The Grey NATO - Ep 55 - New York & The Bremont Townhouse

Published on Tue, 20 Mar 2018 07:18:42 -0400

Synopsis

This podcast episode discusses the Bremont Townhouse event in New York City, where the hosts got a first look at Bremont's new watch releases for 2023. They provide details on several new models, including the Endurance diving watch, updated Supermarine dive watches, new Airco aviation watches, the U2/51 Jet watch, and new dial colors for the Alt1-C chronograph. The hosts also discuss their experiences attending the event, the unique venue it was held at, and some other watches they saw like a 10th anniversary limited edition. The episode closes with final notes segments discussing an epic mountaineering story, a Netflix show about restoring a Spitfire plane, and recommendations for premium NATO watch straps.

Transcript

Speaker
James 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 55 and we thank you for listening. JustJames here at the top of the episode as most of this show was recorded in NYC during Bremont's townhouse event. Before we dive into that and a full set of final notes, just a quick word that while this episode comes out on roughly the first day of Baselworld, Jason and I will be working to put together a big Baselworld show for the next episode, with a full recap of the show, tons of watch chat, and maybe even some Q&A. Because the timing worked out so well, if you have a question about Baselworld, please feel free to email TheGreyNado at gmail.com. We've already received a few emails, and we'll do our best to get those included on the Baselmegasode that comes out on April 3rd. Until then, follow along with Jason and I on Instagram. That's at Jason Heaton and at J E Stacey. And we'll be out doing our very best to find all the good stuff at Baselworld this year. But now let's rewind just a few days and jump over to the Bremont townhouse. Welcome to the Bremont townhouse 2018 TGN live show. I'm in a small room with Jason up in the corner of the Bremont townhouse, which is in, I guess we're in Midtown or Soho.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah.
James And you may hear some loud noises, triumphant sort of Master and Commander tunes in the background. That's because this is like a live environment for showing the watches today. But they found us a space, which is great. And so we're able to record live, which I'm pretty excited about. Jason, how's it going? How's New York treating you?
Jason Heaton Good. Yeah, short trip, a little challenging to get in. It was a 12 hour journey, which was about eight or nine hours longer than it should have been. But, uh, yeah, it was, uh, it's good to be here. And it's, you know, so it's good to hang out. We just saw each other a couple of weeks ago, just up the road here. Yeah.
James We're getting spoiled these days of Basel again. And yeah, right.
Unknown Yeah.
James Yesterday was fun though. I figured that's probably the easiest place to, uh, to start. Uh, so I, I come in, you'd come in a day early for some meetings. I came in, you know, roughly a day earlier than I absolutely had to, because I wanted to kick around the city a bit. And after I think I'd mentioned on the, Breitling show that it's tough to come in and do 16 hours in a city that's so awesome and has so many other opportunities. Yeah. So yesterday we, uh, kind of kicked off the day in a bit of a tourist mode, but we went and saw away luggage. Yeah.
Jason Heaton That was really fun. Which is super fun. Mark.
James Yeah. And, uh, so we, we met up with, uh, one of the guys that, that helps, uh, away kind of digitally brand and market and such online.
Jason Heaton If you aren't familiar with away away, uh, is kind of a cool younger company now that's, uh,
James making some some really slick uh sort of travel bags luggage um and the store was really cool and they have a really interesting use of color in the various pieces of luggage so it's cool to see that in person and a very locked in aesthetic to the whole store travel vibes you know uh kind of not like luxurious fancy travel but well traveled
Jason Heaton Sort of clean, minimalist travel. Yeah, relaxing vibes.
James Like it's good. And the luggage looks really good. And I've been kind of on the hunt for a new suitcase for a while. So that's on my list of ones to see. Yeah. And I was really impressed. And I like the navy blue and the gray looks really good. And so that's very high on my list as what might become kind of the carry on for these sorts of trips that I'm doing more often now. Yeah. And after that, Enrique Michon had recommended Prince Street Pizza.
Unknown Yep.
James We went to, I don't know, just before noon and they weren't open. So we went back and hung out at the Hodinkee offices for a bit.
Unknown Yeah.
James And we ended up going back and the pizza was fantastic.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Good call. I could have eaten like two or three times. I could have eaten two or three times what we ordered. We each got like two slices and I was, it was packed. Yeah, it was packed. It was delicious.
James Yeah. It was great. You know, it's, it's entirely, uh, it's entirely cliche to talk about the best pizza in New York, but this would be the flat out best pizza I've ever walked in off the street and ate. Short of the stuff that my mom makes, which none of you will ever get a chance to try cause my siblings and I eat it all. Uh, this is, this is the, the, probably the best pizza I've ever eaten. It was fantastic slice of pizza. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so I'm not really surprised Enrique knows good stuff and, uh, Lo and behold, he knows good pizza too. So that's cool. And it was fun to check out the Hodinkee office. I've never, never been there before. You've been before.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Big space. It was a bit of a skeleton crew. Cause, uh, if anyone's been watching an Instagram stories, you know, half the, half the crew or most of the crew from Hodinkee has been out on the West coast, uh, doing various things. And so, but it was, it was cool to go and hang out and, um, chatted with Jack and John views and, and, uh, met a few other folks there.
James So yeah, for sure. And then, uh, after that we went to, Uh, well you went off to have a meeting. Yeah. And I went to Brooklyn to interview Abe Burmeister from Outlier.
Unknown Yeah.
James And I, it's something that had kind of been on my list of things to do. If I had a few spare hours in, in New York, I didn't really know what to expect and it ended up just being fantastic. So I'm not going to put it in this show or the Basel show, but in a couple of episodes, I'm going to drop in this 30, 35 minute chat with Abe all about starting a clothing brand that's like so obsessed with material and functionality and, and aesthetic, like really finding a sweet spot where you could really wear the clothes, but also they still look okay and handle stains and things like, it's a fascinating conversation. One that I really loved and I hope everybody who's listening likes as well. But so that'll be a good interview for, you know, once we're on the other side of Basel.
Jason Heaton I think that's what, you know, you can get sort of jaded about New York or cynical about it, but, um, I think that's what's kind of neat about this city is it's just become such a hub for these small, really creative businesses to kind of sprout up like we experienced yesterday. That's what's fun about coming here. And I think every time you can't see the whole city in a go in a day or a weekend or even a week. Um, but if you can seek out these like little pockets, these little interesting people and companies and stores to visit, that's what makes it really fun.
James So yeah, I think like a kind of a central tenant to TGN or these companies or even one name brands that are just, they've decided they can do something better and they're approaching it at a very aggressive pace and ideology and they're not making something casual. I don't think anyone who listens to the show cares about casual goods that much. We like the specifics. We like the things that are cool. And I think Outlier fits right in there. So even if you're not that down on listening to someone talk about clothes for a bit, I'd say give it a chance. Abe's a very interesting guy. And it was a, it was a cool interview. And I mean, they're just kind of off the beaten path in Brooklyn, unmarked building, super workspace. It wasn't like, it's not like a holding key office. It's not like this building we're in now, which we'll talk about in a moment for the Bramont townhouse. They're working and they're just getting stuff done there. And it was, you know, They have a relatively small staff and I had had a blast doing that. And then by the time I got back from Brooklyn, it was kind of time to come here for the townhouse.
Unknown Yeah.
James And there's a big party here. And I think one of the more interesting things for you and I is this space.
Jason Heaton It's incredible. So, um, it was sort of widely, uh, bandied about last night that this, uh, this beautiful, I don't know what four story townhouse on Lafayette Avenue here in Soho. Yeah. It goes down and there's lower floors too with the pool. It's incredible. And, and it's, Apparently it once belonged to Heidi Klum and Seal when they were married and they lived here. It's truly spectacular. In its current form, it serves as kind of a showroom for Macintosh, which is the high-end audio company. I think it's the most spectacular sort of townhouse I've ever been in or ever seen. Just dwelling, I guess.
James Absolute dream space. Yeah huge books I mean floor-to-ceiling bookshelves like discount the fact that every room has six figures worth of Macintosh and Sonos Faber Yeah equipment, but it's like exposed brick. Yeah, actually for those of you who are listening who like Mr. Robot in the second season they go to this house that has like a fancy security system And it kind of goes down into lockdown mode. That's this house.
Jason Heaton Oh, okay, so that might help a few people listening who like Mr. Robot there was a you know you come in the entryway and then straight ahead there's a kind of a window at the back of the of the first floor that looks into the bottom of a swimming pool. Yeah. And you go up a level, you're actually on kind of a little overlook of that swimming pool. It's a decent length lap pool and, and Braymont had populated it with some remote control battleships and things that you could kind of have fun with. An ejection seat was back in the corner and a couch and, and then you go up another level and that was kind of the main floor. Yeah. And just a huge space, you know, bookshelves, big kind of, they opened it up for, you know, the hundreds of people that were here last night. and a beautiful open, kind of open kitchen. And, uh, they were, you know, there were servers, uh, circulating with canapes and different, different things and drinks and whatever that were prepared by the Royal stepson, Tom Parker Bowles, who's Camilla's, uh, uh, the Duchess's, uh, son, who's a bit of a celebrity chef over in England. Yeah. Delicious food. Yeah. It was good. Little bites, but great. Yeah. Yeah. But then it just keeps going up. I mean, it was like another level up is something else. And then, and then it ends at a rooftop. Terrace garden with, uh, um, just these nice offices. We're sitting in this office here and, uh, yeah, just a beautiful, this space really adds to the event.
James Yeah. I hope that, uh, you know, a lot of you listening got a chance to see the Instagram stories, which, you know, kind of showed more of the spaces. Obviously the watches will persist. You'll be able to see them in our normal posts, but the space is incredible and super Braymont. It's like casual, but very finely appointed. And then the Macintosh stuff oddly fits. Um, and there's like an unbelievable amount of it.
Unknown Yeah. It's in every room. Like stacks and stacks.
James Oh, stacks and stacks. Just everywhere. Macintosh stuff and huge Sonos Faber speakers.
Jason Heaton Like we're in this kind of back office that is kind of not really used or it's kind of piled up with junk, but like there's like two or three turntables just sitting on the floor here and you know, amplifiers and stuff just kind of randomly sitting with piles of cables and things. So it's, it's amazing.
James I'm sure like this, this Macintosh turntable next to me costs more than the first few cars I owned. Yeah.
Unknown Oh yeah.
James Beautiful stuff. And we got an interesting demonstration, uh, last night where a gentleman was explaining all of the various componentry and then how they build some of these turntables to really isolate mass. So you have no vibration and talk about nerd enthusiasm space, like high-end audio is just bonkers. Like, you know, like we spoke about with that when I went on that Porsche bore moisture trip. Yeah. Just a, a really, a whole, a whole new world really. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, and then, yeah, so there was a party and it went on quite late, you and I, not huge partiers. So we went out and found some dinner, uh, tried to get to bed at a reasonable time. And then the morning basically started off coming right back here to take a look at, to actually have some time to look at the watches. So you get to sit with the, uh, English brothers and, uh, and see the new pieces. And I think that's probably what most people are listening to hear about. Uh, do you want to kick it off with, uh, say the endurance, which is kind of the, the Ellie, the,
Jason Heaton Yeah. So it seems like kind of every year there's some sort of a limited edition piece that, uh, you know, related to some sort of an ambassador or some theme that they're running with for that year. And this year was the, the, the supermarine endurance, which, um, was the, uh, is the, the watch that was developed in concert with, uh, Ben Saunders, who, you know, we've, we've spoken about before, um, the polar explorer future guest, maybe future guests.
James Right. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. It's a cool piece. It's, you know, it's based on their Supermarine so the visual cues are very familiar to anybody that's familiar with the Bremont dive watches, but like the Terra Nova of a couple of years ago, it has a third hand, or actually I guess it's a fourth hand, GMT hand with a kind of a cool squiggly little North symbol on it. Yeah, I like it. The color's great too. Yeah, yeah. Orange and then the dial is sort of embossed with sort of a stylized... It's pretty subtle.
James It doesn't even show up in photos depending on how the lights are. Yeah, it's cool.
Jason Heaton And it's titanium, so like the Terra Nova. So it's very light. This one they put an exhibition case back on, which they didn't do on the previous one. And it comes with a couple of straps. I don't know what the second strap was. We saw it on... I think it's a bracelet. Oh, a bracelet.
James I think it's a bracelet in this orange Gas Gas Bones NATO. Yeah. Yeah. And those of you that, I mean, I assume a lot of people who listen to the show know Gas Gas Bones, but it's a, he's a, Carl's a British manufacturer of these kinds of customized, uh, military style, uh, nylon straps. And that goes from, he, he also retails Phoenix Nados, which is fantastic Nados, legit G10 Nados. And, uh, and then he makes all these various, uh, customized versions and you can pick the colors. And I've got a couple, I'm sure you do too. They're great.
Unknown Yeah.
James And and it's cool to see him because back when Bremont first kind of launched their retail line they had watches that had These straps on them very similar straps But I don't think Karl could keep up with the fact that they wanted to make thousands preferably thousands of straps Yeah, yeah, and and so now when they do a limited edition the English brothers are saying you know if you give him enough time Yeah, he can make him, but he makes him.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. Yeah, and these are not his typical so the if you're familiar with his straps they often have a sort of leather loops that work over the spring bars, but then it's a nylon strap and usually his straps have a Velcro closure and kind of a heavier duty nylon, stitched nylon. This one attaches to the watch the same way with those sort of leather loops, but then it's actually kind of more like a Zulu strap, a long orange just nylon sort of Zulu one-piece strap with kind of the big looped hardware on it.
James And my, you know, I think the watch is really cool. Obviously we're big fans of the S 500 kind of format. What I would say is, you know, when you take a watch like an S 500, which is thick, they're 16 ish millimeters to start, and then you put two layers of nylon behind it. I mean, if you're wearing it over a glove on a snowsuit, you don't care who cares another two millimeters, but you notice it immediately if you just put it on your wrist. I think a standard, you'd probably not wear it on a strap that added additional bulk as you went. But really cool. I love that little N, the North, that they, you know, when you first glance at it, you think it's like a squiggle or like a lightning bolt or something like that. And then, but you realize, no, it's a North. And then, uh, Nick English was saying that that was, you know, you see that on some old exploring watches too, where they, they actually marked North on the 24 hour hand.
Jason Heaton Uh, so that was kind of... And if anyone's familiar with, uh, RGM watches, they made a watch called the North Pointer. Yep. For sure. That had that same, design GMT hand on it. And I always liked it on that watch, but it wasn't around very long. So this one's, it's cool to see it again.
James And that one is limited to 300 units. And I'm going to be honest, I don't have a price point for a single watch in here, but with an LE, it's going to be a little bit more on the expensive side of what they do. And the rest of these are going to be very similar in price to the other versions. And you can see pricing on Bramont's website. So I didn't write down, I didn't even ask the pricing because they don't have a specifically new model. I mean, the Endurance is essentially a new Terra Nova. I think the Terra Nova was about $7,000. Yeah, I think so. So I imagine this is in the same range. Right. And then everything else we're looking at is either a refresh or a color way of something that already exists. So we don't have to get into pricing too much because there's not a new kind of spin that way. Yeah, right.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I guess if we continue on with the Divers and kind of from the Endurance, The Supermarine or S500, they've refreshed that. I mean, that was their first dive watch back in the early 2000s. They finally kind of come out with some new dials and bezels and hands. You know, the case is essentially the same. 43 millimeter, you know, that triptych case. Crown at two is still there, crown guard is still there. Yeah, all those kind of really cool hallmarks. But yeah, they tweaked the dials. So there's the S500, then there's two versions of the S501.
James So there's an S500 blue, an S500 black, and then an S501, which is the vintage style of the S500 black. So the S500 blue is very close to the S300 blue we saw last year. So you have a very iridescent blue dial. It retains the day-date that we know of the S500 previously. And then you have a bright bezel. It's a polished bezel.
Jason Heaton And the Arabic numerals, which the other watches don't have.
James And then where we saw the biggest change, especially when you see it in person, is with the new S500, which is a black dial that doesn't have any engraving or lines or patterns on it. Yeah. It's a black dial. The markers are a little bit thinner or, uh, svelte, a little lighter weight visually. You have a new hand set that doesn't have the lollipop, which, uh, they have a new version of the lollipop hand on the blue one, but it doesn't make it into the black one. And then, uh, no day date. It's just date at three. Yeah. And this is a watch that I saw in pictures and I didn't do, I didn't look at it twice. Yeah. And then I couldn't take it off today. Yeah. When nobody was looking, I quickly pulled out a spring bar tool and popped it off. It's rubber strap, the rubber straps. Excellent. But I wanted to try it on the NATO.
Unknown Yeah.
James And it's, um, it's excellent. I think it may be my favorite of the group, which is really surprising for me. Cause I always liked the original black S 500. Yeah. It was the first Braymont I ever had on loan. You know, Mike sent me one many years ago, even before I was with a blog to watch and you know, just really, really a solid design. And then they have the 501, which is the exact same thing, but you get a kind of an aged loom application and a little bit of a design, kind of a circular design. It's like a hobnail or knurling, sort of. Knurling in the center of the dial. And then both of the black versions have matte ceramic bezels, which is a big change from the sapphire bezel that kind of characterized the, you know, a loomed sapphire bezel was a calling card of the... Yeah. of the S500, the previous generation of the S500. Yeah, yeah. What do you think? You got a favorite among the three? Do you like the vintage lume? I'm not warming up to it so much.
Jason Heaton I do. I like it.
James I think it suits Bremont really well. It's just, if we come with you, like, go all the way down to my dollars, I'd buy the one with normal lume.
Jason Heaton Yeah, yeah. The easy answer for me is the one I don't care for is the blue one. I didn't like the blue S300. Very iridescent and it has a greenish tone in the blue. And I'm not a big fan of those arabics. It just isn't my favorite font, I guess you'd say. But the other two is kind of a toss-up. I like elements of both. I like that kind of really subtle knurling in the middle of the 501. Yeah, I like that too. But I could give or take, or I could take or leave the vintage loom.
James So it'd be a toss-up between the two. Yeah, yeah.
Jason Heaton I like that S500 a lot. The thing I like about the black, the standard S500 now, is because, you know, the old one had this sort of center, smaller disc, I guess you'd say, in the middle of the dial. Vertical lines. Vertical lines that were supposedly like the aluminum side of a supermarine plane, kind of tied in with the rubber strap with those ridges. Without that on that watch, and then with those smaller markers, it just opens up the dial a lot.
James There's the light, the way the light gets in, it's a matte dial. Whereas it was always not metallic, but metal, kind of an inky, it had a black liquidy sort of metal polish to it. And this is a matte dial. It lets in a lot more light into the dial I find. And it's just fantastic on wrist. If you have a Bramont dealer in your neck of the woods, go in just to see it in person. They're cool. It's one of these things where I think a lot of these work in photos and this one's a lot better. uh in person yeah it uh i like it a lot and it was really good on a nato the rubber straps always good it's crazy that they've made such a thick watch that's so comfortable yeah because it's not a lot of lug but it's a ton of case but it sits really nicely yeah they work well with a nato and uh and yeah that rubber's always that rubber's been a winner for yeah seven eight nine years yeah and then next up i think we'd be looking at the airco which of course was launched last year this is their 40 millimeter kind of spin on an officer's watch, kind of with a British-y vibe. Yeah. And, uh, there's three new versions this year. So there's an Airco Mach 1 in white with a Date at 3 in red accents and like a very pronounced, uh, railway minute track around the outside of the dial. And then you have a, uh, another, so you remember the Mach 2 from last year with the gray dial? Yeah. Kind of more svelte hands and the Date at 6. There's now a white dial version of that, which is lovely. And then finally, arguably my favorite of the show, and I think the best design of this new group is this new Airco Mach 3 Blue, which is an RAF blue. It's the 100th anniversary of the RAF this year. And then it's matched on this like kind of broken in suede blue strap. And it's killer. It's just the right size. It's a matte blue that kind of changes in light. So it looks very Navy and low light. And then you hold it up to the sun and it has this grayish lighter tone.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I love it. It's so fun. It's always interesting when Bremont kind of veers into the slightly dressy territory. They still kind of do it well and it still feels like a Bremont, which is, uh, which is weird, you know, because it's elegant.
James I would, yeah, it's, it's, yeah, it's more towards your like elegance versus being just downright, um, opulent or fancy or something like that.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. The blue is fantastic. It's just really fantastic. And, um, the strap kind of makes it, I mean, I could see it working well on like a, kind of a suede Brown strap or a vintage tan NATO or whatever, but like, I don't know that, Often times stock straps, you buy a watch and immediately take it off. This one, I'd be tempted to wear it on that. It's not too much blue.
James They do straps really well. They do. And they have a wide range if you want that sort of black or brown with the white stitching, the Breitling style. Pilot strap, they have those. You want the two stitch and a little bit more ready for a diver. And then they do stuff like this. I have that weird blue One with the rally holes that they made for the mark 2. I have one of those for my solo And it's just it makes a whole different watch when you wear it on that versus something like a NATO. Yeah, well Yeah, the RAF ones a great color. Yeah, it's all about the color these new thin hands are so it's the the hands from the Mach 2 and and yeah, they're Date date at six nice crown good case.
Jason Heaton I like blue dial watches They're obviously becoming much more popular in the past few years. We've seen a lot of blue dial watches and and unlike the The S500 with the blue, this one is that just beautiful sort of matte, just a different shade of blue. You know, the nice thing about blue watches is it works really well on a number of strap types. And, you know, if you're the type that is concerned about how your watch kind of goes with the rest of your outfit, blue is pretty versatile. It's kind of like gray, you can kind of wear it with anything. So it's kind of cool. And I think this is kind of a good segue, this blue Airco, a good segue into the The Alt-1C, which they've introduced a couple of new chronographs this year, one of which has that same blue dial and blue strap. And it's pretty fantastic too. That one was another real favorite of mine.
James Yeah. So no change to sizing here. If you know the Alt-1C, you're talking about a twin register, automatic chronograph, 43 millimeters, the triptych case, date at six. Both of these are contrasting sub-dials. And then both of these now use hands that are inspired by the Mach 2 from last year. So there's these thin kind of leaf shape hands. Yeah. Beautiful, especially on the blue. You know, the Panda dial one, which is a white or silver dial with the black sub dials. Yeah. It almost is, it lacks the punch of the blue one. So when you see them on the table at the same time, you're just gravitating to the blue, which has this RAF blue dial, silver sub dials, black hands. on the sub-dials, you know, everything's super crisp and colorful, but elegant and reserved. And it's, it's one of these watches that doesn't seem to have like a, uh, age statement to it. Right, right, right.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I, the white one was, was nice, but I immediately went right to the blue. I think the white one, there's something about it that looks a little two-dimensional to me. I don't know if that makes sense, but it doesn't have the same contrast with the hands over the blue, right? Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I guess, you know, if there's one quibble, I mean, I think, you know, it was, you know, Bramont's first watch that they designed, the Alt-1C way back when, and, you know, some would argue that a pilot's watch has to have Arabic numerals on the dial to be considered a pilot's watch, but I think, you know, this still has that same vibe, and they still make the other ones, so if you want that, you can get them on the existing Alt-1Cs, but... Yeah, with the other style of hand, like the original hand style, which we both really like, they're very simple, they hold a lot of loom. But this is just a, it's a beautiful dressy chronograph and it's a nice alternative. I've always loved the two register layout of a chronograph. For sure.
James And I think it's funny to see that over the last, let's call it four years, they've started to apply some of the more ornate elements that they've put into their limited editions, whether it's the, the victory or the, uh, even the code breaker or even most recently the 1918. Yeah. All of those had, you know, whether it was a polished case, which we then saw in the Alt 1C with the polished case version, you know, the white dial with the polish, which is a fancier watch, but it was steel. And now we're starting to see kind of a thinner handset and the use of more kind of, I would, I would say like less sporty colors, but they're still done in a rather sporty way. This, I mean, especially if you took this off the suede strap and put it on a vintage leather or something like that, it's going to wear like any sport watch immediately. But that suede strap gives it a certain,
Unknown Yeah. Something else. Yeah.
James Cool. Yeah. And they did a great job with them. Yeah. And it's interesting, you know, it's got to be hard to look back at a watch that like the S, like this is now in one year, they've re, they've given us different expressions of their two core watches, arguably the Alt-1C and the S500. Yeah, that's true. And maybe they would say that they're different. core watches, but I can't imagine there's one that's more core than the Alt-1C.
Jason Heaton MB, maybe? The MB series. Yeah, oh there you go, that's a good point.
James Classic Bremont, but like, yeah. And they've been very careful, of course, to maintain the MB as it is. Yeah, yeah. And you're wearing your white MB2 and it's gorgeous.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it stands up to anything I see. I still, when I lay it down and put on new watches, I'm still really just thrilled to put this one back on.
James Just taking a picture of the two watches next to each other. shirts on my Instagram at hodinkee the lighting of course and hodinkee's lovely for taking watch photos yeah and what I noticed was you know the white on the dials is identical between my white solo and your white mv But the ratio of like dial to bezel is a lot better on an MB than it is on a Solo. When you see them next to each other, the Solo's just all dial. Oh, right, right. And yours has, you know, because there's a bezel and a Ria to make the MB function possible, the rotoclick possible, there's just a little bit less dial. And it could be that like I'm used to, now I'm getting used to seeing the case to dial ratio on the Doxa, which is absurd.
Unknown Nobody else pulls that off.
James There's so much case and so little dial. And you start to kind of get into that.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah, I guess NextUp was kind of a watch that I was particularly smitten with. I can't actually say that I would own this watch, because I'm on the fence about black watches.
James Yeah, me too.
Jason Heaton But it works. It's cool. It fits right into kind of their thing. It's the U2 51 Jet, which is based on, I guess if you trace it back, it is part of kind of the MB family in a way. But, you know, for a number of years, they've made this watch called the U2. which was kind of a special edition initially that was made for the U-2 spy plane pilot squadron with a black case, still has the rotoclick internal bezel, you know, three-hand watch with a date. You know, very minimalist open dial. It feels a little less busy than an MB for whatever reason. I can't put my finger on it because it's essentially the same watch.
James I think it's because the case and the bezel just disappear and you're just seeing the display. It looks like a gauge. Yeah, you're right. and uh yeah it had yeah it's a um you know it's a mix of baton and arabic markers in the tan loom because it's part of the 51 series which is their yeah non kind of like how the 301 and the 501 are the vintage versions of the divers right the you have the zt 51 is a zt with and i the i guess the derivation of that word is or that name is the the p51 limited edition that they made several years ago that had that it was kind of that first watch that had that vintage loom and then
Jason Heaton That color was a particularly nice version of vintage or Fotina, if you want to call it that, and it's carried through to a number of their watches.
James Yeah, and then with the Jet, you have largely, I would say, the biggest kind of surprise, if you had explained, like if I was listening to this and hadn't gotten to it yet, is that the hands are, you know, blue steel, which matches really nicely with the vintage loom, that blue and the offset of the yellow. Yeah, yeah. And they look like, blah, Yeah. Until the sunlight hits them.
Unknown Yeah.
James And then it's shining blue, which is really cool. And then you get a smoked rear crystal. Yeah. Which is kind of a neat treatment.
Jason Heaton And the barrel, the middle barrel is a, it's a knurled black. Um, so it's, it's, it's just a, it's a blacked out watch that doesn't feel, I think it's saved from being like super hardcore special ops, kind of like, you know, uh, Luminox kind of thing by, um, because it's got this sort of quaint vintage loom and these blued hands. It just sets it off. It gives it a little bit of, uh, It softens it a bit, I guess. It makes it a little more wearable. It doesn't seem quite so stark. So, yeah, cool watch. I just love that design. I think it's one of their original designs, that twin crown with their triptych case. It's just a really, really cool watch. You had a U2 at one point, right? I did, yeah, a long time ago. Yeah, I'm surprised you remember that. Did you go with the blue dial? It was a black with... No, I didn't have the blue. Oh, okay. I thought it was a blue one. I don't remember. I'd have to look back through old photos. It was a black case, because I think all the U2s are black. But I don't think I had the blue. I think I had the black. Oh, okay.
James They're definitely a cool watch. Yeah. They're also, they stand out in the lineup as having that the hour hand is a triangle. Yeah. And otherwise a metal hand. So it's very much like a, like a, I assume like a gauge. Right, right. An altimeter or something where you have a more steady hand is just the triangle. And then the active hand, the minute hand is, has a little bit more. And this one has kind of a neat, a neat arrow and color treatment to the second hand as well. And they're not limited in any way from what I've heard or read.
Jason Heaton No. I think it'll be popular. All black watches just don't stick with me. I just, I can't keep them. I've had a few. I get them.
James I think they're interesting and then I get tired of them or whatever. Yeah. I think this one, what I like about this most of all, whether it's something that I would aspire to have, is I really like that it doesn't look like a lot of the other Bramwatts.
Unknown Yeah.
James They don't have a lot of watches that are doing the all black thing and then like you said the added pop of color from the loom and the hand treatment and that kind of thing. So I think it's a winner. I missed the price point on this one I assume. It's $53.95. Oh okay there we go.
Jason Heaton So it's kind of right in line with the MB series. I think what's neat about this too is with those blued hands and the vintage loom color, I think you know we talked about this earlier, you could swap out the black strap put it on even something tan or brown, maybe not brown leather, but kind of tan or like a kind of a cool gray khaki, sorry, a gray nato or something.
James A canvas would look great on it. Green would look amazing.
Jason Heaton It would look really good. And I think that further softens it. So, or like a cool tan gas gas bones would look really great on it.
James Yeah. And if you look at our Instagram, you'll see the pictures of it on a black strap, especially not, not a fan, but it's just a big black leather strap that they had it on. Whereas if you had it on a, imagine like an olive green, NATO or a canvas or a gray NATO, or yeah, like you said, something like in a tan or a bright leather, like a light Rover Haven that you've given them that, you know, that's more of like a saddle colored leather. It could be really cool too, because it would work with the loom and the black. And that's the other thing is that Bramonts typically work really well with a lot of straps. It's why they offer a lot of variety in straps and it's why they, you know, don't, don't dig that deeply into bracelets.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I mean, you hardly ever see their watches on bracelets. I think they're offering I think you mentioned the Endurance. The Endurance is a titanium bracelet. They don't even show it on the bracelet. They never even bring the bracelets out. Pictures and stuff are on the other. Yeah. Yeah, I think that kind of covers the new releases this year. We did see one kind of special watch that I posted on an Instagram story that I got a couple of questions about and that, you know, was sort of an unofficial release, but Nick English was wearing it last night. Right. It's a 10th anniversary sort of limited edition. Yep. He was wearing a prototype and I'm not sure of the plans for that watch. But it was pretty cool. It was like a triple calendar with a moon phase. Had kind of the aesthetics of their victory watch with that white dial, same sort of silver hands, very slender. Yeah, it's limited.
James I want to say either 20 or 50 pieces. Yes, in white gold, right? Yeah, in a black or a silver or a white silver dial. And then every, it's a set, it's sold as a set. So let's say you bought the white gold, with the silver dial, you get a 43 millimeter version and a 37 millimeter version of the same watch. So it's a his and hers or dad and son or something like that. It's a neat idea. And I don't think it's something they're publicizing. I'm not sure where you would even see it at this point. I'm sure we can throw a picture up on one of our Instagrams and then I'll link to it. I'll find some way to put it in the show notes if I can. But that's a neat piece. And it's thin too, because they've used a proprietary movement. Oh yeah. And a flat case back. A lot of their case backs have a slight dome to them. Yeah, you're right. And then as soon as you see this one on its side, you have the top of the triptych case, the barrel, and then just one little sliver of case back. Yeah. And it sits thinner because they're not using, it's not an ETA caliber. Right, right. So that's, that's nice too. Cool, cool piece. And, and, and like the brand does so much that they don't talk that much about like things about the military stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Huge wings of the company essentially that, unless you decide to go looking for it, or you're involved in the military in some manner and come across it at a product level, they don't really publicize it that much. You've got to go dig it up on the website and that kind of thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah, we chatted with Catherine Villeneuve, who heads up their military branch of Bremont and oversees the sales of military special editions. And last year I had a chance to chat with, and we both met, Nemo, who's an ex-Air Force F-14 pilot. who also works in that area, and both super nice people. And it's interesting to kind of get that insight because it's never talked about, it's never written about. They only really play it up on social media. And if you're not following Bramont Military, you should. Yeah, it's a cool follow. Because they've... Craziest wrist shots. Crazy photos. It's wrist shots, usually from high altitude, you know, in a cockpit of a U-2 or a fighter jet or something. So it's just bonkers. It's weird stuff. And it was fun to talk to Catherine and kind of, you know, talk about her experiences. working with various fighter squadrons and special ops groups and whatever, getting these special editions made. Yeah, it was cool. I think, you know, one thing we kind of bring things to a close here, you know, we talked about, I think when we were invited here, we had some reservations. We were thinking, ah, you know, I wish it was in London again and whatever. And once we got here and kind of experienced it, it had the same vibe within the townhouse, maybe a little more New York party scene last night than London was. was fun last year because we got to have some one-on-one intimate time with ambassadors. Yeah, for sure. You know, um, was it Ollie Hicks and, uh, Alex Gregory. And it seemed like less people last year.
James I don't think it necessarily was. Yeah. But the, the main room in this place in this townhouse in Manhattan is huge. So you could, you really got an impression of like several hundred people here.
Unknown Yeah.
James Yeah. Whether or not that's the case, I can't tell you how many people came, but it felt a little bit more intimate last year.
Unknown Yeah.
James And yeah, and then being able to sit and chat with some of these guys are so cool.
Jason Heaton Yeah, we got to meet Ben Saunders last year or whatever. So that was missing. I kind of would have loved that. But on the other hand, beautiful space, closer to home, despite the travel snappies. You can't beat it to London. Yeah. But all in all, it was really a great time and good to see everybody, chat with Nick and Giles.
James Yeah, and with the importance of the US market, I understand why they might want to split it up. Um, obviously as a somewhat selfish watch writer, I would rather find out, be the guy that's on the first wing of finding out about the new pieces. But it didn't, it doesn't seem to have watered down the effect. I mean, the response on Instagram seems really good so far. And certainly they had a ton of people interested in seeing the pieces yesterday and today. You know, we're meeting people, listeners of the shows, friends of the brand, that sort of thing downstairs. And all in all, it's a really great trip. And I think while there's no like revolutionary new piece, they did a lot of new pieces last year.
Jason Heaton You can't do it every year.
James And the lineup is big. And I think they're very conscious of the fact that you can't run a billion watches and keep them in stores and that kind of thing. The lines have to be understandable. But I think if you get a chance, either through photos, you know, check our Instagram and stuff, or go to the store and see that Mach 3. with the RAF in blue and check out the new Super Mean. I think especially if you go to a store that still has the old Super Mean, you can kind of see them both. Right. You can see they're both really cool designs, but there's something about that new one that I just feel drawn to. Yeah. It's cool. Yeah. And yeah, I think that's probably about all we've got from the show. We've got maybe a couple more hours until the cars come to get us to the various airports so we can get home and then it's not too long till Basel, right?
Jason Heaton Exactly. Yeah. Just two more weeks. We'll be, you know, looking at a bunch of new watches again.
James So, you know, thanks a lot for, for Bremont for having us out here and, and, uh, everyone who said hi and, and express, you know, appreciation for the show. We can't thank you enough for listening. And it was a treat to, uh, to get a chance to meet all of you face to face and to the people who we missed, whether we weren't at the party long enough or there were too many people to see then, uh, next time we're in the city.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Sounds great. Yeah. So that pretty much wrapped up the, uh, townhouse visit, uh, with Bremont, New York. And, um, As usual, we thought we'd wrap the show up with some final notes. James, you want to jump in and take the first one?
James Yeah, for sure. So my first is actually a piece from National Geographic and it's called, has a long title, Climber Breaks Away from Team, Attempts an Abandoned Solo Ascent of Savage Mountain. So it's a pretty wild story and it's one of these really awesome, like I think you really have to go to the actual story on Nat Geo's website. Because there's all sorts of, uh, visuals, um, that are kind of happening around the post and some really great photography. And it's all, it's all really good. And it's basically a story of a group of Polish mountaineers that are attempting a really wild winter summit of K2, which would be one of the Holy Grails of, uh, of mountaineering in that part of the world. And then it's about one of them deciding he liked his chances better alone or something insane like that. And the story is wild. It's really well told. It's a long read. And like I said, there's a lot of great photography. There's some kind of visual assets that go along with it. And it's just kind of one of these great stories. And a lot of times you read about these things years later when they're part of a larger book. And this is one of those stories where I'm reading it and it just kind of happened just recently and and it feels like you're kind of on the on the cusp of of another stage in in one of these sorts of stories yeah it was it was pretty epic i remember reading that uh i don't know a few weeks ago and um you know k2 itself is worth reading anything about um but uh yeah that story was crazy yeah i thought so and it's it's a really really long read so it's your sunday afternoon or whatever your wind down but i definitely think it's worth the time and they've got some uh like a nice uh piece of imagery built up around the route that was taken along K2, which I find these to be really handy where they kind of show you where all the camps are and, and that kind of thing. And there's a lot of explanation as to some of the background of this group of Polish mountaineers that are known for really daring winter ascents. It's become kind of a calling card for this group. And I know we've mentioned, um, at least a couple of the guys from these groups before. And, uh, really just a fantastic story and a 100% worth your time if you're into mountaineering or reading about mountaineering, that sort of thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I remember, I do remember we talked about some Polish mountaineering a while back. Um, and I think it was interesting about it was that the Polish mountaineers kind of come through this, uh, sort of national, uh, uh, sort of zeitgeist related to, to mountain mountaineering. And it's sort of this, this inbred sort of Hardship that they're that they're used to there and it sort of it sort of breeds this this particularly rugged group of Mountaineers So yeah good stuff and you know to kind of segue off of that, especially on the heels of our Bremont discussion I just learned or just read that Jake Meyer who is a longtime Bremont Ambassador and watch where he just announced that he's going to go back and I think do his third or fourth attempt at k2 and He did it I think a year or two ago. I think he was wearing an mb2 at the time actually awesome But yeah, so he's going to head back and he still hasn't made it to the top It's just it's one of those mountains everybody. You know talks about everest and k2 is just Considerably harder apparently so yeah, so my first final note is also has a bit of a braemont tangent to it as well and it's It's a movie that's on actually it's not a movie. It's a TV show that's on Netflix and that you can watch. Um, it's called Guy Martin's Spitfire and uh, Guy Martin, um, you talked about in a, in a final notes way back when it might've been last year, TT3D closer to the edge. It's, it's that documentary about his racing the Isle of Man TT race on a motorcycle. And Guy Martin's sort of an interesting figure. He, I think he, you know, he was like a truck mechanic and, and motorcycle racer. who developed a bit of a cult following. He's got a very quirky personality, a very strong accent, and he just sort of has this endearing way about him that makes him at the same time an unlikely TV show host, but also kind of fun to watch. He's kind of made a name for himself doing these kinds of shows where he goes and visits crews that are rebuilding airplanes. There was another show I watched after this one about the final flight of a Vulcan bomber that he guides us through on the show. But this particularly one about the Spitfire. It's the story of this famous Mark 1 Spitfire that had crashed on the beach at Dunkirk and was buried in the sand for many years and was finally rediscovered, I think, in the 90s. And it was completely ruined. But this group over at Aircraft Restoration Company in England decided to recreate it from the ground up using what few parts they could from the original, but then, you know, reshaping, rebuilding every single panel on the plane and building it according to the original specs. And Guy Martin's kind of along for the ride. He's, he's, uh, helping them, you know, do the riveting and fitting of, uh, oil lines and this sort of thing. And then he actually goes up and takes a flight in a, in a later version of the Spitfire, one of the two seaters. And there's kind of an interesting sort of a small, uh, Braymont element because you see a Braymont decal on the side of the plane and I know Bremont has a bit of a connection with the Aircraft Restoration Company in England. And of course, you know, it's a good excuse to even just watch a Spitfire in flight and kind of get close up with it on the show. And Guy Martin, his delivery is, he has the sense of wonder that I think any of us would if we were in the same situation. And it's just a really fun show and kind of tells a bit of the history of that plane and the pilot who crashed and kind of his amazing true story. Um, it's, it's on Netflix. Um, and actually I, I think I learned about it when I was in New York cause I was talking to our friend James Lambden there. And he mentioned that he had watched that show and I, and I had a free evening a couple of nights ago and just kind of looked for it. And sure enough, there it was. And, uh, highly recommend it for anybody that's into, uh, you know, World War II history or, or aviation in general. So check it out.
James Yeah, it's very cool. I put it on my, uh, on my list on Netflix and I think I'll probably just download it and then watch it on the way to, uh, on the way to Basel. Oh, yeah, cool. And, and yeah, my next one is WatchStrap. So obviously, we love a good NATO here. And while I was in New York, you were talking with Landon, I was chatting with Adam Kraniotz of Red Bar and Instagram fame. And he had on a really nice, he was wearing an Alt-1 ZT-51 Bremont, but he had it on a black NATO that looked really nice, had nice hardware and such. And I asked him what it was. And it turns out it's a newish NATO from the guys at Crown and Buckle.
Unknown Oh, yeah.
James And it's called the Supreme NATO. And it's really, really nice. As a matter of coincidence, upon getting back from New York, I was hanging out with a friend who had bought a handful of them, and had a gray one for me. And so I have that on my Explorer now. And it's definitely a contender for, like an ideal NATO in my book, it's not super shiny, it's definitely not squishy or too cottony, which I like.
Unknown Yeah.
James But it's a nice dark gray, really nice hardware, less buckle than you'd get on a Toxic, but it's still a pin kept buckle that's kind of recessed. So it sits flush against the NATO itself. Yeah. And super comfy. I really liked the color. I also liked that the material that's used has like an edge, has like a sealed edge that also gives it a little bit of a, like a visual element to the edge of the, of the actual nylon.
Unknown Sure.
James Anyways, I'll throw them in the show notes. They're $35, so they're more than your standard $5 or $10 or $15 NATO, of which there's now an endless supply to choose from. But as somebody in my scenario where I wear pretty much all of my watches on NATOs all the time, I don't mind spending a little bit more money for a premium option. And this is a really good option at what is becoming more or less a middle price point for a NATO, as we have seen some that push up into the $40 and $50 range as well.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think it was just the last show that we talked about the Everest NATO, which I had sort of was in love with, and I know you were too. Yeah, it's great. There's another great one. They just keep getting better. I think in the fairly short time that I've been involved with watches, NATO straps have just grown by leaps and bounds, and it's such a simple product that it's amazing that you can continually improve them, but they keep getting better and better, so... Yeah, and I think... And Crown & Buckle makes a great strap, so I'll definitely wanna check that one out.
James Yeah, even their standard strap, they made the straps for the Kill Hubris collaboration, and that's more or less their standard or maybe their premium NATO, and that's a really good strap, but the material, the nylon they use, to my feeling, it feels a little bit plasticky.
Unknown Oh, yeah.
James And I like it to feel much more textile. Yeah. But then you have... I've had other ones, And I know this is to some people's preferences to have them be squishier or more cottony, more padded. Yeah, and that's not at all to my liking. So I like the it's weird, because if everybody has to kind of find, if you're going to wear NATO all the time, or whatever, you can have to find the one that's just right for you. Yeah, but this one is a really good mix of the more premium material, but it's not super shiny, and it's not super squishy. So yeah, really good for for my needs. And So far, I've been really happy with it, so I'll keep wearing it. I'm sure you'll see it on Instagram, and I'll probably have to order a few more colors as well.
Jason Heaton Yeah, and I think different NATO straps adapt best to different watches. Yeah, for sure. Vintage or smaller watches like our old-style DOXs or, you know, your Skin Diver. They do really well on kind of a thinner, like you're describing, that kind of NATO, and I think something more like the Like for instance, a Haviston, which is, they advertise it as a heavy watch strap. It is that sort of cottony, padded, thick sort of NATO that just doesn't work as well on like even like a Submariner or something like that. So, um, you know, if you need an excuse to buy multiple NATOs and I've got literally bags and bags of them, you know, they just work well on, on different sorts of watches. So, um, like for instance, a Bremont, like a, like my Supermarine 2000, it just, it wouldn't hold up on, on kind of a thinner NATO strap. So.
James No, you'd need a lot of strap for that watch, for sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah, so to kind of close out the final notes here, I've got another strap to talk about, and it's actually one you and I have both experienced, and you actually sent these to me. It's the Uncle Seiko Tropic Dive Strap, and you know, you and I both have kind of vintage style and vintage divers, and the old Tropic rubber straps that were made in the 60s and 70s, they do pop up on eBay and things, and they look great on these old watches, Um, but they tend to be kind of stiff and oftentimes really almost too short. You know, so I've, I've tried a few kind of tropic style straps and none of them really hit the mark, but this, this Uncle Seiko is about as close visually to the old ones as you can get. I mean, it's a dead ringer if you see it in photos and just kind of look at it. Even, even the buckle, um, it looks just like the old original tropic straps. It's kind of rounded. Um, it just looks vintage. Um, You know, on the Tropic Straps, you know, you see various kinds, but this is that sort of basket weave texture with the small holes throughout, kind of tapers down to a bit of a narrower tail. And then it has this sort of crosshatched texture that goes against your wrist. The one caveat I would say about the Uncle Seiko one is that while it looks great and it's made of a really high quality material, it is really stiff out of the box. And on a flat kind of wrist like I have, If you have a round wrist, it might do okay, but if your wrist is a little more flat like mine, you can get a bit of sort of cutting into the sides of your wrist, which I've experienced, but kind of the trick that I've found with really stiff straps like this is you can sort of curl it, you know, pre-curl it, shape it, put it into a, like a coffee cup, and then just pour boiling water on it, let it sit for, you know, five or 10 minutes, and usually it'll kind of hold that curved shape Um, and softens up a little bit. So that's kind of my pro tip of the day here for, for stiff straps. I remember this experience with, with an old Marine Master rubber strap from Seiko. It was kind of the same story, but, uh, but yeah, if you're, if you're looking for that tropic style strap for, you know, like a vintage, uh, like a doc, not even a vintage, but you know, like a, they look really good on doxes. They look good on, um, you know, kind of the skin diver style. Um, you know, any of these, these kind of, uh, retro dive watches looks great. So sure. And I think they're, um, you know, they're not terribly expensive. They're 39 bucks and they come in 19, 20 and 22 millimeters. So kind of interesting, uh, good, good range of sizes as well. So yeah, that's, uh, that's it. We got, we got a couple of, uh, a couple of straps to close out our final notes here.
James Yeah. So a little, little bit to spend and a little bit to read, not too bad. And, and a little bit to watch too. That guy sounds really cool. I'm definitely gonna have to get to it. Yeah. Yeah. As always, thanks so much for listening, and you can hit the show notes for more details. You can follow us on Instagram at Jason Heaton and at J.E. Stacey, and you can follow the show at TheGreyNado. If you have any questions for us, please write TheGreyNado at gmail.com, and please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts. Music through to Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive.
Jason Heaton And we leave you with this quote from Bear Grylls, who said, Being brave isn't the absence of fear. Being brave is having that fear, but finding a way through it.