The Grey NATO – 328 – Slack Crew & A 2025 Part 3 [Watches that disappoint, dinner party menus, weekend cars, and watch elevator pitches]

Published on Thu, 08 May 2025 06:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

In this episode of The Graynado (Episode 328), hosts James Stacy and Jason Heaton discuss a variety of topics including car repairs, watches, and travel plans. Jason shares details about his upcoming trip to Scotland, including plans for a meetup with listeners in Glasgow. The hosts then dive into a Q&A session addressing questions from their Slack community. Topics include watch media disappointments, converting people to mechanical watches, weekend car choices with no budget constraints, and dream dinner party menus. The episode concludes with final notes about a YouTube car restoration channel and a review of the Moriniv Companion fixed blade knife.

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacy Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Graynado. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 328, 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 thegraynado.com for more details. My name is James Stacy, and I'm joined as ever by my illustrious co host and friend, Jason Heaton. Jason, how are we doing?
Jason Heaton I'm doing pretty well. I'm a little the energy is a little weird because we're recording Kind of late in the evening here for various reasons, but otherwise doing fine. The week is short. I'm headed off to Scotland on Thursday night. So I've been kind of doing the usual trip prep of packing and buttoning up the house and all that sort of stuff. But Yeah, doing well. And the weather doesn't hurt. It's been downright summery here.
James Stacy How about how about where you are? Is it warmed up? It's finally warmed up. Yeah, we're you know, we're kicking off most days in the teens, the high teens for Celsius. Yeah, we are recording in the evening, which is might might bring a strange energy. I just the the work week has been way too much the last like six, seven days. so I just I couldn't take the time out this morning for our normal our normal sort of chill recording time so we've gone we've gone with an evening recording it's not quite I mean it's it's like six o'clock so it's not TGN after dark or anything like that but who knows we might we might get a little crazy here we'll see But yeah, with the nicer weather, I have been taking, you know, little breaks during the day or on Sunday, I had a little bit of time just to try and do a little bit of work on the Jeep. Maybe I was a little inspired by the previous episode and your chat about fixing things on the Land Rover and that sort of thing. So as of today, I'm on my, let's see, one, two, three, third or fourth set of turn signals for the front of the Jeep. You know, I started out with the stock ones, then I did an LED upgrade. So you have to put in like a resistive, a resistor to make the flashing set work for the LEDs.
Jason Heaton Oh, sure.
James Stacy Yeah. And then that worked fine for quite some time and then failed and I couldn't find the problem turned out to be the actual like light unit. Like the original light unit, somehow I think one of the welds broke, the little tiny like micro welds broke on it, or it broke when I removed it, I'm not sure. So I put on some like Amazon or eBay ones, which were quick and easy. And this is where you get into like the fully closed unit. So there's no installing a splice in resistor or anything like that. You just connect it with the normal leads for the turn signal. And that didn't last very long. Turns out just poorly made. When I took it apart today, they both, both of them did not come off of the Jeep without falling apart. But I did finally break down. I bought kind of the best ones I could find. Again, I didn't really want to go stock because I wanted LED. But I bought the JW Speakers, which is probably what I should have done several years ago. JW Speakers is a maker of fairly high-end, kind of considered OEM-plus Jeep gear. I mean, I'm sure they make for other stuff, but they're well-known for Jeeps. If you want to spend $700 on... your LED headlights that's the JW speaker but they have stuff like heating so snow doesn't build up on the LED which doesn't create enough light on its own or enough heat on its own to melt snow so I mean they make a nice product I got lucky found a set of the turn signals on sale and snapped them up and they went in today in about four minutes Like I thought I was just barely going to make it between the end of a meeting I had and then this recording and went out and they went in very, very quickly. So then I fixed two or three other things and started pulling a dent out of the bumper as well, just by hand. I think I might have to like find a big tree and a ratchet strap and just kind of use the vehicle's weight to pull the rest of it out but oh i will say if you're the type that occasionally and i'm not looking for it to be perfect i know it won't be perfect all that kind of stuff but i have some paint repair to do on the side of the vehicle, some rust that I've cleaned up and primered, and now it needs a coat of paint. So if you have a great guide on YouTube for how to do some, let's call it six or seven out of 10 paint work, this can be 20, 20, 20 miles an hour, 20 feet away, not a big deal. I just want to cover up the what looks like Bondo, but it's actually just primer at this point. So if you have a great guide, drop me it in Slack. I would love a quick and easy sort of these are the five steps and things you should have if you're going to paint something in a field at your cottage or whatever, which is what we're going to try and do.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I'd be interested in that, too, actually. I've got a fittingly DIY car-related final note today, too, just to give a little preview of later. Yeah, I think you'll enjoy that.
James Stacy Oh, nice. Okay.
Jason Heaton How about you? You're pretty close to the trip, right? Yeah, we leave on Thursday night, get there Friday afternoon, and then Saturday morning, taking a rental Defender and driving to the island of Harris, which is a ferry ride across from the Isle of Skye in the inner Hebrides. working with a watch brand over there to do something interesting, an interesting project I'm probably not really at liberty to talk too much about but it should be fun and what's really cool is it incorporates a TGN listener who's helping out with the project and a past guest of TGN will be overseeing the whole thing as well. I'm really excited. We'll be driving a Defender. My girlfriend's coming along, doing some hiking, doing some open water swimming, some free diving, some whiskey drinking. Should be great. We'll be in the islands for six or seven days, and then there's some transit time back to Glasgow and then home. But I did want to mention, some people asked if I'd be doing a meetup at all in Glasgow. I kind of vacillated on that idea just because we're not there very, very long, just really a night at the beginning and a night at the end. But I think, I think I can swing it on the night of the 17th, something real, really casual, you know, nothing formal, nothing you have to RSVP for, or, you know, don't expect, you know, loads of swag. I might bring a pack of stickers along or something. Stickers. So we found a place actually at the Templeton Business Center and it's called West Beer and they have a beer hall and it looks great. They brew their own beer right there in Glasgow and they've got a pretty big space and it looks pretty great. It's actually in the same building that On Ordain has their workshops, so pretty cool. And targeting the night of the 17th. I haven't chosen a time yet because we'll be taking a train back from Inverness where we're dropping the Defender off earlier that day, which is like a three and a half hour train ride. So I'm tentatively saying, you know, seven, maybe 7 p.m. thereabouts. But just keep an eye on the Slack and the Meetups channel, as well as on my Instagram stories. I will make mention as we get closer to that date what will work out. Hope to see a few people there. We had a nice meetup in Glasgow a couple of years ago when I was over in Scotland and that was a bit more of a formal event. But yeah, this one hopefully we can, I can meet a few folks. Yeah. So looking forward to it.
James Stacy I've kind of two thoughts. First is something I could Google, but I'll just ask, is Harris the island where the Tweed is made?
Jason Heaton It is, yeah, and there's a distillery.
James Stacy Oh, very cool.
Jason Heaton Yeah, and technically I think it's... What more does one need? I think it's actually called Tweed and Scotch, yeah. Tweed and Scotch, let's go. We'll look good for a few days. And if you look at any Google images of... Technically, I think the island is called Lewis and Harris, but I'm just going to call it Harris because it's known better by that name. If you look at any Google images, it looks like they've got these amazing beaches that look downright Caribbean, like that beautiful light blue water with a crescent shaped sand beach. I mean, it looks pretty amazing and the weather is looking promising as well. So I'm really excited to get over there.
James Stacy Nice. Check it out. Yeah. I think I once had a watch strap made out of Harris tweed. That sounds about right.
Jason Heaton But it might have been... You know who made that? Like it might have been for a Schofield? Yes, it was Schofield. I remember that. I think I tried a few of their straps out as well. I don't know if, you know, it was kind of a campaign that Giles Ellis, the founder of the company, was doing. Kind of sending straps around because he was kind of doing that for a while and I think he still sells some of the straps. But he also had one that was red leather out of the leather from a cricket ball. which I thought was a good one.
James Stacy Yeah, that was a good one. The white stitching, that was a cool one too. Yeah, it was super rigid. Yeah. Like, that broken in, that one might have been pretty good. I didn't have the watches long enough to break one. Yeah, yeah. Very, very cool stuff. And then the other one is just a note. In the future, if you and I are ever lucky enough to have, like, an Ordain workshop, a headquarters, that sort of thing, let's not have it in the same building as a brewery. Otherwise, there's no reason to have an office. Yeah, right, right. Well, man, I hope you have an awesome trip.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I guess the bit of news on that front is I will not be here next week. So you've got something cooked up for an episode next week that remains to be kind of determined.
James Stacy Yeah, I don't want to commit. There's a chance there won't be an episode next week. You know, apologies, but I'm working on two or three interesting sort of conversations that would be a sort of change of pace from what we've been up to recently. So if any of those pay off, there'll be a normal episode next week, but there's a slight chance there won't be. At which point, I apologize, and we may even do something in the future to make up for it. Maybe an extra long episode next time or something like that. But I'm doing my best to still have an episode. It'll just be a very different sort of episode as Jason won't be on.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Well, I've got a Facebook Marketplace door to go look at after this, so we should probably blitz through wrist check and jump into our main topic, which is a fun one, as usual.
James Stacy What do you have on? I'll be quick because I'm not ready to give a full review, but I will have one for Hodinkee and probably for the show. But since we recorded the last show, I'd say the watch I've been wearing the most is the Titanium C4. So I sized the bracelet and it's really good. The lume dial's rad. The coloring's really nice. I love the black bezel insert. The idea of having a C4, the watch I've owned so many of and have reviewed and enjoyed and really love and appreciate the watch, but to have one in titanium, which has really become kind of my daily wear preference, i don't mind i definitely don't mind a steel watch 40 mils or less but if we're going over 40 it's going to have to be titanium for me i think yeah but yeah i just i'm super happy with it it's a really good looking watch it wears really well the bracelet's great it's got that it's got kind of the next evolution of the clasp that was on the universa So you have the Halios symbol is actually a button and when you press it, you can micro adjust the strap, the bracelet. It's just a really nice little system and for this much money, Halios continues to just be at the front runner for I think value, coolness, all that kind of stuff. uh together but yeah i've been switching between this the doxa 200t diving star which is just yeah if it's sunny that's the watch i'm grabbing and then just a ton a ton of the arkin which i spoke about on the last episode the vancouver a speakeasy version, which I really, really like. And I actually absolutely, maybe the hardest I've hit a watch in two, three years, I smoked my wrist in the front of the bezel on like a steel bollard while looking one way, talking to my family at the zoo. Yeah. Just moving along and just whack. Wow. Like enough that the watch hit my wrist bone and hurt my wrist bone, like I could feel the pain before I even thought of the watch. Yeah. And that little, you know, whatever that's super, the highest grade Cerakote, it has the tiniest little hairline scratch. I mean, it was hard enough that if it was a watch with a conventional bezel, the bezel would have certainly come off. Oh, yeah. Wow. So kudos on that front. But yeah, long way of saying I'm wearing and really enjoying the Lumedial 4th Gen C4th in titanium. How about you?
Jason Heaton I have the the crew watch number one the CWC our TGN watch. I've got it on the rubber NATO kind of an olive drab rubber NATO and this watch will be accompanying me to Scotland fittingly, I guess back to the UK for it and Be on my wrist for you know, a good part of the trip, but I'll be wearing something else for for part of it as well But cool. All right. Yeah
James Stacy Well look, it's time for the main part of the episode. Obviously if you've been listening at all this year, this is actually part three of what we call the Q&A. I'm going to keep this intro very straightforward. Normally our Q&As are recorded audio that's emailed to us and we cut it into a show and we put out those roughly once a month. We do 12 a year. We thought we'd flip that on its head to try and capture the vibe of the Slack and have the Slack crew just do text questions. So once a year we open a thread, we get 60, 70, something like that questions, and we go through them. So this is them. We've done two of them already. You can find parts one and parts two for the Slack crew and A. in the show notes for this episode if you'd like to go back and start at the top if you haven't gotten to otherwise we're going to start it off with a question from Matt P who has uh it's sort of about um watch media disappointments or like media covering disappointments and watches so he said this might have been covered in the past but one thing i feel is rarely covered in watch media is disappointments I'm wondering if you can speak on watches that you may have been really excited about, maybe even planned on purchasing, but when you got hands on, that really fell flat and you kind of totally changed your opinion. Might also be a watch that you purchased, but turned around and sold a short time later. Thanks. Look, thank you so much for that question, Matt. That's a good one. I think we've had a version of this question a few times, and I think maybe less to the point of Matt's actual question, but the idea of watch media covering a disappointment, I just don't know that they would unless the disappointment was entertaining in some way. Otherwise, typically, I don't spend any time thinking about watches that I don't get excited about. Yeah. um and certainly not those that disappoint me but i i can see your point and jason does anything kind of leap to mind for you for watches that maybe you you had a whole bunch of ideas as to what it would be and then you got it in person and it wasn't or or something like that
Jason Heaton Yeah. I mean, over the years, you know, I, I think I, I used to get the question when I was writing for gear patrol, mostly back in the early days, it was like, well, do you ever write a negative review? And I, I, it wasn't so much that, you know, I think people's kind of knee jerk cynical reaction was, well, you're sucking up to the brands or, you know, the advertisers or whatever. But the fact was my response was always, I just don't like to write about stuff. I don't like like there. And also in the watch world, You know, I have a very specific kind of wheelhouse for what I review and there just aren't a lot of really bad watches these days. But when it comes to disappointments, there is one that leaps to mind. It's actually the only one I could really think of that I was really, truly excited about. paid for the pre-order, waited for it to come. And when I got it, I immediately didn't like it. And that is the momentum, the UDT that was, came out last year. We both were excited about it and you've had a different take on it. You still own yours and wear it. I just, it just didn't, it didn't do it for me. There was something about the handset that just didn't feel, it just, I think I had this vision of it being closer to the original, and it wasn't quite. And so maybe my love for the original was just so deep that it just could never measure up, and I flipped it almost immediately. So that's the one that comes to mind.
James Stacy Yeah, I do like that watch in a vacuum, but if you compared to a standard UDT, which is a significantly more expensive watch now and probably less quality in many ways. You know, a brand new movement and all this other stuff. For me, the UDT, as soon as I go into a smaller watch season, The UDT feels quite large. Yeah, I think in my mind it actually wears similarly to maybe even might actually feel larger I understand this sounds crazy. But if you have both watches you might understand might actually wear larger than the Aqualand Yeah, just you know, like all I don't know what that you know, we'd have to measure it or I haven't really like come to some any major but I do like the watch and I think largely I think the value of the watch is is that you what you're getting for the price and but if it doesn't fit your wrist, it wears kind of like a 007, like an SKX. It's kind of large. The hands don't bother me, the polished finish on them. I think we could have gone a different way, but I don't disagree that I think if they go through a few versions of this watch, the next one down the line, if they eventually can get to the point of being closer to the original, and then have like a little lineup of watches, I think that could work. Sure. But for me, I don't know, like, have you found, I guess maybe not, because you're still wearing a ton of the Pelagos, FXD. I think I might have been kind of ruined in some, especially if it's not summer, if it's not warm weather, for watches over 40 millimeters. It's not intentional, I'm realizing it as we're talking about this question, but I'm definitely gravitating to 40 or smaller pretty much all year, and then summer comes around and I'll take the UDT out, I'll take the Aqualand out, whatever the big, fun, cool, big Garmin, whatever it may be, suddenly makes more sense. But for a good portion of the year, I'm really enjoying like 36 to 40. Yeah.
Jason Heaton I mean, for me, it's not so much diameter. I do still wear a variety of sizes. It's comfort and weight. And a lot of it does come down to weight. You know, like my JSAR Marathon. I had that out the other day. It's a tall, heavy watch. My Bremont Supermarine 2000. Big, heavy watch. If I wear that for You know for a day. I'm like, okay, I'm going back to you know a titanium Pelagos or a or CW n1 or or a doxa or something that just that's why God made titanium pro ploughs, right?
James Stacy Yeah. Yes But yeah for me for me there's actually several I Distinctly remember to two times in my life that I really wanted a planet ocean. The first one was a 2500 probably 2500 C so 2009 2010 something like that in 42 millimeters and I remember seeing somebody else or no it was at a store because this was before I was really part of like hanging out with people but watches yeah and it was at a store and I tried it on and like there was no possible way it was gonna sit well on my wrist It was like, it wasn't a problem with the watch. Like my wrist did not suit that watch. It sat in a way that kind of activated some of the boniness and all this. I just, and I remember just going like, even when I was holding it in my hands, like the minute I, the second it was no longer on my wrist, I wanted it again. Oh yeah. I just, they're such cool watches. I really, really liked the Planet Ocean, but they've never really made one where I was like, I have to have like, it's, it's unavoidable. That's the one. yeah and maybe they'll get there and then i remember again what would have been the last year that that you know omega was at basel world 2017 something like that they came out with the gmt planet ocean yeah with a black white bezel It was very big at 43, but at the time that would have been like in line with the Bremonts I was buying and that sort of thing. But it was like, I don't want to be unfair to Omega, 16, 17-ish millimeters thick. And like the speed at which I went from being like nine out of 10 excited, thinking like, oh, if I sell everything, wait for sale, buy secondhand, maybe I could get one of these, like a cool one watch, beautifully made. one of the best brains in the world, top quality, great movement, put on my wrist is like, Nope, don't want it. All good. Didn't want it at all. You know, a GMT diver over much over 14 is kind of thick. Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah. And it all depends if it's your summer, like if it's a summer move, that's cool. But a $10,000 GMT from Omega is not a summer move. I need to wear that. I need to get my dollars out of that. You know what I mean?
Jason Heaton Yeah.
James Stacy And then maybe this isn't quite to like the point of Matt's question, but like we talked about on multiple recent Q and A's. I'm very excited about anything that Tudor makes, but I really now keep my excitement until I get to see it in person and try it on my wrist. Because I would have bought an FXD if they were a little shorter lug to lug. I would have bought a standard Pelagos, a 500 meter Pelagos, if it was slightly smaller, especially lug to lug, like under 50. if it was 48 or 49 millimeters, it would just fit my wrist so much nicer. And that's, of course, what we get with the Pelgos 39. And then, you know, there's like little tiny things. The Pro is a little thick on my wrist, so it sits up kind of high. And for a daily watch, especially one that conceivably would heavily overlap with the Explorer II, why bother? So it's a little stuff like that. So I think that probably gives Matt the answer he was looking for, but it definitely happens. But for me, it's less about the way I feel about a watch that's new and coming out it's when the watch has managed to like wiggle into my brain and become something that like I might actually want and Then then you have to go see it in person. Yeah and for you it sounds like it comes down to size and in all the cases you mentioned it's yeah size or like you know i don't like guilt so that's enough but i would know that before i got to the watch you know it's just it's like coming across a an incredible yeah find at a thrift store and it's not the right size Nothing wrong with the product. It's the wrong size for me. But thank you so much for that question, Matt. And Jason, you want to give this one from Jason a read? Sure thing.
Jason Heaton Jason Surma has a three-part elevator pitch question. Give us an elevator pitch to convert the cell phones tell the time crowd to a wristwatch. Give us an elevator pitch to convert the quartz watches or better than mechanical watches crowd to mechanical watches. and give us an elevator pitch to convert a Submariner does the same thing as my SKX007 crowd to Rolex or other luxury watch brands. All right, let's go back and forth for each one of these. Good idea. Yeah. How about the convert the cell phones tell time crowd to a wristwatch?
James Stacy I mean, it's an elevator pitch, which I feel like Jason is really telling me, James, you don't have four minutes for each one of these. So we're going to, I've really attempted to script this out because I'm not, I'm not known for my brevity. So for the cell phone one, it's a little tough. But if somebody were interested, if they asked or if the conversation came up, I'd say, look, I mean, the thing to keep in mind is like we are in a post sort of style or personality era of cell phones, like mobile phones, smartphones, they all look the same. Doesn't even matter if Apple made them or Samsung or a brand you've never heard of. They're all just kind of rectangles that you have in your hand. They're also, not always, but they're not really glanceable and they don't offer any ability for you to express yourself. Sure, you can put a colorful case on them or whatever. but you still have to take it out of your pocket, light up the screen, and then you have to accept the distractions of looking at the screen, like whatever notifications you may have or that sort of thing. So in a world where we're all on our phones too much or looking at screens too much, and I'm of course paraphrasing or generalizing here, But in a world where we're all doing that too much, a watch is good for your mental health. You can only know the time from your watch. And I think it allows you to disconnect a little bit from the phone and certainly disconnect the idea of what's next or what time is it from the phone. And I think there's some value in that.
Jason Heaton For this one, I think I was the most comfortable doing an elevator pitch. I think for the other two, when we get to them, I'll explain further, but I can't really in good conscience do any of these because I feel like unless someone comes to me with an interest in watches, I don't feel like I need to convince somebody to develop an interest in them. But with this one, I think this is the easiest one to kind of... And I do fairly often because I do get people that approach me and say, you know, what is it about watches? Like your phone tells the time or, or, you know, why, why do you like them so much? And I, for me, I always, yeah. I, you know, go to a dinner party and people say, what do you do? And I do this and they're like, well, what is it about watches? So I always just say like watches are the most durable, timeless, and, you know, truly fantastic man-made objects, I think, almost in history. I really can't think of, you know, you could say the automobile, the airplane, the personal computer, etc. Those are all great, but they're fleeting, and they become obsolete, and they disappear. They you know, fall apart or they rust or whatever. Watches can be worn, they're the one object, the one man-made object that can be worn 24-7 for generation after generation as long as you keep them well maintained. as well as being functional. So they're not just a bauble. They're not just something you wear to symbolize something or show your wealth. I mean, you can actually use them to, as you just described, to tell the time. For the most part, like, okay, we're not talking investment grade stuff, but they retain value. So like you can you know, if not monetary value, intrinsic value or sentimental value, and they collect memories. And then there's this also there's this blend of ingenuity and engineering and artistry that you just don't find in very many other things. And I think that you combine all of that and combine it with what you said about like having to even to turn a screen on to check the time at three in the morning, you're going to sear your retinas and wake yourself up or... Well, that too, for sure. You know, like, or distract yourself by, you know, pulling it out of your pocket and looking at it, etc. And I just think for all those reasons, yeah, a watch is a very compelling choice over a cell phone for telling the time.
James Stacy If you'll allow me to drag this out even just for another, just with a question, like, Do you hear this as often as you did a decade or 15 years ago?
Jason Heaton No, I don't.
James Stacy I don't either. And I think it's because we now we everybody puts their phone in their pocket. Whereas like for years, and those of you in the audience who are significantly younger than Jason and I maybe won't remember this, but there was an era where you wore your belt like, or you wore your phone on your belt. Or like you had a pager and you might glance at the pager and you'd get it just like you would from a Timex, right? You'd get just the digital time, no distractions, no telling you you had a notification because the phone didn't have notifications. It had calls, it had texts. that's it yeah right yeah and then i think we got to a point where we started putting these things into our pocket and you had to negotiate with the ui every time you wanted to check the time and like sure i'll leave like even right now my phone i don't like the i have my helios on but my phone is next to my keypad but it's off yeah especially for me you know because i switched to apple several years ago i started on blackberry went to apple came to android then back to apple and with android you know samsung had these always on screens yeah so the time was glanceable if you put your phone down on a coffee table or whatever you could look over and get it yeah but now i have that all shut off i don't want my phone to bother me unless i want something from it And that's where I think we get the glanceable information becomes the secret sauce of it. But we've dragged this out a little bit too long. Like I said, I would. So next up, you have a few seconds to do your pitch for quartz watches that are better than mechanical watches. Convince that crowd to switch. To be clear, I'm not sure that they're wrong.
Jason Heaton Yeah, my response is I have equal love for quartz. I get the love of mechanical watches, but I'll never try to convert someone. In fact, I often find myself doing the opposite. And I think a lot of people will. especially kind of casual watch people. I'm just happy to see watches on people's wrists for one thing. So I was at a dinner party the other day, asked somebody, you know, they were asking me about a watch. I said, well, I'm happy to see you're wearing a watch. What is it? And she got kind of sheepish and sort of was like, Oh, it's just this Timex that I press a button and it lights up and I'd like to be able to see it in the dark. And I was like, that is great there's nothing to be ashamed of like you're wearing a watch quartz watches are great they're durable they're um they do a lot and they're always ready when you are um so you know sorry you know jason i i just um i i won't do it i can't convert somebody um from quartz to mechanical i think you know my earlier response about why watches are cooler than checking the time on your phone applies here in terms of the artistry and the engineering etc about watches but i love quartz equally
James Stacy Yeah, I would say that my evangelical element of watches is convincing people who only want to use mechanical watches that they should have a quartz watch in their life, whether it's a Timex Ironman 8-lap or a great CWC, just something that's accurate and fuss-free and you pick it up and you go. And I guess we can flip that on its head and say, like, if I had to, you know, if I was given this side of the debate, to argue in pro of mechanical, which I am, but it's very much a blend. I like both. And I kind of like them equally as long as it makes sense to the watch and the price and the need and the rest of it. But look, if you just want to convince somebody that they might want to consider mechanical watch, we all like a microwave when it's convenient. And if you need the convenience, if the convenience is more important than the quality of the food, absolutely. Microwave, good choice. But do you want to cook every single meal in the microwave? Right. It's kind of the best I could come up with. That's a good, that was my, that was the best Don Draper I've got, uh, for, for, for anti courts, you know, sort of sales pitches. I like it. I like it. I, to be clear, I don't even own a microwave. I don't like them. So it's a bit. It's a bad metric. Yeah, it's really not that hard to make popcorn any other way. And I don't I don't like microwaves. But alright, so we've got the last one, which is my Submariner does the same thing as an SKX. How would you convince somebody that they might want to consider going for the Rolex? I feel like we may land in the same place here.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I mean, again, I can't do it. I can't. I won't try to convince somebody because it's funny because way back, I mean, this is before I started writing about watches professionally or anything. I was new to watches. I had gotten that first Planet Ocean that I've talked so much about. But then at some point, I sort of did things in reverse. I mean, I had my Seiko back in high school that I've talked about, but my first real cool watch was this Planet Ocean that I did my dive training in, et cetera. And then as I dipped into the forums, I started to realize like, whoa, these Seikos are really cool. And they kind of remind me of my old one. So I bought an SKX and I had this revelation that This watch is in-house from top to bottom, you know, Seiko does everything vertically integrated. Um, it's, it's, you know, deep diving watch, you know, for, for whatever you're using it for, for the average diver person, et cetera, et cetera. And, and I remember writing this post on what watch you seek saying exactly this, a Seiko 007 is very similar or does the same thing as my planet ocean. And boy, did I get shelled. I got so raked over by the enthusiasts. And of course now I get it. I understand the nuance. Thank you for watching. But I'm not going to try to convince somebody that they should move up the so-called food chain of watches to a luxury level. I think if you want more refinement or brand prestige, or in some cases, accuracy or durability of materials, then certainly. But that isn't always necessarily the name on the dial. You talked about your Helios, and that's a good example of a watch that swings well above its weight. And if it had a different name on the dial, it might cost three times as much. Yeah.
James Stacy How about you? Yeah. I mean, I don't disagree. I don't think I would talk somebody out. Like if somebody says that my SKX does the same thing as a Submariner, what they're saying is this watch fills the exact same shape in my life, the same shaped hole in my life that a Rolex would. And that's better. That's better for you. Yeah. It's kind of like making 10 grand or 15 or whatever a Submariner costs right now. It's not a normal amount of money. yeah i wouldn't talk somebody out of that it's like kind of a pathology to to have a product that is as good as an skx is it that accurate no not really is the fit and finish perfect no but back in the day you could buy them for two hundred dollars yeah they're not that's not what a seiko costs anymore but you know even if you go to something like let's swap out skx for uh one of the seiko 5 divers or even go up to an spb let's call it a thousand dollars so you're at one-tenth the price of a Rolex. I wouldn't talk somebody out of that. What I would probably do is say, like, yeah, I mean, you're probably right. Most of your needs are being covered by the Seiko. If you want to get deeper into watches, go learn about Rolex. Don't buy one. You can decide if that's something you want to do after learning about them. But they're a fascinating company. they make one of the best products in the world. You definitely don't have to own one. That's fine. It's not like I don't think that matters. So this is they make the one of the best products in the world that doesn't need to exist. Yeah. You know what I mean? Nobody needs a watch to you know, to maintain their day to day certainly not at least not in Western society. But go back and listen to the Acquired podcast on Rolex. It's five hours of just the coolest story. And by the end of that, I think you'll feel a little bit differently than my Seiko does the same thing. Yeah. Whether or not you want to buy one is kind of, I would think, almost inconsequential. They're impossible to buy. They're also, you know, a Veblen goods. You have to deal with that side of it, all that kind of stuff. But there is a cool story behind everything. And that's part of what the appeal of that brand is, even beyond the quality of the product. So I think that's probably the angle I would take. But that last one, I'm not sure I could talk somebody out of it. If you're happy with the Seiko, just be happy. Yeah, right. Some of this is just a complete pathology. You know what I mean? And save the money. Yeah, right. Like you said. Yeah, save the money. You know, buy plastic trees or whatever. Right. Yeah. All right, jumping into the next one from Stephen K. He said, this is a fun one. And again, your boy's going to do his best to be brief. If you were to buy a weekend car, what would it be? And then in brackets, he says two of the craziest words ever. No budget. So to be fair, Jason, I now I have four answers. All right. I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to what do they say?
Jason Heaton What do they say like at congressional hearings? I'm gonna defer my time to the gentleman from Toronto I'm not quite gonna do that. Well, but no, but there's a couple that you would want right? Yeah, so I already have mine I think that's the short answer. I mean my old 76 Land Rover to me every time I get in that car I smile when I drive it I don't get people shaking their fists or frowning because there's some rich dude and in his fancy car cutting me off in traffic kids like it and African and British immigrants give me thumbs ups because it reminds them of home. It's perfect. It's utilitarian. I don't have to worry about parking at certain places. So it's great. And it was cheap. I bought it for $7,900 on Craigslist. And it's taught me how to work on it. But if you push me to pick a different car, it isn't the most expensive car or the most fancy or fast or coveted car. But the six-cylinder 914 Porsche, I think, would be... A 914 6 is so fun. I do love those cars. I've always loved the 914. What color? Oh boy, I hadn't considered that. I mean, I think there's a nice red. Bahama yellow, I think. Yeah, yellow. A good yellow would be nice. I just love the mid-engine. I love the way they sound. I love the little roof panel that pops out. They look so weird, too. They're so weird. It's a Porsche, but it's like... It's also such a friendly car. Yeah. It's not a... We're a family-friendly show, so I won't say. I won't swear, but you know, it's not a jerk car. It's not a, you know, a car you're going to get people thinking you're, you know, someone you aren't or whatever. It's just, it's a neat little car. Um, I'm sure it has its own issues, but you know, we're talking no budget. So I'll, you know, I'll spend something on the car and I'll save the rest for maintenance and repairs. But yeah, so that's a great, that's my answer.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacy How about you go for it? Mind cascades. I'll try and move quickly. You'll understand from the tone of my voice. So let's start with realistic, no budget. Z3, Z4, I've talked about them before. A base Boxster, I still think an incredible option. Maybe not the first gen, I might go with the second. Miata, everyone I've ever driven, amazing. Jason, you had an NC. I had an incredible couple of days in an NDRF with the folding roof, the worst one, dynamically. It's a great little car. I also just have a fondness if it wasn't for the size of me for things like the Triumph Spitfire. I just love like the idea of a little English take on like a Ferrari is great. Yeah, very exciting, very fun. And if I was like retired at 45, I would buy one and it could become my new job. Next up, we're going no budget with a question mark. Vintage Alfa 1750 GTV in red or green over tan. Absolute dream car. I think these are some of the, like among the most stylish things ever made, not just cars, but yeah, the 1750, really any vintage Alfa would be amazing, but a 1750 specifically, not the 2000. Gorgeous. In red or green. And then if you wanted to go, I think, well, maybe not in a similar, you'd be up a little bit, but a Boxster RS. So like a really hot boxer. Um, if you don't know why that might be interesting, look up DOS Cayman on YouTube. Thank me later. Truly insane what these cars are. And I think if you just want to drive them on the weekend and you don't live in a world where all of your buddies are, are kind of doing the Porsche ladder. Oh, I got a GTS. I got a GT three. I got a touring. I got a you know, this or that. Yeah, if you just want the one that's like probably the car Porsche would make if they reset today. It's that one. Oh, that's that's a modern 718. It's just rad. Really cool car. And the next next we're gonna go really no budget. Eagle mark one, which is essentially an F1 car for the road. Yeah. So single seater open wheel, fully open exhaust manifolds, all that cool stuff. You literally look like, like a 60s F1 driver. Yeah. These are cool. What else would be in that? Oh, like a Superformance GT40. Oh, yeah. So one of these replica South African GT40s where I could have a car where I sit on the left side and have the, or I could sit on the right side and have a sill shifter. Yeah. Which would be sick, like really cool. That would do it for me for sure. And then the other one would be like a really hot Caterham. Sure. So we're into these cars that are good for 30 minutes. Yeah. Or two hours, but you're broken when you get out of them, but your hands are shaking and you've got a smile that won't go away. So like a really hot catering would be incredible. And then finally, any aerial with a stick.
Unknown Oh, sure.
James Stacy So, you know, an Aerial 4, an Atom 4 would be amazing. I believe that's the one with the Honda motor and the Honda six-speed. Give me the Nomad and I could slam it around at the cottage, the off-road one. I'm in for all that kind of stuff. And then finally, really no budget? jag d-type oh okay it's the only answer that's a good yeah it's the greatest car yeah yeah no nothing looks that good nothing sounds that good yeah it's the coolest car ever made yeah i think it's the best car yeah and and like if you come back and you go well james you know d's are great but c's are better i'll give it to you a c might be prettier But there's that, there's the difference between pretty and cool. Yeah. And I think the D hits both of those harder than the C, but I'm good with either. Yeah. C's and D's for sure. Love it. Park it in the garage, put it away wet, so to speak, on Sunday night. Six million dollars. or whatever a D-Type costs. The thing with D-Types is most of them have race provenance, so the pricing can be something else. Anyways, really fun question, Steven. I know people get tired of me rambling on about cars, but yeah, I gave you four different levels there and about 10 different cars, but I could have a good time.
Jason Heaton All right, I got time for one more. Let's do one more. Yeah, let's do one more from Andrew L. He's got a fun one. It's not watch related, it's not car related. You're hosting a dinner party. The goal is to share some of your favorite things with the people that are closest to you. What does the menu look like? What is the appetizer, the main course, the dessert, and one signature cocktail or drink you will serve, and the setting. So he gives an example, fresh veggies and homemade black bean hummus, a Neapolitan pizza, Ladyfinger fruit parfait, and his drink is a Mezcal Old Fashioned, and he's doing it at the end of summer at Rosemary Beach on a rooftop terrace. James, what's your take on this one?
James Stacy We'd be at my cottage. Yeah, just have a big crew, probably a lot of people making different foods. But for me, appetizers would be oysters and shrimp cocktail. That's my favorite food and Sarah's favorite food. Main, with the exception of whatever it was I was cooking for Jason, the core meal would be steak frites, which would be probably my last meal.
Jason Heaton I'd eat that. If I had to pick a last one.
James Stacy but I make a very mean steak and my brother makes really incredible french fries and you put those together and it's it's you but I I need it with the with the herb butter like if I'm gonna do steak frites I want to feel it I want to go I want to go like full Orson Welles yeah and like really really enjoy it I don't want casual steak frites yeah dessert I'm not really dessert guy but a couple times a year I'll go for apple pie And my mom makes apple pie with an apple crisp top, so it's like extra dessert-y. It's some alchemy, some magic that my mom has figured out, some dark magic she's tapped into in the apple world. really good. And then as far as the drink, I would say you have two options. The first would be just a really good bourbon. Yeah, just to have around is nice. And then the gin cucumber drink that we talked about in the past, which if you didn't catch that episode, it's a soda, not tonic. Mold cucumber so cucumber all crushed up in the bottom of the glass and then it's a gin of your choice I'm partial to monkey or Botanist is okay like that kind of stuff. Yeah, and then and then black pepper to finish over ice and And it's just very refreshing and light and has that sort of cucumbery, black pepper cleanness to it. And then with the gin adding a little bit of the floral piney element, it's really nice. But that would be my sort of short menu for the night. Yeah, sounds terrific.
Jason Heaton And you know, what I love about this is the, you know, Andrew's and yours and now mine. I mean, we're coming into summer here, right? I mean, the weather feels very summery and it's exactly the vibe I'm going for. I mean, I can do a nice dinner inside by the fire, but my brain is already leaping ahead to summer. And so for me, I'm just doing it on my back patio. I've got a little pergola here and kind of sit around on some patio furniture. Keep it casual. Late summer, so less bugs. You know, the mosquitoes are kind of a little bit less. Nice. It's kind of my setting. Appetizers, I'm doing like an olive tapenade, you know, like an olive spread that you can put on like crostini. That sounds good. Ooh, I should have had olives in mine. To be clear, I'm... You can add that in. Olives are so good. We'll give that to you. I love olives. I just love olives. To be clear, my plan is we're doing it on the patio. So I've got that little, that snow peak fire pit that you gave me that folds up like you can deploy it and you can build like a little wood fire. And it's got a grate that you put over the top to cook on. I use that a lot in the summer. So I'm grilling crostini, I'm taking like some slices of like baguette and brushing it with olive oil and putting it on the fire till it gets kind of crisp and blackened and then you're spreading olive tapenade on that. Maybe a bowl of some spicy nuts or kind of those curried dried peas you can get. And then for those that like a good hard cheese, like a manchego or a gouda or something, I'll have a little plate of that with like some sliced pear or apples. Well, you're eating cheese these days? No, no, I'm doing it for my guests. I'll put it out for the guests. I love cheese. I'll live at that table for sure. And then if you still have an appetite after all this, because I've got the grill going, I'm going to do a maple marinated grilled salmon. Salmon fillets, get it really hot so that the skin is really crispy and blackened. And then I'm also going to do slices of grilled bell pepper. And then I'll serve that with like some spaghetti that I've tossed with some freshly made pesto. Yeah, so that's the main. And then dessert, you know, I made something recently. It was like a lemon olive oil cake, which was a very simple thing and it was really good. And not too sweet. Not too sweet. I think it was a kind of a good way to finish. And then for drink, I'm going with a gin drink as well. And you mentioned I'd forgotten about botanist gin, but I really like botanist gin and it's from Scotland. So I think that's fitting for today since I'm leaving for Scotland. I'm just going to do a gin and tonic. So with lime wedges.
James Stacy There you have it, just a summer meal. And if we were doing this at like two different stations at the same party, I could bring an oyster or two over to the grill, cook them up. That's what that little snow peak, like there's a guy that I follow on Instagram and he hikes somewhere and then cooks a little meal. Yeah. and he has like a mini version of the snow peak that can also like heat up sake. There's like a little port for it and he'll do like two big oysters and some veggies and then once the grill's fully up to temperature he'll cook a little piece of meat or whatever it is. It's great. I'll send you the next one I come up with the next time that the algorithm gives me one of his one of his but yeah that's a that's a fun question andrew and now i'm starving i am too man all that sounds so good yeah that's great well that gives me i now have several ideas for our pre-toronto timepiece show dinner yeah uh which we did last year and we'll do again this year um yeah we can definitely do a bunch of this but yeah we have run out of time for questions more of these questions. So we've got tons of leftover for future outings of the Slack Q&A. You want to jump into some final notes quick and get you on your way for your Facebook Marketplace purchase? Sure thing. Yeah.
Jason Heaton We talked a lot about cars today and car DIY repairs at the top. And I recently came across this this YouTube personality who's got a fairly big following and some really great videos and the one I watched was just fantastic. It's called The Long Way Home. The guy's name is Simon Fordman. It's from April of 2024 and it's basically just him fixing up an old Chevy C10. So this is like a rusted out old Chevy pickup truck that he purchases in Jackson, Wyoming. And he's going to drive it, he says, about a thousand miles home. The video starts about 15 miles from where I purchased the truck in Ashton, Idaho, and where I pulled off to start a few repairs. And it's an hour long and it's just, it's great. And I didn't realize until I just looked at the bottom of the notes, but his home is in Minnesota. So kind of fitting. This guy's great. Get him on the show. It is really, there's no voiceover. It's just, it's very ASMR, very like just meditative. You can just watch and do something else while you're watching it. A lot of kind of old truck sounds and lots of repairs and camera angles and lots of rust and stuck bolts and stuff like that. It's just, It's a real pleasure to watch. I just really, really enjoyed this one. And, you know, it's gotten one point seven million views. So chances are a lot of you have seen this already, but if not, you're in for a treat. So check that out.
James Stacy Also, like the the like lead image when you click in is a shot of the truck, the rear three quarter. There is not one straight panel on that truck. the bumper yeah the bumper goes in four different directions there's like a very solid like ripple along the top of yeah the bed i love it yeah i i really genuinely adore a vehicle that has been like lived like the jeep has dance and and the rest like it's it's great yeah this is killer so you sent this to me uh last week and it's it's really good His whole channel looks promising, but that one in particular. I have subscribed. And Simon, if you'd like to come on the show, let us know. We'd love to chat with you about making videos about your C10. Yeah. And mine this week is actually just something that has kind of been on my buy list for four or five years. And as I'm planning, you know, just just getting a few things together for going up to the cottage and really starting that season. I did want to go with a fixed blade knife. Oh, yeah. And I looked at all the giant mouse stuff. And look, let's be clear, I'll probably still go that way eventually. But I wanted to start with something much more basic. something that i didn't really mind handing to one of my kids or for my wife to use while gardening and that sort of stuff or even you know like harder tasks around the property and there's pretty much one knife and knife guys already know exactly where i'm going with this i haven't owned one of these in about a decade but but I bought a Moriniv Companion, which is like a $20 fixed blade knife from Sweden. And it's just awesome. It's simple. It's the series one Land Rover Defender of fixed knives. This knife can't offend anybody. It's not really scary. It's not like an eight inch Rambo. It's like four-ish inches. It has a nice plastic sheath that you could just drop over a belt. and comes super sharp, made out of very simple steel. Again, we're talking about a $20 knife. Check it out. It's kind of cool. I hadn't had one of the Moriniv products in a very long time. When I first moved to Vancouver in 2012, I had one, and then I quickly switched it out for a I don't know why, probably because I have some sort of sickness, but I bought a Glock model 78, which is like a military bayonet style fixed blade. The Glock is a cooler, kind of more tactical knife. The Moriniv is a significantly nicer knife to actually use and cut and do anything with. I think these should be in everyone's trunk or in your gardening kit or whatever. They're just really handy. They're the right size. They have a great ergonomic handle and a very simple plastic sheath. If you put this on your belt and then just happen to go to the garage or go to the hardware store or Home Depot later, nobody's going to be like, that guy's walking around with a huge knife. That's good. It's just a normal night thing. Yeah, right, right It like it's very it's not like grandpa. It's just very like this is a tool for cutting some stuff on my property Yeah, yeah, this is not for brandishing at somebody. This is not the kind of knife you would like you know, nobody's holding somebody up with a knife like this, but check it out. I'm really, really happy with it. Yeah, this is cool. The older I get, the more I like friendly cars and friendly knives. Yeah. Whether it's a Series One Land Rover or a Miata or a knife where you can't really be a problem because you have it. Right. And really, if it's a folding knife, everybody, you're welcome to, you know, let me know what you think. But Jason, my experience with folding knives is like, if it's not a Victorinox, people will go like, why do you have that? Why do you have that? Why do you carry that weapon around? Right? And this kind of hits the same, like Boy Scout appeal of a Swiss Army knife. Yeah.
Jason Heaton I like this and wait, what a price. Geez, made in Sweden.
James Stacy This looks great. I don't know how they make any money on this. They must make so many. Yeah. You know, and it feels so sturdy. It's not full tang. Again, 17, 18 bucks. Yeah. I think the first one I bought, I bought at Mac and it was a weird color. um like a tan color and it was like twelve dollars and i remember the guy telling me like this is the knife everybody actually uses after they buy all the expensive stuff for years yeah and maybe he was right maybe he was wrong i don't know but i'm super impressed by it highly recommend it and i can't wait to put some you know dents and scratches in it yeah i love it that's that's nice i'm gonna look for one That's a great, great final note. All right. They make a larger one too, if you have like actual cutting to do, like one that you could hit with a hatchet or a hammer to split logs, that sort of thing. They make a bigger one, like a bush knife. Oh, sure. But this is just a very simple, you know, smaller fixed blade. It's handy. Yeah. Cool. All right.
Jason Heaton There's an episode.
James Stacy Gotta get you on your way.
Jason Heaton All right. Well, uh, it was fun. I love these, uh, these crew and A's because, you know, I think at first we thought that these were going to be like quick hit, like we can kind of do quick answers and kind of roll through them. I actually find that some of these were, they're quite complicated and multi-part and we can kind of take our time with them. And I. We've got the whole year to get through the list. Yeah, exactly. Right. So. All right, well, as always, thanks so much for listening. And to those of you who submitted questions, we will get to them eventually, probably some of the latter ones by the end of the year. But if you want to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grab a new TGN signed NATO, please visit TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout is Siesta by JazzArr via the Free Music Archive.
James Stacy And we'll leave you with this quote from Albert Einstein who said, don't listen to the person who has the answers, listen to the person who has the questions.