The Grey NATO - Ep 51 - Live From Geneva It's SIHH

Published on Tue, 23 Jan 2018 09:59:29 -0500

Synopsis

The podcast discusses the notable watches and events from the 2019 SIHH (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie) watch show in Geneva. The hosts talk about their favorites from brands like Baume & Mercier, Montblanc, Panerai, Cartier, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and others, highlighting aspects like design, pricing, and innovation. They also share behind-the-scenes experiences from attending the event and meeting brand representatives and personalities.

Transcript

Speaker
Unknown Hello and welcome to another episode of The Grey Nado. A loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 51 and we'd like to thank you for listening. This is kind of a special episode. Jason is actually in tomorrow. It's Thursday evening for me. Jason, it's Friday morning for you in Geneva. How's it going?
Jason Heaton Good, you know. Yeah, it's weird to be straddling two days. Yeah, I'm craving good coffee and I've been here for a week and I got up this morning. It's about 8 a.m. here on Friday and I thought before we talked, I think you're having whiskey and I'm having coffee here. I have them both to stay up. I ran down the street to get a coffee because I don't have any in this Airbnb that I'm in. And it's like, you know, I just can't get good coffee in Geneva. I just can't wait to get home to like make a good AeroPress or a pour over or something. But that'll come soon.
Unknown I mean, so much of these shows, all you get is an espresso.
Jason Heaton Exactly.
Unknown Yeah. And I like Nespresso perfectly fine. I have one and I kind of bounce it between that and the AeroPress like you mentioned. Yeah. But I mean, you go to these shows and after about the 20th Nespresso in two days or three days. Yeah. It really starts to feel like acidic and not at all like coffee.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown Yeah. And you start thinking like there's a reason that Nespresso like puts this as a shot and not like four or five ounces. Right. It's just, you just put it down and then you're awake for a bit and you move on to the next thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah, that's so true. Yeah, but I'm, I'm wrapping up here. So I'll, I'll be, um, uh, I'll be flying out tomorrow morning and I'm quite, quite happy to get home. But, uh, yeah, one more day.
Unknown And that's great. And, and SIHH, what did you think this year? I don't even know really where to start. I obviously wasn't there. I dealt with a huge amount of FOMO. uh you know that's the fear of missing out and uh you know it looks like everybody had a really good time all the the normal cast and crew were uh on site in Geneva and and I actually think there were some pretty at least noteworthy watches but I actually think there are a couple ones that like are good like good and I would aspire to own uh so I'm I'm excited to see what you thought you know having been there so please.
Jason Heaton Yeah I um I agree I mean I think it was some some good watches. I feel like the industry's turned a corner a bit. I think watches are, you know, SIHH in the past couple of years has been such a show all about, and rightly so, about, you know, the really high-end stuff and innovation and watchmaking. But I was always a little bit disappointed not to see some, you know, good solid sort of TGN worthy sports watches. And this year there were a handful of really good things. Um, yeah, we can chat about it a bit here, but you know, for me, the show is, um, as you remember from last year, you know, it's just, it's more about seeing people and, uh, whether it's the folks from the brands that, you know, being out in Minneapolis or you in Vancouver, you know, we just don't get to see them as regularly as the people that live in New York. So it's nice to see them. And then the, you know, the usual cast of characters from, uh, you know, analog shift guys were here, Jacob and James and, um, uh, Ted Gashew got to chat with him and And, you know, the whole gang from Hodinkee and some of the Gear Patrol guys that I haven't seen for a while, Red Bar guys. And then I jumped, bumped into a guy, his name is James. He's a co-owner of Astwood Dickinson in Bermuda, who I met like on an America's Cup trip a couple of years ago. And we were, he was playing darts in a pub and I bumped into him. So, you know, for me, these are the memorable experiences. I mean, you know, the watches are kind of a fleeting quick try on the wrist, take a couple of photos and move on. But yeah, we could we can certainly jump into the watches.
Unknown Well, yeah, I mean Let's split it up between watches and if you know, I think you went to a couple cool dinners.
Jason Heaton You saw some celebrities Let's you know, I mean, I think you and I both probably are gonna overlap on some of our favorites from the show The one that was announced Prior to to the show one of them that was announced prior to the show. I think that was a hit for Bowman Mercier was that baumatic watch, which isn't exactly TGN material, but the price is right. And it's, you know, if you're someone who's in, in for a, uh, a nice dress watch, um, you know, 2,700 bucks, uh, for a nice little 44 or sorry, 40 millimeter steel watch with the movement chops that that watch has, um, is, is really impressive. And that's kind of Balmain Mercier's, I guess, bread and butter are the kind of entry-level affordable stuff, um, of all the brands here. Um, I don't know if you, you know, You saw that if that appealed to you, but it has that almost, it almost has like a geophysic. Yeah, definitely.
Unknown Aesthetic with the crosshair dial. It kind of has the same sort of philosophy as the geophysic as well, where it's into the, it has, it has that nice aesthetic, that kind of proven reserved sort of Swiss simple aesthetic.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown But it has a couple of nice feature points, a nice bright dial, you know, applied markers. I think a pretty good date window. I really like that the depth of the date window's very thin, so either the dial's very thin or the movement and the case and everything are nice and tight, so you don't get that big shadow. Right, right. And I know that's really picky, but I just, I've started to get really tired of date windows, especially when you see some watches that just flat out don't have them. Yeah, yeah. And you realize, like, from a design aspect, it's just great. Yeah, yeah. And, uh, and, and then I like the BOMATIC and I like, you know, it's a white dial with a white, uh, with a white, you know, date display and, And then on top of that, you've got a bunch of silicon elements in the movement. And this is going to be a shared movement. Yes. Among other Richemont brands, I believe it actually shows up. I read, I at least read online that it shows up in some form in the new Panerai, which we can talk about in a moment. Yeah. Maybe it's the base movement that they went that way, but look, it's under three grand. Yeah. It's steel, it's 40 millimeters, and it has a high-tech movement. It's not exactly bound firing a shot across Omega's bow. Right. But it's them saying like, Hey, you know, we can get into using these very modern higher tech materials to make a watch that probably will require less fuss over time. You're not going to deal with as much magnetism or wear and tear on the movement.
Jason Heaton Right. And, you know, speaking of the movement, um, you did mention that the Panerai, but the big kind of controversy here is that, um, another watch that isn't exactly in our wheelhouse, but the Vacheron launched this new 56 line, which is kind of a quote-unquote entry level for Vacheron. I think they were trying to, everybody was pretty clear that they were trying to appeal to kind of a younger generation, bring some new buyers into the Vacheron kind of fold. But the controversy was, is that the basic automatic Vacheron 56 actually uses a form of that baumatic movement without the Geneva seal finishing. And so I think some people feel like that kind of waters down Vacheron.
Unknown So it's, um, it was really, it seems outside their game. Yeah. Yeah. But I think this is also the, the world in which Richemont is going to play now. Right. And I think it's just a question of, you know, if you spend this kind of money to develop a movement, little bits and aspects of the movements will be passed around and Swatch has been doing it for five years, 10 years.
Jason Heaton Yeah, exactly.
Unknown Yeah. Even longer than that, if you want to consider ETA, right? Right. As a sort of legacy thing. Right. But, you know, Blancpain will have something borrowed liquid metal from here that Omega made or Omega will have an SI14 balance spring that they got from somebody else. And, you know, it's these technologies and that's the power of having these huge kind of conglomerates. Yeah. But yeah, I think in some ways it can backfire on a brand like Vacheron, which has high-end appeal. Yeah. Which, you know, I think part of that comes from it standing, specifically standing separate from other brands. Right. And maybe with the 56, they figured this isn't going to be for our normal buyer.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I think, you know, I think what they're banking on is that it won't alienate their kind of faithful, but they'll make enough by selling it to a new crowd to, you know, maybe You want to keep a brand viable and make enough money to kind of turn out the high-end stuff that you're known for. So if it works for them, that's great. I hope it does. But yeah, it was kind of a bit of a talking point, I guess, around the show for the basic automatic one.
Unknown What did you think of the Bowmatic in person, on wrist?
Jason Heaton It was beautiful. You know, it's funny because Boma Mercier, their kind of big showpiece this year was the Indian Motorcycle Partnership, and they had a streamlined, sort of foiled out Indian motorcycle right in the center of their booth. They brought in Burt Monroe's grandson and grandnephew or son and grandnephew from New Zealand and they were here. He's the guy that Anthony Hopkins played in the world's fastest Indian movie a few years back. Oh sure, okay. The Kiwi who set a land speed record in the late 60s on a very old Indian motorcycle. So they had a tribute piece to Burt Monroe and then they had these Clifton Club chronograph Indian pieces, which to me, I just, I kind of wanted to set those aside and I just wanted to, to, to look at the, uh, at the Bowmatic. It was a beautiful watch. It's, it's really fun on the wrist. I mean, I don't see myself spending that kind of money, but you know, for, for a guy who's looking for, you know, maybe he's going to the office regularly and he needs kind of a nice watch. It's a legit piece. It's not, it's not just kind of a throwaway, you know, um, dress watch. It's not just, it's something you just buy and don't appreciate for what it is as a watch. And this one is, it felt really good. Another thing that Balma Mercier came out with was the, and I can't say it was entirely to my taste, but I don't know if you noticed, and it was a bit underplayed, I guess they didn't highlight it much, was the Clifton Club, they have a quartz collection now. I didn't see that at all. So, you know, the Clifton Club, last year launched, it's that kind of sort of dive watch looking, you know, with the rotating bezel, um, kind of the fun straps and that sort of thing. And this year they released a quartz line, um, on bracelet and on strap and, uh, predictably it's, it's lower priced. Um, but they got rid of the rotating bezel. So it's actually a, a fixed steel bezel with, you know, most of the same kind of dial elements and, and that sort of thing. And I believe I could be wrong. I didn't notice, uh, At the top of my head here, but I think it's in the like the $1,100 range for the quartz, which, you know, it's kind of in line for, for Boma Mercy. It might be a little expensive for, for what people want to pay for a quartz watch, but it's, it's handsome. It's nice looking. But the Bomatic was the one to look at, at that booth, I thought.
Unknown Yeah. I thought the, you know, the photos that Hodinkee put up and that I saw on Instagram and such of the Bomatic, I thought the dial looked really good and nice kind of like rich white. Yeah. Yeah. It had kind of a glassy look to it. I thought the markers were kind of pretty. It kind of reminded me of the same sort of aesthetic as the Rolex Cellini. Yes. Yeah. Um, where it's dressy, but not like flashy in any way. It's just kind of like, it's one unit of watch that looks very confident, but it still has some subtlety. And, and I thought, you know, when I first thought, I felt like, Oh, what's the price going to be? You know, last, uh, last year, the year before they had the Shelby titanium chronograph, which was kind of, it was like seven grand or six grand.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown And and then to see this come in at a much more like reasonable price point. Right. As far as, you know, just kind of a value statement for the brand. I thought it was cool. Yeah. And then we can jump right over to the to the 56, which I thought was kind of an interesting line. And I guess you saw all three variants, like there's three movements in the lineup. Yeah. And, you know, I think the complete calendar looks.
Jason Heaton Yeah, that's the one to have. I mean, I think the complete calendar is really cool. And then the What was the other one they had? Shoot.
Unknown There's a complete calendar, a day date and the automatic.
Jason Heaton Right. Right. Yeah. The automatic, I mean, just, I think everybody sort of, you know, like, like I said, it was the controversial piece, but it was also, it's also the most accessible. So it's kind of the biggest talking point, but the, uh, the complete calendar is, uh, it was kind of the pretty one. I thought, I thought it was the kind of the fun one. And, and, and they had sort of completely retooled their booth this year to kind of play off this. mid-fifties themes. They have a lot of jazz albums and kind of low slung mid-century couches and a big bar. Um, that's cool. They're kind of playing that up. I think it's, it's a real big push for them again, trying to reach a new audience. You know, I mean, I, I think we could talk more about Vacheron, but I think, you know, the, if we want to kind of stay in our, our wheelhouse, I mean, I think a good place to move now is to talk about, uh, uh, Mont Blanc, which I think was another highlight.
Unknown Cool.
Jason Heaton Yeah. A little sort of backstory on, on Mont Blanc and kind of where they're headed and what they're all about these days. They, They brought over Davide Serrato, who was the creative director at Tudor and kind of the man behind the, you know, the uber popular Black Bay series and a lot of their great watches. And you can start to see his impact now on Montblanc, especially this year, I think. He kind of creates an ecosystem around a theme with their watches. And this year was all about, they were really pushing the sort of spirit of adventure vibe. you know, massive video screen going with sort of a drone shots of, uh, you know, mountain peaks or, or helicopter, you know, views of mountain peaks and the Rockies. And, and it was all about, um, sort of vintage or, or historical mountaineering. So they had old ice axes and leather boots around the booth and books about mountaineering. And you could just tell they were really hitting this theme really hard. And, um, they brought in kind of a new, a new look for their 1858 collection, which is kind of, probably my favorite line of their watches. You know, they've, the time Walker's never quite done it for me. Um, and then they've got the star collection, which is kind of more of a dress watch series. But, um, the, the kind of the real talking piece for the show was the 1858 geosphere, um, which was a watch that they're sort of spinning is sort of the outdoor adventure watch. And, you know, it comes on a really cool sort of age looking light tan, bund style strap. So it's got the pad behind the watch case. Um, it's got a rotating compass bezel. Um, but of course the, the, the real, uh, centerpiece of the, of the watch is this dual, uh, sort of time zone display on the dial that shows the earth from both the above the North pole and above the South pole. And then those rotate in opposite directions to indicate which sort of sections of the earth are in daylight or at night at a glance. And then there's a second time zone as well, uh, as well as a date. So, um, you know, just a, a lot going on sort of, it really packs a punch movement wise. It's, it's, you know, their in-house thing that we saw, I don't know when it was a couple of years ago, they had that watch that had kind of a similar function on it, but it was way more expensive. Um, that kind of hemispheres, uh, display. Oh, right. Sure, sure. And, um, It just kind of, it hits the right notes and it's not a huge watch. I mean, 42 millimeters, uh, it's, it's under 6,000 bucks. Um, and you know, it's nice looking. They have a limited version that comes in bronze, which also looked nice. But, but to me, just the steel watch, um, you know, Montblanc, I think has kind of tried to carve out their space in the Richemont kind of watch universe and, and, um, You know, I've often felt in the past, like they're kind of been a little heavy handed and kind of like trying to, you know, force something. And I think in this case, I don't know, it seemed to fit sort of fit their, their pricing, their kind of space within the Richemont group and, and the watches were really nice looking.
Unknown So do you care for that? Yeah, this one's, you know, it's one that I would have to see in person. Cause I'm, you know, I'm not usually crazy, but like the faux tanned loom.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown that they've used on it, but then it carries over into the two hemispheres. So I think like, I think it looks pretty cool. And I think the sizing is pretty neat. I don't think, you know, the bezel, the compass bezel doesn't, there's not a lot of feature set there for day-to-day use. Yeah. Yeah. But I do rather like the way it looks, which I don't think I've said about a lot of their lineup before. There's stuff that they've made that's quite striking.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown Or, you know, very sporty or very aggressive or, you know, very classic.
Unknown Right.
Unknown Um, what I was, what I would say is that they nailed the pricing.
Jason Heaton Yeah, totally.
Unknown Cause it's a watch with kind of like a weird complication. You get a second time zone, you get these dual hemisphere world time display things. And aesthetically it doesn't look like any other watch. Right. And it's only, it's not even 13 millimeters thick. It's 42 millimeters wide. You could definitely wear this. Yeah. And, you know, they've got pictures of it on kind of like a woven fabric strap on this kind of bun style NATO or a bun style leather. And, you know, like you said, it's, it's six grand. So, I mean, you're looking at the, you know, less than the price of an Explorer and a watch with, you could say multiple complications or two different, two different displays type complications. And I really liked that the, the second time zone, you almost think it's, it's the seconds display. Right. But then you realize that it's a 12 hour display and it's just giving you another hour hand, which is quite clever. Yeah. And then you have, yeah, essentially two more, uh, not easily used as a world time display, but these hemisphere displays, which I guess is more of a novelty or romantic sort of complication.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Not exactly useful.
Unknown I mean, yeah, I'm not really sure how you would use it. I do think it looks really good.
Jason Heaton I mean, do you really need to know who's in daylight and who's at night at a glance? I mean, And it's so small that you'd have to be able to figure out what the shapes of the continents are. It's kind of tough to do at a glance.
Unknown For sure.
Jason Heaton But yeah, like you said, it's different looking. It's different than anything else out there. And it seemed to really resonate. People just seemed to really like it. The one that I liked was the chronograph in the same series. That was a beautiful watch. Sort of the bi-compax layout, big registers, 42 millimeters. It has those classic sort of pump pushers, the mushroom-shaped pushers. That was the one that I would probably, you know, personally go for if I were to make a purchase of one of these watches.
Unknown Yeah, no, it's also a very handsome looking watch. And again, you have the cathedral hands and a very kind of nice looking traditional sort of design and looks like the right size and 4,200 bucks for the price. I mean, they're coming in under a lot of their Richemont siblings.
Jason Heaton I couldn't help but think, you know, you mentioned the price, I couldn't help but immediately compare it to that Longines Big Eye that you reviewed not long ago that came in at what sub 3,000 I thought 2650 it's gonna be a sting for a lot of brands.
Unknown Yeah, because I'll be honest I would lean towards the Longines. I would too. I would too. Over the Montblanc. Yeah, you know I like I like Longines. I like that Longines went very minimal with the dial text and things like that. Yeah. And, uh, and then of course, you know, I think, I think that they've had the time to show that that all 688, the column wheel expression of the 7750 is reliable and can be serviced easily by, you know, anyone who services the swatch stuff.
Jason Heaton Right. Kind of another sort of, I guess, a cool thing about the Mont Blanc theme this year was I went to one of their dinners. Uh, I guess it was Monday night, um, which they had originally said was black tie. So I, you know, stressed and scrambled to accommodate that request and I was the only guy in a tux at the whole show. Oh really? I literally was. So I was either, you know, people were saying, Oh, you look great. You look like James Bond or you look like the head waiter, you know?
Unknown Well, everybody else was underdressed. I mean, that's fair. That's pretty rude of everyone else.
Jason Heaton Well, no, because then what happened was when I got here, there was an invitation to my hotel room that had a different dress code on it. So, you know, it was, I mean, it was no big deal, but, uh, But no, with regard to that dinner, I was seated next to our old friend, Kenton Kuhl, the mountaineer that, that we met, uh, at the, uh, the Bremont townhouse last, uh, last March. For sure. He was a Bremont ambassador. Now he's, he's over with, uh, with Mont Blanc and, and he was literally like just off a plane from Nepal where he's helping to train, uh, a well-known British TV presenter, Ben Fogel, um, to climb Everest later this year.
Unknown Oh wow.
Jason Heaton So, um, He was just back. You could tell he was a little frazzled. He was supposed to give a speech and he was kind of stressed out about that. But he was wearing that Geosphere with a nice suit. It didn't look properly appropriate, I guess, with the suit. But he pulled it off. And we had a nice chat about mountaineering and his experience. And we talked about guiding in the Alps and just all sorts of stuff. He was just kind of a really cool, kind of laid back guy. Good guy to be seated next to at kind of a she-she dinner.
Unknown Yeah, we'll have to see if we could get him on at some point. Yeah. Cross pass at another MB event or something, have him chat for a few minutes. It'd be fun. I think, you know, anyone who's listening, who's, you know, you're sitting there on your phone or whatever, killing time listening to the show, go and follow Kenton on Instagram. I believe it's at Kenton Cool. And we'll put it in the show notes either way. But he posts stories when he's on these kind of trips. Yeah. And a lot of it's these, you know, amazing viewpoints. They'll do some lower climb to acclimatize and the views are crazy. And he's always looking like he's having just the best time. He seems like a very, uh, positive sort of guy. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Which I like. Yeah. Well, that's rad.
Jason Heaton How about, uh, how about Panerai? Yeah.
Unknown So two big kind of announcements from them.
Jason Heaton Yeah. So, yeah, they had, um, kind of the, the two big ones for them were the, the Luminor base logo, which brings back, what was kind of one of their big releases back in the 90s, kind of one of their first when they first came back on the scene as a legitimate, you know, sort of popular commercial brand. And then they had the Dewey 38mm, which is kind of the smallest Panerai that you can get these days. The base logo was, you know, in the old days, the base logo was the watch that didn't have the sandwich dial. It has a painted dial. And then, of course, they use that sort of that P logo at the bottom of the dial. And originally they used to use those Unitas hand-wound ETA movements with a display case back, and now it's a solid case back and they're using the in-house P6000 3-day movement, which is an automatic, not a hand-wound movement like it used to be. White dial, black dial, sharp watches. I guess the exciting part about it is that the price is good. They're about $4,500 and they're using that in-house movement. But the aesthetics, they look just like the old ones. So, you know, I can't say it's anything groundbreaking here.
Unknown And do you know the power reserve on the P6000?
Jason Heaton I think that's a three-day movement.
Unknown So I think it's... So, I mean, at $4,500 for a three-day movement is excellent. We saw them go to smaller case styles two years ago with the white the white Luminor with some of the blue accents. And I want to say, and I'm fairly certain I'm right with this. It was 11 grand.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown Yeah. So, I mean, if they're going to begin to approach the types of price points that you and I remember from when Panerai kind of turned the corner from being nothing except these things that guys who were really into these old Italian dive watches collected to suddenly being like the hot watch that changed the size of watches for a decade. Yeah. Yeah. Then I'm all for it. I don't think I would, uh, I wouldn't scramble to go to wear a 44 millimeter Panerai. You know, I had a really good time with the, uh, the small, uh, submersible. And I think that's probably where I would lean for a Panerai. I also still have a real soft spot for the Radiomir. Yeah. Which I think wears its case size a little bit better for someone with a smaller wrist like myself. Right. So you can get away with a larger Radimir in my situation, but $4,500-ish for an in-house Panerai, I mean, you're starting to approach the in-house prices of like a Nomos with a date. Oh, totally. And if they really want to say like, Hey, you know what, if we're going to make a base Panerai, we're going to make it so that someone could aspire to own it. Yeah. Not have to be in a situation where they're saying like, well, costs more than my last car or something like that. Right. Yeah. And at, at something, you know, at half the price, half the retail price of a Submariner. Yeah. Uh, I think they have a compelling product on their hand. Like I said, it wouldn't be for my wrist. I have 44 millimeters and especially they're all dial. Right. They just don't wear that well for me, but obviously as true as that statement is, there's also the side where people love 44 millimeter Panerai.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah.
Unknown have for quite a while and I don't think that's necessarily going to change.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. That's a compelling watch.
Unknown For sure. And the stranger thing would be the 38 millimeter duo or dueway. Yeah.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown So what is that like in person? Is the ratio of the strap okay? It's beautiful. There's a white and a black dial. I kind of oddly for me, I gravitated towards the black one.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Well, so they had this, uh, I don't know if this is the one you're talking about, but it's sort of this, um, radial finished, uh, It's sort of a dark gray. Is that the one you're thinking of?
Unknown Yeah, I only saw two models one that was kind of a cream Yeah, creamy white and one that was it looked, you know, roughly black in most photos But I could tell it had some finishing on it. It wasn't your matte Dial like on the base. Yeah. Yeah, I know hodinke published a nice piece on on the Luminor Due the new 38 millimeter steel Luminor So that's the smallest a Luminor has ever been and then you're also looking at a $6,000 price point. Yeah which again, $6,000 in-house and small, Panerai is looking to establish a wider base than the people they've been building watches for for the last few years.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I mean, you know, the funny thing is, is that my wife really likes the Panerai aesthetic, but she's just, it's crazy to think of, you know, a woman with a small wrist pulling off anything that they've made.
Unknown For sure.
Jason Heaton And so as soon as I saw the 38mm I had to snap a photo and send it to her and she was smitten with it just right off the photo. I think it's unusual to see that kind of Luminor aesthetic with the big sort of crown protector in such a small watch. And it does look a little bit strange, a little bit shrunken. Wow, it's noisy here. But yeah, it really is a neat piece and that striking sort of radially finished black or dark kind of smoke gray dial, really beautiful watch. So I think it'll do well because I think a lot of women like the Panerai aesthetic. And you see women, especially the ones that work for the brand, you see them wearing the watches and I always feel bad for them because I feel like they're probably supposed to wear their watches and they just don't quite fit. And at 38 millimeters, it's doable. I think even I think it'll do well in the Asian market. I think guys with smaller wrists, um, it could work just fine. Um, you know, they, they showed it on some kind of, uh, I guess more feminine colored leather straps. And I think if you just swapped that out for kind of a cool rustic, uh, leather strap, I mean, geez, I'd wear a 38 millimeter, you know, panoramic. I wouldn't, I'm not going to go out and buy one, but, uh, I I'd love to try it just, just for kicks, you know?
Unknown Yeah, no, I would be definitely game to, to get one in for a little bit and review it. Just on the level of it's strange, right? Yeah, exactly. Not unlike taking a 47mm submersible and making it 42mm. Right, yeah. And now you have what's commonly a 44 or 47mm style and it's 38. I mean, it's funny because you see them, you go to Panerai's website and they kind of show you all the watches in a grid. Yeah. And so the ratio, like the proportions from one watch to another don't really change in the grid. So it's kind of hard to tell. It's really only the kind of size of the text on the dial, of which there isn't that much. It's just Luminor, Panerai and Automatic. And then the ratio of the strap width to the lugs. Yeah. You can tell that they've kind of massaged that to fit the overall sort of proportions of the watch. I think they did a nice job, at least from the photos I've seen. But it's weird, and I have to think that this is the kind of watch that will bother a lot of, like, Paneristies.
Jason Heaton Yeah, probably. Yeah. Yeah. And you know what's troublesome about it? The only thing that I... You know, I think you and I are pretty broad-minded. We're not exactly the purists that are going to quibble over... Certainly not when it comes to Panerai. ...a Vacheron or a Panerai or whatever. But, you know, to me, the one sticking point for this one, for me, was the water resistance is quite low. It's 30 meter water resistant on this one, on the Dewey 38 millimeter.
Unknown This isn't enough for the history of that watch.
Jason Heaton Exactly. And with that kind of rugged crown protector device that was kind of meant to hold the crown tight for water resistance, it just feels wrong. It feels really wrong. And I think the explanation I heard about that was that this watch is quite thin. I don't remember the exact proportion, but by making it thinner, they couldn't have that beefy hundred meter, 200 meter water resistance that you get on the bigger ones. So.
Unknown Well, I mean, that, that might be true. I, I don't, you know, that, that's all, that's all beyond a 30. It just feels like if you're going to make a Panerai Luminor. Yeah. It's such a, uh, it's such an endeavor in looking at, at the past of that company to continue that aesthetic and then to just kind of say like, well, you know, we essentially developed one of the earliest submersible watches, dive watches. Right. And now we're, we're just going to replicate that in aesthetic alone. Right. None of the technical attributes at 30 meters. I mean, the, again, to bring up that Longines big guy doesn't even have a screw down crown. It's 30 meters.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think somebody pointed out that there's like a, like a, like a Piaget, um, I think that super flat one that they showed off this year or something, or one of the skinny Piaget's is like 30 meters as well. And they thought, you know, why not? You know, I don't know to me if it's such a clearly, such a clearly aimed, I don't want to say fashion watch, but it's, it's clearly aimed at, you know, just, you know, bringing in new buyers and, um, and not, not appealing to the kind of the history of the brand.
Unknown Like you said, you've got to assume. And this may be an unfair assumption and I'm willing to take that on the chin if it is, but you have to assume that people from all these brands have to go to the same general meetings with Richemont and they see brands like JLC and Baum and Cartier show numbers for men and women. Right. These are, you know, and they have like two, two bars on their graph and then Panerai loads up and they've got one giant bar for men and maybe a sliver. Yeah. For women. And you got to think like, Hey, can you guys develop something that could, that could offer the charm, the appeal, but for smaller risks and whether that's women or that's an Asian market, that's all doesn't really matter. But you have to assume that they would rather sell to more people. Yeah. And you're not necessarily just going to create more Panerai fans at this point. Right. Especially with, I mean, these two watches that we're talking about aside, a lot of their watches are quite expensive. And last year they showed a couple of very technologically advanced watches, the BMG and like that. And so you have to assume if they're going to offer entry level products that are also smaller, they're just looking to widen the people who might stop and look at them in a store.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. We have to step back from, you know, I was having dinner with somebody last night and we were kind of debating these topics about brands, you know, making compromises and things. And I'm like, you know, this is, these, these guys are in business, they have shareholders, they have money to make to, it's a tough business. And, and I think if you bring in extra people, you, you have to look past the, the kind of purists and the, and the old guard and, and think about, um, somebody like, like, uh, Gashani, my wife who, who likes, uh, the, the Luminor aesthetic, but has never been able to wear one. And Hey, here, now someone, now she can, and you know, she probably can't dive with it, but you know, which is a shame, but, uh, you know, it's, uh, It is what it is.
Unknown I think that's a great way of looking at it. I think the other way to look at it is if a brand, and this honestly could go for cars or watches or all sorts of things, like I really love my MacBook Pro. Yeah. I don't want to use an iPhone. I don't really want anything else from Apple, but I wish them nothing but success so that they'll keep making the top tier MacBook Pro. Oh, sure. Yeah. you know, if Panerai needs to make 70 watches to make one or two that I really love, awesome. That's fine. It doesn't bother me at all. And if, like, if you can find one watch at every brand that you really like, then how do you get offended when they go in a different direction or they expand their lineup? Like, I understand that there's probably guys who have been with Panerai for 20 years and they just don't understand the brand they see now. Right. But also if they hadn't made these changes, there'd be no Panerai. Exactly. Yeah. You know, they were down to the, or so the, you know, the classic Sly, Sylvester Stallone rumor that, you know, goes down, they were down to almost no stock when he rolled into their store in Florence and liked the watches. And if that's true, then you can have, you know, it's a cake and eat it too scenario, right? Yeah, exactly. You can have a brand that's this pure expression of what it was before quartz. Right. To kind of change the whole world. for watches, or you can have a brand that managed to persist and had to, you know, this is, you know, BMW makes all sorts of things that are partway between a car and a wagon. And I don't like any of them, but if they need to sell a ton of X6s or X4s or whichever one to keep making the M3 or the M2, then awesome. Let's keep, yeah, keep making them. It's great.
Unknown Yeah.
Unknown And so that's how I see it. And, and yeah, I like that. It's appealing to people who. Just like I said, in the, in the submersible review have been benched Panerai fans really like the aesthetic aren't going to get on the court with a 44 or 47. So yeah. Yeah. I say good on them. Uh, and, and if you're deep into Panerai, I think they'll probably continue to make the core models that you really like. And, and, and I think you could just cast a blind eye towards the other stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So the next one that stands out for me, and we can go quickly because I think this one appeals a little bit more to me than it does to you, but it was one of my favorites from last year was the Cartier Drive Extra Flat. And of course, last year it was only available in precious metals. And I remember saying in the meeting, as I'm sure they heard from everyone, I'm not saying that what I said was special, simply that I was probably part of a chorus. I said like, hey, you know, this would be real sweet and steel. It's super thin. and it's gorgeous and unlike the rest of the drive the crystal is very close to the dial because of how thin it is so you the reflections the crystal is a little flatter than it is on the standard drive of the moon phase and you don't get as many reflections and then on on top of that you have a kind of a silvery dial yeah no seconds and then bam this year they come out with the same thing but in steel at 5600 bucks with that piaget movement yeah yeah it is a beautiful watch it's like six six and a half millimeters high so it's it just hugs the wrist just so slim it fits so well it's such a nice shape um aesthetically i think it's super legible i think that if if you if you're in the world of wanting a dress watch i think this has to be on your list yeah because it doesn't look like other dress watches it doesn't look like a Datejust right it doesn't look like a Patek It looks like its own thing. I love a distinctive element. Right. It's super thin. So you're, it's never going to bother you on your wrist. And I think that Cartier, at least, and this is maybe me projecting something onto Cartier or me accepting something they've projected to me. I don't know. But Cartier has this ethos of just like, it's class. Yeah. And, and I think that you see it in the tank and I love the tank, but there's something more youthful about the Drive Extra Flat. And to have it in steel just feels so everyday. And then at $5,600, I mean, like, I'm not going to buy one. I don't need a dress watch. But if I was in that world, I'd be trying to think of a way, like maybe sell a couple and get a drive. I just think they're really, really cool. I mean, at that point, you're into the range, like I said earlier, of like a high-end Nomos. Right. Is going to start to edge into that price point. You know, your used Datejust or something else that you could wear to the office, but also wear out to drinks with friends in the evening or to dinner or whatever. I mean, I could gush about that one for a while. I think it's a winner.
Jason Heaton No, I agree. And I think, you know, Cartier's always, I've always admired them from a distance. Have never really even considered owning one. Because, you know, the Santos, the Tank, most of their watches just, they're just not the shape. They're just not the aesthetic that appeals to me. Now this one, that Something about, you know, 40 millimeters in that flat of a watch just has this like just perfect kind of dimension, the way it sits on the wrist. I think 40 is such a great size for it. And you have that really expansive dial with those big oversized Roman numerals. Yeah, you're right. I mean, it's, it's a cool watch. It's never going to age.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah. Not in 30 years. I mean, maybe they won't continue making it like they have the Tank or, or other models, but that watch will still be cool and classy and stylish. whenever. It's just a good design. I love that there's no seconds and a solid movement from Piaget, for sure. So yeah, we've got only a couple left on the list. You want to jump right into what I think is probably the star of the show, like you had mentioned earlier?
Jason Heaton Yeah, let's talk about the Jaeger-LeCoultre, the Jaeger, the JLC, whatever you want to call it, the Polaris. I think it was actually my first appointment at the show on Monday morning, and it was a great way to kick off the show. It really set the bar high.
Unknown I don't think we would have predicted that they would have topped the impact of the models they put out last year, the Skeleton Hand. Yeah. You know, the Sector Dials, as people like to call them, but I think they did it. At least they made one I want way more.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I mean, you know, the past couple of years, they've kind of gone away from the kind of the proper sports watch that for a few years there they had. They had a good run, you know, with the deep sea stuff. Oh, sure. Yeah. You know, even the first, the 1958 Geophysic that they came out with, they kind of veered away from that. And I thought, oh, they're leaving sports watches to IWC and to Panerai. And then this year comes out, you know, the Polaris. And it was like such a, you know, just such a breath of fresh air. It was so exciting.
Unknown A chronograph, a three-hander, three-hander with date. Yeah. The alarm and a world timer. I think, I think that's looking at the site, I think that covers all of them. And it ranges from 41 to about 44 millimeters, the world timer at the top and the no date three-hander at the bottom. And I mean, they all look really good. Um, but that blue three-hander no date.
Unknown Perfect.
Unknown Is just, I mean, it, it's a 6,600 bucks on the leather strap and you're buying this absolutely stunning. It still has the two crown. The watches need, I really love that they didn't go especially vintage, but they also didn't go in any way like hyper modern. It just looks like a JLC. Yeah. Which is like, how did they kind of manage to do that? It has elements of the diver that I like in it. And even the Navy seal with the 12, 3, 6, and 9. Right. And then that blue one, I mean, in either color, I think it looks great. The photos were great. What did you think? How do they kind of stand out in person?
Jason Heaton Well, when I first you know, caught wind of, of a new Polaris. I remembered that a few years back they did the tribute to Polaris. I think it was like a limited edition, really, really high end expensive thing. And I thought, you know, what, how can you reinterpret the Polaris? I mean, it's kind of a very specific aesthetic and, and they did. And I think you're right. It's of course the, the Polaris was a Memovox. It was a watch that, that had an alarm. It had the three crowns. And I thought, you know, I didn't realize when I heard that they were doing this, I thought, Oh, they're just going to do another alarm diver limited edition.
Unknown Mm.
Jason Heaton Which, of course, they did. The Halo piece, the $12,600 Mammovox Limited. But the other ones, like you said, are much more exciting to me. And the reinterpretation they did with just doing a twin crown, kind of, quote unquote, super compressor style watch with those numerals that are just slightly tweaked from what we've seen in the past. They're a little more squared off. 41 millimeters for the automatic. It's just the perfect size. It has the steel case back with that kind of super compressor dive helmet logo on the back, which I don't know, it just pushes all the right buttons. And then I'm not sure if that the three hand automatic is provided with the rubber strap. I'm sure you could get it for it, but the rubber strap they put on the, the Memovox limited edition and the date version were just, uh, just this like supple textured sort of almost a tropic style, uh, rubber strap. Um, I wasn't as keen on the, on the bracelets. But, you know, I'm pretty picky about bracelets.
Unknown The bracelet's really pretty in photos, but then you go right on the site and it's a thousand dollar difference. Yeah. And probably if you ever plan to resell the watch, it's best to go with the bracelet. But if you look at the site, they put the, you know, the black and the blue with the bracelet and then just below it, the black and the blue on these really beautiful looking leather straps. Yes. And man, is that a beautiful watch.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it is.
Unknown Like is the is the blue really good in person? Does it kind of because there's it's mixed finishing on the dial to kind of to kind of replicate the difference, you know, with the Memovox, you had the central kind of alarm circle. Yeah, and they've kind of replicated that across the entire lineup by using different finishing.
Jason Heaton Yeah, yeah. I mean, the blue I personally I'd opt for the black. Yeah, I'm just I'm real picky about kind of blue dial stuff. I think like that. Oris Carl Brashear we saw in Colorado had kind of the right sort of matte blue, which is kind of my preference. Very dark. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I'm not going to argue with it. I think it was it was it was really nice. And on the wrist, it just they all just just wore really well.
Unknown Oh, I was just gonna say, and how does the how do the larger ones where the chronograph and the world timer kind of edge out the larger sizing?
Jason Heaton I think the 41 millimeter is the one to have. I mean, I think the bigger ones, you know, they work fine. It's a nice, the aesthetic wears that size well. It's not like a 44 millimeter, you know, Panerai with, you've got this giant crown on the side. But I think the 41 millimeter automatic is just, it just wears well. It's not terribly tall. And just that expansive dial on that kind of diameter watch, And no date. With no date, it's just so clean. Yeah. Yeah, just a superb watch. And like you said, you know, the price for a JLC, it's great. I mean, I think, you know, the theme here, I mean, look at the watches we've talked about. Balmatick at $2790, the Panerai base logo at $4,500, and then this coming in between $6,600 and $7,600. I mean, these aren't kind of right in the TGN wheelhouse, you know, the Orises and Seikos and things that we normally talk about. Yeah, for sure. But in terms of affordability, you know, we have to remember that SIHH, the HH is haute or lingerie, you know, it's high, high watchmaking. And that, that is what most of this stuff is. So in that realm, this is a very good price for, for, you know, for a really, really fine watch.
Unknown Yeah. And, and, and arguably you probably can't buy from a better manufacturer than Jaeger LeCoultre. Yeah. Like that's without a doubt. Like if you, if you were to rank brands on their current manufacturing capability, their movement prowess, and their history, you'd have to have JLC at the top of that list. Yeah, I think you're right. And you're looking at a really nicely sized, I'm very excited to see it in person. This is definitely my, you know, my, you know, my seen unseen sort of armchair SIHH favorite watch. Yeah. And, and this would be the exact sort of watch where if I was in a position where I wanted to Buy my way into a JLC. This would definitely be at the top of my list right now. I think it's just a Stunning thing. I've always loved the deep-sea chrono, but the price point is quite a bit higher.
Jason Heaton Yeah Yeah, definitely the star of the show definitely the highlight for me I would say, you know, if we just kind of step back and and look at the ones we've talked about I think You know if I were to rank things I'd put the Polaris at the top. I did like the the Mont Blanc 1858 stuff. It's a cool piece, yeah. You know, and every brand kind of this year had something interesting, as is usually the case, but I think last year or the year before, I mean, other than the Master Control stuff from JLC, you know, a lot of it was just a bit ethereal for me, and I think this one just slots right in as just, you know, definitely in my wheelhouse and I know in your wheelhouse, and so. Yeah, definitely best of show, I would say is the Polaris.
Unknown And a few others that kind of stood out just for their awesomeness, not necessarily even being able to buy one, even if you had the money on the list, you've got the Recense Type 2 e-crown concept. What is that like in person? I love seeing Recense stuff in person.
Jason Heaton So, you know, OK, Polaris, definitely my favorite watch of the show. Recense absolutely blew me away. It was the It was the innovation, it was the highlight, the thing that just made my jaw drop when I sat in on that appointment, it was Ressence. It's not even a watch that looks good on my wrist. The aesthetic is strange at best, you know. I mean, it's cool. I just find these guys, aside from watchmaking, just the most incredible innovators. And this watch, you know, aside from Ressence's normal out-of-the-box thinking, which involves taking an ETA 2824 movement and floating it in oil and using magnetic coupling to turn a series of discs to display the time. That's all well and good. That's all really cool and cutting-edge on its own. The e-crown concept, they've bumped it up entirely to a different level with putting a wafer of electromechanical functionality in this watch that In a nutshell, what this does is you can actually double tap on the crystal of the watch, and that tells the watch that you are now getting ready to register the correct time, which you can then either set using an app on your phone, electromechanically. Little motors will actually turn the mechanical portion of the watch to set the correct time. Or you can set it manually using that sort of pivoting I don't know if you can really call it a crown, but the setting gadget on the back to set it yourself. And then the watch will register the correct time. And then it will check that once a day against, you know, what it, uh, you know, what you told it was the correct time. And if there's been variants from the time you set it to that current time, when it's checking, it will actually automatically reset the hands to the correct time once a day. Not only that, the watch has these little shutters, this little sort of arc of shutters on the dial that when the watch detects that the power reserve is getting low, those will flip open, the power reserve of the electromechanical portion, will flip open and it will solar charge the electrical part of the watch. Fantastic. And then there's also a kinetic winding function. So basically the kinetic winding function would keep that electromechanical portion topped off If you're wearing the watch, but if you set it off for the weekend or a few days and that runs low, those little shutters will open and allow sunlight or light to charge it. I mean, it's just. Wow. Yeah. I mean, wow. I mean, what do you say? I mean, it's just a stunning, just incredible innovation.
Unknown What a cool thing. I mean, their stuff is always so special to see in person because it feels so foreign, but distinct at the same time. Like they have such a solid aesthetic. And then to see, I mean, they came out of nowhere a few years ago. I know. And to see them just kind of swing for the fences with stuff like this e-crown concept. I just think it's really, it's special to see in person. And I know that like, it's a legitimate privilege just to be able to see and handle the rest and stuff. Right. Because it's not something that you can go to even a lot of big cities and see. Yeah, but this is definitely like if I was just listing brands that like if you're ever at a really like wherever they're wherever they have a store or Carried if you have the opportunity make it part of your day To see a residence in person. They're really really fun Yeah, and and even if it's something where like it's more than you'd ever spend on a watch like it is for me Or it's not necessarily your personal aesthetic It's still really cool and really fun to see in person and to experience and to see the way that the light plays with the oil and in the way that, you know, the kind of two pieces of the case, the kind of aquarium like top structure meets with the back and the strap is integrated. All of it's just, it just feels, yeah, I don't know. It's hard to explain if you haven't had the chance to see one. And it's, uh, it's something that I always like to see even just represented on video is fun.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. And then, you know, the, the, the big one long is always a favorite, um, for sure. Entirely not anything in my, in my universe that, that I would probably be, be ever owning, but, uh, you know, this year's, this year's halo piece for them was the triple split, um, which is the world's first, uh, triple split, uh, well, split seconds, minutes and hours chronograph. Um, so, you know, people might remember that for several years they've, they've had a double split, which was the world's first split seconds and minutes chronograph. So, um, you have overlaid, uh, sweep hands for both the minute counter and the, and the seconds counter. And now, um, uh, on the, on the hour register as well, you have kind of that coaxial hour display and, um, you start and stop the chronograph as you normally would. But there's a third button on the case on the left side that when you press it, it will, you know, stop that first set of sweep hands and register that event that the elapsed time for one event and the other hands will continue to move and continue to track the elapsed time for a second event up to 12 hours. And just, just, just fantastic.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton The typical, typical long, just outstanding. It's got, Kind of this beautiful gray dial with these kind of little touches of color on the power reserve. And, um, you know, it's thick, big, heavy giant watch. I mean, it's just a, it's a white gold case. And, um, I think it's 150 grand. It's just an absurd thing.
Unknown Sure. Why not?
Jason Heaton You know, you gotta, you know, that's, that's, it's what, it's like your, your Bugatti or your concept car or something, you know, you just, you have to see it, you have to laugh and, and just, uh, admire what these guys do.
Unknown Well, sure. I mean, the turbo graph, the perpetual data graph, all those. Yeah. They do something like this every year, which is more of a like, hey, look, we can do it. Right. We did it. And otherwise, I think they're these kind of things that go to specific collectors and things like that. And I think it's just fun that they exist in the first place and that they kind of swing for the fences with something like that. I mean, it's the same sort of expression of what Ressence is doing, just the aesthetic couldn't be different. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or sorry, the aesthetic couldn't be more different.
Unknown Yeah, so true.
Unknown And you know, long as fun to see from the most basic all the way up to the most extreme. Right. Like the way that they do dial balance and date and things like that is just, I mean, it's legendary. They make just stunningly beautiful watches and with the watches that they make that they intend people to actually wear all the time. They're surprisingly wearable for precious metal watches. You know, they don't do stuff in steel and legibility is always very good. And they have kind of a defined aesthetic, especially with stuff like the Lange 1. Stunning, just really, really beautiful dress pieces. And it's always a fun meeting to be able to see their stuff. And especially because, again, like with a lot of this, it's just not stuff that you're going to come across at the Duty Free or Unless you go to New York City and you go to the right spot and maybe make a phone call beforehand so they know you're coming, so they can actually have something. And a lot of people don't get that opportunity. So it's hard to, you have to kind of keep that in perspective, just getting a chance to see it, whether it's at an SIHH or a Basel can be the treat on its own.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I mean, the thing to remember about SIHH is other than the watches that we talked about, which are kind of more commercial pieces, the great majority of what you're seeing there It's essentially like walking through a big art gallery. I mean, we didn't talk about, you know, the majority of the watches there. I mean, you know, Grubel Forsey, we could go on for probably an entire show about. I mean, they do astounding stuff and Lange and Urwerk. Some amazing stuff from Piaget. It's really art, you know, and that's what you go to appreciate. And you don't have to pretend that you can even buy this watch to appreciate it. But, you know, one sort of little bookend on this is the You know, you remember every year in Lange's booth, when you walk in, there's this giant, I don't know how tall it is, you know, 20 foot tall watch, enlarged version of the Halo watch for the year in full, you know, full recreation of the actual watch in macro. And I found out this year that, you know, that replica, that giant replica is actually, it's actually metal. make all the components.
Unknown No way.
Jason Heaton Out of, somebody said German silver, but then, but then it was corrected. I guess they make it out of aluminum. Okay. And then they actually coat it with German silver, like the bridges. Whoa. Can you imagine how heavy that thing is? Yeah. And the cost?
Unknown Yeah. Yeah. So for, that's, that's incredible. So for anybody who doesn't know what we're talking about, anytime that anyone shows a photo of the booth at SIHH 4 Lange, there's always a giant watch in the front. And I would say like it is probably 15 feet in cross. Yeah, that's probably fair. And it's always whatever their big halo piece was. So it was a giant triple split this year. I had no idea that they essentially made the watch. Yeah, exactly. And it's got to be at what, 800% or something? Yeah, yeah. It's just ludicrous.
Jason Heaton I mean, I think any other brand would just do it plastic, you know. Yeah, of course. Yeah, whatever, you know.
Unknown But theirs is running and... Yeah. Oh, man, I had no idea it was like and then and then to do the coding and goodness sakes. Yeah.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah.
Unknown What a brand.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Well, maybe we put a put a bow on the SIHH talk.
Unknown Yeah, I think so. I think you know, I think we're running nice and long here. We can go right into final notes if it works for you. Sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah, let's do that.
Unknown All right. Do you want to go first?
Jason Heaton Yeah, sure. Well, this is sort of related to SIHH. This is something I just found yesterday. I think it was actually just released yesterday. The well known kind of adventure and commercial photographer, uh, Alex stroll, who's, you know, worked for a number of, you know, really prestigious clients. He's a great photographer, great Instagram feed, by the way, he was commissioned by JLC to do a, a photo shoot and kind of a little video project about the new Polaris. And he calls it the Polaris project. And in this video that we're going to link in the show notes, uh, it's on YouTube. And basically what he did is he went to Iceland, and in a way it sort of reminded me of the Chris Burghardt film that you told us about last show.
Unknown Under an Arctic Sky.
Jason Heaton Under an Arctic Sky, because it's a lot of the same kind of elements. It's cold water surfing, they're driving through snowstorms and land rovers, and then they do a little bit of free diving at Silfra, which is that dive spot there that It's the deep split between the European and the North American tectonic plates.
Unknown For sure.
Jason Heaton And just some neat footage. Kind of neat to see the behind-the-scenes stuff. You know, it's pretty much, you know, like a graynado, you know, full-on graynado material with all the cool elements. You know, a dive watch and land rovers in Iceland and just some great footage. So, yeah, check it out. It's called The Polaris Project. It's kind of his behind-the-scenes video of of his work for, for JLC.
Unknown Yeah. And he is a, like you mentioned an excellent, a must follow Instagram feed. I mean, he's got nearly 2 million followers, so I'm sure a lot of you already follow him, but if not Alex, S-T-R-O-H-L. And I'll put that in the show notes as well, but easy enough to find if you're already holding your phone. Yeah. So for mine is the first one is a book that I got for Christmas, which I'm sure a lot of you have already gotten. It's a man and his watch by Matt Horanek. And I've been really loving it. I've been kind of savoring it, if you will, uh, just reading one or two of the stories at a time instead of just blasting through, uh, the full book. Uh, but, uh, Matt Horanek is, uh, oh man, he's a bit of a Renaissance man. He's a, he does a bunch of different stuff. And I had a really, uh, great opportunity last year at the Cartier dinner and I was seated next to him and we had a lovely conversation. Uh, he's a very charming guy, a very affable guy. And, uh, he put together this, uh, really beautiful book that kind of uses watches as the touchstone for people's experiences in life. So he interviews all sorts of interesting people about watches that stand out in their history. So it could be anything from, you know, he's got one of Paul Newman's kids, the watches that Newman had left for his kids to, you know, a watch owned by a famous chef and why it's important and all that kind of thing. I think a lot of you have probably already heard about the book and my only suggestion is if you heard about it and you thought, well, that sounds interesting. It's better than interesting. I actually find it fairly charming and it's a nice thing to kind of sit down and read at the end of the day. The photos are beautiful. The watches are widely varied, which I like quite a bit. It's not all just old Rolexes.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I think Adam Grady has a G-Shock in there, right?
Unknown Yeah, for sure. And, uh, and yeah, so there's a nice mix and Matt, I think did a great job and the book's like 30 bucks on Amazon. And it's this fairly sizable, like coffee table sort of book, nice thick book with again, beautiful photographs. And it's about watches. You should buy it. One of you listening could be the guy that does the next book like this, and we'll buy that one too. So go ahead and support it. I think what Matt did here was, was interesting. And it's the kind of thing that like you might read a magazine or read a site like Hodenke. And they'll have a story like this once or twice a year, which connects a person's successes and history and personality and life with a watch, you know, a product, but then it's theirs because of it. And I think that's, that's kind of the cornerstone of what we like about watches. Yeah. And, uh, and so I, I highly, highly recommend a man and his watch. And actually you can listen to, um, an interview that Matt gave with the guys from Worn and Wound as well. I'll throw that in the show notes for their podcast. And he did a good job on that as well, which gives you a little bit more background on the book and kind of his story.
Jason Heaton Yeah, that's cool. Yeah. I saw Matt a few times here and the book is great. And I know he's got some interesting plans for the future, which is all I'll say. But yeah, it's a cool concept and a great book. Yeah. I've got one, you know, I'd like to give a little shout out to some guys that are doing, you know, something similarly eclectic to the Graynado. You know, if you think that, you know, talking about backpacks and technical clothing and diving and watches all on the same show is a weird kind of mix. Super Alpine is, it's like, it's mainly photography and it combines the elements of kind of alpine sports and beautiful mountain views with You know, high-end cars and automotive kind of ephemera. You know, if, uh, if you remember, uh, James's recommendation of a video a while back on, uh, what was it? The last pass, the Henry Ketchpole.
Unknown Oh yeah.
Jason Heaton One last pass. Yeah. Where he's driving in the mountains in like an Audi R8. Yeah. It's an R8 Spyder.
Unknown And if I, if I've, man, I could try 10 times and I wouldn't be able to pronounce the name of that road. Hawken-yach. That's as close as I'm going to get. Definitely can't spell it.
Jason Heaton Super Alpine is kind of a, visual manifestation of that video, kind of that element of driving beautiful cars in a mountain environment and kind of that European Alpine vibe that you get in a lot of these mountain towns and these passes and these beautiful old hotels and peaks and ski lifts and that sort of thing. Anyway, to make a long story short, Super Alpine has now moved from their kind of Tumblr and Instagram environment They're launching a print magazine called Super Alpine and they're doing it via Kickstarter. So they're trying to raise funds to print the first issue of the magazine and it sounds like they're having a little bit of a hard time getting the word out to raise money for this. I think an issue of the magazine, I think you pony up $12 or $15 and you get the first issue and that's what they're looking for. So we'll put a link to the Kickstarter page and go check it out. I think it promises to be good, you know, if it's going to be anything like the, the stuff they put up on Instagram, you know, just, just beautiful photography of some great cars and some neat environments.
Unknown So yeah, check it out. Yeah. The campaign looks really promising and I've, I've enjoyed a bunch of their work so far. So I think it's a pretty much a no brainer, especially at that kind of cost. So yeah. Yeah. My last one is another from Will Gadd and I've definitely had a previous Gadd's truth post. It's from explore-mag.com. And Will Gadd writes these pieces called Gadd's Truth. It's kind of like a column where he kind of takes a look at an aspect of kind of the outdoor lifestyle or the kind of performance sport lifestyle and digs in. And this one's called Gadd's Truth, We're All Crazy. And it's kind of about his personal relationship with risk. And it's a nice read. It's not super long. It's not something I'm not going to give away what, you know, what he kind of comes to. I just think that more people should be reading posts like this. I think it's an interesting look at how you you meter the way that you respond to others taking certain risks and the way you take risks and I really like Will's writing and I really enjoy these posts. So I'll throw that in the show notes or you swing by explore-mag.com and check out Gad's Truth. It's a series read them all. They're great.
Jason Heaton Yeah, well, cool. Well, I think that wraps it up. It's your bedtime and it's time for me to go get some breakfast.
Unknown Find some good coffee, maybe.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I've got a last free day here in Geneva. I think I might go and maybe check out the Patek Museum if I've got the time.
Unknown Sounds good.
Jason Heaton Yeah, maybe grab a last beer and a bad coffee somewhere here and then pack up to go home. Super. Yeah, as always, thanks so much for listening. Hit the show notes for more details. And please do follow us on Instagram. I'm at Jason Heaton. James is at J.E. Stacey. And follow the show, if you're not already, at The Graynado. If you have any questions for us, please write thegraynado at gmail.com. And please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts. Music throughout the show is Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive.
Unknown And we'll leave you with this quote from the marvelous Orson Welles, who said, I have always been more interested in experiment than in accomplishment.