The Grey NATO - Ep 61 - Don't Do That With Your Watch

Published on Tue, 12 Jun 2018 09:00:05 -0400

Synopsis

The episode begins with James discussing his recent trip to Italy for the Concorso d'Eleganza car show sponsored by A. Lange & Söhne. He describes the event, the cars showcased, and his experience taking style photographs of attendees for Hodinkee. Jason then talks about his upcoming travel plans, which include a trip to Sri Lanka for safaris and diving in the Maldives. They discuss the considerations for wearing watches during various activities, such as rock climbing, water sports, and other adventures where the watch may be at risk of damage. They also touch on the benefits of having a dedicated "beater" watch for rough activities and the merits of different strap options for different situations.

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacey Hey guys and gals, James here with a quick note from the top that we had some microphone issues on this episode. So while the audio is clear and functional, the quality is not really up to our usual level. My apologies on that front and we'll do what we can to avoid the same happening in the future. Hope you enjoy the show.
Jason Heaton Hello and welcome to another episode of the GrayNado, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 61, and we thank you for listening. We're recording again after another one of your whirlwind trips to Europe. And I'm headed out the door here in a few days to, to go East Asia. So, um, we should just jump right in maybe with a little bit of new business. Tell me about the Concorso Della Ganza.
James Stacey Yeah. So I, today is, uh, today is a Thursday and I got back a Monday night from Italy where for four days, I was a guest of, uh, Lange, a Lange and Zahn. to experience a car show that they sponsor at a very high level called Concorso della Ganza. It's kind of a two-day thing on Lake Como, this incredibly fancy, insanely beautiful area of Italy, just about an hour outside of Milan. And the trip was wild. I've done tons of these sorts of trips and the manner in which they were able to maintain the same sort of experience in terms of from the cars to where we were staying to how we moved around. All of that was great. The actual event is essentially two car shows. One that's simply called Villa D'Esta, which is the main concorso. And it's at a place called Villa D'Esta, which is this huge villa with a hotel on it and a big private park. It's an amazing thing. And it's this very small, you know, they joke it's the biggest small car show in the world. It's probably the most prestigious uh, vintage car show, certainly in Europe, maybe in the world, depending on your position. And, um, and there's only like, I think, I think there's 58 or 59 cars. So if you consider the number of cars that you could see at the Quail or You know, the Pebble Beach Concourse, something like that. It's a smaller sort of event where you can really see everything. You can get really close to all the cars. Yeah. And it's essentially a private event. You have to be invited to the event at Villa D'Esta.
Jason Heaton And this is a competition, right? That's what a concourse or a concourse is, right? It's they're judging the appearance of the cars, right?
James Stacey Exactly. Yeah. The cars are judged in multiple categories. And, you know, anyone who attends gets a book and they get kind of flashcards of each each car and all that kind of thing. So you can really, really dig into the details. And there's everything from very early pre-war stuff all the way through to, you know, kind of semi-modern, but, but generally we're talking about, um, no, not much later than the seventies. Um, you know, certainly if there, if we're talking about cars that were showing at Concorso, uh, and then there's an area devoted to like BMW is one of the main sponsors. So there's also an area devoted to, uh, BMW. Yeah. And yeah, so the second day is the public show, which is at Villa Urba, which is this amazing villa with a huge park around it as well, also right on the lakefront of Como. And with that one, it's a public event. There's about 10,000 people that show up. BMW has a huge display. Lange has like a booth set up where you can watch people engrave watches. And of course, they have the big datagraph tourbillon, like the giant one. And it's a really fantastic event. It's 13 euros to get in, which seems super reasonable if you want to go in and walk around. So there's lots of families, there's people picnicking.
Jason Heaton Wait, is it the same cars at both then?
James Stacey It's most of the same cars, yes. And then like a great big motorcycle display that's really fantastic from BMW. And there's more BMW involvement. They had a series of M1s, they had a series of the i8 Roadster, like in every color. Lots of three liter CSIs and things like that. So really, really fantastic. And just some, I mean, some bonkers cars. Great, great boats too. I saw those Rivas. Amazing, amazing boats. Yeah. The boats were a real trip. So the, the, you know, we're staying at, we're staying at this place called the Hotel Gran Tremezo. And it's like a, it's essentially that I think, I believe the exterior was used as the model or the inspiration of the hotel in the Grand Budapest. Oh, sure. Yeah. So it's this, it's, you know, it's this big, beautiful hotel that kind of sits on right against the water's edge, and then it has a big hill behind it. And I hope some of you saw the Instagram stories, because it gives you a bit of a little bit more of a frame of mind for for the scene. But if you wanted to get to Villa d'Esta or Villa Erba, there, there's like one road that can take you there. But it's fairly slow. It's a tiny Italian road goes through a couple little towns, heading toward as you head back towards Como, the lake is huge. I also learned the lakes like 413 meters deep.
Jason Heaton Holy cow. Wow.
James Stacey That's awesome. That's really deep.
Jason Heaton That's really deep.
James Stacey Yeah. Anyway, so, uh, both days we took a boat rides there and the first day was on like a small ferry, maybe like 80 people, something like that.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey And that was fine. I mean, a nice way to see, see the lake. Uh, I, I had accidentally overdressed for the first day. So wearing too many layers and like, it was immediately like, uh, 80 plus 85 plus degrees. And and so I spent that in day very sweaty that whole day. We took the boat to the to the show. And then, you know, I had a few different goals. But one of the main goals for holding keys coverage was some style shooting, which is something I've, you know, never done before. And not exactly in my personality wheelhouse, I can run the camera fine, that's not going to be the issue. Yeah. But you have to kind of hunt people like you have to Oh, you're making weird decisions as to like following people and trying to see like, is that a Patek? Oh, yeah. Oh, is that an old sub? You know? Yeah. And then once you find someone who has like a look, it doesn't have to be a good or a bad look. It has to be a look. They have to have a look. Yeah. Something to take a picture of. Yeah. And a watch. Then you have to approach them and you know, do you speak English? And then I'm trying to explain that I write about watches and the script as I went through the day got shorter and shorter and shorter. Oh yeah. Yeah. Until I was just, you know, do you speak English? Yeah. And then I'd introduce myself and it's just, yeah, I'm a, I'm a fashion photographer. And then you just, you just hope that they would say yes. And then you're smiling, you lift the camera up and start and you take two or three frames and move on. Try and get out of their way.
Jason Heaton Everyone seemed to, I mean, from the article on Hodinkee, the photo essay, it looked like everyone was pretty game to pose and lots of smiles and
James Stacey Yeah, well, it went it went it went relatively okay. You know, I found it quite stressful. And it's surprisingly like it took the bulk of both days. Yeah, to actually get the 30 or so people that that ended up in the piece, but I'll put that in the in the show notes that went up just recently and seems to have been well received. So that's good. It was work wasn't work wasn't for nothing. Yeah. And then I also had a fun time kind of doing an interview slash walk around the show with Wilhelm Schmidt, CEO of Lange and he's a great sport and really just, the dude just loves cars. Yeah, he does. He really does. So that piece might be out by the time this episode comes out. It's going to be sometime in the next little while. So if it's out, I'll put it in the show notes. If not, just keep an eye on Hodinkee. It'll, uh, it'll be there when it gets there. It should, should be a fun kind of breakdown of their relationship with the Concorso and Schmid's kind of position on luxury versus passion versus, uh, you know, what the overlap between cars and watches are, you know, in his mind. So it should be fun. And, uh, yeah, other than that, you know, it's one of, it's one of these, these events where you're around some really amazing things. You know, I finally, you know, I got to see a Tipo, uh, 33. Oh yeah. The Alfa Romeo, which is just probably my most favorite car. Beautiful. And this one was really stunning. They had, uh, the car that ended up winning was this insane, uh, Ferrari 335, um, a 59 335 Sport. I think it's one of three or one of four known. Wow. There's just some really, really fantastic cars. I'll actually put a link in the show note to Ken Sato's piece for Jalopnik because he shot just cars and he did a really good job. He even got a bunch of them while they were moving. Oh, thanks. And he's a fantastic photographer. So I'll put a link to his spot if you just want to see kind of the photos of the cars.
Jason Heaton The one that I was fascinated by is that I think it was a Lancia, the Delta.
James Stacey No, the Stratos HF concept.
Unknown Stratos, the weird car.
James Stacey Oh, yeah. So, I mean, like that's a very important car in the history of car design. Yeah. Because it largely started the wedge trend. Yeah. So that's a very early Stratos Zero concept called like an HF Zero. Yeah. And, you know, you basically get in and out by lifting up the windscreen and climbing out of it. It doesn't have any like conventional side access doors. I really wanted to see, I want to see a video.
Jason Heaton I'm sure I could find it online. Oh yeah. Somebody, somebody climbing in and out of that thing.
James Stacey There's tons. They were driving it around. Yeah. Yeah. It's a, it's a fantastic thing in a great color. You know, definitely, definitely it was one of the ones that got some of the most attention at the show. Yeah. Just a very, very special, special sort of a sort of car. Yeah. But that trip was, that trip was without a doubt, fantastic. I had a really fun time producing Uh, stories, uh, you know, uh, Hodinkee let me kind of take over the stories for their account. And I think we had a really fun time with it. The, the photography, I think turned out pretty well. And I got, I mean, I got to wear a Datagraph Perpetual around for a few days. That's pretty special. Yeah. Heavy watch, right? I didn't even notice it. Really? It wears, cause the size of the case, it's a little on the thick side.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey I think it's worth it for like, if that's the sort of watch that you want, cause Lange of course makes thinner watches. So you have a choice either way.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey But, uh, it's a little on the thicker side, but I mean, like within about five minutes of putting it on the lug to lug length and the case width is so nice. I didn't even notice it. And it was on, thankfully it was on a, um, it was on a, like a black leather strap with a tang buckle, not a deployant. Oh, sure. So it just fit immediately. It was clearly a strap that had been worn. Other people had worn it before. So it was broken in. It still looked great, but it was a little bit broken in. So it didn't have that stiffness. Right. And the watch just felt like mine after a couple of minutes. Nice. And yeah, I wore it endlessly until I was in the pool. Yeah. I promised them I wouldn't take it in the pool. I think it would have made for a good photo, but I suppose I understand their trepidation at such things. And yeah, it was a very fun, really fun event. I'll probably actually go back and get all of the Instagram stories and just put them in a collection on my Instagram for Concorso 2018. So if you want to go back and see some of the stories, you know, we were on these boats and passing these beautiful villas and the boats are, you know, the one was 59 years old. It was like a Riva style, but with like a front cab and the inside, the inside was like gorgeous. It looked like a, like a cafe. Nice. And, uh, and, and the boat, the boats are fantastic. And then we left on another boat and I got to drive it for a little while. And, uh, and, and we, we, I, you know, it's just a lot of fun. Wow. And then the, the other thing I took along on the trip that's new was a new bag, which I'll drop into just, just before we start chatting about your, uh, your upcoming trip to the other side of the world. So very quickly, I've been in the hunt for a little while now for a tote bag of some sort. And the thinking there is like a bag that could completely compress and go inside a suitcase. And then when I get somewhere like Como or on a trip like that, have a bag that's kind of the right size for, you know, a camera, a couple lenses, all the little kits, maybe a jacket. And then whatever you're given for like a book or whatever, like whatever you might be carrying around for the day's work. Right. And so I hunted around for a little while and then I kind of got bored of just, you know, totes all kind of look like the same thing generally. Yeah. And I wanted something that was a little bit longer than it is wide, you know, not too purse-like. I understand like at a certain point, if you're carrying a tote, it's roughly, it is a purse at some extent. Yeah. But I wanted something that wasn't quite that way. And I wanted something that was also kind of like sort of mountain-y and like Vancouver adjacent or similar in that aesthetic. Yeah. Uh, and I, so I ended up going for a walk down, uh, down one of the streets of Vancouver that has a bunch of, you know, it's got like Patagonia and Arterix and all that. It's on West 4th. And I ended up going into, uh, Fall Raven or Fajal Raven. I'm not going to pronounce this correctly. So the Canadian pronunciation rules apply and it's, uh, you know, the, it's this great outerwear brand. And one of these things they make are these tote packs. So it's kind of a, uh, fully collapsible. tote made out of their G1000 waxed sort of tin cloth cotton. Yeah, really hard wearing stuff. They can make it in almost any color. The colors are always like really nice and saturated. This one's kind of a deep blue. And and it has a zipper at the top. It's just the right depth. This is the tote pack number one, they make them in a few different sizes. The number one I think is the middle size. And it's just the right depth for a MacBook so I can drop my MacBook into it, my pro, a 15 inch and then otherwise it has basically just enough room for like a handful of gear. Yeah. And then you can hold it with these leather hand straps, or it has like a shoulder strap, like a, like a longer tote style strap. Or if you want, you can actually pull one of those straps aside through these little channels and it becomes like a backpack. Oh, nice. Which is a really handy way to carry a bit of gear, especially in a scenario where like you have a camera swinging around your neck as well. Right. So I could have everything I needed, everything from spare batteries, to lenses, to sunscreen, to a place to put my sunglasses. Yeah. All of that stuff in the bag and then, uh, have it on one shoulder and still be able to run the camera without having to put the bag down in the dirt. Right. Or what ends up happening is you end up always, I always end up putting the bag down and then walking a few feet away and someone trips over it. Right. Or walking a few feet away and your subject stands right next to it and then your bag is in every photo.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah. Neither is preferable. Yeah. And, uh, and so what I could say is, uh, one, uh, you know, a bag was not given to me. I bought it. It was 135 bucks Canadian worth every penny. This is a really, really good bag. If you're mentally okay with a tote bag, Jason, I know you're not a huge fan of them, uh, the overall look or, or form factor, but the usage case of this bag is huge. And I think it's definitely going to be coming on, on all the trips with me. It's, and it's, it's definitely not too big to go under the front seat of, in an airplane. Plenty of room there. It's really only a few inches thick, but it's the right size in the other direction. And then I just like that I could kind of fully compress it. It has no like hard structure. Yeah. And just have it be the last thing that goes into my bag or, you know, in that soft pocket in a suitcase.
Jason Heaton I think it's a compelling case. I mean, I've resisted totes for a long time and for a while, for a few years, at a lot of the watch shows, it became the kind of favorite piece of swag that watch brands would give away would be a tote and I think Panerai did it and Tudor and a few others and it has this sort of nautical vibe so it kind of goes well with you know their latest sailing watch or dive watch or something and and so I had a few of these and I always ended up giving them away but one year at SIHH I took the the one from Tudor which was like from Jack Spade or something like that and I've never gotten more compliments on a bag than I did that year carrying that bag I mean most of it was from women but It was a black kind of heavy Cordura. And then the bottom was like, it was like dipped in red paint. So the bottom was like red. The bottom half was like this red, it was, it was, it was beautiful, but I gave it away. I mean, I don't use totes much except in those scenarios, but this one sounds great. And I've got a pair of the Kev pants from Fjallraven and I love that material. And you're right. It has much more of a mountain vibe than, than kind of the Martha's Vineyard sailing, you know, shopping sort of thing. I like it. I like the idea.
James Stacey I think this bag might have been like one or two clicks towards the more casual side than maybe what you would have ideally had for Concorso. Oh yeah. Maybe you'd want something leather or a bit fancier or I mean the move because of how hot it was and humid would have been no bag. Oh yeah. But given that it had some fancy elements, it was a lot more casual at the show than I expected it to be. Oh sure. So it fit in really nicely and then anything else I do during the year it's going to, it's going to be a very useful thing. So, uh, I, I, uh, I put it in an Instagram story yesterday and some people DM me that it looked like a purse. So I guess that's maybe not right for them, but, uh, I, I had it out and around Vancouver yesterday, like with a laptop, a camera, you know, the power adapter, all that kind of stuff and, and a sweatshirt in there. And it was great. So I think that's just a useful form factor in the, in the, the, the fact that you don't have to have it hanging on one shoulder. If you're trying to pull luggage through an airport. you have the flexibility of just throwing it over your back. Right. I think it makes a lot of sense.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey And the way, uh, go to their website, I'll put a link obviously, but go to their website and see how the strap converts into a backpack strap. Cause it's kind of simple and elegant and it does both, uh, to kind of the same level of effectiveness. Nice. Cool. So that's, uh, I think that's about it for Concorso and, uh, and New Bag Chat. Uh, you have, uh, kind of a bigger trip coming up and, uh, and it's going to fall right between the two episodes. So I think that's, uh, That's good, and the trip has many phases, so let's hear, I think you talked about it briefly on another episode, but let's give it a rundown anyways.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I kind of alluded to it in episode 60, that I'll be gone for a couple of weeks traveling to visit some of the in-laws in Sri Lanka. We were there last August, and so we're headed back for two weeks, and part of the time we'll be in Sri Lanka itself and kind of traveling around doing actual wild animal safaris in two parts of the country. I've done safaris there before and it's a pretty spectacular, in terms of travel, and Sri Lanka is no hidden secret anymore. A lot of travel magazines and newspapers and things have been picking up on the fact that it's quite a crazy destination because you've got beaches and Buddhist ruins and diving and safaris and culture and all of this. What always strikes me is for such a small place, they have an incredible amount of wildlife and kind of differing terrain. So in the middle of the country, you have sort of high mountains where they grow tea and it's very cool and kind of, you know, rugged. And then you get sort of a hot, dry region with a lot of sort of watering holes where the animals congregate. You get wild elephants and leopards. And I don't think there's a subspecies of rhino in Sri Lanka, but you get bears, and lots of monkeys. So we'll be doing that with kind of the extended family for several days. That sounds fantastic. Yeah, that'll be fun. So the dilemma I have is, you know, do I take a super long lens for a camera, you know, like a 300mm lens, which weighs a lot, or just kind of enjoy it and sort of take some binoculars and do it that way? I haven't quite decided yet.
James Stacey operator tell you what kind of lens is usually applicable? What length?
Jason Heaton No, I mean, you know, having kind of done one of these Jeep Safaris in the past, you know, I think like a 70 to 200 would probably work. I mean, you can certainly rent a 600 millimeter, but these things just weigh so much and to haul it and rent it for two weeks would be a little exorbitant.
James Stacey I knew some people who did an African Safari, South Serengeti, I want to say, but now I can't recall. And they both took very long lenses exclusively. And the animals ended up being kind of too close at times. Yeah. Yeah. Like if the, if the animal is going to be right next to the right, to the Jeep, then yeah, you don't need 300. So yeah, 7,200 would make sense. But even then that's still a heavy lens. Yeah. Yeah.
Jason Heaton We'll see the lug around for sure. Well, and then to complicate matters, um, camera wise and gear wise, we're, we're also doing, um, five days in the Maldives, which after several trips to Sri Lanka, that's, um, it's time to make the hour-long flight over to the Maldives because it's supposed to be some of the most spectacular diving in the world and we've never been there.
James Stacey What's the usual, what's the kind of peak thing to see in the Maldives?
Jason Heaton So the Maldives is a series of dozens if not hundreds of coral atolls that are kind of spread out and they're fairly remote so you get a lot of pelagic life and it's well known for mantas, manta rays and whale sharks. And, um, I, you know, I've just been kind of doing some homework before going and, and a lot of the videos show a lot of really beautiful soft coral, which you don't get a lot of in the Caribbean and really colorful, uh, reef fish that you just don't get in this part of the world, this, this hemisphere. So, you know, you get the anemones and the clown fish and the lion fish and, um, you know, beautiful butterfly fish and bat fish. And, um, you know, having just come from, from the Riviera Viejas trip where, you know, you see mantas on almost every dive. You get a little spoiled, but I think it'll be interesting to see them in an entirely different sort of part of the world where it's not rock pinnacles, but they're actually swimming over reefs. It's a different species of manta. It's called a reef manta. So they're slightly smaller and a little bit more shy than the giant mantas in Mexico. But I think it's going to be really exciting and the water is very warm there. So it's, You know, it's kind of shorty or, or, you know, swim trunk kind of diving.
James Stacey Ah, that's such a treat sometimes.
Jason Heaton So, you know, initially it was, the thought was, Oh, you know, just rent the gear and, and, you know, take a GoPro. But I think we're, we're going to go full on and bring all of our gear and, uh, do some, do quite a bit of photography. The, the Island that we're staying on is called Vila Mendu and it's, uh, you know, the, the classic sort of crescent shaped coral at all with a hotel on it.
James Stacey And, um, very cool.
Jason Heaton And the atoll itself has 10 entry points for shore diving around the whole crescent. So, you know, they do daily boat dives, certainly, and go further out to look for whale sharks and things like that. But then in the afternoon, we can just do some shore entry easy dives on the shallow reefs right around the atoll. So I think it's going to be a real highlight, so I can't wait to do that.
James Stacey Fantastic. Well, obviously whatever you're able to get on Instagram will be excellent. And then no plans to do any watch reviews. You're going to make it a true vacation? I think so.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I think this will be a proper vacation, some family time, and then just some fun diving and kind of critter scouting.
James Stacey Very cool. Anything else on the horizon?
Jason Heaton Well, I've got some cold water diving beyond that in July, just a couple of weeks after I come back. A friend of mine and I are going to go over to Lake Huron on the eastern side of the lower peninsula of Michigan and spend a few days diving with a well-known underwater videographer and photographer named Becky Kagan Schott, who has a really neat Instagram feed. She's kind of a rising star in underwater photography, and she's got the latest cover story in Alert Diver magazine, and she's done a lot for Wreck Diver magazine. She, I think she's based in Pennsylvania, but she does a lot of her stuff. She does a lot of cave diving and she was in truck lagoon last year and you know, a lot of stuff in the Bahamas and the Caribbean. But, um, one of her favorite places to dive is, is the great lakes and she does it every year. And, um, uh, she's sort of a friend of a friend and they're going to be planning sort of an expedition to a couple of wrecks over in Lake Huron. So my friend and I are going to join them kind of over that first week in July. And, uh, and dive a fairly well-known wreck in the Great Lakes. It's called the Daniel J. Morrell. It was a ship that sank in 1965 and actually broke in half and the stern end continued motoring like three miles further than where the bow sank. So it's actually two dive sites. So we're going to, we're going to do that. So I've been slowly sort of building up my, my tech gear, my cold water tech gear. I got a new dry suit custom made for me from Aquila.
James Stacey Okay.
Jason Heaton or Aquala. It's a, it's a very old company, originally from California. Now they're based in Louisiana, but, uh, they make kind of retro style dry suits. Um, sort of the, the rubber multiply, uh, rubber dry suits, um, all the way from, you know, the earliest dry suits were, this is from, I think they were in business in 1950. The earliest dry suits were like a garbage bag where you would actually climb in through. It's almost like the, the dry suit equivalent of that, uh, that Stratos HF that you actually climb in through kind of the front of the suit and then when you when you're inside of it you take if you can picture sort of climbing into a garbage bag and then sticking your head through a small hole you take the big open section that you climbed through and you twist it like you would closing off the top of a garbage bag and then there's like this. Oh yeah I've seen these in photos. There's like this clamp that you kind of hold that shut almost like a twisty you know twist tie that you would close up your garbage bag with. And that's how they used to use these dry suits in the early days. So they actually still make those and sell those. And I'm not sure how many people are buying them, but, um, they make kind of three tiers of dry suit and they make kind of that one. And then they make sort of the mid middle range one. And then, um, the Cordell, which is the one that I've got, which is, uh, still sort of retro looking. It's sort of this kind of cool dark green sort of very sixties looking rubber suit, but then it has modern valves on it and, uh, and a back zip. So it's, uh, It's quite nice. It came just this week and I'm fine tuning it. They're actually, I actually have to send it back. They're going to cut it a little larger in the legs for me, but I can't wait to try it out. So that'll be cool. Very cool. And then I got a new, I had to get a new buoyancy wing for my, cause I'm going to be diving double tanks and with a dry suit and all that weight and I just need something with a little more lift. So I picked up a new 70 pound lift wing. It's a big wing. It's a big wing. It's a big wing. It's called the Larry Green edition. Okay. Apparently Larry Green was a famous cave diver and he developed this wing that provides all this lift, but it's not particularly wide. So it doesn't flop around. It's as long as the tanks. So it's kind of tall and narrow.
James Stacey Oh, okay.
Jason Heaton So yeah. So I'm sort of putting together my kit for that and planning for a warm water trip in between. That's cool.
James Stacey Yeah. I know my, I want to say my stiletto, the Ziegel BCD that I use does 35 pounds. Yeah. And a couple of times I've maxed it. Yeah. Yeah. Which is a weird feeling where you like, you hit it and you can hear it vent.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey And you're like, Oh, I guess we're going to dry suit then.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Start filling your dry suit to get, to go positive. If you know, and those really cold dives or dives where I was carrying a little bit of extra weight. Yeah. Uh, it's, uh, it's definitely something you have to consider. You know, when I, when I, when I had gotten that Ziegel, the, the idea was more for wetsuit and you don't need anywhere near 35 pounds. Right. So, I mean, I'm probably right on the edge. I imagine the Ranger, which is the heavier duty version sort of of the stiletto. Yeah. I think it's 44, 48 pounds, somewhere around there, which definitely gets you not to doubles, but to dry suit with a lot of weight.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah. Always fun. Well, that sounds good. It looks like the dive adventures are continuing.
Jason Heaton Yeah, at least through early July and then hopefully things kind of ratchet down a bit and I can spend a little more time. Weeding the garden and tinkering with the Land Rover. But until then, yeah, I'm still thick into it.
James Stacey Well, very cool. Yeah. What do you say we get on to the main topic?
Jason Heaton Yeah, let's go for it. Why don't you introduce it? It came from a listener question this week.
James Stacey Yeah, so we're going to chat on a question that came in from a listener, Timothy. So Timothy, thanks very much for your email. And Tim asks, what kinds of adventures caused you to not wear a watch? I'm a one watch guy and a big reason I chose my Tudor Pelagos was the vision of it as a watch for any activity. However, I found that for some things I'm not comfortable wearing it. For instance, I won't wear it rock climbing due to fear of damage, but I'm also dubious about water sports like skiing that I should probably get over. And then he says that he was in New Zealand for his wedding and they did some, him and his wife did some rappelling through some waterfalls and he regrets not taking the Pelagos because it would have been a special memory with it. So Jason, I mean, are there, I guess where we can start is more, are there things where you flat out won't wear a watch?
Jason Heaton Um, I pretty much wear a watch for everything except two things. And one is, um, I'm not a big gardener. I don't do a lot of gardening, but we're stuck where I'm kind of digging around in dirt with my hands. Um, I tend to not wear a watch, not, not so much for damage to the watch as it is. I just don't like getting all that kind of junk clogged up underneath the band or under the case. Um, and then the other thing is, Um, you know, if I'm wrenching on a car, you know, tinkering under the hood of, of a car, changing the oil or, or changing a starter motor or whatever I'm doing, it's, um, it just doesn't work to have a watch on, not so much again for the damage to the watch, but there's a certain safety element to it. You know, you get snagged or whatever. And it's, and it's just such a good way to just really ruin a watch unnecessarily to kind of scrape it around in there. So those are the kind of the two things I don't wear a watch, but otherwise I, pretty much wear a watch, I think for everything I do. What about you?
James Stacey Uh, yeah, I mean, I definitely wouldn't wear one if I was working on a car or like really, if I was doing anything really, um, sort of intense with my hands.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey I probably wouldn't wear a watch. I mean, I might, if I was say building something, but definitely not working on a car where you're, you might have your arm way inside of something and yeah, it could get caught. You're definitely going to beat the watch up, which is like, you could avoid it. Yeah. By just not wearing it. Um, and then to, to Timothy's point, I definitely wouldn't wear a watch rock climbing. Uh, like, I don't think, I don't know of any rock climbers that wear a watch while they're doing it. You know, you see, you see guys will clip their center vector or something like that to a belt loop or something, you know, so they can, they could check the time if they want to. Yeah. But I mean, that's an environment where you might be like, you could be cramming at which point you couldn't wear a watch. Yeah. Right. If you're jamming your hand up into a crack and then kind of expanding the shape of your hand to hold yourself in place. Right. And then you're, otherwise you're in a scenario where like you're basically constantly rubbing against rock.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey So that's going to be hard on, hard on any watch ever. Uh, and, and, and I mean the, the other, the funny one is the, you know, Timothy brought up water sports. I'm assuming he's talking about like water skiing. Yeah. And I never once considered it, but a water ski fall is a fairly, uh, G intensive thing.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah. And, and I mean, if, if that, I don't think it would necessarily damage a watch, but it probably could.
Jason Heaton Well, you know, if it snags on the, on the toe rope or something, I mean, you could just rip it off, I suppose.
James Stacey Yeah. Yeah. There's always that issue. And then the other one that stands out for me, and I know that this is one that's not necessarily a problem. It's a mental block for me. Yeah. Is I do not like wearing a mechanical or an automatic, like a mechanical watch. while bike riding. I feel like all the vibrations are coming through my wrist and just directly into that forward movement. And it just triggers my mechanical sympathy at a very high level.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, what it kind of sounds like for both of us is it's just, it's not so much other than your sort of mechanical sympathies for the watch with cycling. There are just cases where it just doesn't It doesn't lend itself to that and it's just almost, you're not even being overly cautious or anything, it just doesn't make sense. Like rock climbing, I don't really do any rock climbing, but jamming your hand in a crack or sticking your hand in the engine of a car, it's just, it's simply actually going to be a detriment to the activity, regardless of whether it is for the watch or not, you know?
James Stacey Yeah, and I think the, you know, the other side, you know, Timothy had mentioned, you know, taking it through some rappelling through canyons. I don't really know, having never done any canyoneering. I would assume that's not necessarily something where you're intending to be banging against the rock. Yeah. So I would probably wear wear a watch, especially because it's kind of like he had mentioned, you know, it's kind of a special memory and that sort of thing. I also totally understand why you wouldn't or why that might be the time that you call on your G-Shock. Yeah. Or or, you know, a Timex Ironman or whatever it is that you might use as a backup, you know, the sort of thing that I would wear on a bike. Yeah. Uh, you know, I have my aerospace, which is, uh, the closest thing to my G-Shock these days. And, uh, and it's great for those things. I've now started wearing the aerospace running. Oh yeah. Which I like, cause it weighs nothing and, uh, uh, NATO's fairly comfortable while running. Yeah. But I've, I've been getting back into just some longer distances and trying to keep track of where the speed or the pace was or the time, I guess. Yeah. And, uh, and it's handy for that along, you know, I went a long, long time, just not bothering. Right. Uh, to, to track that. So.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And, and for kind of those in between activities where, you know, if you are concerned about mechanical damage to a watch, I mean, I have a handful of quartz watches that I, I pull out as well. I mean, like your aerospace, I've got the CWC Royal Navy dive watch with quartz. And then I've got a, I've got a vector that I hardly ever wear, but then I've got the, the old citizen Aqualand and I do kind of weekly open water swims in a lake near my house here in the summer. And the Aqualand is nice because it's, know, it's analog digital, it's a dive watch, good rubber strap or NATO or whatever I want to wear it on, but it also has the, the chronograph feature so I can, I can time my, my swim across the lake or whatever. And, um, so again, it's, it's not so much, you know, his question was kind of mainly what, what don't you wear a watch for, but it's, it's more about suiting the right watch if you're wearing one for, for the job at hand.
James Stacey Yeah. I mean, like outside, outside of the, some of the topics we've chatted about in the past, like being in areas where your watch is inappropriate or unsafe. Yeah. There's, that's always something to consider. I like, I like that Timothy's going for the one watch lifestyle and he picked a really good one watch.
Jason Heaton Oh yeah. The Pelagos is probably just about the best.
James Stacey Yeah. Yeah. Probably one of the best modern one watch options. Cause you could wear it just about anywhere. There's different strap options. It'll take a, it'll take a, like a conventional strap. And, and it's on the rubber, that's a pretty easy wearing very useful, sturdy, very robust, beautifully made watch. I mean, they do a great job with with the Pelagos, certainly. Yeah. And then you always have the flexibility of the bracelet, which being titanium, is super comfortable. Yeah, and easy to wear never really looks out of space out of place. I mean, the blue I would wear the blue because I like the blue and I like that it's a bit of a punchy color. Yeah. Um, but Timothy didn't mention if it was blue or black, the black is certainly super versatile, pretty understated. Yeah. And, uh, and, uh, you know, as long, as long as you don't have a really tiny wrist, I think that watch would always look kind of appropriate.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I, I guess, um, my kind of go-to watch for anything except water sports is, uh, I've got a Bremont MB2 and you know, Bremont, kind of talks a lot about the torture testing they put that watch through with the ejection seat testing, and it's kind of made to take vibration, and it's 100 meter water resistant, and hardened steel, etc. And that watch has been a really great watch for... I did a lot of, you know, downhill and cross-country skiing with it, and I'm not afraid to take that one on a bike, you know, with... Yeah, I would take one of those ones that have the shock system in them on a bike, for sure. Yeah and what's what's nice about that too is that one comes with the kind of the gas gas bone style velcro nylon strap which you can kind of fine-tune how snug you wear it and it's still very comfortable even if it's tight whereas I think a lot of kind of thinner NATO straps if you pull it too tight it'll kind of dig into your wrist a bit and so you know if I'm biking and I put on the mb2 I can kind of fine-tune that velcro to kind of get it snug enough that the watch isn't feeling heavier, flopping around on my wrist. And I also feel like I can sort of take that, that level of vibration too. So that's, uh, that's always been kind of my good option for those sorts of activities.
James Stacey Yeah, no, I fully agree. And then there's also options where I won't necessarily change the watch, but I would change the strap. Um, you know, people have been commenting on, on my, on my Instagram lately, cause I put up a few photos of the EXP too, which I'm wearing constantly. Um, but I've been wearing it on the bracelet and I actually can't explain why this is shortly after I was on one of these episodes saying like, I don't really get bracelets. I don't like them. I think just for a photograph, I was wearing an outfit that I thought the bracelet would work really well with. Um, like a light blue shirt always, I think looks really nice with steel. And, uh, and I put it on the bracelet and now it's been a couple of weeks and I haven't bothered taking it off. And it could just be that it's so different from a NATO or a leather. Uh, but it also, I could be dead wrong, but are bracelets just kind of better when it's hot? Because it's hot. Totally agree. And like, I've got, I've got the doxa on a tropic. Yeah. Like a real tropic that you sent me. Yeah. Which is like a, essentially a perfect strap. Yeah. Yeah. And it's very comfortable in the warmth. Yeah. And in, you know, a sunny day out the whole day is fine. And then the, uh, The EXP2 on the bracelet just seems to be a really good sort of warm weather option. It really is. But I could definitely see, I could definitely see like, I mean, and I take the EXP2 in the pool. I would swim with it. I would probably dive with it on it. Like I'm not that worried about it. Yeah. It'll, it'll be okay. And, uh, if I guess if I was diving, I would get it pressure tested at this point. Cause it hasn't been for a few years, but that's a relatively small ask, but in many ways I find that, you know, I, you know, you look at something like, uh, like with the C4, which I wear, quite frequently, I'll change the strap based on kind of just general whim. Right. Yeah. And sometimes that links up with what I'm doing. Sometimes it doesn't, but I do think that the strap choice can kind of make a difference. And certainly with something like the Pelagos, you have two really good options. Yeah. And yeah, I probably wouldn't go canyoneering with the bracelet. Right. Because it may, maybe that would be the inside or the outside you know, the low fist side of your wrist would be where you might be rubbing up against rocks and then leave that to the rubber.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton I mean, I think, you know, other than things where you're doing a lot of arm movement, whether it's even kayaking I've done with a bracelet on a watch, but you know, when I did the, I did that Friday live episode on Houdini last year and we got to talking about strap choices and, and, you know, I think, there are kind of different schools of thought in terms of maybe what a dive watch is better on. And I tend to kind of opt for a good long rubber strap, which is easy to kind of pull on. Um, but a bracelet's good too. But in terms of like securing your watch, the common wisdom is that a NATO strap will be the best choice because if you break a spring bar, you don't lose the watch. But on the other hand, a NATO strap, you know, can put a certain amount of pressure on those spring bars, kind of pulling them down. And I think what a lot of times happens where you get spring bar failure is it's that lateral or side to side where one side of the spring bar gets pulled down and the other side doesn't. And a good bracelet that has fitted end links prevent that from happening. It actually, the end link itself takes up that lateral stress and actually protects the spring bar. So I find like I guess for most of the rough stuff that I've done with a watch short of you know, running a triathlon or, or, you know, doing long distance cycling or something, I've worn a bracelet. Like when I did the Mount Rainier climb, I wore my Submariner on its bracelet. And my only concern there was the, it's an older sub. So it has the, the old pressed or stamped out, uh, clasp and, and it's a little bit floppy at the one end of it. So I was always concerned like it'll snag on something and just sort of pop open. But, but it was fine. And, um, Bracelets are great in hot weather. They're durable. So yeah, I mean, I guess it all really comes down to kind of adapting the strap for the activity that you're doing.
James Stacey Yeah. Especially if you're going the one watch route. Yeah. So even if you're a one watch person, 99% of the time, it never hurts to have the G-Shock, the Garmin Fenix, the one you wear for just the activity that's abusive.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And it's kind of fun to have that and pull it on and feel almost reckless, you know?
James Stacey I mean, in a world where you don't need a watch, which is a world in which we live, and then on top of that, in a world where the watches that we like the most are technically generally the most fragile of the options, something like one of those Inoxes or the Garmin Fenix or a Timex Ironman or whatever, these offer essentially like the purest form of a modern tool watch. Yeah. Because you, like a tool watch, you know, it's not unlike the way you would use a dive computer where you're going diving. So you take that computer with you. Right. I treat, that's how I treat my one digital watch or, or the Garmin Phoenix if I charged it, which I should at some point, but you have an activity that you're going to do for another two hours or whatever. And then I would, that, that's when I would pull this watch out of its semi, you know, it's quiet, quiet time and, uh, and get it, get it out in the sun. So, I mean, obviously I respect going for the one watch solution, But when the one is the one that you'd like to be able to wear six and a half days a week or nearly seven days a week, maybe, maybe a simple, uh, you know, even one of those $16 F series Casio's. Oh yeah. Right. Would be a good option for, uh, for the times where you'd like to know what time it is, or maybe have a chronograph or, or, uh, uh, you know, a backlight if you're sleeping in a hostel on the other side of the world, whatever it is. Yeah. It could be a good choice that way. And I know we've talked in the past about keeping like a spare Seiko tucked in a in a shave bag or something like that just in case. Yeah, yeah. And I always bring a spare strap and a couple spring bars. Yeah, that's always a good idea.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah, but Tim, I think, you know, it's a great question. And I think, you know, we both applaud your philosophy about trying to be a one watch guy, you know, hats off. I think a lot of us are going to get there. Yeah, I think You know, Pelagos is as good as you're going to get, I think, in that respect.
James Stacey So yeah. Yeah, for sure. All right. You want to do some final notes?
Jason Heaton Yeah, let's go ahead. Um, I can jump in here with, with kind of my first one and it is, uh, it's an article, a fairly long article that I happened upon because a couple of days ago, you know, as we're recording this in late May, a couple of days ago was the 65th anniversary of the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. And, uh, there was an article that, that I saw online, in the New Yorker or on the New Yorker's website. It's called The Story of the First Sherpa to Climb to the Top of Mount Everest. And of course, anyone that's familiar with Everest history knows that that person is Tenzing Norgay and he summited with Sir Edmund Hillary. And I started looking at this article and it's like really, really long and it's really engaging. It's really a great piece with some kind of cool photos. And then I noticed that the article was actually written on June 5th, 1954. So it was actually in an old, you know, roughly a year after they summoned it. And it reads as engaging today as it would have back then. And it, it, it, it's great for two reasons. I mean, I think, you know, good long form magazine writing is getting a little harder to find these days. And I think this kind of harkens back to an era when that wasn't the case when, you know, you could find really good long stuff to read. And this one is, is nice also because, you know, Tenzing, you know, Hillary's name is kind of always associated with the first ascent of Everest but Tenzing was, you know, equally capable and quite celebrated in India where he ended up living. He was Nepalese but he ended up settling in Darjeeling, India and became quite a celebrity there and it's just an interesting look at kind of how fame changed him and how he came to climbing and his comfort level with his newfound fame. So it wasn't purely just about the climb, it was about this remarkable person who ended up really becoming a legitimate teammate more than just a support team Sherpa for the first ascent. So it's really a nice long form piece of adventure, sort of outdoor journalism.
James Stacey Yeah, I really enjoyed it. You'd send it to me and it's a, it's a really great long read. Um, you know, you gotta love a long read, especially if you have to come back to it a few times. And I think they did, uh, I think obviously they did a nice job of capturing not only like kind of his CV of climbing and some of the adventures and misadventures that he'd been on, but also a background on Sherpas and the differences in the society between the Nepalese side and, and then where he was in Darjeeling and, and, the kind of different structures that were at play that he had to navigate to get to the point where he was that guy. Yeah, yeah. Pretty fascinating story. Yeah, really, really good. Yeah, so my first one is a podcast that I've been enjoying for a little while now. They're 19 episodes in. It's called The Armchair Expert. And it's Dax Shepard, who, depending on how old you are, you would know from a few different things, but he was on kind of the second phase of punk. Way back in the day, he now makes movies. He made the Chips movie that came out a little while ago. And before that, he made a really excellent, fun movie that had a lot of a car angle called Hit and Run. And he recently started this podcast, which are these long form interviews with typically other celebrities that he knows within his circle. He's married to Kristen Bell, so they have kind of a wide reach that way. Some really interesting people that he's worked with over time. So I really, I've really enjoyed it so far. It's really loose and, um, and, and a really fun conversation. And I, I like his perspective and he has a big background in car appreciation, which, which comes up at times. And, uh, he's a very interesting character and a very honest guy, which I really rather appreciate. Um, so, I mean, I would go back if you're just going back to listen to some random ones. Uh, Adam Scott was really good. Uh, Kristen Bell, his wife on was pretty funny and Katie Couric was fantastic. She had some fantastic stories. And then if you enjoy his movies or, you know, the work, the Zach Braff interview was really interesting because he's a guy that doesn't necessarily talk about it that often. Yeah. And he had a lot of interesting stories, especially a guy that I followed for many years. So they've had some great, great folks on, including like Joel McHale was on recently and Mark Maron. Johnny Knoxville was a really interesting one they just put up. Um, so yeah, it's, it's kind of varied and, uh, and it, but if you've been in the same format as, as maybe like a Mark Maron's podcast or Nerdist or something like that over the years, it's kind of in the same, same vein as that. And, uh, there's times where I kind of tire of the same host. Yeah. Doing something, you know, for several hundred episodes. So to have kind of a new perspective and I like his background in making movies and the cars and all that kind of thing. So there's a, there's some kind of synergistic effects there. So. So that's the armchair expert and I'll throw a link in the show notes. It's great. Nice.
Jason Heaton Might have to check a few of those out on my long flights.
James Stacey They do this, they do this funny thing where he has, he is like an assistant that helps with the show. Yeah. And because to his admission, to Dak Shepard's admission, he gets a lot of stories wrong. They fact check everything he says in an episode and then they make like a 20 minute segment at the end after the guest has left, going over all the errors that he's made. It's really funny. It's great. So I highly recommend it, especially if you're into podcasts and you've got, you find that like by the end of the week, you've run out. Yeah. Drop this one in there and then just, you know, download a couple of the guests that you kind of know or admire and go from there. Oh, nice. What you got next?
Jason Heaton Well, I've got more, um, more magazine reading. This is, um, a link to outside magazine on their website. They've got a, an article or sort of a collection called the best stories we've ever told. They kind of pulled some of their long time outside staff. writers and editors to find out what some of their favorite stories from over the years were. And some of them I've read, I've been a long time subscriber outside, and some of these are quite old. But on this particular webpage where they have this list, I think there's 17 or 18 stories ranging from, you know, a guy who, W. Hodding Carter, who paddles 300 miles down the Mississippi when it's like engorged with a flood.
James Stacey It's a fantastic story. It's in that book I got as well. Oh yeah. Out there. It also has that story. What a beautifully written piece of work. Yeah.
Jason Heaton David Quammen, who used to be a long time, big, big name writing for them. He's got a story in there. There's a piece about free diving. There's some stuff about a polar exploration and rock climbing and you know, it's, it's just a lot of the really good stuff. And then they've got some more serious topics about, uh, um, you know, some of the abuse cases in, in kind of the American swimming program, Olympic swimming program. And, uh, It's a real interesting mix and I think it's really thoughtful writing, again, like that New Yorker piece. I think this sort of long-form, outside, sort of adventure kind of writing is always nice to kind of come upon for guys like us, so check that out.
James Stacey Yeah, I love it and I also like that they didn't, as much as I really enjoy the book, I like that we can suggest a link and they just link to the story and you can read it. You don't have to buy a book. Right. Maybe they'll go ahead and turn this concept into a book at some point, but I've been loving out there the book that I mentioned on a previous episode of their collection of misadventures. So this is fantastic for them to do another one of these kind of compendiums of their work because there's so much. Yeah. And for me, I've never subscribed to the magazine and I've been reading the website for a few years. So to have these to go back on, You know, you had said you probably wouldn't need the book because you probably read most of these stories or have them in the magazine. Yeah. For me, it's all, you know, it's, it's almost essentially all new, which is, uh, I absolutely love it. So one of my favorite ways to kind of unwind at the end of the day, whether it's with like a story from Hodinkee magazine that I didn't really dive all the way into, or, or one of these stories of misadventures, it's, uh, it's fun.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And a long time ago, we, in one of our final notes, we brought up that outside article called, um, Raising the Dead, which was about the cave diver who finds a dead body at the bottom of this cave. Oh, of course, yeah. And that one pops up every now and then in kind of their feed, and I read it regularly. I think it's just such a gripping story, and it's not in this list, but... It really is.
James Stacey That is an incredible... I'll dig that up and put it in the show notes as well. Yeah. That's an incredible story, for sure. What have you got? And my last one is a video that was actually published just like two hours ago. So nice and fresh. Uh, but it's the, uh, more in-depth video from the guys at Carfection where they have, uh, Henry Catchpool, who obviously we love. And, uh, one day we'll have on the show, I hope, uh, one of our favorite car guys, and he's doing kind of a tour of the new Bugatti Chiron with Andy Wallace, famed Le Mans driver, Jaguar factory driver. and currently Bugatti kind of test driver and general personality. And if you don't know Wallace, I could have this wrong, but I'm actually fairly certain I don't. He was the guy that set the top speed record in the XJ220. And he was the guy that set the top speed record in the McLaren F1. I mean, like he's been around the fastest car on sale for a long time and then was attached with a with Bugatti. And I met Andy in Carmel when I drove a Veyron a few years back, he was the guy sitting right seat. And like, it's one of those double takes that becomes like a triple take. Yeah. Where you because they were like, Oh, the driver's in the car. Like they just said, Oh, Andy's in the car. No last name or anything. And you know, get in, close the door, look over and I'm like, guy looks like Andy Wallace. And they're like, Oh, they said his name was Andy. And I was like, you know, Hi, I'm James. He goes, Hi, I'm Andy. And I'm like, Uh huh. Okay, right. I'd rather not drive a 1200 horsepower car in subtle anger with Andy Wallace in the driver's seat next to me, or in the seat next to me, but it was okay. No damage done to the car, nor my ego. He was very kind. And anyways, this video is really, really good. They don't drive the car or anything like that, so it's at a much nerdier level than that. They kind of go into the Bugatti house, which the brand still keeps. And you can see the actual engine outside of the car. And it's like the size of a car. It's got to be the size of like a BMW i3 or something like that, just the engine. And so they kind of break down some of the more extreme details. Because to make a car that could do what the Chiron does and still be a drivable car, if you're not into cars, you wouldn't have the perspective to necessarily grasp the level of engineering that goes into something like a Veyron, which they lost money on every car for, and then, and then something like the Chiron, I mean, you're looking at a 4 million euro car roughly, which is absurd and crazy, but also I think a really fascinating experiment and passion for a brand to continue making something like, like these, like the, like the stuff from Bugatti. And when you see not only the factory in which they're built in, there's, I think we've talked about that video before the Veyron factory. Yeah. But when you see the level of detail that goes into the design of the wheels, the design of the lug nuts, the design of the, you know, various elements of the engine, the size of the turbochargers, how much power is required for each turbocharger just to run. Because they're 60% bigger than the turbochargers that were on the Veyron, right? So they have attacks on the engine. Yeah. It's a really incredible vehicle. They start to talk about what's happening at the car at various speeds. and what the car is doing to mitigate the fact that it can go in excess of 400 kilometers an hour. And it's a great video. It's the exact sort of video that I like, and to have Catchpool walking around with Andy Wallace, chatting about these details, and it's nicely filmed, and you get to see some elements of the car that you wouldn't see in a video where somebody's just saying how fast it is. Yeah. Really, really fun. I highly recommend it.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I watched it right after you pasted this link in. It's really good and what struck me at least for the first, you know, five minutes of it or so it was It had a lot of parallels with kind of watch manufacturer Visits and tours, you know that I've gone or that I've read about or watched or whatever because you know, they're in this historic Mansion with with it's very clean and open and quiet and office space and then they've got this Beautiful giant engine sitting kind of in this right in the kind of the lobby or that kind of part of this office space And beautiful grounds, you know, they start out in that greenhouse and the car's sitting outside. It just, it has that, you know, this isn't kind of noisy, greasy, you know, kind of hectic sort of car video. This is very, it's very quiet. It's very, it's a very pleasant conversation between the two of them. I really enjoyed it.
James Stacey Yeah. I think, I think it's great. And I like that, you know, it's, it's, there's, there's something about the Turan or the Veyron. the McLaren F1, the XJ220, these cars that are about that really top, top speed, that kind of hit my brain the same way as the SR71, where it's just an exercise in extreme thinking. Because they need this car to like start when you want to go to the office or wherever you would take a Veyron or a Turan. I don't know. It just has to operate like a normal vehicle, but then it also has to be capable of, you know, double the speed of a normal vehicle. Yeah, right. So then like tires are a crazy concern. Fuel. I can't imagine the fuel delivery. Yeah, yeah. At top speed. I mean, the joke that people always talked about was that at top speed a Veyron would kill a tank in Nine minutes? And the tires only last like 11. Oh my gosh. Wow. I could, I'm sure I could have those numbers off by like a small margin, but they're not off by much. Yeah. And, uh, it's, it's just a wonderful thing. Is it, is it a product that we need in the world? No, no, certainly not. Nobody needs this, but I do kind of, it's one of these things like a, like a really amazing Richard Mill watch. Like I just like that there's still some people out there making some crazy stuff. Yeah. And just for the sake of making it, you know. Yeah. I'm sure that Bugatti will have no trouble selling the Chiron. There's enough rich people out there. But, you know, I like that not only are they making it, but they're also willing to produce videos like this that speak to, I think, you know, like me, I'm, you know, never going to be a Chiron owner and nor do I really aspire to it. But I do really like all these details.
Jason Heaton Well, I think that Henry Catchfull's sort of hosting of that episode and all the things that I've seen of of his videos is he bridges that gap between guys like us who will never be buying a car like that but yet have an appreciation for it. I think he sits in that same space and it comes through in his delivery. He's casually dressed, he's wearing jeans and sneakers and his hair is a bit of a mess and whatever and he's wearing a Speedmaster but he's talking about this $4 million car and it's almost like a spaceship and it's really a well done video.
James Stacey Well, I think that's a show. I think so. As always, thanks very much for listening. You 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 review and subscribe to the show wherever you find your podcasts. Music throughout a siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive.
Jason Heaton And we leave you with this quote from Victor Hugo. The mountains, the forest, and the sea render men savage. They develop the fierce, but yet do not destroy the human.