The Grey NATO – 327 – The Vancouver Timepiece Show (Special Chats & Lots of Watches)
Published on Thu, 01 May 2025 06:00:00 -0400
Synopsis
In episode 327 of The Great NATO, host James Stacy recounts his experience at the Vancouver Timepiece Show, a free watch exhibition featuring around 55 brands. James spent several days exploring the show, meeting with various watch industry figures, and conducting interviews with attendees and exhibitors. He describes the perfect weather conditions, the relaxed atmosphere, and highlights several notable watches including new releases from brands like CW, Veyr, RZE, and Space One. The episode features multiple interview segments recorded at the show, including conversations with show organizer Jason Hutton, Marathon Watches' Harrison, and various other industry figures. The show concludes with James and co-host Jason Heaton sharing their final notes, with Jason discussing the Banff Mountain Film Festival and James reviewing a small USB-C monitor he recently purchased.
The episode offers an in-depth look at the growing watch community in Vancouver and the success of the Timepiece Show format, which will continue with another event in Toronto in September. Throughout the conversations, there's discussion of new watch releases, industry challenges like recent tariffs, and the importance of bringing watch enthusiasts together at accessible events.
Links
Transcript
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| James Stacy | Hello and welcome to another episode of The Great NATO. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 327. And it's proudly brought to you by the always growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you're listening and would like to support the show, please visit thegreatnato.com for more details. My name is James Stacy and I'm joined as ever by my friend and co-host Jason Heaton. Hey Jason, how are you doing? |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, I'm doing pretty well. A little jealous of your exciting weekend in Vancouver. It sounds like it was a great time and we'll dive into that shortly here. But yeah, just our early discussions here. It sounds like it was a great, great time for you. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, I had a blast. It'll be the majority of the bulk of today's show, so if you're not ready for sort of a James-heavy episode, maybe break it up into chunks or something. I'll do my best not to ramble. Had an amazing weekend for the Timepiece Show. once in a year, once in a five year span of like almost four perfect days of weather. It was sunny and warm and gorgeous. And yeah, I don't know, like it sounds really kind of flippant, but like the vibes were really high. People were really jazzed to have a show there. Got to see a huge run of buddies and make some new friends and everything you kind of want from a show like that. But we've got a whole show to get into that. What have you been up to? Cause you had, you did some kind of fun stuff this weekend as well, right? |
| Jason Heaton | Yes. Some of it was sort of fun. Some of it was related to our episode last week. We did our imperfect products episode, which got some great response on Slack, by the way. A lot of people showing off their jeeps and Land Rovers and opinions about those vehicles and whatever. So I'm glad that resonated. Yeah, so sort of related to last week's Imperfect Products, I had a bit of a mixed weekend, if you'd call it that, because last Thursday I went to the Banff Mountain Film Festival, for those of you that might be familiar with that. So obviously based in, or started, you know, decades ago up in Banff in Canada. They do kind of this mountain film festival of short films and I went to the kind of the world tour event here in Minneapolis with a friend of mine. And, um, I'll get to that a bit more in final notes, but I went out, I was going to go pick up a friend and I started up the defender and there was a new, very loud rattle from the rear end and got out to take a look. And lo and behold, uh, the, the, the bracket that holds the tailpipe to the frame had, um, rusted through and fallen down. And the tailpipe was resting on the bracket that holds the mud flap on. So. not a catastrophic failure. There are other brackets that hold the exhaust system up, but it was a very loud and annoying noise. So I went to pick up my friend who also happens to own a Defender. And before we went out for a pre-movie beer, I was on my back underneath with some uh hose clamps to do a quick quick repair and then over the weekend I had to kind of rig up something slightly more durable in the way of some galvanized pipe strapping um which is the way it stands now but then sometime this week I'm gonna have to go and affect an even more more permanent fix for that but uh yeah it was it was an interesting interesting few days while you were um in Vancouver I was watching some some great films which I'll again I'll get to later and then uh fixing the Defender once again. So it's always interesting. |
| James Stacy | That's great, man. Yeah, well, I'm glad that you got to check out the film tour. That's super fun and definitely a cool thing. It's a bummer to have an exhaust hanger rust out and come off, but at the same time, that means you don't have to remove the exhaust from that hanger. And if you don't have that dumb tool, which you're supposed to have, and of course, the few times that I've replaced an exhaust, I don't. And you just fight with the little rubber element in the hanger. They're such an incredible piece of engineering that looks so simple, and you're like, oh, I should be able to reef the beam out of that, and you just can't. I mean, you might have been saved a certain amount of effort by not having to remove the exhaust system from the hanger, but who knows, I guess, if you've got to put the new one back on. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, we'll see. I mean, I've got, I've got an idea in my mind and everything that seems like an easy fix seldom is, but we'll see. Currently it's, it's hanging by these, this, uh, like I said, perforated galvanized strap that's used, you know, for hanging plumbing and duct work and that sort of thing. And it's, it's, it works okay, but it's, uh, I've got it bolted, um, into the, the aluminum tub, which has created this new weird sort of resonance. It's like I get this weird vibration. So I put a rubber pad under, I mean, you know, it's just this series of like little intermediate fixes that I'm doing. And that little vibration, it just, it doesn't, it just bothers me now. And of course, it's not a very permanent fix. So I've got like an, I bought like a L shaped heavy duty steel bracket and I'm going to use the old exhaust hanger and try to |
| James Stacy | attach it to that etc etc so i'm not going to get into it too much but anyway that's that's this week's adventure it's about time to dust off your welding skills yeah right if i had any yeah hey the internet can teach you how to do just about anything i've attempted right uh before uh welding to go that route yeah for sure |
| Jason Heaton | As long as you get the voltage for it. Yeah, right, right. But other than that, yeah, that's kind of what's been going on my side of the show here. And we'll get more into your heavy duty three days on the west coast there. Before we do that, let's do a quick wrist check because you've got a lot to cover with regard to the show. What are you wearing? What were you wearing and what are you wearing now? |
| James Stacy | So, to the show, I brought a couple of watches. Actually, there's some fun stories for watches. So, first, I got a watch back after, we think, seven to eight years. So, my steel Hallios Tropic with the blue dial, the steel bezel, I loaned that to Mike Pearson when I was still living in Vancouver. oh wow so i think it was probably either fall 17 or spring 18 that i loaned it to him i don't remember i would have to go back into my phone reel and maybe see if there's a photo of us hanging out together to remember the exact time yeah but i loaned him that watch and then the present you know the thing was just like oh i'll see you again and over the eight years we've probably seen each other a dozen times maybe maybe more like maybe more like 16 17 times yeah and i guess i mentioned it briefly on a show recently i don't remember that but it's definitely possible and mike actually remembered to bring it so i got back a halios that i hadn't thought about that by all by all measure was Mike's. He could have kept it. Everything would have been just fine. Yeah. Especially if he was enjoying it. But he brought it back. So I got that back. It's next to me. Very fun to have. And then I wore the CWC N1. And then of course, I took the the Hallios Vancouver LE, the Rolldorf one from 2018, which I spoke about on a recent episode. So I was wearing those for the most part. And then while I was in town, I got two more watches on loan from buddies. The first one being a new version, a speakeasy version of the Arken Altarum. So we have a segment with Ken coming up in a few minutes here, but he can explain the speakeasy system. But it's basically like he makes a special version that isn't really marketed, doesn't really go on the website, but if you ask for it, you can get the order in. So this is a standard spec Alterum, which is a titanium dual time watch. You can check it out on their website. I'll include a link in the show notes, of course. We've spoken about it a ton. I have the lume dial spec from the first year. which I like quite a bit. This is a whole different vibe despite being the same watch. So it's on a rubber strap. Turns out I might like that better. It's a really good rubber. Oh, yeah. And then the case is covered in Cerakote. So it's a green Cerakote for sort of the Pacific Northwest color spec or colorway with sort of an OD green. And then the crown and the date pusher are black and the bezel is black also in a Cerakote. So it really has this really fantastic sort of cool, warm monotone that's not as severe as all black, but the two color spec is quite nice. And then the dial is very similar to the rest of them, but this has sort of a sandy, almost goldy color GMT hand. So it's just a few small tweaks, a different case finish, a different GMT hand. And Ken has done these for other things as well. This one is kind of linked between Arkan being around for Watches and Wonders, so the Geneva, and then also the Vancouver. So it's Geneva, Vancouver. I'm going to call it Vancouver. He said he's got another one coming for the Toronto show, so keep that in mind if you're interested. And then always just know that if you get a chance to interact with Ken, maybe ask to see whatever speakeasy he has, because he doesn't talk about them otherwise. It's sort of an ask and no sort of thing. Super happy with this. I can't believe that I like it more than the bracelet, but I almost certainly do. And the green and black is just such a neat way to not do the steel or the bare titanium, but still have a color spec that isn't just a jet black watch. I just really, really like it. And then the other one I picked up and brought home is the new Titanium Gen 4 C4 from Halios. So this is in a full lume dial, black dive bezel, and I've only had this for a couple of days and I haven't had time to really size the bracelet and give it a run, so just stay tuned to a future episode on that front. because I will spend more time with this watch and I'm sure I'll have more to say about it. But honestly, if you like the idea of a C4, I'll have more notes on how it actually wears in the future, but a lume dial titanium C4 is a pretty exciting thing. That is cool. I remember seeing a photo of that. Yeah, it looks great. So if we're talking wrist check strictly, I have the Altairum Speakeasy Vancouver on. But if we're speaking more broadly, those are the kind of the four or five watches of the last week or so. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Good. Very fun. |
| Jason Heaton | Good picks. Seems very fitting for where you were. That's great. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. And what have you got on for the day? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I've kind of gone back to basics. I've got the Pelagos FXD on, you know, we had our, our tournament early, uh, early in this year. And that was my pick for kind of the one watch that I'll be wearing for a month at some point this year. And I'm, I'm kind of warming up to it. I, if I didn't have this Scotland trip that I talked about, uh, on last week's episode coming up, um, in which I'll be wearing a different watch. Um, I, I'd be tempted to just start today. I've been wearing this one for a couple of days now and it's, you know, it's, Predictably, just a great one watch, comfortable, don't think about it much. And then when I look down, it makes me smile. So yeah, that's what I've got on for the foreseeable future. |
| James Stacy | Oh man, that's great. Yeah, good pick for sure. Obviously, an interior fave. I've spent the flight back writing all about the Ultra. that story should be up by the time this episode comes out on Hodinkee, so feel free. And it was interesting to kind of reframe the idea of like, what is the Pelagos? What does Tudor want to do with this? Because sometimes it's dive watches, sometimes it's even more intense dive watches, sometimes it's not dive watches, it's like bike chronographs and that sort of thing. So it's an interesting sort of little consideration of what they're up to with that kind of stuff. But yeah, the FXD is great. I saw a couple of really nice ones this weekend. |
| Jason Heaton | well, do you remember, um, it was just a two, maybe three years ago when, when I think, you know, we, we were talking about the tutor and we were talking about the Pelagos and they hadn't really done much with the Pelagos for, for several years. It was kind of just this standard, you know, high end, great, you know, ultimate sort of apex predator dive watch. And, and their focus seemed to be almost entirely on the black Bay. You know, we had the, you know, the GMT and we had all the different variations of this, you know, black by 41 and the black Bay, you know, 58, et cetera. And, and thought like, what, what, what do you think they'll do with the Pelagos? Well, lo and behold, like over the past few years, it's just exploded into any number of skews. I mean, just like, you know, from GMT to like you said, you know, the, the bike team one and, um, you know, just, just a whole, whole slew of different variations. So I guess, uh, I guess they had something up their sleeve and lo and behold, there's a lot out there now. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, absolutely. I think it's been an interesting evolution, and to see them now kind of go directly back to the core, it's insane how much character and kind of personality the original model has, the original three, the 500s, where, and I think a lot of it came from that cutout RIAT, which the 39 doesn't have, and which the Ultra doesn't have. And in many ways, when you look on the website, like if you squint a little bit, the the ultra and the 39 next to each other look like the same watch and i think it's because of that the lack of that riot of going to a standard minute track yeah there yeah a little bit smaller a little bit less three-dimensional and like i i certainly understand why especially if the goal was to keep it slim because this watch it with a thousand meters is certainly less than two millimeters. It's either like 1.3 or 1.7 millimeters thicker than the standard. So like a very, very, very small difference over a 500 meter model. But anyways, we've definitely talked about this watch a ton already, but yeah, I'm pretty fascinated by it. It's also, you know, META certified for only what 750 bucks more. So like you get a better movement and updated, you know, the higher specs, the great loom, all that kind of stuff. And you really don't give up much from the standard 500 meter. Obviously you can't go blue or LHD, which I think is still quite important to people. So those models will continue. But yeah, I think it's a goodie for sure. All right, time for some main episode. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, Tudor was not in Vancouver, but plenty of Tudor was not in Vancouver. |
| James Stacy | No, it wasn't. That's one of the things, you know, as much as I enjoy watches and wonders or the type of shit like a show big enough for a Tudor or you look at some of the major brands that come to wind up, you know, you've got Oris, you've got Citizen and this sort of thing. And those are all very exciting, but there's something really fun about like the genuine grassroots feel of the majority of the brands. at these timepiece shows, whether it's Toronto or Vancouver. And so for those of you who might be new since last year, since last September, the first ever of these timepiece shows, the Toronto timepiece show, was last September. Jason came up for it. We had a killer time. You can check out that episode. We did a live episode with several, like a potluck of people coming on stage and talking. It was a great time. I'll put that in the show notes. This is sort of the next version of that show, which is for Vancouver. It was a little smaller, didn't have the podcasting space, so we didn't do a live show. And due to his travel schedule, Jason was able to make it, so I was repping for TGN there. and i got in on thursday and there was like a mixer event that evening so i got in thursday afternoon kind of dropped my bags did a little bit of work and then just had myself like a vancouver after and then just kind of had myself a vancouver afternoon i went for a long walk on the seawall i got some oysters and a beer at the lift it was really nice and then i jetted back across the uh back across the barrard inlet to north van which is where the show was also where my hotel was and kind of hung out with a handful of brands there for sort of like a mixer. So got to see and meet a bunch of people, got to see a bunch of the old buddies and that sort of thing. So we're talking about everybody from Mike Pearson to Ken Lamb was there and the folks from Elliot Brown and kind of like an endless list of obviously the folks from Marathon we did an event with on Sunday at Roaldorf. So a really nice event, a really nice hangout on Thursday evening. Moving on kind of quickly, Friday I had sort of a free day until like 5. So I grabbed myself one Ken Lamb early in the morning and we jetted across town to Revolver Coffee, which I've talked about in the past. Terry, who owns Revolver, met up with us. Terry's a huge watch guy, big camera nerd as well. A guy whose friendship I've really come to enjoy over the last few years. So if I make it to town, I always make an effort to go see Terry. It's also the best coffee, so really easy breakfast date. So we hung out at Revolver. It was, yeah, like I said, it was Ken and Terry and I, and then my buddy Take, who goes by BigHeadTaco on Instagram, Take Keio. He was there as well. He had some very cool cameras and some great watches. We had a really cool hangout. Finally got to see that new Sigma BF, that really wild, looks like it was all made out of one piece of aluminum sort of Sigma that came out of maybe, two months ago. So he had one with him, got to check that out, which is super rad. Had some great coffee. And then it was just like a sunny, beautiful day in Vancouver. And I had like only emails to reply to. I didn't have to be at a computer all day. So Ken and I just started walking. Takei walked with us for a while until we got to the other side of downtown. And he went one way and I took Ken along the seawall. And then we stopped at the Best Cactus Club, which is the only one worth going to, which is right on the beach. And so you could sit in the sun and have a bite to eat. And then we continued our walk through Stanley Park. When we got to the other side of Stanley Park, we jumped in an Uber and went to Lynn Canyon. I was really trying to check some boxes for Ken. He came all this way. So we went and did a lap at Lynn Canyon. It was perfect. I mean, like midday, super sunny, warm, and you get to be in the canyon. So you get some of the sunlight, but all the coolness from the water and the rest of it. It was perfect. And after that, we went back down to North Van, back to where the show was, got some incredible ramen. And then there was like a media event that evening at the show, similar to what we did Friday night at the Toronto show. So like most of the brands were partially or fully set up and people were just kind of walking around, hanging out, meeting with other brands. So that was great. And then Saturday, we had a full day at the show. So I was running around seeing as many watches as possible, recording segments, which you're going to hear in a few minutes, most of those were recorded Saturday, little five to 10 minute chats with a variety of brands and other personalities at the show. That evening after the show, and the show was great. It was like pretty busy, but not shoulder-to-shoulder. You know, Vancouver's a little bit more chill of a town than Toronto, and I think we saw that in the way the crowds came. It was just kind of steady. There wasn't like a huge rush or a wave. It was very busy in the morning, and then it just kind of steadied out, and it was good. Brands seemed super happy with attendance. I know that several brands were selling watches. And, you know, maybe some of that comes down to the uncertainty of things like tariffs and the rest of it. Like if you're right there and the watch is in your hand and they've got it, that's an option. And then other brands were doing, like I think CW was offering something where they didn't have stock there, but you could make the order there and then it was shipped under certain benefits of like duties paid and that sort of thing. So there were some good benefits to being at the show. It's also a free show. And where they had it in the shipyards on the north side, like in North Van, but by the Lonsdale shipyards, it's just, you know, you could come to the show for a couple hours, go get a great bite to eat, go get a great cup of coffee, sit in the sun, come back to the show. It was super easy and relaxed and kind of fun that way. And then that evening, the Watch Hang Group did a hangout with Arkin, Veyr, Serica, and RZE, which we went and hung out for a little while. Really fun hang. And then I went out to dinner with a few folks from the show. And that was Saturday. It was honestly like just an incredible day. And then Sunday, the whole thing for me kind of shifted to getting ready for the event at Roldorf. So obviously many of you listening were able to make it. Those of you who weren't in town, we had found the ability of wanting to do another party with Marathon, which we did in Toronto. It was this great party and we wanted to kind of recapture that, but finding a space in Vancouver is very difficult. In comes our good buddy Jason Gallop and Mary Gallop at Rolldorf, who offered the store. So I just had a bunch of things to kind of run around and get last minute because of course the the fellas from Marathon Martin and Harrison were tied up at the show and Jason had a ton of other stuff to do. They had done an event the night before with Fortis. They were helping Poland watches at the show. You know, they had some some really cool stuff there as well. So then I ran around like mad, got a bunch of beer from 33 Acres, one of my favorite breweries, and just had to pick up things like ice and cups and that sort of thing to get ready. And then once we were ready, zip back to the show for like another hour, just to say my, you know, kind of final goodbyes, chat with a few extra people, and then zip back to Roaldorf across the water. Thankfully, the ferry was very easy. And the party was a smash hit, dude. It was packed. and full of just the most fun people. Got to see some really cool watches that came through. Lots of friendly faces. Lots of folks who were in town for the event and were able to stay into Sunday. Saw CWN1. It was really good. It was just like a very successful, chill, fun event. Good beer. Great food from Brioche down the street. And, you know, we'll have we'll have maybe some more coverage of this in the future, but it was just a really easy thing. We did maybe a total of two minutes of talking in terms of addressing the crowd, Marathon and TGN, very similar vibes in terms of if it's a party, we're there to party, we'll have a good time. Nobody wants to watch a PowerPoint presentation at 7.30 at night after a day of working the show. So yeah, it went really, really well. I did want to say just a huge thank you to everyone who came out to the show that, you know, came out because they're a listener of TGN. I think it was quite successful. And then beyond that, just a massive thank you to Marathon, who helps, you know, split the costs on the event. And they're just the easiest guys to work with. Obviously, we're big fans of their watches. And then finally, for Rolldorf for stepping up and really asking for nothing in exchange. to give us a spot to have this party, to be able to hang out kind of in our own context. I think it's a really cool way to wrap up the show, to kind of do the last night and have a chance. I know it's a little tough for people who only came in for the Saturday, but, you know, we'll always adjust and there's a good, you know, we're already in talks for what we'll do in Toronto. So if you can make it to the Toronto show, which I believe is the third week of September, check timepeashow.com to confirm that. But it's definitely in September, and if you can make it to that show, we'll have more events and more programming and that sort of stuff. So I think that's sort of the social rundown of the show. It was a real treat to get to just kill a Friday midday with Ken. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, I can imagine, yeah. How much overlap was there in terms of the people that you saw, other than the brands? Did you bump into people that came to both shows as just attendees, or was it a whole different, kind of more of a local crowd? |
| James Stacy | Yeah, I think it was mostly more local, and there was a lot of folks up from like Washington, as you'd expect, right? A few folks up from Portland, like guys that made the drive, which is awesome. But I would say most of the people that you and I saw in Toronto, if I saw them again in Vancouver, it was brand folks or other like media elements. Maybe the best thing to do would be to buzz through some of the watches that I felt were the highlights. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And before you do that, and speaking of watches, like how cool was it to see CWN1, you know, TGN watches in the wild? I don't know. How many did you see? A couple or? |
| James Stacy | Two. I saw two total. Yeah. You know, but one, one was from someone who ordered it directly during the pre-order and one was from someone who got it off BST. yeah i think those those are both awesome options and both folks are pretty happy with them so that that makes me really happy definitely got a lot of you know sort of people asking to see it see mine if i had it with me yeah so that's also kind of fun uh we and we saw at least one of the uh 300 meter CW diver. So the dive, you know, kind of dive brother. Yeah, for to the CWN one, which was also pretty fun. So that was great. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, they're out there. Cool. Yeah. All right. Well, what did you see at the show that you liked? |
| James Stacy | So I've got a big list, and I'll try and move through them fairly quickly. You know, there was a lot of brands at the show. And there were some I didn't even get a chance, like some of these brands, you wanted to get five minutes with them on Mike, like even something like Mike Pearson, where he's been on the show many times. Dude, their booth was slammed. Serica, slammed. Formix, slammed. You know, just Marathon always had a couple people in front of it. Like, it was good. It wasn't like the... You remember CW at Toronto that first day? It was like, you know, five deep and 12 wide. It wasn't quite like that, but man, there was a lot of people there to see that C12, which is probably the spot where we can start the new loco. And look, I think it's a tough pick for me. This is the main question I got if I brought up the C12 is what do you think it's that or the Belcanto? And for me, the Belcanto feels somehow wilder, although I understand the tech and everything that went into the C12 is actually probably more extreme. and you see that in the price point as well. I just thought it was a really good watch. Surprising wearable given its size, like it wore better than I expected. I still think the smaller sizing of the 12, like into the sub 40 millimeter versions, is kind of preferable, but you're not going to get that level of complication. into a watch of that size right and the the execution was cool and then look if you didn't want to do like the gray the kind of demure you know grays on grays sort of subtle vibe they had this bright blue and a bright orange i i wouldn't say it's necessarily my first cw you know, that would probably be the trident c 60. Something more in the my headspace, my own headspace. But man, I think it's a big move for the brand, but an impressive watch for sure. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, yeah, I'm sure that was a buzz. And the fact that they released it like a week before, must have really had people buzzing. That's great. |
| James Stacy | Yeah and then some of the let's quickly through some of the other ones you know it's always a treat and I think it's a perfect example of why these shows are important but the brand Space One who they make the tellurium and and they make these really wild sort of avant-garde like if you imagine sort of the weird top spec debut tunes the dream machines and that sort of thing it's like in that aesthetic in that space but much more affordable And they launched a world timer, which I can't find on their website. So if I if it's not out yet, I don't really know what to tell you, because it was definitely on the table at I didn't like I didn't ask for, you know, I didn't ask for any special access. It was just sitting on the table. And I saw people taking pictures for their Instagram. So I don't feel bad. But space one has a new world timer. Uh, if I can find a shot of it on Instagram or whatever, I will put it in the show notes. Very, very cool watch. I think they said it was a little under three grand. And we're talking about, like, sort of something, again, in the headspace of a debatoon or a, uh, maybe an URWERK or an MB&F. Like, just a really wild, segmented display. Uncommon, you know, very unique sort of case shape and that sort of thing. Very cool and fun. The next one I saw, and it's always a treat to see them in person, but they've got a piece I was really kind of delighted by, is Veyr. And so they had a booth there, they threw that event the Saturday night with Watch Hang and a few other brands. I got a chance to spend some time with Austin, who used to be with Momentum. Jason, you'll remember Austin. Yeah, sure. And he had on the G5 Pacific Steel. And man, assuming that these are gettable, I think they had something of a wait list or a delay in terms of production and that sort of thing. Really, really impressive, nice sized 9075 based GMT with a bracelet. Comes in at, I think it's 850 in terms of pricing. I was really impressed by this. Highly recommend if that's something you're interested in. Just kind of a very pretty sword hand, a blending of some aesthetics from classic Rolex and classic Omega, kind of following the Veyr vibe all along, but a pretty sweet piece as well. I got introduced to and got a chance to see the product from RZE watches. Big shout out to Huey, who I spent a bunch of the weekend with. Really good dude out of Edmonton. And RZE watches, they kind of have a range, but if you wanted to try and get like the core vibe, in my opinion, of the brand, check out something like the UDT8000, which is a really cool sort of borderline indestructible take on like a digital watch. Great price points from their stuff. And they had a bunch of other gear. They make products for big eye design. So that kind of gives you an idea of both the quality and the spec. but their watches are all titanium. They come in a variety of versions. There's field versions and dive watches, all sorts of different sizes. And then they have this sort of like broad scope of like an EDC interested brand. But everything from the Valor 38 all the way to the UDT 8000, everything I saw felt pretty nice and considered. And I think if you guys got a chance to talk with Huey for five minutes, he's on a very similar wavelength to the sort of TGN vibes. So those were super impressive as well. And the price point's kind of remarkable on those because you're coming in, in many cases, let me see. You know, some of these watches are under 400 bucks, depending on what you're looking for. And they're kind of distinctive and not especially generic, but at the same time, where they hit the more generic elements of maybe some dial design, kind of keeps it from feeling too wild or strange. They also do yellow quite well, which is like a core color for them. And obviously those of you who listen know I'm a big, big fan of yellow watches when it's done correctly. So RZE, like I said, shout out to Huey, good work on that stuff. Really nice to get, you know, get a chance to spend five, 10 minutes chatting with the folks from Elliott Brown that the, I guess, Friday morning, it would have been, they went whale watching. So they had a blast. Went out into the Gulf Islands and saw some orcas, which is very cool. And as a guy who lived in Vancouver for, you know, seven, eight years, I never did that. So shout out to them. Got a chance to spend a little bit more time with the Arnie, which is their take on like a field watch. Really, really quite nice. Not really surprised that it's nice. You know, I'm a big fan of the Beachmaster, Jason, that you gave me. And they've got some cool sort of iterations planned for the rest of the year. But then Jason you shared a bit of an update from them. They've they've had to or they're planning on ceasing Sales to the u.s. Due to the tariffs. Is that accurate? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah Yeah, pretty sad that just was looking at their website today and it says due to the recent introduction of significantly increased tariffs on all imports into the United States We've had to make the difficult decision to temporarily pause all sales to the United States. |
| James Stacy | So that is really so unfortunate Yeah, you could you could tell like speaking with them that they were not thrilled about the position this put the brand so yeah hopefully this is something that they don't you know is a short-term problem for them whether it's because the tariffs go away or there's other loopholes or solutions found but that's a real bummer and if you've got a chance and you're in the market for one of their watches now would be a good time to obviously give them some support assuming you're not you're not in the U.S. or you can kind of Ship it another way. I like I said that the Beachmasters a solid piece of product and certainly your Holton GMT Matches up nicely with that as well. They're good folks, too. I really like them Yeah, and I mentioned having dinner with Peter from Jack Mason got a chance to see some of their watches quickly really really nice sort of in in my mind like kind of reminded me of Like a Manta in that sort of space like very nice thoughtful you know, down the middle sort of conventional options for dive watches and sport watches. But I did get a chance to spend a little bit of extra time with the Canton. This is the one I saw was a black dial model, quite a nice thing for what they're offering. So shout out to them for sure. And nice to see them at the show as well. Oh, got to see the Serica Parade, which is their new, it's a dress watch, but it's done, you know, within the, not aesthetic, but the functional format of a sports watch. So they haven't necessarily cut too many quarters. It's called the 1174, comes in two different models. It's about 1500 euros, and it's just a really good looking kind of shaped case take. I actually Can't decide Jason. Do you like the brass model or the black dial because the brass model? The lighter dial I think is more legible and and brings out the sort of wavy design they have in it like the engraving Oh, I I love the brass. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I think that looks great. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Yeah i'm not sure that the two-tone vibe kind of speaks to me But this is a watch that if you don't know it and and i'd seen it when it came out like on instagram So I hadn't seen it in person. It's just very impressive. It's still 100 meters of water resistance Uh to 38 uh sorry 35 by 41 millimeter case so it's sort of oblong uh 41 millimeter that would be the lug to lug shape and 35 wide 8.3 millimeters thick uh uses a swiss automatic movement i was really impressed by this uh i think this is a watch that will help expand their brand nicely And then they also showed some stuff that's coming in the next few months. And if you're more in the vibe of like their true sport watch side, if that's more your home for Serica, stay tuned because they've got some neat stuff there as well. But the parade is rad. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it's a neat watch and it's neat to see a brand, a smaller brand doing interesting stuff with shape. You know, it's, and this is a shape I just haven't seen before in a watch. I mean, you think of, you know, some Cartiers and older Pateks and things like that. Exactly. This is just wild. It's really cool. And that brass dial really Not a watch I'd wear probably, but it speaks to me more than the black. That's a neat piece. Glad you got to see that. |
| James Stacy | Also got a chance to have 10 minutes to chat with the guys from Hanhart, a brand that I don't think I've seen in person in a decade, maybe, or maybe a little bit less than eight years, something like that. But got to connect with them and they're doing a lot of stuff in 39. If you haven't had a moment to see the 417 in 39 millimeter or the 415, which I think is a little bit bigger, the ES pure version of the 415, really, really cool. And they are really like hitting this sort of definitive vibe of Hanhart, but now just in a slightly smaller case shape. And that 417 is quite a good looking thing. So yeah, hoping to get a chance to spend a little bit more time with their models in the future, maybe a hands on maybe, you know, maybe take one for a test drive, that sort of thing. but if you haven't given Hanhart some attention in the last little while, one, super cool to see them at the show, but two, the product is solid. They've got some really nice sporty, especially if you like the idea of a sport watch with a, it's not just Neo Vintage or like New Vintage or Faux Vintage or whatever, they have this sort of like old watch made new sort of vibe that I think works really well, and they've stuck to that aesthetic quite nicely. |
| Jason Heaton | And they do buns, bun straps really nicely. |
| James Stacy | And they do buns, yeah. They had the market cornered on buns for sure. Look, the other ones I saw that was great, you know, there's nothing brand new here for us and for this market, especially if you've come to any of the wind-ups, but Studio Underdog, like seeing any of their stuff in person is just so much fun. I got very briefly to see the Studio Underdog Fierce collab they did for Watchmakers Day, British Watchmakers Day, which was very cool. But any chance to see Studio Underdog stuff in person is great. I mean, I'm not sure there's any brand hitting color and sort of referential aesthetic as well. Got to hang out for just a few minutes with the folks from Fears. Big fan of their stuff. I tried on the Arnos, which is like their rectangular dress watch. Dude, it's so good. Like, it's not cheap at all. That's like a premium sort of offering from Fears, but it's really, really good. So if you haven't checked that out, especially in pewter blue, and they have it with a rubber strap. And man, I didn't get to try the rubber strap size, so you just kind of pinch it down for your wrist. But that's such an interesting take of a kind of upscale, fancier dress watch with that traditional British aesthetic. And then on top of it, sort of a very simple, smooth rubber strap. Really, really nice to see their stuff in person. The other one that really stood out for me, especially when you get into price points, is Paulin, which is like a side brand to Ann Ordain. They had a great crowd the whole weekend that they were there, but the watches are really cool and just a really reasonable sort of generalized price point. But the Module D, which comes in a bunch of different versions, Module D, Module E, And then there's a quartz, a manual wind and an automatic. They have this very sort of primary core aesthetic that I think works really, really well. And, you know, bringing out and so that's the loom module is what they're called. And then bringing out an offering that that kind of expands on not specifically the Anordain vibe, but on their type of execution, I think makes a lot of sense. And they're working with Rolldorf, I believe, to do some local fulfillment and building, like assembly. So that's a great option there as well. If you don't know the brand, it's an easy check it out and get it on your radar, because they've got some nice stuff under $1,000 for sure. Moving on, trying to keep this quick. Sorry, I know I am rambling pretty good, especially given that we have six or seven great conversations to get to in just a moment. So let me be quick on a few of these. Got to see more from Formax, including like their fully ceramic and skeletonized model. Really impressive stuff. I also think that brand really just stands out for what they're doing with clasps. Their micro, like tool-less micro-adjust stuff is crazy. They're the ones, if you remember back a while ago, I had the Reef LE they did with Collective. with Asher and Gabe. And that had a deployant clasp, but the deployant had a micro adjust, which is so clever and cool. Big fan of FormX, especially the dive stuff, which gives you some options for changing bezels and dials and all that kind of stuff. So definitely check in with FormX if that's new to you. You know, we had on Ares on the Toronto show last year. And so I didn't see anything. I saw some of their more modern, but I didn't see like anything drastically different than what they had last year. But that Diver 1 or the GMT, they're just really, really cool, well-made watches in person. So I had five minutes with one of those on my wrist as I chatted with those guys. Let's not forget Marathon, who of course supported us at the show. I thought I knew their product line inside and out. Turns out there was a model I hadn't tried, which they call the Officer's Quartz. I'd seen it in the larger spec, and it's also the case that's used for the 41 millimeter Officer's Jeep watch, but they make it in a 36 millimeter in auto or quartz, and it's called the SS-GPQD. And this thing is really cool. It's itty bitty. It has that swoopy, Old-school case shape, but then this very weird concave raised bezel up to the crystal Yeah, I really like these they don't wear like a normal field watch they feel kind of elevated and different But the price point is pretty solid and so that's what I was wearing around Sunday and wore to the party Really cool. I don't know that I would take it over the ss-nav-d just because I love having that 12-hour bezel But if what you wanted was a really easy wearing traditionally sized field watch, that's like a really strong competitor in my mind to something like the Hamilton's and that sort of vibe. I think there's a huge amount of like value on offer here and just a really good looking watch that I think I think came in under it's $470 USD in quartz. which like isn't inexpensive for a quartz watch but for a marathon with tritium tubes and the date and all this kind of stuff I think it's a really kind of compelling thing especially if you prefer that smaller watch vibe especially for your field watch it kind of has that same profile or on-wrist presence as like a dirty dozen where it just it feels a little almost a little bit over small but in a way that I find quite appealing little tiny dial great legibility thanks to the the luminous application of the tritium tubes and that sort of thing so really cool and a good one and then lastly i'd bring up uh you know i've written about them before but i hadn't seen them in person so i can be very quick about strom watches And, you know, I'm not specific with any model. I kind of like everything they make, and a lot of it comes down to the dials. They do these really wild, colorful, textured dials in this very nicely sized, beautiful, integrated bracelet case design. And now they have a rubber coming as well, which they showed. It's all just really nice stuff. It's another brand where I would say, like, and this is kind of the value of going to these shows, is what's on your radar versus what isn't. And, like, Strom isn't a brand where you can walk into your local store and check them out. So you get that benefit of the show. so they did a collab a while ago with Fratello watches called the Strom Jan Mayen or Jan Mayen limited edition and I covered that for Hodinkee and just kind of fell in love with the design and the cool bracelet and these wild dials and now get to see the person just kind of close the loop on that so I'll include a link to that original story and of course to the brand in the show notes but that's sort of the quick rundown I'm sure there's brands that you know that I didn't get to there's some brands I didn't get a chance to see uh you know over over the course of the weekend but it was a great show and and that's sort of the the highlights of going back over my camera roll of stuff that I got kind of excited about or or in some cases I already knew about and liked but finally got to see in person yeah these are um this is a great list and and you know just going down the list you know not well yeah not one of these watches was at watches and wonders |
| Jason Heaton | You know, I mean, yeah, that's what's neat about it. Like you said, going to these shows, you see stuff that you just normally wouldn't or you only see on Instagram or somebody's wrist shot in Slack or something like that. Yeah, that Strom is really cool. I had not on my radar. That is really a neat looking watch. |
| James Stacy | The benefits of these shows, it's not just that you're going to see things that aren't at Watches and Wonders, right? But you're also, I'm seeing stuff that like lots of enthusiasts see, maybe depending on what's in their city, but just wouldn't be available in a Toronto or Vancouver, you know, at the drop of a hat. Some of these could be shipped anywhere in the world, of course. And if I want to see a Serica, I can send an email and those guys are great and they'll loan me stuff. But it's just nice to be able to do it in this format where it's a lot of just kind of casual conversations and quick wrist shots and that sort of thing. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | All right. Let's extend beyond that. I am talking quickly because I know I'm running over time here. Let's jump into kind of the other side of the main topic of the show, which is, I think it's seven different conversations with everybody from Jason Hutton, who is the proprietor of the show, the man behind the timepiece shows in Canada, and all the way up to a few people behind brands, to some friends that have been on the mic before and even beyond that. So let's jump into some clips from the show and we'll kick it off with Jason Hutton from Timepiece Show, the brand, the company. Let's do it. All right, I'm here with Mr. Jason Hutton, the lead man, the president, if you will, of the Timepiece shows. Dude, Vancouver, you nailed it. Thank you. The weather, the vibe. |
| Jason Hutton | I put a call in to make some good weather, so I'm glad they listened. Yeah, it's a beautiful venue. We're sitting down on a bench just outside the show venue. You can see the beautiful downtown Vancouver skyline. There's a freighter going by in the water. Like, it's pretty incredible. And yeah, super happy with the crowd. Everybody's having a great time. |
| James Stacy | I don't want to take up too much of your time. It's literally one of your busiest days of the year, but I appreciate you taking five minutes. You were on the Toronto show. It's been really fun to be able to do some work with the timepiece shows and to see it in Vancouver, the city I love, the city that I've been trying to convince people for years has a huge watch. enthusiast base. |
| Unknown | Absolutely. |
| James Stacy | It's really nice to see the see the show hit. How many brands this year and how's it kind of evolving? |
| Jason Hutton | There's about 55 brands this year. We have a lot of repeats from Toronto, but some new brands as well, especially from Switzerland and some other areas in Europe. who've come over and joined the show. I think it makes a really nice assortment of brands. We've got a real range. The shows, as you know, they're always designed to be very welcoming and all levels of watch enthusiasts. We've been super happy with the crowd. The Vancouver crowd's been great. I feel overdressed. I'm wearing a blazer right now. Everybody else is wearing hoodies and shorts. It's a very casual town, so I'll probably lose the jacket tomorrow, but we'll see. It's been great. That's great. And look, before I let you go, what have you got on your wrist? I've got my own brand today. The Zinnia Time and Space Meteorite. So I know it's a very odd joke because that's usually what I'm wearing 80% of the time, but I love it. So good. It's a vintage watch, you know, a million year old meteorite. So it's a, it's a vintage watch. That's great. |
| James Stacy | Well, look, obviously, if people are listening and they didn't make it to Vancouver, that doesn't mean they don't get a chance at another great show this year. You've got one coming up in Toronto. |
| Jason Hutton | We do, September 19th to 21st, 2025, Toronto Timepiece Show. We've got a new venue this year, the Viridian Arts Centre. It's a very large facility. There's some amazing things happening on the show weekend. We're expecting about 90 to 95 brands. We're already sold almost 70% of exhibitor spaces too, so more announcements to come. We've got an incredible number of brands coming, a lot of repeats, and some very, very exciting new people as well. |
| Unknown | Amazing. |
| Jason Hutton | Many big announcements coming, so come on down. The tickets are free on the weekend as well, so same structure. |
| Unknown | Nice. And if people would like to follow along, timepieceshow.com. |
| Jason Hutton | Yeah, timepiece.show, or sorry, timepieceshow.com is the website. Our Instagram, which is where we're the most active for Toronto's Toronto Timepiece Show. We also have at Vancouver Timepiece Show, we have our kind of master account, which is timepiece.show. So whichever one makes sense for you, give us a follow, come to the show. That's the main thing. It's such an amazing thing. The brands appreciate the support and when you're around other watch enthusiasts and you're a watch enthusiast, it's amazing. It's amazing. |
| James Stacy | Thank you so much for bringing us out and having TGN be part of it. It means a lot. And congrats on the show, man. I think I'm looking forward to spending the afternoon in there. |
| Jason Hutton | Thank you so much. A pleasure to have you folks here. And yeah, we'll look forward to seeing you in Toronto as well. |
| James Stacy | You bet. |
| Jason Hutton | Thanks. |
| James Stacy | All right, Harrison, an absolute treat. You're with Marathon Watches, of course. Your title is complicated. What is it? |
| Harrison | It's Strategic Government Contracting Officer. It's a made up title, like most titles. |
| James Stacy | Man, it's an absolute pleasure. Obviously, we've got this great event tomorrow night, which I'm very excited about, which is going to be fun. But how's the show been? What were three or five hours into the show today? |
| Harrison | Yeah, it's been fantastic. Honestly, the the crowd has been so receptive and like, so known to us like the they have a box for putting all the the tickets in for the for the prize draws and marathons is full. It might need to get a second box to fill up that. But no, I think great. We've been had such a big reception. |
| James Stacy | And what are what are the most recent kind of releases that you guys are excited to show? Because articles are D? Yeah. What did you have a favorite size of the three? |
| Harrison | I I love the 41. And I knew I would love 41 because it's what I'm wearing most of the time. But the 36 has been an absolute standard. It's really cool. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | And it's kind of has that like Doxa Coraline vibe where it's a small sport watch. And then the dial is quite small to make room for that bezel. And it just there's other 36 millimeter sport watches for sure. None that are kind of that proportion and shape and that sort of thing. |
| Harrison | Yeah. But because of the indices are so large still, it makes it still so legible. It's fantastic. |
| James Stacy | The other one I'm pumped about, which you handed me one because I'll wear it at the event with Roldorf tomorrow. |
| Harrison | Yeah, so that's the SSGPQ. So it's the stainless steel general purpose courts. It's a yeah, it's the with date version. Yeah. Yeah, the officers, officers courts watch basically. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. So I'll put it in the show notes, of course, but like I saw this and I obviously I know navigators I've owned a couple over the years. And this is kind of the size of a standard Navigator, but in the officer style case with the swoopy bezel and the kind of lifted crystal and the strong lugs. And I think that's a really fun sort of expression. It's more just like, it's so rare to see a watch where it's the same, but it's smaller. And this, it's just a slightly smaller, you know, you put it on a photocopier at 80%. |
| Harrison | Yeah, basically. Yeah. And it's the same case that we've been doing since basically the 1960s. And so it's the as the tritium tubes got added, we just kind of staged up the dial from there. And so it's chamfers up from the base of the legs. It's great. |
| James Stacy | And then, you know, obviously Marathon's interesting because they don't do just watch shows. You guys do Wind Up, of course. You did the Toronto show last year. We also are involved in other shows, the SHOT Show and similar things like that. How does, what's kind of different, the same about something like this versus some of these other shows? Because SHOT Show's massive, right? Yeah. It's huge. |
| Harrison | Yeah, no, it's a it's a very different crowd, but the same crowd, like the guys who are at SHOT Show, it's we go there mostly for the military and law enforcement guys. The reception is the same. It's it's people who like well made things, whether it's firearms, whether it's watches, whether it's, you know. planes, whatever, it's sure it's a good thing. And people really like that. And most people now know us and they expect us to be there. And so it's keeping up that that relationship basically. Nice. |
| James Stacy | And then what's what's on the horizon for me that you're allowed to talk about? What's on the horizon for marathon? or events or other ways that people could interface with the brand special moments. |
| Harrison | Yes, like all the windups, Toronto timepiece as well. |
| James Stacy | We're going to be doing so it's about two weeks until San Francisco, not quite two weeks till San Francisco. Yeah, it's next weekend. So a week Toronto's the third week of I think it's like the 19th to the 22nd, something like that in September. |
| Harrison | Yeah, we got Chicago in July. We're going to try to get more like Red Bar events, things like that. Try to interface with people. The TGN event tomorrow, tomorrow night. Looking forward to it. |
| James Stacy | We should also just do something more casually in the city at some point. We're around. For the Toronto show, if you guys are keen, I would love to do another one. We'd have a good time for sure. |
| Harrison | I think we know a place that we can. Yeah, yeah, we do know a place, the best place. |
| James Stacy | You know, it's it's the secret sauce of the Toronto experience for sure. But Harrison, this is an absolute treat. Obviously, if anybody wants to follow along, it's MarathonWatches.com. |
| Harrison | MarathonWatches.com. Watch. OK. |
| James Stacy | Martin does correct me on watches versus watch MarathonWatches.com for sure. And Instagram and the rest of it. Man, a treat to have you on. Thanks for chatting. Thanks, man. All right. AJ, an absolute treat, man. Really nice to have you on the show. Kicking around, kicking around the fair here in Vancouver. What do you think of it? |
| AJ Barset | Uh, I love it. I mean, Jason's done a smashing job. Uh, this is everything I ever want in a show. I mean, there's people, uh, everybody's super open. The brands are super open and stuff. And I mean, I've been able to sit down with a lot of them and just brass tacks, like talk to them about their design process, uh, the global affairs that are going on and stuff. |
| James Stacy | Also an issue. |
| AJ Barset | Yeah, yeah. So looking forward to, you know, bringing that on to the podcast and stuff. But man, this has been great. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. I mean, look, for the audience that for whatever reason might not know your name, the podcast, that sort of thing. Why don't you give people the elevator pitch? |
| AJ Barset | So I'm AJ Barset. I'm the Analog Explorer. I'm based out of Bellingham, Washington. |
| James Stacy | Yep. I've been a very longtime supporter of TGN. Very long. Yes. Very sincere. Thank you. Oh, OG Patch on the bag. |
| AJ Barset | That patch has been on many mountains, by the way. |
| James Stacy | That's awesome. |
| AJ Barset | Analog Explorer started when my, just before my son was born. And it was just my, I wanted, I needed it. It was my catharsis. I needed to disconnect. I'm an academic by profession. I worked in tech for 10 years and it was my way of kind of sewing disconnect. And I mean, you've experienced this. You travel around the world, right? How many times have you been to some place that somebody has aspired to go to and the first thing they do, they bust out their, their phone and they take a picture as opposed to taking in the fact that they're there. |
| Unknown | Sure. |
| AJ Barset | So for me, that also comes down to watches. It's not about the watch, but what we do and where we go with it. And so all of that gets imbued into the Analog Explorer. |
| James Stacy | And what have you got on wrist today? |
| AJ Barset | This is the Baltic Axegraph bronze that came out during the pandemic. It was my pandemic watch. It is well patina. |
| James Stacy | It is almost black. |
| AJ Barset | It is. It is. |
| James Stacy | It looks really good. |
| AJ Barset | It is. I mean, like it's it's funny because like when I got this, I didn't realize it was going to be the pandemic watch. Right. My wife got this for me for Father's Day. OK. And then the pandemic ensued and then it just didn't come off wrist. And so for me, I look back at this and it's oil rubbed bonds, literally, um, when my son was born, he was born with a bunch of allergies. |
| Unknown | Okay. |
| AJ Barset | And so, and eczema. And so we were doing salves and medications, and this is just for me, like putting that on my son. And then I would have to time it, make sure we have the dosages, right. |
| James Stacy | Sure. |
| AJ Barset | And every time I look at my wrist, that's what this is. So, um, yeah, that's the, that's the Baltic. |
| James Stacy | Well, that's great, man. Well, where can people follow along? How can they hear the podcast? |
| AJ Barset | of Analog Explore Podcasts on every platform where you get your podcasts, just like The Great NATO. And then I'm also on Instagram, at AJ Barse, B-A-R-S-E, or Analog Explore Podcast. |
| James Stacy | Nice. All right, AJ, an absolute treat. Nice to see you, man. Good to see you, bro. Thanks for being on. Cheers. All right, Guy, an absolute pleasure. Elliot Brown Watch's head of sales, correct? That's me. So we met, I think, first at Toronto Time Peace Show. |
| Guy | We did, yes. |
| James Stacy | Which is a treat. |
| Guy | Yes. |
| James Stacy | Nice to see you in Vancouver. |
| Guy | Thank you very much. It's been great to be here. Really fantastic. |
| James Stacy | Definitely want to talk about the show, but let's take one minute to talk about what you did yesterday morning, because I lived in Vancouver for almost a decade and never did it. |
| Guy | Yeah, it was quite unbelievable. We went whale watching, but it's one of those things that you don't really expect it to be quite what it was. You think, okay, we're going to go to some water and see some whales. But we went out to the sound and around the islands, and it's like vision has been expanded. to take in the most enormous and fantastic visions. It was beautiful. And then, so we were out for five hours. You did 107 nautical miles in the boat. And we saw orcas, we saw a bald eagle, we saw sea lions and seals. And it was just a magical experience. |
| Unknown | Yeah, orcas in person. |
| Guy | Yes. |
| Unknown | Something else. |
| Guy | And this was a mother and two sons. And she'd been born prior to 69, I reckon. And we think, what a wacky world we live in. Yeah, yeah. |
| Unknown | It's great. Yeah. |
| Guy | So no, it's just, I think both Jem and I have fallen in love with Vancouver. It's a hell of a city. Yeah. It's just beautiful. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Well, look more, more to the point of the show. How has it been? How has it compared to Toronto? The other shows you guys like to join? |
| Guy | I would say what Jason's done here is a step up from Toronto. Uh, and that's not any criticism. I think it's just learning and the vibe is stronger. Yeah, it is definitely. And we've had some very, very meaningful conversations with people. Uh, generally we've sold products, we've learned more, we've engaged more with the market. And I think that's all that we can hope for and expect. That's great. And I think that will stand us in good stead going forward. You know, with everything that's going on in the world at the moment, we need strong beachheads to grow the business globally. And I am absolutely certain that Canada is one of those. |
| James Stacy | And what are you and the team at Elliot Brown kind of excited about? What are the big moments in the last few months and the few months coming up? |
| Guy | The last few months was Arn. In fact, we launched the first Arn, which is our first 38mm field watch. We launched it at the Toronto Show, or we intended to launch it at the Toronto Show. We launched it an hour beforehand and sold the entire production run out in three minutes. So neither my colleague Ian, who was at the World Time Show in London, or us, actually got to sell any because it all sold online. We were all gone. Yeah. So we, so in February we launched four, four, uh, arms was the ones I saw last night. Yeah. And those will expand over the course of time and become a meaningful part of our collection because I think everyone's expected us to do a field watch. We never have. And I think now we've switched the brand. Yeah. And now we've jumped onto that. We've, you know, Alex has got a lot of design, uh, in, in, in process for, for, for progression with that. Um, uh, we've got more color ups of, uh, Beachmaster courts, um, big fan yeah and you know we we sort of um were a little unsure the beachmaster auto was a passion project for us and we weren't sure at the price it was it was a step up from anything we'd done before so we weren't sure about it we then due to covid got slightly pushed back on movement dates we'd got the quartz version going and we launched that at the same time and we didn't really want to do that but the whole thing has just worked perfectly And Quartz has become one of our biggest sellers. So we've got new color ups of that, which is going to be exciting. So yeah, really looking forward to the next few months. |
| James Stacy | I think the next few years, Quartz is going to be crucial. Pricing is out of control. A lot of enthusiasts feel that they can't have fun with their $500 anymore, which it's not the same. You know this. A decade ago, 500 bucks got you a lot of Seiko or Citizen or whatever. |
| Guy | A great brand to look out for that is Ferl & Marie. Oh, yeah. I mean, what they're doing and the prices they're doing that. I think we've all got to rethink quartz and you say, you know, there's a home for it, whether that's mecha quartz or quartz with added features around the case or the, you know, from our point of view, the internals. But yeah, and of course, our operators all choose quartz because it's their go to pick it up and go thing. So it's never been something that we've ever discounted in terms of our thought process. But we're adding auto and auto GMT to most things and that gives us just a broader spread. It's nice to have the spread. Yeah, it is. And next year we're looking at doing our Canford, which was our first collection, which is now at 44mm, looking a bit too big. We're looking to reinvent that at Canford 2.0 at 39mm. So, you know, we're ever moving forward, ever looking at new stuff. |
| James Stacy | Fantastic, man. Well, thanks for chatting. Congratulations on the show. And just a treat to see and hang out a bit. Yeah. Yeah. All right. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | All right, man, it's a pleasure to have you on the show a second time. Eric, formerly of Rico's Watches podcast, and now obviously the guy behind or one of the guys behind Sketchy Boys Watch Club. How's it going? |
| Eric | Yeah, dude, I'm super glad to be here. It's awesome seeing you in September at the Toronto show. And now it's great to be here with you in Vancouver, man. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, we're sitting. No, I mean, we're in the shade, but it's like a perfect sunny day. For anybody who knows Van, we're right down in North Van by kind of where everything is at the tail end of Lonsdale. And we're waiting to get seated for a restaurant. I'm not sure we're actually going to get seated. So we just started recording. Thought we'd grab a beer while we were, you know, hanging out at the show. But the show's good. The vibe is really nice. The space is killer. I can take pictures this year. |
| Eric | It's way nicer than Toronto. It's been great to see sort of the way that things have expanded. |
| James Stacy | The amount of Silver Snoopy. We're watch budding. Well, if you're listening to this, we're calling out anything we see. There's some good watches going around. We just saw the toppers docks at great white and the silver soup. We just walked by. |
| Eric | And in true Rico's watches fashions for the old, uh, the old diet diehard fans. I got to ask you, what do you, what's on the wrist? |
| James Stacy | Oh, uh, I have a, I got a bag full of watches, but I'm currently wearing the CWC CWN one. So we did the collab obviously, you know, and then we know your collab. What was the experience like? |
| Eric | It was awesome. The CWC was great to work with. Yeah, we've really enjoyed that. I mean, we that's sort of always been the vibe we perpetuated within the club is like, we don't want any of like the bro vet BS comments, like problems and things that come with that. And we try to perpetuate that in the way that we interact with brands as well, too. And we look for that from our partners as well. It's like we want chill and easy. Like if you're stressing out about this stuff, you're doing it wrong. |
| Unknown | Yeah, so |
| Eric | No, exactly. So, yeah. So, that's a killer watch, man. Yeah, we love our club SBS that we do with them as well. So, it was a full black SBS with the logo? Correct. Yeah, it was pretty basic. We just took the SBS. The watch takes a logo so well. It does. So, we tossed the logo on the dial kind of at that nine o'clock area and then everyone had the opportunity to do a custom case back where they could add a call sign or they could add... Like one-of-one stuff. Yeah. So, you had guys who put call signs from work or nicknames on work or something like that. I just put Rico on the back of mine. I'm not cool enough to have. That is my call sign. So that's what I go off of. So yeah, so that works really well. And that was what we did, but. Yeah, man, it's been, it's been great. And Vancouver, the timepiece show this year is, is absolutely killer. It's awesome to see it grow. It's awesome to see so many more brands out here and like big, big brands. Like it was awesome to see a Fortis come out. I was very, very guys too. Awesome dude. Super cool to chat with really, really genuine guys. You can tell that they're just like, this is what we're all about. Take it or leave it. |
| James Stacy | Right. And I'm hoping to be able to get five minutes of them like this before the end of the day today. Yeah. They're a good crew for sure. Absolutely. And the space is really nice. It's got really nice natural light so I can take photos. I'm pumped to be here and it's nice to be. But look, tell me about how the last six months have been for Sketchy Boys. |
| Eric | It's been amazing. We've seen so much growth in the last year, but particularly the last six months. I mean, we're gaining about a thousand plus followers a month right now. We've taken off, I think, just about through all of our platforms combined. We're looking at probably between 25,000 and 30,000 followers globally right now. We did finally take the crown. We are the largest military, police, first responder community for watches in the world now. which was super unexpected and never thought that would happen. But yeah, we are the biggest. So that's been really cool as well, too. And it's been nice to see how the community has responded to that and how brands have responded to that and how we've been able to do a lot of cool things that we never thought we'd be able to with regards to products and collaborations. And what have you got on wrist today? So this has been a longtime piece that I wanted to get. This is my Rolex Explorer II. It's the 216470. So it's the previous generation with the shadow hands. I'm a big fan of shadow hands. I've always loved doing that. Obviously, you know, I'm a big Pelagos guy. I always have. And I think that's one of the coolest features of the watches. And I wanted to get, I think this is pretty much like other than the original, was it a 1655? The only watch I've ever done that had these. from Rolex. So I love I love this look. And yeah, so I got this. I just got it back actually, like three days ago from Rolex from the service and wasn't expecting it to come until May and it came early. So I was really happy with that. So yeah, yeah. Thanks for asking, man. And when you're kicking around the show, you got any faves already? Well, so obviously I'm always a little bit partial to our own partners that we've worked with. So like Christopher Ward, we had an amazing collab with that came out and that watch was killer. So I love chatting with them, chat with Mike, Elliot Brown. We have something ready to go, but with the whole terrorist situation. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, it's tough for Elliot Brown for sure, but the watches are so good. |
| Eric | cause a little bit of grief, but yeah, they're killer watches. So as soon as that whole is situations are remedied, then that'll be ready to go. Uh, Aries, we have a piece, a very on brand for us, right? So Matt Graham's a personal friend of mine. I love working with Matt. Awesome dude. Great history. If you ever get into kind of the stuff he's done in his life. Um, and we have, uh, a couple of pieces actually launching with him next month that we're really excited about, uh, doing a diver one and a field one with him, uh, that are going to be co-branded with us. So if you're at the show or you got a chance to go swing by the booth at the show, you get eyes on, hands on, see what those are all about. My personal diver one that I've worn at work as a police officer for the last, you know, while I've had the watch is there and it's, you know, taken a good beating and still looks amazing and holds up to the task. So yeah. |
| James Stacy | That's great, man. Well, nice. It's so nice to catch up. and get a chance to hang out. And maybe we're never getting this beer. I'm not really sure. We might have to get back to the show at some point. We'll grab coffee. Yeah, sure. Coffee sounds great for sure. Yeah. No, nice sunny day. And super nice to see you, Eric. |
| Eric | Congrats on all the success through the last few months. Thank you so much, man. It's been a pleasure. And it's always an awesome chatting with you. We'll have to do one of these in a longer format. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, no, let's do a proper episode for sure. I look forward to it. All right. If you have any questions for Eric that you would like on a future episode, send them to thegranadoatgmail.com and we'll get it prepped up for a show. |
| Unknown | Hell yeah. |
| James Stacy | Nice to see you, dude. Let's hang out more. Can't wait. |
| Unknown | All right. |
| James Stacy | All right, Mr. Kenneth Lamb, an absolute treat. Obviously, we hung out all day. You've got to be sick of me at some point here. No, dude. You're so easy to hang out with, man. We hung out all day yesterday. We had a hell of a day. We chatted a bit for the vlog. So if you're on the paid side, maybe the vlog will come out someday this year. But now we're at the show. I'm sure you can hear from the background noise. We're in the last hour of the first main day. What'd you think? First of the Toronto Canadian timepiece shows? I'm not sure what the full wide branding is, but... It's been really good. |
| Kenneth Lamb | Like, everybody's really chill. There's loads of people from, like, Washington State that have come up. Yeah, yeah. Because we're pretty close. Yeah, and everyone's just really excited to see it in person. There's been a lot of people that have seen it online, and now they get a chance to see it in person. It's yeah, it's awesome. Everyone's super laid back and it feels really like it's not just or at least it doesn't just feel like watch people. It feels like people from the area or two that just want to like engage with what's going on. So it's nice. It is nice. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | And look, you've got a speakeasy piece for Vancouver. maybe give people a little bit of background on what Speakeasy is and then we can talk about the piece. |
| Kenneth Lamb | Okay, so the Speakeasy concept was a way to launch limited editions for this year and I wanted a way to create more opportunities for people to come up and engage with me and ask me in person about the brand, about the product and so on and so forth. some of it was inspired by our conversation that we had in Toronto where you were like maybe you just need to get a jacket to have watches inside to show people and so i was kind of like that's not a bad idea buddy yeah like a secret like you know trench coat so it was partly inspired by that but also inspired by um just like a secret menu item, right? That's a little bit specific and creating these myths around what products exist in the Arkan catalog. Because we do these as made to order for the show. So if we make five, we make five. If we make 20, we make 20. Nobody's never really going to know how many there are. And that's what's fun. Because you'll get two guys from maybe opposite places come together and they're like, I've got a speakeasy. And I'm like, oh, I've got a speakeasy. And they show each other it's not the same thing. Two different things. Yeah, and they're like, oh my god, where'd you get that, right? So it's just creating that, that story and that engagement really, that was the process behind it. |
| James Stacy | So, I mean, I'm holding the watch now cause I've got one and it's a, uh, it's an Alterum. |
| Kenneth Lamb | It is. |
| James Stacy | With a custom, the Vancouver colors serve like a goldish tone for the GMT hand. |
| Kenneth Lamb | Yeah. Goldish, beige, sand, tan. Yeah. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. And then, uh, like a green and black Cerakote treatment for the bezel and case and bezel respectively. |
| Kenneth Lamb | I wanted to use, you know, the elite coating, because it's the most scratch resistant coating that they do. And then, yeah, I've done a few different things. And they're, you know, different for different events. And, you know, by accident, this turned out to be the one that best suited Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest. It definitely has that feel to it. And it's funny, because everyone that's seen it so far this show, they've all been like, Oh my God, it's Vancouver! And in my head I'm like, yeah! And I would never have predicted that. It's just hilarious. They're like, oh my God, you're a genius. And I was like, no, it's pure luck. It was accidental. Yeah. So it's good. |
| James Stacy | You got to love some accidental genius. It's been a major impetus of most of my success. Story of my life. Yeah, literally. Well, that's great, man. Look, it's nice to connect with you, obviously, and catch up. And as we've teased in the other one we recorded yesterday, we have a proper full episode coming sometime in the future. But nice to be able to chat at the show. I love the speakeasy. I'm going to be wearing the hell out of it. So congrats on that. And if you're in the market, or I guess we'll see you at Toronto as well. So maybe there's a Toronto speakeasy that people could plan for. Oh, there is. |
| Kenneth Lamb | Yeah, there's one for Toronto. I'm definitely going to be there. I'll probably be there in a little bit of a different capacity than I am for this show. This show, I'm very much tied to the table. I'm gonna be more like a swimming fish. Yeah, in Toronto. There'll be some place where people can interact. There'll be a place like a checkpoint. But I've been talking with Jason to try and get something so I can be a pest again. You know, like try on everybody else's stuff. Yeah, I love it. It's so good. There's so many things to see. |
| James Stacy | Did you see anything you got really excited like that you weren't aware of? I just had five minutes with the guys from Hanhart. They've got a couple stuff like 38, 39 millimeter chronographs and like stuff that calls back to like the 60s and the stuff McQueen was wearing. It's nice. |
| Kenneth Lamb | That's nice. No, I haven't, I haven't seen anything like yesterday cause we were allowed in. Um, I had a little whiz around to see some of the new stuff that had come out. |
| James Stacy | Did you see that space one world timer right over your shoulder? |
| Kenneth Lamb | Yeah, that's nuts. Yeah. I saw that one in Geneva actually. Yeah. That's very cool. Yeah. I saw, obviously, the loco just came out, so I got to see there. Or what I'm calling the Shai Halud from Dune. So that's great. Straum, I've never seen Straum in person. |
| James Stacy | So nice to see the great dials, right? Yeah, really cool. They use like a wood to create the texture before they... Like an engraved pattern, yeah. |
| Kenneth Lamb | That's nuts. That's so Nordic, right? That's so like of that space. Yeah, it's sick. |
| Unknown | Take a picture? |
| Kenneth Lamb | Yeah, be my guest. |
| Unknown | Do you guys sell these? |
| Kenneth Lamb | We do. Oh, do you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. |
| Unknown | Which are they? |
| Kenneth Lamb | In Canadian, 50, maybe 50. |
| Unknown | It's for someone else? I'll mention it to them. Okay. I think we got them for about, what, 50 bucks? |
| Kenneth Lamb | Yeah, yeah. If you go on the website, there's a discount code for free shipping to Canada. |
| Unknown | Okay. |
| Kenneth Lamb | Yeah, just put Canada in the discount code. Okay. Cool. |
| Unknown | Good, thank you. |
| Unknown | No worries. And that's a watch show right there. Yeah. Dude, an absolute treat. Thanks for being on. Thanks for having me, man. |
| James Stacy | Alright Andrew, we're hanging out in Vancouver as part of these, you know, segments we're doing for the Vancouver Timepiece Show. You're not showing at the show, you're obviously the guy behind Astor & Banks and SO Labs. You've come to hang out and we had a really, really good time last night, just kind of chilling. Caught up with Jason Lim from Hallios, it's been a while. How you been? |
| Andrew | I've been great, yeah, thank you. Last night was awesome, obviously great to see Jason. Been a while since we both saw him. So yeah, I came for fun and to see Jason was one of the main reasons. But yeah, I was a little too late on signing up for the show, but I wanted to come first time in Canada. Nice. Vancouver is absolutely beautiful. You're a Los Angeles, like a Southern California. I was born in Southern California, moved to Illinois in the Midwest when I was a teenager. Parents decided to move, and so Chicago. And then now I'm outside of Chicago. And that's kind of tied into the brand identity and that sort of thing, which is rad. So how are things for Astor & Banks? Astor & Banks are good. Working on doing some updates to a couple of watches, so the Fortitude Lite, for instance. Nice. Prototyping that and make it a little bit more distinguish it a little bit more from the pro version. Okay. Because right now they're a little too similar. So, working on that. Got some cool colors coming out for that. And working on a new field watch, which we talked about a little bit yesterday. Ceraco Desert Sand. So, I'll leave it at that. It's going to be really cool. And finally working on the Sea Ranger, the original one, coming out with a new one, hopefully later this year. Of course, with the tariffs and all that, I'm, you know, we're playing it by ear. |
| Unknown | Slow down a little bit. |
| Andrew | We're playing it by ear. So we're trying not to, you know, overextend ourselves, but yeah, everything's good. It's been really great. And how about Esso Labs? We can't talk about what you just showed me on your phone, which is exceptionally cool, but. It's a project-based company. So, once we do a project, like we just did the clock. I love the clock. Then, you know, we'll do a different color, but we'll never do the same. The new watch we're working on, as I showed you, I think if we can get it there, it's going to be really, really cool. Very unexpected. Very unexpected and a great price point, I think, that it'll be at. So, with Telelabs, it's just a totally different mindset. And Rick, my business partner, he's more of the creative side on that side, and I just kind of tweak things and say we can do this or we can't do this from servicing layer or manufacturing. Um, but, uh, it allows me to think in a different way and he's just a super, super creative guy. Nice. So it's a, it's a nice balance to work with. |
| James Stacy | And you've enjoyed the, the Solab project in general, like since launching it? |
| Andrew | Yeah. It's been several years now. It's been several years. We're on the, this is project number three. Um, and then working on project four, which is what I just showed you. And, uh, but yeah, we're just kind of, um, taking that and doing it like a little side hustle, I'll say. But, you know, serious watch guys and putting our watch nerd into it. But just trying to make it very different. I think it is. No one walks by and doesn't ask what that is. No, it's something else for sure. And that's the goal. And then walking around the show, anything that you kind of caught your eye, got you excited? Yeah. One, the Arken. That was really cool, especially what you showed me last night. And the other one, not that it was a surprise because I've kind of seen it in the background, but camp watches. They're field watch and beautiful colors, typography, really interesting guy. So I might pick one of those up today. |
| James Stacy | Did you get a chance to see that the world timer from Space One? |
| Andrew | I mean. Yeah. Nutty. Everything they're doing is nutty, but it's awesome. Yeah. Really cool. Those guys do some really cool stuff. For sure. Nevada stuff, you know, that's cool. But with like the Space One, it's kind of with solar apps too, it's either love it or hate it sometimes, but also if you already have stuff like, you know, that looks like everything else already in your collection, not looks like everything else, but more traditional. To have something like that is kind of where that fits in. You know, same with Soul Labs. Like you can compare like a Fortitude or a Sea Ranger to a lot of, you have a lot of different options to choose from at these shows. But when it comes to like Soul Labs or Space One, there's nothing else like it. And that's kind of the point. But yeah, that was, that was really cool. Cool to see the C12 in person. Yeah, amazing. And again, price point on that. Yep. Really, really cool. I think having to try to get something above the Belcanto. Do you have a preference between the two? |
| James Stacy | It's kind of hard to pick because the aesthetic execution of the C12 I like quite a bit. Yeah. But for whatever reason, especially if you see the versions like somebody was walking on the show today with the like steel baby blue Belcanto. So without the guilloche. And I understand the guilloche is very cool. |
| Andrew | but the sterile clean dial kind of... I have a Belcanto, the champagne color one, so a little bit more traditional. |
| Unknown | And that has the guilloche, right? |
| Andrew | No, no, the first series. So it's like a brushed on. Yeah, yeah. And I think I prefer the Belcanto over this. I mean, the new one's beautiful. Yeah. It's kind of hard. It's two different things. It's two different things. The movement is pretty rad. But the Belcanto, I mean, it's got the little chime. So having that at that price point. Truly awful. It truly is. But this new one, for about $1,000 more than the Belcanto, it's really cool. This is new. I've kind of felt a little bit like a celebrity. Some folks recognize me, so it's kind of cool. |
| James Stacy | I just think there's a lot of untapped potential in this part of the world as far as watch enthusiasts go. Because if you're in Vancouver, you're a long way from Toronto, but you're also a long way even from LA. You're a long way from Chicago, New York, where some of these other shows go on. You're pretty close to San Francisco, and obviously there's a wind-up next week. But I think it's important to have something here, and I think The sentiment that I've been getting from people is just like, I see people talking to Hutton, who runs the show, he's on a previous little segment here, just saying thank you. Like, thank you for making this happen, bringing this out. It's free. There's brands. Everybody's really pumped. |
| Andrew | It's fun. The space is fantastic. There's a lot of great stuff around here. And it's just a beautiful city. So it's kind of you get all that together. The weather's been absolutely gorgeous. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, I've definitely brought up the weather too many times on this episode, but to be clear, what we're experiencing, if you had one of these days, it would be rare. And we're now on the third one in a row. Tomorrow's still looking pretty good. So it's kind of remarkable. And like, we're sitting in the sun. you know, next to a bar on the quay and you're looking down at, at downtown Vancouver and we're going to go grab some dinner. It's going to, it's, it's just an absolute treat to be here and to see some buddies like you and hit limb. |
| Andrew | And it's great. It's nice to be on the other side where I'm not behind the booth and get to hang out. |
| James Stacy | And I feel, yeah, I feel for some of those guys were like poor Mike had, uh, had a Christopher Ward. I wanted to have him on for five minutes. And I, every time I went by, I'm like, that man doesn't have five minutes. No, he does. I'm going to have to catch him tomorrow afternoon or something. |
| Andrew | Yeah, he's a busy guy. He is. Always, always a busy guy. But yeah, hanging out with those guys and, you know, Peter from Jax Mason as well is here. Always doing some fun stuff. So yeah. And the guys from Formex, Rad, Rafael and Marcus. Awesome. For sure. So that's part of the other part of this is the community is just fantastic. Yep. So. |
| James Stacy | All right, man. Thanks for being on. I appreciate it. And nice to touch base and catch up. Maybe when you've got a big moment in the future, let's do a proper episode. I'd love to. All right. Thank you. |
| Jason Heaton | Some great conversations. So glad you took a mic and decided to do that. I think that gives a little bit more of the human element of the show and some of the folks that were there exhibiting and that you got to chat with. So super cool. Glad to hear all those. All right. Well, this has been quite a long show, and thankfully so, because I think it was a good one. But let's get into some final notes so we can close things out. absolutely you want to go first sure yeah well i mentioned at the top here that i went to the banff uh mountain film festival kind of world tour here in minneapolis as they were coming through town and um some of the movies you know these are all short films some were six minutes some were 33 minutes some were 16 minutes and i i think the one one of them that stood out among the the seven that that i saw and they're running another version of this in a couple of weeks here that i'll miss but it'd be a whole new set of movies but The one that I really liked that stood out was called Going East and it was a movie that was done in collaboration with Arc'teryx and it's a 33-minute documentary about a group of European skiers, one from Italy, one from Austria, one from Switzerland, I believe one from Germany, that all meet up and decide they're going to see how far east they can get only by public transport, so buses or trains, um oh that's awesome skiing along the way what a great idea you know they they jump off at different points along the way you know in italy they get to um i think they're in bulgaria at one point romania um i believe slovakia they make it all the way to turkey um and so a lot of the movie is just you know really killer kind of extreme ski footage um in some quirky some quirky places like some weird ski resorts where they try to get off-piste But then all the logistics of them getting from one place to another and the headaches and the sleepless days and nights and sleeping on the floor in bus stations and you know, you can just feel the grind, you know, and these guys hauling this equipment, you know, their ski gear from place to place. It's a really great film. Anyway, this is available on YouTube. You don't have to go to the Banff Mountain Film Festival, although I recommend it if it's coming through your town. So we'll throw the YouTube link in the show notes and you can check that out. And just a little asterisk actually, you mentioned Vare watches and seeing them at the show. They actually were the lead sponsor of a short film that I saw as well called House of Bliss. It was a very short movie, it was less than 10 minutes I think. about a guy in Iceland who builds a small kind of very crude shelter in a very remote place. And I was really pleasantly surprised to see that Ver was the title sponsor of that movie. So hats off to them. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, if I can find that for streaming or anything, I'll see if we can put that in the show notes. Yeah, that was really cool. |
| Jason Heaton | But anyway, going east is my final note. Check it out. It's a good view. Yeah, that's awesome. Very cool. |
| James Stacy | The film fest thing, that's something definitely worth doing if you can get to it. All right. All right. Mine this week is not something to watch, but something to watch on, I guess. As many of you will know, I have a continued problem with monitors. in that I can't seem to ever be kind of done with my monitor setup. A little while ago, when I got the job, the, you know, kind of more beefy job with Hodinkee as the EIC, I knew I would be spending even more time at my desk and I thought I would treat myself to a little upgrade. So I picked up a truly ludicrously big but i enjoy it very much uh samsung g9 and have been using that along with a single 27 inch and then last week i was watching a video where a guy was talking about his setup where he used an ultra wide and over time realized that what he wanted was a little tiny monitor kind of under the ultra wide where he could house information that's similar to what he would normally write on like a pad of paper and leave on his desk. So again, that could be my widgets, my to-do list, my calendar. So to be clear, there's a whole genre of monitors now that are like travel monitors. I guess people go to Amazon or go to like, I guess people go to Starbucks and bring another monitor with them. So there's all these like little screens that you can use and connect over USB-C. So you don't have a monitor cable, you don't have a power cable, it's just USB-C. They come in various permutations. I bought one that was similar to a kind of a tablet, like it was a normal sort of aspect ratio, and it was a terrible experience. Everything it said on Amazon wasn't actual, you needed at least two cables to run it. And so I swapped that out for a different one, which is a more of an ultra wide format. It's 1280 by 720, and I'm super happy with it. It works really well. I have it sitting kind of just below my monitor, so it's in my eyeline and in a very comfortable spot, and it just has, like I said, my weather, my to-do list. If I want, I can drop a YouTube tab into there and have like, if the video's not crucial to me, I could leave it playing there. Is it a necessity? No, absolutely not. This is definitely a nice-to-have. All of these things that I have on it could be somewhere else on my core monitor. but in terms of productivity, I've been doing this for maybe, you know, two work days. I really like it. And this monitor was also like a hundred bucks Canadian, 115 bucks. So it should be less than a hundred bucks US, but there's also, dozens of these online. So my thing is to say is if you want to try this, go nuts. And I'll include the original video from work from Hype's YouTube channel about why they went with this monitor and that sort of reason, like this layout. So I'll include that as well. But if you want to actually give this a try or try one of these weird, small external USB-C monitors, I would say just be prepared to return a couple. You know, either really take your time picking the one or or go the other road and of course it's amazon so you can't really trust the reviews anymore and because these are all like random chinese made brands like the brand of this monitor i'm looking at now on my desk is called prechen p-r-e-c-h-e-n and that brand's not even listed in the amazon listing so it's also not like you can go on youtube and pick a specific monitor that somebody reviewed, the monitor that this gentleman references in his original video is like 400 bucks. This is not a $400 experience at all. So I wouldn't recommend spending that kind of money. But if you're spending like 100 bucks or 80 bucks for one of these little monitors, I think I think there's some some value there to the right type of creative thing. |
| Jason Heaton | So will this inspire you? Are you getting rid of the 27 inch? Will this take that take the place of that? |
| James Stacy | I took the 27-inch down, so it's just sitting on the floor behind me. Oh, yeah. So that may be something that now just becomes a screen to use for something else. Could be good at the cottage. |
| Unknown | Oh, sure. |
| James Stacy | Just plug a Google Chromecast or something into it and go from there. But yeah, so who knows? This could last a little while, and I could decide I absolutely have to have another full-size monitor. Low stakes for $100, too. That's great. Pretty low stakes, yeah. All things considered, yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | All right. Well, it's been a fairly long episode, but a good one. Um, great to hear about the, uh, the time you had in Vancouver. It sounds like it was a tremendous experience and, uh, sorry, we won't see you in Chicago, but I will be there. So we're kind of, we're kind of tag teaming this year, um, due to some different circumstances, but, uh, glad we were able to represent. And then, you know, if it's any indication of what Toronto is going to be like, uh, come this September, uh, I can't wait to get back. It'll be fun. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, I'm really looking forward to Toronto. Have already started kicking around some ideas for some fun stuff for us to do and that sort of thing. So once we have those dates all locked in, any events, all that kind of stuff, we'll talk about it. But until then, it's summertime and I hope everybody enjoys some warm weather. It's currently 24 Celsius in Toronto and I'm desperate to get out of my basement. So yeah, a huge thank you to everybody who came out, who we got to see at the show. A massive thank you to Timepiece Show and Jason Hutton, to the Gallops at Roaldorf and all the Roaldorf team that helped out with the event. And of course, to our friends at Marathon for helping us throw the party. It was a blast. We're going to keep doing cool stuff like this, so stay tuned. And yeah, I think that's an episode. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, and thanks to everyone for listening. If you want to subscribe to The Show Notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grab a new TGN signed NATO, please visit TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive. |
| James Stacy | And we leave you with this quote from Bob Hope who said, I've been almost as many places as my luggage. |