The Grey Nato - Ep 39 - Seaforth

Published on Tue, 25 Jul 2017 09:01:41 -0400

Synopsis

This episode covers the hosts' initial impressions of the new Halios Seaforth watch after receiving and wearing it for about a week. They discuss the pastel blue dial color, specifications like the 41mm case size and Miyota movement, the included accessories like the Nanuk case, and how it wears on different strap options like NATOs and leather. They also mention the affordability and great value for the price point compared to luxury brands. Overall, they are very impressed with the build quality and details of this watch from the independent brand Halios.

Additionally, they discuss some other topics like wallet recommendations, an upcoming documentary the one host is covering at Pebble Beach, and provide a couple links/recommendations for interesting articles and videos.

Transcript

Speaker
James Welcome to episode 39 of The Grey Nado, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, gear, and most certainly watches. Thanks so much for listening. So tonight, Jason and I are back, episode 39, excited for the episode. Jason, I think it's going to be a good one. Right up top, we do want to say a quick thank you to listener Sam, who runs an apparel business called Kill Hubris. He sent both Jason and I a really kind care package with a bunch of various bits from his brand, killhubris.com is the website, but it's like t-shirts and stickers and some mugs and bracelets and things like that. And it was really sweet of him to send it our way. It's a, it's always nice. The t-shirts are remarkably nice. So this is not in any way a paid endorsement. Sam wrote us and asked if he could send something our way, and this is what showed up. But I, you know, the t-shirt I got is, was kind of, well, one of them was kind of this really nice kind of worn in, um, Pastel teal color with like a chest pocket and pretty limited branding down on the hem, which I really Really appreciate and really comfortable great for the summer So Sam, thank you so much is very sweet of you to send that.
Jason Yeah much appreciated Love the t-shirt love the the Latin phrasing on the coffee mug. Good stuff.
James Thanks a lot, Sam Yeah, good laptop stickers, too. Yeah. Hey everyone. So James here from the edit booth with a note that Didn't make it into the original recording of the show because we weren't sure if it was going to be ready or not. So we wanted to reach out to those of you who are interested in directly supporting the Graynado. Jason and I have been working on a way to fund the show without the monthly payments of a Patreon campaign or the need of a donation button, neither of which we thought made sense for what's ostensibly just a free podcast about watches and hiking and diving and such. So we reached out to a few of our favorite people, we made some swag, and then we put that swag into a bundle and we sell it to you. And the proceeds from that will go to supporting the show. So you get to support TGN while also getting your choice of a TGN signed gray Toxic NATO in either 20 or 22 millimeter. That's with TGN on the buckle, you know, pretty rare kit at this point. TGN logo iron-on patch from Pastiche Patches, which is kind of cool for a backpack or what have you and a TGN logo sticker good for a laptop or a guitar case or whatever. So TGN is and will remain free. We're not going to charge for the show. We don't expect most of the listeners to pony up for something like these supporter bundles, but as a test, we thought it would be fun to put this out there, see how it did. And if it was a good method for supporting the show, maybe we would continue offering various sorts of supporter bundles. So if you're interested, Please go to thegraynado.com slash support. All of the information is there. We have extremely limited stock, so it's strictly first come first serve, and if we get too many orders, we will simply refund any that exceed what we can fulfill. We aren't sure how popular this will be, so hit the page if you're interested, and we'll do our best. Either way, thank you so much for listening, and if you have any questions, please send them to thegraynado at gmail.com. As always, Jason and I are at your disposal for all things TGN. Okay, back to the show. Hey, Jason. How about we dig into some new business?
Jason Yeah. I don't have a lot personally this week, but, um, I want to put out yet another request to, for, uh, listener input. And this is, you know, in the past we've, we've talked about bags and camera straps and various things that we're always kind of on the hunt for. And, um, I, I've been looking for a very long time for a really good wallet, several over the years. I just, uh, I just got one in last week from, uh, SF bags out in, in San Francisco. Waterfield Designs, I think it's called, and it was a very promising one. It was sort of this ballistic woven nylon with a zipper. You know, it looked slim, it looked small, it looked like it would hold just what I wanted it to, but when it came, it was just still too bulky for my taste. You know, I've tried some of, you know, the small leather ones. I had one that we got from SIHH as a giveaway. It was from like Mont Blanc. That one I find a little bit too small. So maybe I'm just overly picky about this, but but really I just want something that'll carry Kind of a wad of you know, a folded over wad of a few bills whether it's international or US currency you know driver's license certification card for diving some insurance stuff and a couple of credit cards and I'm just finding that You know the fold over one that I've got is it's it's worked for me fairly well for the past couple of years, but It's just sits too high in the back pocket And then a lot of the little kind of small card slot ones are just, they're just too small. So, uh, you know, I'd love to, I'd love to get people's recommendations, whether you tag me or tag us on, on Instagram, um, or write into thegranadoatgmail.com. I'd love to hear about your suggestions. Oh, we're going to get so many emails. We might. We might. Yeah. And I apologize in advance, everybody for that.
James But, uh, you know, did you ever order one of the Bellroy? We were, I know we looked at the, like, uh, I've had a couple of Bellroys in the past and they make a ton. And I know that we had bandied about their website one day on Slack. I wasn't sure if you ended up buying it or not.
Jason I, um, I looked at them. There's a local shop that carries them and there were, I don't know, it almost feels like with a wallet, you almost have to live with it for a little while. And I I'm so, gun-shy about just pulling the trigger on one off of a website, because I guess I did that last week and I've returned it promptly. But that seems to be the most promising brand. So in the end, I might end up just heading downtown here and just trying one out again. But I'd love to hear about other options.
James Yeah, I know for me, I carry, I kind of have two current wallets in rotation, just depending on how much I want to carry. So the first option for me is I actually just made my own. I got tired of not being able to find kind of exactly what I wanted. And so what I ended up doing was just sewing two pieces of like quarter van hide together. Oh yeah. So it's a small square. It'll hold like six or seven cards and some cash if you really cram it in there.
Unknown Yeah.
James But you don't notice it in a pocket and it's like a really simple craftsman stitch. It's been in a few of my Instagram photos. Mega basic. At the time I bought like a shoulder of leather and made like 20 or 30 of them in the learning process. So that was fun. I don't have enough leather to make you one. So if I could source one, I would, but I just flat out don't have enough leather to make any more. I've given away so many as gifts at this point. And then the other one I have is the Fat Herbie wallet from Michant. So Enrique, who runs Michant Flashlights or Michant Electric Torches, when he sent up a handful of torches for me to check out, some of which will be in a giveaway very soon. So those of you interested in a Michant pay attention to probably the next episode. The wallet itself is, this one's the larger one. I think I showed it to you back at SIHH this year. So it's a little bit bigger than a passport.
Unknown Oh yeah.
James And it's really good if I have to carry more stuff. Like if I have to carry a little bit of paperwork, bigger checks, like checks these days can be really big. You get something for like some freelance work and it's, you know, it's, it's huge. It's not like a normal check.
Unknown Right.
James or things like that then I absolutely love this and I've been tanning the leather for some time now so I leave it out on a railing near my house and tan it because it's a natural kangaroo leather so it's slowly getting darker with time which is fun and that's a great wallet and it kind of has four cells in a large book sort of format but because there's so much it's almost square It's not especially thick. So once it's in your pocket, you don't notice it in hand. It feels like you're holding quite a bit and you can get quite a bit of quite a few cards in it. So I'm, I'm pretty happy with that one too. Both, uh, both good options. Um, I guess it's stupid to say that making your own is a good option because most people aren't going to do that. I have had some Bellroy's including their like really lightweight travel wallet, which I liked quite a bit. But if I were to rebuy that, I wouldn't buy it in leather. I would try and see if they have a design that was in a, like a fabric of some sort or a Cordura, a nylon, because the leather was so thin to achieve the thinnest possible wallet. Sure. It just wasn't that robust. It really took on the shape of the cards and then it dried out very quickly because there wasn't, you know, maybe I'm not even necessarily sure what type of leather it was. It was many years ago that I got it. So they may be well into a different sort of product at this point, but they have a great reputation and they have a couple that have, um, I think they have one that has a SIM card slot in it. like for holding on. So that, that I always thought was pretty cool. Cause you know, you go to Switzerland, I have a SIM for Switzerland cause the data is really cheap there. If you have your own SIM.
Jason Oh, sure.
James And uh, I assume if you travel more, that would be handy. I'm only there a couple of times a year. So while wallets are, are really like a really intense point of fascination, but it can be expensive. Cause like you said, you want to kind of try them.
Jason It is, it's truly your everyday carry. I mean, you know, if somebody says, what do you take everywhere you go, you can't even probably say your watch because you change watches, but it's always your phone. and oftentimes your keys, but always your wallet, you know, almost every time you leave the house. So I'm just on the cusp. I just need a new wallet. And I think, you know, I've joked about just ending up at something like the Magnum PI, you know, dive flag Velcro wallet, which doesn't exactly work in all places.
James If I can find a sound effect of that Velcro opening, I'll put it in right here. It's such a terrible sound.
Jason Not exactly refined.
James No, no, not so much. The other thing I've been doing lately, and this is just the height of laziness, is I'll just take my credit card and put it in my pocket.
Jason You know, I've been doing that too. Like credit card and driver's licenses.
James I don't even drive anywhere.
Unknown I just take my card.
James Sometimes I just take my credit card. Like if I don't need it, if I don't think I'm going to need anything else.
Jason Yeah. Some people go with a money clip.
James Yeah. Yeah. I think a money clip is a great option. Yeah, for sure. I don't generally carry that much cash. The other one that I like is you can get the ones that stick on the back of your phone and hold a card or two. And I'm like, I've never been so split on the benefits and the costs of a product idea.
Unknown Yeah.
James Cause the benefits are huge, but like there's a few costs. One, if you lose your phone, you've also just lost your wallet and everything.
Unknown I know, I know.
James And if your phone is stolen or does it make your phone an even bigger target because it's got your cards in it or cash or something like that. And then I use, um, I use a Samsung phone, which has wireless charging. Oh yeah. So you can just drop the phone on a pad and it charges, but that will block the charger.
Jason Sure, yeah.
James You just can't win. You can't just do it all. I know.
Jason Well, and before I pass it over to you, I'll just quickly thank a few listeners who wrote in, either on Instagram or via email, to respond to my request for suggestions for which watch I should wear for my HMS Hermes dive next month. I would say the majority of people suggested that I wear my Rolex Submariner, mainly for kind of sentimental reasons, which I agree with. A good tip. Mostly. Yeah. Um, a couple of people were passionately for the Doxa, um, which I also kind of agree with. And then I got some interesting feedback, um, from, from a guy who, who's a listener. He's a, he's a pilot and he, uh, he said, I don't know much about diving, but I do know something about risk management. And it does seem like the Aqualand might be a good choice simply because it's, uh, provides the backup, uh, depth gauge function, which, um, you know, well taken, sir. And, uh, I'll still take other input as people have it. But yeah, go back and check out episode 38 if you want to kind of hear my backstory to that dilemma. But thanks for everybody who wrote in, and I will keep debating that until the very day I splash into the water, I'm sure. So, James, what do you got? What's new on your end?
James Uh, yeah, the only thing new is, you know, I, uh, some people, you know, follow me on Instagram would see that I got out for my kind of first hike of the season. So at a certain point, you can't really be one of the voices on the great NATO. If you're not getting out for a hike when you can, you know, uh, it's been a busy season. I know that's what people say, but, uh, between, you know, the young family and, uh, you know, developing some freelance stuff and all that sort of thing, it just, just felt like a lot of weekends were getting away from me, but, uh, I bit the bullet and got out very early for a great hike. Uh, if you live in Vancouver and haven't done tunnel bluffs, it was my first time. I, you know, I don't think it's typically shows up in a lot of like the top 10 day hikes around Vancouver, but I would say it's as it's every bit as good as a St. Mark's or, uh, or something like that, or certainly as good as Seymour. Um, you end up on a bluff, not on a peak. So if you really want the high, high height, then, then that's fine. But you go from, uh, just out of North, just North of lion's bay. So just a little bit beyond Kelvin where we dove, Jason.
Unknown Oh yeah.
James And, uh, and it's, uh, it's a good plus 500 meters over the first two kilometers. So it's a nice grind. And then you pretty much top out on this. They said it was like an old logging service road, but it's definitely not a road. It's just a path. So I'm not sure what they were servicing. Maybe it was done with ATVs or, or some, but there's definitely old, uh, logging cables and like shackles just left. you know, in the forest floor. Yeah. And then you walk along a really beautiful path. I posted a few photos, just some great trees and colors, that kind of quintessential Pacific Northwest fading between birch and deep greens and such. And then you end up on a big bluff up above Highway 99 and over overlooking Howe Sound. There's a handful of people who had camped up there, like had camped right on the bluff, a few guys in hammocks. Had, uh, had been out there all night and man, what a, what a great spot. So I'll definitely be going back to do that. It was, uh, let's see, it would have been, um, a little less than three hours round trip. Uh, maybe even closer to two and a half hours. I'm just trying to remember what the, what the time was I got on the Garmin, but yeah, I had a blast. It was, uh, it was nice to get out. And like I said, if you're around Vancouver, check out Tunnel Bluffs, a pretty simple hike. I would say the biggest challenge is the parking lot is on one side of 99.
Jason Oh, geez.
James So you have to kind of like, like a wild animal run across 99. But if you know 99, there's always a corner. Yeah. So the one side like it was almost like I sat there for a while waiting for an opening where there I didn't see a car coming from either direction, then you take a step and a car would come over at 120k. And you're just like, Oh, okay, I'll just wait. I'll just keep waiting. Yeah. And eventually you make it but you know, just be a Be on your game when you frogger your way out into 99 to get to the trailhead. Toughest part of the hike. Yeah, yeah, for sure. The rest was great. It was just really nice to be out. Nice. And then the only other thing I'll throw there is I will be at Pebble Beach in August. So if you are listening to the show and you're a Pebble Beach attendee and you happen to be kicking around the concourse or the quail and you see a dude with a really bright orange camera strap, Tall, tall, kind of gangly white guy, super bright orange, camera strapped. That's me. Come say hi. Last time I was at the Quail, I said hi to a handful of people. This is before Grenado. But I was able to meet up with kind of a handful of people that were there, kind of like-minded folks. It's an event I'm really, really excited about. So I'm going to cover it for a magazine here in Vancouver called Monte Cristo. And I can't wait. It's just, it's absolute, you know, car nerd heaven.
Jason Oh, that's awesome. I'm glad you're getting to go to that. It's one of those sort of iconic car events of the year along with Villa d'Este and I suppose Goodwood.
James Goodwood and Amelia Island. And yeah, there's always a good calendar if you're a Ted Gashew or some of these guys that are kind of bouncing from one to another. There's so many great events throughout the year for car fans these days. It's great. Nice. And yeah, I think that, uh, I think that pretty much wraps up new business. You know, it's summer, you're, you're trying to do less and it always seems like there's more on, on the way. So, uh, you want to dig into, uh, kind of main topic. I'm sure everybody's seen the title to the show. So we're talking about the new Halio C4.
Jason Yeah. I mean, you can't get much, uh, much fresher in terms of topics than this. I mean, we both just got this watch like last week, so it's really more so than, than reviews. It's more just kind of first impressions and And man, I love this watch. I really love this watch. You know, we both ended up with very similar watches, but I think they kind of have a sort of different characters to them simply because you got the one with the 12-hour bezel and I got the one with the fixed bezel.
James So yeah, the watch comes in a handful of different versions. There's a black dial, there's a sun ray or sun finish blue dial that was like a deep metallic blue with a lighter tone as the sun hits it. And then there's a pastel blue dial. And the pastel blue dial has the same markers and everything, but they have a black surround. So there's a lot of contrast there. And I think both you and I kind of fell in love with just the photo of the pastel. And I live in Vancouver, which is where Hallios is based. So I've actually seen the prototypes of these watches for some time at little events around town and going to visit Jason, who runs Hallios. and the watch just kept getting better and better through every all the prototyping stages and now to actually have a final one um on wrist to call my own is just uh it's great i mean i'm a huge halios fan halios is one of the first brands i got into when i got into writing about watches i was very interested in these internet brands these one-man brands that people call micro brands or indie brands and of course indie is a little bit harder because then you start to factor in Big luxury brands that are also independents, the independents. So I think micro brand is maybe fair or a one-man brand or whatever you want to call it. But Halios has really cut a path for themselves over the past, oh man, what, seven, eight years by delivering designs that enthusiasts watch, dive watch enthusiasts are very kind of keyed in for. And then not overproducing and being very realistic with things like timelines and delivery and certainly pricing. And I think it's given them kind of every, every new model tends to be a little hotter than the one before it because of that. And I know the Tropic had been kind of hard to get in steel. And now, now we're seeing the same thing with the, uh, with the Seaforth. So they, they put orders up for about two days and, uh, and then shut it off because all, every one of those orders has to be checked and shipped by hand by Jason. So it's a, it's a big task. once those are shipped, he'll move, he'll reopen the orders. And I checked with him to see how, what he wanted as far as what people should know if they're, you know, mentally in line for a Seaforth. And the ticket would be just to watch their Instagram to find out when the ordering it reopens. It may actually happen before this episode goes up. I have really no idea, but, uh, that that's the official message from Hallios is if you really want kind of the most up to the date information about ordering a Seaforth, don't email Jason and I, don't comment on a post and say like, when can I get one? Or who do I talk to? Just follow Hallios and they'll post when the ordering window is reopened. And then that's about as good as you get. And then if like in the past, if they all sell out, then there'll be a second run typically with a different, uh, different choices as far as dial colors and things like that.
Jason So, so cool. Yeah. I, you know, I, this one's been on my list since, uh, I think March or April, I think it was in March because, um, it was actually, it arrived last week and it was, um, it was kind of a belated birthday gift from my wife because I, you know, when I first saw this watch back when, you know, prototypes and drawings and that sort of thing were being bandied about on Instagram, uh, I was like just smitten. And for a while I debated about the dial color and even the bezel options, but I'm, I settled on the pastel, and settled is maybe not the right word, but it is fantastic. I have zero regrets or second thoughts about the particular configuration that I got.
James It's been wonderful. What are the stats for the Seaforth? For those who didn't know, because we've talked about this watch quite a bit, so this might be treading water for a lot of the listeners, but for those of you who don't know what a Halleo Seaforth is,
Jason Yeah, so the first thing that kind of strikes you is it's almost the perfect size for a watch of this type. It's 41 millimeters across, kind of across the dial, 47 millimeters lug to lug, and then it's about 12 millimeters thick. So just a really versatile size. It runs with a Miyota 90S5 movement, which is It's a slightly different Miyota than a lot of people are used to, that 9015 movement that you see in a lot of the microbrand watches nowadays. It's automatic winding, it has a hacking function and hand winding, but it was, you know, made from the ground up by Miyota to not have a date function. So you don't get that sort of phantom date clicking position when you pull out the crown, which, you know, it's a small thing, but I think it's kind of cool. For me, especially on, I don't know about the ones with the rotating bezels because I haven't handled one, but at least the one I have with the fixed bezel, this domed sapphire, which I guess you call it like a box style crystal that a lot of the brands are using, you know, from Doxa to Tag Heuer on some of these retro style watches. It's a domed sapphire with internal anti-reflective coating, but especially on the fixed bezel version, it sort of comes up above, sits above the bezel really nicely, giving it sort of a vaguely vintage look without, you know, being over the top that way.
James Yeah, the bezel definitely sits up on mine, which has the 12-hour bezel, which is kind of the middle depth bezel. So the ceramic bezel is the thickest, so you'd have the least amount of kind of crystal bubble. And then you have the two rotating bezel, the dive bezel and the 12-hour bezel have some, I would say a good amount of crystal. Like a good portion of that 12 millimeters is crystal.
Unknown Yeah.
James And I absolutely love the way it looks. Like you said, it's sapphire. But it's not bubbled in the same way that you would have like with an AORUS 65. The AORUS 65 looks more like Plexi because it has a little bit more distortion at its edges. Yeah. And it feels a little more vintage, whereas this really, the light does bend at the edges like it does have some distortion, but it's more like they flare at their edges rather than kind of glowing.
Unknown Yeah.
James Whereas this one, you take a photo and it has this rather interesting glow.
Unknown Yeah.
James And it's a weird point, but I've noticed it in a bunch of the wrist shots that I've taken where the way that the crystal deals with light looks really good. And it could be because it's a very light dial, the teal, the pastel teal.
Jason Yeah. The watch that it strikes me most similarly is I have that Grand Seiko GMT, which the watches are nothing alike in form or function or anything, but it wears kind of similarly. And the Grand Seiko is only a 38 millimeter case. But I think because of the crystal and the kind of the lug, I don't know what the lug to lug is on that Grand Seiko, but it just has a similar feel to it. And yet it's a completely different watch. That crystal gives it, and I think the fixed bezel version gives it a slightly more refined look. You know, I certainly would not call it a dress watch by any means, but it just, it gives it this versatility that I'm just really happy with. And the other great point about this watch is, It has a 200 meter water resistance rating. So, you know, certainly, you know, the one you have or the one with the dive bezel, fully functional, perfect, you know, go use it as a dive watch. But I just, I'm really drawn to these kind of smaller fixed bezel sports watches that have good water resistance these days, like the, you know, like the Black Bay 36 or 41. Oh yeah, for sure. Aqua Terra or an Explorer. you know, where they aren't made for a specific function, and yet you can use them for just about anything. And I feel like that's kind of this watch.
James That's funny. That's a good example of the Black Bay 41, as it's also 41 millimeters. That watch wears way differently than a C4. Yeah. The Black Bay case is that chunky, very sporty case.
Unknown Yeah.
James And there's something more about the Black Bay case that feels very modern, but also kind of vintage inspired. Whereas I'd say the Hallios, especially with the kind of facet, the polished facet on the lugs, it's a little bit more ornate, but it doesn't seem to feel modern or vintage. It's just a case. I don't really know how to describe it. It doesn't wear at all like most other 41 millimeter watches. It definitely wears similar to my Explorer II. They're almost identical in dimension. And but the case profile, if you see it from its side, and I'll be sure to send a photo or put a photo up, is not really like a lot of other watches. It's a lot closer to that Skin Diver I have, that Sylvana. Oh, yeah. Where you have kind of a lug shape and then a bezel that sits on top of it. It has kind of that squalor bezel design, at least for mine, which has a rotating bezel where the bezel is ever so slightly wider than the case. This is a much finer difference between the case and the bezel edge than the 1521 I had from Squalor, which, you know, had this really nice edge that you could grab quite easily. Whereas the, uh, the C4 is very easy to use and easy to grip because it's all jimping on the outside, like a, a nice sharp sort of coin edge. Not like, not unlike what you'd find on the back of a knife, you know, where your thumb lands.
Unknown Oh yeah.
James Yeah. Yeah. I mean, functionality is great. It's got a really good, um, good click for the rotating.
Unknown Huh. Nice.
James And I adore a 12-hour obviously, and I've definitely rambled way too much about that on the show in the past, so I won't belabor the point, but I adore the functionality of a 12-hour bezel. I love that I still get a loomed pip at 12 just for general timing and certainly for things like if you did want to use it for diving, no struggle there. All the details are really nice and the price point's simply fantastic.
Jason Yeah, for the fixed bezel version like I got, it goes for $675 in the U.S. And then 700 for the rotating bezel versions, which I think this watch swings well above that price point especially when you kind of break down all the details and just get to handle this watch like we have and You know, I could see this being you know, easily a like an eight nine hundred, you know Sub slightly sub thousand dollar watch easily and I think I think a lot of people would be equally happy at that price point
James Yeah, I think a lot of it comes down to expectation and what Haleos has charged previously for watches, but I would say this is their most refined design yet. Yeah. It has the same sort of quality that we came to see in the latest generation of the Puck and in the latest, or really the last two Lagunas and certainly the Tropic. So a very nice case and a great bezel and beautiful dial. And in this case, there's no bracelet option. It's just a leather strap. You get a couple of different ones in the case, which gives you The case is a Nanuk case, which is a Canadian made kind of competitor to Pelican, which is a really cool kind of dive accessory case. A little bit tricky to open. I don't know if you found that. You got to pinch it and then pop that thing off the bottom. And they did a kind of launch event in Vancouver with a handful of the guys who had bought the watch locally. And he was handing out the watches that people had bought. And then everybody was, you know, with one drink in hand trying to pop open these cases and you're like, maybe just put it down flat on a table and pop the latch. But it's not like, it doesn't use the same sort of latching system as a Pelican. It uses their own sort of design. And it's, I think it's a really cool concept because there's no waste. Like you'll just use that case for something else. Oh, totally. Yeah. It's not a wooden box that's going to go sit in your shelf or take up a bunch of space.
Jason Yeah. I have a Pelican that's similarly sized, but this is slightly bigger and I like the I think, you know, that closure is a little tricky, but I think it's actually going to be a lot more secure than the kind of the little flip lock ones that are on the little Pelican I've got. So, and I love that it has the, it has like that sort of rubber lanyard, adjustable lanyard on it. That's really handy. So, yeah, I mean, I don't want to go on too much here about the case it comes in, but it's, it's, it's really a nice little feature, a nice surprise feature that kind of comes with the watch. And what kind of strap have you been wearing it on? Oh, I mean, I, so it came on a leather strap and it came with a couple of leather straps in the, in the box and you know, it's, Right in the middle of a hot Minnesota summer here. I went straight to a Toxic NATO. It's, you know, I, in fact, the day I got it, I took it to open water swimming in the lake down the street. So I just, you know, the leather wasn't going to work anyway. So I just, I threw it right on, on a NATO strap and it hasn't come off yet. And it's great. It looks, it's another great thing about the watch. I think it looks, it looked really great on the brown leather that it came on. And I can't wait to kind of play with straps. You know, as the weather changes and we get more into kind of the cooler weather where leather works really well, because I think, you know, a leather NATO or, you know, kind of a nice, you know, cafe au lait sort of light colored. Brown leather will look nice. How about you? What have you been, you've, you had it on a Perlon for a while. I noticed.
James Yeah, I've tried it on everything, everything I got, it's, it's been through, so it's fantastic on a NATO. It's, you know, a gray toxic is beautiful on, on it. And I think would go with pretty much any of the dials. I mean, gray NATO's. It's a great NATO, come on. Yeah. And then it's really good on a rubber NATO, on those ZD328 straps, you know, that Watch Gecko carries, that NATO Centurion makes them. So we've raved about those in the past. Those are super fun and super wearable and nice and summery if you don't want to sweat into a NATO, which will eventually degrade the fabric. I'll just buy another one. Yeah. And then I've tried it on What else? Yeah, a couple Perlons. It's actually really good. I got this an olive Perlon and you know, it's not really a color I'd be drawn to for any watch. Yeah, but out of you know, you know interest I threw it on the watch and it works really well with the with the kind of teal pastel color and so that one's fun. There's a I think there's a loom shot on my Instagram on that on that one. It's a very kind of brownish military green color, you know, olive green and and then yeah, the Perlon is nice. I don't know if I can really get behind Perlon. 100%. It seems like as soon as it's broken in, you have to really be careful when you take it off because the purlon wants to slide right out of the watch. Yeah, that's true. Like on a NATO, you could hang the watch on the wall on the NATO if you wanted to. Yeah. Whereas it just feels like I could just remove the purlon in a split second and drop the watch.
Unknown Yeah.
James So that's kind of fine, but alternatively it feels super summery and very comfortable. And these are crown and buckle. purlons and they're not scratchy. You know, I've, I've had purlons in the past that I found quite scratchy on my wrist and I didn't have that issue with these ones. So I think if you're going to try a purlon, they're definitely never expensive, but maybe try the crown and buckle one. Not a paid endorsement in any way. I didn't pay for the purlons, but these are the best I've tried yet. I had a purlon some time ago. It might even have been an older crown and buckle one, and I just never found it. Very comfortable, but these ones I definitely enjoyed and then right now I'm wearing the the c4th on a two-piece Hadley Roma Cordura. Oh nice So it was my plan to send one of these straps to you because it's really nice for the summer It has um, it's a heavy gray Cordura and the inside is lined. So it deals with sweat quite nicely. Oh cool So I'd originally bought this strap a couple of years ago from Global Watch Band and I bought it for the Zinn 144 GMT that I had at the time. I've since sold the Zinn and I still had this nice kind of Cordura strap. Unfortunately, I went on their site last night because I wanted to send you one because I know they make it in a longer version as well, which I thought would suit your slightly larger wrist, but they do not have them in gray currently. So keep an eye on the site. They have a few other colors and I'll put them in the show notes. But I really like these straps. They're not super expensive. I think they were under $50. Nice and comfy and kind of a nice match if you want to do, you know, that nice kind of two-piece cordura, a nice summer option. I think, I mean, let's be honest, give me another week and it's just going to go on a 20 millimeter Toxic and that'll probably be it. You know, with the blue, with the light blue, I might try it on different colors of Toxics, but it's probably just going to go on a gray one. That's how I wear most of my watches almost all the time, that or the Rubbernado.
Jason You know, the striking thing about this watch, obviously, is that the first thing that pops into your head is the color of the dial. And I was thinking, like, who else makes that color dial? And there are very few, if any. And the only one that I could even imagine was that light blue platinum Day-Date that Rolex had. I don't know if they still make that one. Like, the watch weighs like 500 pounds. It's like solid platinum.
James Oh, the Acer blue, yeah. The chocolate brown ceramic bezel.
Jason Yeah, and the Daytona.
James The 50th anniversary one. Yeah.
Jason Yeah. I don't know. I haven't compared them side by side But it's the kind of the only light blue dial watch that I could think of I know that you know Doxa did like a Project Aware And but that was a like a really heavy kind of turquoise This is this is this light really nice almost the color of I think it's like the color of the Caribbean Sea or something It just says this beautiful light blue and I I think that's what gives it that versatility with straps I don't doubt that the darker blue one will as well and to a certain degree of the black but That's such the striking piece of this watch, but I think I told you that these little subtle details about the Seaforth are what have really kind of grabbed my attention now that I've got it in hand. And I love the style of the hands. I love the, in particular, the narrow rectangle that is kind of the flag on the end of the sweep seconds hand. I just find that really nice. There aren't a lot of watches that have that style. And then, you know, you were talking about the, sort of the coin edge on the bezel, and since mine doesn't have the rotating bezel, I can't compare, but I really noticed the sort of grippiness on the crown, the sort of facets on the crown are just fantastic.
James Yeah, the crown's really solid to use, too. Yeah, I agree. It's nice. The details, they hit the details, and I think that's what you get from the successful brands within this space, is a details watch.
Unknown Yeah.
James Yeah. So it doesn't say Rolex on the dial. It doesn't say long on the dial. It doesn't have that kind of like immediate high level credibility from a watch brand. I think it's an enthusiast brand. It's something that, sure, you might end up at a party or something and somebody go like, is that a Hallios? Yeah. But it's going to be very rare. Not the right watch to buy for something like that, like, you know, for street cred in the watch one upmanship game. Yeah. Yeah. But boy, for the price point, watches like the Seaforth and the Trekker 40, which I'm a big fan of from Raven. These watches have really gotten to a point where all of the little details don't really leave a lot to complain about in terms of what you're getting, not only for your money, but just in terms of what you're getting as a watch.
Jason Yeah. Yeah, I agree. And in terms of that sort of street cred factor, I think it's one of those watches that will surprise even the snobbiest of of kind of watch guys um i met i met and this is not a this is not a this is a non-sequitur but i met with a guy who's a fan of the show he goes by 60 clicks on instagram he's definitely not a watch snob um but he was in town from new zealand of all places and he wanted to meet up and it was the day after i got my c4th and we sat down i brought a few watches with me um you know various uh levels of prestige and price point and the first thing he wanted to see was was the c4th and he just He snapped photos of it and, you know, he didn't even look at the, you know, the Submariner I had with me and the Doxos and stuff. He was just really liked it. And he had a great collection of kind of old Seikos and whatever you should check out, uh, 60 clicks on, uh, on Instagram, by the way, cause he's got kind of a neat feed. And we were kind of discussing this over coffee that day. And we were agreeing that the satisfaction quotient that you get from a watch, like, like kind of a cool Seiko, like your, your world timer or like the C4 is, It can almost be more satisfying to have those watches in hand and to wear them than it can be to track down one of these icons, these, you know, a vintage Speedmaster or something, because they're just so ubiquitous and well-known and everybody has sort of dissected them down to every last nuance. And I think these watches, you get them and you realize I have this watch on my wrist that, you know, costs less than a Rolex, you know, End Link. And it's just truly fantastic.
James Yeah. I think it's a watch nerd's watch. Yeah. Yeah. I think if you're into dive watches, regardless of the price point, I think that you'll see a watch like the ones we've mentioned and certainly like the Seaforth and see them as a qualified, you know, good design. And there's a few different options. If you're not feeling the teal, teal might be sold out. I'm not sure for the, those wanting to be on team pastel, but, uh, you know, I, I think, I think it's good to, I'm assuming, well, we have the same dial, so it's not going to be any different, but the lume is also surprisingly good. I think if you look at photos of the watch, you'd assume fine lume, but not like exemplary. The markers aren't huge, the hands aren't huge.
Unknown Yeah, it is surprising.
James It uses, yeah, that green C3. And I find the green C3, like the daytime color, really works well with the blue as well. Very much. It's just, you know, like it's a nice mix of things and you get some good lume and the movement for me is keeping really good time. You know, it's my first time with a 90S5. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I guess we're both, what, maybe a weekend. So I guess that's probably still well into the honeymoon phase and we'll let you know if things change. Yeah, definitely. If you're on the fence, I would say, you know, follow their Instagram and see what's available when the next sale comes up. It's a fun watch and I, you know, I applaud what Hallius is doing and still maintaining the same price point they've been working at for years.
Jason Yeah. you know, last year that the SRP that the Seiko Turtle, I think a lot of us got those and we were playing with them and raving about them. For me, it was kind of the one of the one or two or three kind of really satisfying big watch releases of the year in terms of everything, you know, value and quality and aesthetics and that sort of thing. And I think to me, you know, I hesitate to, to get too rah-rah and, and, you know, after a week of ownership, but for me, the Seaforth, I guess the anticipation that I felt and then the satisfaction I've had just since I've owned it. It's a strong contender for kind of one of the stronger watch releases of 2017 in my mind.
James So yeah, if you have any questions about the Halios C4 for us, please don't ask us questions that Halios would know the answer to. I've been getting a lot of those on Instagram, but I don't have any special information about the shipping scenario or necessarily how long it will take to get to you if you've already ordered one. Just sit tight I think you'll be really happy when you do get it and if you're a listener of Granado and you got a C4th Throw a tag on one of your posts. I'm sure you're putting it up on Instagram We'd we'd love to see what's out there and what straps you're wearing them on and that sort of thing and that's always fun to Kind of see where everybody lands with that sort of stuff. So I think that pretty much wraps up plenty of time on the C4th good luck to anyone who's still hoping to get theirs and Want to swing into final notes and put the bow on it?
Jason Yeah, that sounds good. I'll jump in with one. This is actually a nice long form read piece that was sent to us by Ken Nichols, a good friend of the show. I think he submitted a quote to us for our last show. And the article is called The Little Known Soviet Mission to Rescue a Dead Space Station. It's on a website called Ars Technica. It was from, I guess it was actually from late 2014 when this article was released, but it's, uh, it's evergreen because it was, uh, the topic is actually, um, from the 1980s. Uh, although the story wasn't known for quite a while, but, uh, it's an interesting story because it kind of comes out of the Soviet, the sort of latter days of the Soviet space program. Um, you know, when the cold war was still going strong and, and the space race was a well-kept secret on both sides and, um, The story is about one of their space stations that had become disabled or lost power while it was in orbit. And they didn't want to divulge this to the rest of the world for a number of reasons. And so they devised a plan to send up a sort of a rescue capsule with a couple of hand-picked cosmonauts that would somehow figure out how to dock with this essentially dead space station that was drifting around with no power or no means of communication and, uh, you know, get into a rendezvous situation and then, and then dock with the space station, send a couple of, uh, cosmonauts inside to kind of troubleshoot this mysterious loss of electrical power that they had. And then, you know, hopefully safely, uh, restore power and bring these, these guys home that were stranded in there. And, um, you know, it kind of ticks all the boxes of stuff that we like on the show here. some intrigue and a little bit of history and some great piloting skills and of course some good old space technology here. So definitely check it out and thanks Ken for submitting that. We'll throw up the link in the show notes and certainly give it a shot. I don't know, have you had a chance to read that?
James Yeah, what a bonkers story.
Unknown Yeah.
James I mean, talk about being out there when something goes bad.
Unknown Yeah.
James Yeah. Just, uh, just crazy. And I love the way that they handled it and the story's well told. So it is kudos stars technical on that one. Not, not necessarily the easiest story to probably drag all the facts together. Yeah. So when you, when you kind of think of how the writer kind of dig into that one, I imagine it was, uh, it was, uh, a bit of a dizzying, uh, kind of process. So really, really cool. Definitely worth reading and, uh, yeah, hit the show notes for that. What do you have? Uh, my first one is a video that I tried to put in last episode. But, uh, it's, it's, uh, the full-time shootout from Goodwood 2017. So it's all the cars that were timed for the hill climb. Typically, not always, but typically the full-time shootout cars are the hardest driven. And it's everything from pre-war Bugattis up to modern, uh, race cars like Formula One and different things like that go up the hill. So they're not necessarily timed against each other.
Unknown Yeah.
James It's just your time against the hill. Oh, sure. And I loved this video when I watched it when they first put it out, but there were some quality issues with the video itself on YouTube. And I think enough people complained. They pulled the video right as we were going to record episode 38. So I subbed something else in. I don't remember what at this point, but they pulled the video. And then like the next day after I'd record, you know, we had recorded and I had edited, they put up a new video, which is a much higher quality in terms of resolution and audio. And if you're interested in what makes Goodwood kind of interesting from a hill climb perspective, not from an overall scene, but from the perspective of the hill climb, you should definitely check out this video. They drive so hard and to see like an ancient Bugatti drifting, you know, floating through corners as this guy wrestles this giant wooden wheel is awesome. And then later on towards the end, They stack quite a few of the very fast cars together. And one of the fast cars is piloted by Mark Higgins, who we spoke about previously driving the Subaru STI at Isle of Man. Oh, yeah. So this would have been on a pretty early episode of the Granado, a while back anyways. And he takes another wild blue Subaru up the hill at Goodwood and he's just driving like Like his whole world is on fire. It's great. It's so, so good. So I'm really happy to put the video back and I will put the link in the show notes. If you're into that sort of thing, I think you'll love it.
Jason Yeah. I think I saw a video. It was sort of a, just a snippet of, of Nico Rosberg doing donuts in a, in his a formula one car, like spitting, spitting showers of grass and dirt all over the spectators.
James Yeah. At the top of the Hill, there's a spot where they can kind of rip a couple donuts if they want. It looks like such a fun event because it's not. specifically about racing.
Unknown Yeah.
James And the, the, like even just in this full-time shootout, the breadth of cars is bonkers. Huh. All eras, a NASCAR, I think a couple of NASCARs, one of them doesn't make it up the hill, all being driven really hard. And yeah, what if, uh, oh, you've got a really good one next. I'm excited about this. We received a few emails about this, uh, this video.
Jason Oh, cool. Yeah. New, uh, new documentary film that was just released on Netflix a week or two ago. called Chasing Coral, and really an amazing documentary, slightly, well, not slightly, fairly depressing, with a hint of inspiration at the end. As you might expect, the movie is sort of documenting the decline of coral reefs due to climate change, global warming, acidification of oceans, etc. But I think The, while the message is definitely clear in this film, I think the way in which they present it has a very human side to it. It's not preachy per se. It's very, um, there's a certain urgency to their message, but I think, um, the team of people that they put together in this movie, um, and sort of this woven in element of technology and adventure, I think all kind of conspires to make this a really, um, compelling movie. Um, If any of you saw Chasing Ice, which was a movie that came out a few years ago about this scientist, James Bellog, who was documenting the receding glaciers around the world by placing fixed cameras and then sort of doing these time-lapse films about, you know, tracing the sort of recession of various glaciers around the world. The reason this movie is called Chasing Coral is because the guy whose brainchild this movie was, saw Chasing Ice and thought, you know, we need to kind of brand this message about the decline of coral reefs around the world in much the same way. And actually, it was some of the same filmmakers and production company that did Chasing Ice that came to work on Chasing Coral. And, you know, it's this group, kind of ragtag bunch of sort of mix of divemasters and scientists You know, the guy who kind of led this effort was just an avid diver who used to be like an ad executive. But, you know, they have to come up with this brand new kind of camera that they can leave anchored to the ocean floor, uh, in a coral reef and, and take photos regularly, but they also need a certain way to wipe off the, the dome that's, that's over the camera to keep kind of the scum that builds up underwater, uh, clear. They have focus issues with this camera. They've got to figure out how to keep the battery charged and how to control it and take the images off of it. So there's that piece of it. And then there's this kind of heartwarming part of the story where one of the young scientists who's part of this project has been this sort of lifelong coral aficionado. He's kept tanks of coral in his house. And one of his idols was this old Australian biologist who was diving the Great Barrier Reef in the 1970s and 80s and starting to document The corals around there and he kind of makes this pilgrimage to go visit this guy at the end of the movie I don't know. It was just As I said, you know, it can be sort of fairly depressing. I mean there were you know people crying at the end and the crew and some of the scientists that were being interviewed and You know, certainly it's a very dire situation but I think you know what I would kind of took away from it at the end was that that these these guys that were really passionate about this and and studying this and took the time and went through the effort to make the movie, um, you know, it gives you this, this sliver of hope that, you know, if, if there are enough people out there that, that care about this sort of thing, maybe you can turn the tide. I'm not entirely optimistic, but, uh, regardless, really, really well done movie. And, uh, you know, I, I quickly sort of sent the link over to James and I know you had a chance to watch it, uh, a couple of days ago.
James Yeah, I watched it over the weekend and I really don't have anything to add. Everything you said is a, is a really good, uh, kind of summary of the film. It's, uh, definitely worth watching if you're into kind of ocean and oceanography and diving and, and, or, or if you come at it from the conservation and concern about global warming, uh, kind of perspective, I think both are well applied here. And if you watch Chasing Ice and liked it or enjoyed it or learned something from it, I guess. I think you'll get the same from Chasing Coral. It's a, it's a great movie and a good documentary and definitely worth the, I don't know, hour and a half they ask of your time.
Jason Yeah. And just as a little footnote at the end here, um, you know, to kind of tie in a slight watch element to it. Um, there is a brief sort of part where they show one of the guys who works with the, like, I think it's the Coral Reef Foundation, um, who's wearing, uh, an Oris actually. It's the, I think it was the Great Barrier Reef limited edition, um, watch that they came out with, I think a year or two ago. So kind of cool to see that in the movie as well. Yeah. Always fun to see a watch. I think, uh, I think you've got a very fitting last final note here to kind of close out our Helios episode.
James Yep. Yeah. We're going to go, we're going to go at a one more note about Helios, but from a different kind of aspect. And this is a, an ebook produced by a photographer named Vincent Lyons and the photography company, uh, phase one. So Vincent Lyons, if you don't know, if you don't follow him on Instagram, he's a fantastic product photographer, fantastic photographer. So he's at Vincent Lyons on Instagram, and he recently did a product shoot for a number of Halleous watches, including the new C4, the Puck, and the Laguna II. And in that process, they made a free e-book kind of showing how a lot of these shots were made and what went into them. And of course, it's done kind of as a bit of like a an ad or commercial space. I think it's really nicely produced. You know, it's a free download. It's in the show notes, but you can see some of the conceptual ideas behind planning the shots and then how the shots were actually taken and what kind of gear was used. So this, if you don't know, phase one, we're talking about medium format, which is an ultra large sensor up to, I think in some cases in excess of a hundred megapixels, certainly up to a hundred megapixels. Uh, the, uh, Halia's photos were done with a 40 megapixel back. is what it's called for a medium format camera. And then a variety of lenses. These are ultra specific, hugely expensive camera systems. So it's really fun to see how they're used in a studio. You know, you're shooting in a tethered environment where the camera is speaking directly to a computer and you're seeing high resolution proofs as you go. You're not looking at a little screen on the back of the camera. I really enjoyed this. You know, I kind of figured like, oh, it's going to be a big XF. XF is the camera system from phase one. I figured it'd be like, oh, a big phase one commercial with a couple of Hallios things in it. But then it kind of breaks down a couple of shots and shows the kind of the sketches that informed the artistic design of the photographs. And the photos themselves are undeniable. They're just simply fantastic.
Jason Very good. And I think it's neat to see behind the scenes on that style of photo that you might see when you look at some of the watch brand sort of press shots and things, you know, where it looks like there's, you know, bubbles coming up behind it or something like that. And I think this gives you sort of a window into how that's accomplished. And it always strikes me how, I don't know, ad hoc or sort of cobbled together those look, and then they end up with these incredibly professional crisp shots. You know, there's fishing line involved and an aquarium and masking tape.
James Yeah, really great. I guess the footnote is, Hit the show notes, hit the link, you can download the free ebook to take a look at what we're talking about. And if you're the type that is arranging for photographers for this work, you should definitely be following Vincent. His work is awesome. It looks like he recently did a shoot for Brew Watches. The photo's gorgeous. He posted it today. Check out that photo that he has, and I'll link this one specifically, but there's an unbelievable photo of a puck on an orange isoframe. and like the positioning of the watch and the light. It's all fantastic. It's really, really great stuff. And he has a ton of beautiful photos on Instagram and certainly on his website. Yeah, check him out. And like I said, if you're looking for somebody to take pictures of your new product, your new watches, I know some of you listening are in that scenario. Be sure to give Vincent a call. He's a very talented guy and I think it was cool of him to produce an ebook like this that could inform, you know, kind of what Jason and I like to get into. I thought it was really fun and cool that they put it out for free. Yeah, very nice.
Jason Well, as always, thanks so much for listening. Hit the show notes for more details. You can follow us on Instagram at Jason Eaton and at J.E. Stacey, and be sure to follow the show at The Graynado. If you have any questions for us, please write thegraynado at gmail.com and subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts, or you can grab the feed from thegraynado.com. Music throughout the show is Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive.
James And until next time, we leave you with this quote from Victor Hugo. The mountains, the forests, and the sea render men savage. They develop the fierce, but they do not destroy the human.