The Grey Nato - Ep 31 - The Baselworld 2017 Megasode
Published on Tue, 04 Apr 2017 09:02:20 -0400
Synopsis
The podcast is a discussion about watches and the recent Baselworld watch fair. The hosts talk about their impressions of various new watch releases from brands like Tudor, Rolex, Tag Heuer, Breitling, Zinn, Nomos, Omega, Seiko, Doxa, Blancpain, Rado, and Oris. They discuss their favorite models, designs, prices, and overall thoughts on the offerings from the show.
Links
Transcript
| Speaker | |
|---|---|
| James | Hey man, how's it going? Oh, not too bad. How are you doing? Yeah, not too bad. Not feeling too much jet lag, surprisingly. How about you? |
| Jason Heaton | No, I don't know what I did differently this time, but I'm doing okay, too. |
| James | Well, we dodged the bullet, I think. Been back for a few days anyways. |
| Jason Heaton | I guess so, yeah. How are you feeling about watches? Are you still looking at your own, or are you kind of tired of them? |
| James | Oh man, if it wasn't for this aerospace, I think I'd be pretty tired of the whole concept in general. It was kind of like a 100% week, like we really went for it. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I know. Even for the most diehard kind of watch geek, I think Baselworld is a little bit overwhelming. I kind of came back and I know we were going to record the show a couple of days ago, but I've been pretty fried. So I'm glad we took a couple of days to kind of recover. |
| James | We're back from Basel and this is episode 31 of the Grey Nato, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, gear, and most certainly watches. Thanks for listening. For those of you who may just be jumping in, this is definitely going to be our Baselworld episode. So we'll kick it off with some, you know, light new business, but we're going to get into the watches pretty much as quickly as possible. So what do you have? I mean, the last time we recorded was just before Basel. Like, so you and I have done basically nothing else. Is that you got anything else going on? |
| Jason Heaton | No, I mean, I'm just a blank slate these days. I'm kind of ready to jump in and talk about watches. But you know, before we get to that, we got to talk about that aerospace you got. |
| James | Yeah, yeah. So I, you know, thanks, definitely to your ability as a high class enabler. I found myself just kind of, just kind of hunting, essentially just aerospace. I mean, I looked at some of the other models that have the two screen sort of design, the anti-digi design. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | But for the most part, I liked the idea of the aerospace and I kind of have like a running list on Evernote of watches that when I have a half hour or an hour or I can't sleep, I pull that list up and I kind of just drop each one into a watch recon. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, that's a good idea. |
| James | And I just kind of follow the pricing and the availability and sometimes you see the same watch come up multiple times and it just kind of gives you like an on the field impression of kind of the secondhand market for that watch. Sure. And so maybe about a month ago, I'd kind of thrown the aerospace on there and I started to learn more about the various models. And I knew I kind of wanted an early one, not only, you know, do they offer the best price because they're dirt cheap, but they're thinner, they're smaller cased at 40 millimeters. And, uh, and though they're pre super courts, I think that the aesthetic is also pre the last, maybe even two generations of Breitling. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I think it's the best looking, that first generation or that early generation. |
| James | I would agree, the later ones, the Advantage and such, and then even beyond from there, they have a Backlight and they have a Super Quartz, and they went to 43 millimeters. The new, the current one, it's called the Evo, I believe, is really great on wrist. I really like that watch, but it doesn't compare to the one that I got, in my opinion, of course. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, that thin font and the thin case and that bezel. |
| James | Baton hands. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, yeah. |
| Unknown | It's so good. |
| James | So I ended up finding on watch recon a guy in the states was was selling a An aerospace from I would say mid late 90s. He said 98 that seems to be roughly accurate certainly within a year or two And it's the e56062. So it's a 40 millimeter titanium Aerospace with a gray dial. I think they had the gray and blue and maybe even a white dial in the 56062. Yeah And this one came with a really fantastic bracelet and nothing else. So when I buy watches, I really try and stick to two versions of that watch, either technically the worst one available. So the one that has no papers, no boxes, I'm just going to buy it and wear it. And I don't have to worry about anything. And that's perfect for this watch. Yeah. Or if you're, if you're going to buy something that you're, you very much care about, try and buy the best example on the market, pay the premium to buy the best one on the market or near to. Right. So with this one, I went the opposite route. I don't care about boxes and papers. I didn't really care about anything other than having the watch. And in many ways, you and I chatted about this on Slack, like I was kind of in the market for another G-Shock, a multifunction travel watch that I could beat up and not care about and not care when you take the watch off at TSA and throw it in the bin. Yeah. I love to travel with my Explorer. I loved traveling with my Zen. Those are great watches. But I wanted something even more rough and tumble than that. And it turns out for, you know, not significantly more than the cost of a Rangeman, definitely more, multiples more, but not significantly more in terms of the dollar difference. Yeah. I was able to pick up this Aerospace and I'm absolutely in love with it. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I got to wear it for, you know, a little while. |
| James | Yeah, because you ferried it to, it was faster. It was literally faster to send it to you and then bring it to Basel than to send it to Canada. I wouldn't have had it in time for the show. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And I picked it up from, from the FedEx Depot here and slapped it on my wrist. The bracelet was actually perfectly sized for me. And I, I almost didn't want to give it to you. I mean, that, that thing is, it's perfect. I love that generation of Breitling, you know, my, my emergency, which I've now sold actually was kind of that same generation. It was like a 99. And I love that thin font, the size is good, the emergency was a little bigger, but that, uh, I don't know that the functionality of them is, it's fairly timeless. I mean, it's an easy watch to use the functions and, uh, I don't know. I think, you know, you and I talked about this a little bit, but it kind of represents the, uh, the new generation of pilots watch the new, the kind of the second coming, I guess, of Breitling, you know, they, they sort of, They had their early days. Their big heyday, of course, was back in the 40s and 50s with chronographs and pilot's watches, the Navitimer. And then, you know, they faded out as a lot of brands did in the 70s and the 80s. And when they came back, this is where they came back. This was their calling card, the analog digital pilot's watch. And to this day, they've kind of built on the watch you're wearing, that aerospace. And it's just such a great sort of milestone in their history, and I think just kind of a modern icon. |
| James | Yeah, I think there, I definitely think you could attach a postmodern because they're not a Flieger, but they are specifically kind of a military derived modern pilot's watch. Yeah. So if you consider the world after quartz, this is kind of the new Flieger. This is the, the F14 era, you know, they could still make movies about war that were positive and that sort of thing. And, and I mean, the styling aside, It's unbelievably wearable. It's about nine millimeters thick. The bezel, which I'm sure was ratchet tight new is now wobbly and really silly. And the rider tab gets in the way of using the tiny crown. So you just kind of always have it five or 10 minutes off of center. Yeah. But it's still a countdown bezel. So you have another feature set. So the features are great on the bracelet. I have, I just pulled out, you might've heard in the background there, I just pulled out my scale. I have not weighed this. So I took two links out of it for my wrist, my wrist being about a half inch shorter than yours. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | So on the bracelet is 70 grams. Wow. And I also have just the head of my, yeah, my Explorer II here. Yeah. Which is 72 grams. So this is on a bracelet, two grams lighter than just the head and two spring bars on my steel Explorer II. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Which isn't a heavy watch to begin with. So it's, um, yeah. |
| James | Yeah, the, uh, the bracelet has a spring, uh, extension in it. So as you twist your wrist or reach and grab for things, you can actually hear the springs kind of creak under the tension. And I would say if you yank it all the way out, it's probably about a 12 millimeter extension, a little over a centimeter. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | The link construction is very rickety, but so comfortable. It uses these wide pins that just kind of go in a, in a two concentric, kind of, if you imagine the shape, the rough profile of like an old time telephone receiver. Yeah. You know, a curve and then two circles. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | It just kind of a big, thick bar. It's not a spring bar and it's just held only by tension. Slides in and holds. So you can size it with a small screwdriver. Sure. And it's unbelievably comfortable. I wore it all week at Basel on a NATO, both the Bonetto Centurini, the rubber NATO and a Toxic. And I slept with it on. Yeah. One less thing to try and find a table for in my apartment at Basel. I became progressively obsessed with it. So you get a handful of features. It has a really fantastic second time zone feature, which is, it's very simple, but it's so quick to set it that it couldn't make any difference. And that it's very easy to zero things if you're worried about minute accuracy. Oh yeah. And then the chronograph is great, although it only counts up to an hour. I learned that, you know, while thinking I would time a flight as I always liked to do with my Rangeman, which had a thousand hour chronograph. Uh, you could just time a flight, but then the timer will go well over an hour. I think it goes to 24 hours. Uh, so when the, the pilot at the start says, oh, you know, our flight times five hours and 50 minutes or whatever, you just quickly set your timer there. Yeah. And as soon as you click the crown and it starts, there's no other controls. Um, everything's done through this little tiny crown and you have day and date and, you know, running seconds if you want it, cause it doesn't have a seconds hand, which I really like. Yeah. And then you have the ability to just have the screens off, which I assume conserves battery. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And, uh, yeah, all told, I bought, like I said, roughly the worst one on the market, but certainly the cheapest one on the market. And it's awesome. And I paid a 750 US buck shipped. Yeah. It seems like an absolute deal. I mean, if you buy a range, I did buy a Rangeman, uh, Atlas, I paid about two 50. So three X over arrangement, this is 40 millimeters, not like 55. obviously doesn't have altimeter, barometer, compass, and those sorts of features, but it does have the chronograph, which is great to have in the second time zone, the stuff I like to use when I'm traveling. Yeah. And it's very gentlemanly, I think. And I got some pretty, I would say surprisingly positive reactions at Basel from it. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And it's funny speaking of Basel. I mean, I intentionally brought my, I have an even older Breitling analog digital watch now. It's the new Pluton from I don't know the exact date. It was kind of a mid-80s to mid-90s. There was some overlap with the aerospace, but it was kind of their precursor to the aerospace when they were still getting the movements from Miyota and the kind of shared case and style with the Chronosport UDT of the same era. Super cool. And, you know, we both wore ours, and if anyone kind of checked my Instagram last week during Basel, I posted a photo of yours and mine on kind of our crossed wrists and I don't know what's happening to us, but you know, it's fun. I don't know if it's sort of Basel hangover, but the fact that we've just geeked out on analog digital quartz watches for, you know, the better part of 10 minutes. I'm not sure what that means, but. |
| James | Yeah. We'll have to jump ahead and actually talk about some new mechanical watches, but if you're in the market for like a really amazing travel watch or the watch you can set all your other watches by, these are a little anti-watch nerd. in the current, what's currently popular, vintage, mechanical, that sort of thing. And I think modern Breitling today is kind of divisive. It has its fans. They make a great movement. They're a fantastic manufacturer, but their styles have become very large, very shiny, sometimes associated with not so much watch nerds, but wealth, we'll call them wealth enthusiasts. You know what I mean? And I don't think that's necessarily fair. If you look at their lineup as a whole, there's some really great stuff in there. I'm a big fan of the Steelfish. And the new SuperOcean 2 is really nice. And obviously they offer a smaller size. But I think that's just kind of the general baggage that comes along with Breitling. And this kind of sits in there like, hey, what about me? Yeah. Along with things like the Emergency and the Pluton. And, you know, there's a handful of these kind of fairly nerdy watches. And of course, they've expressed that even further with the new kind of Bluetooth connected ones. Yeah, right. The B55 and such, and they're expanding that. I believe they have a version of the Aerospace that has all that functionality now. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And so, I mean, dig these up. If you see them, it's on my Instagram page. Jason's got some on his, and they're really fun. I had a blast wearing it at Basel, and it's all I've been wearing since I got back. It's just, it's comfortable and easy to wear, and super legible, and a great sports watch. Yeah. Oh, one other thing from, uh, from Basel. I finally got a chance to take the Machant Flieger, which is their largest kind of premium flashlight. Yeah. I figured whenever I go on these trips, especially when I'm staying at like an Airbnb or something, I'm often doing things in the semi-dark, walking into dark hallways or into, uh, you know, unlit, you know, sometimes unlit elevators or stairways or things like that. So I figured, well, it's a good time to bring a flashlight. Right. And I wanted to give the Flieger a good kind of shakedown. And then of course at 700 lumens, you can very easily use it to charge loom. So that's great for photos. And some of the video stuff that I did, we, uh, we charged up the loom with it. So I carried that for, uh, for the whole week and it's nothing short of fantastic. I use it on some back alleys in, in Basel and to charge a bunch of watches. And it was really handy just around my apartment where there wasn't always light, or I was doing a lot of things that, you know, the middle of the night. Right. And I didn't have to bother, you know, I was staying with David from a blog to watch. I didn't have to bother him with a bunch of lights on. I could walk around. It's not too heavy. It's built like an absolute tank. Like it's really impressively built. I mean, all of the stuff from Ashant is really, really nicely made. But I would say he's definitely found some other level beyond. And it's probably because, you know, I have an aluminum Aeon from him. And which is kind of a lighter feeling metal, whereas titanium still has this a bit of heft to it. It's not like steel. Right. But it's this absolutely gorgeous light. It's big too. I would say too big for a pocket. So because I had a, you know, a bag with me for almost all of Basel, it was very easy to carry. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And I still haven't gotten to the end of the battery on it. So despite it's up maximum 720 lumens, it's very efficient and you can use the lower power so easily. If you just want to look inside a bag or read something without destroying everybody's vision in the room, you can do that too. It's a stonewashed high-grade titanium in a monocoque case. It's literally all built from a single side. It's a very clever design. Everything's made to the absolute highest quality that you could imagine. They claim up to a maximum of 400 hours of runtime because of the way the the circuitry is matched with the emitter. So I mean, there's, there's a lot of flashlights now go to much higher lumens than 720, which is crazy, but they do. But they just, you know, you destroy the battery in the Michant. It's not, you know, you'd have to recharge the battery and do that sort of thing. But it uses for nerds out there, 6ALV4 titanium and double coated AR sapphire crystal for the front. They use special trapezoidal threads, so you can't You know, when removing the battery and such, the threads feel really good. Like all the little details are really hit really nicely. And then it has a five intensity engine that's controlled by a switch on the back. So it's kind of tactical style where you're holding the light kind of upright when you're changing the power and it's water resistant. Yeah. And it uses this warm white high output. It's called a Cree XPL LED, and it is a warmer color than you might expect. And I absolutely love it. It's a little bit kinder on your eyes. Kind of the difference between a bright headlight and like an HID headlight has more of a bluish tinge. Yeah. And yeah, I carry this around for the whole week and absolutely loved it. I mean, given what they what this charges, you're talking about it like an ultra premium kind of super niche nerd flashlight. So these are about well not about these are $595 USD. So I think everybody who would probably really want them a shot is already kind of on the side of that idea. Right. But if you're really into, you know, kind of high end, low production knives, or certainly I think watches for some guys. And then like we said the last time with Michant, if you're in these sorts of things, I think, check the Flieger Mark I. I think it's absolutely awesome. Honestly, I'm not sure I would spend $600 of my own money on a flashlight. This is a loaner from Michant. But I think I'm only just sort of just now breaking into kind of flashlight nerdery. So that this might be kind of more of an advanced class, if you will. So, I mean, if you're into this kind of thing, uh, they have an unbelievably loyal following on, uh, Instagram and online, and you can see why when you see the products, they're absolutely killer. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. He, he sent me one as well. I got it a couple of weeks ago and I haven't, uh, haven't taken it. Not quite the field test that you did in Basel. I brought it up north for a kind of a cabin weekend just before Basel. And then Enrique, the guy who owns Mouchant, he sent it to me with the express purpose. He said, can you take a diving? Because he kind of wanted to see not so much the water resistance of it, which he's fairly confident of because of the gasketing that he uses, but he kind of wanted to see how the light temperature affects, you know, the way things look underwater. So it'll be interesting to kind of take it. I've got a dive trip coming up in a couple of weeks here that I'll take it on. My only concern is it doesn't have an attachment point for a lanyard. So it'll be a little bit nerve wracking to take a, you know, $600 flashlight kind of in a free hand. over you know hundreds of feet of water but I'll do my best not to drop it because it is it is it's got some heft to it but his only concern with with taking it diving was that since it's not designed specifically for diving isn't so much the water resistance issue it's the fact that at some depth water pressure will probably turn off or or change the the intensity of the light simply because of that push button on the back if the water pressure gets high enough it could actually force in the button and kind of turn the light off which Crazy. He's fully prepared to, you know, have that happen. He's just more curious about the, the quality of the light underwater. |
| James | It's got a pretty serious click, but it does, it is that kind of like soft half click to change through intensities. Yeah. So it'd be, it'd be pretty interesting to see if pressure could do that. I mean, that'd be, that'd be fantastic just to find out. But other than, other than that one caveat, because obviously this was not designed to be used as a dive, a dive light. just really impressively made really and I love um taking it out of the bag and handing it to somebody yeah because like any any all week people have been held you know oh here's a 20,000 here's a 50,000 watch here's a 300,000 watch so they're your brain's kind of tuned for like being sensitive to these things as they hit your fingertips yeah and people are always blown away by this and then when you turn it on and crank it up to 720 lumens, you get everybody in the room, especially when you're shining it at a watch, which, you know, it usually has like a reflective crystal and otherwise, and you're splashing a lot of light around. But yeah, lots of fun. I'm excited to see how it does on your dive. And yeah, so it's meshant.net if you want to check that out. And they also have a really good Meshant ENT on Instagram. Lots of fun stuff there. Yeah, cool. And finally, one small announcement from a brand that we really like. It was just in the last day or two, Raven Watches, so that's on Instagram, at raven underscore watches, announced a new GMT based on their Defender model. And I love a GMT and I thought the Defender was a great looking watch when it was first announced last year, announced and sold last year. And they're making two versions. They're still 42 millimeter cases, but they're doing One with an ETA 28-24 and a 12-hour bezel. So like your simple GMT, no actual complication. And then they're doing another version with a 28-93 ETA that has an actual 24-hour hand. So you'd have kind of two options there. I'm not sure the pricing. I didn't look into it that far, but it's 42 millimeters in a steel case. I think they look great. So hopefully that's the kind of thing I could get in for a review or a shakedown at some point as I've had Raven watches in the past, like the Trekker 40 recently and loved it. And man, I'm being a sucker for a GMT. I think these look really good. So swing by Raven watches website or Instagram, not a paid endorsement. I haven't seen the watch or anything. It's just drawings on their Instagram, but I'm a fan of the style and I think they look cool. |
| Jason Heaton | Nice. Well, speaking of small brands, we have some interesting news here this week. If you might recall out there, we, a few episodes ago, actually quite a few episodes ago, I talked about the Unimatic Modelo Uno, the dive watch from that really small Italian sort of micro brand, reviewed it on Hodinkee. It was only a run of 200 watches and they sold out very quickly. They made a second watch called the Modelo Due, which means, you know, model number two, basically in Italian. That is also sold out. So basically Unimatic If you go on their website, they have zero watches for sale right at this point. But the Greynado does have a brand new in-box unworn Modelo Due, which we are prepared to give away to a lucky listener. So nice. Yeah. I'm really excited about this. It's a really cool watch. You know, I've had a chance to play with the Uno and take a diving and super high quality. It always gets more comments on Instagram when I post it than almost any other watch I post at any price level. And the Due is, Equally high quality, it's got a really high domed crystal, that very sleek angular case that Unimatic has kind of become known for. The one that we're going to give away has sort of a drab olive colored dial with some interesting sort of mix of hashes and Arabic numerals. I think it's just kind of a really neat, really super simple field watch at a really good size and it comes with kind of a cool little leather strap. So we're going to give that watch away to a listener. James, why don't you kind of go over the kind of how we're going to go about doing that? |
| James | Yeah, for sure. So if you would like to win this Unimatic, there'll be no cost to you unless your country has duties that, you know, are unavoidable as far as the shipment. It'll ship from the US. But basically what we're doing, we're going to cover the shipping and certainly So what we'll need you to do, if you want to win the watch, is comment on the main post for EP 31, this episode you're listening to now, on instagram.com slash thegraynado, at thegraynado on Instagram. It's the post that has the orange banner at the top and kind of a text explanation of what we talk about on the show. In that post, and that post only, if you post somewhere else, like on my account or on Jason's account, we're not going to correct you. We're just going to ignore it. We did a bunch of these with the Seiko Patty giveaway a while back. So listen up. That's why I'm being kind of very precise. You need to post on the main post for episode 31 on the main GreyNado account. We want you to tag two friends who you think would like GreyNado and use the hashtag UnimaticTGN. The giveaway closes after two weeks, which is when you'll see EP32 will show up on the Instagram feed, then you know the giveaway for EP31 is over. So as long as you see EP31 at the top of the Instagram feed for The Graynado, feel free to enter. And again, it's just tagging two friends who you think would like the show and using the hashtag UnimaticTGN. If you're listening to this now, you will definitely be able to go to at The Graynado on Instagram and find the post for episode 31. And if you want to see a picture of what the watch looks like, there'll be one on Jason's account, but don't comment on that one. Cool. Good luck to everybody. I don't want to sound pushy, but I just, I want as many people as possible to get in the right way. Cause I think this is something that we can actually do pretty frequently giveaways, but we have to be able to show a brand. I mean, Unimatic didn't give us the watch specifically for a giveaway. They were just very kind and generous in allowing the watch to be used for a giveaway, but we'd like to go to brands that we love and try and get listeners giveaway watches. So we just need as many kind of comments on those posts because that's how this economy sort of works. And I don't really have any problem playing that game. If it means you guys get a free watch occasionally, I think that's rad. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, definitely. And this is a cool watch. So yeah, definitely. Good luck to everybody. And we'll see who wins it. |
| James | Yeah. If you're listening to this, the day it came out, you have two weeks. But you might as well do it now. You're probably just on your phone and like sitting on a couch or if you're driving, if you're driving, don't do it now. Yeah, right. So what are we feeling? Main topic, Baselworld? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, let's move into the big one here. |
| James | So we've talked about a couple of watches, so I don't mind starting with impressions of the show. What did you think of the show this year? Just, you know, just us. |
| Jason Heaton | You know, I had I had a blast this year. For one thing, the weather was a lot better this year than I think the past four or three or four shows that I've been to. Yeah. You know, really beautiful Basel weather this year. It was sunny and cool. I think we might've had a little precipitation, but it was great. You know, personally, I went kind of, uh, sort of solo or freelance this year for the first time. And it allowed me to kind of see some brands that I haven't checked out in the past. I just sort of filled my calendar with the, you know, the folks that I wanted to see, including ones that I hadn't even checked out in the past, like the Meistersinger and Moula Glasouta and Squala and of course the usual suspects like Doxa and Oris and Tudor. Plus, you know, you and I got to hang out again. I mean, this is becoming a regular thing. We saw each other in London. We saw each other in Geneva back at SIHH. And even though, you know, I think there were some kind of gloomy sort of impressions from some other folks about Basel because it wasn't as well attended this year. I think the industry is down, of course, as people know. But I thought it was a really good year for watches. I thought it was a great year for the kind of watches that you and I like, you know, a lot of great dive and sport watches. |
| James | Yeah. I think it was an amazing year for dive and sport watches. And I think if you wanted, I think if people were coming to the show wanting it to be, yeah, be attended or, or to have the same level of super high price, you know, giant parties and amazing swag and that kind of thing. I think the, I think the industry's, you know, to use a vastly overused phrase, just tightening their belts. Yeah. And in that comes a return to the perennial sellers. Right. The watches that I think are, that we love, that the TGN listeners and you and I love are watches that are, don't, you know, that do take their role as a watch seriously and take their price point seriously. And I think that's what we're seeing is more stuff for the wider market. Um, because I think all these brands know that, uh, the money in China isn't going to be the same as it's been for the last few years. And I think they've already learned that it's not the same in the last few years. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And I think it's, it's, it's caused them to slow down and kind of start. I think we're just starting to see this now, but start to take stock in what really makes that brand, that brand. Definitely. It's, it's hard to say where to start. I, I've made a list on, uh, on, on our Google doc just based on the stuff I put on Instagram. which is how I was kind of keeping track of my favorites. Right. We got the chance to go to the Tudor party together, which is an absolute treat. It was great to see you so much, uh, through that week. And, uh, and, and it was an absolute respite from the workload the few times that we got to hang out and, uh, and kind of kick back, whether at a party or, you know, having a bowl of cereal at your place, which, you know, is just as good either way. And, uh, and yeah, so I I'd say let's start with Tudor. Yeah, I think it's a good place to start. |
| Jason Heaton | And it's a brand that, you know, fits what we're kind of all about on the show. And I think, you know, to your point earlier, this kind of return to not only sensible pricing, but kind of, I don't want to say safe, but sensible styling and watches that appeal to kind of a broad market. I think Tudor kind of hits that sweet spot. |
| James | Yeah, I entirely agree. |
| Jason Heaton | The big kind of release that everybody was talking about, at least the first night when we were there at their kind of quote unquote VIP event, I'm not sure that we qualify for that, but was the Black Bay Chronograph, which kind of came as a surprise to a lot of people for a number of reasons. Very mixed impressions. Mixed impressions. I still have mixed impressions. Wasn't certainly my favorite Tudor release of the year. No. I kind of, I've told you and I've told a few others that that watch, you know, I'm a kind of a sucker for a nice dive chronograph and that one almost hits the mark, but for some reason doing the snowflake hands with a two register chronograph and then that engraved steel tachymeter bezel just it felt a bit too much of a mashup i would have preferred a dive bezel for instance or or maybe get rid of those sort of divey i heard it described as dots and dagger um you know dial markers yeah i mean for me uh i i don't think it's a bad watch i just think it's not as good as what they could have done it doesn't have the cohesion that we see in something like the heritage chrono |
| James | Yeah. Or the Black Bay, the three hand Black Bays. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And I think it's because they attempted to, it's less cohesive to kind of mix two platforms. And yeah, I would say either, you know, go with a dial design that's more race chronograph and keep the tachymeter or, you know, maybe skeletonize the hands because the Snowflake takes up a lot of the sub dial. So if you're actually using the chronograph and it's between like two and four or seven and nine. Yeah. Uh, or eight, sorry, eight and 10. Then you have, um, a big snowflake hand kind of over one of the sub dials, you know, it's, it's a two register chronograph. Right. And so I think if they had skeletonized the hands maybe, or, uh, or, or had gone with a dive bezel, maybe both, they would have had something that felt distinct within the black Bay lineup. And that's saying something, cause there's so many black Bay models now. Yeah. But, and also something that wasn't, too close to something like a Heritage Black Bay, because between the two, if I was spending my own money, I would happily spend it on something like a Heritage Chrono Blue, but if I was buying into the Black Bay family, I would do so through their other new watch, that Black Bay Steel. |
| Jason Heaton | Ooh, that was sharp. So good. Yeah, really good. And it kind of grew on me even further as I saw more photos during the week. Yeah, Black Bay, I mean, so we had the new Chrono, we had the Black Bay Steel, which with the engraved dive bezel, and then they had the Black Bay 41. which was the without the dive bezel at all, which I think still works. Um, it's kind of a followup to that 36 millimeter one from last year. |
| James | Yeah. I think they probably just had a lot of feedback that the 36 felt too small for a modern watch. I actually really liked the 36. If I was going to make a list of like my favorite tutors, it would be in my top three. I think it's great, but the 41 is, is they still, it still preserves a great, uh, proportionality and, and this strange focus of a dive watch without a bezel. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And, uh, and then, yeah, and then along with the BB Steel, they did the Black Bay Steel Gold, the SG. And, and, and, you know, these add a date display at three, which people are freaking out about, but it's inevitable. Yeah, right. Like you cannot make a mass market watch, and this is what Tudor needs to literally to, to survive as a company. You can't make a mass market watch without a date because you'll make it without a date and you'll appease, you know, a bunch of enthusiasts, which arguably they've done for the last few years with the previous Black Bays. Yeah. But without the date, your casual buyer, and I think a lot of watch nerds, will look at it and like, you want the date. Almost all of my watches have a date. And I love a watch without a date for the aesthetic reasons. But when I'm wearing one with a date, I use that number. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | You know, with the exception of the Silvana, where I don't want to set it because it's not quick set. Right. I use it. Otherwise, I use it pretty frequently. I mean, like, you have to know kind of the date to exist in this world these days. Yeah. or at least clearly in our world. So, I mean, the fact that they went steel with no, you know, it's a white metal surround on the hands and markers. So, it's very close to the dial from the Black Bay Blue, but with a steel bezel. I actually think it's, you know, while it's aesthetically maybe the most basic version of the Black Bays, the BB Steel, it's easily the one I would buy. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, and that little splash of red at the... at the arrow on the bezel and then on the dial. Just really nailed it. Yeah, I really liked that. That would probably be my favorite Tudor release of the year. I was actually surprised how much I actually liked the steel and gold version on a strap. |
| James | I would fully agree. I think both are great. I think you and I probably don't wear much gold, if ever. I don't. But I think what Tudor did, and it was very clever, is that the finish on the gold, all of the gold elements are satin. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | right so it's gold but it's not shiny because i think shiny is kind of antithetical to black bay to a certain extent yeah and i think they did a great job with it i don't like gold i like i wouldn't spend my own money on it but i would so quickly recommend it to somebody who was gold friendly we'll say and wanted a legit sport watch i mean it's obviously these black bays are fantastic dive watches yeah and uh and and i heard i got some comments on instagram oh it's just another they're doing another black bay it's a lot of black bays and like What do you want? Like, if they didn't make any watches, people would say, oh, they still don't make the Black Bay I want. So, I mean, there's somebody complains no matter what kind of happens. Yeah. I found a fair amount of negativity on Instagram throughout the show that I didn't feel being there. You know, in terms of like my personal perspective, I thought that the stuff from Tudor was either kind of a mixed thing from a personal standpoint, like the chrono, it's really good on wrist. If you had to use as a chrono, I think it would be difficult. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Um, but then I, you know, I was chatting with some people from Tag Heuer who know a lot about chronographs and apparently almost nobody uses them. Yeah, right. It's bought for an aesthetic. Yeah. And, uh, and, and so, I mean, I guess that's something to keep in mind. I like you, I like you like with the aerospace, I use the chrono roughly once a day since I've got it. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And whenever I review a chrono or when I had my Zen, I use that some frequency with, with some frequency, but yeah, it's that BB steel, um, on, on that kind of olive, woven strap. I mean, they don't call it a NATO. It's a much different material and it's, it's a much more complicated process to make that strap. Yeah. But that's a super wearable watch. It's going to take scratches really well. That's one of the things I love about a steel bezel. I have a steel bezel on my, uh, Hallios Tropic and I have a steel bezel on the Sylvana and I have a steel bezel on the Explorer. I just really love the look of a steel bezel and it works so well on the Black Bay. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I guess the other big news before we move on to another brand is the use of the Breitling B01 caliber chronograph in the BB chrono. Had a lot of people talking, there were a lot of rumors flying out, does this mean Tudor slash Rolex is going to buy Breitling? You know, from people I talk to, kind of informed people, it doesn't sound like that's anywhere close to the case. I think it's just another sign of the direction the industry is heading and kind of bringing back the types of interbrand collaboration that used to be much more common back in the 60s when you had, you know, Jaeger-LeCoultre making movements for AP and you had Venus movements and whatever else. Excelsior Park. Yeah. So I don't see it as any sort of a big, you know, revelation. Well, it was a big revelation, but I don't see it as any sort of sign of anything nefarious or strange going on behind the scenes. But I thought it was a really interesting development and both Tudor and Breitling were very up front and happy to talk about it because Breitling is also using Tudor movements for their new SuperOcean 2, the three-hand movement. |
| James | I think it's a great development. If anything, it means that costs are going to be kept down a little bit. Whether or not that is actually passed on to the consumer, that's up to the end person when they kind of make their personal decision about the watch because you can't just pick the price that a watch is sold for. But theoretically, if Tudor doesn't have to go ahead and develop a brand new chronograph movement, and Breitling didn't have to go ahead and develop a brand new three-hander movement, they were able to buy excess stock, that should keep costs down. That means they got a better deal than having to go do all the R&D and make it themselves. |
| Unknown | Right. |
| James | And if it means that you're seeing a BB chrono at the price point, and then theoretically, maybe they'll use the same caliber in a new generation of the Heritage chronograph, I think this is all, for the end buyer, a very positive thing. And yeah, it's definitely not a new business practice within the overall world of watchmaking. Not at all, really. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, yeah. Should we move on to another brand? |
| James | Yeah, yeah, sure. Anything else stand out for you? We can jump right to Rolex if you want. We did Tudor. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, maybe Rolex. I mean, I think the big news with Rolex was, you know, It actually kind of breaks my heart to talk about it because I think, you know, being the 50th anniversary of the Sea-Dweller this year, I think a lot of people had really high hopes and maybe very, maybe it was unfair, but a lot of us had really high expectations for what Rolex would do. And of course the Sea-Dweller that they came out with was, at least in my mind, somewhat disappointing. 43 millimeters and the Cyclops on the, on the date just kind of killed it for me, frankly. |
| James | Yeah, for me, I just, You and I have discussed this a lot offline. I have a fairly deep love for the Sea-Dweller. I adore its background, its history with the SeaLab and the fact that it's the sort of thing that was never designed or at least up until this year wasn't specifically designed as a mass market product because the sub already existed. Then I think with this model, there's a lot of things here that are very subjective. whether 43 millimeters you think is too big or too small for your wrist is up to you, and whether you like the red text is up to you, and the Cyclops is... I think a lot of these decisions don't necessarily make the new Sea-Dweller a bad watch, not at all. I think they kind of betray the history of the Sea-Dweller. And I think that's where it falls flat for me. And I think that's where a lot of people, it kind of was the half way to what they were hoping for. Because the SDK was such an honest next generation of that platform, which of course had already become a watch that anyone could go buy and was no longer tied to this undersea exploration. But it was still very faithful in its design and its place as a product in the market, which was they had the Deepsea if you wanted a bigger dive watch from Rolex. And they had the Sub as the mass market option. And then they had this kind of specialist enthusiast diver in the Sea-Dweller that kind of appealed to not only dive watch nerds but certainly watch nerds that are also into the history of diving and sub-aquatic exploration and those sorts of things. You see it a lot with who wears a Sea-Dweller and these sorts of things and I really love that watch and I just fully don't understand where the new one kind of sits in that thing. It seems like they went They already have a great 40 millimeter diver. Why would we have two that look essentially identical? And, you know, Rolex said that the decision to put the Cyclops on was because they could now, whereas when they started the Sea-Dweller, it was a plexi, so you couldn't mount a stress point on the plexi and then still expect it to go that deep. And of course you could, but it was always kind of like with the calling card of the Sea-Dweller. It's how you could tell one on somebody's wrist from 20 feet away. It's a sub, but there's no Cyclops, but you can see the date. Oh, it's a Sea-Dweller. Hey, that's cool. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I think it kind of brings up, it almost raises almost a philosophical question about, okay, so maybe let's set the size aside. I think 43 millimeters for me gets away from the sweet spot. I think the Sea-Dweller at 40 was near perfect, but the Cyclops, it's such a seemingly small issue and yet I think it's kind of the thing that is stuck in both of our craws when it comes to the design of the new watch. And I think it raises this philosophical issue because if you look at Rolex and you look at how they design watches and how watches have evolved for them, I've always gotten the sense that they're out to make the best watch possible for a certain category. And arguably you could say this Sea-Dweller is the best Sea-Dweller that's ever been made. If you look at the lineage of the Sea-Dweller, right? And a Cyclops, probably is better than no Cyclops because it magnifies the date. It doesn't compromise the integrity of the watch or the depth rating. So why not put a Cyclops on it? So I think you and I are coming at it from a, they've betrayed, like you said, they've betrayed the history of the Sea-Dweller and what it was meant to be. Now that kind of flies in the face of maybe a Rolex philosophy of, yeah, but it's a better watch now, you know? So I, I, I don't, I have a hard time arguing against it, but I also don't like it, you know? |
| James | Yeah. I think that, I think that you and I are coming at it from a sort of romantic enthusiast notion and they're in the business of making Rolexes. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And what they had was a watch that was too close to one of their other ones and didn't have what is a signature of their sport watch lineup, a Cyclops, and they had a chance at 50th anniversary. So they threw some red text on. I think that it probably will be considered, um, a grand slam from within that company, just maybe not within the enthusiast community, where they kind of hit both markets with the Daytona last year. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | I think that this will become a kind of hope. You know, I think what they want is a Sea-Dweller that will sell. Yeah. I don't think the SD4K sold a lot. You know, only went for a couple of years, and then they had the option with the Anniversary, which is, of course, Anniversaries is a big deal this year at Baselworld between Rolex and Omega and Eterna and Longines and, you know, everybody. And yeah, I think, again, yeah, I'm not saying it's a bad watch. I'm just saying it doesn't feel like a Sea-Dweller for me. And that's because I'm definitely coming at it from a genuine nerd's perspective on the watch. A huge fan of the 16660 and the previous generation. And yeah, I think that you have to, as a company that makes that many watches and is that big and is the most reputable luxury brand in the world, Recently and you have to obviously they know what they're doing I'm not a businessman let alone a guy that like I don't have any business in Selling or making watches. It's just just an enthusiast opinion. I think from both of us and I think a lot of people kind of felt that way that What is this really? |
| Jason Heaton | It kind of reminds me of you know right around the the 90s when they started putting the The white gold surrounds on the dial markers of the Submariner for instance Um, you know, you still get purists that, that dislike, uh, the metal surrounds on, on the dial. Um, I, I have both, I've got the one 40 60, which has it. And then I also have a 55 12 that has the regular old, you know, painted dial. Um, aesthetically, I think the painted is a little nicer, but you know, the rationale that I've heard is that the, the painted tritium, uh, dial plots would crack and bleed and flake off and kind of fall apart on the dial. Whereas by, kind of enclosing them in a metal surround protects them and prevents that from happening. That is a clear sort of technical solution to a problem that was occurring and Rolex will fully justify that and back that up, you know, to this day, probably by saying, that's why we did it. Yeah. So it's kind of the same sort of story. It's like we can do a Cyclops now and it makes the date more readable. So why wouldn't we do it? And, you know, I mean, we can, you can go around and round about this and I'm sure many people already have, but definitely a philosophical question. and something that, uh, I don't know. I would have loved to see, you know, something different from a Sea-Dweller and I'm sure a lot of people would have too, but, uh, it is what it is. So. |
| James | Yeah. And the Cyclops, I mean, I like it on my Explorer. It doesn't bother me at all. It's handy. You definitely mix the date better. I mean, like at a certain point you can't have your cake and eat it too, I guess. Right. Right. Anything else from them, you know, new, new Sky-Dweller that doesn't really fall into the sorts of watches we love, but it's in steel now, which is cool. And the movement on that watch is unbelievable. If you're listening to us and you don't know how a Sky-Dweller works, it's pretty cool. Go to their website and check it out because the functionality is actually set by rotating the bezel. Yeah. And it's an unbelievably clever movement that I think a lot of enthusiasts, myself included, don't think about because it was never available in steel. Right. And now they have one in steel and it essentially is kind of like a super Datejust 41. And I actually think the new markers, it looks pretty good. I mean, again, they're very expensive, and I don't think that they're necessarily considered like a Rolex sport watch. Yeah. But if you're in the market for something like that, it's hard to think of a watch quite that cool from a technical standpoint. I mean, the movement's really cool. Other than that, I don't think anything really stands out. They made some changes to the Yacht-Master, but they're just, you know, their aesthetic, the Yacht-Master II, that is, to be more of a sport watch. And now they offer an Oysterflex, the rubber bracelet on Daytonas the Daytonas, but only the they're in precious metals right now you can get them in Everose, which is their rose gold and yellow gold and a white gold Yeah, I think that pretty well covers it for Rolex. |
| Jason Heaton | I what do you say we jump into Tag Heuer? I mean, I think with tag the story was the Octavia, right? |
| James | I mean, I there were really no other watches that showed me that were of any interest They had tons of other watches, but all I did was handle that Octavia. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Yeah, and I absolutely love it |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I do too. I was smitten. I would put that in my top three from Baselworld, easily. It was so good on the wrist. I just couldn't take my eyes off it after I put it on. It was fantastic. It was kind of like, you know, the Monza last year. Again, Tag Heuer was, overall, I felt was fairly forgettable last year, except for the Monza. And this year, you know, their big story was the new connected smartwatch. But for me, the Autavia just stole the show. |
| James | Yeah, I'm not at all interested in smartwatches. And I know a few fairly hardcore Hoyer collectors, vintage Hoyer collectors, and they weren't so excited about it, including some that saw this watch before we did at a big meetup in Geneva, I think before SIHH. But I think it looks great. The proportions aren't the same as the original. There's more bezel now. But I really like it. It's a little thicker than maybe if you were just like daydreaming. I would make it a little thinner, but it didn't feel in any way unwearable. |
| Jason Heaton | Right. |
| James | I thought it was really good. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Well, maybe, you know, maybe the people that are going to be the most picky about it are kind of like our perspective about the Sea-Dweller. I don't know about you, but I'm not a particularly devout sort of Tag Heuer or Heuer collector or aficionado. And so I just like what I see and that watch just looked so good. So yeah, it might not be a, a purist's choice. It's so functional too, right? You've got the 12-hour bezel and the chronograph, and it just wears well. It looks great on that leather strap. I don't know. I don't remember how much it costs. |
| James | The pricing is 4,950 Swiss francs, so it's not a cheap watch by any stretch. My guess is it's a 42 millimeters in steel. There's a bracelet or a leather option. Apart from being really beautiful, you know, it's a caliber O2. It's a solid movement from what we can tell. And I think they're going to be like kind of a hot watch for a while. I think so too. Yeah. So good, good work on tag for doing that whole, the Octavia cup where they kind of had everybody vote for what they wanted to see next. And then they picked one and they, I think they delivered on it. There were some people in my Instagram feed that seemed upset about the date. Oh, there's a date window at six. I think they did a great job. |
| Unknown | It's going to talk away. |
| James | Yeah, six or three. That's fine. It's 430 that I'm tired of. Yeah, yeah, definitely. And yeah, I thought they did just fine with it. It's unobtrusive, but it's there. I mean, I guess if you really again, this comes down to like, tags got to sell these watches in stores to non enthusiasts as well. And that means putting a date on them, right? And yeah, so good work tag. I mean, that's the one certainly it stands out for me. And like you said, just like the Monza, Monza was one of my favorites from Basel last year, and I love the Octavia this year. So yeah, yeah. Where to next? Maybe Zinn, little change of country? |
| Jason Heaton | Good idea. Yeah. Zinn was a fun meeting. I met with him last year for the first time and followed up this year. Tim from Zinn is a great guy, and I know you have a great meeting with him as well. The best, yeah. Yeah. What did you like there? |
| James | I really like that new 104. Oh yeah, yeah. With the white dial. Yeah. So I think that's... Super affordable too. Very affordable. It looks great. I'm just looking up the price on Watch Buys. It's their North American retailer. So yeah, the 104 is $1,590 on the fine link bracelet, or you can get it $1,520 on the H-link, which is more of a Zen look. Yeah. And $1,290. Oh man, that's a lot of watch. I know. |
| Unknown | Aesthetically for $1290. Yeah, I agree. |
| James | Yeah, that's it. I think that one's killer. And then if you want more features, what did you think of that 103 with the tan lume? |
| Jason Heaton | I'm a big fan of the 103. So, you know, I liked it. I would almost just go with a standard 103. I mean, the tan lume was nice, but I don't think it necessarily increased the aesthetics of the watch in my eyes, you know, exponentially from what it had been. |
| James | I think with the 103, I'd like the brushed case. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Yeah. All it did was solidify the fact that the 103 is a really gorgeous watch. Yeah. Like it's just so nice and you can still get it with an acrylic crystal if you want. Right, right. The 103ST acrylic matte. Yeah. Is an option, but I mean you're looking at, let's see, like a 103 and they make the GMT-103 with the Diapal, the two-tone gray dial. And they make some really beautiful stuff, don't they? But the new one, the 103STSAE Limited Edition is around $2,250 to $2,500. And just a killer, killer chronograph. |
| Jason Heaton | So much bang for the buck with Zinn. They're just such solid, incredibly engineered, good looking watches for just not a lot of money. I just, I don't know how they do it. It's such good stuff. |
| James | And this one's a little on the thick side. That's one thing I would point out with the 103 is it's only 41 millimeters wide, but it's thick like a Bremont diver. It's 17 millimeters thick. So you do have to be kind of on board for that Burley Zinn chronograph thickness. But the nice thing is Zinn actually has like a ton of watches and not all of them are that thick. So it's nice that you always have that range from Zinn. And that's one of my favorite, I know I mentioned this in the last episode, but it's one of my favorite things. You go into their booth and they have all of their watches. Right, right. So like I finished with the new stuff and I went and tried on a couple other things that I hadn't kind of played around with on like some of the new test staff stuff. They're like the more hardcore piloty stuff and just some just some great stuff. I was like and then what do you think of the the EZM-12? I know you you wrote a piece for Hoding Key so everybody should check that out but I'll let you kind of explain that watch if you went through the the labor of writing about it. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah so You know, for those that don't know, EZM is Einsatzzeitmesser, which means mission timer in German. And, you know, Zinn has kind of made this their specialty for, I don't know how many years, but for quite a while they've been specializing in making these watches designed for a very specific purpose. They did one for like, you know, firemen a few years ago. They've done, you know, military divers, SWAT teams. The latest version, the 12, the EZM-12, was designed for air rescue. uh, like paramedics in Germany who respond to Autobahn accidents. And, um, the, the watch is kind of designed from the blank sheet of paper for this purpose. So it's got an internal rotating timing ring, uh, that kind of has the first 10 minutes. Demarcated for kind of the 10 minutes in which you're supposed to get from the initial emergency call to reaching the patient. And then the sort of diminishing or sorry, increasing orange band up to one hour of that timing ring that is like this escalating sense of urgency to get the patient to the hospital within an hour. It has a countdown external bezel made of the same hardened steel that the case is made out of, but it's in black. The bezel itself can be pried off and then the strap, the silicone strap is quick release so that the watch can be decontaminated very easily and kind of scrubbed to get any sort of body fluids off of it, you know, from, from the emergency that you've attended to. And of course it's got all of Zinn's normal, you know, just incredible engineering. It has the argon, you know, gas dehumidifying system inside the case, the tegament steel, you know, which is highly scratch resistant, 200 meter water resistance, just a neat watch. It certainly wasn't a watch that I would buy or wear. I think you probably feel the same. It's just, it's for such a specific purpose and they're only selling 300 limited editions. You know, I'm not sure if that includes the air rescue folks or if they get kind of their own special buy of these, but it's just kind of a quirky, weird watch that I can't imagine anybody who's not in the air rescue service actually wanting to own. |
| James | Yeah. And then the, the bezel had, like you said, it can be kind of popped off and it has a little indent at six. Yeah. And then with the watch, it comes with like a multi-tool from Boker or as Tim corrected me, Booker. Yeah. And I don't pronounce anything correctly, so. Boker's not as bad as it's going to get even in this episode. Um, but you know, you can use the little bottle opener with the screw, the flathead and just pop the bezel off and then you just push it back on. And it's so beautifully engineered. It requires no scary amount of force to do either. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | But once it's on, it's captive. And then, yeah, the, the strap's quite clever. It has like a very aggressive hook at the end of the strap. So while it's on your wrist, there's no way that you could pop the strap off, but as soon as it's off and you can essentially zero the angle. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | between the strap and the spring bar, you, the strap just comes off. So in two seconds, you've got the bezel and the strap off and you can clean the watch. I mean, this is, you know, you get blood or whatever on the watch. And then the idea is that it can be cleaned very quickly and easily, and then just simply used again when the next call happens and you've got to go back out. And, uh, it's, this is a great example of what Zen is. Right. Even though you and I may not buy it, this sort of watch that, especially the EZM stuff is like, it's their, flagship expression of that Zen DNA. Right. Of hyper focused, well, like, like it's even in the name, it's just a mission timer. So a specific mission, and there's some really cool mission timers, one through 11. And I think 12 is no exception. I think they're, they're really, really neat. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it's the kind of the reason you like the brand. So you might not buy this watch, but you're, you're, you're glad that they make this watch. The other quirky one was that, that 240 GZ, which another very specific purpose, you know, windsurfing watch with like a tide bezel on it. Aside from the tide bezel, it was just kind of a really sleek design, just a beautiful minimalist looking watch. |
| James | Awesome case on the 240 line, this big cushion case with kind of semi-hooded lugs and a two crown. And yeah, I thought it looked great. And it's a deep navy blue dial with kind of a brighter blue element to the tide bezel. And it looks really, really cool. They also had a new 356 SA Flieger III with a silver dial, which I think will be an absolute winner. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Beautiful, really beautiful in person. And again, it's one of their chronographs, so you're looking at about 2570 to start. And then, yeah, what else do they have? Oh, and then they had a new, the U1 Professional in fully-tejament steel. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | It's got some red accents, and if you're into the kind of aesthetic of the U1, it's a hyper-stoic dive watch. It's like a super tool watch. This one's, I think, going to be even more up the alley, especially if you have a normal U1. I think this one really offers kind of a different spin on it. Yeah, really cool. You never get let down by Zinn. I mean, last year they had that anniversary chronograph. |
| Jason Heaton | I still love that watch. I love that watch. |
| James | What a fantastic brand. And I think the one, the one to look at, if you're like most TGN listeners that email me and ask about what watch they should buy, it's that 104 with the white dial. Oh yeah. It's being $1290 on a leather strap. That's, that's killer. Perfect size, semi-polished case. So you could easily wear it with, you know, a more dressy, less casual sort of outfit. Sure. It's not too big. Legibility is fantastic. It's beautifully proportionate and you get Day-Date, which is great functionality. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Should we move on to another German brand, maybe? Let's move on to Nomos. |
| James | Yeah. Yeah. Great. This is in my top three. They're the new club campus. Oh, really? |
| Jason Heaton | You like that one, huh? |
| James | I adore it. Oh, cool. Tell us about it. You know, you're looking at a steel watch in 38.5 or 36 millimeters. And the idea is that the case back is unadorned. It's not a display case back. It's just a steel case back and Nomos will engrave it so you can celebrate graduating or some other milestone. That element aside, I really like just the overall aesthetic of this watch, especially the 38 campus of the 38 millimeter in the kind of silvery dial. They have this kind of inverted Cali dial where the eight o'clock and the four o'clock marker are Roman numerals. Yeah. And man, did that get some hate on my Instagram, but all of those people are dead wrong. I think it looks super cool. And you already have the other option in the club. This isn't replacing any club models. actually, and they've actually added like the new modern movements into some of the club models. This one runs on the alpha to keep the price down. Yeah. And I think it's absolutely killer on wrist. It's just the right size. The gray dial with the orange, red, orange, uh, secondhand, it's got some loom, which is really great. And you're looking at 1,650 USD. Uh, you know, you have to spend more in Nomos if you want to go to one of their like newer higher end in-house movements, but this runs on the alpha. Which, unless I have my information wrong or I'm misremembering the Orion 38 I had, the Alpha's based on that PASSEAU 7001, which again, I don't pronounce anything correctly. So I'm going to say PASSEAU, that's the best I could do. 7001 movement, which is a movement that's been around for a really long time. It's not a fancy movement, but it's easily serviced, keeps great time, and offers sub-seconds. And I think this is an absolute winner at the price point. I mean, you're looking at An everyday, not too dressy, not too sporty Nomos with a great movement that comes in two very accessible sizes for well under $2,000. I don't know what you could expect more from a brand like Nomos. I think this is them seeing where the market is, seeing what people want to buy these days and offering something that's fun and not as expensive and an alternative to something like an Ahoy, which would be about double the money. but it's still sporty and still every day and they're elegant. Really, I was blown away by this. I like the kind of spin on the dial, the kind of difference from the other clubs. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I mean, I agree. I mean, I think it wasn't my favorite of the Nomos offerings this year. I think I'm a kind of a fan of the Ahoy. One thing I would advise people who are looking at the club, my wife had a 36 millimeter club. You know, despite the small case size, these watches have most, like most Nomoses, they have extremely long lugs. So they do kind of hang over wrist quite a bit. So it's something that it might be a watch you might want to try on before you make a purchase. That goes for almost all the Nomos watches that I've seen from the Club to the Orion. You know, I'm not sure about the Zurich, but the Ahoys, the Tangentes, they're very long lugged watches. I think it's just part of their aesthetic. It's one thing that makes the watches look beautiful, but definitely if you have smaller wrists, it's just something to be aware of. |
| James | Yeah, I fully agree. The 38 Orion I had wore way bigger lug to lug. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. You know, the new Ahoy's are great. I mean, they, they come out with a smaller one at like 36 millimeters and then they've added some new colors. They've got kind of a coral orange dial and then sort of a bright blue. I think they're calling it like a signal blue or a siren blue, you know, really fun tropical colors. I'm not sure that they'd be suitable for, or, you know, wearable kind of every day, but as, as kind of a fun casual, I don't want to say vacation watch because they're a little too expensive to kind of just hold on to for vacations, but, uh, you know, they kind of fit the aesthetic. They kind of fit what the Ahoy was kind of created for. |
| James | Yeah, certainly funky. And now using the new Nomo swing system, pneumatics, all great. I mean, the Ahoy is, is more or less they're more expensive line now. Yeah. Uh, with the exception of something like the world timer, but man, you put one on wrist and you get it right away and they work really well at the new size, as well as, you know, the standard, the 40 millimeter that's been around for a while. Yeah. I guess that's about it that we've got for Germany. Where else do you feel? |
| Jason Heaton | Well, you know, the elephant in the room, I think the brand that arguably kind of won Basel this year, I would say, was Omega. We probably should talk about them a little bit. |
| James | Yeah, for sure. So why don't you start with the 60th anniversary trio? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So, of course, you know, Rolex had the Sea-Dweller 50th anniversary. Omega had the 60th anniversary of the Trilogy, as people call it. Railmaster, the Seamaster 300, and then of course the Speedmaster, which all debuted in 1957. So as most people know, they came out this year with a kind of a trio, a trilogy set that you could buy as a set of those three reissued watches or each of them individually. And I think what was really amazing about these watches was the incredible level of recreation that they were able to do. you know, talking to people that own the originals and are experts with the original vintage pieces, how close they came. And this is because of some sort of computer design technology that they were able to actually sort of visually map the original watches and recreate every single dimension and font and bezel width and everything on all three watches. So they're just absolute dead ringers of the originals. And whether or not that's something that that you like or not, I guess that's kind of personal taste. I think in the past few years, of course, we've seen a lot of neo-vintage or sort of retro inspired watches that take a lot of cues from old watches, but then they tweak them a little bit to kind of make them something new. Omega didn't even try to do that. These watches are absolute dead ringers of the originals, with the exception of, you know, the Railmaster and the Seamaster 300 having some of the newer Omega movement technologies and of course using sapphire crystals. The Speedmaster, arguably, is virtually identical because it sticks with an acrylic crystal and still has a hand-wound Lamania-based movement, but pretty incredible. I mean, oddly enough, my favorite of the three, I think, was almost that Railmaster. Yeah, mine too. Such a sleek, simple, classic-looking old watch. |
| James | Yeah, all three are beautiful. I think what surprised me immediately was that they were all quite polished. Oh, yeah. I guess I was expecting, given their sporting heritage, that they would be brushed. Yeah. But once my brain kind of got around the polish, by any stretch, the one that I liked the most was the Railmaster. It felt the most special. It felt the most uncommon because we've seen the aesthetic, of course, of that, the Seamaster 300 was replicated just a couple of years ago with the new Seamaster 300. And then the Speedmaster just kind of feels like a watch that's never not existed. Yeah. Yeah. All of them are great. You can get them in this, yeah, like you said, a big trio with a leather wrap with cases, like individual little pockets for each one and other straps and NATOs and tools and this big, big, fancy red box. Very Omega. Yeah. I think that's 20,000 Swiss francs. Yeah. And if you add them up separately, it's like pretty close together. Cause I mean, they're, they're selling them all in a trio or they're selling them all separately. But the trio ones say so on the dial and are limited to a different number. Right. I think there's maybe 557 or something like that of the trio. Yes. And then there's more of the non, where they're not all sold as a three. And I thought they were really, really cool. I was blown away. You know, we joked in the last meeting that you walk into Omega and they always have a ton of new SKUs, new product numbers. And I was setting up some cameras in this one. The guy from Omega who's very funny and he often tells jokes and has a great sense of humor, he said, oh, we have 170 new SKUs. And I laughed. I laughed audibly. I was the only person who did so in the room. I laughed out loud. And it was not a joke. And they started putting watches on this huge table in their room. Yeah. And we had no room to take pictures or shoot video. We were like, can you put this back in the wall and bring it out in a minute? Yeah. There was just so much. I mean, what did you think of the going fully modern? as modern as we're going to see. What did you think of the Speedmaster Racing? |
| Jason Heaton | So they had a couple of kind of versions of that, right? |
| James | I think they had like 10. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. A little big. I mean, the Speedmaster Racing, I still think, and I think you'll concur, you know, the kind of the vintage or the past versions that they've made are more aesthetically appealing to me. I think they kind of reversed where the orange hands are on them and the sort of trademark sort of rally, I guess you'd call it rally ring around the outside of the dial isn't quite as colorful on the new ones as it was on the old ones. I think it kind of lost the charm of taking like an old school style and sized Speedmaster and turning it into a racing watch as opposed to kind of making a big modern coaxial Speedmaster racing. I think it's a nice looking watch. I think it'll please a lot of people, but definitely wasn't my favorite of Omega's offerings this year. |
| James | Yeah, I wouldn't say it was my favorite. I did really like that they've made the case a little bit thinner, which is a great improvement for any Omega these days. You know, the coaxial, now the coaxial master chronometers are quite thick. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And so they made this one a little thinner. They're still, I want to say, 44 and a half millimeters wide. So it's very noticeable, big Omega on wrist. And it's the two register, the 9XXX layout for the Chrono, but it's the updated movement. I want to say they started about 7,800 Swiss francs, which for that movement in that watch and being a new model is actually very competitive. And I think there's a ton of versions. I really liked the silver and orange model, and then the more racy, the black, orange, white one. And if you kind of are okay with the size, I think that's going to be a killer watch. I definitely felt that they were a little bit too big. And of course, my mind just goes back to the 2004 LE, which had the matte gray dial. A little bit brighter, you know, sort of brighter orange and that classic Speedmaster silhouette. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | With a different dial. That'll still be my favorite. Yeah. What I liked the most this year was the new Railmaster. So the Aqua Terra and then in quotations, Railmaster. Right. Which is a strange watch, I think, which is probably one of the reasons I like it, but it's the Co-Axial Master Chronometer. It's now the entry point to that technology at 4,500 Swiss francs. It's 40 millimeters. It used kind of an aged loom that really didn't bother me for whatever reason. Normally, I'm not a big aged loom fan. And then the dial is actually brushed, vertically brushed stainless steel. So if you hit it with a light, it looks entirely different than without. And it comes in a darker tone and a lighter tone. I'm kind of partial to the darker tone. I love the lighter. The lighter was... Love that. Perfect. But on wrist, it's fully brushed. It's not especially thick. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | I absolutely, that was my favorite of everything they showed this year. It feels Omega, but not, but it feels like they've gone in kind of a different direction with it. And I think it's kind of quirky and they had like this nice kind of like houndstoothy sort of textile strap. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And then also a bracelet option. |
| Jason Heaton | I think that would be one to, um, I think that was the, that was probably their, their sleeper. I think it was, everyone came to see the, the trilogy watches, but I think that new rail masters, the one that kind of answers, a lot of the critics of Omega that are saying that they've moved upmarket to the point where they're pricing people out. And I think it really showcases their technology in a watch that somebody who a few years ago might have been able to buy an Aqua Terra or a Speedmaster can get this great movement in a really nice looking watch that's really well sized. I was very impressed with that watch. I think it's going to sell like crazy. |
| James | I think so. I think it's the kind of one where if you see the picture on, I think you have one on your account and I've got one on mine. And if you see it and you're not really sure, go buy an Omega retailer when it's in store and actually just see it for yourself. I think you'll be surprised. It's just the proportions are really nice in person and on wrist. And then I guess you could assume given where the dollar, US dollar is currently, it'll be a little under $5,000. Yeah. 4,900 without the bracelet and 51 with, yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Really high end movement. |
| James | And I think a great looking watch that you could wear just with all the time. And it captures a little bit of the same feel as those, uh, the new master line from JLC, you know, with the, it's got the. The cross on the dial and, uh, the 12, three, six, and nine. I mean, it's an entirely different thing, but I think it, it kind of, for me, that's what more in my brain went, despite the aesthetic differences, it kind of wore the same way and, and it kind of felt similar to me. And of course now they, they also inhabit an exceedingly similar price point. Yeah. So, I mean, we've waxed poetic many times in the past about wanting more sub, the cost of a Submariner sports watch, steel sports watches. And I think Omega delivered with this one. I think it looks great. I think it'll wear really well. I think it'll look, you know, just between you and I, real dandy on a Grenado. And yeah, that's the one that stood out for me. Did you see anything else that stood out for you? There's so much there to try and absorb. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, I'd rather move on from Omega. and skip the blue ceramic cased Planet Ocean, which I thought was an abomination personally. |
| James | Yeah, they've got that wild side. I mean, that's a little bit, it kind of reminded me like the craziness of the Ploprof and a lot of color and there was a ton. |
| Jason Heaton | It's certainly impressive that you can make a blue ceramic case, but it was just so over the top. |
| James | Yeah, I think if you want your wild, like super summer Omega look, that's the way to go. It just maybe is a little bit too punchy for our tastes. Yeah. So what do you want to hit up Japan quickly? You want to check out some Seiko? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, let's jump into Seiko. Another big story there was the reissue of the 62MAS or 6217 reference from, I guess it was 1965, their first kind of high-end dive watch. You put the reference number, I never even knew the reference number, SLA017. Yeah. Again, you know, talk about reissued classics and another great example of a good dive watch from Basel. This one was excellent. I love this watch. I loved it even more in person than I did in the photos. What about you? Did you care for this one? |
| James | I did like it in person. I mean, I think that they're only making, I think it's 2000. I thought it was really good on wrist. 39.9 millimeters rubber and bracelet kind of came in like a very Seiko-esque box and i have trouble like cutting between the reaction that i got on instagram and such and kind of my general perception because i think both there's like a fairness to both people were really surprised by the price yeah i got that too but when you consider when you consider everything that's there yeah like find me another genuinely limited edition what will be very popular in-house, high-end in-house movement. This is used as an 8L movement, similar to what we'd find in a Marine Master, unless I'm mistaken. Yep. An 8L35, and it's $3,400. Now, a lot of the direct competition for this watch would be ETA-based. Yep. And not limited, so the limited's definitely going to change the way that it's priced into the second-hand market. Yeah. And my guess is that nobody complaining, and I'm not going to buy one, so I guess I'm kind of in this club, but nobody complaining is going to spend the money on the watch. But I talked to a handful of people who were like, no, I'm buying one. Yeah. I immediately set about trying to find my order. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, there was a well-known, and I'm not going to mention his name, lest he get in trouble, a well-known Omega employee who I met at their booth. And he whispered to me, he said, Have you seen the new 62 MAS reissue? He said, I've already put in my order. So, you know, clearly there are a lot of people that like this watch. But you're right, this is such high quality. I mean, these watches are built in the same Morioka studio where all the GS watches, the Grand Seiko watches are made. That 8L35 movement is a kind of a, I don't want to say detuned, but sort of a less fussy or less decorated Grand Seiko movement, essentially. The styling is It's even closer to the original than the SRPs were to the 6309. Oh, yeah. It's just so good, even down to the strap. |
| James | I think it even feels like an old watch. Yeah. Like something about the way the light hits it and the way it photographs, certainly it doesn't feel like a new watch. And, you know, on my Instagram, I said, you know, it's $3,400 in brackets, which is a bit dear. And I think like, yes, that is a lot of money for a Seiko that isn't a GS. And it's also just a lot of money in general for a watch, which I think is where a lot of people land because There's the whole element where when you talk about Seiko, you're typically talking about watches under $1,000. Yeah. But I think this is one of those watches, and Seiko does a great job with this all the time, where you have to try and find some competition that's similar. Right. Yeah. It's going to be really hard to find similar competition for the SLA-017. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Genuinely limited, going to be very desirable. And is it cheap? No, I wouldn't call it cheap. Is it a crazy deal? Nope. Will it matter? No, there's way more than 2,000 people out there who want that watch and will pay that price. Yeah. It's not an unfair price at all. It's expensive, but it's not unfair. |
| Jason Heaton | And of course, then they made the other version of it, or I guess the less limited or unlimited version that is also inspired by the vintage one that has the different handset. It definitely has a, I think it's the 4R36 movement in it. Um, so a lesser movement than this, uh, SLA, uh, 017 has. I gotta say the aesthetics of that one fell quite short for me. Um, I just don't care for those hands, I guess. And I've seen them on other Seikos as well, but just not my cup of tea. |
| James | When, when they showed it as a, oh, this is our, our other interpretation of the design. I was like, I didn't say it out loud or anything, but I was like, really? |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | There's nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't look like a 62 mass. Yeah. Um, they don't, it's not going to wear like a 60. They're a little bit bigger. Yeah. But that said, I heard a handful of people, you know, we're, we're excited about it. So that's one of the, you know, with a prospects, when you start getting into the prospect stuff, that's under say a thousand dollars or under $1,500, there's just so much of it. Yeah. Right. So, I mean, I don't know how you differentiate necessarily from that or this, or, or I think I would probably go SRP before I went with one of those models just because of the aesthetics, purely the aesthetics, a similar movement and purely the aesthetics. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | But, uh, yeah. And then there's new, um, new GS divers. Oh yeah. You know, Grand Seiko is now a brand new, now their own brand. Right. So you're not going to see Seiko Grand Seiko. I don't know that this matters in many ways, maybe to the most hardcore collectors it does, but it's not going to change the way they make watches. |
| Jason Heaton | So this, this was, these were, I'm glad you brought that up because these are the first, these were the first automatic Grand Seiko divers. I hadn't realized that until I was there. |
| James | I didn't realize that until now. |
| Jason Heaton | They've done quartz and they've done spring drive Grand Seiko divers. These were the very first automatics and they're, It's the high beat movement, so it's the 36,000 vibrations per hour movement. And it has an iron dial with kind of this hobnail finish. Titanium case, and if you want a bracelet, you know, titanium bracelet. Big case, but I don't know if you picked that watch up. It is light as air. I picked it up and I remarked, does this thing even have a movement in it? I mean, it's so light for a big diver with a mechanical movement in it. Not sure, you know, super high quality watch, but again, not sure the aesthetics were my, my taste, but, uh, you know, a lot of people will love that, uh, a grand Seiko automatic high beat dive watch. Pretty cool. |
| James | I would agree. I think there'll be very popular, but, uh, in my hands, I didn't, I didn't quite get the look. Yeah. Um, I think it was very close. It's obviously a Seiko diver and it's always, uh, a grand Seiko diver, but you are looking at a, um, at a larger case, which is 46.9 millimeters. Yeah. So it's very big, but it's super light. Like you said, the dial's gorgeous. Yeah. You know, you're looking at a limited edition with a blue dial, which is the SBGH255. It's 500 pieces, which will be €12,300. And then the production model is a black dial, SBGH257. I'm doing my best here. €12,100. And they'll also include a silicon strap at that price point. Buying a Grand Seiko, you're literally attempting to buy arguably the finest thing that Seiko can design. And I would say these definitely fall into that. They're just bigger than I would want them to be. Yeah. It's a personal, personal decision. Yeah. You know, the stuff they showed last year with the, uh, the spring drive chrono pieces were very, very cool and beautifully made, but too big. Right. Yeah. And I think that continues here, but not everything they made this year was huge because they also have the new, uh, grand Seiko kind of reissue. So first grand Seiko reissued. So it's, uh, essentially their, reissue of the 1960, their very first Grand Seiko watch. And these are gorgeous. They're dress watches. So, I mean, it's up to you as you like. And it comes in a yellow gold, a platinum and a steel. Yeah. And the steel one is limited to 1960 pieces at about 7,200 euros. And then the yellow is limited to less and costs way more. And of course, platinum even more from there. Yeah. Beautiful stuff. Really beautiful. Yeah. And then did you see the reimagined first Grand Seiko? This is the SBGR305. Yeah. So 40.5 millimeters, high frequency, 9S, 68 automatic movement. The date window is only offered in titanium, but offers their famous polishing, the Zaratsu polishing. And then they're calling it, I'm going to get this wrong because I don't have it in front of me, I think Brilliant Hard Titanium. Oh, yeah. So it's like a super hardened titanium. that they're very proud of. And we asked at our meeting if they could send us more information about what that is and how they do it. And they said, yes, but not right now. Hopefully it's something they start to move into more watches. I know that it's not the DyaShield coating that they've used or surface treatment that they've used on other watches, like the Marine Master Professional, the more recent updated version, the SBDX017. It's something else that they're doing with the titanium. And they said it's much harder on the measured scale and is kind of a proprietary technology. So hopefully we'll get some more information about that and maybe even see it in non-GS watches if it's a really good technology. And anything that makes titanium more scratch resistant is going to be great for the longevity of the watch. Yeah, definitely. And anything else stand out from Seiko? They had a bunch of, like they had even more stuff after that, some new Astron pieces. And I think that kind of covers the main stuff that I saw that I was excited about. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I, frankly, I ran out of time after I think I just kind of wanted to ooh and ah over the, you know, the stuff we already talked about. And by the time I was done with that, it was time to leave. |
| James | Spent a long time with the SLA-017 in my book. So yeah, right. I'll jump to one that I've seen, that you've seen and that I finally got to see, which is the DOXA. I've got my meeting with DOXA and I finally got a chance to see the 50th anniversary sub 300s. I got to see all of them. Yeah. I'm not going to say a lot because you've already said it all in past episodes. So all I will say is absolutely every single thing that you said about the sub 350th anniversary was correct. Yeah. That watch is an absolute darling in person. I'm blown away that they still exist. It's only because maybe that they, they're not selling them through retail. Oh sure. Because if you see this in person, you can just feel your credit card getting hot. I saw the, you know, I'm a big Sea Rambler fan and this thing is absolutely gorgeous. It's so good on wrist. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And the proportions are awesome. That tiny dial is so good in person. It doesn't kind of come through the same way in photographs. Again, I don't want to take this too far because we've talked a lot about this watch. But if you're on the fence for something like the Sub 300, they still have the Shark Hunter and the Sea Rambler. And I think they're really cool, great LEs, and lived up to my expectations, which almost no watches do. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I think you need one of those. Yeah, I agree. |
| James | I'm definitely, I'm definitely working to get one in for a review on a blog to watch. So Doc's just being pretty cool with that. So that, that should be forthcoming and I'm excited. I'm going to find an excuse to take it diving somewhere and do that sort of thing. And what next kind of stood out for you? |
| Jason Heaton | Well, we got to, you know, speaking of divers, I think Blog Pond is a good place to go. And I think, I think they must've listened to our wishlist episode because they almost hit the mark. |
| James | Everything but the price. |
| Jason Heaton | Everything but the price. |
| James | What a watch though. |
| Jason Heaton | But the funny thing is, you know, you're talking about your credit card getting hot. I was sitting in this meeting. We're talking about the 50 Fathoms tribute to Mil-Spec. Just such a cool watch. I'm sitting in this meeting and they pull this watch out and I had seen a photo of it, you know, before my meeting. I thought, yeah, it looks cool. Mil-Spec, whatever. I know that I kind of know the story. But when they handed it to me, I was like 40 millimeters, you know, painted dial. I mean, it was like, I felt my credit card getting hot, and that's like a $14,000 watch. I mean, it was just stunning. I immediately put it on Instagram. I was probably a little hasty, but I was like, this is the best watch of the whole show. But I still feel it's at least one of the top three in my book. It was so, so, so good. |
| James | It's definitely in the top three for me. I would say that if you're talking about not a watch that I'm going to buy, but a watch that I will consistently think about for quite some time, a little bit of a dream watch. Now my definite new favorite Blancpain. Yeah. Is this, uh, yeah, the tribute to Mil-Spec, 40 millimeters, bracelet, sailcloth, or the NATO from $14,100. Unfortunately, it's unbelievably beautiful. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Other than the date, other than the date window. |
| James | The date is not great. Yeah. It really is a weak point for that watch. It is a weak point that I could overlook. |
| Jason Heaton | Yes, I could too. |
| James | I really liked the ingress. Yeah. The ingress marker. Yeah. So there's this right, right sub dial center. You have this, uh, half white, half kind of desaturated orange circle that was designed to let the wearer know if water had entered the case at some point. And this was a, I believe, a requirement or request from the Navy to Blancpain to give them a chance if, if they shouldn't trust the watch, if it's been leaking, which was probably a big issue back in the day. a leaky watch. It's less of an issue now. Obviously they can make things that are crazy tough, but the, uh, the overall look of this thing, I absolutely adore. Again, I w I would totally agree that the date window is unfortunate and I would love to see maybe if they take everything, everything from this watch that they learned from the popularity of this LE to, uh, one without a date and even without the ingress meter and bring the price down a little bit, just, just make a serial version. But the, The case is unbelievable at that size. It's so exciting to see a 50 fathoms around 40 millimeters. It doesn't feel small. It doesn't feel big. It feels like the proportions between the dial size and this chunky, like weighty sapphire bezel. And I turned that bezel and like the guy, there's a guy in the room who had been part of the design team and he looked at me expectantly as I'm spinning the bezel and I'm like, |
| Jason Heaton | so good he's like we spent an unbelievable amount of time yeah working on that bezel i i think um you make a good point you know uh the sort of trickle down effect might actually happen with this watch i mean we can hope i can't imagine that they would make a 50 fathoms in a 40 millimeter case as a one-off was like limited to 300 pieces or something that they would then not use that case again uh last year i know that they released a It was either last year or the year before, they did like a special edition for Revolution Magazine of the bathyscaphe in a 38 millimeter case. And sure enough, the next year it showed up in kind of more of a serial 38 millimeter bathyscaphe. So I could see them using this maybe without the mil-spec, sort of that moisture indicator on the dial, maybe kind of do more of a standard one. You know, one can hope, and I'm guessing it probably wouldn't be that much cheaper, probably still not in the level of our affordability, but You know, we'll see. I thought it was great. A few years back, I had a chance to try out the tribute to Aqualung 50 fathoms, which was my previous favorite 50 fathoms, even though it was 45 millimeters. Beautiful watch. This one just took the cake. I mean, it was, it's truly one of the top three of the show for me. |
| James | Yeah, for sure. I fully agree that, you know, it would be great if like you said, if this became a serial version where, yeah, this is limited to 500 pieces. And I imagine they're going to go really quickly. And yeah, a serial version, either no date or maybe date at three would be fine. Yeah. You know, I just, it's like, can we all just stop with four 30 days? I know, I know. It, it, it never looks right. And, uh, and it doesn't spoil this watch for me. It would not be a deal breaker where I, you know, to have the means to buy a watch like this. I think it was crazy on wrist. Did you do the loom at all? I didn't know. Oh, it's an absolute torch. They're like, Oh, uh, we can turn the lights off in the room and you can see the loom. And I was like, Oh yeah, that's a great idea. And they came over with like this key chain flashlight. Oh yeah. And I was like, Oh, one second. I walked over to my bag, pulled out the Michant Flieger, cranked it up to 700 lumens. You didn't even have to turn the light off. Oh yeah. It's just so bright. And of course, because it's that Sapphire bezel, the full bezel is luminous. What a watch. I mean, a great dream watch. Not unlike, you know, I've had a big love affair the last few years with the Bathyscaphe. |
| Unknown | Oh, yeah. |
| James | And this is, I mean, they just, they know how to do a dive watch. They really do. And they have such a rich history to pull from with the Fifty Fathoms. So good on Blancpain. I would say it's probably my favorite watch from the show if we're not putting in any sort of price restrictions on that comment, because I'll never spend that kind of money on a watch. But, you know, I do really, really think that's a beautiful, beautiful piece. And it's great on person if you've got a Blancpain dealer in your area that's going to get one in, even if you have no intention of buying it, stroll in one day and just ask if you can see it in person. It's sweet. |
| Jason Heaton | So I've got, I've got the, the budget alternative to, to that watch, um, which I think arguably was my, also in my top three, potentially my favorite watch of the show, which was an absolute surprise to me. And I think you know where I'm headed with this. It was the Rado, the Rado Hyperchrome Captain Cook, which, Nobody saw it coming. I think there were people that commented on my Instagram photo like, I didn't even see this at the show. It's the craziest, coolest watch that is so faithful to a vintage diver from a brand that, I mean, I've often been tempted to skip the meeting. I mean, Rado is just so known for very 80s style, slim ceramic dress watches. And this watch just, it just blew me away. It's so faithful to a vintage watch that you'd swear it is. And in many respects it kind of has that Blancpain, that sort of Fifty Fathoms aesthetic. I mean, it's from the early 60s, so you know, no big surprise that it's going to look like a lot of watches from that era. But Captain Cook, it's 37 millimeters, it has identical dial markings, the red numeral date wheel, the bezel looks like kind of like an old Bakelite bezel from the 60s, but of course it's made of ceramic, which is Rado's kind of calling card, so, you know, scratch resistant but still has that nice shine to it of like an old bezel. I just love this watch and here's the best part of it. It's like $1,800. This is a sub $2,000 watch, or actually it's $1,800 Swiss franc, so roughly $1,800 or $1,900 US dollars. Yeah. I don't know, great. Affordable, limited edition, so, you know, who knows how long it'll last, but this is a watch that, you know, when you stack it up next to a 50th anniversary sub 300 from Doxa at roughly the same price, you know, or, or, or the Seiko, um, all of these kind of vintage inspired retro style dive watches. This, this one really, if you're not scared by the 37 millimeter size, this is a real contender. |
| James | I think I fully agree. I don't even have really anything to add. It's um, yeah, sorry. |
| Jason Heaton | I went out a little bit about this. I just love that watch. |
| James | No, no, not at all. I've rambled tons throughout this entire episode. We're at like an hour and 40 minutes now, but I don't have that much to add. I went to the meeting, you know, I take the RATO meeting because I find the brand interesting, not at a personal level, but at a technology level, like I wouldn't buy your, your general hyperchrome and, and, and wear it on my wrist. It just doesn't suit my aesthetic or, or what I want from a watch. But you had mentioned like right at the end of the meeting, they'll eventually get to this case for the dive watch. And like I just patiently waited through the meeting and then got to the end. And then sure enough, boom, there's this watch. I was like, pull that out of the case. I want some pictures and video. And it made it into the vlog. And then I was so tired and I didn't even realize it. And people have been teasing me about it ever since, but I called it the Captain Hook. So I guess it's the Captain Hook for me, but this is a sweet piece. And I think comparing it to that Docks is a great, great way of framing it. It's going to be under $2,000. The Docks, it just squeaks in under 2,000 for the Sea Rambler. Yeah. And super wearable, classic. You could wear it with anything. The color's kind of a little bit different and funky. Yeah. Great job, Raddo. Great job. Make a few other versions, like make a few other colors. Yeah. And over the next couple of years, maybe make it non-limited if it sells out. Yeah, totally. And, uh, and yeah, I think they did a great job and they made something that I think the, the general TGN audience could really kind of go nuts for. |
| Jason Heaton | I think so too. Yeah. And I've, I've kind of put in a request with Rado for a sample to, uh, to do a little more hands-on, uh, with, so hopefully we'll, we'll get a few more, a little more time with that. |
| James | Excellent. Well, we got one brand left and it's an absolute favorite for both of us and that's Oris. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, a good place to exit here was with Oris. And again, another strong showing. I mean, every year that I've been with Oris at Basel, they always bring out the good stuff. What did you like? |
| James | For me, it's the Chronoris or Chrono-Oris or however you want to say it. I've been saying it all as one word, Chronoris, and I'm just going to continue on that path. This is a brand that fully understands how to actually make a new vintage watch. I would say, arguably, they actuated at the highest level. maybe not as early as Longines, but they actuated the highest level on things like the Diver 65. Yeah. And with this, they've simply looked back at something that was good and they made it again. And because that's like watches are entirely sort of a cyclical thing and very romance-based passion, the Nucranorus looks amazing and is a great size. And I absolutely love the gray orange layout and the case shape. This one's not a chronograph, whereas the original one was, but then they added this kind of ratcheting countdown bezel. So you still get some measuring capability. It's mostly an aesthetic similarity to the old one. 39 millimeters in steel. Perfect size. Yeah. It's a great size. Date display at three, and I think the date looks really good. Yeah. And you get this nice kind of different finishing on each crown, which I like quite a bit. And this sort of Speedmaster Mark II brushed kind of radial brushing that seems to come from the center of the watch out on the case. And the case is really nice at 39 millimeters. And on a leather strap, you're looking at $1,750. So we've got another watch that's US under $2,000 that I think you could go to the store, try on and absolutely love. And they have it with a kind of an old school multi-link style bracelet or a handful of different straps. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it was beautiful. And the bezel action was nice. The size was perfect. I probably wouldn't go for the bracelet, but it was cool that they actually came up with that bracelet, just because it's so 1970. It's just awesome. |
| James | Yeah, I think it looks fine on the bracelet. It wouldn't work for my wrist. I just love a strap. Yeah. And I think it looked really good on the kind of tan strap that's in the photo I have on my Instagram. Yeah. And then, I mean, the watch will look amazing on a NATO. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. And what did you think of the 1917? |
| Jason Heaton | Totally not my style watch, typically, but I tried it on, and neat watch great size it's the it's the big crown 1917 so Horace you know found this sort of vintage piece it was a kind of a converted pocket watch that had been used uh they think as a pilot's watch way back when in the early days of flight i really liked it i love the little font they used on the dial i loved the the numerals i i love the fact that they they put it on that that bund strap which you know it's kind of a hit or miss thing for for me and for a lot of people, that style strap, but I think it worked really well on that watch. I would say actually, you know, the Cronarus was kind of the big story for them this year, but I think for me, oddly enough, that 1917 was my favorite offering from Morris this year, actually. |
| James | Yeah, I think it was really cool, and I think it would mirror pretty much everything you said. I'm not a huge fan of the bund, but they made a very low-profile bund. When it's on wrist, you almost don't even realize it's a bun strap. It's the only time I've put one on and didn't instantly hate it. And it comes with a normal strap. It comes in kind of this leather box, like hard sided box, which is pretty, pretty nice. And it has, it preserves that weird movement feature where you have to depress a button to turn the crown, which is weird and fun. And, and, and just, it's cool that they just get it like that. That's how the original one was, which is nearly identical. But there's literally like, it looks like a little bump on the side of the, uh, case at like two and you have to put your fingernail in and hit a button and then you can turn the crown. |
| Jason Heaton | And it's very accurate to, um, you know, I've, I've got my grandfather's old railroad pocket watch from the same era and it was called a lever set, uh, watch. And you had to, um, you had to flick out a little lever with your, with your fingernail and then you could just turn the crown and it would operate the time. And I think the point of doing that was that, um, I don't know, maybe they didn't have, uh, you know, the, the keyless works that you could, you know, wind and set with the same crown. But, uh, I think it was almost kind of a safety measure that, you know, you couldn't accidentally set the time with, with the crown when you were trying to wind it or something. So I thought it was a really cool feature that I didn't even notice until I was about to hand the watch back. And they said, Oh, you know, here's how this works. And yeah, neat little, neat little feature that they definitely would not have had to add to it, but they did. |
| James | Yeah. I think it's going to be a popular piece and I think it's, it's kind of, It isn't something that I would buy and wear, but it is one of those things that I really saw the appeal of, and I think it's very cool. And I think for the right sort of watch user, it's going to be an absolutely fun limited edition piece, especially for the Aorus fan. So we're also seeing new Aquas. So if you just look casually, it doesn't look that different, but if you put the new one on wrist, it's now at 43.5 and I want to say 45.5. Yeah. And at 43.5, it wears entirely different than the old one. So the horns are a little shorter and a little bit more sloped and the case is a little thinner. 43.5 is as big a watch as I'm ever going to wear these days. And I tried on their new Staghorn Restoration Limited Edition as I have a real soft spot for the movement layout in these watches. And so this is a 43.5 millimeter version of the new Aquus with a dark blue dial, dark orange accents, and it uses I think it is gorgeous. Yeah, I think it looks amazing. It's got a red pip at 12, ceramic bezel, and you have a day-date display where the date is a normal date wheel at six. Beautifully integrated, if I do say. And then there's an internal circle that has the seven days, and each one has a little aperture, and the aperture goes orange. So if you want to see what I mean, you can go to, I think it's in the last one or two episodes of the vlog, on youtube.com slash a blog to watch. And you can actually see that date get advanced. Um, I think it's an absolutely cool watch. I love the use of color on this one. And this is kind of a followup to that great barrier reef too. Oh yeah. Limited edition we saw last year, which was aqueous based and had the same sort of movement and just, uh, just an absolute winner. This is, this one's limited to 2000 units. And it's another one of these ones where a staghorn is, is a type of coral that Oris is working with the Coral Restoration Foundation to actually live grow the coral and then transplant it into the environments where it's most threatened. And this is, you know, a long time ago for Graynado, we interviewed some people involved with the Great Barrier Reef and conservation in that area of the world. And this is a great element within ORIS, where they're attaching their efforts to make a dive watch into the kind of environment that dive watchers, you know, theoretically should exist. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, and I get the sense that with their kind of collaborations with conservation organizations, there's a real sense that they're working with, you know, people in the field, really grassroots organizations, people that are making a difference on kind of a smaller scale. I mean, you look at some other bigger brands, you know, IWC with the Charles Darwin Foundation, JLC with UNESCO. These are big names. These are big cooperations. And I think with AORUS, I like the fact that they're working with, you know, people that are out there wearing dive watches, you know, transplanting or, you know, creating these staghorn coral nurseries. You just get the sense that, again, you know, AORUS has the real watches for real people kind of slogan. And that kind of seems to trickle down into their collaborations. |
| James | Yeah, I totally agree. They also have the The new Hammerhead limited edition, which is a 45.5 millimeter Aquus. I don't know if you saw this one. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I saw it over in Zermatt when I was there back in December, they kind of introduced this one. And yeah, again, another kind of quirky sort of small scale, neat research organization that's working for, you know, on some shark research stuff. |
| James | Yeah, for sure. And that actually connects to something I'll be doing later in April, doing a liveaboard trip with Oris to to actually tag sharks off Clipperton Island. So I'll have more information about that in the future, but it's something I'm pretty excited about. And this is kind of one of the watches that connects that passion of theirs to a product. And it's a, you know, a 2000 piece limited edition. And the nice thing with the Aquas is whether you want the LE or something else, there's a ton of them. They had like two trays of new Aquas stuff at 43 and a half and 45 and a half. And all really cool, all from your kind of normal black dial |
| Jason Heaton | black bezel to different colors and features and things like that so yeah and that chronorus will be a hard one for me to forget i think that's uh that's definitely the sort of watch i would buy and wear i think it's uh i think it's killer so yeah i mean i think oris is a good kind of exit point good people um you know fun meeting at basel we covered a lot today what do you say should we uh should we skip final notes or do you have any other watches to talk about |
| James | No, I think I think I'm tapped out on watches. We're pushing up on two hours here, which is probably more than we should ask of most of the audience, but it is kind of a Basel mega episode. So all we did recently was Basel. So I don't even really have any final notes. Yeah, yeah, let's wrap it up. Let's, uh, you know, thanks very much for listening. I will say a special thank you. I got a lot of really nice Instagram and email messages from listeners who also found the vlog with a blog to watch your support means a ton to me, especially Part of our greater TGN family. So I can't thank you enough for the kind comments. It definitely kind of kept me going at 3, 4 AM when, uh, I was maybe a little bit more tired than I wanted to be. It was a really great experience being at Basel again and doing the vlog and then being able to see that it actually resonated with, uh, with the sorts of people that I love the most, you know, the, the TGN listeners, the sport watch fans, that sort of thing. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Well, I think that's a good bookend to what was a great, uh, great Basel world for sure. As always, thanks so much for listening. Hit the show notes for more details. You can follow us on Instagram. I'm at Jason Heaton, James is at J.E. Stacey, and you can follow the show at The Graynado. If you have any questions for us, please do write thegraynado at gmail.com. If you like the show, please go to iTunes and leave a review, and you can subscribe wherever you find your podcasts, or you can grab the feed from thegraynado.com. Music throughout this episode is Siesta by Jazzer via the Free Music Archive. |
| James | And until next time we leave you with this quote from Friedrich Nietzsche who said, Believe me, the secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously. |