would really put, kind of my top choice is something like the Bremont Supermarine, and I've got the Supermarine 2000, but I also think the Supermarine 500 is an excellent watch. A great watch. It's just, it's beautifully made. It's a watch that you want to spend time sort of looking at the case work and the applied markers on the dial, and the bezel's beautiful, and it's got a great integrated strap, and it's just a really pretty watch. But on the other hand, it's also anti-magnetic. They've got a great shock absorbing system inside. Um, of course the one I have is water resistant to 2000 meters, so it's perfectly capable for diving. But, um, I tend not to use it as much for that. So, um, but that one and then, and then years ago I also had, uh, I had taken the Blancpain 50 fathoms, the, the tribute to Aqualung. Um, I took that on a trip to the Florida Keys and did some diving with that one. And it kind of falls in that same category. It's just a big, beautiful, uh, you know, watch that sort of harkens back to the old days of cool looking retro style dive watches, but in a very sort of almost luxurious sense. And so I really enjoyed that one as well. One that I neglected to mention that I think really belongs in the tool watch category is Doxa. And I think Doxa is kind of up there with the Seiko Tunican dive watches in that when it was developed in the late 60s, it had such a purpose-built, uncompromising design brief. I mean, the bezel is probably the best dive bezel I've ever used. It just sits really tall from the case. It has that sort of buzzsaw grip on the bezel. And then, you know, even in the old days when they developed it, it had the beads of rice bracelet with the expanding spring-loaded clasp. The minute hand is much bigger than the hour hand because that's really all you need when you're diving. You know, it's just, it was one of these watches kind of take it as, just as a watch. It's, it's kind of ugly.
James Stacy Yeah. The docks is very much shaped by diving. Yeah. And oddly to the, to the same extent, just, you know, maybe push 30, 40 years newer. Uh, I know that you have a love for the Citizen Aqualand and that's arguably another watch almost purpose shaped for diving. Strange looking piece topside. Uh, you know, what, what, what was your experience diving with the Aqualand?
Jason Heaton Well, I feel like the Aqualand, it's sort of the, I don't want to say the ugly duckling. It's sort of the sleeper, I guess, in my list of favorites, but it actually, I would put it in sort of my top five dive watches historically, because I think by the time that first generation Aqualand came out in the eighties, it was kind of the logical final step in the entire evolution of true diving watches. Quartz had been around for 15 years by that time and had taken hold. but it still had classic dive watch looks. It has the rotating bezel, um, the, you know, the big luminescent hands, super long, great rubber strap that had no deco limit markings printed right on the strap, which I loved. Um, but then of course they integrated, uh, uh, an electric or electronic, uh, depth gauge and, and they incorporated all these features in a small digital display. They had, you know, a stopwatch, they had, um, an ascent alarm. So if you, if you're ascending too fast from a dive, it'll be bet you, It'll track your maximum depth for the past five dives, so you can log them later. It was just a really cool watch. They made kind of the version for the mid-80s, but nowadays you can still get one that goes by the reference JP2000, and you see them on eBay and some other places. But you can get them for a couple hundred bucks, and they still just look... I don't know, to me they just have a real tool watch look to them. And especially with that sort of bulbous depth gauge sticking off the left side of the case.
James Stacy Yeah, very much a kind of purpose-driven design. I had the Lumedial Aqualand, I want to say it was probably from the mid-2000s, but it might even have been like a line that ran longer than that. It was kind of a thin chronograph, no digital display, but had the depth gauge. Oh yeah, yeah. That was a really cool watch. One of the first watches, or definitely the first watch I ever swam in the ocean with. I took it snorkeling and I loved it. I mean, I was too excited snorkeling to remember to use the depth gauge. But the the watch itself was awesome. It had that same strap you mentioned with the ND scale on it Which just felt super legit despite my complete lack of legitimacy wearing that watch Really cool piece and definitely one that I think people overlook in the history of dive watches But like you said it represents the kind of the final phase before computers took over as the primary dive watch Yeah, you know even though it was sort of the the end point of the classic dive watch I think it's still important to mention that
Jason Heaton Dive watches still have a place in, um, you know, in diving. I mean, I, I wear mine, you might, you wear yours and, and I wear mine on the opposite wrist of my dive computer and I don't just do it for, for fun or to kind of look cool. Um, I've used it for a number of things and it's actually quite handy underwater. If you're timing, uh, swim distances for navigation, uh, you can time safety stops, um, when you're kind of hanging at about, um, you know, five meters, uh, after a dive, uh, surface intervals back on the boat. Um, you know, so it's, it's a really handy thing. And that, that analog rotating bezel, uh, is just so much more accessible and easy to use and quick and intuitive than fiddling around with a digital dive computer and trying to find a stopwatch function.
James Stacy Oh yeah. Like if, if you had, at least with mine, I use a computer that I love, the Suunto Zoop. It has a nice big screen for the kind of dark waters around Vancouver. But with the Suunto, like if you had to press any of those buttons underwater, you're out of luck.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacy So let's say for whatever reason, barring something really obvious like a battery failure, let's say for whatever reason, you're looking at your computer and you don't know what it's trying to tell you. It's failed. Yeah. There's no resetting it underwater that I doubt. And I don't even know if the buttons are even designed to be used underwater necessarily. Mine doesn't have a light, like a backup. Right. Or a backlight. You have to use your torch. And in that case, it's almost crucial to have some sort of a backup. And because I have a, you know, a depth gauge on my instrument cluster that, you know, where my pressure gauge is, between that and a dive watch, I have a full fail safe that would tell me not only you know give you a rough estimation of how long you've been down in your maximum depth but also be able to run a safety stop like safety stops are run by computers all the time now I've never seen anyone do one without yeah right you know they sit there and you hold the computer up to your ear and you know to try and be able to hear it through your hood and then it beeps when you're clear and then you go up the last the last little bit but I've experienced a couple people have failures of their computers and luckily their buddies had computers but without I mean nobody I don't dive with anyone really that carries a dive watch and uses it as a dive watch. I've watched people take dive watches off and put them you know in their car when they're getting suited up.
Jason Heaton I've seen that too. There's a certain camaraderie too though if you're on a dive boat and because nowadays there are so few divers that wear dive watches that if I'm on a dive boat or with a group of divers somewhere and someone actually goes diving with their watch it's There's like this mutual excitement that happens. It's like recognizing one of your own tribes somewhere. I remember I was in, I don't know, Mexico somewhere one time and this guy on the boat had, he had like one of those reference 35, 36 Aquatimer IWCs from, I don't know what the eighties or whatever. And it was like, those are killer. Yeah. I mean, you know, okay. You see a lot of Seikos and things on dive boats if you see any dive watches, but, but to see that one, I just, I was just gushing over it. I think we, you know, held up the rest of the dive just so we could sit and chat about the watches on the boat.
James Stacy Yeah. And the other thing to consider is, is when you're questioning why a dive watch has to be made the way it's made. I find that when I do come across somebody wearing a dive watch, they're wearing it generally an older watch. And it's because they buy dive gear all the time because dive gear just gets destroyed by the act of diving. Especially if you're, you're, you know, saltwater diving, or if you had saltwater in sunlight, everything gets destroyed. Everything that's expensive has to be serviced frequently. And your only real respite from that believe it or not, is actually the dive watch, which is in no way the most expensive thing on your body during a dive. Right. Typically your reg set or your computer will cost way more than your average, let's say a Seiko or an Aqualand or something like that. And I think it's a testament to where we've gotten from dive watches. One, that a lot of the technology as far as the base design and the needs basically hit their stride in the 60s and the 70s. And yet they still outlast things that are constantly being redeveloped and redesigned and, and, and, you know, in the hopes of it lasting through more dives or harder dives or colder dives, things like that.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I want to kind of move into talking a little bit about our sort of favorite traits and conversely, our pet peeves with dive watches. And, you know, it's, it was an interesting point. You just mentioned that, um, you know, dive watches sort of reached their, their peak of design in the, in the sixties and the seventies. And, and it's true. People ask me, you know, what, you know, what's your favorite dive watch or what, um, I guess what's the best dive watch? And I tell people, you know, it's, I mean, I don't want to say, I don't say it's, it's not rocket science, but these things, they're very simple watches and they did kind of reach the pinnacle of, of their ultimate design probably in 1970. I mean, you were getting watches back then that were a thousand meters water resistant, which is utter overkill. So, you know, that they had plenty of water resistance, you know, just a good rotating bezel, good contrasty dial with, um, you know, like white hands on a black dial is ideal. And, and for me, I mean, it sounds silly, but I just like a really good long rubber strap on a dive watch. Yeah, no doubt. So things that, that have happened since that time where you moved into, you know, locking bezels and even, you know, ratcheting unidirectional bezels, which I've never really, you know, had a problem with the bezel getting knocked, but okay, it's, it's fine. It's, it's a, it's a nice feature, but you know, locking bezels, you know, bright colored dials, um, fancy clasps. I mean, all those things. Frankly, I can be just as happy diving with this new Seiko SRP777 Turtle that I just got recently.
James Stacy Yeah, I think I'll put a lot of dives on that watch. It does basically, you know, imagine you didn't know brands or movements or price points. There isn't that much that separates what we all consider to be a really good dive watch because those designs all locked their way in a long time ago. So with the, with the turtle, of course, we're looking at a 6309, which is of course based on a 6105, which is, you know, and they just, it just goes back in time. And whereas maybe Seiko had generations where the case shape and things like that changed, Rolex just kind of picked something and went with it. Right. What they had was something that worked. And I think that's, that's what we still see today is these watches that everybody talks about. Whenever you see a top 10 dive watch list, are there for a fairly specific reason, they've stood the test of time. They're all like. you know, the 9-11 of, of watches, they're just still around because they worked.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacy And, uh, and they worked well enough to garner a lasting kind of repetitive audience. Right. And I think that's why you can get a really good dive watch for $200. Is it going to be as good as a Submariner all the time? No. Yeah. Will it be a great watch? Most definitely. Right. There's great dive watches at every price point. And, uh, and certainly some of my favorite, um, features. I'm all about the bezel and the loom. I think that's what sets a good dive watch against a bad watch. Yeah. So if the loom isn't good, it's not going to work as a dive watch. You need the ability to take your flashlight quickly, flash it over your wrist, and then have a really clear view of that minute hand and of your zero pip. And if you can't get that, and preferably if it's not still charged, say 10 minutes later, then it's just a hassle because other watches do do it correctly. Right. And with the bezel, It's all about, yeah, just being able to very easily grip something in, you know, mixed conditions, wet, dry hands, gloves, whichever. And like the Pelagos for me is about as good as I've ever experienced for that.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I mean, for me, I think I still give the edge to a Doxa just because of the way it sits high from the case. But yeah, there's, there are some good ones out there. I think, I think the Seikos are pretty good. I think the Pelagos is good. No doubt. One thing if we're talking about pet peeves is, is internal bezels. The twin crown internal bezels are just one of those things that, and as I mentioned earlier, I've sort of softened my stance and I'm sort of dividing things up into sort of dress divers and divers I would actually take underwater. A twin crown internal bezel diver, I love the aesthetic, I've had a few of them, they look great, they're fun to use, but they're absolutely miserable to use in a legitimate diving situation. I've had numerous bad experiences doing that. And no offense to any of the brands that make them because I think they look cool and there's a history to them, but it's sort of a solution to a problem that doesn't exist in terms of, uh, you know, bezels getting knocked or brushed and that they actually introduce an extra hole on the case. Um, so that's probably aside from a helium release valve on a watch, I would say an internal bezel is probably a, a kind of a non-starter sort of the big pet peeve for me.
James Stacy You and I are, I think are both. It's on record saying that helium release release or like helium escape valves are dumb. You know, obviously a couple of watches have them for, you know, legacy reasons like the Sea-Dweller and, uh, you know, Doxa. And if you're listening and you don't know what a helium escape valve does, hit the show notes. I'll leave the Wikipedia entry. And I think it makes it really clear that this is something that, that would appeal to maybe 1% of all the people who even go underwater. Right. And if the watch is in the water, this is where I'll tease you with it. If the watch is getting wet, it doesn't matter.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacy It has nothing to do with water resistance or going deeper or anything like that. So check out the Wikipedia page if you're a little fuzzy on a helium escape valve and we'll leave it at that. For me, the other one that bums me out is when the, you know, some of the, the cheaper, uh, Asian source bracelets have, uh, kind of a lackluster dive extension. So it's that little folding mechanism and on the Pelagos or, you know, some of the other watches at that price point, which is a very high price point, of course, but they're just beautifully made. They don't open by accident. They don't get in the way. You barely notice they're there. I mean, if, if the salesman didn't tell you, or if you weren't a watch nerd, you may not know that your Pelagos has a really nice fold out extension, but on some of these cheaper watches, you just want to take the watch off at the end of the day. And there's no way to remove the bracelet without popping open this little five, five millimeter extension. And, you know, I always just think, like, I need a way to remove this from the bracelet, but they always use some proprietary fitting into the buckle and it's a pain. Yeah. Just skip them and give me a really long rubber strap and you're set.
Jason Heaton Is that how you prefer to wear a dive watch? I mean, when you go diving, you sort of have three options, I think. You've got the metal bracelet, if it comes with one. You've got a rubber strap. And, of course, you have a NATO strap. How do you typically dive with a watch?
James Stacy I mean, about 90% of my diving's cold water, so I have a dry suit. And so you need a really long strap. So in some situations, like I have an isoframe, so if I'm reviewing a 22 millimeter watch, I have an isoframe with an extension. So I can put that on anything and it's a beautiful fit. That's a pretty much a perfect way to dive with a big watch. Yeah. A long enough NATO would be a great option. In the past, I've used two NATOs and that works okay, but it's not great. My preference is just a rubber strap, either long enough or with an extension.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah, I'm kind of in the same boat. I rarely dive with a NATO strap, simply because, I mean, the advantage, of course, of a NATO strap is it's a single piece of fabric, and if you pop a spring bar, you don't lose the watch. But aside from the fact that when you're done diving, you end up with this soggy piece of material around your wrist that tends to slide around, I find them a little bit thin and finicky, especially if you're wearing gloves, James, as you know, when you're diving in cold water, you've got these big, meaty, thick neoprene wet or dry gloves on your hands, and it's very hard to operate straps or bracelets or anything. And so if you're trying to, you know, you've put on both of your gloves and then you're strapping on your watch over one glove or over a sleeve, it can be really difficult to thread that strap through the buckle.
James Stacy It'd be impossible, yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah, so I usually either have somebody else help me with it, or if I'm trying to be totally self-sufficient, you know, I just opt for a good
James Stacy Alright, so now it's time for new business. So this is where we take a look at, you know, new watches we've got in, projects we're working on, new gear we're enjoying. Whatever's new, this is where we cover it. So I think kind of the big new watch news for the last little while is, you know, three new models announced by Bremont for Basel. So we now have an MB2 with a white dial that looks really killer. Black hands, black markers. I love a white dial and MB2 looks really good in that method. We have a new version of the ZT, which I spoke about in episode two, now called the ZT-51, which kind of takes some of the styling from the P-51, which is a limited edition kind of aviation model from Bremont quite a few years ago, I want to say 2011. And then we have a black dial Alt-1C slash PB. So if you remember the white dial with the polished case, kind of the dressiest of the Alt-1C, same idea, but now with a black dial, I think all three look excellent. I really like the borrowing the 51 styling for the ZT. It makes it like an entirely different looking watch. What do you think, Jason?
Jason Heaton Yeah, of the three, the MB2 is the one that that I just keep gushing over when I see pictures on Instagram, particularly from from our friend Mike Pearson, who's the North American rep for her brand manager for for Bremont. He keeps flashing photos of that around and it is a It's a beautiful watch. I've always liked the MB series anyway, but for some reason with the white dial, the contrast with the hands and just that form factor with the, here going back to twin crowns, it's just a cool watch.
James Stacy Yeah, I think that for me, the handset, it's because the hour hand on the black dial, it has a little triangle of loom at the point of the hour hand. and you lose the rest of the hand as it matches the black dial. But with the white dial version, that's all contrast. You get the impression of your normal kind of big aviator hour hand. And I think it just works really well to have that, that balance of black and white with that case design. And I think it's obviously it's proved itself to be a versatile style. They're not, you know, they have three editions of it and now multiple colors. And I think it's cool. And it'll be exciting to see all three at a Baselworld next month. Yeah. Looking forward to it. And I also got in and we won't spend a lot of time on this, but you can go back to episode two, where we talk more about the Seiko Turtle. I got one in for review with a blog to watch. I'm going to take it diving, do the whole video thing. It's going to be fun. And then I also have, um, I got a package of my, like my order for Toxic Natos came in and they're awesome. I've been wearing them all week. Super happy with them. The fabric I would say is more like a seatbelt. Like it's a, it's a very tight, but very, uh, flexible type of nylon. The holes are really nice, and the hardware is as good as anything I've seen on any NATO, the Omega ones included.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it's great, and I think, in particular, the combination of a Seiko Turtle on the Toxic NATO, which is what I have on my wrist right now, it works so good, yeah.
James Stacy And then finally, following in the NATO theme, I got in for a review of the Longines Heritage Military COSD, so it's like a World War II paratrooper's watch. I've only had it for a couple of days, so it's a little early to offer too much of an opinion but it wears beautifully. I really like the dial design, great contrast, and I'm really looking forward to kind of digging into the history of the watch and its design with World War II paratroopers for the review eventually.
Jason Heaton The only sort of new acquisition I've gotten in the past couple of weeks is I attended one of our local Red Bar events, which is a meeting of local watch enthusiasts that sort of spawned from the original Red Bar group that was meeting in New York. And I was at an event last week here at a bar, and one of the guys was selling a vintage Bulova Accutron Astronaut, which I was just immediately smitten with and had to have, because I'm on this sort of kick lately with the space program. I've always been a bit of a space geek, and I also recently acquired an old Caliber 321 Speedmaster. So this seems like the perfect sort of complement to that watch. And it didn't cost much, and it's got a great history. It was recently serviced. And I've been putting up a few photos of that on Instagram, and I'll certainly throw one up on the Graynado's Instagram feed as well. So that's been a fun watch to play with. And then, you know, in terms of modern watches, I'm still working on, I've still got the Zodiac Super Seawolf 68 in for review, which, you know, since we're talking about dive watches earlier today, it's really a great dive watch. It's very similar to the Squala, the 101 Atmos case. It's that same style case without lugs. It sort of has a top-locking bezel ring that holds the bezel on, but in this case with the Super Seawolf, the bezel itself is actually spring-loaded, so you actually have to push down on it to turn, and it turns... Well, this one only turns counterclockwise, but the action is just superb. It really feels good to push and turn, and they did a really nice job with that watch, so I'm working up a review, and that should publish sometime in early March on Gear Patrol. And then recently I also wrote an article for Hodinkee on a marine chronometer that was built by a British firm called Thomas Mercer and that firm actually built marine chronometers since the 1800s and they built one that accompanied Ernest Shackleton on his famous ill-fated expedition to Antarctica and so this is the 100th anniversary of Shackleton's expedition and there was a group of Royal Navy guys from the UK that were retracing his expedition and Thomas Mercer built a one-off marine chronometer that they They actually sailed with on the open back deck of their sailboat across the Southern Ocean. So I just thought that was a really cool, cool story. Yeah. Very cool. You know, we're, like you said earlier, we're looking ahead to Basel world. Uh, our next episode will be sort of our last episode before Basel and we'll be previewing Basel as best we can kind of thinking about, or talking about things that we're hoping to see and maybe making a few predictions, but you know, things are ramping up. I've got, I've got a full calendar already set up for, for that week.
James Stacy So many meetings, no doubt. Okay, so we have a new segment this week. TheGreyNado at gmail.com has been blowing up with your questions. So Nate C wrote us with a long message that we're going to boil down to just a couple of questions. One, how did we approach our move into more and more expensive watches? So Nate's considering a few different watches that would push his buying threshold above $1,000 and then with something like a Datejust into the several thousand dollar range. And, you know, just trying to navigate his move from his comfort zone into kind of the next phase of ownership as far as cost. Jason, what kind of advice would you have for a Nate as he makes that move between what looks like a Sin or a Datejust?
Jason Heaton Well, thanks Nate for the question. You know, like you, back when I first started getting into watches, I sort of had this flurry of buying and selling and trading and wasn't quite sure what the next watch would be. And I sort of moved from Seiko to Omega, got into a few other brands, Bell & Ross and Longines, up to Rolex. But lately I've found myself almost moving more down market and appreciating more affordable vintage watches, smaller brands, or not smaller brands, but more affordable brands like Aorus and Seiko. I really like your idea of the Sin. I think Sin is one of those brands that I like to use the word unimpeachable. I sort of feel like they're a brand that watch geeks really like, and people that don't know anything about watches, they still take an interest, they still like them, and you can use them for stuff, which is something that James and I both espouse, which is just taking watches and just having fun with them. doing cool stuff, having adventures. So, you know, I don't want to lean too heavy on the Sin. I think the Rolex Datejust is an equally versatile watch, but it does come with the baggage that you get with a Rolex. On the other hand, you know, it will accrue in value potentially. I don't want to certainly use watches as an investment strategy or advise that, but they do tend to hold their value, if not increase in value. And that's something to consider. I would say, you know, given you mentioned you're in your early 20s and you're kind of moving into that next realm of watches, I feel like the Sin is the best choice. What do you think, James?
James Stacy Yeah, Nate, from what you wrote, and I'm filling a few blanks here, but it seems like you're more interested in the Zin and that the Datejust, which is an amazing watch, might not get as much wrist time. Since I've been into watches, you know, we'll say pushing about 10 years, Zin has largely become a go-to brand for the enthusiast class sport watch. uh, that doesn't hit that Omega or Rolex price point. I think the 104 that you're looking at is a gorgeous watch with a huge amount of mass appeal. It's definitely not going to let you down if, if, if you look at it and that's like, it fits your style and that kind of thing. So I would say it sounds like you're more interested in the Zen. I would go with the Zen. There's never going to be a shortage of Datejust. And I actually don't think the Zen is going to move much in its value, providing you treat it okay. So I would just follow your nose with that one and pick the one you want the most. And if it's the Zen because it'll get more wrist time, I think that's a perfect way to make a decision from one watch to another. The one that you'll wear more is probably a better choice, but I would say go with the Zen. And again, thanks so much for writing. Happy hunting. Please send us an email or a tag us on Instagram with whatever you choose. We're really excited for you. And moving on to question two, Jonas from London writes in to ask, what's your ultimate holiday watch, vintage or modern, a watch to take to the beach, skiing, or to a mildly dressy party in the evening? He's also looking for low, medium, and money is no object selections. Jason, you do a lot of traveling. What's your go-to vacation travel watch?
Jason Heaton Well, yeah, I think about this a lot. And if I'm not taking a watch along that I've gotten in for review, You know, lately, again, I don't want to keep ringing the Seiko bell here, but Seiko kind of, again, tops my list in terms of vacation watches. And I think Seiko kind of hits in the low and medium categories for me. I spent three weeks in Sri Lanka over the Christmas and New Year's holidays and did a little of everything. We went scuba diving, we did some hiking in the mountains, in addition to a few sort of social evenings and events like New Year's Eve on the beach. It was sort of a nice party. I just brought one watch for the entire trip, which I was a little apprehensive about as a self-admitted watch nerd. But I brought my Seiko Marine Master 300 meter, which I wore on a rubber strap, and I just found that I didn't tire of it. It was a really good watch for everything we did. It has enough polish to it, the applied markers, sort of a glossy bezel, that it looks nice. It doesn't look like you're just wearing something you know, some cheap plastic watch or something. It's, it's a nice piece. Um, but of course it's eminently capable, so you can pretty much do anything in it. So I'd kind of put that, you know, maybe an SKX Seiko in terms of the low, uh, category for a travel watch and they make great travel watches. Uh, the Marine Master or something maybe, um, like James's, uh, Seamaster in that sort of middle category. And then on the high end, uh, you know, Rolexes make quite good travel watches. They're, They have that same level, if not better durability, if that's possible, than a Seiko. They're just built tough. They're built for anything you can throw at them, even something like a Datejust or an Oyster Perpetual. But for a travel watch, they do come with baggage, as we mentioned earlier, and you can make yourself, to a certain degree, a target for theft, whether it's in your hotel room or right off your wrist on a street somewhere. I do tend to leave my Rolex at home if I'm traveling anywhere that might seem a little sketchy. I just wanted to throw out sort of a little travel tip. It's something that I do whenever I'm on the road wearing a watch. I usually take a second watch. I've got an old beat up Seiko 7002 Diver that I got at a thrift shop for $35 and it's pretty beat up. But I keep it on a NATO strap and I put it in my shaving kit or my Dopp kit. And I hardly ever wear it. If for some reason my primary watch breaks or heaven forbid I lose it, I don't want to be without a watch for the rest of the trip. So I tend to kind of just keep that as my backup. And then I also keep a backup NATO strap in my case as well with a small little, you can get these little portable spring bar tools that don't freak out the TSA, the security guys at the airport. So just in case I need to make an on-the-fly change, I'm ready for that. What do you think, James, what are your picks for travel watches?
James Stacy Oh, yeah, I think that's a great tip to kind of be prepared for a strap failure or to have a backup watch. Both of those are awesome. You know, Jonas, I would say I commend you for possibly considering traveling with just one watch. This is something that people consider is like, what would I wear? I maybe don't want to take my best piece into a situation where I'm going to get a crudded full of sand or possibly beaten up on a hike or whatever you do, you know, touring around possibly a rough or sketchy city. These are all parts of exploring and I think you have to plan that accordingly. To be really quick, I'm going to mirror what Jason said for the entry level. Don't overthink it. An SKX like a 007 or an 09 or something like the new SRP will keep you well under $500 and it's never going to let you down. Bring a spare NATO strap and you're set. If you want to spend a little bit more money, I think Zin offers Some really cool, tough GMTs, which would of course give you the ability to either track time at home or maybe at your next destination if you're doing like a multi-hop. So the U2, the 856 UTC. And then if you move up from there, now you're pushing up into Bremont. You have that really cool Oracle II, which is a titanium GMT dive watch. There's nothing that you're going to do to that that's going to make it stop. It's going to work anywhere. It'll certainly work at your party in the evening. It might be a little big, but I don't think anyone will notice. And then, of course, you're up in again with Rolexes. I have an Explorer 2, which would be a perfect watch for a vacation or for traveling. Certainly, that's largely what they were designed for. And then lastly, I would suggest if you really want to buy something in that price point, take a look at some of the stuff from Seiko. Beautifully made, like the Grand Seikos. Beautifully made. They make a high beat GMT, which is the SBGJ003. And they make a really cool spring drive GMT, which is the SBGE001. Sorry to go to reference number on some of you there, but it's hard to keep them all together. And then if you're really going money, no object, then you're well into my personal preference would be something like a Patek Philippe 5990, the GMT chronograph from, I think two years ago at Basel. Mega cool watch. Maybe, maybe also hire an armed guard if you're going to go somewhere sketchy, but a very cool watch and certainly one that, that, I mean, they're just beautifully made. They would definitely keep up with a vacation. So Jonas, thanks very much for your question. If any of you have a question that you'd like addressed on the show, I'm replying to as many emails as possible, as quickly as possible. Please send us an email, thegraynadoatgmail.com or tag thegraynado on Twitter or Instagram. And obviously the at graynado Instagram account posts every time there's a new episode. So you could always drop a question in there and we'll do our very best to get to all of them. Drop us a line and we'll see where it lands.
Jason Heaton Okay, now it's time for our final notes section, where we give you a few recommendations, typically something free or almost free, whether it's a video link, books for reading, movies to watch, that sort of thing. James, what have you got?
James Stacy Alright, so hopefully everyone had a chance to at least read the synopsis for Shadow Divers and the Right Stuff. I'm about 20-25% into the Right Stuff and loving every page. It's so, so good. And then I've actually received a bunch of notes from people on Instagram saying they really like Shadow Divers, so I'm probably going to go back and read that again. because it's been about a year or two. I'll follow last week's path and just recommend another book to start. So this is No Shortcuts to the Top by Ed Veesters. If you don't know Ed Veesters, he's the only American to have climbed all 14 8,000 meter peaks, and he's the fifth person in history to do every peak at least once without supplemental oxygen. So certainly of living Alpinists, but certainly within the realm of Alpinists from all time, Ed Veesters has a spot in the upper echelons, the guy's hardcore, very philosophical about his climbing, very rule based about when you call it quits, quite famously got to the top of one of his or nearly the top within 100 or 200 yards of the peak of one of his hardest climbs ever and turned back, knowing that those last 200 meters probably would have killed anyone, let alone him. I highly recommend the book. It's written semi autobiographical, but it's a chronicling of his stories in the the amazing, you know, things that he was part of and the amazing people that he got a chance to climb with during his career. Very humble guy and a fascinating book. So be sure to check that out. And finally, I'll go in another direction. I have a deep, deep love for cars and one of my favorite YouTube channels, Petrolicious. If you don't watch their stuff, go on to your YouTube and subscribe immediately and then go up into the search bar and dig up. You'll hear the growler from a mile away. It's an awesome video about a guy who owns a Hot Rod Canyon style 964 Porsche 911. The guy drives the car so hard in the video. It's so loud. It's such a cool video. Beautifully shot. And Petrolissus just kind of chronicles owners and their cars with these videos. There's a new one every week. They're awesome. Jason, I know you're a fan. Check out their channel. Check out EdVesters. All good stuff.
Jason Heaton I love Tuesdays because that's when Petrolicious releases their new videos. And, of course, the Grey Nado comes out every two Tuesdays. So, Tuesday's a good day of the week. On my end, I've got a couple of book recommendations. One is a book I'm about halfway through that I'm enjoying. It's by a guy named Bill Strever. S-T-R-E-V-E-R. And he's written a book called Cold, which is about... It's about exactly what the title says. It's about what the cold does to the body and to living creatures, plants and animals, everything from humans to little caterpillars that live in the Arctic tundra. And he kind of takes each chapter and goes to a different cold place at a different time of the year. And I guess being someone from one of the colder parts of the U.S. here in Minneapolis, it's something I can relate to. He's also written a book called Heat, which is about hot places. I have yet to read that book, but I'm sure it's equally good. Uh, and then, you know, we don't often talk about fiction books here, but, uh, one of my favorite authors is a guy named James Salter, S-A-L-T-E-R. And Salter, I think he just died last year. Um, but he was a pretty celebrated author. He, um, he wrote one of my favorite books, which was called Solo Faces. And it's kind of a nice short little introspective novel about sort of the rock climbing culture in the 1960s in Yosemite Valley, and then also in uh in the Alps over near Chamonix and I don't know it's just it's such a great book it's it really puts you in that in that place and so I recommend Solo Faces by James Salter. Sounds great. And then finally a lot of watch nerds already know about this forum but the Military Watch Resource is it's it's a great old-school web forum for watch enthusiasts and particularly guys that are into military watches whether they're military inspired watches or historical watches or actual issued pieces that were issued to navies and armies and air forces and marines around the world. And these guys, they dig so deep. They've got such a deep knowledge for the watches. It's very humbling to read their stuff and I learn a ton every time I go there. And then if you're into buying any of those watches, they do have what they call the PX, which is the sales forum part of the site. And you have to be a member to access that. That's at mwrforum.net, and we'll put that link up in the show notes.
James Stacy Okay, and there's our final notes. I hope that's enough to chew on until the next episode. Episode four will be out in a couple of weeks. Thanks so much for listening. Hit the show notes for more details. You can follow us on Instagram. Jason is at jasonheaton. I am at jestacy, and follow the show at TheGreyNado. If you have any questions for us, please write TheGreyNado at gmail.com or hashtag TheGreyNado on Instagram or Twitter. Also, please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts or grab the feed from soundcloud.com slash the greynado. Music three out, Siesta by Jazzer via the Free Music Archive.
Jason Heaton Until next time, we leave you with a thought from the naturalist Adolph Miri, who said, let the tourist be on his own and not be spoon fed at intervals. Let him be encouraged to keep his eyes open, do his own looking and exploring and catch what he can of the magic of wilderness.